Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Annotations
Review: This newly published, annotated version of THE HOBBIT is excellent for fans of the book. It may be TMI ("too much information") for the first-time reader. The text of THE HOBBIT settles in the center of the book while Doug Anderson's notations appear in the outer margins. At times it's a bit busy - but there's always fascinating reading! Tolkien fans are sure to get excited over this one.Doug Anderson includes lots of sources in his notes. He quotes Tolkien's own letters, other fairy tales and legends that may have inspired Tolkien, as well as previous versions of the section he's noting. The Gollum section ("Riddles in the Dark") is interesting. Tolkien did some tinkering with the original Gollum story as its follow-up (LORD OF THE RINGS) was taking shape. Seems that George Lucas is not the only person who's revised previously released work! Tolkien was his predecessor. Also interesting are the many black and white illustrations that Anderson includes, many from foreign editions of THE HOBBIT. Some of the art is hilarious, as it does not resemble Tolkien's characters at all! There is a nice color section of illustrations in the center of the book. THE ANNOTATED HOBBIT is a handsome, interesting book to own if you're a fan of Bilbo and his adventures with the dwarves (or dwarfs? That's covered in the book as well!)
Rating:
Summary: As Good As It Gets
Review: This version of the Hobbit is a pleasure to long-time fans but will also serve new readers well. Anderson released the original "Annotated Hobbit" years ago but this new format with the annotations in the column most often directly next to the orginal book text is supurb. Included are Hobbit illustrations around the word, a rich addition, but the real joy of this book is learning background and details about The Hobbit, author J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord Of The Rings. At times the footnotes are scholarly and at other times they are amusing gems. Anderson has compared all of Tolkien's revisions and has researched the 'whys' 'hows' and 'whens' that helps reveal to reader the meaning of the text and the personality of the author. My favorites are anecdotes about Tolkien's personal life that involve his family and personal history. They are facinating and at times touching. WIthout rambling on too much, I can confidently recommend this version of "The Hobbit" as the best available.
Rating:
Summary: As Good As It Gets
Review: This version of the Hobbit is a pleasure to long-time fans but will also serve new readers well. Anderson released the original "Annotated Hobbit" years ago but this new format with the annotations in the column most often directly next to the orginal book text is supurb. Included are Hobbit illustrations around the word, a rich addition, but the real joy of this book is learning background and details about The Hobbit, author J.R.R. Tolkien and The Lord Of The Rings. At times the footnotes are scholarly and at other times they are amusing gems. Anderson has compared all of Tolkien's revisions and has researched the 'whys' 'hows' and 'whens' that helps reveal to reader the meaning of the text and the personality of the author. My favorites are anecdotes about Tolkien's personal life that involve his family and personal history. They are facinating and at times touching. WIthout rambling on too much, I can confidently recommend this version of "The Hobbit" as the best available.
Rating:
Summary: An awesome version of "The Hobbit"
Review: When I first saw a copy of this book, I had to have it! even though I already own three other copies of "The Hobbit". If you are a fan of Tolkien's, you have to get this book. Not only does it include the revised text of "The Hobbit" in its entirety, but in the margins of the pages, it has the texts of the original 1937 version that J.R.R. Tolkien felt he had to change. There, you can read the original tale of the finding of the One Ring as it first appeared, along with the revised renditioning of the tale. It also contains many exerpts from stories that inspired Tolkien's plus several obsure poems by Tolkien that you'll definately have trouble finding elsewhere. It also contains a short story entiled "The Quest of Erebor". I think a version of this story appeared in Tolkien's posthumously published book, "Unfinished Tales", but I do not know how much this text differs from the one published in that book. Anyway, I think that this book is well worth the price, especially the price that amazon.com has it because it is much cheaper than it would be at the bookstore, even with shipping and handling included.
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