"Ian Fleming's Inspiration - The Truth Behind the Books" is an outstanding read that delves deep into the inspiration behind one of the greatest spy novelists of all time. The book is written by Ian Fleming's nephew, Edward Abel Smith, who provides an insider's perspective into the author's life and works.

The book is well-researched and written, and it provides readers with a fascinating glimpse into Fleming's world. Smith does an excellent job of exploring the real-life inspirations behind some of Fleming's most iconic characters, such as James Bond and Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He also sheds light on the author's own experiences in the world of espionage, which adds an extra layer of intrigue to the story.

What I appreciated most about this book was how it didn't just focus on Fleming's writing, but also on his personal life and relationships. Smith provides readers with a candid look at his uncle's personal struggles, including his battle with depression and his tumultuous relationships with women.

Overall, "Ian Fleming's Inspiration - The Truth Behind the Books" is an engaging and enlightening read that will appeal to both fans of Fleming's work and those interested in the world of espionage. I highly recommend this book and give it a 5/5 rating.

James Bond book and movie fans are dazzled and entranced by Ian Fleming’s wild imagination, but few of us know all of the truth behind them. Here, Edward Abel Smith presents a book-by-book look, mostly chronological (to Fleming’s life rather than the order in which the books were written), at the career (British secret service during WWII) and inspirations that led to Fleming’s oeuvre. Observes Smith: “ It is astonishing, when one puts the Bond author’s own life up against that of his fictional creation, how much they cross over with each other. Whether it is the central plot of one of the Bond stories, simply the food 007 eats or the feeling he gets when driving down a road, they are all based on real experiences.”

4.5/5

This was an eye-opening exposition filled with all the facts that I was looking for in regards to one of my favorite fictional characters. This historical content is written in the format of a coexistent hybrid; the biographical content of Fleming revolves around the Bond books themselves. Interestingly enough, the overall “inspiration” behind the novels randomly coincide with actual events that occurred in the author’s life.

Most of Bond’s inspiration, of course, comes from the hellish events surrounding WWII, when Ian worked for the Royal Navy. Most of the chapters encompass this particular narrative-“Moonraker”, “Diamonds Are Forever”, and “Thunderball” were some of my favorite chapters regarding the subject. Ian also had a lot of personal drama in his life, but found comfort during the post-way years in “Goldeneye”, his estate located on the northern coastline of Jamaica. “Octopussy” and “The Spy Who Loved Me” are a few of the touching chapters humorously describing the sunset of Ian’s life.

If you’re seeking a book that references the Eon film series, then you should probably look elsewhere. I counted less than five instances where the movies are mentioned. That doesn’t discourage me at all from highly recommending this,

I’m not particularly a James Bond fan, and certainly enjoy the books more than the films, but this fascinating exploration about Ian Fleming’s life and how it relates to the fictional character he created I found both absorbing and enlightening. If some of Bond’s exploits seem far-fetched then this book shows how real-life can also sometimes seem far-fetched. It’s an insightful biography, demonstrating how Fleming drew on his own experiences for his books and one that will appeal both to the die-hard Bond fan, who will find much to interest them here, as well as to the general reader. A really good read.

A very well researched retelling of the life of Ian Fleming, framed using events which inspired his Bond novels.

Like his famous character, Ian Fleming is an interesting and complex character. The first half of this book mostly covers his military career which I found fascinating, Fleming played important parts in the background of many key events during WWII. At times I did find that for a casual reader, these chapters a bit detail heavy at points but this is great for anyone with an interest in the subject.

There’s a shift in tone for the second half of this book, focusing on the relationship between Fleming and his wife as well as the life he built at his Jamaican home, Goldeneye. I am more familiar with this period of Flemings life but enjoyed this take of events.

While not the main focus, it was good to see mention of Flemings flaws. I would have liked to see his beliefs and attitudes further explored, as these certainly inspired the Bond we see on the page, but perhaps that is for another book with this one mainly focusing on the external factors that shaped Flemings life and Bond’s.

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Ian Fleming’s Inspiration: The Truth Behind the Books by Edward Abel Smith is a book which examines the life of the famous author, and the parts which made it into his famous books about Secret Service Agent James Bond.

As a longtime fan of the James Bond movies and books I always like to read about the way they were made and the creative process. Usually, though, the information is repeated ad nauseum and presented in different ways, but still rehashed. In Ian Fleming’s Inspiration: The Truth Behind the Books by Edward Abel Smith the author presents the stories in a manner which gives it a fresh spin, in a presentation package for the fan instead of a straight through biography.

I really liked the way this book was presented, each chapter deals with one Bond book that Fleming wrote, and which parts of it were inspired by the author’s life. Whether it’s the women, the cars, guns, or drinks the author takes the relevant parts of the book and connects them to experiences in Fleming’s life.

Each section starts with a short synopsis of the book, and goes on from there drawing parallels to where Fleming might have gotten his inspiration from. I have to admit that sometimes those parallels were stretched a bit too much, but they were fascinating nonetheless.

Ian Fleming’s charm is lost on me, from everything I read he seems like a real jerk, but man can he write. He was a chain smoker, heavy drinker, serial philanderer with an eye for married women, and doesn’t suffer company very well.

One of the most famous operations that Mr. Fleming was part of, and parts of it made it to the books, was Operation Mincemeat. During this deception operation, a dead body dressed as an officer of a Royal Marines and dropped into the sea with fake documents for the enemy to find.

Much have written about Operation Mincemeat, but the book has many other anecdotes about the parts of Fleming’s life that made it into the books. For example, a section which deals with the book From A View to a Kill (included in the For Your Eyes Only a collection of short stories), in which Bond’s investigation has him finding a hostile enemy base hidden in the rocks, has a basis in one of Fleming’s World War II plans. The plan was called Operation Tracer, a secret mission created to send six British commandos to hide in the Rock of Gibraltar for a year. The plan was devised by Mr. Fleming, who knew for certain he was sending these man on a suicide mission if Gibraltar was ever to be taken over my Axis forces. Mr. Fleming believed that Gibraltar would be a key asset resupplying ships during the war.

This was a fascinating, well written, and a quick read. One does not have to be familiar with all the Fleming Bond library since the author recaps the books, and touches on the relevant parts – but it doesn’t hurt.

Thank you to the publisher for an as a ce copy of the book via netgalley!

As a big Ian Fleming and James Bond fan, I had very high expectations towards this book. And I am very happy to say that this book exceeded these expectations! It is well researched and it is clearly demonstrated in it. The author took great care to preserve Fleming’s life using factual statements. And I loved the format of the book: each chapter is dedicated to one of Fleming’s Bond books. It was a great read! Bond and Fleming fans won’t be disappointed!

biography, character-study

Commander Ian Fleming May 28, 1908-August 12, 1964
Unlike common biographical studies, this one begins with the man's life prior to WW2 complete with his foibles and bad habits and then shifts to the chapters headed by the titles of his James Bond series in chronological order (he also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). In each chapter the author explains the relevant incidents and people in Fleming's life as related to characters, habits, attitudes, and hijinks in each Bond book. It is a very detailed work and acknowledges all of the other biographies which have been written and all sources of information used to create this fascinating and very readable book.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Pen & Sword History via NetGalley. Thank you!