Biography Books

Crashing through is Kurson's second book. His first book, Shadow Divers, is a must read for all men. 'Crashing Through' is very well written and educates the reader about sight, seeing, and all that goes into that complicated process as well as describes the heroic life of one who moves from blindness to sightedness. I enjoyed the history and education of the various medical approaches to sight and what it was like for one to have lived in both worlds The book moves quickly, keeps the readers attention,
as well as educates.

I really wanted to like this book, but Crashing Through turned into drudgery about half way through the story. The story is about Mike May, a blind man from a very young age, and his decision to have a surgery that allows him to see again. Mike's whole life is portrayed, and while it is interesting, it is not altogether fascinating. What is really compelling is what will happen to Mike after he has the surgery. Unfortunately, it is precisely at this moment that the book lost its appeal for me. The author quickly turns to describing the minutiae of May's daily life and what it's like to see ordinary things for the first time. After reading page after page of this, I finally gave up and stopped reading.

The disturbing image of the youthful Michael May running blind and crashing into schoolyard goalposts remained with me throughout my reading of this book. I was disappointed by the presentation and was not all that enamoured of the protagonist himself. Make no mistake, his sporting achievements were impressive. However, his incessant bragging about his attractive wife could only make me smirk at the irony of a blind man obsessed with female pulchritude. Using his new eyesight to leer at the girls walking past a local coffeeshop was just plain juvenile! Yes it's true he never got a chance to do this during his immature teenager years, but still. The book was dull and boring when I had expected so much more; the writing was pedestrian and cliched. This could have been so much better. The most meaningful part of the biography was May's struggle to achieve Olympic records in downhill skiing. He seems to have dared so much more before he "dared to see".

What would you do if you had been blind since you were three years old, and forty-two years later an ophthalmologist told you that there was a new form of stem cell surgery that could restore your vision? Would you do it? If you had never seen your children and spouse, and this new procedure could give you a chance to see them, would you take the chance? Does the question sound like an easy one to answer? What if you were happy with your life, even doing such activities as downhill skiing, and hiking alone in the woods, and you were told that there were some possible serious risks to the procedure? After the surgery you may find that it is difficult to adjust to the new sight, your sight may not allow you to see in a normal way, and you could again loose your sight at any time. Even more worrisome is that the drug that you would have to take was highly toxic and could possible cause cancer, would the risk be worth it? These are all things that Michael May had to think about as he pondered the idea, should he try this new procedure? I won't spoil the book for you by telling you how things turn out for May, but as you read this book, you will experience his struggles, his highs, and his disappointments. This is a fascinating true story, that also taught me things about sight that I had never known or thought much about before.

You're unlikely to come across another story like this any time soon. Kurson delivers the story of Mike May, one of only 20 cases in recorded history of a person losing sight in early childhood only to recover vision as an adult.

In his early forties, May lives an active life as a fully fuctioning professional and family man when a chance encounter with an optometrist affords him the opportunity to try a rare, cutting-edge procedure to regain vision. The surgeries are a success and May sees his children and wife for the first time.

Even more fascinating is May's subsequent struggle to adjust to this new way of living. He sees colors and can follow motion normally, but the details of vision (that Kurson tells us we process and learn in early childhood) aren't there. Seeing for him is like every moment try to speak a foreign language - it's exhausting and painstaking work even for a man so doggedly determined as May.

Kurson's use of language is as brilliant as the story itself. He seemlessly guides us from a way of living without our primary sense to the brilliance of recovering it in adulthood.

This is the most pathetic book I have ever bought on investments. Please never buy this book. It is waste of money and time. If somebody says it is a great book, I will simply laugh at them. Never fooled by some 5 star rating. They are all paid I think.

This is a great book. Not because it tells you how to make a pile in the market but because it emphasises what your behaviour needs to be. At a time when I have been badly shaken by foolish mis-steps, this encourages one to overcome the self-doubt by talking about the mistakes and attitudes of well-known people's mistakes and their approach to the mistakes.

On the other hand for those who want a positive approach:
This is a book for buying and referring frequently because, rightly, you need to imbibe the habits and make them part of your mental make up - as adapted for you: not some fixed, rigid one-mix-for-all-diet type.

The only problem is you have to be honest with yourself.

Tier's book provides a good summary of Buffett's and Soros' approach to investments, though it lacks specific analysis examples and sometimes drifts off into misstatements and overstatements.

Tier begins by showing how Buffett's trademark buying great businesses for considerably less than he thinks they're worth and then owning them "forever" is similar to Soros making huge, leveraged trades in the currency and futures markets. Both focus more on not losing money than making it, and shy away from diversification (requires too much time and energy to follow too-many securities).

Tier then claims that both believe you don't have to predict the market's next move to make big returns, and that risk comes from now knowing what you're doing. Neither Buffett nor Boros believes in the efficient-market hypothesis, and both look at fundamentals as well as likely future industry trends, along with politic.

Buffett seeks businesses with advantages such as lowest costs (Omaha Furniture Mart), a powerful brand name (Coke), market dominance (Washington Post), premium-priced, high-qualify products (See's Candies), while avoiding those in regulated industries or with heavy debt. High return-on-equity, and honest, competent management are also essential. Buffett particularly likes insurance companies because of the funds available through their normal float.

Buffett also doesn't like paying dividends (profits are taxed twice at the corporate and investor levels, and never gets good ideas talking to other investors. (First-hand discussions with experts and contrarians, however, are important to Soros.)

