Hindsight: A Novel of the Class of 1972

Book Description

The New York Times calls Barbara Rogan "a passionate writer whose prose is as vivid as lightning bolts." Now she delivers a mesmerizing tale of a long-hidden betrayal -- and its deadly repercussions.

In the summer of 1972, on the night of their high school graduation, nine friends make a solemn vow to meet in twenty years' time. For Willa Scott, flanked by her best friend, Angel, and her boyfriend, Caleb, the future is a canvas to be painted in bold strokes and bright colors. But the ensuing decades bring change and separation. Willa becomes a biographer, and she drifts away from Caleb and Angel.

Almost twenty years later, Willa, now mother of a teenage girl herself and recently widowed, looks up during a book signing and sees Patrick Mulhaven, the bad boy of Beacon High. He reminds her of their long-ago vow and persuades her to help track down their old group. It isn't long before Willa discovers that Angel's trail after high school is ice cold. It's as if she dropped off the face of the earth. Convinced that something has happened to her friend, Willa begins a search that takes her back through the looking glass. What she thought were the idyllic friendships of her youth are revealed as a tangled web of deception, betrayal, and life-shattering secrets. As the reunion weekend approaches, Willa is convinced that someone has killed -- and will kill again -- to keep Angel's whereabouts hidden forever. But when the people you know best are the people you know least, who can you trust?

Barbara Rogan has proven herself a master of subtly evolving fear, and Hindsight delivers a spellbinding story about the powerful -- and sometimes murderous -- yearnings of the human heart.

Customer Reviews:

More like 3 1/2 stars..........2005-05-02

Ok, though I really did enjoy this book, something about it is holding me back from saying it's a four star read, however three stars doesn't seem deserving enough. I picked this book up because the premise sounded really different and interesting, which it was...and curiosity kept me reading, but I think it was how quickly the ending was wrapped up that turned me off a bit.

Nine friends stand on Beacon Hill in June of 1972, graduation day, and make a drunken promise to meet back there in 20 years for a reunion, no matter what. Well, skip now to 1992, Willa Durrell, while promoting her new book, runs into Patrick, one of the guys from the old gang, and the pair team up to get ahold of everyone to remind them about the upcoming reunion. As the two of them slowly start finding the rest of the group (who are all as different as night and day) one person cannot be found, Angel Busky. What happened in the days after graduation that no one seems to want to talk about? Did Angel really run away like everyone's though for the last 20 years, or did something awful happen to her?

As the night of the reunion draws nearer, tensions run high. They've all grown up and most have made something of themselves. Willa refuses to stop until she finds out what happened to her friend. Then one of them dies under suspicious circumstances at the reunion party. Willa finds she's now in a dangerous position as one of their own is trying to keep the past quiet. Though this book was suspenseful enough, the ending disappointed me only in how quickly everything was wrapped up. Other than that...a really good book. I was completely surprised with who the culprit turned out to be, I thought I had it figured out halfway through the book, but not at all! If you enjoy mysteries, then overall I recommend this read. Not at all a bad way to past the time.

Reunions Can Be Deadly.......2004-11-04

Yeaarly across the world, people attend reunions. Some are for large and extended families, others may be for a group of people who served in the armed forces or simply a group of fiends who haven't seen each other in some time. Probably the most popular reunion is for a high school or university class years after the attendees graduated. With this subject in mind, Barbara Rogan has written a good suspense book, Hindsight.

In 1972, during their graduation ceremony, several friends and graduates sit on a hill and watch the proceedings. From very different backgrounds and with very different plans for their futures, these students have boycotted the ceremonies when one of their friends wasn't allowed to attend the festivities. Before they part company that day, they make a vow to return to the hill in 20 years precisely June, 1992.

