What do you think?
Rate this book
James Bond Encyclopedia
Twenty-three Bond movies, six James Bonds and all the Bond villains, girls, vehicles and cool gadgets in one single volume
Written by James Bond authorities John Cork and Collin Stutz, the updated James Bond Encyclopedia explores every aspect of the 007 story, including Skyfall, the most successful Bond film ever made.
Created in full collaboration with EON Productions, producers of the Bond films, and illustrated with more than 1,000 amazing photographs, the books takes you right inside James Bond's world, from 007's history, to his style and personal tastes.
A-Z sections bring you face to face with every aspect of his thrilling career. Meet the criminal masterminds he has defeated and the beautiful and dangerous women he has encountered. Jump inside the vehicles, explore weapons and gadgets and discover background information on key film-makers and the making of each Bond film.
The James Bond Encyclopedia is a must-buy for any Bond fan.
© 2014 Danjaq, LLC and Eon Productions Limited. All Rights Reserved. "James Bond", the 007 logo and related James Bond Trademarks
© 1962-2014 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. All Rights Reserved. "James Bond", the 007 logo and related James Bond Trademarks are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC, licensed by EON Productions Limited.
Written by James Bond authorities John Cork and Collin Stutz, the updated James Bond Encyclopedia explores every aspect of the 007 story, including Skyfall, the most successful Bond film ever made.
Created in full collaboration with EON Productions, producers of the Bond films, and illustrated with more than 1,000 amazing photographs, the books takes you right inside James Bond's world, from 007's history, to his style and personal tastes.
A-Z sections bring you face to face with every aspect of his thrilling career. Meet the criminal masterminds he has defeated and the beautiful and dangerous women he has encountered. Jump inside the vehicles, explore weapons and gadgets and discover background information on key film-makers and the making of each Bond film.
The James Bond Encyclopedia is a must-buy for any Bond fan.
© 2014 Danjaq, LLC and Eon Productions Limited. All Rights Reserved. "James Bond", the 007 logo and related James Bond Trademarks
© 1962-2014 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. All Rights Reserved. "James Bond", the 007 logo and related James Bond Trademarks are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC, licensed by EON Productions Limited.
- GenresNonfictionReferenceFilm
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2007
7 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
D.K. Publishing
9,122 books2,076 followersDorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.
Source: Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 6, 2016
Pedia, Encyclo Pedia!!! With Licence to Read!!!
THE MOST FAMOUS SECRET AGENT
I guess that it's a kinda contradiction to be the most famous secret agent, you know?
In any case, I was quite thrilled when this Encyclopedia came by chance to my local comic book store (they usually have varied type of Pop Culture Encyclopedias) and I didn't think twice to buy this one.
This edition is updated to the film Quantum of Solace, so evidently doesn't have any info about Skyfall but it's normal in published encyclopedias, specially the ones about pop culture topics that they are almost "outdated" a day after of its publication.
My favorite James Bond is Pierce Brosnan, but also like Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. I can't deal with George Lazenby and God is my witness that I have watched his only film like three times but still I can accept him. About Daniel Craig is still a "work in progress" where also I have watched several times Casino Royale and while I enjoy some elements of the movie, I can't say that I truly like the film, I don't like at all Quantum of Solace and I do really like a lot Skyfall, so I still giving a chance to Craig to full get into my list of favorite Bonds.
Some people may wonder what's the appealing about this whole thing of James Bond and nowadays where you have a vast list of blockbuster movies from many franchises, it's kinda easy to see James Bond like just another in the bunch, BUT James Bond films came in '60s when you don't have any blockbuster films and certainly special effects was like a bad joke, so, James Bond films came to fill a need in high-budget action films that nobody else has been able to make before, and certainly Bond movies inspired to a whole new generation of filmmakers to do quantum leaps later in the 70s and 80s to bring the cinema to a whole new level of entertainment.
This encyclopedia is easily the ultimate guide to the film world of James Bond, while it could be wonderful to have a section about the original novels, they still give some info here and there making comparisons of how certain characters or other stuff was handled in the novels compared to the movies. However, the encyclopedia is focused into presenting the movie exploitings of James Bond.
