The latest in Phaidon Press Limited"s fine 20th Century Composers series, this biography plows ground that"s already been gone over many times, but does so very well. Like the rest of the books in this series, it"s aimed at the more-than-casual but less-than-expert reader, and puts the composer"s life and art into perspective, assisted by assorted photographs. This is a particularly good starting place for someone captured by Puccini"s music dramas who"s interested in how it all came about. There are no musical examples, which can be a positive or a negative depending on one"s point of view and whether one reads music. New listeners may find the overly brief discography in the back of the book a useful guide.