In his own words
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Fahrenheit 451
Review: Always get asked if I’ve read this, and finally did. Well worth the wait. A novel for our times, and for the times before and the times to come judging by the popularity of reality TV. Very quotable, very readable, very visionary. Just plain great. This book made me want to: read more and…
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Into Africa
Review: Couldn’t put this down. Superb history, well researched and backed by primary sources, yet reads like a novel. An impossibly difficult journey, for a grail quest. Reminded me a lot of the Franklin fiasco and the tremendous waste of lives and resources spent to recover one foolish old adventurer. Learned a lot about 19th…
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The Color Purple
Review: I can see why this won a Pulitzer Prize. I can see why this has been banned before. Written in southern Afro-slang it just gets you right in and keeps you there. Beautifully crafted and paced all the way through. Some parts were so difficult to read, without getting a boner. A book to…
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A History of France
Review: An excellent short history of France and the French people. From Vercingetorix to De Gaulle, this is the book that covers it all. Not an exhausting or comprehensive history, there are other books for that. This is a brief and concise, often humorous and always entertaining trip through 2000 years of kings and communes,…
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The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories
Review: I have always had a pretty low opinion of Hemingway, macho douchebags like him piss me off and I love that Wallace Stevens punched his drunk ass out in Key west. Are you ready for the however pivot? (Here it is) However, this was brilliant. Top shelf. Amazing, gripping, heartfelt, totally absorbing. No wonder…
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So, Anyway
Review: A brilliant and thorough autobiography. Kept my interest right from the beginning and never lost it. Like most talented and funny people, the on-stage character is very much removed from the real-life human that plays that character. Funny in parts that needed to be, and serious in those parts that needed to be. Just…
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De Rarum Natura
Review: An excellent, unexpectedly absorbing read. An explanation of atomic theory written 2000 years before Einstein, and it’s remarkably accurate. Also an investigation of the world in general. De natura. The nature of things. Lightning, earthquakes, iron, waterspouts, seasons, wine. An important book for the 21st century as we try to beat back the darkness…
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The Devil in the White City
Review: Excellent, entertaining from cover to cover. Three narrative threads are woven together: The book offers a unique glimpse into 19th century Chicago life. The stench, the crime, all the way to the glory of the world’s fair and the starry-eyed visions of the future it embodied. Will have to see what else this author…
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The Prophet
Review: Meh. Flowery language and often self contradictory. A Bible prophecy/poetry knockoff. Greeting card or minion quote philosophy mostly. The writing is fairly good, but I bet it is better in the original version. I say that because I am not sure what translation my version was. This appeals to farty white yoga women. “Quote…
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The Perfectionists
Review: A fascinating look inside the world of the very exact, from the super tiny to the vastly immense reaches of space. Everything in the world relies on precision. If the ball on the pen I used to write this review originally were too big by a fraction of a millimeter I wouldn’t have been…