Both agree that when there's nothing to do, do nothing, keep quiet - you don't want others working against you. Finally, both are very frugal both in their business and personal lives, and don't do investing simply for the money.

Tier ends by comparing other legendary investors (eg. Carl Icahn - buys struggling companies selling below book value, and either forcing them to sell off assets or pay him greenmail to go away) with Buffett and Soros.

The "bad news" about Tier's book is that it is woefully short on specific examples that would help implementation.

Author Mark Tier applies Neuro-Linguistic Programming to investing. NLP is a discipline that says if you want to be good at something, emulate the thoughts of those who are masters and your own performance will follow. He collects all the information he can on Warren Buffett and George Soros and what they say they are thinking, and distills out 23 common elements. Then he compares this to several other investors.

The author then urges you to develop your own investing style and discover what your strengths are, rather than giving you particular advice or a system. He provides some advice on how to discover your investing style, but exactly how to develop one's own system is a little incomplete. What to do once you have it is very complete, although he gives an example of something John Templeton did late in life which seems completely outside John's system.

The book is an efficient way to gain insight into Warren and George without having to read multiple books by or about each man.

It also became clear to me for the first time that some people do become very wealthy only through investing, not through business or other means. So it is possible.

Warren Buffett's value philosophy is fairly well known, however the author gives the clearest account that owning a business and controlling the cash flow to make additional investments, a key point of Buffet's method, is not the same as just owning the stock, and a key difference between Buffett and his mentor Benjamin Graham.

Soros' investing philosophy is less well known, and the author provides insight into how Soros tests his ideas in the market before making the commitment to huge positions. Those of you interested in various "trading" styles might also want to check out The Complete TurtleTrader: The Legend, the Lessons, the Results.

I only see eight reviews at the time I write this, but there must be over a hundred for each of the other much less useful books, particularly anything from the nauseating Kiyosaki collection. Many more new investors (and even experienced ones) could learn so much more from this book than most of the other basic investment books.

Soros is a trader, Buffet is an investor, but they both have similar rules that fly in the face of the wall st. gurus. The book details 23 winning habits of both Soros and Buffet. Among the habits to adopt, the book stresses the need to separate knowledge from understanding, to do away with the traditional "diversity first" nonsense, and to avoid the habit of seeking validation of ones ideas with the gurus. There is also a useful check list at the back of the book for anyone about to take an investment plunge (not just for stocks).

What's more, the author isn't just another fluffy columnist blathering on - he puts his money where his mouth is and, if his bio is to be believed, lives off his investments. Too many other financial writers are themselves financial train wrecks no better than a chimp at picking stocks. This book teaches the value of learning from others but thinking for yourself. Though it might seem painfully obvious, I don't know too many people who truly follow this advice (until now, myself included).

I don't give five star ratings very often, but this book deserves it. If I had to recommend one investment book to anyone, especially a neophyte, this would be it.

Paul Kagame, along with Morgan Tsvangirai and Yoweri Museveni, represents one of Arica's most brilliant contemporary leaders. Kagame was born in 1957 to a Tutsi family and at the age of three was forced to flee his country after a Hutu uprising forced more than a hundred thousand Tutsis to flee in an early form of ethnic-cleansing. In 1979 Kagame joined Yoweri Museveni's guerilla movement in Uganda, where he was residing as a refugee. Museveni was fighting the dictator Milton Obote and when Obote fell from power Kagame was able to study first hand the outcome of the overthrow of a viscious dictator. When the Rwandan genocide broke out in 1994 Paul Kagame was in charge of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a mostly Tutsi armed guerilla group. His well disciplined army overthrew the genocidal regime and he has been in power ever since. This book examines his role in nation building and in reconciliation and it a wonderful account of the history of Rwanda before 1994 and after. In this it helps fill this important gap in the history of the country.

Seth J. Frantzman

President Paul Kagame is a man who inspires a wide range of emotions in those who meet him. Some like me admire him...Others hate him. Certainly many in French diplomatic circles see him as the devil clothed in Anglophone robes. In the Africanist analytical world, he is either Rwanda's greatest hope or its mortal danger. Certainly his enemies have reason to fear him even as his friends love him. Both enemy and friend know that the wise respect him.

I first met then Vice President and Defense Minister Major General Paul Kagame in the fall of 1994 when he was struggling to put the shattered country of Rwanda back together. Some were want to describe him as a "war lord" even as one could buy T-shirts with his picture on them with the phrase "Free at Last!" at Kigali's international airport. General Kagame was serious, determined, and it was clear that he was a strong man. What remained to be seen was whether he would become another "Big Man" in African politics or rise above that label to be a truly great African leader.

Like no other author so far, Stephen Kinzer offered us a peak inside the complexity named Paul Kagame. Kinzer enjoyed unprecedented access to the President of Rwanda and provided a colorful and insightful biography of the man. Like any good interlocutor, Kinzer understands that listening is best technique for the interviewer. He offers Kagame's own words to the reader allowing the subject of this biography to speak on his own behalf. That is not only fair, it is probably critical to understand this man who spent much of his life fighting the status quo--and ultimately winning.

According to Kinzer, Kagame's early life as a refugee in Uganda hardened him into the typical angry young man found in a life surrounded by poverty. Early on in his youth he became friends with Fred Rwigyema. Together they later would become co-founders of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. But first they would join Museveni's 40-man National Resistance Army in Uganda and overthrow Obote. When Rwigyema fell in the first few days of the RPF's 1990 invasion of Rwanda, Kagame resigned from the US Army Command and General Staff College to take command and reorganize the RPF. He and the RPF went on to win a military victory they did not really desire, sparking a genocide for which they could not be blamed.

