The James Bond Bedside Companion
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Narrated by:
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Dan Bernard
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By:
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Raymond Benson
About this listen
Here is the new audio edition of the classic 007 reference book from the 1980s, complete with a new Foreword by the author.
The James Bond Bedside Companion is an encyclopedic celebration of 007, who is still the world's most popular secret agent.
The only book to cover all aspects of the James Bond phenomenon in a single volume, it includes:
- An intimate portrait of Ian Fleming as remembered by his friends and colleagues
- A character study of James Bond - his background and early life, his clothing and other personal habits, his preferences in food and drink, his attitudes toward women and marriage
- The by-products of Bondmania and the merchandising of 007
- Detailed analyses of every James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, as well as those written by other authors through the 1980s
- A critical look at the 007 film series - the producers, screenplays, directors, actors, soundtracks, and special effects
- An Introduction written by Ernest Cuneo, perhaps Fleming's closest American friend
- And enough facts, figures, and miscellaneous Bondian trivia to satisfy even the most ardent fan
About the author: Raymond Benson is the highly acclaimed author of 25 books, six original James Bond 007 novels, three film novelizations, three short stories, and two anthologies on Bond. He is a sought-after lecturer on film genres and history. Writing as David Michaels, Benson is a New York Times best-selling author, an Edgar Alan Poe Award nominee, and a Readers' Choice Award winner.
©1984 Raymond Benson (P)2012 David WilsonListeners also enjoyed...
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Cari Beauchamp masterfully combines biography with social and cultural history to examine the lives of Frances Marion and her many female colleagues who shaped filmmaking from the early teens through the 1940s. Frances Marion was Hollywood's highest paid screenwriter - male or female - for almost three decades, wrote almost 200 produced films and remains the only woman to win two Academy Awards for original screenwriting (The Big House and The Champ).
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A Must Read
- By Robert Wallace on 03-19-19
By: Cari Beauchamp
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Doctor Who
- A History
- By: Alan Kistler
- Narrated by: Alan Kistler
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Premiering the day after the JFK assassination, Doctor Who humbly launched one of the entertainment world's first super-brands. We begin with a look at TV programming of the day and the original pitch documents before delving into the Daleks, which almost didn't make the cut but inspired many monsters to follow. After three years, First Doctor William Hartnell left, prompting the BBC to recast their hit rather than end it, giving us the first "regeneration" and making TV history.
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Not a Good Reference, a Good Springboard
- By SAMA on 12-16-13
By: Alan Kistler
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The Man with the Golden Typewriter
- By: Ian Fleming, Fergus Fleming
- Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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On 16 August 1952, Ian Fleming wrote to his wife, Ann, 'My love, This is only a tiny letter to try out my new typewriter and to see if it will write golden words since it is made of gold'. And he did write golden words: 14 best-selling James Bond books, and an equally energetic flow of letters to his wife, publisher, editors, fans, friends and critics, charting 007's progress....
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Ian Fleming revealed through his letters
- By James Litsios on 05-10-18
By: Ian Fleming, and others
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Furious Love
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century
- By: Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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He was a tough-guy Welshman softened by the affections of a breathtakingly beautiful woman; she was a modern-day Cleopatra madly in love with her own Mark Antony. For nearly a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were Hollywood royalty, and their fiery romance - often called "the marriage of the century" - was the most notorious, publicized, and celebrated love affair of its day.
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Paul Boehmer needs more practice
- By Brenda Miller on 06-16-10
By: Sam Kashner, and others
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Shock Value
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- By: Jason Zinoman
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but while Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film - aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, New York Times critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age.
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A good listen, but narrow in scope
- By Billy on 01-31-13
By: Jason Zinoman
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Empire of Self
- A Life of Gore Vidal
- By: Jay Parini
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The product of 30 years of friendship and conversation, Jay Parini's Empire of Self probes behind the glittering surface of Gore Vidal's colorful life to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truth underlying his celebrity-strewn life. But there is plenty of glittering surface as well - a virtual who's who of the American Century, from Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart through the Kennedys, Princess Margaret, and the creme de la creme of Hollywood.
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Well done!
