Book Review: “Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard” (Expanded and Revised Edition – 2025)

• Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard (Expanded and Revised Edition – 2025)
• Author: Matt Taylor
• 312 Pages
• Titan Books

Our score:  5 out of 5

Sometimes you have amazingly great fortune.  As a long time fan of the film Jaws, I had the opportunity to follow the book, “Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard,” practically from inception.  I was honored, when the book was released in 2011, to be the first person to review it.  The book was also partly responsible for my own book, “Jaws 2: The Making of the Hollywood Sequel,” written with Louis Pisano, which was released in 2015.  One of the proudest reviews our book received read, “belongs on the same shelf with “Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard.”  As Peter O’Toole said in My Favorite Year, “Praise indeed.”

To celebrate the recent 50^th Anniversary of Jaws, author Matt Taylor has searched out new stories and new photos and done the impossible.  He’s made a great book even better!  If you’ve read the book, you know that it tells the story of the making of Jaws through the words and photos of the people who were on Martha’s Vineyard during the summer of 1974.  Some of the new photos in this book are jaw dropping.  Familiar scenes seem brand new thanks to being able to view them from a different angle.  The fact that so many people were allowed, unfettered, to wander around on various locations with their Instamatics is one that, in today’s age of secrecy and security, seems mind-boggling.  Thank God for those curious people, because they have captured images that make an old friend seem new.

As with the 2011 edition, the new Updated and Revised edition of Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard is available in both a beautiful oversized hardback version as well as a special limited edition that comes with a piece of the “break-away dock” – the “Holiday Roast” scene – from the film.  Whether you’re a fan of Jaws, or just love the movies, this book is truly a “must have” for your library.  If you’ve read the 2011 edition, you need to check out the Updated and Revised edition.  You will not be disappointed!

Check out an interview with author Matt Taylor and graphic designer Paul Prizer on the “Let’s Talk Jaws Live!” podcast, including an unboxing of the special Updated and Revised edition by clicking HERE.

“Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard” can be ordered by clicking HERE.