B. Wolfe

Unmissable and poignant for Pratchett fans

Revisado: 11-30-22

“Of all dead writers, Terry Pratchett is the most alive.” So says an admirer near the end of Rob Wilkins’ warm, honest, revealing and anticipated biography of his close longtime friend and employer, Terry Pratchett.

This is a book for Pratchett’s fans. Its pleasurable hours of listening bring Pratchett back for a while, As the brilliant and prolific satirist’s personal assistant through his peak years of productivity, accomplishment and fame, and then his difficult years of gradual decline into early onset Alzheimer’s, Wilkins had a view of the man like no other.

This is an “authorized” Pratchett biography, but one that feels a healthy mix of caring and honest. It has its roots in years of collecting of material by Pratchett himself, that he was then unable to complete and mold into a book. So he worked with Wilkins and then handed him the task of completion.

It means there are early life anecdotes and insights here that no one else could have provided, and a view of the writing process that no one else is as qualified to describe. I felt richly satisfied with what I learned, and experienced a catharsis of grief at the loss of the man I still stubbornly want to call my “favourite living writer.”

Wilkins’ authorial voice is mostly sure-footed. He understands well what this book’s audience longs to see through his eyes, and learn from its pages. Surely he can be forgiven an excess of detail here, and a flat line or two there. He much more than makes up for them with so much that feels present, sweet, observant and thoughtful.

His reading voice is excellent, I’m glad he narrated this book himself.

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Memorable, heartfelt magic realism

Revisado: 09-05-21

Magic realist baseball stories by the author of “Shoeless Joe.” The fantastical elements in many of the stories are richly enjoyable and clever, but it’s the humanity of the way they are realized that makes these stories such gems.

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A delightfully entertaining sneer at architectural pretension

Revisado: 08-29-21

40 years later, this book is still a dazzling display of Wolfe’s style. Why, he asks, are we surrounded by so much architecture most of us hate? What happened to the human scale, craft, warmth, variety, decoration and life we actually crave? Wolfe has a thesis and it makes for a well-told story.

The narration is flat but adequate. For that reason I’d recommend a print copy of the book more highly than this recording — but don’t let that stop you from listening if interested.

An important caveat. Some of Wolfe's argument and emphasis was fiercely disputed or simply dismissed by the architectural profession — or at least may not be as simple as the story that’s told. And that’s OK, because this book will get you interested in learning more in a way that other starting points might not. For balance, look up some reviews of the book online to read criticisms of the history Wolfe presents.

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Stephen Fry is as wonderful as always

Revisado: 08-27-21

I have mixed feelings about this series. It’s maybe 1/3 entertainingly told social history and 2/3 more doubtfully motivated playing into the kind of prurient gutter and freakshow interests it’s partly describing. That might’ve been exactly the intention — some of the best British humour mixes the high and the low in this way — so maybe it’s not exactly a criticism. Just know what you’re getting.

Amid worthwhile historical details and observations, expect to spend a lot of time with public hangings. changing sexual mores and practices. female serial killers and bodily functions. It’s all decently interesting and well presented, it just edges into being tabloid-y in its taste and emphasis — a contrast to Fry’s exquisite English.

I found the “Edwardian Secrets” series that follows more successful and balanced, with a greater depth of social history, humanity and compassion woven into still-somewhat-similar sorts of stories.

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Lively, memorable and perspective-shifting

Revisado: 08-25-21

An enthusiastically researched, written and performed series, full of memorable stories and observations that have just the effect the title promises. They unveil one aspect after another of Edwardian life, and make these years feel more solid, alive — and fundamentally different from our own times — than you might expect.

(Ignore the tiresome bleatings of a handful of reviewers who give this one star because they object to the subject matter itself as somehow tainted by being “woke.” This is social history. The most significant and interesting aspects of the period include beginnings of change in the British class system; the emerging influence of ideologically- and profit-motivated mass market media; the place of women in society; the unarguable racism of the British Empire; changing sexual mores; and the like. Expect to thoroughly enjoy the way these changes are evoked and presented.)

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A beautifully written classic-to-be

Revisado: 08-20-16

There is so much to love about this book. It's as good as my all-time classic favourites of fantasy. I'm writing this review after my third time savouring it in two years.

There's such joy and craft in the writing — its pacing, plot, world-building and laugh-out-loud humour. The characters are quirky, flawed and wonderful, with complex motivations and layered interior lives. Many are both beautiful and damaged — something Kvothe, the protagonist, unconsciously understands.

The passages on music are some of the best writing about creativity I've read anywhere.

I've given away multiple copies of the paperback version of this book to some of my favourite people. Nick Podehl's narration of the Audible version is truly excellent.

I'll end with both an invitation and a warning. DO listen to or read this. You're getting in on probably the best in-progress fantasy series in existence right now. And then be prepared to learn new meanings of the word patience. The third book in the trilogy is several years overdue and nowhere in sight. The plot twists it needs to resolve are overwhelming. Be prepared for the mix of frustration and anticipation you are going to feel.

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Most satisfying history book I've read in a decade

Revisado: 07-26-15

1491 has shaken my assumptions and reshaped my world view more than any other history book I've read in at least 10 years.

It brings together eye-opening new material on subjects such as the nature, origin and history of the societies of the Americas; the staggering effects of disease after contact (as much as 90+% of the American population died); the sweeping changes trans-Atlantic exchange brought to landscapes, food systems, economies and belief systems worldwide; and the fact that "primeval wilderness" is a misguided misunderstanding of what in fact were heavily human-influenced ecosystems.

There are so many important, challenging, thought-provoking insights and memorable stories here that that is barely a start. You will not see the world the same way again after reading this book (and its sequel, 1493).

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An important and inspiring book

Revisado: 03-18-15

Peter Block is a master of authentic, participatory process that awakens the deep potential of community. This book is a clear expression of ideas, guiding questions, principles and practices that will transform your collaborative community work.

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Masterful, essential

Revisado: 03-09-15

I put off reading this book for many years because of its length and the weight of the subject. Like many readers, I also had cross-generational wounds to reckon with in it: one whole side of my family was wiped out in the Holocaust.

It's an extraordinary document, one of the most valuable, memorable books of history I have ever read. It combines the author's personal experience of most of the major figures and events of the Third Reich as a news correspondent, with his deeply effective use of captured records of key decisions and conversation at the highest levels of German power.

To this he adds years of interviews and correspondence with key figures after the war, and a rich grasp of European history, philosophy and cultural tradition.

My world view is wider as a result of reading this book, and it still throws light on current world events 65 years after it was published.

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