The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

A wonderful book. The two Alice books have been favourites of mine since I was a small child, and Gardner's notes are fascinating and informative.

For those of you who have discovered and love Lewis Carroll's masterworks `Alice in Wonderland' and `Alice through the looking glass (and what Alice found there)', filled with its many many lessons of life, such as the lesson `Wallowing in self-pity to drown your sorrows will not fix anything' (Pool of tears); for those of you who are curious about the origins of the eccentric characters such as the gryphon in Carroll's quirky `Wonderland' world; and for those of you that wish to delve into the many puzzles - such as why the dormouse was put into a teapot - this book is definitely for you - and you will love each and every anecdote almost as much as the fantastic page-turning story.What you WONT find are all of the answers to the many allegories - the King of Hearts who brings a fixed viewpoint ("consider your verdict") no matter how you may try to put across your point of view or get to the bottom of things (know anyone who is like that?); the White Queen offering "jam yesterday and jam tomorrow - but never jam today" - basically saying when you look back you only remember the sweet times, and you only ever look forward to pleasant times ahead - but the NOW is very different.If THESE are the sort of answers you seek then you need THIS publication AND a copy of `Alice in Wonderland and philosophy' edited by Richard Davis. Armed with BOTH you will not only reveal the meanings behind each character, you will also discover the PURPOSE of a timeless classic - to learn through the eyes of the most captivating heroine in all of literature. A true feminist who is willing to absorb, learn, and CHALLENGE as she encounters many hostilities, Alice does not require a `fairy godmother' - she simply applies a very simple lesson - to prove what she is TOLD by CONTESTING it.Own BOTH unputdownable publications and you will love each and every anecdote almost as much as the wonderful page-turning story - and - just like Alice - you will be able to challenge everything that you meet on YOUR journey through `Wonderland'.Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series)

Interesting background to the world of a Victorian schoolgirl, it helps understand all the parodies and allusions, and one can picture the peculiar characters that she would have been inflicted with when visiting somewhere like Oxford. One point it seems to miss; I am sure Jabberwocky is a parody of the Belle Dame Sans Merci.

This adds a lot of depth, much of it arcane, to reading Alice.It’s both playful and learned.Recommended for those who love Alice and want to find out more.

The only problem with this book is that the footnotes (which are placed in the margins of the book) are in very small print, which makes them hard to read. Everything else about the book is great - Carroll's Alice stories are as entertaining and readable now as they must have been over a hundred years ago. The notes help to reveal the complexity and subtlety underlying what on the surface appears to simply be a surreal meandering tale. I very much enjoyed revisiting a story that I appreciated as a child, to discover that it was extremely clever and well-constructed.

This edition may answer all the questions you may have had about the "Alice" books as well as providing answers to questions you didn't even know you had. Martin Gardner's extremely detailed footnoting informs the reader about the background to the humor of the time in which Lewis Carroll lived and wrote. In addition, Gardner sheds light on the various controversies surrounding the books as well as Carroll's relationship with the young girl who was the real-life inspiration for the "Alice" figure- Carroll's muse, so to speak. Oddly, one would think that all the foot-notes would make reading this edition a rather plodding or cumbersome affair. My experience was just the opposite. Exactly the foot-notes make the reader want to read further, if only to discover the next secret revealed. One doesn't just enjoy this book as a modern reader, one comes as close as I think one can in experiencing the joy of the first readers of the books from the time of Lewis Carroll. You won't be disappointed. Alexander Stevenson

I originally bought this book to help with my English Literature coursework and I would recommend it if you want to find out more about some of the references made in 'Alice' and how some if the nonsense is actually very clever nonsense but some makes no sense at all!

The very full notes to this edition make so much of a difference to the understanding of the text. This is an excellent book.