Bond Reviews

John Gardner does a little something with this James Bond novel, but don't expect too much. Probably good enough for an easy diversion. Gardner takes the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in WW II, fast forwards and mixes in some intelligence service intrigue, and voila - the Man from Barbarossa.

Following the very disappointing BROKENCLAW, here Gardner gives us a different Bond story--one with very little action, lots of plot, and yet, a real page turner. This is certainly one of the most political Bond stories, and it is concerned with issues in the headlines at the moment (or from 1991), namely the Gulf War and also the shaky state of the former Soviet Union. The story concerns a free-lance terrorist group--The Scales of Justice--demanding the trial of a former Nazi SS officer largely responsible for a massacre of Russian Jews in Barbarossa during WWII. They claim to have the real man, but meanwhile the French Secret Service have captured another man whom they believe is the criminal. An agent of Mossad--the Israeli Secret Service, a Russian KGB official, James Bond, the French Secret Service, and various other spies all engage in a plot to unravel The Scales of Justice. What they uncover is an ambitious Russian general with plans to sabotage the crisis in the Gulf War by sending a nuclear strike among other things to the United States. There is a lot of plot and very little action--pretty much all in the next to last chapter or so. And yet it is very carefully laid out by Gardner, who doesn't give us an unbelievable love story nor a completely ridiculous ending as he did in the preceding clinker BROKENCLAW. In BARBAROSSA Bond finds himself confused about his role in the mission, and he also finds that a number of the people around him are not who they seem. One of the best elements is the way Gardner weaves an exciting tale involving elements from real-life modern stories and situations in the world--the Gulf crisis and impending war, the state of post-Communist Russia and quests for power. There are a number of intriguing characters and some great scenes, such as M receiving the news that 007 has been killed. Bond is not the central figure all of the time--he finds himself neck-deep in a complicated web of intrigue. The writing is certianly an improvement over BROKENCLAW, as! is Bond's relationships with the opposite sex here. Some may be disappointed by the greater presence of story and by the fact that action takes a backseat, but give BARBAROSSA a chance indeed. It is very well written, tightly plotted, and frankly very exciting. Do not disparage the name Gardner when it comes to Bond. Although this is more of a solid thriller and less of your typical BOND story, it is a welcome addition to the canon.

In this action and intrigue packed adventure Bond works with a Mossad officer, K.G.B. officers, and a sexy French D.G.S.E officer to stop a Communist hardliner from taking power in Moscow and helping Iraq during the Gulf War just before coalition forces are about to move on Iraq.

I normally love these books, especially the dry wit. This one was a bit dull and very disjointed. Why did Shinko have much more press than Claud? Lots of loose ends not tied up and just not as amusing. Caca de chiens is a bit harsh, but perhaps fitting.

While at Dulac's luxury hotel in Auvergne, Monsieur Pamplemousse learns from police Inspector Lafarge that the owner has been attacked, and that they are looking for, "two midgets-identical twins most likely.." (Note: The rest of his explanation had me laughing so hard, that I woke my wife.)...

Anytime Henri LeClercq, the Director of Le Guide, returns from America, the staff expects the adoption of all types of weird business practices. This time Henri brings back the concept of survival courses to maximize the inner self and raise each individual's capabilities. This works only in America and now LeClercq insures it will in France too. Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites have successfully avoided the fate of much of their peers until this morning when the media caught him "molesting" a Mother Superior. Though he explains the unfortunate events that led to his picture (lying on top of the nun alongside a seemingly laughing Pommes Frites) making the paper, Henri decides to exile the twosome until the media frenzy stops.

Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites travel to Auvergne to judge whether Chef Dulac is worthy of Le Guide's Golden Stock Pot Lid award. However, instead of a quiet escape, Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites become embroiled in a situation that could destroy not only the reputation of Le Guide, but also the international esteem that French cuisine deservedly has. Placing a TV camera on Pommes Frites, Pamplemousse expects to learn the truth behind the efforts to demolish reputations.

For fans that enjoy humorous satire, the release of a Monsieur Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites tale is always a time of rejoicing. The latest novel, ON PROBATION, is an extremely amusing story that as usual takes comic shots on anything that accidentally steps in the way of the dauntless, likable lead duo. Michael Bond uses irony to provide his audience with a wild spin through the kitchens of France and will send tourists seeking previous tours conducted by the dynamic duet.

Quite obviously Ms. Bruck did her homework on this book because there is much detail. However, her continual usage of the word "junk" to always refer to any type of high-yield security shows that she has passed sentence before the trial.
Most of the book is a very detailed account of what happened, but clearly she does not understand the economics or the legal aspects of any of the deals therein. She portrays Michael Milken as a devious crook, yet reality characterizes him much differently. Ms. Bruck attacks the deals but has no idea what makes them good or bad, so she assumes wealth-making to be evil.

If you love Milken and Boesky and inspired to be one,this book is for you. In this book God had give us the answer why you and and me cannot be billioinaires.Look at page 10."Breakfast was served at 6 A.M., a concession to popular tastes by Milken, who was at his desk each day by 4.30 A.M."

For those interested in the Wall Street culture of the '80s, where Michael Milken was "King of the Universe", this is a must read. It's a page turner. Superb read. It details the deals and operations of how Michael Milken became the Junk-Bond King... and so called "King of the Universe". Milken was able to raise almost unlimited amounts of capital by cleverly convincing practically everyone on Wall Street that junk bonds offered one of the best returns on Wall Street while at the same time supposedly having historicly very low default rates, which turned out to be the grand lie. He used this capital to fund the corporate take-over mania of the '80s, which dozens, maybe hundreds of S&L's participated in, and ultimately led to the bankruptcy of the S&L industry, and U.S. S&L bail-out mess.

Other required reads: "Den of Thieves": Once upon a time in the '80s, four men nearly destroyed Wall Street. How they made billions and how they got caught. by James B. Stewart. Superb, outstanding nonfiction book by an outstanding journalist, written in storybook fashion, which makes for a can't put down, page turner about Michael Milken: head of high yield securities, Ivan F. Boesky: arbitrageur - investor, Martin Siegel, investment banker with Kidder Peabody, Dennis B. Levine, investment banker. Must read.

Another must read: "A License to Steal: The untold story of Michael Milken and the Conspiracy to Bilk the Nation, by Benjamin J. Stein. Another outstanding book on the operations of Milken.

I've read these three outstanding books. Any other outstanding books on Michael Milken???

Marion Chesney books seem to run hot or cold with many readers. Her characters are not fully developed in the books that I have read, but it does make for easy reading. This novel is the 2nd in the Waverly sister's saga. Three "orphans" raised by a man- hating Mrs. Waverly grow to adulthood with a very skewed view of society and gentlemen in particular. Though we never find out why Mrs. Waverly feels so strongly, we do come to understand she only wanted the three girls to assure company in her old age and set out to make them rivals to each other. She remained cold and emotionally remote throughout this book.

Frederica makes a delightful heroine because her views are strong in wanting to be an equal to men but not radically so (at least in today's standards). She seemed rational compared to Felicity, her younger sister. Lord Harry Danger (Danger??) is not dangerous at all but a true gentleman in every way seeking to capture Frederica's heart by solving the mystery of who the "orphans" really are. That mystery is NOT solved in this book. Maybe it is solved in the sequel about Felicity which I hope to obtain.

I enjoyed this book and hope to find the prequel also. There are some escapades involving drunks, thugs and thieves which add a rather odd element but seemingly the only way to introduce a little adventure into the dull Waverly's lives. Other characters are introduced but they are not fully developed -- one is Harry's mother -- very strange woman who does not appear to have a good head on her shoulders due to the constant bullying of her late husband.

Oh well, take the book as it is -- a light read with some appealing people.

This is one of the better Chesney's of the few I have read. The characters are appealing, especially Lord Harry Danger who is a delight. The book is very short however and would be much better longer and more developed. I enjoyed reading it though, even if the pleasure only lasted a few hours!

This book is the third in the Waverly series. Three sisters are raised by their adoptive mother to disdain men. The third, and last, of the sisters still resists romance. However, there's a mystery about her adopted mother that she needs to solve. A fun, whimsical book.

For the average newcomer to investing this is an OK book, but it does focus alot on subjects you probably do not need to know unless you plan on working for a brokerage firm. It does give good descriptions and examples of all the security instruments (stocks, bonds, options, futures, etc.) but it accounts for only about 50% of the book. The rest is in my opinion redundant to the lay-person and is in places woefully out of date (especially the taxation section). If updated, I would rate this a 4, but given the age of the text, I would recommend looking elsewhere for an introduction to financial markets.

Are you getting NASD series 7 registered? For quick references and review this book will make a wonderful addition to your study materials. It's definitely a keeper.

If you're new to the financial world and want to understand the lingo, terrain, and equipment of pure capitalism, this book is for you. Don't let the 1991 publication date fool you. Aside from some out-of-date tax information in a later chapter, this book packs an amazing amount of useful financial clues and explanations. One of the strongest features of this text is its use of examples. Whether it's options, futures, or IPOs, the authors provide number-based scenarios to guide the reader towards understanding. This book will not excite you or show how to make $2 million in the stock market. It will help you understand many of the financial instruments which comprise capitalism.

This book was highly over rated. For those of you who are true "world travellers", beware that this book is for TOURISTS. Though I found a few rare tidbits of information, it is certainly a book for those who are more interested in the romanticized version of Kenya than those who are interested in truly learning about the people and culture. If you are an upper end traveller who wants the glossy version, this book is for you. A very rosy viewpoint. Otherwise, stick to Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

This was an amazing book. I am an Africa fanatic and I think that this was well written with a lot of good pictures and interesting articles. Good work Jack Barker.

Excellent book for traveling to Kenya. Photos great and enjoyed the variety of experiences.

The total collapse of the economy is totally the fault of the ruling party Zanu PF.
The spending by the rulers of taxpayers money is well known and it has all to do with power and the thinking that all the land and its people belongs to Zanu PF. They should have left at least a decade ago for new ideas and new leaders, who in turn also should stepdown when their time is up.
The tragedy of Zimbabwe is a following up story of Africa.
Hopefully South Africa will not go down the same road.
Be carefull of too much power and power crazy leaders.

Any country that demands that the photo of the leader should be displace in every shop, restaurant or railway station is heading to total power.

This is the best book yet on Zimbabwe's political economy. It is full of detailed information on how and why Zimbabwe has become what it is. I particularly appreciated Bond's casting of this in the era of globalisation and the differing effects money capital has had on the country. This book's theoretical framework could usefully be deployed to other African countries, not least South Africa. His Marxist stance is welcome, in era where neo-liberalism has achieved hegemonic status. An excellent work, definitely worth getting.

