interesting, but disappointing
353976
I found this book very interesting, but I feel the authors should have waited to publish it until the court case was resolved.
1955480
Interesting concept, but somewhat poor execution.
3658696
It wasn't that I disliked or liked this book. It was interesting enough - I learned much about the invasion and occupation of Britain by the Romans and about Britain's tribes. But, most of what there was about Boudica was speculation. So little is known about her, that speculating and offering theories about her life is all that's possible. Therefore, I question the author's decision to base a book on her life. Or, at least, to CALL it a book about her life. If she had focused on the Romans and Boudica's world (rather than her life) in relation to them in the title, I would have gotten a clearer idea of the book's focus. I see one reviewer mentioned the picture of Morgan Le Fey on the cover, which I also found puzzling. There are plenty of artistic depictions of Boudica that could have been used. More maps would have been helpful -  Old London with modern landmarks for reference, for example.
4924120
This is a worthy effort by a very able biographer.  But, alas, I found the subject, Francis Younghusband, less than compelling.  As Younghusband's life went on, he seeemed, like his biography, to get duller and duller.  The details of his life in the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas are superbly rendered, and anyone interested in "The Great Game", Tibet or India during the British Raj MUST read this book. For Younghusband was a major player in those events.  The author also vividly conveys Britain's colonial environment of the time.  But for me, as Younghusband entered the more mystical period of his life, he revealed himself as a dilettante.  I think he just didn't know what to do with himself and just puttered around for the rest of his life.  He was a very complex and conflicted man -- envious, I believe, of his more notable friends and associates.  French paints a nice picture of this man and his times. But, in candor, beyond his Tibet adventures, he wasn't all that fascinating a character.  However, at the end of the day, this is a book many will find worthwhile.
948884
The earlier part of this book, dealing with Henry Tudor's family background and youth, was really interesting. It also maintained my interest as it dealt with Henry's life and work up until the deaths of his son Arthur and his wife, and as it studied his battles with Perkin Warbeck. But at some point in the chapter `Tudor government at work', it began to lose my interest; then, as it went on, it lost my interest more and more, until I found I had to skim some parts because I just couldn't focus on the dry details about the government of England.

A passage such as this is a good example of what's boring about the latter half:

"Henry also introduced a clear way of calculating the duty due on particular types of goods, by giving them a formal value in a book of rates. The book was in use in the port of London in 1502. When the values given to imported goods were realistic and accurate reflections of the market price, the crown was guaranteed a regular rate of customs duty. When prices began to differ from the formal valuation, merchants began either to pay too much duty on their goods or the crown's income fell as prices of goods increased. During the prosperous years of Henry VII's reign this did not become a problem, but later Tudor monarchs attempted to compensate for the static nature of the rates by reissuing them for various ports in line with inflation."

Bor-ing. Though it's still worth reading. The chapter `The rigours of kingship' ends with Henry's death and funeral, which is where the `biography' ends. After that, it gets drier and drier, so that only those seeking an endless succession of facts on the era will probably find that their attention is held.

Four stars for the biography contained in the first 119 pages vs. three stars for the dull-but-worthy history that follows = 3.5 stars.
3712317
The author describes seven famous hominid fossils - including Piltdown Man, which was a hoax, and Peking Man, which has been lost since WWII.  Paleoanthropology is a fascinating science and deserves a better book than this one.

The author's premise for the book is rather unclear to this reader, but she seems to want to tease out the cultural factors that make some fossils famous (like "Lucy") while other important finds remain in relative obscurity.  However each chapter is an uneasy mix of history, technical description, and general discussion with only the occasional description of why the fossil is famous.  Much interesting material, such as the damage to the skull and eye sockets of the Taung Child (probably from being attacked by an eagle or other large raptor) and the genetic studies of Neanderthal DNA, is not included at all.

I had hoped that the last summary chapter would provide a clear statement of her thesis, but I was disappointed to read instead about Ayn Rand in Hollywood and other marginally connected stories that seem to make the point that it's all a matter of luck, being in the right place at the right time.

A disappointing book about a good topic.
3650051
The book is a pleasure to handle - well sewn with sturdy glossy pages, almost like a children's book, something you never see anymore. It starts out with a fascinating history of human attitudes and perceptions of the animal through the ages, but chapter after chapter continues being devoted to mankind's feelings, fears, and mythologies about rhinoceroses. In the end, there is one paragraph each devoted to a description of the different species' natural habits in the wild. Perhaps it isn't fair to criticize the book on this point because apparently rhinoceroses are elusive. Still, I kept hoping and waiting for some natural history of the beasts' habits, talents, shortcomings, food supplies, reproductive mannerisms, social behavior, nursing behavior, conflicts with other animals, etc., all of which was treated barely in passing. I wound up disappointed in not knowing as much as I had wanted to about these splendid animals. A better title for the book would have been, How People Through the Ages Have Thought About Rhinoceroses.
3825354
I really wanted to like this book, but found myself skipping ahead at points. It begins excitingly enough with the events leading up to the arsenic poisonings in the George Bodle family in 1833. I found the description of life back then and of the family members and servants to be enlightening. Who knew coroner's juries met in pubs? How was physical evidence handled? What kind of work did servants do?

