though he was a better engineer than writer
587693
Fascinating autobiography, though he was a better engineer than writer.
4742468
This one was not the barn burner he used to do - but better than some of the later ones
2918880
Not Sizzle greatest work while he still displays his overall gifts and talents
4476804
Books on the craft of writing and memoirs are alike in being prone to self-indulgence and wankery, as some writer tries to justify his career and/or life.  Stephen King, who has always to my taste been better at non-fiction than at fiction, avoids the pitfalls laid by pretension at the feet of the reflective.  Only in the last section did I find any trace of self-centeredness, and considering the subject matter there is the car accident that nearly killed the author not very long ago, some lapses are certainly understandable!
King's recounting of his life and career are fascinating and vividly told, and for the most part his advice on writing is laid out in the form of 'this is what is right for me' rather than 'this is THE right way'.  Where he does dogmatize, he falters.  But he falters very rarely for a writer that many people would condemn as a hack.
1671160
Five stars for the flow of writing, the details of his career and for not being cruel. But a deduction in stars because portions of his personal life did not ring true. I also deducted because hes well read, articulate, and has been knocked down more than once; yet, nothing about the lessons we all learn with age. Hes obviously self absorbed, but I find it difficult to accept hes only grown in his art, but not In wisdom and maturity.
3780222
As with his previous book, The Most Human Human, Brian Christian's choice of a fascinating topic on which he has some expertise, combined with  thorough research, is hampered by his inability to write his way out of a paper bag.  The book is a interesting look at relationships, actual and analogous, between the algorithms of computer science and the ways we live our lives.  That's a great hook, but Christian isn't up to it as an expository writer.  Reading this book was a slog, and it wasn't because the material was difficult (I have Masters degrees in both Math and C.Sci).  A little attention to consistency in voice and sentence structure would make the writing much more accessible.  If Christian is interested in continuing as a popularizing writer--someone like Malcolm Gladwell--he needs to spend time learning to write in a clear and engaging manner.  The kind of thing Gladwell spent years perfecting.
681553
Not quite at the standard of Jacobo Timerman, but very close.  Clearly written by someone who knows how to write.
1644814
I adore Tom Hanks as a actor. He seems to be one of the few actors with any class. That said, I had no expectations for his writing, but hoped to gain some insights into who he is as an individual. In his book, Mr. Hanks seems to have a fascination with nostalgia and especially typewriters. Several of his stories, if you can call them that, are obsessed with the devices.

Mr. Hanks has a solid writing style and voice but he seems to only know a few things to write about and is very focused on those, much to the detriment of his work. By the fourth or fifth time of a story focusing in on immigration, typewriters or the 50's or 60's I was overcome with impatience and a feeling like I had already read these stories. And calling them stories isn't exactly correct, they are more like anecdotes about how perfect life was in the good ole days, followed by a slap in the face showing that for some of the world the good old days weren't so good as people were fighting, struggling and dying.

The message being conveyed is obviously lost in translation on me, having been born in 1979. But I admire the courage behind what he attempted here, wrapped around a wish for simpler, happier times.
3652276
Reading this book has been an experience for me.  I wanted to find out more about the life of one of America's most famous inventors, and this book has helped me along the way, so I give it credit for that.  However, I have felt like I am trudging into a mighty windstorm, reaching deep into my soul to plunge each forward step as I slowly turn the pages in this book.  There are pockets of enlightenment throughout the book, but it really is a relaying of facts about Edison's life, which is technically what a biography should do, but this book does not come alive in my hands like others have.

To be fair, I did accomplish my goal of learning more about this great man.  I learned that a lot his inventions were a result of not just great intellect, but of great work ethic and stick-to-it-iveness.  Also, one of his greatest contributions was a corporate model for delegating work among his subordinates.  The speed of the development of his inventions was the key, as several other inventors were working on similar ideas at the same time.

Anyway, I recommend the book as a good introduction to the life of Tom, but I am sure that there is a book out there that will give you the same enlightenment without making you feel as though you've crawled on your hands and knees through the Sahara, with a canteen full of lukewarm water that leaks at a very slow rate.
1232767
It is a pity that this book is not better written.  The material is fascinating, but the writer is a genuine obstacle to enjoying the story
3910689
This author tells instead of shows. I appreciate the work and the attempt, but not the skill level. Keep writing, get better.
4050557
he was such an exceptional man. .this was less of a bio then a readers digest condensed versionstan
2590993
An interesting way to approach a well written subject through an engineer's view.
1613077
A sequal to his previous book but you don't have to have read that book to read this one.  He likes to start splitting his story into different plot lines and characters, then slowly build those lines and characters back together.  In this book..... he went overboard with that and tried to be too clever.  We get to see lots more worlds in this book and are introduced to lots more characters.  I wondered if this were a self-published book since I noticed many typo and grammatical errors that surely would have been caught otherwise.  The science was there without being too technical and the fiction was there in spades.  Not all sci-fi fans will like his style, but it was pretty well done.
1155427
There's no disputing that Nikola Tesla was a genius of the first order, who lived a very fascinating life.  Writing biographies of everyday people is quite easy; writing biographies of prodigies can be quite a challenge.

Every biography of a prodigy suffers under this fact, but this biography of Tesla suffers so much more than most.  The reason I am not that enthusiastic about this book, is that it is written in the style generally used in biographies of political leaders and athletes; they glide from victory to victory, and, of course, suffer the occasional defeat.  However at the end of the day the "big pictures" of their lives are generally largely interchangeable.  Not so the life of Nikola Tesla; his contributions were sui generis, and deserve a more thoughtful and exhausting examination.  Some would argue that Babe Ruth was the best baseball player of all time, but nobody claims that after Babe Ruth, baseball players could swat baseballs five times as far.  Nobody, on the other hand, disputes that Tesla completely rewrote the books in the fields he touched.  I believe that describing these different lives requires different approaches.  The names and dates in this book are right, but you don't get an understanding of the importance and ramifications of his work, which to my mind is far more valuable than mere names and dates.

I wouldn't recommend this book except to high school students and those who seek a superficial introductory biography of Tesla.
3121078
While the story is interesting and the world invented quite "inventive", the writing is not that good.  Sometimes it seems to be written just to get somewhere else in the story and is not that plausible.
2879346
An author who was unfamiliar with the source material he was supposed to be writing about.