Product Description

Robert J. Wagner opens his heart to share the romances, the drama, and the humor of an incredible life.

Customer Reviews (133)

A total waste of words
This self-bloated man who refuses to enlighten us on the mysterious death of his late-great wife, Natalie Wood, attempts in this late life account to categorize himself as a Hollywood great. This man wants to coast out of life as something he's not. He was a sub-standard actor and according to his book, an actor who never made even one film that puts him in the class of greats he writes about. He was not a biggie but "hung with some of them" and married one of them twice.

I had to read this book after reading Goodbye Natalie Goodbye Splendour, a book that describes a man who obviously cannot describe himself without embellishment and outright lies.

What anyone sees in this piece of lies is beyond me. I am an avid reader of biographies and this has got to be the most fictional, self-inflated, vulgar, pretentious one I've ever closed the last page on.

Entertaining, Candid, Surprising
I bought this book without many expectations, but found it extremely entertaining and almost uncomfortably candid. I am very familiar with the fact that most celeb bios are largely ghosted and filtered so much that the truth is the first casualty. But my very strong sense of this book was that Wagner was sharing his truth as much as he was capable of. As a huge fan of Old Hollywood, I really enjoyed his inside stories and found his account of the tragic passing of Natalie Wood truthful and heartfelt. Anyone with a good BS detector can see through the passages where the author is clearly trying to present himself or others in light that might be shining a little more brightly than was the case, but overall there is an awful lot of self-depracation in this work, much more than the ususal Hollywood memoir. This is a read that is an awful lot of fun and deserves to be on the bookshelves of anyone who adores movies.

Probably should have been published after his death...
I picked-up and read two books during a week at the beach -- one by a journalist who interviewed President Gerald Ford during the years before his death, who stipulated that the content could not be published during his lifetime ("Write It When I'm Gone"); and, the other being Robert Wagner's "Pieces of My Heart." After reading the reviews posted on this site of Wagner's book one has to wonder if he now wishes that his memoir had been published after his death as well. Wow! I am ever-so-thankful than my modest life is not in the public eye as the meanness of some of these reviewers is something to behold.

As for myself, I liked the book. After reading so many that are simply either compilations of the star's own press clippings or butterfly kisses to everyone the person ever met -- this one was straightforward, honest and probably as accurate of a star's autobiography as one can expect. This is a man who spent his whole life and career playing golf, sleeping with, socializing and acting with a virtual who's who of the industry. One cannot help but to thoroughly enjoy his "behind the scenes" candor and insight of these talented personalities.

Yes, the book would have portrayed Robert Wagner in a more positive light and been more palatable to many older/conservative readers if it had been sanitized by an editor or press agent. Thankfully, Mr. Wagner is at the age where one says: "What the hell, that's the way it was." Good Lord, if these readers will think back on their own undergraduate days and some of the antics we all did at that young age -- and consider what more we would have done if we had the money and access to the stars and perks he had -- well, I'm not so sure they/we would have been angels either.

I intend to use my Netflix account to order a number of the films he discusses and watch the interactions of the actors he describes, and enjoy the insight his book brings to the history of the movie industry during the decades in which he acted. I especially enjoyed the aspects of the book where he discusses his growth as an actor -- what worked, and didn't and how he learned from those older and more experienced.

R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University

Awesome book
I found the book to be very interesting, well written and truthful regarding. Natalies death. What a wonderful life RJ has lead, to have found great love twice. Congratulations on the way you took over raising the children without
Sending them off to be taken care or raised by a boarding school.Natalie would be proud of both you and Jill.

Mr. Wagner's admirers will love this book!!!!
For anyone who is an admirer of his you will enjoy this read from cover to cover. I like how honest he was with everything. It's so interesting that I read it straight through to the end. The photos are treasures. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (9)