Despite Kagame's military prowess, I found Kinzer's chapters on the post-war period from 2000 on to be the most illuminating because they concentrate on Kagame's role as President of Rwanda. At the same time, they provide great hope for the country's future and portents of possible disaster. President Kagame is indeed Rwanda's greatest hope. At the same time, he is his own greatest nemesis...

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Africa, small wars, reconciliation, and development. Kinzer's prose is easy to read and entertaining. His narrative is insightful. The Paul Kagame I knew came to life when I read this book.

The full review is posted on Small Wars Journal Blog at http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/07/book-review-a-thousand-hills-r/

Thomas (Tom) P. Odom
LTC US Army (ret)
Author, Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda
Journey Into Darkness: Genocide In Rwanda (Texas a & M University Military History Series)

I read this book in preparation for trip to Rwanda later this year. Mr. Kinzer has done exhaustive research into the history or Rwanda from the early 20th century through the present. From the time of Belguin colonialism, the rise of the RPF in Uganda and the genocide to an a fair presentation of Paul Kagame's mission to bring peace, reconciliation and prosperity to Rwanda post genocide. Although Rwanda has a long way to go, according the author, they are on the right track - largely thanks to Paul Kagame. The author is highly critical (rightfully so in my opinion) of the Clinton Administration, the UN and France in particular in the role either ignoring or aiding the genocide. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of Rwanda and the current state of affairs in the country.

I grew up in Falmouth during the time of 'Ray Meyers'. I remember the people in this book. I remember the pain of losing a friend that was murdered during this. I never knew many of the details about this time. Officer Busby and his daughter gave me those details in this book and helped me put order to the confusion from that time. I could not help but cry reading this book. I have to say I liked the way he and his daughter took turns writing the chapters. This book is a great perspective from a child's point of view when faced with awful, life-altering tragedy. Her perspective reminded me of how parents always tried to hide things from children back then. Officer Busby's story reminded me how truly horrible things happen to truly good people. He also reminded me why parents try to shield their children from those horrors.
This book is a testament to a family's strength of character and love for one another. They are the type of people we ought to look upto and use as role models, not folks who are celebrity for celebrity sake. This family never, never wanted any of this. They faced this with such strength and resilience that I can only stand in awe and complete respect for them.
For those who might find it interesting 48 Hours Mystery will be doing this story sometime in February of 2009. I would suggest you read this book and then watch the story.

This book was incredible. I could not put it down! When I finally finished it on one Sunday, my husband asked me "Are you finished? You haven't talked to me all weekend!"
It captured my interest as my family lived near, Reine's corner, the trash truck depot, the junk yard and the Busy's. I knew the selectmen and some of the officers mentioned.
This should become a movie! It reminded me of the type of story as "The Client".
The Busby's were so brave, I didn't realize what they were living through as my school bus drove passed their house each afternoon. I remember all of a sudden a tall stockade fence appearing around the house. I am still amazed at how Polly continued school through all of this!
Great reading!!

loved this book. I found it fascinating and a wonderful read. I couldn't put it down and read it in one day. When I did take breaks, I came out and told my family what I had read. I usually do that, and they're usually not interested. They found my reports on this story as engaging as I did. What struck me most about this book was the love. I think Polly's strength, and John's strength, too, were probably the source of this love, and the children responded to it. They couldn't have survived without that love.

I preordered this book back in June and had forgotten about it until it arrived in my mailbox. I started reading it last night and am almost halfway through it. I grew up on Cape Cod, and never heard of this until a few years ago when the suspected shooter's wife was murdered. This story hits really close to home, because my father was a police officer, and my worst fear was that he would get hurt/killed at his job. This family is amazing. The hell that they went through, and the complete miscarriage of justice is appalling. There is no question that this case was completely bungled/covered up.

John Busby is an advocate for extending the statute of limitations on crimes against police officers. A few years ago, the brother of the suspected shooter admitted he was the driver while his brother shot Officer Busby, but because the statute of limitations had run out, he could not be charged.

Ironically, the suspected shooter has been in a mental institution because he suffers from dementia since 2001. Some call it poetic justice. Amazing and haunting, don't miss this book.

An outstanding account of one man's experiance. I liked the way the story was told with more of a narative perspective rather than a dramatic one. I think this allows you to feel your own emotions rather than the authors. I intend to visit soon and see it 1st hand. May we never forget.

This book is so amazing. It really brings you to that time period and what he went through every day when he was there. I love this book.

This book was extremely slow. At times it was alright but there are much better books out there about the Holocaust and World War II

Nobody should be critical of the writing "style" of this book. The man who wrote it doesn't claim to be a professional writer. He relates his own eyewitness accounts of the most horrific scenes, worse than any fiction imaginable. The book details the planned and cunning killing of thousands upon thousands of living human beings, and the struggle by the SS to dispose of the mountains of remains. A terribly sad and unforgettable book. Thanks to Mr. Muller for sharing this horror with the world. Read it if you can. The world needs to experience this, and remember it, forever.

It is hard to read this book because the subject matter is so grim. It is not written especially well but the unique view of the author makes this an important document. It is clear that the Nazi plan developed over time and it was truly a murder machine. This story from inside the machine is sad and ultimately worth reading and remembering.

I took time out after lunch today from my efforts to be "productive" to find something unexpected, something to pump a little energy into my waning self.

