Entertainment Books

Serenity is a good example of what young girls should not be. It's very unfortunate but the story is real. There are trifling young ladies out there that will do anything for that dollar. You have got to respect yourselves young ladies and I say this with love. Keep up the good work Kashamba. I look forward to your next book.

I was privileged to meet this author at a literary event and I am glad to say I enjoyed this book.

Serenity Wells in my opinon was a girl who needed love and wasn't sure where to grasp it from. She is in love with her boyfriend/soon to be husband Kyron until he gets locked up, then gets knocked up by his boy/ turned arch enemy Tomiere and has the baby....WTF? In the midst of ALL her drama, her friends Medina and Scabby are there to pick the pieces up after every drama filled episode..... This was a good book! Kudos Kashamba!

Kashamba picked the right title for this book. Serenity and Kyron were something else. I truly enjoyed the book from the first page to the very last.

I'm slightly disappointed with Mind Games. It's not that the book was boring but of the reality that there are really triflin women out here just like Serenity Wells and to read it in black and white; is mind blowing! I thought Serenity was a silly hood rat with no goals or morals. Yes, her man cheated but she degraded herself in the process to "even" the score. She was a terrible mother that didn't have a job or higher education. It was really sad! Kashamba really showcased how women can be triflin and naive over a man. I did like the book however, it's just sad (as a young black woman) to read how bad we can make ourselves look! What's even more pathetic, is that Serenity didn't learn anything from her experiences! She was still a money and D*** chaser! To all the Serenity's out there, get yourselves together! This book should be a wake-up call to how stupid you can be! I recommend that women read this book. If not for the entertainment of it all but for the message of how NOT to be.

This book was an absolute let down. I read the reviews and thought this book would be a decent read. Oh how wrong I was. The book is about a trifeling girl name Serenity who seems to never take responsiblity for any of her actions. Please do not buy this book. I have read the authors other titles and I don't know why she wrote this book. There was no flow it jumped from one part of her life to the next. What really bother me is the way the book ended where she makes this big speech like all the hardships in her life are husband fault. She is a dirty horror and I hate this book. I will not pass it along for anyone else to read. I am willing to sell it for $1 because that is all it is worth. I just finished reading the book and had to write this review to let everyone know DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Published by the same folks who brought you Game Programming Gems (and edited by one of the more prolific AI authors in that series), AI Game Programming Wisdom provides a wealth of real knowledge by actual game programming professionals, not professional authors. As a game programming professional, the number of game programming books that sit on my shelf is fairly small. Most have nothing interesting or meaningful to offer beyond rudimentary descriptions and concepts.

AI Wisdom is definitely a cut above the rest. The topic selection is intelligent and relevant, and the articles are all of a consistent quality and polish. I've already referenced articles several times when writing production code, and several co-workers have borrowed it when they had a particularly tricky problem to solve. This is simply a must-have resource for any professional AI programmer, period. Or, if you're an amateur or hobbyist looking to see the tricks and techniques professionals use, then this is a book you absolutely can't afford to miss.

"Artificial Intelligence" means different things to different people. One useful application is the control of nonplayer characters (NPC) in video games. This is the first book to address this field. Like any collection of papers, it is uneven and does not systematically cover the subject. It should be read in conjunction with a traditional AI text, such as Murphy "Introduction to AI Robotics", Russell and Norvig "Artificial Intelligence: a Modern Approach", Tom Mitchell "Machine Learning" or perhaps Bruce Blumberg's forthcoming "Synthetic Characters".

I teach AI at DigiPen Institute of Technology and made this one of the required books. It is good in showing which techniques are most useful in games and what you need to consider when designing your AI. Some papers are overly general and some are too specific. That's probably unavoidable, but game programmers can pick and choose the most appropriate ideas. Unfortunately, some of the better introductory articles on A*, finite state machines, flocking and fuzzy logic are not in this book but in "Game Programming Gems".

Once you understand the basics of AI, this book can save some major headaches by helping with the selection of an appropriate architecture. The CD has source code to help you get off to a good start. Reading the appropriate articles will let you anticipate problems before they happen and design around them. Professional game programmers will likely find at least one technique that pays back the cost of the book.