- By Christopher on 03-22-16
By: Jay Parini
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High Society
- The Life of Grace Kelly
- By: Donald Spoto
- Narrated by: George K Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In just seven years---from 1950 through 1956---Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in 11 movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood's most talented actresses and iconic beauties.
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Find a better Grace Kelly biography, I'd skip this
- By Daniel on 08-20-12
By: Donald Spoto
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Best. Movie. Year. Ever.
- How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen
- By: Brian Raftery
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From a veteran culture writer and modern movie expert, a celebration and analysis of the movies of 1999 - arguably the most groundbreaking year in American cinematic history.
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Like talking about movies with a friend
- By Shawn Inmon on 05-30-19
By: Brian Raftery
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Starmaker
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- By: Jay Bernstein
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Revealingly candid, this Hollywood memoir is the story of Jay Bernstein, an entertainment industry fixture who helped launch and sustain the careers of many celebrities including Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers. From his childhood in Oklahoma City and his first job in a Hollywood mail room to the ownership of his own public relations firm and his work as a television producer, Bernstein’s life is chronicled in his own words.
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Very Entertaining
- By patrick on 09-27-15
By: Jay Bernstein
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Going Clear
- Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
- By: Lawrence Wright
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- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—both famous and less well known—and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.
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Shockingly Great
- By Michael on 01-27-13
By: Lawrence Wright
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Can I Go Now?
- The Life of Sue Mengers, Hollywood's First Superagent
- By: Brian Kellow
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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A lively and colorful biography of Hollywood's first superagent - one of the most outrageous showbiz characters of the 1960s and 1970s, whose clients included Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, and Candice Bergen. Before Sue Mengers hit the scene in the mid-1960s, talent agents remained quietly in the background. But staying in the background was not possible for Mengers.
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A little long.
- By Doris on 11-29-15
By: Brian Kellow
What listeners say about The James Bond Bedside Companion
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Geof
- 10-19-12
Good overall, but really should have been updated.
Would you try another book from Raymond Benson and/or Dan Bernard?
While the 1984 original (and updated 1988 edition) print edition is long out of print and highly sought after by fans, it's a very odd choice to release a newly-created digital print and an unabridged audiobook, presumably to celebrate Bond's 50th Anniversary in film, yet NOT update it whatsoever to include any of the novels or movies since 1988. I wasn't a big Bond fan back when this book was first available, so this audiobook contains almost no information on the 007 adventures I experienced "first-hand". While I don't consider that to be a deal-breaker, I certainly wouldn't have paid full price for it, and I'm glad I was able to use my monthly credit to buy it.
Dan Bernard is mostly competent as the narrator, but often pronounces names incorrectly (and sometimes alternately correctly.) Considering how fraught with typos the print edition was, I suppose mispronunciation shouldn't be that big of a surprise. He also has a slow-burning, and increasingly annoying habit of referring to Bond as "Oh-oh-seven" instead of "Double-oh seven'. It's a nitpick, yes, but the Double-0 prefix is just that, a Double-0.
Aside from that, there's a wealth of information here, and I would recommend it to any Bond fan at the $14.95 monthly credit price. One can only hope that someday a follow-up edition which covers the missing 24 years of stories will be written and recorded.
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- Troy
- 01-15-13
A Landmark Reference at the Time, Lousy Narrator
This book is a direct reprint - no updates - of a volume from 1988, at the time considered to be the "James Bond Bible." The author makes note of this up front and apologizes for any errors it may contain due to circumstances at the time, which he explains. He does not, however, feel it right to update the material to include modern works as he has since joined the circle of contributors to the 007 story. For Bond fans, this is an insightful look at Fleming, the novels, and the films, up to that time.
That said, the narrator kills it. Honestly, he'd be adequate, but he reads it in a monotone, and most annoyingly refers to the infamous code number as "oh-oh-seven." I have never in my life heard anyone in the know say anything other than "double-oh seven," and this little distraction eats away at me and makes me cringe every single time I hear it "mispronounced." Maybe that's just a personal thing. If you can get past it, it's still a worthy title for the 007 fan.