MUSICOLOGICAL FRAUD
Mr Gutman's construct of Wagner's world has entirely fallen victim to his virtually neurotic attempts for compensation. While his driving force is clear and explainable, it is unprofessional and, in its disguise as a serious contribution to understanding the complex life and psyche of Richard Wagner, it is dishonest and simply lacks the integrity rightfully expected from such a work. Because of the fact that this dishonest construct practically extends throughout the far too many pages for a compensatory exercise, I don't intend to go into disproving single instances where the author has bent the truth, been dishonest or inventive to bolster his own case. I must admit that this task simply isn't worth the effort for me. It is telling that Mr Gutman is least venomous in the brittle contributions on Wagner's music, his instrumentation, his revolutionary use of the Leitmotiv and Stabreim, and the enormous power of his language; the occasional reference to "...magnificent instrumentation..." leaves the taste of a dishonest alibi attempt, a hollow garnishment. Mr Gutman completely exposes himself to ridicule when he suggests that Wagner lacks real mastery of the German language. While this may be attributable to German not being Mr Gutman's first idiom, thus preventing him from grasping the whole dynamics of Wagner's expressive powers ("kein Recht an ihm schwörst du schwatzend dir zu!"), his writings become outright awkward and intellectually insulting when he draws "...the direct line from Jahn to Wagner to Hitler." The result of Mr Gutman's efforts may be catering to a certain reader segment that harbors similar extra-musical motivation, but for a person honestly interested in an unbiased work on the composer it must be regarded as musicological fraud: "Nach Walhall taugt er mir nicht!"

Intellectually dishonest
Gutman has an axe to grind.He despises Wagner and sets out to discredit the composer whenever possible.While it is true that Wagner had many despicable traits (antisemitism, mendacity, oportunism, megalomania, womanizing, etc.), Gutman creates a wholly unsympathetic picture of this musical genius.Gutman sees the influence of Wagner's antisemetism everywhere, similar to the way UFO enthusiasts see the influence of space aliens everywhere in our culture.As a result this biography is not fair and balanced.Gutman's goal seems to be to get the reader to despise Wagner as much as he does.Laon, in his review, gives many detailed examples of Gutman's intellectual slipperiness as a biographer.Gutman maintains that Parsifal is Wagner's antisemitic magnum opus and the fact that Wagner's text does not support his argument, Gutman regards as proof of how clever Wagner was in hiding his antisemitism in his artistic works.He hid it so well that only Gutman can see it. Give me a break!How could the fact that there is no evidence be proof of the agrument he is making?

Regarding the "ihn" versus "ihm" controversy in Tristan, Laon does a good job in elucidating Gutman's silly inuendoes.There is another possibility, which is that Wagner was trying to emulate an archaic German, so he may have deliberately chosen the "wrong" grammar (by modern standards) to make the sentence sound like an older pre-modern Germanic tongue.Native German speakers sometimes have difficulty understanding Wagner's texts for that reason.I agree with Laon that Gutman's book is decent on the facts of Wagner's life but is biased and misleading on the interpretation of those facts.It's too bad that such a knowledgeable writer as Gutman could let his personal biases mar what could have been a balanced and thoughtful biography of this controversial musical genius.Gutman's logic appears to run as follows:Wagner was anti-Semitic, Hitler liked Wagner's music and ideas, therefore Wagner was responsible for the Holocaust.

I read this book hoping to understand how Wagner, with all his character flaws, could write such beautiful and psychologically insightful musical dramas.Gutman did not answer my question, except to say that what appear on the surface to be works of genius are really clever attempts by a scoundrel to indoctrinate others into his antisemitism.How is it then that I come away from listening to Wagner with a loathing of anti-Semitism and a overwhelming experience of comapssion for the human family?

Best single-volume Wagner biography
Occasionally in life one encounters a biography so insightful, so rich in detail and so beautifully written that it nearly transcends its subject and stands as a work of art unto itself. It is in this category that Gutman's masterpiece belongs. There is so much to learn from this historiographical account of the great composer's life that one scarecely knows where to begin praising it. Best of all, in the Ernest Newman tradition, Gutman shows us the real Wagner, warts and all, and traces the all-too-tangible line leading from the composer's pen to the Nazi nightmare. At times shocking, Gutman's work "opens the kimono" on the breeding ground of hatred and racism that Bayreuth became, and the composer's steadily increasing obsession with the Jews. He offers incontrovertible proof, now widely accepted and expounded on in the indispensable works of Rose and Weiner and Zelinsky, of how Wagner incorporated these racist ideal into his operas. At the same time, Gutman recognizes the incredible genius of his subject, and praises the works mightily. His account is always balanced, fair and backed by evidence. It is no wonder the Wagner apologists have criticized this book heavily, while the leading musical journals and book reviewers have blessed it with near-unanimous acclaim: Many simply cannot bear the fact that their favorite composer directly influenced Hitler and had a streak of true evil in him. Gutman bravely shatters myths and shows us Wagner for what he truly was: a composer of incomparable gifts and a human being of precious few qualities. If you haven't read this book yet, I strongly recommend you explore it now.