It's hard to find good information about game programming and design. The trouble is that people working in the industry have an incentive to keep their techniques secret -- they don't want their competitors to learn them. The people who aren't in the industry can write about games but don't have the experience to back it up.

Game AI Programming Wisdom gives us wisdom from people who have worked on real games. Each section is a short explanation of a particular problem (like pathfinding, tactical reasoning, or pattern recognition). Since they're short and independent, you can pick the section that applies to the problem you're trying to solve and read that without having to read everything in order. However, each section is written by a different person, so if you try to read the book straight through you will be distracted by the change in writing styles and level of detail.

I'm quite glad to see this book. It's actually the first game programming/design book that I purchased. (I'm quite picky when it comes to books. I'm sure Amazon doesn't like that.) Most of the game books I see go into low level programming details. This book teaches you the principles and techniques that will be useful for more than the specific problems they cover.

Being in the game development business, I am always on the lookout for new and different tricks, techniques and strategies. When most programmers go to the lectures, panels and roundtables at the Game Developers Conference, we are looking to pick up this same sort of material... we share ideas and approaches - but rarely get the chance to get down to the code details to make it easy for us to implement those ideas into our own work. This book makes that possible.

Along the lines of the other "Gems" series of books, this collection is filled with ACTUAL techniques and code chunks that are used by some of the top professionals in the industry. Just flipping through the list of the contributors to the book is like going around the room at one of the AI roundtables at the GDC... in fact, Steve Woodcock and Neil Kirby are 2 of the "3 AI guys" that RUN those roundtables! (The 3rd being Eric Dybsand who has contributed to the "Gems" series but not this title.)

Many books on game development are informative. This one is actually USEFULL. I have personally adopted Steve Rabin's source code from the section "Implementing a State Machine Language" into my own game and it has saved me many hours of development and improved the readability and understandability of my code for the rest of the team. Just that section alone has netted at least a 1000:1 return on the cost of this book. Other sections have given me a different approach on how to handle the economic strategy layer that I could have come upon myself... but was able to implement a lot quicker than if I had done it myself. It was definately worth the price.

Are any of these sections worth the purchase price for YOU? I suppose that depends on how much you value you your time. Once you equate the cost of the book to the man hours you save, it's a no brainer!

This is the best book in my library.
Write by professionals, with usefull techniques and well explained details of almost every cool aspects of AI in the game programming world.

I first became curious about the life of Katherine Hepburn after seeing how she was portrayed in the wonderful film, The Aviator, starring Leonardo DeCaprio. So, when I found her autobiography, ME, available on CD read by Katherine, herself, I jumped at the opportunity to buy it. Anyone who has respect and admiration for Katherine Hepburn should treasure this recording. Particularly endearing were the chuckles in her sweet voice as she read; her childhood memories of tree climbing; her memories Howard Hughes landing a plane on a golf course and finishing out a round of golf wth her; and her undying love for Spencer Tracy. The CD ended beautifully with one of the most touching descriptions of love this 52 year old man has ever heard. Her admiration for "Spence" has provoked me to explore his movies. Boom Town starring Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, and Heddy Lamar came on TV the other night and I would have never thought to care for it had it not been for this CD. The movie was a delight! I am now a Spencer Tracy fan thanks to Ms. Hepburn.

I highly recommend this CD for anyone who enjoys reflecting on the fascinating people who made their mark in society and helped to make our lives more enjoyable. In my opinion, Katherine Hepburn should be regarded as a national treasure.

Listening to Ms. Hepburn's audiobiography now, what a witty and charming lady she was! We always knew she was so talented, and now we get to hear from her, herself, in her own words. She's a true star -- in every sense of the word!

