Thomas Herlofsen

Authorative, but remote

Revisado: 04-17-22

Reading this in 2022 the last few years seem inevitable. A very solid account of Putin's rise and, in many ways, descent, it suffers from a lack of the feeling of being in the room with him that the best biographies conjure up. Hard to do this in any other way, I guess. A follow-up would be most welcome.

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Feelgood

Revisado: 01-21-22

Mel Brooks will do anything for a llaugh, and is a wonderful teller of tales. One of the great showbiz stories told by a funny little man with a big mouth. Doesn't get any better.

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Flawed and fascinating

Revisado: 10-15-20

Woodward's unparallelled access to the president makes this a very interesting document, flawed by a front-loading of the Covid - related information which is detrimental to its structure and by occasional editorializing. While I agree with his sentiments I would much rather see Trump's words damn him and occasionally humanize him. Woodward's disdain isn't really needed, the reader can do that.

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Goigg high AND low

Revisado: 06-07-20

JRY's genius is that he is as likely to dras from professional wrestling as from political science. He goes for the dirt every time,, but always for the purpose of enlightenment. A supremely entertaining tour de force. Should be an Audible original. Could have used a nip and a tuck here and there as this version, while adding some nice extras, messes up the original podcast's structure a bit.

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Intimate, powerful, ultimately heartwrenching

Revisado: 09-26-19

The particular style of writing, or even subject matter, might not be for everyone but I loved it. Not as sexy as it might sound, but I intimate and powerful. These lives are real, so don't expect a happy ending. The epilogue does a nice job of tying everything up nonetheless. The book feels important and deserves the hype.

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A story like no other.

Revisado: 09-16-19

If you, like me, got this for stories from the making of Babylon 5 or any other of JMS' works of art you're out of luck. It's all here, but since he's done so much none of the actual contents of his writing career is really gone into in any detail. Hopefully, there are books about all those things now that Joe has told his most moving, incredible and important story: his own.

He has, on occasion, alluded to having a tough upbringing, of being beaten nearly to death once, of knowing the destructive effects of alcoholism. But believe me, you have no idea. I've never read anything like this, and neither will you.

This book is about exorcising demons, letting the truth come out, and about fighting for your life. It's a shock to the system, a silver bullet. And it's ultimately the most hopeful, moving biograpy you'll read this or any other year.

For that, I'm willing to forget that he didn't hint at what happened to Captain Sinclair when he went back in time that last time. After all, there are even more important stories to tell than that one.

Peter Jurasik's narration is wonderful throughout, Minus one star for getting the occasional name and emotional beat wrong (Jay-Z and the Wheeled Warriors, anyone?). But he gets it back for saying "Mister GariBALdi" one more time.

Essential.

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Two books in one

Revisado: 09-02-19

As a chronicle of the downfall (?) and transformation of the Republican party under the Obama and Trump presidencies it is excellent, but from Trump's eponymous inaugural speech onwards it looses some of its focus in trying to deal with the staggering number of presidential controversies.

This part of the book suffers (like the excellent Woodward book before it) from telling a story still going on, and would be better with a tighter look at the republicans trying to survive in this new reality. This the part of the story that feels fresh.

On a literary level it is fine, so is the narration.

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Fascinating story marred by its telling

Revisado: 04-16-19

There's a great story in there, but the author/narrator's breathless, overdramatic style lessens it. The book At Folsom probably covers the story better, although I haven't read it. Snippets of good investigative journalism saves it from being a wash.

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Fun, fabulously un-PC

Revisado: 02-24-19

All the worst parts of British culture hung out to dry. Satire on par with Yes, Minister, but far more salty. Spike Lee should make this into a TV show, the perfect picture of how we became so horrible in Europe. In a time when works of art are judged by the morality of the main character this is utterly irredeemable of course; a story of the Man, British colonial superiority, a cross between James Bond and Indiana Jones. Cheerfully racist and misogynist. Great naughty fun.

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One of the best produced audiobooks ever.

Revisado: 02-03-19

Though Quest isn't necessarily constructing a coherent theory of creativity here, his insights are profound and unique, his story is friendly and personable and the production is fantastic, making the listener feel like the written book is an afterthought. Very cool.

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