Even less reliable than I remembered
I've just re-read this book, after first reviewing it over two years ago. I noted Gutman's unreliability then, but on re-reading I can only report that my opinion of Gutman has fallen further. I originally awarded it two stars; I now think that was generous.

This book is more careless of source material than any book has right to be, but it's not ordinary carelessness.All errors and misstatements happen to support Gutman's case for a proto-Nazi Wagner.When a book's errors all support one thesis, that pattern must raise questions not just of competence but also of integrity.

For example Gutman claims Wagner was "sympathetic" to proto-Nazi Bernhard Förster's attempted German community in Paraguay.But Cosima's Diaries show that Wagner held Förster in general and the South American project in particular in contempt.Why this "mistake"?Because it suits Gutman's thesis.

Or take Wagner's late essays.If you read the essays themselves rather than Gutman's profoundly dishonest exegesis, you find a man wrestling with his own racism.

In _Heroism and Christianity_, for example, Wagner does take it as a given that white people are superior to other "races".Wagner, like many other European and American artists, was the product of a racist culture and it is unhistorical to pretend otherwise.But then Wagner writes that although people find the idea of the commingling of all human "races" into "a uniform equality" distressing, this is because of their cultural blinkers. "It is only looking at it through the reek of our own civilisation and culture than makes this picture so repellant," he says.

Christianity, Wagner continues, is superior to other religions because it is aimed equally at all "races" while Judaism and Brahminism, for example, include noble ideas but are aimed at only one "race" or caste.Although (he writes) it is "natural" [meaning "likely to occur in nature"] for strong "races" to rule weaker "races", the rule of one "race" by another has led to "exploitation" and an "utterly immoral system". Wagner's answer is equality of all "races" under "a universal moral concord", something Wagner suggests that Christian doctrines could bring about.(Wagner was not a Christian, but in later life admired Christian rituals and doctrines.)

The essay is not enlightened by modern standards, but in its historical context it stands as Wagner's rejection of the proto-Nazi ideas of his own day.Gutman's systematic distortions are regrettable not just because they go beyond mere inaccuracy but also because they are much less interesting than the truth.

A passage recently cited as an example of Gutman's merits provides another example of Gutman's method:

"Monsalvat was Wagner's paranoiac concept of a small self-contained elite group, uniquely possessed of the truth, obsessed with its 'purity,' and struggling with an outside world it held worthless. Redemption was promised the hard-pressed knights, but, obviously, the Wagnerian redeemer was not to be found among Jewish craftsmen or lepers. Not by accident did Guernemanz almost immediately remark upon Parsifal's noble, highborn appearance. He knew what signs to read. Racial heredity and strict breeding, not natural selection, formed the new mechanism of salvation. Wagnerian eugenics had come into being; in his latest writing the composer had embraced the darker implications of Darwinism."

Problems?First, Gutman misses the way _Parsifal_ shows Montsalvat critically and ironically (our first glimpse is of its watchmen sleeping on the job), as a damaged community that fails to live up to its ideals.An example is the knights' and squires' rejection of Kundry as Outsider, a moral fault for which the saintly Gürnemantz, clearly Wagner's mouthpiece, reproves them.

Second, the reference to "Jewish craftsmen and lepers" is Gutman's invention. Neither are mentioned, let alone disparaged, in _Parsifal_.

Third, Gutman must know that the remark on the hero's "noble appearance" is standard in Wagner's source material, and referred not so much to race as to "gentle upbringing", meaning having "courtly" deportment as opposed to the gestures and manners of a peasant.Example?In Wagner main source, von Eschenbach's _Parzifal_, similar observations are made about Parzifal's half-brother Fierafiz, whose mother was black.

Fourth, the Montsalvat community is not "self-contained".Wagner's text mentions that Gawain is a member of the Montsalvat community, though that character is also a member of Arthur's court.And Gawain, like the other Montsalvat knights, spends as much or more time out in the world than at Montsalvat.