Katharine Hepburn was an amazing American actress and icon. Although you wouldn't think so reading this book, Kate doesn't think of what she does as anything to be ashamed of or boast about. I could still see her in the documentary after this book came out. She said Oscars are nice but they won't garden for you or something like that. She was a remarkable human being. I just have one criticism. She left out the Golden Pond but she also left a very nice page to her devoted platonic secretary, personal assistant and companion, Phyllis. I thought it was so touching that she wrote something so nice about her. It can kind of gives you goosebumps to the amazing person that she was. Sadly, she discovered her brother's dead body from a suicide. Her struggles as an actress and her relationship with the love of her life, Spencer Tracy, is also there for the audience. She clearly loved him so much and yet, they could teach today's celebrities a thing or two about being discreet but they were truly movie stars and gifted actors beyond my comprehension. Katharine, we miss you and this book provides us some of your voice.

One of Homer Simpson's favorite books, along with TV Guide and Son of Sniglet.

Her life and her stories are so interesting and the way she tells them makes you almost hear her voice while reading the words. Her phrasing is almost like stream of consciousness (not like Virginia Woolf-stream of consciousness, just very fragment-y, incorrect grammar, etc.) I got the feeling that what she allows the reader to learn about is only a small fraction of what she really knows and has experienced in her life, not to mention that the stories are more than likely a little one-sided at times, as if the other person in the story, if you could talk to them, would have a completely different version of the same event. But that's part of the attraction of the book for me.
Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot on Spencer Tracy, and leaves a bunch to the reader's imagination in that department (Spencer was married to someone else the entire time they were a "couple" and she alludes to the fact that they spent time living together; how did this work?). But you definitely pick up on her absolute reverence for the man and their relationship, which is why she doesn't reveal much.
Overall it's a fascinating glimpse inside the workings of one of America's most famous, most talented, most enigmatic actresses with SO many quirks and interesting ideas and beliefs about life.

I have just learned to play guitar and I find this book the perfect place to start. If you desire to learn to solo, this is the book for you. It also has plenty of scales that even some of my pro friends don't know!

This is a wonderful book if you are serious about playing guitar. It's way better if you have at least some previous knowledge about music theory. If not, you'll gain knowledge anyway. However, if you're too anxious to go ahead and start skipping sections -specially those fundamentals at the beginnig (which may be a little tedious for the guitar rookie) it might become a bit senseless. Over all, this is a very good study on scales and, combined with discipline, it shall take you further on your desire to become a good musician. If you get the Book/CD + DVD deal you will save money and enjoy the experience even more.

This was an interesting insight into the world of retirement and elderly people. Rothman spends more than six months in a retirement community to get a feel for what retirement is like. The book made me feel empathetic towards the elderly, allowing me to glimpse life from a new perspective. I liked getting to know the cliques within the community as well as the individuals who formed the cliques. Rothman's writing style is casual, allowing for a personal account of the time spent in the retirement community. It was an unexpectedly good read.

This was a great light read. I really enjoyed the humor and anecdotes of life as a twenty-something struggling to find some inspiration and direction. The author is the son of a family friend, and really hit the nail on the head with his description of south florida's retirement villages.

Rodney retires at the age of 28 and moves to a 'community' in Florida. He learns about aging as well as the importance of youth.
I thought this book was at turns hilarious and heartbreaking. Rodney has an excellent comedic voice, honed while writing jokes for Letterman prior to his 'retirement.' I learned a lot while reading this book, but it didn't feel like learning. I would recommend this to anyone who reads for the same reason I do: To learn about lifestyles and events that are very different from me and my experiences. Or, you know, to anyone at all.

OK, I really meant to read 2008's Leisureville, but this was the only book in the library on retirement communities. I'm over 50, so I usually only read a book if it's free.

I wanted to scope out my options for the next decade. But even though Early Bird is non-fiction, it suffers from a dearth of information. It's really a bunch of essays about Rodney Rothman and how he is affected by the mostly Jewish mostly New York seniors around him, who treat him like a 28-year-old visiting son or grandson.

Even though well-written, his humor wore quickly. I know a book isn't worth reading when I'm just scanning the pages, trying to find something non-gratuitous to read. I found it 2/3 of the way in, with the chapter "Basherte", where he left campus to date women his own age. It was still gratuitous, but at least that chapter was really funny.

I didn't finish this memoir..I thought the idea behind the book was odd and it is just not worth my time and effort to read anymore of it.