The years fly by and almost none of the gang have had anything to do with one another. Willa, is now a famous author and widow with a teen age daughter. During the winter of 1992, she is at a book signing in Manhattan when she runs into Patrick, a professor at New York University and one of the old high school gang. He has followed her writing career and expesses his sorrow at the loss of her prestigious husband. Then the talk turns to thier reunion pact and Patrick is very enthusiastic to find each memebr of the gang and spend the day in June together. Will hires a privare detective and one by one the members are found except for bad girl, Angel Busky. Attmept are made by Willa and Patrtick to find out what happened to Angel when she disappeared the night of gradutaion but even trying to contact her father and others who knew her proves futile. It seem as though Angel just vanished into thin air.

Then as Willa and Patrick contact their former friends, it seems as though time and distance has not been as kind to all of them. While some have achieved their goals, some habe met with frustration and disappointment and wonder if they even want ot see the old gang ever again. And then they will need to address what happened to Angel as if they can solve this 20 year old mystery.

As the friends do gather at Willa's house in June, not far from their meeting place, one can sense that all is not right with the group. There are already hostitlies, recriminations and a sense of evil pervading the surroundings. And then when one of the friends turns up dead, the others wonder if this has happened before or again. And at the very worst, is there a killer amongst them?

This was a good read although I felt as though the characters were caricatures of high school friends with rich, smart kids mixed in with bad, wrong side of the track students. By the end I thought it was rather obvious what happened to Angel all those years before. The book, which was a fast and easy read, did leave left me wondering how anybody could get away with crimes like these unless its that it makes for suspenseful reading. And finally I wondered why most peopel feel compelled to attend a reunion years later when they have had no desire to contact any of these old friends.

Tom Wolfe said it best with the title of his book, You Can't Go Home Again, and maybe it's best to live in the present with memories tucked away. Most people think twice about attending a reunion at best and after reading Hindsight you may think more than twice remembering that reunions can be deadly in more ways than one.

With Hindsight I Would have Read This Masterpiece Earlier.......2003-11-14

This is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. This is better than Koontz novels, Patterson or any other spinechilling master authors. This is one of those books where you hope that nothing good is on television after you have started it because you do not want to put it down until the final page. Full of twists and surprises you will not be disappointed, get this book.

This is a superb literacy masterpiece about a group of friends who in their high school days(1972) were the closest of friends. They did not fit into the normal American stereotype groups so bonded to each other. The two best looking girls in the school were amongst them as were the guys no one wanted to mess with. Teachers hated them, they loved and were always there for each other.

It is no longer 1972 however, 20 years has almost passed and they have all moved on with their lives, some are famous or successful, others not so much. They made a drunken pact on Beacon Hill while watching the rest of their grade graduate, that they would meet again twenty years later no matter what. Now some have kids almost the same age they were back then, no one has kept in contact. Willa is a famous author now and one of her classmates approaches her at a book signing. They both remember the pact but will the others? Willa decides, along with Patrick that they should contact the others to remind them and to their surprise everyone remembers the pact and was wondering if the others do as well. Everyone that is except for Caleb and Angel who cannot be found. Willa approaches her private eye friend to find them and organises the reunion for her house. There are reasons though why some people can not be found. Sometimes they don't want to, sometimes they had no choice. One of the group knows all the answers but does not want the rest to know their evil secret. They will turn up to the reunion, after all, they do have a few days to kill!

Great Suspense.......2003-10-21

When friends from high school reunite after 20 years, it gives new meaning to the phrase "You can't go home again." A masterful work of suspense, full of red herrings and plot twists to keep you guessing until the very end. Unlike many novels of the suspense genre, Rogan fully develops Willa's character and her relationship with her daughter, Chloe. Can't wait to read her next one.

masterful work of suspense.......2003-02-15

On the night of their graduation in June of 1972, a group of students, nine in all, watch the proceedings from their hangout in Beacon hill. The tenth member of their group is the valedictorian. After the ceremonies the group vows to have a reunion twenty years from that date.

In January of 1992, Willa is in Manhattan doing a book signing when she sees Patrick for the first time in twenty years. He's a professor at NYU and wants to help her find the old gang for the promised reunion. They search out and find seven members of the group but nobody has seen or heard from Angel since the decade they graduated. Will hires a detective to track her down but it's as if she disappeared off the face of the earth. At the reunion, there's an undercurrent of tension in when one of the guests winds of dead. The police think it is linked to Angela's disappearance two decades ago.

