This is a very unusual biography in that it is told by the people who knew Gould instead of by an author who tries to create a narrative of his life. The approach is interesting and, if you don’t like false narratives, it’s refreshing. And certainly there is a lot of information for Gould obsessives …
Tag: Non Fiction
Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont (2010) by Joseph Boyden
At first, I found the style fairly jarring. This was not what I was expecting. And I am not sure it’s entirely appropriate, certainly if you are looking for a rigourous historical study. But, as I read it, I found it worked well enough. Well enough that it triggered my own creative ambitions, much like …
Uncoupling (1986) by Diane Vaughan
I interrupted my normal reading schedule to read this book specifically because I was going through a breakup – a relationship of nearly five years, the longest romantic relationship of my life, had ended. I chose Uncoupling of the books recommended to me because I found it the easiest but also because it appeared to …
Your Movie Sucks (2006) by Roger Ebert
I used to read Ebert a lot while he was still alive. It’s not that I necessarily agreed with him all the time – I find that he both overrates some well-made children’s movies, and falls into that typical critic’s cliche of thinking the values of his generation are universal (more on that in a …
The Divinity of Doubt (2011) by Vincent Bugliosi
It’s hard to know what to say about this book: I agree – most of the time – with Bugliosi’s position on this subject. But, as with his Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, this comes off as an unorganized rant that is made all the worse because he constantly claims other people – …
The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (2008) by Vincent Bugliosi
I have “read” one book by Vincent Bugliosi before. (I say “read” because it was an audio book.) And in that book Bugliosi impressed me with his rather ruthless rigor of thought about an issue that was clouded by too many books and opinions.
The Port Chicago Mutiny (1989) by Robert L. Allen
I was actually completely unaware of the occurrence of the Port Chicago explosion or subsequent “mutiny,” so this book was quite eye-opening.
Stillwell and the American Experience in China (1971) by Barbara Tuchman
Tuchman appears to be attempting two disparate things with this book: to tell the story of Joseph Stillwell’s career in the military and to tell the story of US intervention in China from the (first) Chinese revolution to the expulsion of the Kuomintang. She succeeds at the former a lot more than the latter, in …