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Rating: 
Summary: An incomplete history... but, you get what you pay for.
Review: Harkness fails to list the nominees in each category(only in the first 6). You will also not find the technical awards. I feel that if your gonna spend your money on a book, spend it on a good one. Not an incomplete piece of pulp. His index is also always incomplete. Try to look up Schell (Best Actor 1961.) The best bang for your buck is the Robert Osborne oscar book.
Rating:
Summary: Supposedly "updated" edition has no new information
Review: I picked up the "1999 Academy Awards Handbook" a couple of years ago, and I liked it. So when I saw this "Revised and updated 2001 edition", I thought I would buy it. There is no revision, no update, no new information whatsoever. This is exactly the same book with a new cover. The information ends with the 1998 Academy Awards, just like the 1999 edition did. Talk about false advertising! John Harkness and his publisher, Kensington, ought to be ashamed. I have no doubt that they did the same thing for the "Revised and updated 2002 edition". Caveat emptor!
Rating: 
Summary: Very handy and an essential guide for oscar or film buffs
Review: I use this as sort of an encyclopedia, like if i wonder if someone has ever won an academy award, use the index it has and see the page number and find out ever nomination and ever oscar that person has ever had/won. The index also has movies. It also has a method to tell the winners in the oscar ceremony.
Rating:
Summary: sloppily written, incomplete, waste of money
Review: I'm waiting to order this year's but I'm stlll a little mixed up about how they missed the fact that the winner for live action short (My Mother Dreams:The Satan's Disciples in NY) was revealed before the envelope was opened!!
Rating: 
Summary: Worth The Modest Price Tag
Review: The ACADEMY AWARDS HANDBOOK is not a comprehensive source of information about the Academy Awards but it is instead a handy reference book which gives a complete listing of the Oscars by year. Any rules changes for the Awards competition are noted immediately following each year's listing.The book also includes a short description of each year's Oscar highlights and a list of the 100 best American films according to a poll conducted by the American Film Institute in 1998. CITIZEN KANE is No.l on the list. The ACADEMY AWARDS HANDBOOK is definitely true to its title and it is well worth the modest price tag.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, useful, and witty
Review: The most readable and comprehensive Academy Awards book I have encountered, this is light and enjoyable reading. The commentary at the end of each synopsis is filled with information and opinions of the author, which are often very funny. This book is definitely a must for all followers of the Oscars. I only hope there'll be future editions.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeliness
Review: This is a very good reference of the winners of all awards and winners and other nominees of the major awards. However, the timeliness of the book is suspect. It is published just before the Oscars are announced, instead of just after, hence by the time you buy it, it's already out of date.
Rating:
Summary: sloppily written, incomplete, waste of money
Review: Why do books like this even get published? As a reference book, it's too incomplete to be of use. Harkness's own assessments of the various winners are too brief, perfunctory, and devoid of wit to be of any real interest. Maybe the writing of too many capsule reviews for NOW magazine has turned Harkness's mind to mush. It's hard to say which more amply demonstrates the "great" man's dearth of talent or intellect, this book or his weekly reviews, but either way, it's pretty obvious Harkness isn't exactly the William Hazlitt of film critics. A shoddily compiled handbook, fit candidate for the dustbin of history.
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