HINDSIGHT is a masterful work of suspense filled with characters that are very different than the way Willa remembered them. Far different from THE BIG CHILL, the protagonist's growing fears clue the audience that one of the old gang is a killer. Barbara Rogan is a talented storyteller who keeps the tension at a high level and leaves the audience wondering what is really going on.

Harriet Klausner

Product Description

Ralph Gibson makes no secret of the twin passions that drive him: his love of photography and love of women. Now these parallel affairs of the heart meet and merge in a litany to the beauty of the female form. In his first monograph in black-and-white reductivist mode since L Anonyme, Gibson s new book, including over 100 images, honors the form and mystique of women s nude bodies.

Customer Reviews:

Splendid Celebration of the Female Nude from Gibson.......2004-08-24

For decades Ralph Gibson has worked in available light, using his hand held Leica rangefinder camera to produce work which transcends traditional fine art documentary photography, creating abstract, occasionally surrealistic images. Here in "Infanta", Gibson continues with his ongoing fascination with the female nude, but by depicting portions of the body; an eye, a breast, the torso, and so forth. What he has wrought are beautiful images which are a visual celebration of the female body. And these are stylized images rendered via the use of relatively coarse grain, high speed black and white film. Admittedly Gibson doesn't cover new ground artistically here, but instead builds on an already impressive body of work.

Striking black and white photos........2000-12-02

This is a beautiful and intriguing collection of black and white photographs. The subjects are all female (if you count one baby, of indeterminate gender), and are frequently nude. If you are open minded, I think you will find many (perhaps all) of these pictures erotic -- whatever your sexual orientation. However, this is art, not mediocre porn.

The images are generally fragments of women's bodies: a breast, a foot, a chin, a face, or just an eye. This makes it sound as if the women are objectified, but the photos always seem to invite us to revel in the beauty of the form. I, at least, feel that the pictures produce a sort of tender admiration (an "erotic" gaze, in the proper Greek sense of the term).

I disagreed with the reviewer who found Mary Gaitskill's Afterword "vulgar." (But then, Gaitskill tends to polarize readers.) Her brief essay explores her own feelings and experiences with how she and we view the naked female form, including its beauties, power, and vulnerabilities.

Amazon.com

Selected by Hayden Carruth as part of the National Poetry Series, this collection from Erin Belieu is funny, sexy, sad, and smart. Belieu sets her sights on such subjects as a hideous chair, the way a tick's attentions might remind one of certain sexual practices, and the way an unprovoked bee sting becomes a lesson in the ways of the world. Robert Pinsky identifies Belieu as "a distinctive new voice."

Average customer rating:

Indigo the Babysitter
One of the best Indigo books
The second demon attacks
Another Success
i liked it

Infanta: Book Three of Indigo
Louise Cooper
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0812506677

Customer Reviews:

Indigo the Babysitter.......2005-01-05

Great chapter in the Indigo series. Indigo goes to the Eastern Continent and to one of the richest cities in her world, Simhara. And it's also her mother's birthplace which brings painful memories to her mind.

When she arrives, the city of Simhara is taken over by a tyrant who kills the king and captures the queen along with the Infanta (the princess) and Indigo and Grimya who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Indigo is then given a special job. To become the Infanta's babysitter/mentor/mother/companion.

I won't say no more about the story, except that the story is very original and written very well. This is one of my favorites in Indigo series. The story does span several years, but that's no problem for immortal Indigo and Grimya.