However, the author would then cut back and forth between this main story and the story of the science of arsenic and the development of testing procedures. Perhaps this didn't hold my attention as well because I own and have read the books&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Elements-of-Murder-A-History-of-Poison/dp/0192806009/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Poisoner-s-Handbook-Murder-and-the-Birth-of-Forensic-Medicine-in-Jazz-Age-New-York/dp/014311882X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York</a>. Along the way were many other  interesting cases related to the subject. I found some of them interesting, and others way too drawn out. I kept wanting to skip ahead to wherever the Bodle family story picked up.

Also, I didn't feel that, overall, the Bodle incident was much of a tragedy. Maybe I've read too many true tragedies and am jaded! After all, John Stark Bellamy II relates the killing and pain of scores of people in his Cleveland series of books. At home we refer to them as "the death and destruction" books.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/They-Died-Crawling-And-Other-Tales-of-Cleveland-Woe/dp/1886228035/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">They Died Crawling: And Other Tales of Cleveland Woe</a>&nbsp;One local person in the book I'm reviewing said he couldn't look at the house where the poisonings happened without shuddering. I thought that was an overreaction. What makes me shudder? Seeing Anthony Sowell's house in person or driving by a particular building downtown where many people burned in a fireworks started fire.

Overall, this was a good book, however, especially if you're interested in a look at life in England in the 1830s and you don't know much about arsenic poisoning.
4951384
Niall Ferguson is a great historian, and so it is a disappointment to read this book.

The author's basic assumption is that people belonging to advanced civilizations--civilized people, well educated people, people who drive cars and drink coca cola and live in air conditioned homes--do not, or at any rate should not, wage war against each other. However, the twentieth century has seen plenty of wars; hence, says Ferguson, the need to explain what went wrong.

In Ferguson's view, what went wrong is the fact that the twentieth century has been, economically speaking, very volatile, with numerous sharp ups and downs. These ups and downs, he argues, were largely responsible for the wars that took place and that ultimately led to the decline of the west from the lofty position it occupied in 1900.

The thesis, though, is deeply flawed.  First, it is not at all clear that "civilized" people are less belicose than "uncivilized" ones; in other words, Ferguson's question may not be a question at all. Second one may question whether the twentieth century has really been more volatile than previous ones, economically speaking.

Third and most important, the fact that the twentieth century falls very clearly into two parts--before and after 1945--is significant.  It suggests that the history of warfare between 1900 and 2000 has little to do with either civilization or economic volatility.  Instead, to a very large extent, it is governed by nuclear weapons and their gradual proliferation around the world.

The book has other problems.  To mention but one, as a Jew I am very happy with the space that Ferguson allots to tracing the sad history of my peopele between 1900 and 1945. However, it is not at all clear what this history has to do with his main topics, namely the prevalence of war on the one hand and the decline of the west on the other.

To sum up, this is an ambitious book but, unfortunately, a deeply flawed one too.
4881729
Now that I have finished the book I have to adjust my review. While originally I found it an Interesting look into the lives of Venetians and ex-pats living in Venice and the fire at The Fenice theatre by the end it got quite tiresome and I could barely finish it. Some of the facts were interesting but I felt the writing itself seemed like a list of "then this happened, then that happened, then this person, then that person." Therefore I must conclude that while I feel the actual topic is of great interest - the way the story was told and unfolded proved less than captivating.
305076
An interesting concept, but it is bogged down by a lot of unnecessary or ill-timed exposition. It's clear that the author heavily researched this subject, and the story could have been good, but sadly the execution dragged this book down.
2624668
This is an interesting book.  The author writes entirely in long-form stories.  I expected much more specific advice.  Instead there are many three and four page stories about how an especially wealthy person did something (like decide how to spend on education for his/her children).  The chapter on debt was a fascinating read, but I was bored during some of the other chapters.  The author has a really great writing style.  He draws you in.  This book is less entertaining than say, "The Millionaire Next Door."  If you want more how-to, I'd recommend "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind."
2906321
Before the Dawn presents some of the newer data regarding the evolution of the genus homo, the diasporas of some of its species, and the cultural development of its only current representative. Most of the genetic studies were familiar to me from other readings, especially those regarding the close genetic links between members of the Cohen family, the information regarding genetic diseases, and the "daughters of Eve" distribution.  Though this was interesting, I felt that the author made too much of it.  There were too many "must have," "might have been," "possibly," etc. conclusions drawn from the spotty results of what is still a very nascent science.  This is probably an attempt to bring more vividness to what might otherwise be rather dry science.  For those who've not read anything about the genetic findings of the past decade the book will definitely bring things to life.

One of the most interesting discussions was that on the earliest human language.  The combination of both the linguistics theories regarding the parent language and the genetic information regarding human migration was very interesting and suggested that the combination of the two approaches might actually yield some results.

