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Rating: 
Summary: Is This Heaven? - Well, Almost
Review: First the good news: if you loved the movie, you'll like the book. The bad news: with only 155 pages of actual text, you can't help but feel you've been rained-out in the top of the 6th - pricey. If you've bought the DVD and have watched the interviews, much of what's here is familiar ground. Still, there are interesting items - did you know Jimmy Stewart was the first pick to play Moonlight Graham? There are moving stories of the visitors, a good description of the surrounding area, but the book suffers from making too much of the psychology involved in the place, for example: "...religious historian Mircea Eliade explains that the history of religions is constituted by the great number of occasions when something shows itself as sacred...the sanctified can present itself as something wholly other than the secular ..." - you get the idea. Why try to explain the lure of the "Field" - some things are best left unexplained. The book is at its best when it stays with the stories of real people (and the trivia will interest movie fans).
Rating:
Summary: Is This Heaven? - Well, Almost
Review: First the good news: if you loved the movie, you'll like the book. The bad news: with only 155 pages of actual text, you can't help but feel you've been rained-out in the top of the 6th - pricey. If you've bought the DVD and have watched the interviews, much of what's here is familiar ground. Still, there are interesting items - did you know Jimmy Stewart was the first pick to play Moonlight Graham? There are moving stories of the visitors, a good description of the surrounding area, but the book suffers from making too much of the psychology involved in the place, for example: "...religious historian Mircea Eliade explains that the history of religions is constituted by the great number of occasions when something shows itself as sacred...the sanctified can present itself as something wholly other than the secular ..." - you get the idea. Why try to explain the lure of the "Field" - some things are best left unexplained. The book is at its best when it stays with the stories of real people (and the trivia will interest movie fans).
Rating: 
Summary: Is This Heaven? This Book Is!
Review: Mr. Mandel is able to strike a cord in the heart strings of his readers in this masterpiece. This book not only tells the true stories of pilgrimages to quaint Dyersville Iowa to explore the movie site for the movie "Field Of Dreams", but lets the reader know that sometimes feelings and dreams can come true in the most unlikeliness of places. Although the book is documenting the reasons and emotions felt while visiting the Field of Dreams, you don't have to be a baseball fan. You don't have to be a fan of the movie. The only thing you need is a good seat, nice reading light and sit back and enjoy. Keep in mind, be prepared to have difficulty putting it down and keep some tissues handy. Mr. Mandel thanks his wife in the acknowledgements, but he should also be thanked for bringing to life a bounty of feelings. "If you build it...he will come" so the movie says. Well, he wrote it you need to go get it. It is magic.
Rating:
Summary: Is This Heaven? This Book Is!
Review: Mr. Mandel is able to strike a cord in the heart strings of his readers in this masterpiece. This book not only tells the true stories of pilgrimages to quaint Dyersville Iowa to explore the movie site for the movie "Field Of Dreams", but lets the reader know that sometimes feelings and dreams can come true in the most unlikeliness of places. Although the book is documenting the reasons and emotions felt while visiting the Field of Dreams, you don't have to be a baseball fan. You don't have to be a fan of the movie. The only thing you need is a good seat, nice reading light and sit back and enjoy. Keep in mind, be prepared to have difficulty putting it down and keep some tissues handy. Mr. Mandel thanks his wife in the acknowledgements, but he should also be thanked for bringing to life a bounty of feelings. "If you build it...he will come" so the movie says. Well, he wrote it you need to go get it. It is magic.
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