Steve Gross
I really wanted to like this book, but the greatest drawback was the writing. Lots of unreferenced pronouns (eg, “he said it to him”), lack of context and background, jumps in time that are not pointed out and much more. I realize that this is a difficult book to write with a huge cast of characters and she does tell the story of Madison, but not in a very interesting way.
I disliked this book in so many ways:
1) It's a proctologist's view of Israel
2) the writing is overwrought and repetitive
3) I think the history is wrong in many places
4) How much can one author write about himself?
5) I disagree with the author's leftist politics (although, to his credit, he never pretends otherwise)
I really wanted to like this book as I am a big fan of Menachem Begin. Unfortunately, it is a poorly written effort. The author repeats himself endlessly; for example, we are told at least a half a dozen times that Begin is “inching” towards being Prime Minister. he also hagiographically repeats every few paragraphs that Begin is an honorable, traditional old-world Jew. Most disappointing is that there is very little personal detail on Begin. Avoid this book.
A childishly written book, with frequent personal anecdotes by the authors to make larger economic points. They constantly prate on about “field experiments”; what other kinds are there? They also toe the liberal line from A to Z when they are supposed to be running scientific experiments. Not recommended.
What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House
Amusing but uneven book about culture and the Presidents. I mostly enjoyed learning what the various Presidents read. One jarring note was bad production design - about every other page had a cutout box repeating some of the text on that page. They probably could have reduced the book by a sixth by removing them.
The theory of general relativity has gone from revolutionary to almost ignored to hot again over the last 100 years. This is a difficult kind of book to write - too much detail and no one will understand it, too little and the whole enterprise is abstract and vague. On a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being too technical, the author achieves about a 7.
This was a dreadful book. I thought The Great Santini and The Lords of Discipline were two of the best novels I had ever read (not that I read a lot of novels), but now I wonder if Pat Conroy is even sane. Every major character in this book is just a mess. Everyone is saintly, evil, preening, cruel, funny, mean, proud and insane. The author comes across as a jerk. Skip it.