An excellent, straightforward telling of Hitchcock's life and career.

What a remarkable life Hitchcock had. He lived to make movies and achieved commercial and (eventually) critical success - while developing his own distinctive style. Now considered by many to be the greatest film director of all time.

Hitchcock was not only a great film-maker but also a master self-publicist and a man with many hangups. If you are interested in Hitchcock, then this book will not disappoint.

This is simply one of the best biographys I have read in a long time. Incredible detail about the world of Alfred Hitchcock and his movies. The book is packed full of information and their are no lulls in the story of Hitch at all. From Blackmail, The 39 Steps, Rebecca, Rear Window, NbNW, and Frenzy you get all the information about Alfred Hitchcocks triumphs and the story behind them. A definate read for *any* fan of movies and how they are made. McGilligan has written a book that is worth at least 3 reads to absorb all the information.

This has to rank as one of the best biographies of a film maker ever written. Rich in detail, both personal as well as professional, the book is a joy to read, sending me happily back to my collection of Hitch's movies for yet another look, but with eyes opened wider than ever before. A book I shall treasure forever.

The author of this book did not forget one tiny detail. Everything you ever wanted to know about Alfred Hitchcock, personally or professionally, is in this book. It is highly recommended.

McGilligan's Alfred Hitchcock : A Life in Darkness and Light is not a "tell all the dirty secrets" biography, but rather a serious attempt to examine the man and his life, filling in the pieces through interviews, letters and published writings. That very much works in its favor. While other bios have often focused on the "dark" side of the Master of Suspense, painting a portrait of a disturbed man, McGilligan's work is more measured. We see the darkness, but we also see the light. There are some "tell all" moments that show Hitchcock's strange/dark side, but they don't come across as too gossipy.

The pacing is a bit off - the initial chapters, for instance, spend far too much time dealing with a handful of short stories he wrote for publication prior to his film career - but the writing is good, and more detail is gone into on the state of Hitchcock's life during each individual film than any other bio. It's a really strong look into his life AND his films.

For film lovers, the looks at how Hitch handled direction and his inventiveness are especially a joy to read. You get a very strong insight into how the master worked, which made me appreciate his films all the more.

This bio is very long, but also very comprehensive. Highly reocmmended.

A definite how-to book for blackjack. Everyone serious about beating the house should have this book.

Very helpful for an easier approach to getting a better edge on the house
than basic strategy alone.

This is an intriguing book that adds a card counting strategy that is actually usable! For years, I have tried to memorize and practice various card counting strategies (Thorp, Uston, Revere, Wong, etc...); however, one poor estimate of the remaining decks or half decks left you with a count that was inaccurate, and even worse, led to poor game table results! Here is a book with a simple counting method that makes sense, that can be used at the casino tables or on-line very easily.

The book is a little long winded -- all that really matters is the counting technique and the betting technique and the revised basic strategy charts. That alone would be worth the price of this book.

This is a great method for those hobbyist players who want to enjoy themselves, shave a couple of points off of the house advantage, and not labor under the sometimes extreme pressure of more advanced counting systems. I have played several different counts over the years, and I have switched to the speed count completely. It's enjoyable to use, very simple to learn, and the playing efficiency is only very marginally lower than more sophisticated systems. I have found that my winning sessions have increased mostly because I make fewer errors with this count. Now, I'm not telling you that this is a miracle panacea and money flows across the table during all sessions -- those of us who play often know this isn't the case. However, I have noticed that in aggregate over 20 to 30 sessions, this system holds its own with proven results. Best of all, the play looks nothing like the play most counters use. I have used it with impugnity with wide bet spreads, and no one has been the wiser. I highly recommend this book, I can't wait for Frank's next book.

After reading this book, I have to agree with Scoblete and say that this is definitely the easiest card counting system on the market. What makes this system different from the norm is the fact that you are mostly working with addition and very little (but simple) subtraction, with no true count conversion needed. The basic strategy card deviations serve as good camouflage to the pit crew considering some table entries are different than normal basic strategy.

