Discovering the Golden Compass: A Guide to Philip Pullman's Dark Materials

by George Beahm

New to The Golden Compass ? Don’t feel lost--or alone! This accessible, illustrated guide is the only passport you’ll need to Philip Pullman’s imaginative world of His Dark Materials . Written especially for newcomers, Discovering The Golden Compass tells you everything you’d want to know in reader-friendly prose, supplemented with dozens of photographs and illustrations. Book Pullman’s 10,000-word autobiographical essay talking about his life and work; a 16-page full color insert of new photos showing Oxford, the "city of dreaming spires," in all its glory; 15 new pen-and-ink illustrations and a full color painting by former Disney artist and Imagineer, Tim Kirk; and complete coverage of Pullman’s talk at the Oxford Literary Festival, in which he and The Golden Compass film producer, Deborah Forte, talk about the considerable challenges in bringing the book to film. Newcomers will especially welcome the book-by-book look at Pullman’s trilogy-- The Golden Compass , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass . Minimizing spoilers, Beahm explains what each book is about, discusses the key characters, places, and things, and also quotes Pullman, his fans, and critics on the work itself. Plus extensive information about Lyra’s Oxford and an advance peek at The Book of Dust . With information about the various adaptations of The Golden Compass (film, theatrical, and audio), illuminating essays on daemons, the alethiometer, and Dust, and a section devoted to additional resources for readers who want to know where to go for more information, Beahm’s book is your ticket to Pullman’s imaginative universe.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

206 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2007

About the author

George Beahm writes books about censorship, sports figures, and numerous literary figures, including Patricia Cornwell, J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Philip Pullman, and others.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've never seen a book so long that contained, as far as I can see, about three words written by the author listed on the cover. This book is not what I hoped it would be, even a surface analysis of the books it purports to cover. Instead, citing a concern to stay "spoiler-free" (who would pick up this book if they hadn't read His Dark Materials?!?!) he deftly avoids any expectations to analyze the books, and instead, threw together a cut-and-paste fest of information taken from interviews that Pullman has given, blurbs from Pullman's website, and a few other outside sources into loosely-"organized" chapters.

Superficial, nothing that wasn't available via Google, and a complete waste of time. Bah.

[Vish · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding adventure. The armoured bear is my favourite character

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dust, Daemons and Disappointment

Discovering the Golden Compass is a charming little book (“little” in comparison to other HDM guides, that is!) that deals with everything His Dark Materials. Author – and fellow fan – George Beahm introduces readers to the trilogy (of course!), as well as:

- its sequel novella, Lyra’s Oxford (the prequel Once Upon a Time in a North was published a year after Discovering the Golden Compass, so it doesn’t make an appearance here);

- the unabridged audiobook (brilliant! you should definitely give it a listen if you haven’t already!) and BBC radio adaptations;

- the six-hour play staged by the National Theatre in London;

- the upcoming (eventually!) Book of Dust; and

- (groan!) the 2007 film The Golden Compass.

Also included are brief overviews of HDM-related books, collectibles, documentaries and websites, as well as copious quotes from the principals in and critics of each.

The design and artwork are the highlights of Discovering the Golden Compass. The book is primarily printed in black and white, with red and gold details throughout. A 16-page full-color insert chock full of photographs by Emma Raynaud provides a gorgeous (if all too short) tour through Philip Pullman’s Oxford, and the illustrations by Tim Kirk are both lovely and informative. This is one good-looking guide!

But the true gem of this collection is a 10,000-word autobiographical essay by Philip Pullman himself; originally published on Philip Pullman’s website (http://www.philip-pullman.com), as of this writing “I Have a Feeling This All Belongs to Me” appears to be unavailable online. Even if you read nothing else, the essay alone is worth the purchase price of the book.

On the downside, the sections concerning the film are terribly depressing. The Golden Compass was still in production while Beahm was writing Discovering the Golden Compass, and the book was published three months before the release of the film. Beahm’s outlook concerning the film adaptation is hopeful, even gushing, despite the early warning signs (for example, the filmmakers’ eschewing of His Dark Materials’ more subversive elements, such as at the 2007 Oxford Literary Festival - the panel discussion for which Beahm provides a transcript). While I can’t begrudge him his optimism, in hindsight these passages are difficult – painful, even - to read.

As someone who’d rather pretend that the film never happened, I think (some of) the precious space occupied by The Golden Compass would have been better spent looking at His Dark Materials: the plot, the setting, the characters, the curiosities. Dust and daemons, witches and armored bears, Svalbard and Bolvanger – all the details to delight a fangirl. Since Beahm aims to covers so much ground in so few pages, his discussion of the HDM trilogy is necessarily brief: Discovering the Golden Compass is a little bit of everything. Die-hard fans probably won’t gain any significant insights here, but it’s a fun romp through Philip Pullman’s worlds in any case.