You have sections for different major subjects such as: Bonds, Bond Villains, Bond Girls, Other Support Characters, Vehicles, Weapons and other Technology, and also a section dedicated to the films.
The encyclopedia is fully illustrated in color, with hundreds of photos and posters.
And it's relevant to mention that the encyclopedia only covers the Eon Productions' films, the ones that are considered as "official" James Bond movies.
THE MOST FAMOUS SECRET AGENT
I guess that it's a kinda contradiction to be the most famous secret agent, you know?
In any case, I was quite thrilled when this Encyclopedia came by chance to my local comic book store (they usually have varied type of Pop Culture Encyclopedias) and I didn't think twice to buy this one.
This edition is updated to the film Quantum of Solace, so evidently doesn't have any info about Skyfall but it's normal in published encyclopedias, specially the ones about pop culture topics that they are almost "outdated" a day after of its publication.
My favorite James Bond is Pierce Brosnan, but also like Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. I can't deal with George Lazenby and God is my witness that I have watched his only film like three times but still I can accept him. About Daniel Craig is still a "work in progress" where also I have watched several times Casino Royale and while I enjoy some elements of the movie, I can't say that I truly like the film, I don't like at all Quantum of Solace and I do really like a lot Skyfall, so I still giving a chance to Craig to full get into my list of favorite Bonds.
Some people may wonder what's the appealing about this whole thing of James Bond and nowadays where you have a vast list of blockbuster movies from many franchises, it's kinda easy to see James Bond like just another in the bunch, BUT James Bond films came in '60s when you don't have any blockbuster films and certainly special effects was like a bad joke, so, James Bond films came to fill a need in high-budget action films that nobody else has been able to make before, and certainly Bond movies inspired to a whole new generation of filmmakers to do quantum leaps later in the 70s and 80s to bring the cinema to a whole new level of entertainment.
This encyclopedia is easily the ultimate guide to the film world of James Bond, while it could be wonderful to have a section about the original novels, they still give some info here and there making comparisons of how certain characters or other stuff was handled in the novels compared to the movies. However, the encyclopedia is focused into presenting the movie exploitings of James Bond.
You have sections for different major subjects such as: Bonds, Bond Villains, Bond Girls, Other Support Characters, Vehicles, Weapons and other Technology, and also a section dedicated to the films.
The encyclopedia is fully illustrated in color, with hundreds of photos and posters.
And it's relevant to mention that the encyclopedia only covers the Eon Productions' films, the ones that are considered as "official" James Bond movies.
March 10, 2024
Promise - last of these silly books for a while…although I have to say, this one was a lot of fun.
Bookended by less interesting "chapters" on the Bond actors and the movies themselves, the bulk of the book focuses on five main topics: Bond Villains, Bond Women, Supporting Cast, Vehicles, and Weapons & Equipment. These are then discussed alphabetically in true encyclopedia style, which makes them particularly enjoyable in their randomness and weird juxtapositions (see below).
Taken overall, these deep dives helped me to finally understand the plots of many of these (often McGuffin-driven) movies, particularly the Roger Moore stinkers. And when it came to henchmen, sidekicks and other peripheral characters, I had many "oh, so that was the same guy!" realizations, which further put things in perspective, (of particular note, I somehow never realized that the girl Bond chases in the speedboat at the beginning of "The World Is Not Enough" had also been the secretary who offers him a cigar in Bilbao just five minutes earlier). There was also lots of other fun trivia, such as the fact that Colonel Moon's name in "Die Another Day" was a nod to the first non-Fleming Bond Book, Colonel Sun.