Fifth, Montsalvat's alleged "racial hereditary and strict breeding" is more Gutmanian invention.Not only does _Parsifal_ not contain any such idea, or anything remotely like it, but Wagner's text rules out the possibility.Gürnemantz tells us that Montsalvat was founded by Titurel, who has had one adult child and is still alive when the opera begins.Gürnemantz was also a founding Montsalvat member."Breeding program"?When?Instead the Montsalvat community must have grown through that bugbear even of modern racists: immigration.Some of Montsalvat's knights and squires may be children of original members, but that's hardly a breeding program.(By the way, Wagner's Montsalvat is in Spain.Not Germany.)

Can a passage so densely inaccurate be the product of mere carelessness?I think not.

Actually Gutman misses an intriguing possibility about Parsifal's ancestry. Parsifal comes from "Arabia".His father Gamuret was probably Welsh or Cornish, but we are told that Herzeleide was pregnant with Parsifal when Gamuret was in "Arabia".Since knights didn't take wives with them on crusade, the implication is that Gamuret met Herzeleide in "Arabia".(Wagner's text concerning Herzeleide differs significantly from his sources.)It's amusing in this context to consider that Wagner's Parsifal may have been what the media is currently calling "of Mid-Eastern appearance", and quite ineligible for the Hitler Youth.Still, the Nazi thing is Gutman's obsession, not Wagner's.Oh, and far from loving _Parsifal_, as Gutman would have you believe, the truth is that the Nazis banned it.

In short, Gutman's "first casualty" wasn't Wagner, but truth. An irresponsibly unreliable book.

Cheers!

Laon

Extraordinary
This is an extraordinary book -- on a par with Maynard Solomon's Mozart -- but don't just take my word for it. The New York Times Book Review called it the "richest and best-accomplished single volume on Wagner in English." The late Paul Hume, himself no slouch as a musician, musicologist, and critic, called it "superb."

In 455 dense pages, Gutman, retired as a university professor and lecturer at Bayreuth, chronicles the comings and goings of Richard Wagner's life, probes the recesses of his often messy mind and his frequently strained relationships with other artists, lovers, thinkers, political figures, and hangers on, examines the development of his ever-changing esthetic, and analyzes the novelty of his music and, more importantly, the sometimes bourgeois, sometimes frightening sentiments of his words. As a reader, it helps to have some prior familiarity with the plots of Wagner's operas and with nineteenth-century European intellectual history.

Gutman's central thesis is that, as a composer of music, Wagner was a genius; as a poet, he was barely literate; and as a human being, he was egomaniacal, boorish, uneducated, greedy, opinionated in the extreme, and racist. In 1968, when Gutman first advanced this thesis, Wagner was enjoying a resurgence of critical acclaim as a poet. Otherwise there is nothing to be surprised by here. The composer's problems with patrons and creditors, his voracious sexual appetites, his meretricious relationship with King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the appeal of the composer's operas to Hitler and hence to the Third Reich, his involvement in the events of 1848, and his anti-semitism have long been well known.

In developing his thesis, Gutman displays an encyclopedic understanding, not only of letters, libretti, Wagner's own vague scribblings (whether in support of revolution or a diet of vegetables), and other primary sources for a biography, but also of the political and intellectual context in which Wagner's life was played out. Nietzsche, Lizst, Kaiser Wilhelm, Metternich, the mistresses of the Jockey Club, Goethe, and Ulysses S. Grant march, leap, and slide effortlessly through these pages. Gutman's writing is lucid, rich, and spiced with urbane humor.

Thus, for example, Gutman writes that the failure of the first Bayreuth festival of 1876 apparently turned Wagner -- previously a romantic rebel and always a staunch atheist -- away from a belief in inevitable advance toward higher forms just as he was composing what he knew would be his final opera, Parsifal. The result was profoundly unchristian. "Monsalvat was Wagner's paranoiac concept of a small self-contained elite group, uniquely possessed of the truth, obsessed with its 'purity,' and struggling with an outside world it held worthless. Redemption was promised the hard-pressed knights, but, obviously, the Wagnerian redeemer was not to be found among Jewish craftsmen or lepers. Not by accident did Guernemanz almost immediately remark upon Parsifal's noble, highborn appearance. He knew what signs to read. Racial heredity and strict breeding, not natural selection, formed the new mechanism of salvation. Wagnerian eugenics had come into being; in his latest writing the composer had embraced the darker implications of Darwinism."