One of the best Indigo books.......2002-01-15

'Infanta' is probably the most original book of the Indigo series. The plot is concerned with Indigo destroying the second demon she released from the Tower of Regrets. This book has a timespan of several years, a lot more than any of the other Indigo books.
The setting of the novel, and the way the mystery was unraveled made it very captivating, making the reader feel like a part of a world that becomes very real through the vivid descriptions. Although it has been a few months since I read this, I can still remember how I pictured each place or building in the story because of the detail the author has gone in to.
'Infanta' did not focus on Indigo's character as much as the other books, but she is still portrayed like a real person who makes mistakes, unlike many of the 'perfect' heroes of other fantasy novels. There were other characters in the story too, such as the Infanta, Grimya and Macce, who each had distinct personalities.
The quest to find the second demon is balanced with the appearance of the Nemesis and the bringing up of the Infanta. The events of this novel, and the form of the demon contrasts a lot with the preceding and following books in the series.
There were some things which I did not particularly like, such as the way the demon was destroyed, and events seeming to happen too suddenly with little warning. I found that the pace of the book seemed too slow or too fast a lot of the time.
But, all the aspects of the plot come together quite well, and I think overall this is a great novel.

The second demon attacks.......2000-10-23

This is the third book in the Indigo series, and although not one of the more fast paced, one of the best, in my opinion. The stone takes Indigo to Simhara, the Jewel of the East; in a time of turmoil, for the city has been taken by a conqueror. But the omens are ambigous, and as she takes care of the infanta, to be among the happenings, time passes. But she never forgets the words of the fortune teller: Beware the serpent eater...

Indigo is obviously doomed to encounter the second demon she released from the tower of regrets, but hers is a work of patience, and the only soul she can trust is Grimya, her devoted, talker wolf friend.

Another Success.......2000-02-18

I really would've given Infanta four and one half stars, I figure it will average out with the other reviewers. Infanta took awhile to get going, and while it was interesting, it wasn't the most captivating intro Louise Cooper has written. The initial slowness, and the constantly looking for someone to aid her in her quest are the reasons for the rating. I felt that Indigo was given this quest, she was told she can't die, so why such conservatism? Any problems that her rashness would've inflicted on the people, would easily out weigh the danger of having a demon in their midst. Objectively, though, I feel that her hesitancy might've been necessary to round out the story. Because of the nature of this book I will stray from any details, so as not to ruin any of the surprises. An overall view on this book then: In Infanta the demon is far more complex an entity than Charchad of Inferno, and Indigo is forced to rise to that level. Mystery is all around Indigo, but there never seems to be a plausible source to turn to for answers. No Jasker this time. At every turn Indigo is thwarted, making her goal appear less and less likely to succeed. I found myself really raking my mind to guess as to how her situation would be resolved. Infanta once it picks up speed really grabs a hold of you. It is, however, only one small piece in the puzzle of Indigo. Get all eight books.

i liked it.......1999-05-05

I really liked this book.I loved the characters,and the plot.I've read it three times already!You should read this series if you haven't yet!

Average customer rating:

Touching and highly erotic

Infanta
Bodo Kirchoff
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

German | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0670842613

Customer Reviews:

Touching and highly erotic.......1998-03-10

Modern German literature tends to be very arty and extremely boring. If it were not for Bodo Kirchhoff. He is a novelist, essayist and playwright, focussing mostly on obscure erotic possessions. His protagonists are mostly male, in their fourties, good-looking and without any influence on what is happening to them. Usually, his characters rather react to all the catastrophies, murder and death they are faced with than act.

The main character of this novel, a German fashion model named Kurt Lucas, experiences exactly this: It is not he himself who is in charge of things, but everything just happens to him. Kirchhoff never tells his readers about Lucas's thoughts; Lucas remains a completely blank and empty character.

Still, "Infanta" is a really beautiful novel, set in the exotic Phillippines. This setting stresses even more how helpless Lucas is, although we get the impression that even in a familiar environment he must always be a stranger even to himself. Kirchhoff's prose is beautiful in style, at least in the German original (I have not read the translation) and the main characters of the story (except for Lucas) are described very plastically. Furthermore, the novel is highly erotic from the first to the last page.

Average customer rating:

A tragic fairy tale
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, Vol. 3: The Birthday of the Infanta
P. Craig Russell
Manufacturer: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comics & Graphic Novels | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1561632139

Book Description

One of comic art¹s most respected and pioneering artists, well known for his opera adaptations and beautiful fantasy work, P. Craig Russell is in the process of adapting Oscar Wilde¹s famous fairy tales in a series of landmark volumes.

