Rating: 
Summary: Not what I was expecting
Review: The back of the book promises behind the scenes, expanded coverage, etc. Don't believe it.Sure, there is quite a bit of background on the production details of such a show, the sets, the weather and island conditions. That was indeed interesting. But with the exception of a few tidbits that I hadn't already heard (Jenna's video from home made it a day late, but they didn't give it to her; Jenna verbally attacked Jeff for not getting a video; Kelley's two-faced behavior was better depicted in print than it was on tv) there wasn't much to offer here. I had heard that there was much more to the last tribal council than what we saw, and the book promised in-depth expanded coverage of it, but there was actually less discussion of it in the book than I already knew. And not every challenge is discussed, including the few challenges we never go to see at all. In addition, this book is riddled with typos and grammatical flaws (if I had to read "I and the crew" instead of "the crew and I" one more time...) which just drove me to distraction. Perhaps there was a rush to print this? I guess this will have to satisfy me anyway until Survivor II. All in all, this was a lightning fast, interesting read from the point of view of simple production facts, but otherwise, a disappointment for those of us looking for more juicy information than we already know.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Show, Good Book
Review: This book by Mark Burnett gave me a different view about the first Survivor. The details given didn't give much more insight than the TV show, but I did notice that the story was told somewhat differently. One very small downer in this book is the number of spelling errors, not many, but it is a small hint that this book may have been rushed and not edited properly. If you haven't watched the first season of Survivor, this book does capture some of the moments, but the VHS or DVD of season 1 may be a better choice.
Rating:
Summary: Not Too Much Here.
Review: This book is supposedly based upon Mark Burnett's journal of his forty days behind the scenes of the first SURVIVOR. There isn't a whole lot of new information here and there are many typos. Everything in the book is filtered through the mind of Burnett, which has positive and negatives. Positive: readers are given insight into how Burnett felt about the players of the game (he had several favorites and there were a few people he didn't like at all) and it's interesting to see how those feelings may have influenced parts of the show. Negative: much of what Burnett tells is old news, it's as though he was trying to reach a different audience with the book than he was with the show and therefore tried not to offend too many people. The book is simple to read (I flew through it in a day) and fairly entertaining. Fans of the show may enjoy it and it makes a good primer for anyone who has never seen the show.
Rating:
Summary: A little thin on excitement
Review: Well, it sure is obvious, after reading the Survivor: Ultimate Game book, that Mark Burnett has his favorites. For the Colleen, Kelly, Jenna, Gervase fans out there, ignore this book. It seems to dwell mostly on the strange personalities of Sue Hawk, Gretchen Cordy, Greg Buis and Stacey Stillman. Not who I would have picked to write a book about. The troublesome thing about this book is that the same parts seem to be rehashed over and over again, the characters are painted in a light I would have never pictured (nor were they edited that way in the original series) and frankly, the book has about ZERO dialogue, because it was all Mark Burnett chatting about the Survivors. I'm a hardcore survivor junkie and I was disappointed with this. If you're looking for tidbits on the 1st season, get the DVD. I found it alot more entertaining than the book, and I'm a voracious reader.
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