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- Rhindle The Red
- 03-30-15
Seminal (if dated) work on James Bond
"The James Bond Bedside Companion" was, for a generation of James Bond fans, the "Bond Bible". It covered most of the aspects of the James Bond phenomenon with a kind of detail that few books had shown before. Particularly in the area of the novels, author Raymond Benson delves into the minutia of the works.
In the years since its publication, there have been many books that have covered the same ground and, since Benson ceased updating after the 1988 refresh, can go into detail on the works since '88. But the "Bedside Companion" is still a picture postcard from Bond fandom of the time and well worth a listen, as long as you are aware of the drawbacks.
The main drawback to the work is that it is less of an encyclopedia and more of an extended series of reviews. Benson does not hide the fact that he has very clear ideas of what makes "proper Bond" and what doesn't and his opinions drive the work. So, don't look for cold, objective information. Everything is presented with a judgment on how it fits Benson's view of Bond.
And those opinions can get *very* repetitive. As he delves into the Roger Moore Bond films (which he clearly dislikes for the most part), his complaints become tiresome as he says the same thing over and over again. He makes his argument that these films are "comedies" early on and just keeps hammering away at it. I imagine even if you agreed with that opinion, you'd tire of hearing it, wishing he could find something new to say (or at least a new way to say it).
Something that Benson can't be faulted for is many of the inaccuracies; things that only came to light long after the book was written. He makes a lot of assumptions (based on then-available knowledge) that has since proven to be incorrect. This hurts the work today, but if taken in context of the time when it was written, can be understood.
Overall, though, this is still one of the great works of James Bond scholarship, since it covers so many areas of Fleming and his creation. And all-in-one overview that is worth experiencing. It is clear he knows the material, which is why it is not surprising that he is the most successful (stylistically) of all the post-Fleming Bond novelists.
As for the production of the audiobook, I have to be less complimentary. While reader Dan Bernard does an acceptable job, the production values are poor. The main problems are:
1) It appears to be missing an entire section. I can't believe that Benson skipped covering the novel "Diamonds Are Forever" in the book, but it is nowhere to be found in the audiobook.
2) Poor editing results in sentences cut off before finishing, as well as sentences (or parts of sentences) being repeated. It's as if Bernard was trying a different take on the sentence, but no one bothered to edit out the duplicate material.
So, while I still recommend this audiobook for the material, be ready for a bumpy ride.
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- Paul Luthi
- 07-01-14
Informative but not very entertaining.
The book was basically just a review of everything Bond. It was worth the listen, even with the overly critical viewpoint the author imparted to.... well, everything. It was also not updated for the new movies, as advertised.
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- Ellen Oceanside
- 07-26-20
Excellent
Good information behind the person.
Good story that keep you to the end, with good narration. Given audio for my voluntary review
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- Kevin
- 12-27-15
Why Write a Bond Book if You Do Not Like Bond
What would have made The James Bond Bedside Companion better?
It would have been better if the author liked Bond. I am not being hypercritical. Considering the highly negative tone in the book, I have no idea why the author would write a Bond book if he has such a negative opinion of so much of the Bond content.
The author does a great job of summarizing the entire Bond world up to 1984. However, he offers far to much personal opinion on everything, and he offers his opinion as fact, which is exceptionally annoying if you do not happen to agree with him. I have read the books and seen the movies multiple times. I love all things Bond. I thought this book might fill in some blanks. While it does fill in a few blanks, the majority of the book is made up of the author criticizing the books and then criticizing the movies as not being up to the standard of the books.
What could Raymond Benson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
The author should have offered far far less personal opinion. He liked to declare that a film, a scene, a character, an actor, etc... "was the worst of the series." He offered no points of view contrary to his own. He does not even consider others may see things differently.
The author could also have been more positive. I want to hear about the good and the bad rather than just the bad, which I did not usually agree was bad. He could have highlighted all that is great about Bond. This book is completely void of this type of praise. If someone were to go into this book without having read the books or having seen the movies, that person would probably wonder why anyone would do either considering how terrible the author makes everything sound.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
He mispronounced names.
Any additional comments?
If you love Bond, steer clear of this book, it will just frustrate you. If you love to complain about Bond, this is the book for you!
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