Customer Reviews:

A tragic fairy tale.......2005-03-14

A tragic fairy tale for older children, about the lavish birthday celebrations of the Spanish Infanta (Princess) and a hideous misshapen dwarf who is brought to perform for her birthday celebrations. He dreams of being the companion of the beautiful Infanta, but then in the palace he sees how ugly he is in a mirror, and dies of a broken heart.

Exquisitely written, in the poetic prose of Oscar Wilde:

'The Lizards also took an immense fancy to him, and when he grew tired of running about and flung himself down on the grass to rest, they played and romped all over him, and tried to amuse him in the best way they could. "Every one cannot be as beautiful as a lizard," "That would be too much to expect. And, though it sounds absurd to say so, he is not really so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one shuts one's and does not look at him." The Lizards where extremely philosophical by nature, and often sat thinking for hours and hours together, when there was nothing else to do, or when the weather was too rainy for them to go out."

The Prince & the Infanta: The Cultural Politics of the Spanish Match

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The Prince & the Infanta: The Cultural Politics of the Spanish Match
Glyn Redworth
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Spain | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

17th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

Charles I

ASIN: 0300101988

Book Description

On the night of March 7, 1623, the prince of Wales and the duke of Buckingham knocked on the door of the British embassy in Madrid. Their unsolicited arrival began one of the most bizarre episodes in British history, as the Protestant heir to the Stuart throne struggled to win the Spanish Infanta as his bride. The prince's visit marked the end of a decade of high-level negotiation to secure a marriage between the leading Protestant and Catholic royal families and heal Europe's century-old division into warring Christian camps. The effort was a diplomatic disaster. It split political and religious opinion in Britain, alienated much of Italy and Germany, confused the Spaniards (who thought that the English crown was about to convert), and failed to secure a marriage or to resolve the Thirty Years' War. Drawing on archival material from five countries, Glyn Redworth provides the definitive explanation of this pivotal moment and tells a fascinating story of early modern politicking, cultural misunderstanding, and religious confusion.

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Anne of Austria: The infanta queen
Meriel Buchanan
Manufacturer: Hutchinson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000860D1M

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ANNE OF AUSTRIA; THE INFANTA QUEEN
BUCHANAN MERIEL
Manufacturer: HUTCHINSON & CO.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SB70FY

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Birthday of the Infanta
Janet Lewis
Manufacturer: Symposium Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

The Birthday of the Infanta
Oscar Wilde
Manufacturer: The Macmillan Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

A solid ending to a bold idea...

A Doctor Who book that reads like a... book!

You were always on my mind...

Timewyrm: Revelation (The New Doctor Who Adventures)
Paul Cornell
Manufacturer: London Bridge (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Doctor Who | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0426203607

Customer Reviews:

A solid ending to a bold idea..........2003-08-17

Paul Cornell has written a great ending to a series of books that were risky to begin with. It's not too often you see a line of books, even one based on a popular tv series, begin with a multi-part storyline. And while the story went from simple to (the first book in the series whose name eludes me at the moment) to silly (Timewyrm: Apolcalypse, the third in the series, Cornell not only offers a great story, but also sets the stage and mood for future chapters in this series, which has either been embraced or repulsed by Doctor Who fandom. The nice thing about this work is that it stands alone, if you are unwilling to read the others in the series. Take a look and then you decide.

A Doctor Who book that reads like a... book!.......2001-11-26

The Virgin New Adventures promised much upon their initial release. Unfortunately, while the first three books had varying degrees of success at holding the readers' interest, they hadn't done much in the way of fulfilling their back cover promise. The closest thing they'd done to being "too broad and too deep for the small screen" was (apart from having a lot of night filming) to include characters who had been played by on television by actors who were now dead.

And then, on the fourth book, came TIMEWYRM: REVELATION.