This book has a well-supported point-of-view. It is a great read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Timeless, Wonderful, Effective, Should Be In Print Now!!!
In this well-written and illustrated book, Lindsay Wagner and her collaborator present a 20-minute acupressure program that will make a positive difference in facial looks and health too, as acupressure points usually have more than one beneficial effect when stimulated. It's easy to do and takes no more energy than sitting upright and stimulating various facial and upper body acupressure points with your fingertips for one minute each! There are also valuable and interesting tips on a healthy lifestyle, majoring in the beneficial effects of a balanced vegetarian diet. This is information that is just as up-to-date today as it was when originally published, and should remain in print for the benefit of anyone who wants or needs to make use of it! I can testify that the facelift works just as well for men as women; I can also say that I have gifted an actress friend with this book, and within only a couple of weeks of practice, she emailed me that people around her had begun to tell her that she was looking ten years younger! There are still used copies of this book available--try it for yourself!

It Works!
This book was worth every penny and then some.

The technique works.Not only do you look younger
(after repeated use), but your face feels rejuvinated.

Thank you, Lindsay!

A wonderful method
I discovered "New Beauty: The Acupressure Facelift" about five months ago and have practiced Lindsay's acupressure methods nearly every day since. I have noticed great results! I love this book and wish it would be re-printed. She provides a wonderful alternative to surgical facelifts--something plastic surgeons certainly wouldn't like! Still, I think all women should be able to learn about the benefits of facial massaging and exercises and decide for themselves if this method is right for them. It IS right for me.

Deserves Reprinting
I found this book several years ago at the public library.It delivers just what it promises, a useful method for improving circulation, health and thereby skin tone and color. Using this method provides a viablealternative to surgery. It's longer lasting, relaxing, non-invasive andcost-effective.A valuable book for anyone committed to self-responsibleself-maintenance.

Because it's out of print, I've borrowed this bookagain several times since.I've also looked for something simliar topurchase, but nothing comes close.Alas! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Long Search Rewarded
I was one of the biggest surprises of my life (I am 62 years old) that I found myself fascinated with Wagner - my first contact being a Parsival performance in the year 1976 in Stuttgart with Peter Hoffmann and a full Ring performance soon after that (and many others after that).Ever since then I have tried to understand what the root of that fascination is - I have read lots of books, and repeatedly listened to various performances of the music ... but have never found a satisfactory linkage of what occurs on the stage and in the orchestra pit with what went on inside of me.This Robert Donington book does more to satisfy that search than any lecture or other book I have come into contact with.As soon as I read his handling of the mermaids in the first chapter, I knew I was in good hands.No one will agree with everything that Donington says - I think he admits that such interpretations are tentative - but I have to be thrilled at the connections, often musically documented in the subtle changes to the leit-motifs, which open vistas of interpretation that I had not been aware of before.An enormous achievement.

Terrific, multi-faceted and consistent analysis.
Reading the first few pages of this book it became clear to me what the emphasis of this interpretation of Wagner's masterpiece would be, namely a Freudian/Jungian interpretation of the subconscious driving force behind Wagner's genius. I wasn't particularly receptive to this approach initially, notwithstanding the fact that I have a first degree in Psychology. However, the author's cogent and fluid arguments convinced me of the validity of such an interpretation.

Wagner as an artist allowed himself to be driven by his subconscious in his later works, allowing his conscious self to contribute only for the purpose of rounding off the work. On the basis of this a detailed understanding of Wagner's subconscious, and indeed the interplay between his subconscious and conscious self must be seen as of indispensable importance to an indepth evaluation of 'der Ring des Nibelungen'.

I think it is important to note that given the complexity of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung such an interpretation does not preclude the relevance of other interpretations at different levels of abstraction. More orthodox evaluations of Wagner's tetralogy have concerned themselves with Wagner's apparent political and romantic motivations. While such interpretations are not necessarily incompatible with Donington's analysis the author looks beyond the realm of the salient in order to take us places that were closed even to Wagner himself.

