If you're going to be a pilot, read about the Wright Brothers; if you're going to be a solo sailor, read Joshua Slocum; if you want to be in the movies, read this book. Like those others, it will tell you how these adventures began over a century ago, and what an impossible thrill it must have been.

Almost all an actor or director ever needs to learn from someone else about the subject. From a consummate pro who has been on more sets than most rental equipment.

Goldman's reputation as a screenwriter is open to discussion, but, as a smart and snarky inside observer of the rest of the industry-mostly at the top of it-there's no one better.

Easily the most informative-and provocative-book available on the very fine art of editing. Perhaps this one should be listed as "required reading." Ondaatje and his collaborator, Walter Murch, take theory and experience as far as anyone has or probably ever will.

A year in the life of the business, written by the editor- in-chief of Variety. No one in the movie business is better connected than Bart. He goes way behind the scenes to ferret out the facts of the lives and deaths of movies and their makers after they leave the set. Pay attention; he's usually right.

As successful producers go, she's "been there, done that". So, if you're an aspiring producer and want to be there and do that, too, you'd be well advised to borrow a page (or chapter) from her book.

True tales of many people on many sets-really the only book of its kind. The subtitle says it all: The creative wars between actors and directors

"Good" isn't good enough . . . and if it ain't great, why bother? This is one of the few how-to books-among the hundreds out there-worth reading.

Aptly titled, this is probably the best book ever written about directing. All aspects are touched upon and Lumet is, at 84, as good a writer as he is a director: a master. Nobody's done it longer.

This is such a renegade point of view, and so thought- provoking, that it's worth a serious read. It's not a familiar approach; it's just a refreshing one.

Since 1992, this (mostly) annual review has mixed anecdote, personal reflections, and comments from leading directors, editors, and actors on the practicalities of filmmaking. Reading any or all of these unique issues is worth the search on eBay and AbeBooks.com.

Well, do you, punk, do you? Then read this book. Like Sidney Lumet, Turman has been around long and successfully enough to speak ex cathedra about his profession. Take his advice.

In case you glossed over My Dirty Dozen (page 201) earlier, Leonard's book is the single most sensible and useful screenwriting book I know of. Although he doesn't know that-he wrote it for novelists. It's so rigorous that I've already broken several rules just writing this much about it.

Okay, so it's not a book; so what? Why read about great cinematography when you can, and need to, see it? This wondrous film, like many of the D.P.s in it, won an Academy Award. Deservedly so. Get the DVD; there's nothing else like it.

Linson's an unusual combination of hip Hollywood insider and tasteful maverick producer: a delightful and effective combination. He's also a fine writer.