Instead of cleverly sidestepping the Timewyrm Arc in the way that EXODUS and APOCALYPSE had, Paul Cornell dove right into the elements and constructed the story right around the Timewyrm and her mysterious powers. Instead of having cameos of previous Doctors just for the sake of it, here we have the Doctor's past popping up to give us a different point of view. These sections are excellent. These are enduring images that capture the very essence of the Doctors that they are displaying. Apart from a few places of awkwardness at the conclusion, this whole concept works very well -- which is a relief, since in the hands of a lesser writer one could imagine this going horribly, horribly wrong. Thankfully, it works well here.

The book splits its time between doing things that don't work well if you think about them too hard and doing things that work exponentially better the more you think about them. It's a strange combination, but one that ultimately succeeds. Several characters are drawn quite realistically. We really get inside the Doctor's head, of course, but we also get some excellent characterization out of Ace and a handful of the secondary characters. The Reverend Trelaw and Saul are some of the most interesting people we've seen in Who. Even the characters without much to do have several enjoyable exchanges, although one wonders while reading if Emily and Peter are ever going to have anything to do.

This is a story about growing up, about transforming oneself from one thing into another, while still retaining the core and beliefs of the person that was there before. (Any similarities to the process that the books were going through -- trying to establish themselves after the glories of the television series -- can only be entirely circumstantial, I'm sure.) For the most part, the book succeeds at what it's doing. The sections where Ace grows up, both physically (due to age regression and progression) and emotionally are quite well done, being powerful and surprisingly subtle in places. The difference in viewpoint between the child Ace and the grown woman are done quite well. Cornell had a lot to say about growing up and everything works exactly as it should in the context given.

There are a few areas where the TV series background of the book is apparent. The action is very fast and there are many quick-cut scenes. It's an odd mixture of literary Who blended with televisual Who, but I think it's an experiment that mostly succeeds. The book is fast, furious and surrealistic. It's a head trip that almost completely works.

So, what we end up with is a book for which it is impossible to downplay its long-term influence. REVELATION left its mark on the books from that point forward. The books suddenly looked like they really could hit that goal of being "too broad and too deep for the small screen". The future was bright.

You were always on my mind..........2001-04-07

The Doctor and Ace arrive in the English village of Cheldon Boniface... Or so it appears! Just past the village's outskirts is the surface of the moon.

The conclusion of the Timewyrm quartet, this one is perhaps the most interesting of the four (others might argue that 'Timewyrm: Exodus' should hold that distinction). Inherent to this book is an examination of just how the change of personality that comes about with regeneration is played out in the Doctor's mind.

This book turns many of Doctor Who's accepted tenets on their heads while still maintaining them, and may very well be a true revelation to readers who follow the series.

Paul Cornell is often spoken of as one of the better writers on Virgin's New Adventures line. Pick this one up and see why.

Average customer rating:

A great all around book for beer tasting aficianados

Rather out of date

Not useful

Great reference on 500 beers

okay

Michael Jackson's Great Beer Guide
Michael Jackson
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Beer | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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The Beer Guide

The Big Book o' Beer: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Greatest Beverage on Earth

ASIN: 0789451565

Book Description

The world's 500 best beers!

Which beers are the best? Get the inside stories on Czech pilseners, German lagers, Belgian wheat beers and Trappist brews, classic British ales, Irish stouts, and American microbrews. The shelves of the supermarkets are packed with an every-changing array of beers from around the world. Bars, pubs, restaurants, and clubs stock an ever-greater range. Which will suit your tastes? Which is the beer for the moment? Will this beer be light, crisp, and refreshing; this one sweet, that one dry and bitter? TV Beer Hunter Michael Jackson has tasted them all. He describes the flavor and body of each beer, explains why beers taste the way they do, notes their strength and ideal serving temperature. Spot the best beers with aid of superbly shot photographs, each showing the bottle, label, and the properly poured beer in its ideal glass. Never before has beer looked so beautiful.

Customer Reviews:

A great all around book for beer tasting aficianados.......2007-08-20

If you love to read about, and taste, gourmet beer, then chalk this book up as a must-have.