This book was written for the basic strategy player who tried counting cards but found it too hard to accomplish. This system only takes a day or two of practicing before you get it down and the system itself works slowly as you play (you don't count the cards as they come out, you count them after each hand has been played), which is much easier on the brain. I like the fact that the author provides millions of computer simulation results to back up the system. The results show that depending on how aggresive of a bettor you are, this system is 70% to 95% as powerful as the HI-LO. So you do obtain a long term edge over the house...HOWEVER...

If you have already learned a more advanced system than this and have it down pat, I don't think you will want to switch to the Golden Touch method. Before reading this book I had been using the HI-LO with success to the point where counting came second nature to me and I wasn't making any mental errors while at the tables. And while this system will give you an edge over the casino, it is still a downgrade from the more advanced. The biggest disadvantage of this system is that the standard deviation of your edge is very large. What this means is that your calculated edge at times is not nearly as accurate as with other systems. There will be times while using the Golden Touch system that you will be asked to put up your maximum bet while the edge is very small. For example, if you are using the HI-LO and the count is +2, you will only be putting up a 1 or 2 unit bet while the GT system in that same situation may ask you to put up a 4 or 5 unit bet. You are still betting more $$$ when the count is positive giving you an edge, but there will be circumstances when using the GT system that you will be overbetting your bankroll and as a result you will experience much larger financial swings than in other more advanced systems. Because of this, the GT system requires a larger bankroll to sustain the much more dramatic ups and downs long term.

Like I said, if you are a basic strategy player that tried to learn card counting with little or no success but you still want to beat the casinos, then the GT sytem is definitely for you. If you are an experienced card counter that has mastered a system of "HI-LO quality" or better, stick with what you have.

Good luck at the tables everyone!

The title of my review, "Laurel and Hardy Beyond Double Talk" makes as much sense as Mr. Louvish's title. With that stated, I must declare that for the most part, I found his book quite educational and enjoyable. Some other reviewers issued complaints about it being too ponderous, or hard to follow. I found no basis for such criticism. In fact, I found the book challenging from the standpoint that its thoroughness kept me motivated in wanting to keep absorbing more and more information and details about these two comic masters.

It was sad to learn that there was so much unhappiness in their domestic lives. I had heard that rumor before, but Mr. Louvish documents the apparently awful experiences in their numerous respective marriages. Still, I was more interested in what was said about the two men as artists. For example, it fascinated me to learn that both Laurel and especially Hardy had made dozens and dozens of films years before they even met. It was also revealing to learn what a perfectionist Stan Laurel was in creating gags, and striving to improve his art while appearing seemingly non-artistic in the process. With the great Chaplin, for example, one is laughing at his fine comedy, but constantly aware that he is showing you art!

I think the narrated details in Stanley Jefferson, aka Laurel's years as a stage comic in England was difficult to track at times in this book. In defense of the author, it was probably hard to reconstruct much of that portion of the man's career. Having not read any of the other previous biographes of L & H, I cannot say whether or not this is comparatively a greater biography or not. I only know that I walked away knowing more about the team after completing my reading of the book.

Yes, I recommend this "Stan and Ollie" the book to anyone today wanting to learn more about this comedy team. Laurel and Hardy have stood the test of time and in my opinion, are simply the greatest comedy on film. I say this knowing that I also love the Marx Brothers, Three Stooges,Abbott and Costello and Hope and Crosby. Comedy purists keep in mind I am not counting Laurel and Hardy's movies after after "Saps at Sea!"

This book spurs a clear interest in their work. Unfortunately, many of their films are simply not available to see. Why this is the case is beyond me. We have umpteen zillion copies of "Friends," Adam Sandler, and Jack Black staring back at us on the DVD shelves, but not many Laurel and Hardy films. I hope Mr. Louvish's book will help stir up more interest in the team, so that pressure increases from fans demanding the retailing of more L & H films on DVD. Everyone is so divided on this side, or that side today, that it would be refreshing for all of us to see comic films that appeal to humanity in general. Laurel and Hardy literally made the world laugh.

