A Brief Guide to James Bond

by Nigel Cawthorne

THIS IS BRAND NEW BOOK.WE PROVIDE 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.

294 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[Adam Faison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great look at author Ian Fleming and his creation of James Bond. It is not the most in depth book I have read about an author and his creation but it is an interesting and fast read. It tells you enough to know about Fleming and understand the man and how he came to create Bond. It also gives great synopsis's about each of the novels and films, while also giving little behind the scenes info as well. Worth checking out if you are a devoted James Bond fan.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly as stated, its fairly brief, but it does have a lot of information on James Bond and on Ian Fleming. It also has some information on all of the various James Bond related media, i.e. books, comic strips, video games.

[Karine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and well written guide about James Bond. I have learned many new things about James Bond that I didn't know about before.

[Wayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book provides a pretty decent overview of both the literary and bigscreen worlds of the James Bond phenomenon. However, it gets bogged down by a bunch of wildly useless blathering all too often.

[David Charnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite its modest claim to being a brief guide, this is a thorough examination of Bond up to publication, which means it covers the film Quantum of Solace. It gives you a Fleming biography, followed by a Bond biography (informed by existing versions), and then goes through the books, the films, the girls, the villains, the gadgets and so on. If Bond is your glass of vodka Martini, then this is for you. I'm not specifically a Bond fan - this was background for a guided tour I do exploring the secret world in fiction - but even so it was a very enjoyable read and gives you the full flavour. It has some glaring typos, but I'm not going to dock a star for that because I don't know who they got there!

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complete encyclopaedia of Bondiana, with information about the author, his books, the films, other Bond stories... Quite the reference book about James Bond.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Ben Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it says on the tin. An overview of Bond.