BOND VILLAINS: More fun than the bios on the more well-known baddies was the exhaustive listing of henchfolk I had never considered before. A sample two-page spread begins with Mollaka (the parkour-running bombmaker from "Casino Royale") and ends with Nick Nack (Scaramanga's dwarf butler) - but in between, we have General Moon ("Die Another Day"), Dr. Mortimer ("View to a Kill"), Morzeny ("From Russia With Love"), Naomi ("Spy Who Loved Me"), and Necros ("Living Daylights") - none of whom I had a clue about, but who nicely representing every Bond from Connery to Craig. (Also, turns out there is surprising uncertainly over just what the hell kind of hat Oddjob wore; it's usually referred to as a derby or bowler, but was truly neither; here it's called a "dressage top hat," but no - that's not it either…)
BOND WOMEN: As always, this is a more controversial area. As a pre- and then teen through the Connery years, I well remember the excitement with which we awaited each new release - in no small part due to the fact that Playboy would then run a special "The Women of James Bond" issue for each movie, which one or another of my gang would usually be able to "borrow" from a father or uncle. These were deeply and regrettably sexist times, with Bond cavalierly working his way through characters such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Chew Mee, Octopussy, Drs. Holly Goodhead and Molly Warmflash; particularly loathsome was Roger Moore's literally stacking the deck so that he could deflower Solitaire in "Live and Let Die," (made even creepier by the fact that Moore was at the time more than twice as old as Jane Seymour). That said, the book handles them here as tastefully as possible, and as with the before-and-after chapters includes such "blink and you miss them" players as Prof. Inga Bergstrom, Kimberley Jones, and "first name onlies" Linda, Felicca, Caroline, Manuela, Dink and Marie.
SUPPORTING CAST: Same as the villains above; a great mix of characters large and small…Russian General Gogal and MoD Chief Frederick Gray (both of whom appeared in a surprising six films) are on the same page as Gebruder Gumbold (?) and "Grant's Masseuse (??); while Dikko Henderson is followed by Klaus Hergesheimer (???) and Lt. Hip. And who could forget Minnie Driver's "strangling the cat" rendition of "Stand By Your Man" in "TWINE"?
VEHICLES: Surprisingly, this is the dullest section of the book. Once you get past the classic Aston Martin DB5 and such cool-at-the-time gizmos as the "Little Nellie" autogyro, it's just a boring litany of cars, motorcycles, small planes, helicopters and speed boats. That said, the movie with the largest number of awesome vehicles? "Thunderball," without a doubt. Not only does it kick off with an Aston Martin cameo, it also includes a jetpack, Fiona's rocket-firing BSA motorcycle, speargun-firing underwater bomb and tow sleds, and the classic Disco Volante breakaway hydrofoil.
WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT: Pretty much what you'd expect - full range of guns, watches, bombs, trapdoors, cigarette lighters, poisons, throw-back cameras and tape recorders; plus all the "Q Branch" silliness you could ever want: broom radios, rake metal detectors, rocket-firing cigarettes, "micro-comparators," sonic rings, third nipples, X-ray glasses, detonator glasses, and on and on…
Overall, a great sunroom or nightstand book, best read a page or two at a time and over a period of months. Only negatives are that the book was published to celebrate the launch of Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale," and so doesn't include the following films, (although an update version came out in 2014 that goes through "Skyfall"). Also, as with other DK books of this size and weight, the spine is weak - and so this library copy is in danger of losing pages in the near future. But otherwise, a nice farewell to the Bond films - at least until a new actor and film are (hopefully) announced.
Bookended by less interesting "chapters" on the Bond actors and the movies themselves, the bulk of the book focuses on five main topics: Bond Villains, Bond Women, Supporting Cast, Vehicles, and Weapons & Equipment. These are then discussed alphabetically in true encyclopedia style, which makes them particularly enjoyable in their randomness and weird juxtapositions (see below).
Taken overall, these deep dives helped me to finally understand the plots of many of these (often McGuffin-driven) movies, particularly the Roger Moore stinkers. And when it came to henchmen, sidekicks and other peripheral characters, I had many "oh, so that was the same guy!" realizations, which further put things in perspective, (of particular note, I somehow never realized that the girl Bond chases in the speedboat at the beginning of "The World Is Not Enough" had also been the secretary who offers him a cigar in Bilbao just five minutes earlier). There was also lots of other fun trivia, such as the fact that Colonel Moon's name in "Die Another Day" was a nod to the first non-Fleming Bond Book, Colonel Sun.
