CommanderBond.net

'The Man With The Golden Touch: How The Bond Films Conquered The World'

New hardcover book by Sinclair McKay out now

I'd like to know what this is like, if anyone's already read it. I enjoyed the Chapman book very much.

I had a flip through it yesterday in Waterstone's - it's a nice-looking hardback book and the text looks decent. Hard to tell whether it offers a new take on the Bond legacy, but I'm considering picking it up.

I am about half way through and it is an absolutely superb book. Very intelligent, witty with a great love of the subject matter. I will put it on the same level as the James Chapman book, but funnier. Some very perceptive and original thoughts are thrown up. With everything put into the context of the times. Anyone looking for another bland picture book should look elsewhere. This is something good and original that has got under the radar. I wish it well.

High praise. I love books of this ilk, academic but not in the least bit dry.

Looking forward to seeing it, not in my local Waterstone's unfortunately.

This post has been edited by Dene: 1 October 2008 - 14:40

Very cool. I guess I missed hearing about this one amongst all the other current Bond book releases.

Will have to pick it up.

This book is terrific. Sinclair McKay writes well; his style is witty, informative and very, very readable. Best of all, he's opinionated. You may not agree with what he has to say - indeed, some po-faced Bond fans are going to disagree with him a lot - but he argues his case well.

My favourite line in the book comes when he's discussing Die Another Day (which he regards as a "magnificently frivolous" Bond film): "This whizz-bang self-hommage has...too many good ideas, with not enough time to dwell on each...(but) why grumble? All this is better than a film such as The Man With The Golden Gun operating on barely half an idea."

Is there anyone out there who picks up every book put out about some aspect of Bond? I remember back when there was only "James Bond in the Cinema" by John Brosnan and "The James Bond Films" by Steven Jay Rubin. That was it (although maybe you could also include "James Bond: A Report" by Snelling and Amis' "James Bond Dossier", both of which were more about the books).

I used to. Nowadays I wait and let someone else be the guinea pig to find out if it is worth getting or not.

Trust me, this one is worth reading. Even when I disagree with the author (for instance, he trashes LTK which I rate), I find myself persuaded to see his point of view by the wit and verve of his writing.

You've got me intrigued by this description of the writing. I've been limiting myself to the tech books (just got that MAGNIFICENT new Ken Adam volume yesterday and was trying to scrape up to get the Meddings at some point), but if this is as you say, I may just have to grab it as well.

Plus I'm just contrary enough to want to see if ANYbody can get me to change my mind about LTK ...

The Man With The Golden Touch is excellent and well worth getting for the serious Bondfan. Well written with a point of view, this anecdotal history is a cross between Simon Winder's superb The Man Who Saved Britain and James Chapman's equally worthwhile Licence To Thrill. Sinclair McKay knows his stuff (although the book is studded with small errors), he has obviously followed Bond for some time. He even mentions my friend's amateur Bond movie for charity that never got off the ground! There are a few intriguing pictures, no real revelations, no new James Bond Journalism but just a compendium of opinion, social history and Bondage.

Does he talk about the lit Bond beyond Fleming, or anything outside the movies? I enjoy these books, but I find them all too cinema centric. I feel like if you're going to write a book about James Bond history/culture, it's worth addressing the impact, changes, etc. that came via books, games, comics, newstrips, and so forth. James Bond is more than a movie series.

EDIT: Oh, I guess the answer is in the title of the book. LOL. Like I said, I enjoy these books, but I'm just not into yet another book that only looks at Bond through the films. Just as I would not be interested in a book about Sherlock Holmes that only addresses him as a movie character.

I expect this book is very good and worth getting, but I really do want another Beside Companion.