An excellent book already in its second edition

Much can be said about the spectacular photography. But to capture the real beauty of the golf clubs, you need to read the text. For all of us who have enjoyed a pint in a dirty bar, this book captures the essence of the gentility of the game.

This book is fun, informative, and quite enjoyable.

As mentioned in the title, this is a collection of anecdotes and short tales, with charming illustrations. Here are changelings, daoine sidh, water sheerie. Little cluricaunes who hide in your cellar and drink your beer. The headless dullahan. The magical land of Tir-Nan-Og.

While not a book for younger children, this book should be easily readable for people interested in folk tales or Irish legend. Each entry has a synopsis of the creature in question, and a short story, including such tales as "Fann MacCuil and the Scotch Giant" (about a wily Irish giant who takes on a well-armed Scotch giant), "Far Darrig in Donegal" (about a tinker), "The Werewolves of Ossory" (about a couple cursed to take wolf form for seven years, at the end of which two others take the curse), "The Amadan Mor and the Gruagach" (one of the stranger tales, about a man who loses his legs and gains them back again).

This book is full of illustrations, all of them in black and white. Includes medieval woodcuts, Victorian art, and contemporary art.

(Four and a half stars, rounded up.)

I am 17 years old and I just got back from four months in Europe by myself. It was my first time out of the country and I would have died or gone broke without this book. I never found a day when I didn't know what to do and I always found a place to stay (and cheeply I might add). This is perfect for a student or buget traveler. I was able to travel for 4 monthe on $2,500 with all the money I saved. It also made traveling by bus and train very easy and has tons of travel deals. It is much better than lonely planet which didn't list as many places to stay. Oh, it also has great, cheep pubs and student hang outs, and fesivals.

I've been traveling in Ireland for about five months. At first I was using the Lonely Planet guidebook, but even though I got the most recent edition, the book just didn't have all the information I needed, and what information it did have was normally wrong. I grew to hate the book and adopt the name for it ``Lonely Liar.'' Then I bought the Let's Go 2003 Ireland guidebook. Since I was so used to using Lonely Planet books it took me a bit of time to understand how the Let's Go was laid out, but once I did, I began to love the book. Not only does it have tons of practical information, but unlike Lonely Planet, the information is 'spot on.' The book is also filled with great hidden deals and fun stories to read - if there was one thing i really loved about the book it was the style in which it was written. I felt as though I got to know the authors because it seemed as though their personalities shone right through. All in all, an awesome book. I've been traveling for about four years now and this is the best one I've ever bought. Two huge thumbs up.

O'Flaherty is one of the more gifted short story writers in contemporary fiction, regardless of geography. The life he bring to Irish fiction, though, is incredible. O'Flaherty is a master of sparse writing, using as few words as possible to carry out the events of the story. He lets the reader fill in any blanks he or she wishes and does not mind letting readers draw conclusions and imagine "the rest of the story." His classic story "The Sniper" is a perfect example of this tactic. O'Flaherty provides no background information, aside from a very brief mention of the Irish conflict and the IRA (the sniper is a Republican). The action is quick and concise, allowing for an abrupt, ambiguous, and unsettling ending. He can and does write about more than just snipers, and the previously unpublished stories provide a nice glimpse into O'Flaherty's entire scope of knowledge, experience, and insights. This collection may lift O'Flaherty into the elite company of short story writers who have overshadowed him in the past. There aren't many, but this volume will lessen that number.

This book has been an inspiration and has given me great delight at what can and has been achieved through prayer power in Northern Ireland.Through one mans faith in the Lord Jesus Christ he has set up a place which can offer hope for the people of Northern Ireland. I would encourage any one to read this book or its sequel "THE SEERS HOUSE" and may be it will change their lives also.

This is a tremendous resource for the history of County Limerick and all of its small towns and villages. It is an excellent reference for genealogy or for exploring the area.

My name is Michal Tal. My book of the same name, only spelled, "The Lion & the Cross" is a historical novel about the Spanish Inquisition, and was published by Minerva Press in 1995. Who is Joan Hamilton? When was her book published? And how did she come to have my book's title on hers? Please help!

Too often local history is limited history: it is so concerned with the details of a particular time and place its fails to contextualise, to analysis, to grasp the bigger picture. Good local historians ought to "see the world in a grain of sand", as William Blake would have it. The Little General and the Rousay Crofter is my history book of the moment because it suceeds wonderfully in linking the local with capital 'H' History. Okay, I'm basis - I come from Orkney and am interested in the place. But I am sure that folk with no Orkney connection would find the story of the debt-ridden General with an empire career behind him and his struggle with the crofters and Free Kirk Minister on the Orkney island of Rousay compelling. Thomson never falls back on stereotypes of the bad landlord exploiting poor crofters, but instead picks through the evidence with great care. The result is a detailed and (I think) gripping study of the break-down of old bonds of patronage between the land-owning class and crofters, of the complex allegiances and tensions across a whole community this breakdown suddenly throws into sharp relief, of the politicisation of ordinary people such as the remarkable James Leonard, leader of the crofters. And there are one or two remarkable twists in the tale. Highly recommended, and I've never met William Thomson.