By the time I was old enough to appreciate adult comedies shown on TV, i.e. in the late 50's, Oliver "Babe" Hardy was already dead (1957) and Stan Laurel was on the final downslope of his life. Yet, it was Laurel & Hardy, along with Abbott & Costello, that tickled my embryonic sense of humor before "graduating" to Red Skelton, Bob Hope, and Jackie Gleason.

Here, in STAN AND OLLIE: THE ROOTS OF COMEDY, author Simon Louvish draws from even more compulsively detailed books on the duo to yield a satisfyingly comprehensive overview of The Boys' professional lives, both solo and paired. I never thought of Stan and Ollie as being anything other than a team. Yet, the first eighteen chapters of this 40-chapter volume reveal that each had a successful career before being eternally cemented together in the 1927 silent movie, "Duck Soup". Each began life separated by the Atlantic, Stan being born in the north of England in 1890, and Oliver in Georgia of the American South in 1892. Before their fateful pairing by Hal Roach in Hollywood in 1927, Laurel worked his way up through the ranks of U.K. and U.S. vaudeville and U.S. film, while Hardy appeared in 200+ silents on his own beginning with "Outwitting Dad" (1914), a release coming from the then-booming Florida film industry. For both, it was a long and tortuous road to Tinseltown and destiny.

I need to stress that STAN AND OLLIE focuses on their professional lives. If you're looking for a detailed inside peek at their personal existences, look elsewhere. OK, sure, the reader learns, as narrative asides, that Ollie bet on the horses and Stan had a weakness for Yorkshire pudding, chocolate candies, and ocean sport fishing. Both enjoyed golf. And, moreover, both had rocky domestic lives with multiple, mostly failed marriages - Hardy totaling three wives in as many marriages, and Laurel amassing four wives in five marriages, plus one common-law relationship. But, I finished the narrative not really having a feel for the men behind their famous on-screen personae. This skewed exposition is exemplified by the choice of photos included in the text; there are virtually none of Stan and/or Ollie outside of stills from their screen roles. Weren't there pesky paparazzi in those days? There was one photo taken of Hardy towards the end of his life that I particularly wanted to see out of morbid curiosity. As Louvish describes it:

"In 1956 ... (Ollie) reduced his weight by 150 lbs ... The last photograph of Stan and Babe together, in 1956, shows a recognizable smiling Stan, but beside him stands a stranger, relatively trim, with flabby flesh replacing his double chins, thin silvery hair and a rictus of a smile."

My distinct impression was that, throughout the composition of STAN AND OLLIE, the author worked overtime to protect the image and memory of his heroes. That's fine, but it results in a somewhat one-dimensional piece, albeit otherwise excellent as far as it goes.

One rarely sees any of the old Laurel and Hardy movies on TV anymore. Maybe it's just because I don't stay up into the wee hours. STAN AND OLLIE compels me to re-visit their screen appearances on DVD rentals to remind myself of the laughter of childhood memory.

...whoosh, the style of this book is turgid and overstuffed with mixed metaphors (on the order of "They were the conduit for blossoms of comedy which were to explode in fiery mirth."), and there's far too much "Babe had terrible trouble, which will be explained in due course." I did like the subject, but the book was really irritating to read because of the style.

VERBOSITY, n. the employment of a superabundance of words; the use of more words than are necessary

This probably describes all this author's works. I had a terrible time wading through his bio on W.C. Fields and had to skip over most of it. I disposed of that book as soon as I was finished with it. When I got this book out of the library I had fogotten all about the author. But when I started reading "Stan and Ollie" I quickly looked at the cover and cried, "oh, no!." I made it through almost three chapters before giving up.

Yet, I am a person who loves to read how an author weaves words together. That is part of the pleasure of a book. But this author doesn't weave, he just pours! This book could be a third of its length and do its subjects far better justice

How does one do justice to two of the greatest comedy legends to have ever have graced the screen? A daunting task, but one that Simon Louvish (biographer of W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers) accomplishes with great aplomb and thoroughness. "Stan and Ollie" covers all bases as it explores the individual lives of the duo and the eventual pairing of two great screen comedians.