Psychological analysis, particularly when of the Classical variety, may be unpalatable to many when used to interpret famous works of art. A common criticism of advocates of Freudian and Jungian psychology is that the theories to which they subscribe are outdated and often, in the case of Freudian psychoanalysis, fundamentally flawed. However, many such theories still resonate today and in fact the appearance of what 'hard' scientists may deem outdated terminology is a perfectly apt and valid way to deal with the issues in this particular artistic work. The use of words like 'ego', as when contrasted with the 'subconscious', might deter the interest of some, but Donington uses such terminology interchangeably with more contemporary expressions such as 'conscious will' and certainly from a psychological and neuroscientific perspective the conscious-subconscious duality is as relevant now as it ever was.

Donington uses his knowledge of Freudian and Jungian psychology to explain the Ring Cycle from a developmental psychology perspective. The power struggle between conscious-will, or ego, and the subconscious. Synonyms for such a conflict include power versus love (a popular understanding of the nature of the Ring Cycle) and the need of the self to reconcile individuality with a union to nature. Wagner completed the cycle over 26 years, a time during which he went through many a psychological and musical transformation - transformation being the key to the whole cycle according to the author.

Donington describes the developmental process that underlies the transformation that we all must go through. From separation of the conscious and the subconscious, in order to derive individuality and 'extra-natural' existence, to reconciliation of the two components of psyche to arrive at the self, a harmonised amalgum of individual and nature. Wagner's difficulty at making the psychological transformation from the conscious-willing, controlling individual to the mature, compassionate and fulfilled self is then convincingly claimed to be the driving force behind Wagner's creative expression particularly embodied in the Ring Cycle.

That Donington has a particular angle on Wagner's Ring Cycle is to the book's credit rather than its detriment as it elucidates context which serves to engender and maintain interest in the reader when the narrative and musical symbolism of the work is described. I have read other books detailing Wagner's myths that seem pedestrian by comparison owing to a 'walk-through' approach.

Some descriptions are perhaps open to debate, e.g., is Alberich renouncing compassionate love or is he in fact renouncing naive love? Perhaps, through subconscious projection on to Alberich, Wagner is closer to overcoming his own longing for naive and unobtainable love than even the author imagines. In essence this point is not actually inconsistent with the tenor of that proposed by the author.
Other petty points may be proferred but the general consistency of argument and clarity of presentational style leave you feeling that you have ventured on yet another sparkling ring. This book rewards the patient and is a must for any Wagnerite/Ring Cyle enthusiast.

Don't take it too seriously; eccentric, sometimes insightful
To an even greater extent than, say, Freudianism, Jungianism involves a leap of faith. It isn't rational, let alone anything like scientific; it's another case where a charismatic person once came up with a set ofprecepts, and the disciples follow them. But while I wouldn't recommend aJungian therapist to anyone I cared about (I'd expect no harm except to thewallet; but little good either) Jungian analysis can be interesting whenits applied to myth; it is after all largely based on Jung's ideas aboutmyth. That makes Jungian ideas fairly apt for reading a myth-based worklike the "Ring".

Robert Donington is a Jungian true believer,and he applies Jung's ideas with considerable ingenuity and interest.Sometimes he'll do anything to fit Wagner into the Jungian framework, sothat, for example, he'll read the very male dragon Fafner as "themother in her devouring aspect". That's a pretty desperate reading:Fafner is nobody's female principle, and only someone with a stronglypre-determined agenda could try to make him one.

Still, Donington isoften insightful. Why is there a brief reminiscence of Erda's theme whenFricka appears in Walku:re Act II? Because, says Donington, Fricka issomehow representing Erda's wisdom in this appearance. Fricka may not seemwise, but on this occasion she is right. This and a hundred other smallinsights makes this a worthwhile and constantly interesting book. It's alsovery good on Wagner's mythological sources.

Donington is right inthinking that the Ring is an endlessly complex and profound work; butprobably wrong in thinking that Jung holds the key. Still, whileDonington's overall reading is eccentric and not entirely reliable, this isa very enjoyable and often insightful book.

Laon ... Read more

Product Description

Since the beginning of human history Mars has been an alluring dream—the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it has still been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit.

Now with the advent of a revolutionary new plan, all this has changed. Leading space exploration authority Robert Zubrin has crafted a daring new blueprint, Mars Direct, presented here with illustrations, photographs, and engaging anecdotes.

