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
Very solid biography and you can tell the author put a lot of effort into doing a biography on a great man like Wiesel justice. I deducted a star becaVery solid biography and you can tell the author put a lot of effort into doing a biography on a great man like Wiesel justice. I deducted a star because of the end, where the author seemed to gripe about the politics of some of the people Wiesel associated with at the end of his life. In spite of that, I really recommend the book.
Edit: Read it a second time as part of a Jewish study group and liked the book a lot better. Five stars....more