Louvish begins by examining the respective early life of Stanley Jefferson and Oliver Norvell Hardy. Born and raised in England, Stanley Jefferson was the son of a theatre owner and performer, whose children were destined for the stage. But his namesake would take his father's love of acting much farther than the stage and onto screen, a journey that took him half-way around the world to California at the dawn of the movie era. Meanwhile, in small town Georgia, Oliver Norvell Hardy was born, months after his father's death, raised by a mother who ran boarding houses, her perpetually chubby son a constant watcher of the guests. His love of movies hit its stride when he ran projections for the local movie house and decided to test his fortunes on the screen.

Each comic tried to make it on his own - Louvish devotes the first half of his biography to their early lives and the movies they made before they became a popular duo. Stanley's rise was perhaps a bit more difficult due to his theatre training (and his being pegged to impersonate his former roommate, Charlie Chaplin). "Babe" Hardy took easily to the ways of the screen, despite his bulk that haunted him his entire life, which was counteracted by a grace and ease that seemd contradictory to his size. These two very separate beginnings were inevitably paired up in Hollywood at the Hal Roach studio, where these vaudevillan trained actors somewhat reluctantly became Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, a disparate image of perfectly paired clowns.

Louvish traces the years and the films that Laurel and Hardy made together with Roach, intermingling the myriad marriage and divorce affairs that plagued each man, weaving in history of supporting players and screen moments as their story unfolds. He debunks some of the stories that have floated about these two, all the while recognizing that memory is not the strongest recorder of events years after the fact. The subtitle "The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy" refers not to any lurid details, but to the men behind the faces on the screen. Laurel and Hardy were screen personas, not the men who lived and breathed off-screen; while their real lives were sometimes mirrored by what they chose to enact, clowns cannot be funny all the time. Louvish does an admirable job of weaving the good with the bad, the tremendous success while at the pinnacle of their careers, and the sad, dwindling end that included forgettable movies and studio disputes.

"Stan and Ollie", while long and a sometimes wandering read, is a wonderful portrait of two men who were friends until the very end. It is amazing to consider their output of film, and to lament what has forever been lost of their early days and solo work. Louvish truly loves Laurel and Hardy but is able to paint them in an unbiased light, moles and all, revealing the minds behind two comedic geniuses who made it big for not being the brightest bulbs in the story. This book will make fans fall in love with Laurel and Hardy all over again.

I do not care how you feel about Freddie or people who lived his lifestyle. THE BOOK IS TERRIBLE AND THE PICTURES ARE A JOKE. I could not even give this book away to the public library!

You can read better and more accurate material for free online. There are many fansites that have reproductions of interviews conducted with Freddie and the other Queen members. A year or so ago, a trade publication dedicated the entire magazine to Queen and I learn new information.

Take my advice and search the web for information and photographs, you will be glad you did.

This is a book by Freddie's personal assisant who lived right along side him. Almost as good as being there yourself. As far as a Freddie a biography this is at the top of the list along with Mercury and Me by Jim Hutton. It's good great pictures too. I highly recommend this book and I like to think of myself as a Freddie connoisseur. Can you ever really get enough Freddie stuff. I think not.

Peter Freestone was Freddie Mercury's personal assistant from 1979 until Freddie's death in 1991. In that time, Peter found himself in the midst of many interesting scenarios, many of which are chronicled in his book. Peter's detailed account of the layout of Garden Lodge (Freddie's palatial home in the Kensington section of London) is especially noteworthy. Peter went around the world with Freddie, experienced many tours, witnessed many recording sessions and video shoots, met many people who came and went in Freddie's life, and was even with Freddie during his declining years. One can tell his loyalty to Freddie was steadfast. Even though I favor Jim Hutton's book over all other books written about Freddie Mercury, this one still gets my stamp of approval, and I would still recommend it.

I enjoyed reading the life of Freddie Mercury on the stage and in his personal life. He was very generous to those who were close to him.

Most complete biography of Freddie Mercury that I've seen. It really takes you inside Freddie's world. After reading it, I almost felt like I knew him. A must have for any Queen fan.