The Case for Mars is not a vision for the far future or one that will cost us impossible billions. It explains step-by-step how we can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars within ten years; actually produce fuel and oxygen on the planet's surface with Martian natural resources; how we can build bases and settlements; and how we can one day "terraform" Mars—a process that can alter the atmosphere of planets and pave the way for sustainable life.Amazon.com Review
"For our generation and many that will follow, Mars is the NewWorld," writes Zubrin. This book went to press serendipitously, justas NASA was making its startling if heavily-qualified announcementthat simple life may have once existed on the fourth rock from thesun. Zubrin doesn't spend an enormous amount of time arguing why Marsexploration is desirable -- we all want astronauts to go there, don'twe? -- but rather devotes the bulk of this book explaining how it canhappen on a sensible, bare-bones budget of $20-30 billion and a"travel light and live off the land" philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (78)

I'm sold
I'm saddened to say that in the 12 years since this book was published we are no further along to the vision set out here in these pages.
We have turned our government into one which would rather micromanage our lives than set forth a vision for all of humanity.
While the book is slightly technical in nature any amateur interested in space exploration can pick this book up and understand the implications...it would even be easy to skip some of the tech stuff and read the meat of the book.
The authors lay out not only the benefit to society but the cost...in a detailed (nearly line-by-line) description of what a manned mission to Mars would cost if the government ran it and what it could cost on a shoestring budget.
Simply a WOW factor. I'm sold.

Glad I bought Case for Mars. One of the very best
I just got done reading Mars A Cosmic Stepping Stone ( I rate it 5 stars) andKevin Nolan recommended The Case for Mars.Glad I bought The Case for Mars and took his recommendation.

Dr. Robert Zubrin one of the scientific leaders on Mars colonization and the author of The Case for Mars "Gets It" and does a great job describing the need to colonize Mars and how to get there.Some interesting illustrations and pictures of people interested in the Mars mission strategy. I strongly believe Robert's plan "Mars direct" to get 4 people to Mars and back is the most economical and safest way to go. Also it allows 1 1/2 years of on groundMars crew exploration.

Hey the heavy hitters, Buzz Aldrin,Carl Sagan and Arther C Clarke had great stuff to say about Dr. Zubrin leading the field and liked his book. See back cover dust jacket.

This book is not super technical and you don't need a degree in astrophysics to enjoy it. Anyone interested in expansion of the human race and Mars colonization will enjoy this book. As a amateur astronomer for 40 years and someonewanting to see manned exploration of Mars, I give The Case for Mars my highest rating. After reading The Case For Mars (5 stars) read Mars On Earth also by Robert Zubrin.

Turned me into a Mars-nut
I found this book ten years ago--about the time I gave up sci-fi.It turned me into a Mars-colonization nut and led me to hard sci-fi/ speculative fiction.My engineer's heart rejoices.

Dated
This book is really dated and somewhat overly technical. A very dry and tedious read. I'm sure there are more recent and better written books on the topic.

Not recommended.

Good technical sections, lame politics
The Case for Mars describes a way to send explorers and settlers to mars, an explanation of how colonization would work and an argument for why we should do both.

Robert Zubrin is an Aeronautical engineer who has worked on space projects. The Case for Mars has sufficient technical detail to make his arguments persuasive. The technical topics are well explained with out being overwhelming or tedious for a non-technical audience, like myself. There are notes at the end of some chapters that go into greater detail.

In the Case for Mars Zubrin explains his "Mars Direct" plan for piloted flights to Mars. Mars Direct was created in response to NASA's "90 day plan" for going to Mars. NASA's plan required building space stations and lots of research on novel engineering solutions. It would have been extremely expensive. The 90 day plan was the product of a bureaucracy that was trying to fund as many of its' existing projects as possible. Zubrin and his colleagues created the Mars Direct plan to use current technology to get astronauts to Mars safely, quickly and cheaply.

The first part of The Case for Mars explains how the Mars Direct plan would work, and why it is feasible. This is the best part of the book. It is interesting and detailed, but readable and persuasive.

Zubrin then goes on to explain how Mars would be colonized. The technical aspects of the explanation seem plausible to me. When he starts to describe how Mars colonies would be financially viable and independent he went off the tracks. The arguments involved a lot of hand waving and were no longer persuasive.

The end of the book is a polemic about the importance of having a frontier to the health of society. The reader gets a capsule history that seeks to demonstrate that all societies rot if they do not have a frontier.

I wish the space cadets would leave the business plans, sociology and political polemics to others. They should concentrate on topics they actually know something about.