Curiously, Beahm also keeps it (mostly) spoiler-free, which seems an odd choice to me; if you happen to find yourself intrigued by His Dark Materials, why not just read the source material? Picking up a book about a book you want to read, but haven’t yet, seems … silly. The primary audience for this type of tome – nonfiction written about a piece of fiction, be it literature, film, television, etc. – seems to me to be existing fans … so why not converse with one another using the language and shared knowledge of a fandom? It’s so much more fun that way!

Marzipan!

http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/09/01/...

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Golden Compass
By, Phillip Pullman
Published by Laura Leaf
335 pages New York， New York
ISBN: 0-440-23812-7 Cost ￥6.99


The Golden Compass is a magnificent book; I love this book so much because it constantly gives me vivid imaginations this is something I would recommend to people who are a fan of fantasy books like myself. This book is more appropriate for the pre-teens and up because it sometimes give you gruesome imaginations. Once I picked the book up I felt energy staring to surge into my body telling me to read this book, that fate and destiny brought us together. It was like I’m in a trance. I read few pages even though it wasn’t interesting at first but once I hit the juicy mystery parts I couldn’t stop reading it’s like I’m captivated in another world of mystery and suspense where images pass through my head The Golden Compass is a book you had never seen before a girl called Lyra Silvertongue where she has to rescue her friend Roger from the evil clutches of an organization the Gobblers. Lyra and her daemon, Pan which is her familiar that have the ability to shape-shift to any animal form. They are on a journey to seek help from unique forces to go far in the North. Lyra would be facing many impediments that are so perilous that she might even handle. There are many scenarios that would make you ecstatic so you would never let go of this book, in the middle of their journey they would struggle through many battles that set them off course but Lyra never ever gives up. Lyra who is 11 years old is going through many obstacles in her life where she face problem that a girl like her can’t handle but she learns many things along the way.
These are little parts of the story and I bet you are wondering what daemons are and what those good-for-nothing Gobblers are up to well you would have to pick up a copy of this book and start reading because I’m telling you are going to be missing a whole adventure of fun if you don’t read this book. I’m telling you that your gonna miss the best book of your lifetime, that you would regret didn’t read the book that everyone is talking about. All you have to do is drop this review run out the door and go to your nearest book store and get a copy of the Golden Compass because this is a book you have been waiting for.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband and I got so obsessed with Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy that Santa bought me this book for Christmas. The best bits are the quotes by author Philip Pullman and the 10,000 word autobiographical essay (that alone is worth the price of the book).

There was an interesting aside about the fact that the U.S. publisher of Northern Lights renamed it The Golden Compass. The alethiometer is not a compass, though it is round and golden - it's a truth-telling device.

Pullman: "I'm wondering why Northern Lights is called The Golden Compass in U.S. markets ... It seems to me that calling the amazing alethiometer a compass diminishes it and is misleading. Besides, the idea of the northern lights is enigmatic and alluring enough as it is. It also shortchanges and patronizes U.S. readers in the same way as presuming that American Harry Potter readers were the only section of that readership who couldn't cope with a Philosopher's Stone and needed the dumbed-down Sorcerer's Stone."

[Tyas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels more like a fan scrapbook, with various bits such as snippets from reviews or interviews - all concerning His Dark Materials - and overt enthusiasm on the adaptation of the whole His Dark Materials onto the screen* bounded into one book. If you're looking for a scholarly analysis on His Dark Materials, you won't get it here.

Still, there are a lot of interesting things you can find in this book, such as a writing of Pullman explaining his own life and the important events that led him to writerdom. (Lessons for aspiring writers!)





*We all know the first film was a flop. So I'm not expecting the second and the third films.

[Ayu Palar · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a collection of analytical essays about the trilogy, then it's not the book. In here, Beahm only wrote his impression about Pullman's works and shared what he's found on the net to the readers. Not really compelling, but if you want to know a short autobiography by Mr. Pullman himself, you can read it in this book. The short autobiography is awesome, and it's the best part of the book.

[Tiffany Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can I not like this book? My prop alethiometer watch is in it! It's a great resource for fans of the His Dark Materials series.

[Missi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contained more insight into Pullman's methods and writing background than information on His Dark Materials. Not exactly what I was expecting but still worth picking up at the library.

[Δx Δp ≥ ½ ħ · Rating 2 out of 5]

terlalu dangkal. bahannya gak lebih dari yang ditulis di wikipedia

[Honor Ceh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good introduction to any literary criticism someone might like to do on Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy

[David Freudenburg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is a loud and vocal Philip Pullman cheerleader. That is not a bad thing, but this book is not at all objective. Even so, there is a large variety of interesting material.

[Larry Koester · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was looking for information about the Golden Compass series. Discovered it isn't my type but may read all three books anyway.

[Mr. Mercedes · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this at a Waterstone's in Torquay. Only because it was related to His Dark Materials. But it wasn't what I was looking for. It would be the next year in Exeter when I finally found it.

[Bcoghill Coghill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of time & money