Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes

Rating:
Summary: Good AND terrible
Review: As the other reviewer said, a fabulous book that is absolutely awful as an e-book. I have the hard copy, and use it frequently for speeches and talks. It is brilliant - pick one up, and you will sit down with it. But the e-book is as bad as the other reviewer mentioned - all the portabilitiy in the world can't make up for impossible searches and slowness. If I could get my money back, I would... Maybe it's just Microsoft Reader, but regardless, it makes the book virtually unusable.

Rating:
Summary: Good AND terrible
Review: As the other reviewer said, a fabulous book that is absolutely awful as an e-book. I have the hard copy, and use it frequently for speeches and talks. It is brilliant - pick one up, and you will sit down with it. But the e-book is as bad as the other reviewer mentioned - all the portabilitiy in the world can't make up for impossible searches and slowness. If I could get my money back, I would... Maybe it's just Microsoft Reader, but regardless, it makes the book virtually unusable.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, terrible e-book
Review: BARTLETT'S BOOK OF ANECDOTES is not this reviewer's normal work having mostly stayed with fiction. In fact, I had no plans to write a review, but my spouse was leafing through the book and started laughing. Motivated to take a look and not let it be a coffee table piece, I started to read some of the quotes from famous, not so famous (at least in my circle) and infamous people throughout history. I found myself intrigued, enjoying the comments that are often serious and obtaining additional pleasure from a brief biography of the contributor. In fairness, I have not finished the anecdotes, but read a few each night to simply relax as the book reminds me of A&E's "Biography for the Millennium" even though there are contributors from before 1000 AD. However, though entertaining and a remarkable research book, readers need to consider the price vs. the value before purchasing this tome.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: geat aid for trivia buffs & students
Review: BARTLETT'S BOOK OF ANECDOTES is not this reviewer's normal work having mostly stayed with fiction. In fact, I had no plans to write a review, but my spouse was leafing through the book and started laughing. Motivated to take a look and not let it be a coffee table piece, I started to read some of the quotes from famous, not so famous (at least in my circle) and infamous people throughout history. I found myself intrigued, enjoying the comments that are often serious and obtaining additional pleasure from a brief biography of the contributor. In fairness, I have not finished the anecdotes, but read a few each night to simply relax as the book reminds me of A&E's "Biography for the Millennium" even though there are contributors from before 1000 AD. However, though entertaining and a remarkable research book, readers need to consider the price vs. the value before purchasing this tome.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: a thousand good quick reads
Review: I enjoyed this book throughly! It's an excellent resource for speech writing or for creating your own personal fables (to be passed on through conversation and lessons). I also liked how many of the stories were cross referenced when multiple people were involved, and how a few of them were retold in different ways when listed under different people.

My only complaint... (and this is a big one!) is that the list of celebrities and historical figures is extremely westernized. There are only a handful of eastern and middle eastern people represented. Even Eastern Europeans are greatly outnumbered by the British and American figures. And god forbid that we include anyone from the Southern hemisphere. I'd like to see more variety in the next edition, or even a companion book with some 'minority' focus in it.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, terrible e-book
Review: I purchased the Adobe e-book version of this book assuming it would be easier to use for reference than the print version. I was wrong. The Find feature is slow, cumbersome, and doesn't support Boolean searches. You can't copy or print even the smallest portions of the text. You cannot jump to a reference from its listing in the index. And when you click on the highlighting tool, you'll accidentally hit a link that periodically pops up for Amazon.com, opening your browser whether you want to or not. You cannot return this e-book, though you will be tempted to. Save yourself the money and buy a used copy and some sticky notes.