Tyler Kieft
If I could have rated this book 3.5 stars I would have. I certainly learned a lot from it, and it gave me many interesting questions and unsolved problems to ponder, but I felt like the book was too long, got a little slow at the end, and was written to too-wide of an audience. I would have appreciated reading something a little bit shorter and denser. Also felt like the author (a former evangelical turned agnostic), while trying really hard to remain unbiased, was ever so slightly snarky in his tone when he talked about Christian beliefs.
The most interesting parts were about Jesus' life and what early Christians wrote about him in the immediate aftermath of his death. Less interesting were the parts that delved deeper into theology, especially theological debates that happened centuries later. That stuff all started to blend together after a while, and he really didn't do a great job of differentiating it. Or maybe I was just bored at that point.
I did finish this book even more interested about what historians know about Jesus' life (vs. what the bible says about it) so I'll probably do some more reading here.
I think that there is more potential to get wrapped up in an epic novel than one of regular size. You've been with it so long, working through the drama and conflict, anticipating the resolution, that when it finally comes, the emotions involved are magnified. I've always been a huge fan of authors and works that really create a world and fill in every detail - Charles Dickens and John Irving, and Les Miserables, are some of my favorites in this category. These works are large in scope and really left me feeling like I went on a journey with the characters. The Once and Future King is my newest addition to this list.
The Once and Future King was a fantastic read - at the same time comforting and heartbreaking, beautiful yet accessible, high-minded and whimsical. I wasn't expecting much when I started it. I read “The Sword and the Stone” (the first of the novel's four books) in high school, remembered liking it, but I didn't understand why it was lauded as much as it was. The Disney movie version (although it bears little resemblance to the book) still retained my preference. Now, I think it's a crime that we never read further. The first book is a fun read, but it's definitely not meant to stand alone.
“The Sword in the Stone” is a whimsical description of Arthur's childhood and education by Merlyn, and the second book, “The Queen of Air and Darkness” revolves around the Orkney children - Gawaine, Gareth, Gaheris, and Agravaine, and their mother Morgause. While a great read, when considered in the context of the second half of the novel, they serve as a very necessary backstory for the real drama: Arthur's noble experiment of the Round Table, his attempt to integrate Orkney into it, his best friend Sir Lancelot, his wife Queen Guenever, and the ultimate unwinding of everything he tries to build.
The novel as a whole succeeds precisely because you get the entire arc of the story - T.H. White develops every main character in the book from childhood to old age, such that the reader cannot help but feel empathy for all of them. No character is purely good, and no character is purely evil - they are all human, with each having capacity for greatness and evil. And even the most evil, depraved ones can be forgiven, or at least understood, because White explains to you how they got that way and what they are thinking.
For a story about medieval knights running around cutting each other to pieces, this book gives a lot of perspective on the world we live in today. People haven't changed that much in 1000 years. Our society is more lawful, but we still fight over the same basic things. A huge part of the genius of this book is making it so relatable to modern times - even more of a feat when you consider that it's been over 50 years since it was published.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It's not an easy read, but it's not a hard one either. The main challenge is the length, but it's so worth it. I'll probably read this book again at some point in my life. It has so much to teach about humans and human nature.
Incredible, ambitious, beautiful book. Wish I could have read it in the original Spanish. At times it felt like a bit of a slog, but it was never difficult to read, and I loved the way it transitioned seamlessly between myth and reality. I'm not sure I grasped it all, would probably need to read it again to fully appreciate it, but I'm very glad I read it.
Mala's review provided a jumping off point for analysis after I finished the book.
This book should be required reading for anyone who lives in San Francisco. Gary Kamiya writes lovingly about the “Cool Gray City of Love” in a way that makes it feel both familiar and mysterious. After finishing each chapter, you'll be dying to put the book down and go explore a part of the city you've never been to, or look with fresh eyes at a neighborhood you thought you knew. Kamiya joins San Francisco's past and present, weaving together hilarious historical anecdotes with lush, descriptive writing of his travels through the city in his many decades living here. As a wanderer myself, my favorite line in the book was about the unique San Francisco climate: “Cool and fresh, constantly cleansed by the sea, it is walking weather, thinking weather, alert weather.” See the city through Kamiya's eyes and you'll walk around with a new understanding and appreciation for this incredible place.
“Trust Me” is an exposé of the inner workings of the fast-paced, always-on, pageview-driven journalism that is practiced today by both blogs and the “mainstream” media. Holiday paints a picture of how news can be easily manipulated and outright fabricated by PR people or really just anyone looking to advance their view of the world. After representing many clients, most notably American Apparel and Tucker Max, he shares some of the unscrupulous methods he used to make sure he controlled what was written about them.
I enjoyed the book - it confirmed for me why I feel like I'm wasting time when I am reading blogs like Gawker or TechCrunch, and it gave a logical, temporal narrative to how media has arrived at the state it is in today. He paints a scary picture of a world where the accountability has been taken out of journalism entirely – bloggers report rumors, and the larger publications report what bloggers have written - without making any serious attempt to write a balanced piece or get both sides of the story. Definitely a book worth reading.
Especially interesting was his discussion of the evolution of today's newspapers, and his comparison of the journalistic environment today with the “yellow press” of the early 20th century.
But the book was not without its flaws. The most glaring is that the author was part of this deception for many years, even creating many of these tactics he shares. In a book that teaches you to question every source of news, his motivations for writing it are unclear. Is he really disgusted with the environment he has helped to create, as he says many times in the book? Or is he just looking to turn an exclusive, inside story into a quick buck? He disparages many bloggers and people he's met inside the book, leading me to wonder if he just got bit by the media monster one too many times and just wanted to lash out.
The book also feels like it was written very quickly. There are typos and editing errors, and it feels as if he's saying the same thing over and over with slightly different words. I think it could have been about half as long and made for a much tighter work.
The book also takes many of the tactics that it disparages in blogs. Holiday doesn't cover the other side of the story - there are some (few) blogs and news outlets on the web that are doing great work. He spends a bit of time discussing the New York Times and other reputable papers, but he doesn't really talk about any blogs that are working, only the worst offenders of the pageview-driven journalism. He also breaks his narrative up into short, digestible segments of a page to a page and a half, giving him more opportunity to repeat himself and less opportunity to develop truly deep thoughts.
Even with the flaws though, this is definitely a worthwhile read. Ryan is clearly a very smart guy and I believe his description is accurate. This book will open up your eyes to the fact that the economic model of online media is totally at odds with the purpose of journalism.
