Glorious edition, full of illuminating critical essays preceding each play. Accurate and insightful footnotes. Why didn't I rate it 5 stars? Because it's so freaking heavy and teeny tiny print makes it hard to read. And I get a little tired of Shakespeare's reoccuring sexual puns.

Everyone need a some classical literature In their life....I just got mine in this enormous book.

Absolutely essential edition of absolutely essential material. Also has the advantage of being lighter than the Riverside Shakespeare.

After research this seemed like the best edition to read, though at first I thought Folger may be easier. I got a Folger copy of Richard III and it was almost the exact translation as Norton, and I found the way Norton was put together to be easier to read than Folger, though the opposite was supposed to be true. My ultimate take away is that I enjoy Shakespeare’s stories, but they take some work to read - certainly not easy reading, though not difficult, just slow. I enjoyed the stories I read - Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, King Lear, and sonnets 3, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 29, 30, 36, 40, 60, 98, 116, 129, 130, & 152. Overall 4 stars.

Richard III - a history. Least good of the four I read, though enjoyable enough, if not particularly memorable.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream - a comedy. Somewhat humorous, enjoyable read, good story.

Hamlet, King Lear - tragedy. Tied for best of what I read. Along with Midsummer Night’s Dream, these plays all had endings that left you wanting a more conclusive end to events, or perhaps a cheerier end. As far as the tragedies, I guess the point is they leave you let down somewhat. I can imagine that seeing all of these as plays would be more fulfilling than just reading them.

Sonnets - some were nicely written and noteworthy. Apparently some were written for his man lover, which is interesting.

It would take a very long time to read its over 3000 pages, but the 5 stars are deserved because of the useful alternative words given in the margins to clarify archaic words; the succinct, useful footnotes and comments that clarify difficult phrases and idioms; the appealing font and layout; the very thorough introductions to each piece or group of pieces (e.g. the sonnets); and that all of Shakespeare is compiled in such a pleasing way into one volume. The notes are not distracting both visually and in terms of their complexity; it is also a boon that they take up very little page space, thereby avoiding unseemly pages that are half footnotes, half text.

I say "studying" because I'll likely never read it in full... but it IS a fantastic collection.

Only problem with this book - it's a brick!

Plays I read from this compilation (in order of preference):

Othello
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hamlet
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Tempest
A Winter's Tale
Much Ado About Nothing
The Taming of the Shrew
King Henry IV part I

The Norton Shakespeare is a collection of Shakespeare's complete works, including the sonnets, including essays and introductions on each, with glosses and footnotes for the modern reader where the meaning of words and phrases isn't obvious, or where the modern reader needs some context. It's not something I tend to need, but it has been helpful on a few occasions.

It's a very good collection, and if you're studying Shakespeare, definitely worth getting. The main problem with it is that it's huge and heavy, so it can't really be taken with you to classes.

There are so many of his plays in here it was really a great book. I like this edition because you learn a lot about the quarto versus the folio version!

I’m not sure if the edition has been updated but this 2004 version has served me well. The annotations are same-page and there is concise analysis across a wide range of context, a highlight for me being the tapping-into of Shakespeare’s curiosity around rhetorically doubling in a certain way.
The downside (for some, and me) would be the introductions to each play. These are all New Historical in a vein of modernity which has now aged. A firmer historical texture as well as some reflexivity on the approach itself would not go amiss. Maybe that is the case in newer editions, but the thousands of flimsy pages in this copy still hold well for me.

The best complete Shakespeare, bar none. If you had to live on a desert island and could take only one book, and you chose a complete edition of Shakespeare's works, this has to be it. Full of the latest editions of all his plays and poetry. It also has revised chronology of his works, including some discussions of works which may be by him such as Love's Labour's Won, and some great essays to really bring the edition up to date. Buy it, read it, enjoy. Simple.