No comments about Mahalia Jackson (Young Patriots) (Young Patriots Series).

5 comments about Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise.

1. I was very disappointed in this audio CD book. First of all, something about this book seems very self-indulgent. For example, CD1 goes on endlessly about how the author doesn't really want this top job, but of course, she interviews and ends up with it. It seems very disingenous. Second, stories from a job of eating out at mostly very fancy restaurants seems pretty irrelevant in 2008, when most people are struggling to pay their monthly bills and save for retirement. Listening for 20 minutes to someone describe perfect buckwheat noodles is rather tiresome. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the publisher has chosen a reader who is very dramatic and overly inflects each and every voice. She mimics a 4 year old child, a portly Yankee editor, old Jewish men, the author, a haughty, constipated sounding friend (Claudia),Italian waiters, etc. I guess some listeners might enjoy this, but it personally drove me bonkers. A matter of personal preference, I guess. Be careful you can handle this type of a narration before you opt for the audiobook.



2. I loved this engaging memoir by the New York Times food critic. I particularly enjoy Reichl's egalitarian view of fine dining (everyone should have the same great experience, famous or not). As a lover of good food and fine dining, I found this to be a very entertaining read.



3. During the 1990s, Ruth Reichel was the restaurant critic for the New York Times. When she began the job, she realized that a majority of the restaurants she would be reviewing knew what she looked like and were on the lookout for her. Therefore, she created a number of disguises for herself using clothing, wigs, and makeup. I highly recommend this book for an enlightening look at how Ruth's costumes changed the way people treated her as well as the effect on Ruth herself.
   
   I found it intriguing how Ruth took on other personalities almost without trying to. When she dressed as her mother she found herself ordering the foods her mother liked, and criticizing and returning foods to the kitchen as her mother would. My favorite character was Brenda. She wore a long and oddly scruffy carrot red wig that made her look rumpled and sleepy as if she had just climbed out of bed. She wore bright colored clothing, large colorful eyeglasses, and lipstick painted on bigger than her own lips. The way people treated her was different and wonderful. They smiled at her and talked to her. They wanted to spend time with her. They wished her well. Ruth states "Brenda was my best self, the person I've always wanted to be. She was generous and funny, optimistic and smart. She was kind. I hoped that finding the Brenda inside me would not always require a wig." See the end of this review for Ruth's comments during an interview about wearing disguises.
   
   I also loved Ruth's artistic and sensual descriptions of food. Personally, I am not into food and I cook as little as possible. So I was surprised that I was entertained with her eating experiences and her knowledge of food. Some examples follow.
   
   P 86 regarding oysters. She said "You can't eat these. They've been out of the water too long. See how dry it is? An oyster should have abundant liquid in the shell. See how dull it is? When an oyster first comes out of the water, it is shiny, luminescent. It looks like this moonstone. But the longer an oyster is out of the water, the duller it becomes. This, as you can see, has no shine at all."
   
   P 60 regarding a japanese noodle restaurant: "It takes a magician to make soba. They are made of buckwheat, which has no gluten. That means that getting them to hold together is an act of will."
   
   More than once during this book I thought about truth being stranger than fiction. For example, Mr. Shapiro purchased a dinner with the author through a charity fundraising auction. He bragged to her that he always insisted on being the last person out of the restaurant. Her dinner with him lasted six hours. He was a jerk in other ways as well. My first reaction was disbelief that someone like him even existed. Another item that surprised me was about a man who would not give any money to his wife but allowed her to purchase as much clothing as she liked. Therefore, she frequently purchased two of each article of clothing and would give the second item to a consignment resale shop.
   
   There is an interview with the author at the end of the audiobook, which does not appear in my paper version of the book. In that interview, the author discusses several topics, one of which follows. I've done some editing for length and clarity.
   
