For someone who claims to hate small talk and wants to discuss ideas, why is the book almost entirely the former and almost none of the latter? The auFor someone who claims to hate small talk and wants to discuss ideas, why is the book almost entirely the former and almost none of the latter? The author does make more substantive entries towards the end of the book but gets in his own way. Maybe it’s just a random assortment of blog entries but it’s not worth it to track down and verify....more
I found the book to be engaging and addicting but behind the well told stories is not a lot of substance. Three stars for the content and five stars fI found the book to be engaging and addicting but behind the well told stories is not a lot of substance. Three stars for the content and five stars for how well it was told - split the difference....more
A pale shadow of the Robert Caro epics but she was at least able to cover Lyndon Johnson’s entire life and the author has written many excellent booksA pale shadow of the Robert Caro epics but she was at least able to cover Lyndon Johnson’s entire life and the author has written many excellent books since this one. Rounding up to a four star read, there’s better options out there but you can do a lot worse....more
I’ve been a fan of The Simpsons since the first season when I was five years old (I’m old lol) so this book was interesting. A bog standard oral histoI’ve been a fan of The Simpsons since the first season when I was five years old (I’m old lol) so this book was interesting. A bog standard oral history book, this book misses many key contributors of The Simpsons, some that will never be available now to be interviewed (Sam Simon) and others that are very unlikely to ever go through with such an interview for a book like this (Jim Brooks, Matt Groening, etc.) So I believe this is as good as it’s going to get. So with that in mind it’s pretty good. The author occasionally injects their own political views into things and it’s unnecessary and unprofessional for a book that needs to be focused on The Simpsons. It’s kept to a minimum thankfully and there’s a lot of good insights here. To me, The Simpsons ended after season eight and even though this book is 15 years old, the show has become so routine that it’s unlikely there would be much more to add if it were to be updated. I recommend this book....more
It was alright. Shallow in some respects and I’m skeptical about a lot of the stories in the book (except for the ones that she provides their full naIt was alright. Shallow in some respects and I’m skeptical about a lot of the stories in the book (except for the ones that she provides their full name). However there’s not much to disagree about the book. Nothing new or profound to be had here and sometimes that’s okay....more
This was an addicting read, I couldn’t put it down until the end. This really isn’t different than the many, many, many self help books out there fromThis was an addicting read, I couldn’t put it down until the end. This really isn’t different than the many, many, many self help books out there from guys who could walk the talk. The value is how he relates his interesting and unconventional life to those stories. There are the occasional cringy quotes in there that detracted from the book. In an ocean of self help books, you could do a lot worse....more
A competent and well researched biography. The author falls into the trap of making excuses for their subject matter and believes that things are worsA competent and well researched biography. The author falls into the trap of making excuses for their subject matter and believes that things are worse back then than they are today. I don’t want an ideological screed but these are common issues that impact biographies. I still recommend reading but these are some major flaws in an otherwise decent biography....more
A somewhat comprehensive and partially balanced take on Elon’s life thus far. Sometimes delved too much into things that didn’t really matter and someA somewhat comprehensive and partially balanced take on Elon’s life thus far. Sometimes delved too much into things that didn’t really matter and sometimes just barely scratched the surface on things that did matter. Broken up into several dozen chapters to make a massive book like this accessible. I recommend reading but if you’re looking for an ideologically-based caricature of him, this book ain’t it. It’s tilted in favor of Musk but I’ll leave it to the reader to decide if that’s valid or not; I believe you can make a convincing case either way....more
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