BOND VILLAINS: More fun than the bios on the more well-known baddies was the exhaustive listing of henchfolk I had never considered before. A sample two-page spread begins with Mollaka (the parkour-running bombmaker from "Casino Royale") and ends with Nick Nack (Scaramanga's dwarf butler) - but in between, we have General Moon ("Die Another Day"), Dr. Mortimer ("View to a Kill"), Morzeny ("From Russia With Love"), Naomi ("Spy Who Loved Me"), and Necros ("Living Daylights") - none of whom I had a clue about, but who nicely representing every Bond from Connery to Craig. (Also, turns out there is surprising uncertainly over just what the hell kind of hat Oddjob wore; it's usually referred to as a derby or bowler, but was truly neither; here it's called a "dressage top hat," but no - that's not it either…)
BOND WOMEN: As always, this is a more controversial area. As a pre- and then teen through the Connery years, I well remember the excitement with which we awaited each new release - in no small part due to the fact that Playboy would then run a special "The Women of James Bond" issue for each movie, which one or another of my gang would usually be able to "borrow" from a father or uncle. These were deeply and regrettably sexist times, with Bond cavalierly working his way through characters such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Chew Mee, Octopussy, Drs. Holly Goodhead and Molly Warmflash; particularly loathsome was Roger Moore's literally stacking the deck so that he could deflower Solitaire in "Live and Let Die," (made even creepier by the fact that Moore was at the time more than twice as old as Jane Seymour). That said, the book handles them here as tastefully as possible, and as with the before-and-after chapters includes such "blink and you miss them" players as Prof. Inga Bergstrom, Kimberley Jones, and "first name onlies" Linda, Felicca, Caroline, Manuela, Dink and Marie.
SUPPORTING CAST: Same as the villains above; a great mix of characters large and small…Russian General Gogal and MoD Chief Frederick Gray (both of whom appeared in a surprising six films) are on the same page as Gebruder Gumbold (?) and "Grant's Masseuse (??); while Dikko Henderson is followed by Klaus Hergesheimer (???) and Lt. Hip. And who could forget Minnie Driver's "strangling the cat" rendition of "Stand By Your Man" in "TWINE"?
VEHICLES: Surprisingly, this is the dullest section of the book. Once you get past the classic Aston Martin DB5 and such cool-at-the-time gizmos as the "Little Nellie" autogyro, it's just a boring litany of cars, motorcycles, small planes, helicopters and speed boats. That said, the movie with the largest number of awesome vehicles? "Thunderball," without a doubt. Not only does it kick off with an Aston Martin cameo, it also includes a jetpack, Fiona's rocket-firing BSA motorcycle, speargun-firing underwater bomb and tow sleds, and the classic Disco Volante breakaway hydrofoil.
WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT: Pretty much what you'd expect - full range of guns, watches, bombs, trapdoors, cigarette lighters, poisons, throw-back cameras and tape recorders; plus all the "Q Branch" silliness you could ever want: broom radios, rake metal detectors, rocket-firing cigarettes, "micro-comparators," sonic rings, third nipples, X-ray glasses, detonator glasses, and on and on…
Overall, a great sunroom or nightstand book, best read a page or two at a time and over a period of months. Only negatives are that the book was published to celebrate the launch of Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale," and so doesn't include the following films, (although an update version came out in 2014 that goes through "Skyfall"). Also, as with other DK books of this size and weight, the spine is weak - and so this library copy is in danger of losing pages in the near future. But otherwise, a nice farewell to the Bond films - at least until a new actor and film are (hopefully) announced.
November 5, 2008
Is my geekiness showing?? :P
December 1, 2009
One day in the autumn of 1981, a man and a woman traveled door to door in our suburban neighborhood peddling a new service they called "cable TV". We were all working outside that day, and I remember wincing in anticipation of the way my Dad was going to send them scurrying. Not an early adopter, my dad. Not a friend to door-to-door salespersons either.
Imagine our surprise - no really, IMAGINE my entire family's jaw-dropping, googley-eyed surprise - when my Dad, instead of brandishing a rake at these two inexplicably suited persons, said something along the lines of "Where do I sign?"
What could have induced him to forbear? What carrot was on offer, to make him put down his stick?
James Bond movies. They told him that the entire James Bond catalog was to be shown on HBO during the month of November without commercial interruption. Angels sang heavenly melismas to my Dad at that moment, right there in the driveway.
And I'm afraid I have inherited his problem. I have all the books, all the movies. I've read criticism, I've read the rest of Ian Fleming's "work", I cannot resist the big dumb money-making picture books.
Like this one.
