The Big Book of Adventure Stories: The Most Daring, Dangerous, and Death-Defying Collection of Adventure Tales EverCaptured in One Mammoth Volume

Otto Penzler might be more well-known for his Mysterious Bookshop and curated collections of mystery writing, but his skills of selection and compilation are not limited by genre, as The Big Book of Adventure Stories proves. Like other volumes in his "Big Book" collection, Penzler has assembled a gargantuan trove of pure adventures by classic masters of the genre. Keep in mind, of course, that these stories are a product of their times (Preston and Penzler address this fact in the foreword and introduction respectively), meaning this: if you're easily offended by almost comically out-dated stereotypes, then this tome and others of its ilk are not for you. If, on the other hand, you are the type of person who loves Indiana Jones movies and the old-school gusto associated with the Age of Exploration and you aren't familiar with the table of contents, consider this a valuable primer (and if they are familiar, consider it a convenient collection of old favorites). If you're on the fence about whether or not it's a worthy addition to your library, consider the 47 tales contained within a sampler - there is bound to be one story among them that you've never heard, or at the very least you will find interesting enough to investigate a new author.

This one worked out great! I had no idea what to get my dad for Fathers Day, so I went online searching with that key phrase and found a list of books dads might enjoy. I always get my books on Amazon, it's very rare that anyone else will have a better price. But here's the clincher, as usual I wait until the last minute for gifts and Amazon always saves the day with their unbeatable shipping time and price! Since my dad is in my Amazon address contacts it couldn't have been easier, and for the guy who is extremely hard to shop for this book actually tickled his fancy. He doesn't read that much so a novel was out of the question. This is a nice collection of stories, with ample variety, it will hopefully keep him entertained enough to get through the whole book someday. (I'll get back to the review then.)

Great and I mean great collection of stories of this type, bar none. The editor Otto Penzler has put together a wonderful variety of different kinds of adventure tales. They are divided into the following categories. Sword and Sorcery Megalomania Rules Man VS. Nature Island Paradise Sand and Sun Something Feels Funny Go West Young Man Future Shock I Spy Yellow Peril In darkest Africa. In each of these are several tale representing each category. They are all wonderful. Concluding the In Darkest Africa section is a complete Tarzan short novel titled "Tarzan the Terrible" by Edgar Rice Burroughs of 131 pages of sheer delight. But than again this could be applied to this whole collection. I only wish there was a second collection in the works because this is simply not enough! Bravo!!!

This book is expansive with a ton of stories. As such, there are definitely some wasted pages on terrible stories. However there are more than enough gems, both in terms of selection and authorship, to make it a worthwhile purchase. I was particularly impressed to read the original Buck Rogers. Enjoy!

I love this book, but I feel some guilt recommending it. I'm frankly concerned about how my Asian friends would feel about my recommending a book that has a section titled "Yellow Peril." Many of the stories in this collection come from the early 20th Century, where racism was a part of life. The racism in these stories is far less than the racism to be found in many other stories of the era, though I know that does not excuse it. I love the genre so much that I have to rue the racism, and enoy everything else in the book. Well, there's also some sexism. But aside from the occasional racism and sexism, this is a wonderful book.

We bought this anthology for our 10-year-old son to take with him to overnight camp for a week. He loved reading it there, and was still poring over it for days after we picked him up. He seemed to find the way the stories were categorized very enticing, and he enjoyed encountering authors with whom he was not familiar. He is already a fan of Kipling, which we've read aloud to him at bedtime; he likes Kipling's language so much that he wanted to save the Kipling selection for bedtime reading. But in general, he found the stories utterly absorbing for reading to himself.

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Many old classic writers here with some of their best short stories. I have not read it yet, as my husband just finished it and lent it out. This is what he said about it,,,,, Perfect book to take on a vacation too, as you can put it down and move on to another story as you have time for. We will keep this book in our library, as its something that guests can borrow when there is a rainy day or an interlude in the summer activities.

This review is for the hardcover edition of The Big Book of Adventure Stories that is sold on Amazon as the same book as the paperback edition with the same name. In reality, they are two completely distinct books but with same title. The hardcover book has only 24 short stories, whereas paperback book has 47 stories including a novel. Hardcover book is smaller in dimension and has only 348 pages as against larger dimension and 896 pages of the paperback book. I'm giving a picture of the content list from the hardcover book, if you compare that with the content list provided on Amazon (which is of the paperback book) you'll see it is completely different.

I read some stories and what I read I really loved a lot.It has a lot of adventure stories (by authors) you ever heard of or seen on TV or read in comic books. Heroes and Villains with conflict and excitement. People beaten, tortured, and killed. So go with it. Love all these big books and will buy them all.

This book is excellent value for anyone who wants something to read and while away some time lost in the world of make believe.