The Case for Mars offers a clear convincing argument in favor of the Mars Direct plan for exploring mars. The rest of the book is annoying. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Combat SF
This book contains short stories from some of the greatest minds in SF, Including a Dorsi novela that appears no where else.Quite simply a must for all warriors of the future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

beautiful cover
The dustjacket has a lovely combination of two city scenes. Very colourful, and it is a pity that Amazon's product page lacks this image.

Perhaps the cover acts as an optimistic setting for the book. The contributors talk about the future of American cities. Looking at cultural, demographic and economic trends that might or could impact how the future will turn out. There are warnings about how it is quite possible, if not probable, for a city administration to muck things up. Minimal taxes and regulations on businesses are advocated, to encourage a vital economy. But the problems of disadvantaged underclasses is not ignored. Suggestions are made for greater inclusion of everyone in a future prosperity. ... Read more

Product Description
The Barclay Manufacturing Company of New Jersey produced wonderful, now highly collectible toy cars and car transports from 1932 through 1971. This book is the first to provide comprehensive catalog listings and prices for every known variation and color of all car transports and cars made by Barclay, in all four separate series. With few exceptions, these beloved vehicles were not marked with the manufacturers name or country of origin. Over 75 beautiful, full color images display these cars and transports, allowing easy identification for the very first time. The detailed text provides a history of the company, an enumeration of the four series, the production methods and painting techniques of each series, various packaging techniques employed by Barclay, identification and pricing guidelines, and fourteen identification charts. Values are found in the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Barclay Toys, Transports & Cars 1932-1971
The book has great photos and is organized very well (user friendly). A lot of details regarding the various vehicles and trailers. The book is a very helpful tool for any collector.

Barclay ToysTransports & Cars 1932-1971 Review
I believe that this book will be the one people will turn to to get valuable info. on theBarclay Transports & Cars.It must have taken the authors years to compile all the information in this book .If you collect Barclay's then this is a must have book .
The book starts you off with a brief history of the Barclay Manufacturing Co. and as the book progreses through the pages it gives up more and more detail of every known Transport and Car . The book is very well layed out with it's easy to understand no. system . For easy reference it has lots of color pictures to refer to .
Thank goodiness we have people who are wiling to do the work involved to compile such a book and get it to this high level .
If you don't have this book then you are at a disadvantage .
Loved It !!!

Barclay Toys : Small Transports , 1932 - 1971
I found this book highly detailed and very very informative. The authors not only did an excellent job of clearly explaining the differences between the 4 basic styles but showed all the many many colors , shades and tints .I especially liked and found interesting, all the little notes and stories of the background of how and why some of these changes came about. The high quality paper and clear photos make the pictures jump out at you right off the page. The photo effectiveness really shines thru, when it came to showing all the various tints and shades of the same color.The pictures were not only close andclear but very vivid. I especially liked the authors simple, straight forward and very effective way that they cataloged these various changes. This easy, open ended system, allows more additions to be included later when they are found. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. Kudos to the authors, for taking, what had to be a huge amount of man hours to bring this much needed book to the next level . I predict this will be theBarclay " bible " for identifying the small Transports.
Dsmechanic ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The 36th Infantry Division, a Texas national guard unit known in WWII as the "T-Patchers," played a vital role in the success of the Italian Campaign.This reprint of the 1972 book traces the movements of the division from the assault at Salerno, when it was possibly the best-trained division in the American army, to the final skirmishes in the hills north of Rome. ... Read more

Product Description
All 4 volumes of Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung" - Volume I The Rhinegold - Das Rheingols 40 pages - Volume II The Valkyrie - Die Walkiire 40 pages - Volume III Siegfired 40 pages - Volume VI The Twilight of the Gods - Die Gotterdammerung. All books have color illustrations throughout. The Authorized Edition of the Metropolitan Opera Guild ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the Pennsylvania signer of the Declaration of Independence who served as superintendent of finance for the new United States government from 1789 to 1795. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hard to Read
The information is good. However, the book is hard to read.There are many quotes in this book that are written in old English.Cildren in the Fourth Grade (my age) do not understand the Old English. . .The English that was spoken during the Revolutionary War.Because the book is so hard to read, It became a task just to keep my eyes open.That is, the book is extremely boring.Sorry, but I cannot recommend this book to my peers. . . .Unless, of course, they need something to help them fall asleep at night. ... Read more