The first thing I saw was a bookstore, and I stepped in. It didn't take me long to find photographer and writer Pete Souza's book, The Rise of Barack Obama. It's kind of a "coffee table book" or a photography-lover's book. The reproductions aren't the best I've ever seen (and I'm a "stickler," as I collect fine art and journalistic photography books regularly), but they are pretty good on the whole.

What's a more important matter than that is "How good is the book?" Well, it's very good.

I shed tears every week or every other week, often while watching movies (but elsewhere, too), and I like doing that. It's part of living - both crying tears of sadness and joy - and I'm not embarrassed to come to tears, not even in public.

Souza's book brought me to watery eyes in just a few minutes. There's a lot of beautiful pictures in this book, especially when seen by those who admire Senator Obama the way I do.

This first picture that got me is on pages 20-21, taken during a town hall meeting in Illinois, where Obama is cheek-to-cheek in embrace with a white woman (her face is dominant as it's on the side of their hug that's closer to the camera). She is radiant in her smile. And then you look throughout the photograph and see that everyone there - a mix of the races we are - all seem to have sparkle in their eyes and a glow in their spirits.

Another white woman at a rally - named in the caption as "student Lauren McGill" - who holds a Time magazine with Obama on the cover that reads "Why Barack Obama Could Be the Next President," again, glows with hopefulness and happiness (pages 118-119).

There are touching pictures of the Senator with his daughters. My favorite was a beautiful candid of him with the younger Sasha, cheek-to-cheek. She is smiling; he is seriously tender, his head pressing tightly against his girl.

Another family picture I admire shows Michelle's number one priority in life - being "Mom" - as she sits casually on some riser steps in the back area of a rally with her daughters at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa (pages 128-129).

A sea of Kenyan men - almost all in the photograph with the same intense look of expectancy, curiosity and subdued excitement in seeing the African American Senator in their country - is a magnificent work of photojournalism. The particulars of the emotion of the moment are captured in these faces, and, structurally-speaking, the picture shows the men all looking boldly in the same direction with not an eye blinking. It makes for an exciting, intense image.

Maybe the strongest photograph of all is on pages 156-157, one of a young African-American woman with tightly pursed lips smiling, her eyes both smiling and crying, at a Pennsylvania State University rally in March of this year. Tears have been flowing down her face freely. The picture holds, for me, all of these: bursting joy, pride, rightness, gladness, equity, happiness, hope, and even love.

This is a movement.

It could be said that Souza's book is a highly-edited version of Obama, the man, as well as the public's reaction to him. So be it - it is. But, I dare anyone to find me another person living today that you can find a cache of positive photos this size that could create an equally moving book on anyone else in modern public life. If you look at the book, you just know it's rare for this to happen.

One thing about Souza's collection that history will note, if we do not, is that Obama is clearly a minority among white men (and sometimes women) in the photographs of him "at work" in Washington. I sense that it takes a lot of courage, wherewithal, and an unwavering sense of purpose for someone to endure this. A lot of people do such things, a lot of people can, but more of us aren't willing to put ourselves out there in various uncomfortable situations where we might not "fit in." For Obama to do this as well as he does, without succumbing to feelings or thoughts of alienation or frustration, and to be so charismatic and positive a figure as he is while doing so, you have to admit the candidacy of this man - as it careens through the hearts of so many of us - is very likely what we have to call "a movement."

The photographs by Pete Souza in the fascinating collection "The Rise of Barack Obama" tell us much about Obama, more than what is expressed in the depth of his expressions: his wisdom, compassion, concern, dilemmas, and his hope. These poignant, spontaneous photos portray how he is viewed by those who come in contact with him - friends, colleagues, supporters, and his family, especially his two young daughters, who show us, in their expressions of joy and love for their father, the meaning of family values. Souza's images of Obama over the years he spent with him are the classic pictures of an American during his ascendency.

An assistant professor of photojournalism at Ohio University's School of Visual Journalism in Athens, Ohio, and one of the nation's most renowned photographers, Pete Souza has produced an impressive album documenting the meteoric ascendancy of the U.S. Senator from Illinois,

Souza's candid photographs of Barack Obama provide an intimate view of a charismatic leader, who has been described as "a once-in-a-generation politician." Journalists have compared Obama's inspiring oratory and vision of hope and change to the leadership qualities of Robert and John F. Kennedy.

We see the presumptive Democratic nominee for President on his trips to various countries, such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Chad, Kenya, and South Africa; his appearances at various universities, behind-the-scenes conferences with friends and colleagues; as well as endearing snapshots of him with his family: Michelle, Malia, and Sasha.

"The Rise of Barack Obama" is an excellent pictorial complement to Obama's own work, "The Audacity of Hope." This reviewer agrees with and is inspired by Obama's signature mantra: "Dream big dreams!"

Pete Souza's photographs of Barack Obama have been recognized during the past three years with prestigious awards from Pictures of the Year, the Best of Photojournalism and the White House News Photographers Association's Eyes of History. He has worked as an official White House photographer for President Ronald Reagan and was also the official photographer for the President's June 2004 funeral. He is the author of two celebrated photographic books of President Reagan's term in office, Unguarded Moments: Behind-the-Scenes Photographs of President Reagan (1992) and Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan by Triumph Books. Souza's photographs have also appeared as photo spreads or covers in renowned magazines as National Geographic, Life, Fortune, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. His photographs have also been part of group exhibits at the National Archives, Smithsonian Museum of American History, and Corcoran Gallery of Art.

This is a must get book for the historical document that it is. Pete Souza gives us a view of Senator Obama that will never be the same. Since running for president, win or loss, Senator Obama's life can never be the same as when these images were made. Souza's photography is a gift to any historian looking into this man before his historic run for the presidency.