Does this book, a VERY recent update to The James Bond Encyclopedia, tell us anything that previous gift books about the James Bond movies didn't? Well, besides including the Daniel Craig titles. No. In fact, I get a little cranky when someone has the nerve to call something The James Bond Encyclopedia and NOT include the novels. Hmph. The novels are the weirdest part.
But I'll take it. I'll take it for the photos, for the quotes, for the names one might otherwise have missed. Minnie Driver, for instance, played Robbie Coltrane's tone-deaf girlfriend in Goldeneye. Her name was Irina. If that is of interest to you, you will want this book. If it is not, well, you go get that Vogue book I reviewed yesterday.
Imagine our surprise - no really, IMAGINE my entire family's jaw-dropping, googley-eyed surprise - when my Dad, instead of brandishing a rake at these two inexplicably suited persons, said something along the lines of "Where do I sign?"
What could have induced him to forbear? What carrot was on offer, to make him put down his stick?
James Bond movies. They told him that the entire James Bond catalog was to be shown on HBO during the month of November without commercial interruption. Angels sang heavenly melismas to my Dad at that moment, right there in the driveway.
And I'm afraid I have inherited his problem. I have all the books, all the movies. I've read criticism, I've read the rest of Ian Fleming's "work", I cannot resist the big dumb money-making picture books.
Like this one.
Does this book, a VERY recent update to The James Bond Encyclopedia, tell us anything that previous gift books about the James Bond movies didn't? Well, besides including the Daniel Craig titles. No. In fact, I get a little cranky when someone has the nerve to call something The James Bond Encyclopedia and NOT include the novels. Hmph. The novels are the weirdest part.
But I'll take it. I'll take it for the photos, for the quotes, for the names one might otherwise have missed. Minnie Driver, for instance, played Robbie Coltrane's tone-deaf girlfriend in Goldeneye. Her name was Irina. If that is of interest to you, you will want this book. If it is not, well, you go get that Vogue book I reviewed yesterday.
October 19, 2021
For the James Bond Fan who only wants one book covering the entire canon and who can't afford the beautiful but expensive James Bond Archives, this is the one to get.
The updated version even covers Skyfall.
Detailed, comprehensive, with lots of rare photographs and at a great price.
A definite five star must buy.
Superb.
The updated version even covers Skyfall.
Detailed, comprehensive, with lots of rare photographs and at a great price.
A definite five star must buy.
Superb.
September 25, 2017
Excelente enciclopedia sobre el universo filmico de James Bond. Lleno de informacion, excelentemente ilustrado y un diseño cautivante. Aunque ya quedo desactualizado, sigue siendo uno de los mejores libros sobre 007 que aun puedes encontrar. Muy recomendable para los fans.
December 24, 2017
Comprehensive (up until 2007 anyway) and fully detailed (too detailed - do we really care about the slightly different planes featured in filler scenes to the point we want to read about them?) - this is insightful and entertaining. One of the best exponents of the movie book genre.
December 29, 2019
A very comprehensive book detailing everything from Bond series up until "Skyfall". I wish it included "Spectre" as well. While it listed everything of importance, I'd prefer it more to focus on filmmaking trivia and so on.
September 19, 2019
Everything you wanted to know about James Bond....and more! The movies, the actors, his tools of the trade and so much more.
September 10, 2014
neatly presented into sections;BOND ACTORS, BOND VILLAINS, BOND WOMEN; SUPPORTING CAST; VEHICLES; WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT & THE MOVIES, with a brief overview at the start. this a great A-Z of the James Bond Films that spans fromm Dr No to Casino Royale and contains enough nuggets of information to keep any bind fan happy. it also references some differences or connectuion between film and book verison of a story and is full of great piccies too.
March 19, 2015
As a reference to all the Bond films through the first Craig film, this is pretty astounding coffee table book; characters good and bad, vehicles, and equipment from each film are given an entry. This does not have much at all on the Bond books, but as those are almost in a different fictional universe, that is OK.
March 9, 2014
Complet jusqu'à Casino Royale.
December 19, 2015
A must have for we Bond offciyenado's.
October 31, 2009
Contains hundreds of details from every movie-fun to flip through!
October 10, 2010
Absolutely brilliant! It would be a near-impossible task to find anything as good as this.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews