The Essential Bond: The Authorized Guide to the World of 007

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Summary: The perfect companion for any Bond fan
Review: This book gives a terrific look at the details of each James Bond movie. It's a fantastic reference source and should be required reading for any fan of the greatest secret agent ever.

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Summary: The ultimate source for Bond
Review: This book got me hooked on the James Bond phenomenon. It goes into great detail about 007's villains, allies, gadgets, vehicles and of course, the women. It is witty and informative and looks at every film from Dr. No to The World is Not Enough. The only criticisms are that the book omits minor characters and at times, the authors include too many of their own opinions which does not allow the reader to make their own mind up about the films. In summary, an excellent book worth the money with loads of colour pictures (some never seen before).

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Summary: Informative, detailed and in depth! great!
Review: This book is everything you could want from a James Bond book. It analyses all the films and most actors. It also concentrates on the Bond phenomenon and how watchers have keep watching Bond all these years. Buy this book, now!!!

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Summary: Essential for who?
Review: This book is the "official authorized guide" to the world of 007. It's just a pity that the authors are obviously not real Bond fans. The book casually glides past Fleming;s novels and the Bonds themselves and instead does a film-by-film recap. This would be nice were it not for the fact that you often get the sense that the authors were trying to divide Bond fans into 2 distinct camps rather than prasing the series as a whole. My personal tastes were also insulted as brilliant movies like "man With The Golden Gun" and "A View To A Kill" are slammed, mocked, and scorned, while later on they gush and sing the praises of the dull villain Carver from "Tomorrow Never Dies", and stop just short of calling George Lazenby the best Bond ever. I couldn't help getting a sense that this book was written to be deliberatley provocative and irritating, and really that's not what you want in a book called "The Essential Bond".

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Summary: Nothing Original Here
Review: This book is very lightweight. It is really not published for James Bond enthusiasts but rather the novice. All of Pfeiffer and Worrall's inspiration comes from Sally Hibbon's "The Official James Bond Movie Book" published when Timothy Dalton took over the role from Roger Moore. Basically Pfeiffer and Worrall picked up from where Hibbon left off and added text for Pierce Brosnan. Sally Hibbon had a flair for making the James Bond films come to life with her prose by combining both the technical aspects of the films with the actual characters and story lines from each providing the reader with an analytical insight into the world of 007. Pfeiffer and Worrall's writings are workmanlike and dull. Even the photographs in this book are dull. The photographs in Hibbon's book were colorful and vibrant, and brilliantly complimented the text. One of the nicest endorsements for Hibbon's book was the Foreword by Albert R. Broccoli. He said that her book brought back many happy memories over the years. I don't think the same can be said of "The Essential Bond : The Authorized Guide to the World of 007."

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Summary: Solid yet uninspired
Review: This is a fairly comprehensive volume that will make most Bond fans happy. However, as an "authorized" history, it's missing an objective voice. It would have been nice to read some meaningful criticism of some of the dreadful flicks.

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Summary: the best book book about james bond
Review: This is a great book. The authors remain fair, and they don't favor anyone. The give you great information about every movie, and they give you some great behind the scenes pictures. Any bond fan will needs this book in their collection. it goes through every movie from dr. no-tomorrow never dies. A must for anyone.

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Summary: Great Job Lee and Dave!
Review: This is one of the best books that have to do with the 007 film series! The book contains many behind the scenes photos and the text gave me some more knowledge on the world of my favorite superspy, James Bond. Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall deserve a big congrats on writing such a marvelous and entertaining book!