This book is also a must read for any photo-journalist wishing to see a true master at work with his camera. Souza does not miss a moment that holds great meaning.

Pete Souza's book is impressive on many levels, beginning with the amazing photographs he so expertly produced over the years he followed Senator Obama. I was brought to tears several times by the powerful images of the senator with his family, in congress, in our country, and in the world, giving me the sense that I have had a privileged window into the life of a hard-working, committed, capable statesman. Souza's work is photojournalism at its most impressive, perfectly rendering the day-to-day life of an icon from up close and from a distance. One shot may be through the window blinds of a crowded office, another is a closeup of a furrowed brow. The coming together of art, life, and politics, right there in your hand. This book is a treasure!

The thing I liked most about Zero was the humor & sarcasm thrown in by the author. It breaks up the seriousness & complexity of some of the topics he covers & relates to zero (i.e. Calculus, Quantum Physics). Seife gave plenty of examples & metaphors to help the average joe understand the overall concepts. He also goes deeper for those readers that are math buffs.

While the entire concept of zero/infinity is constantly repeated throughout the book, I like the way the book was organized: chonologically. Zero begins with a history/religion lesson as it discusses zero's origin. Then, the book moves into philosophy/mathematics & zero's role. Last, the book covers topics on a much bigger scale such as astrology/physics/Big Bang theory, and how zero will affect the future.

Zero kept me entertained, challenged me to think abstractly regarding religion/philosophy/our universe, and kept the tone very light. I have always struggled with math & hated the subject, but this book is more than a math lesson! Try it!

The book was something like 200 pages, but it read like it was a little more than that.

The good points:

1. An interesting demonstration of how things that are only of moment to intellectuals at one point in time become things of great significance later.

2. An interesting demonstration of how ugly the fight for influence can be. (It is interesting to speculate that people now are no different to what they have been for the last 250,000 years, and that the motives of people who seek to "educate" others about environmentalism/ military-industrial complexes/ etc.) may not be as pure as what they seem.

3. The perspective on the dynamics of the Catholic Church's suppression of contrary ideas was also very interesting. Many people (preferring to spout anti-religious screed) do not treat this fact as one set of intellectuals fighting to impose their vision to the detriment of some other set of intellectuals' vision-- which it in fact seems to be.

4. It was interesting to note how slow the development of ideas was. Can a person really believe that it took nearly a thousand years to popularize the number "0" until he reads this book?

Bad points:

1. The treatment of differential calculus was diminished by the use of strange notation. It might have been easier to show how this would come up in the context of trying to solve a real problem rather than just presenting the idea the way that it was presented.

2. The treatment of integral calculus is simply poor. He could have spent a few more pages on it without diminishing the book.

3. The treatment of the Riemann plane was not good, either. I understood the calculus before reading the book, and so I could see what he was trying to get at. However, I didn't understand much of anything after that. So the weakness of the explanations became more evident when delving into new topics.

4. The book could have used some additional appendices to flush out explanations that the author didn't want to put in the text of the book.

5. The topic of the book seems to become a bit stretched at the end. It goes from explaining the intellectual history of zero to its uses in physics, and the transition is not smooth. One gets the feeling that the author was stretching to find a connection to finish the book.

All in all, worth the purchase price of a secondhand book.

This book looks at the idea of zero, and its opposite, infinity, in the history of human thought from multiple civilizations, such as the Mayans, Indians, Arabs, ancient Greeks, Renaissance Europe, and China. The book is fast-paced and the author adds in some humor here and there. For a book about math, the subject material was made quite accessible, and the author added in the occasional drawings, proofs and derivations to explain concepts better. Quite an enjoyable read.

I am a math teacher and read this book on recommendation from a fellow math teacher. The book is well-suited for high schoolers (as far as concepts go), but can also be used in middle school. I start by saying that I find history, even the history of math, fascinating; my emphasis in teaching is on the "why" and often times, that answer is found in history or in the field of ethnomathematics. Not only is the book educational, it is extremely well written. Often times it is even funny. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history or math.

This is an interesting book that has some flaws. The most fascinating were the earlier parts of the book that addressed the various cultures around the globe and how their practical needs and philosophical points of view affected their mathematical development, and how the number zero fit into that big picture. As the book progresses the author tries to address cosmology on larger and larger scales, and he stretches things quite a bit. There also seemed to be a good bit of filler. I think if the author had stuck to the more mathematical side of the story this could have made for a really great extended magazine article, such as you might read in The Atlantic.

A truly terrifying and detailed eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage westward around the world by sea. It is not hard to get sucked in by Magellan's political persistence, and his entire crew's efforts at survival as they stepped off land they knew to a waterworld larger, deeper, and yet more inhabited than anyone knew. No modern reader can understand what it meant in the 16th century to board a ship to a world where entire continents and oceans were unknown, and longitude was uncalculatable. It was far more daring than the oft-compared space travel, where all the "heavenly" bodies are well-known, and location is calculated down to the last centimeter. At the same time, I found the story equally frightening for describing what still exists in large measure: leaders of countries competing brutally for money, luxury, and indulgences, exploiting the bravery and suffering of loyal common men, poisoning the natural curiosity between cultures. And through it all, women figuring prominently ... as sexual chattel. What we now know is that the world is round, most of it navigable waters. But the lands are populated with scientifically advanced savages. Magellan's story may not make you seasick, but it will surely make you dizzy.