Here again are the twin discussions of the enlarging brain size with its attendant need for increased protein intake and the mystery of the hairless ape.  The explanations for both as given in the book--mostly nothing new--seem cogent enough, but I can't help wonder why no one has noticed that hair/fur is mostly protein and that diverting the nutritional intake from fur to brain is the most logical explanation for the occurrence of both phenomena.
3948181
A SECRET LIFE is revealing, well-researched, and readable.  But I was somewhat disappointed in the quality of this book because I admired Mr. Lachman's THE LAST LINCOLNS, and his writing seems to have suffered a downturn here.  It could be the nature of the story he's uncovering.  After all, the story of the birth of an illegitimate son to a man who would become a U.S. President -apparently conceived in an alcohol-fueled act of forced sex- a son whose mother was unjustly maligned and imprisoned in an insane asylum by the machinations of that same man and his cronies, isn't pleasant reading.  Mr. Lachman also exposed unpleasant facts and personal failings in THE LAST LINCOLNS - yet somehow his writing in A SECRET LIFE isn't as scholarly as in that book - it's almost too... gossipy?

I particularly felt this whenever the difficult personality of Cleveland's sister, Rose, and her secret long-term lesbian affair, were discussed.  It's not that the author maligns Rose in any way, and yet somehow there is a lack of respect shown to her.  It is certainly a little unfair to equate Rose's sexual life with Grover Cleveland's "lies and scandals", simply because she briefly served as his hostess at the White House and was a lesbian.  Her sexuality wasn't a part of HIS secrets.  And ultimately, Rose Cleveland led a life that was quite separate from her brother's.

I think I was most disappointed with what I can only describe as a lack of polish; the lack of astuteness, which informs A SECRET LIFE.  Telling the story of a man's life can't just be about exposing his unpleasant character flaws.  The choices Grover Cleveland made, why he made those choices, and how his character influenced his Presidency, deserve a book that's more discerning and judicious than Mr. Lachman's.  Yet I have to admire the fact that Maria Halpin has been given a voice (it's never too late for a little justice) and that we finally can read, in her own words, her version of what happened between her and Grover Cleveland.
3030758
This book could have been much more interesting than it is. The subject matter, a mother waiting for her lost son to return to her after the war, strikes a very sympathetic chord within most of us. But, the child was part of a German program to force German soldiers, and unwilling women, to produce an "Aryan" appearing child, to be given to good, NAZI families .  The mother, Haya, was an unwilling participant in that program. The book also offers very interesting views into life in Italy during the German occupation, as well as a rare view into  Italian concentration camps. Little has been written about the behavior of Italy and Italians as the Holocaust took place in Italy. So, these are all good aspects of the book

However, the writing style of the author is another thing entirely. The style is overly florid on the extreme,  adjectives, adverbs, it seems that the goal of the author was to use as many as possible in each sentence . The subject, the Holocaust, being of particular interest to me, I valiantly struggled to finish the book.

This book could have been a fascinating piece of Hollcaust insight, instead, it is an overly written example of historical fiction. Another author, or a much more severe editor, could have produced a magnificent piece of historical fiction/history.  As it is, this book is a struggle to get through, in hopes of gleaning a few pearls of wisdom. Considering the subject matter, it should have been so much more.
792463
After really enjoying the first half of this book, I found myself moving from appreciation to boredom to irritation. There is no question that Adichie is a talented writer with a great eye for illustrative details, and her perspective as a Nigerian woman living in the U.S. is very interesting. But I thought the story deteriorated as the book progressed, and the characters became less believable and less appealing. Ultimately, the story was overshadowed by the blog posts, which I am told are from the author's actual blog. These posts did not seem to emanate from the character she created, even though the character was obviously based on the author herself. And knowing that the author and the main character (Ifemelu) shared many characteristics and experiences, I became irritated by Adichie's laudatory view of this character based on herself. She is loved by a series of handsome, smart, kind, successful, caring men who continue to love her even though she leaves each one without explanation. She makes strong negative judgments about almost everyone except herself, forgiving only her own human foibles. She feels entitled to do whatever maximizes her own happiness, with little to no regard for others, and this is particularly evident in the culmination of the book.

I recommend that interested readers check out Janet Maslin's review of this book in the New York Times. It is much better written than anything I can create.
974763
When I originally saw this book, I was highly interested because I find Colorado to be a beautiful state and photographic history to be a fascinating topic. Unfortunately, many of the retakes are uninteresting (as stated in another review) and are technically lacking (poor choice in time of day, cloud cover, or just flat out blown highlights (I counted eight photographs with blown highlights on a cursory glance through the book)).

On the plus side, the historical images are worth examining -- simply seeing photographs over 130 years old is intriguing, and the descriptions accompanying these photographs give you a sense of just how pioneering a lot of this work was.

I don't own Colorado I, I have a hard time imagining that it would be as disappointing as Colorado II. The historical photographs are beyond reproach, but I can't shake the feeling that Fielder barely gave any compositional consideration to the modern photographs.