Rarely has a specialist in Marxist crisis theory applied their skills to an African economy with the rigour of Patrick Bond. This lengthy study makes great advances in placing the economic problems of a small African country into a global context. Bond's main aim is to demonstrate how the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy in the 1990s is a product of both the specifics of the country and the forces of globalisation. In his view, the phenomena of overproduction and overaccumulation have very specific manifestations in Zimbabwe. He depicts several such manifestations, including boom and bust on the stock exchange and the rise and fall of property speculation. For Bond, however, these problems are rooted in a colonial history which created an economy based on a cheap black labour force. In his view, such an "uneven" economy could never sustain consumption levels adequate to ensure continued growth. As a result, the luxury consumer goods industries which targeted the white settler markets were bound to result in excess capacity. However, given the structure of the global economy, Zimbabwe ultimately had no outlet to solve this problem of overproduction. For Bond, this cul de sac lay behind earlier downturns in the economy but reached its most staggering proportions with the implementation of structural adjustment in the 1990s. The author holds out little hope for economic policy measures as a solution to Zimbabwe's poverty and inequality. Rather he posits the need for a transformation of the economic and political institutions of the country--based on the struggles and leadership of social movements. Unlike many Marxists, Bond does not leave everything to the inevitable advance of the "laws" of the capitalist system. Instead, he presents rich detail of the country's production and financial sector as well as linking the economic evolution of the crisis to the degeneration of the political leadership of the ruling ZANU-PF political party and the weakness of civil society forces. For anyone who is interested in the economies of the region, this is a major advance of our understanding of the linkages between southern African economic problems and the broader global economy. Although Bond's work is the result of Ph.D. research--he is no academic tourist. He has spent years in the region and displays the type of local knowledge that cannot be gained in First World libraries or via cyberspace. Despite its strengths, the volume has a few shortcomings. In one sense the richness of detail may detract from a broader interest which the book could attract. For readers who are not immediately familiar with Enos Nkala, Bernard Chidzero or Hunyani Paper, the extensive statistical and descriptive sections may be a bit too obscure to fully digest. Moreover, despite all the advances in our understanding of gender and development, Bond has not escaped the confines of the economy's commanding heights to seriously examine the gender and reproduction aspect of economic crisis. These faults aside, the volume is to be commended as a well-written, thoroughly researched and enriching study which breaks new ground in building an explanation for the failures of the 1990s. And for those with an interest in South Africa, Bond has presented a work which seriously calls into question any basis for economic overoptimism as a result of the "miracle" of the end of apartheid and the "Madiba magic" of Nelson Mandela.

I think that people who like dancing would prefer this book, called dancing by denys cazet.I didn't like it because the illustration was boring. It's written by denys cazet oh by the way I kind of don't like dancing. One thing I liked about the book was when the kid yells.

I did enjoy this book because it was fun looking at the pictures--because they are cool. I really liked the style of illustration using the dark and light watercolor media. And the writing fit the pictures !

I found this book less informative than others on progesterone such as Dr. Lee's "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You..." books or "The Estrogen Alternative" But it still covers the basics. It does not contain an extensive reference section or "lessons" in biology to answer the biggest question, "why?". This is a good book for those who are just learning and have many questions. The question and answer format allows the reader to get direct answers to questions instead of having to read the whole book to get an answer to a specific question.

Although this book is a bit weak in explanations as to why this is happening to our bodies, I appreciate the fact that the title includes "Progesterone". My reason why is that I was prescribed synthetic progesterone when I first started suffering from those perimenopausal problems. I got so depressed it was scary. I stopped them immediately and sought out alternatives... a site where my family has purchased supplements, herbs and vitamins for several years now has a whole section devoted to women's health. There I found some blends that are helping me immensely. I ordered ... a black cohosh blend and a wild yam cream, followed the directions and am feeling much more myself. Although this book doesn't cover it all, it is good for empowering women to not settle for synthetic forms when there are so many natural forms out there. In case you are doing searches for these, another word for these are phytoestrogers. Check them out...

Though this book was quite witty and I chuckled once or twice I cannot give it a recommendation. The heroine's promiscuity was disgusting. Along with her sexual relationship with the hero she was also having casual sex with two other men - "Nick the All Nighter" and "Delectable Dave." She even had a sexual position named after her. Her wrong-side-of-the-tracks hangups were very irritating as well. Classism is practically dead in modern metropolitian America.

This was such a fun, wonderful read. I love how it tied into "Kids is A Four Letter Word". It was great how Alan and Pamela found love and passion together and how they ended up together. I was laughing all along and wondering what they were going to get themselves into next!

I read this book after I read the first book in the series, Kids Is A Four Letter Word, and this was another one I couldn't put down!