This is a fascinating read, full of details (politics of the time, how ships operate, torture, sexual mores of various tribes around the world, etc.). The story of the first voyage around the world is so amazingly dramatic one would say "too far fetched" if it were fiction. Every page is so rich with detail that you want to just slow down as you read. The only slight flaw is that the characters do not come quite as alive as I would have liked. But everything else about this book is so good, it's well worth reading.

this is one of the most exciting adventure/discovery books i've ever read. it was a page-turner from beginning to end.

I'm on an explorer kick these days, so I've read a lot of bios of them. (Check my list, "Books About Explorers," for more recommendations.) This is (narrowly) my favorite of the lot. Bergreen's a terrific writer, and Magellan's voyage never lacked for drama. It's carefully researched and fun to read.

Bergreen weaves together standard primary sources (logs and diaries from a couple of key shipmates that have been preserved and cited many times) with secondary sources in a way to make this oft-told tale seem fresh. Magellan's trip around the world was a triumph and a tragedy, a triumphant success because of his leadership and strength of character, and a tragedy he did not survive due to (as well) to his character.

Bergreen mentions the recent theory (in 1421: The Year China Discovered America --see my review ) that Magellan was following in the footsteps of the ancient Chinese "Treasure Ships" in sailing through the Strait, but does not come down decisively on the side of the theory. However, some of Magellan's actions described in Bergreen's book as he was searching for the strait make sense only if in fact Magellan knew what he was looking for based on a map or reports from a previous visit.

This is one of the most incredible pieces of literature in human history, yet is one of the most often overlooked.
Plutarch is not as much a historian as he is a moralist, and it is his examination of the lives of some of the most important historical figures of the ancient world for their moral roots that is so incredibly engaging.
Oddly enough, I was first introduced to the works of Plutarch through the fictional novels of Louis L'Amour, who often has one charcter encouraging another to read various classical authors.
For a interesting peek at the lives and morals of some of history's most intriguing figures, Plutarch is a great place to begin.

First off, let me clarify that what follows is a review of a particular edition of Plutarch's Lives, the current (2001) edition from Modern Library Classics. It is not a review of the book itself and will not provide any information on the relevance of this wonderful classic or the many lives it includes or the ingenious structure of paralleling the lives of Greeks and Romans or the importance of this text to the history of biography. Several other reviews here do a fine job of that and I see no reason to cover the same ground. Moreover, I've noted rather a lot of confusion about this edition in reviews here on Amazon (see particularly the reviews associated with the hardbound Modern Library volumes). I am still researching the Dryden edition, but thought I might offer a few comments to provide clarity and a better understanding of this edition for those whose buying decisions are based on the nature and quality of a particular translation.

"The Dryden Translation" - this unusual phrasing (which appears on the cover) has become the traditional descriptor for this version of the Lives. In fact, Dryden is not, properly speaking, the translator of this book. In one article in Wikipedia he is described as an overseer for the edition and in another as editor-in-chief, but he is also described as having simply "lent" his name to the enterprise. I am still researching this, but I should not be surprised if Jacob Tonson, the publisher, was not more involved in editing than was Dryden. [Update: My research to date has been inconclusive on the full nature of Dryden's role in this undertaking, but none of the more detailed resources I have turned to suggest that Dryden actually participated in this book as a "translator." Very possibly, this is one of those many little facts of history that have gone unrecorded and for which we shall have to content ourselves with the conjecture of scholarly experts. What is most surprising, however, is how often Dryden is given as the translator of this volume in various less detailed references to the book. Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, has Dryden as the translator; Wikipedia, much to my surprise, does not -- and thus, arguably, the amateurs get it right over the professionals.]

Dryden's primary involvement in the project seems to have been his "Life of Plutarch" which is included in this edition only by way of a two short excerpts in Clough's Preface.

Arthur Hugh Clough's Preface and Revisions - Clough was a nineteenth century poet. Clough's preface was, for me, a major reason I became interested in the Modern Library edition. I found the preface quite intriguing. It is a solid piece of work from an individual who was neither a full time scholar, nor a particularly notable prose writer. In a couple of cases, the argument at the very beginning of the preface for example, he seems to drop his thoughts without fully completing them. But this is a minor problem in an otherwise well thought out and informative discussion of Plutarch and his book.

The text itself - One of the reviewers here on Amazon calls this Clough's "train wreck" assuming that the difficulties in the text must lie with Clough because, concludes the reviewer, Dryden is a much better prose writer. Few would doubt that Dryden was a better prose writer, but I strongly suspect that the translation in this case (not Dryden's as I have already pointed out) was aided by Clough's hand. I am having trouble getting a copy of the original (pre-Clough) "Dryden" translation, although I should very much like to do a comparison. Once Clough's version came out, publishers seem to have had no reason to go back to the original which provides at least some indication that Clough had resolved some of the problems with the text. As a result, the pure "Dryden" editions are older and more expensive.

I find the text quite readable. It is not a "modern" translation (I hate using the word "modern" here because I think of Clough as a modern, perhaps I should say it is not a twentieth or twenty-first century translation). This text is clearly more given to complex clausal structures than we would expect in a popular translation today. I think it more than has its merits. I'm not sure but that the complex clausal structures might not have their own virtue in a text like this. Certainly one of the interesting qualities in Plutarch is a kind of questioning of sources that the syntax of this edition brings out rather nicely. I say that, however, as a non-classicist with little or no Greek, so I cannot be sure whether it really does reflect the original.

