Rating: 
Summary: No contest ...best of its class
Review: With 25 five star reviews another is hardly necessary. But this book is everything it should be. its funny, its informative, its approachable and its fun! Easily the best "how to" book on D/s SM ever written."Screw the roses" covers most topics in SM play: bondage, spanking, humilation, flogging, types of whips, gear, contact groups, medical issues, safety issues, post-scene comforting and mental aspects. It goes into details on all of the less extreme practices. It treats the more extreme things such as breath play or cutting much more briefly, pretty much warning people off them. It is full of practical advice and good safety tips. These are punctuated with amusing and erotic personal anecdotes that help keep the reading fun and light. One of the things I most admire about "Roses" is that safety is practically a mantra repeated through out the book. Overall a must have book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the National Geographic
Not the National Geographic
Review: When I was a kid I'd page through the National Geographic, looking at the pictures, reading the captions, and occasionally reading some of the text on a page that looked interesting. I found myself doing the same thing with "Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns." The book has pictures on almost every page. Text subheads tell you at a glance what each section is about. It's easy to page through it, read the sections that interest you, and skip the rest. The chapter on what toys to buy will save you many times the price of the book. The anatomy chapter makes it easy to understand where to do what to your partner, and what areas could be injured. The chapter about "flying" or mystical experience is interesting. The chapter about the types of people you'll meet at clubs is funny. The themes repeated in every chapter, on every page, are communication, respect, and safety. I can't give the book 5 stars because the photo reproduction is awful. It looks like 1980s positive mechanical transfer (PMT), a cheap process made obsolete by computers. I read probably 10% of the text. I tried several times, but the writing rarely held my attention. But that's not a problem -- National Geographic readers probably read less than 10% of the articles, yet enjoy the magazine.
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Thomas David Kehoe, author of "Hearts and Minds: How Our Brains Are Hardwired for Relationships"
Rating:
Summary: Facinating and informative.
Review: Screw the Roses was a facinating and informative read for me. I didn't know much about BDSM other than reading books like "Breaking the Girl" (erotica) but that lead me to want to understand the dynamics of these relationships and what they're all about. In the end, I find, it's about the love and the trust. The book explains that beautifully.
Rating:
Summary: Everything that you need to know to get started
Review: If you are new to the scene and want to become familiar with the majority of the techniques that you may wish to try then this book is an excellent guide. To begin, it walks through the terminology, the basic mental and emotional elements in SM play, an overview of "scene" and how S&M relationships can be negotiated. Once the book has prepared you with the basic elements of how to enjoy S&M play, it moves into actual techniques: a safety overview, waxing, bondage, flogging, spanking and humiliation. It finishes with a discussion of how to build, transport and hide your dungeon "toys". Even if you are an experienced scene player, it is unlikely that you are conversant with every possible type of play, so this book serves as a helpful reminder of the basic techniques. While it does not cover the more extreme types of play - water sports, blood sports or mummification, it is comprehensive in it's coverage of the most standard types of play. Although this book is written by a hetero male dominant and a female submissive, the words of wisdom contained are applicable to everyone. I personally found that having both partner's perspective was very helpful when trying to construct my own session. If you are looking to get into S&M, this book is a great start to begin play at home. Miss's Abernathy's Concise Guide to Slave Training is an excellent next step. And once you are feeling confident in your private relationship, SM 101 by Jay Wiseman will give you enough credibility to feel comfortable in visiting "public" scene events.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensable book
Review: The deeper I got into this book, the more often I found myself saying "YES!" in agreement with Philip and Molly's philosophies about doing SM. This, along with SM 101 by Jay Wiseman is truly a "must have" book if you're serious about wanting to learn what SM is all about. The book covers virtually every facet of play from descriptions of what each "type" of SM players are, looking out for the "wannabes," negotiation before playing, bondage techniques, flogging, spanking, and even humiliation. Illustrations and photos are sprinkled liberally throughout the text and help to make the information that much more easy to understand and follow. Since this book is now a few years old (I understand an update is forthcoming), the resource section is a bit outdated. Otherwise, this book is outstanding!
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious, boring, touchie-feelie, "Barney SM"
Review: Maybe this book would be all right for hets - fem sub, male dom - who are just starting to poke around, but I found the book so boring and touchie-feelie and cutesy that I found myself detesting it in no time. I could barely make it through and finished it only out of a strange sense of morbidity. It's like passing by an accident on the highway. You can't just "not look." This book is like a freaking paint by numbers. No, it's worse than that - it might as well be a coloring book. When will the "find it" word game show up? I was expecting a Captain Kangaroo pop up with every turn of the page. I have no idea what people are seeing in this book. It might be passable for beginners who want to be naughty and poke around, but it certainly shouldn't be touted as the "best book" in its class. Well, not unless it's the ONLY book in its class and the "class" has been held back several grades and sentenced to perpetual summer school. Even the cover is annoying with that twirlie script-like font and the "naughty" soccer-mom-like woman blindfolded and waiting to be "taken" in the picture. Can I wretch now? Looks like an ad for dish detergent rather than the cover of a book describing SM. Completely takes the passion out of leathersex and power dynamics but may be good for kindling in one's fireplace.
Rating:
Summary: An enlightening read
Review: "Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns" is an excellent foray into the world of SM and sexuality in general. Written with humor and a natural love of all things leather the authors easily lead the reader on a fascinating and fun-filled ride. If you only read the sections on human sexuality "Phillip's Treehouse" and "Molly's Quilting Bee" you will learn something vastly important in all things sexual. I cannot rate this book high enough since both my wife and I have feverishly read it and both enjoyed it. If you plan on exploring the world of SM or just want a non-baised tour this book will not lead you astray.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating and informative.
Review: Screw the Roses was a facinating and informative read for me. I didn't know much about BDSM other than reading books like "Breaking the Girl" (erotica) but that lead me to want to understand the dynamics of these relationships and what they're all about. In the end, I find, it's about the love and the trust. The book explains that beautifully.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Introduction to the World of BDSM
Review: This book is great for anyone curious about the BDSM lifestyle. It is written as though a few friends were explaining it all to you, not in a cold clinical fashion. In addition to the great information, there are some beautiful photographs that really show how much affection the participants have for each other. If you are new to S&M, Domination/submission, or bondage/discipline - or if you know someone in the lifestyle and want to understand them better - this is a fantastic book!
Rating:
Summary: S&M is better than M&M's
Review: "Screw the roses..." is one of the best BDSM how to books ever written. It is well written, informative, and readable. The images and text provide a good look into the world of kink and offer much easy to absorb information for anyone from the complete vanilla novice to the experienced fetishist. I had always been a sub because i didn't know how to be a dom and after reading this book I can switch, but more often then not I play dom now. I recomend this book to everyone with any intrest in the BDSM scene.
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