Michael "The Beer Hunter" Jackson (not to be confused with the glove-wearing pop singer of the same name) is (as of this writing) the most well known beer writer in the world.

In his book, TBH (the beer hunter) tours all the major beer producing regions of the globe, and discusses many of their most well known and widely selling offerings. It's a great book to learn about the names and styles of beer from around the globe, and there are lots of spiffy full color pictures and some fairly decent tasting notes.

TBH's books do have minor flaws - the only one worth mentioning (not that it matters to most laypersons) is that MJ is a just a beer aficianado and a paid guest speaker ... he's NOT a brewer. Homebrewers who buy his books in order to learn more about how to make the beers they read about in his books are bound to be disappointed, because MJ often omits the sort of details that brewing geeks like me obsess over ... such as which beers use which hops and (in general) which types of specialty grains; the fact that the secret ingredient of Anchor Brewing's "Old Foghorn" Barleywine is Maple Syrup; and that Mackesson Triple Stout gets it's slightly burnt backnote from slightly scorched brewer's caramel. Such information exists, but you have to hunt around elsewhere for it ... a good starting place is the "Classic Beer Style Series" (IBDoF linkage pending).

Bottom line: This is a great all around book for beer lovers.

Rather out of date.......2007-03-29

I bought this book because I was just getting into craft beer and I wanted to gain a better understanding of the different types of beers and their history. This book, however, is really just a directory of beers with pictures and short descriptions. If the beer you are drinking is in the book, then it's nice to read up on the beer. It's especially good for European beers. However, its selection of American craft beers leaves a lot to be desired and passes over tons of the best American craft beers -- even those with wide distribution.

It's a decent book to have in the library, but I probably would not buy it again. If I had previewed it in a book store I would have passed.

Not useful.......2007-03-15

Compared with other similar books that help readers understand and select products (e.g. wine, cheese, etc) this book about beers is not helpful at all. I could not use it for the main purpose I had bought it: to help me select beers when I go to a liquor store. Most of the beers featured in the book are absent from the US market (or too hard to find).
I don't think it is a useful book, at least not for me.

Great reference on 500 beers.......2007-02-02

This is an excellent beer reference for both novice and expert beer lovers. The bulk of the content is made up of one-page-per-beer descriptions complete with tasting notes, historical anecdotes, pictures of the beer and bottle, and a table filled with notes on: region of origin, style, alcohol content, and serving temperature.

The book also contains a glossary of terms for those wishing to make their own tasting notes.

My primary use for the book has been to aid me in selecting new beers to try when I make internet orders.

okay.......2007-01-15

The book certainly presents a variety of good beers and nice photos of the beer bottles as well as traditional glasses, however, I was hoping for a chapter briefly explaining the reasons these beers taste differently (for example, background on the different brewing processes). I was also disappointed with the size of the book (not the page count), expecting something larger.

The Great Beers of Belgium : A Complete Guide and Celebration of a Unique Culture

Average customer rating:

Devour Saisons

The Great Beers of Belgium : A Complete Guide and Celebration of a Unique Culture
Michael Jackson
Manufacturer: M.M.C.-CODA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Beer | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9053730052

Customer Reviews:

Devour Saisons.......1998-01-04

If you love Belgian beer, this is the ultimate porn: glossy, leering shots of trappist beers, breathless accounts of spontaneously fermenting lambics...all impressively put together on quality paper etc. A great gift for beergeek friends and other Belgophiles.

Average customer rating:

Great Beer Guide (500 Classic Brews)
Michael Jackson
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0760785325

Average customer rating:

GREAT BEER GUIDE: 500 CLASSIC BREWS.
Michael. Jackson
Manufacturer: Dorling Kindersley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1405300035

The Great Beers of Belgium: The new guide to Belgian beer culture

Average customer rating:

The Great Beers of Belgium: The new guide to Belgian beer culture
Michael Jackson
Manufacturer: CODA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 9052320969

Average customer rating:

Great Beer Guide
Michael Jackson
Manufacturer: Dorling Kindersley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K3K6FG

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