Notes - My chief concern with the text would be that it lacks annotation or other textual apparatus beyond an index. This is particularly peculiar given that the cover states that it includes notes by Clough! I am trying to get my hands on an earlier edition of the Clough revision to see what it might contain in the way of notes. Nonetheless, I'm not quite sure what to make of the Modern Library advertising notes on the cover, but providing none. Until I know better what these notes might entail, I'm loath to make any judgment. [Update: I am currently in dialog with Random House trying to understand why they did not include the notes; I have frankly had to struggle to get them to understand that I am not referring to the notes in the Preface, but to notes to the main body of the text. Nonetheless, I am hopeful, that I will eventually get an understanding from them, and, perhaps, may be able to report here that future editions will either remove the erroneous "Notes" on the cover, or, even better, will include the missing "Notes." I have located an online copy with Clough's Notes. These appear to be rather thin by modern standards, perhaps one note to every three or four pages. Nonetheless, it would be nice to see them restored. Although, a more fully annotated version would be a very nice thing to see, indeed.]

Introduction by James Atlas - I wish I could speak more highly of the Modern Library introduction, but I am afraid I felt it was lacking on many levels. It fails in anyway to clarify the nature of the translation. One would think that it would at least contain some mention of the relevance of this particular text (why reprint it now?), of the curious assignment of Dryden's name as translator to a book that he did not translate, and of the role that Clough played as a nineteenth century editor of a seventeenth century text.

Additionally, and perhaps most warranting concern, Atlas's introduction covers such similar ground to Clough's Preface (even using many of the same quotations) that it feels rather curiously redundant.

The cover - I cannot close without commenting on the cover. It looks like wallpaper for a nineteenth century classicist's study. Quite honestly, I like it.

I've given the book four stars because I see no reason to visit the sins of this particular edition upon the text as a whole, and the text has plenty of merits both as a translation and as a classic of literature.

After having read McCullogh's splendid series on Rome, I turned to this fat, dense book with great expectations. I was not disappointed: the stories are endlessly fascinating, from their basic details on ancient history to the bizarre asides that reveal the pre-Christianised mind-set of the author.

Like all great books, this one can be read on innumerable levels. First, there is the moralising philosophy that is perhaps the principal purpose of the author to advance - each life holds lessons on proper conduct of great and notorious leaders alike. You get Caesar, Perikles, and Alcibiades, and scores of others who are compared and contrasted. Second, there is the content. Plutarch is an invaluable source of data for historians and the curious. Third, there is the reflection of religious and other beliefs of the 1C AD: oracles and omens are respected as are the classical gods. For example, while in Greece, Sulla is reported as having found a satyr, which he attempted unsuccesfully to question for its auguring abilities during his miltary campaign in Greece! It is a wonderful window into the mystery of life and human belief systems. That being said, Plutarch is skeptical of these occurances and both questions their relevance and shows how some shrewd leaders, like Sertorious with his white fawn in Spain, used them to great advantage.

Finally, this is a document that was used for nearly 2000 years in schools as a vital part of classical education - the well-bred person knew all these personalities and stories, which intimately informed their vocabulary and literary references until the beginning of the 20C. That in itself is a wonderful view into what was on people's minds and how they conceived things over the ages. As is well known, Plutarch is the principal source of many of Shakespeare's plays, such as Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. But it was also the source of the now obscure fascination with the rivalry of Marius and Sulla, as depicted in paintings and poetry that we still easily encounter if we are at all interested in art. Thus, this is essential reading for aspiring pedants (like me).

Of course, there are plenty of flaws in the work. It assumes an understanding of much historical detail, and the cases in which I lacked it hugely lessened my enjoyment. At over 320 years old, the translation is also dated and the prose somewhat stilted, and so it took me 300 pages to get used to it. Moreover, strictly speaking, there are many inaccuracies, of which the reader must beware.

Warmly recommended as a great and frequently entertaining historical document.

Plutarch in his "Lives Of The Noble Grecians And Romans" written around 100 C.E., sheds new light on Greek and Roman history from their Bronze Age beginnings, shrouded in myth, down through Alexander and late Republican Rome. Plutarch is the lens that we use today to view the Greco-Roman past; his work has shaped our perceptions of that world for 2,000 years. Plutarch writes of the rise of Roman Empire while Gibbon uses his scholarship to advance the story to write about its decline. He was a proud Greek that was equally effected by Roman culture, a Delphic priest, a leading Platonist, a moralist, educator and philosopher with a deep commitment as a first rate writer. Being a Roman citizen, Plutarch was afforded the opportunity to become an intimate friend to prominent Roman citizens and a member of the literary elite in the court of Emperor Trajan.

Plutarch's influence and enormous popularity during and after the Renaissance is legendary among classicist. Plutarch's "Lives", served as the sourcebook for Shakespeare's Roman Plays "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Coriolanus". By the way Plutarch is even the only contemporary source of all the biographical information on Cleopatra, whom he writes about in his biographies of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his nephew that there were three books every gentleman had to have familiarity with; Plutarch's "Lives", Livy's "History of Rome" and Virgil's Aeneid. In fact all the founding fathers of note had read Plutarch and learned much from his fifty biographies of noble men of Greece and Rome. When Hamilton, Jay and Madison write "The Federalist Papers" they use many examples of good and bad leadership traits that they read in Plutarch's work. His biographies are a great study in human character and what motivates leaders to decide and act the way they do, this masterpiece has proven to be still prescient today.

If you are truly interested in a classical education, put this book on the top of your list! I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.

Plutarchs historic portrayals of the lives of the gretest men in BCE western history, is truly inspiring. From the passionate warrior kings Alexander the Great and Julius Ceasar to the Athenean states men Dion and Draco, the list goes on, each text providing an insight to lives that were lived to the fullest potential.

This book is an easy read that makes you change behaviors immediately. I bought copies for all of my supervisors. I highly recommend it.

Great book. 3rd in a series of 3 that reviews a few issues brought up as a result of writing his first book "it's your ship". Regardless of the fact that you are in a leadership position or not, this books provide the individual with the basic building blocks that all individuals should strive to achieve.

There are countless leadership books available, and many of them simply repackage the old chestnuts in a new context or apply new terminology to the same principles. Michael Abrashoff somehow manages a different take on leadership. His success in turning around a ship and making it the pride of the fleet gives him credibility, as does his willingness to make the right decision even in the face of the unforgiving military promotion machine, recognizing that he was signaling the end of his rise through the ranks. Abrashoff's compassionate but firm style would serve many leaders well, regardless of their field. "It's Our Ship" an easy but provocative read and well worth the time.

Finishing this book, I thought, it's ok. Fundamental advice, nothing too innovative, well told: treat your people well; make sure even those with tough jobs get your appreciation and understand you know that their job requires skill like any other( Abrashoff tells of visiting on a regular basis the sole sailor responsible for the ship's waste); train your people to be good and then delegate to them; make sure you understand that people are always looking at what the leader says and does. and take their cue accordingly. But, on reflection, the book is much more, although not apparent. It really is a story of a guy who worked for an organization that is rigid, with often pointless rituals, and arrogant leadership. That is, the Navy. The real narrative and book value is how he managed well in this environment. By way of example, his evals of his officers were forced ranked a la Enron, and made or broke careers, pitting one officer against another and making it harder to manage, not easier( so he told them I can't change the system but I will help you transition to civilian life by getting you marketable assignments). Great section on how to decide how much risk to undertake and deciding what is worth a risk. For those stuck in this type of organization, the books speaks to you. Take a read.

I'm a big fan of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff's leadership methods and his books. His latest, IT'S OUR SHIP - The No Nonsense Guide to Leadership is the third in a series based on his command tour aboard USS BENFOLD (DDG65) and building on his experiences with leaders in the business world. In this third book, I see Michael's growth as an author and as a leader. The third book includes some snippets from the story outlined in his first best seller - IT'S YOUR SHIP. Sure to be a best seller in its own right, IT'S OUR SHIP provides a great blend of Michael's own story with those of other proven leaders in the business world. These are stories worth telling and Michael tells them exceedingly well. In his latest book, he takes you back to USS Benfold, then to The Container Store, Pitney Bowes, Aflac, 1-800-GOT-JUNK and many other commercial enterprises before ending where he started - USS BENFOLD. From each enterprise, he brings together their leadership lessons with his and demonstrates that these principles work in every environment. All it takes is "collaboration" - the key word in this book.

I come at the three books (the second was GET YOUR SHIP TOGETHER) from a different perspective and much more critical eye than most readers. I was commissioned the same year (1982) Michael was - though from Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island rather than the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. We both assumed command in 1997 (though my command was a shore command) and we both worked for the Secretary of Defense (though mine was Donald H. Rumsfeld - as fine, patriotic, and honest a man as ever served (twice) in that demanding position). When I assumed command, I was taking over for an interim caretaker Commanding Officer who was nurturing a command back to health after two failed Inspector General inspections (somewhat like the Operational Propulsion Plant Examination that USS BENFOLD had failed before Michael assumed command). I know first-hand the challenges of command. I retired as a Navy Captain in 2006 with a career spanning 30 years of service as an enlisted Sailor and a commissioned one. I am a Navyman. I fully appreciate the context of his books and the purpose for which they were written. Read these books, apply the principles and watch your people grow, succeed and surpass your expectations.

I know that the leadership principles that Michael outlined in all three books work. They work extraordinarily well, when properly employed. They worked for him, they worked for me, they work for Commanding Officers at sea and ashore today, and they will work for you. Captain Abrashoff is a masterful leader and brilliant storyteller. I've gone back to do some research and can't validate that "virtually all 310 Sailors were deeply demoralized" or that "clearly his (the former CO's) leadership had failed", as Michael has described the situation. I say this, because statements like these are toned down a bit in his second and third books, which shows Michael's growth as both author and leader. While this over-dramatization tells a better story, Arleigh Burke destroyer Sailors are the cream of the crop of surface Sailors. Michael started off in a far better position than a reader might otherwise think, though he and his crew faced significant challenges and overcame them together to achieve remarkable successes by any measure.

Commander Abrashoff assumed command of a nearly new Arleigh Burke destroyer and inherited a crew that suffered the natural trials and tribulations of pre-commissioning a ship and `bringing her to life.' The truth of the matter is that three of the officers under the former CO and the former CO himself are all Navy Flag officers today - the enlisted Sailors of that first crew went on to enjoy great success as well. The first CO of USS BENFOLD was certainly doing something right and continues to do well on active duty today. I think it's more a matter of different approaches to leadership - there are many ways to effectively command an Arleigh Burke destroyer.

I give you my own insight so that you understand fully that there is no doubting that Commander Abrashoff's approach is successful - and he fills you with genuine confidence that you can be equally successful (that in itself is a sign of a good leader). Leaders everywhere would do well to make his three books a part of their libraries - but only putting them on the shelf after they have devoured every word. I remain a student of leadership and Michael's books have contributed greatly to my education. I could have used them at the start, in the middle and at the end of my Navy career. I read and reread them today. And I will, again, tomorrow. I hope you'll join me. You will not regret it.