   "When I first started wearing disguises, I thought it was about being anonymous and that it was all about the job, but as time went on I began to see that it's very hard to pretend to be someone and not be that person. People react to what you look like and you yourself begin reacting to how people react to you. I found being in disguise was a way of connecting with myself in a way that I hadn't anticipated. It was also a way of seeing how important (pause). You know, we always say don't judge a book by its cover and it's only the surface, but the truth is that it is more than surface deep. I started thinking how important clothes are and the way that when you're a little girl you make these choices about what you're going to look like and how important it is every time you cut your hair. You're making these decisions and thinking about what it is that people are going to think of you. The surface that we present to the world is very conscious, even when we think its not. We're always thinking about who we are in the world. Our clothing choices and our hair choices and our makeup choices are all saying to the world this is how I want you to see me, and the world really does see you as the way that you present yourself."
   
   Setting: 1990s New York area. Copyright: 2005. Genre: nonfiction, biography, food.



4. I am not a foodie. However, Reichl's writing is so vivid I found myself thinking about the dishes she describes. Her style is easy to follow without dumbing the language down. The novel is one part funny anecdotes, one part food, and one part introspection. A great read!



5. Reichl is one of my favorite authors and I think I've read everyone of her books. Perhaps that is why I especially enjoyed this book. It was so much fun! I feel like I know Ruth from reading all of her auto-biographies. This book definitely gives you a different view of the competitive world of restaurants. I think I've enjoyed fine dining even more since reading her latest book. When's the next book??!

2 comments about The Prince of Wales: A Biography.

1. I love this book. Even though it is a few years outdated, before the official divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, it is still enthralling nonetheless. Mr. Dimbleby approaches the life of Prince Charles in nothing but respect, for a change. He opens up Prince Charles for you, and you learn about all of the good he does. It is amazing how much Prince Charles has done for unemployed and underprivaledged youths and areas. Through all of the tabloid-al journalism, you really get a good taste of the true Prince of Wales. I recommend this book to all royalists and monarchists and anyone wanting wanting true information instead of the tampered information often portrayed on tabloids.



2. Gift books have a habit of piling up on me before I have a chance to read them. This book was somewhere in the pile at the time of Diana's death. At that point, I blew the dust off and hunkered down to read it. It's certainly not fast reading. I found it very informative although I have to admit I didn't read every word. It did give me a much better insight into the lives and functions of the British Monarchy. As for the story of Charles and Diana, it's obvious that they should never have married.

4 comments about The Way of a Boy: A Memoir of Java (Isis Series).

1. When I was a very little girl, we lived in Indonesia and were in Japanese concentration camps during WWII.
   I was interested in reading this book, because my brother was taken away at 11 and sent to a men's camp all by himself. I wanted to know what he had gone through.
   This book will tell you a little of what we all went through in those years. It is written from a young boys view point and that was helpful to keep it less of a heavy read.
   I think very few people know how many of us suffered hunger and illness in POW camps under the Japanese. It is history and hopefully we won't have to re-live this.



2. i am 16 years old and read this book for the first time last year. i truly enjoyed reading the book. i am not into books which have a difficult plot or a lot of long words but anyone can undersatnd this book. i cant imagine what the boy would have went through and had to keep on reminding myself that this actually happened. i definitely do not think that this book is given the credit in which it is worth. reading the book makes you realise what a good life you have compared to what the boy went through. so go out and read the book now. p.s. have a box of tissues ready!!!



3. The story is beyond an ugliness of human nature.How any one dare to challenge "How about Hiroshima ?" The boy is above all these and almost religius. The Japanese Emperor and the Governmentaologized for the undue cruelities inflickted on the internees, but the most interesting thing is that they did no do so to their own people who were victims themselves under the Japanese Military systems.



4. A decided to read this book after I heard the news that a movie based on it staring Jane Seymour will be filming next year. I read it only to better understand the movie, and was extremely surprised at what an excellent story I found it to be. It is told from the perspective of a little boy, about his struggles and triumphs, and the little things that help him cope with life in a concentration camp run by Japanese. If you think this is your typical "WW II survivor story", guess again. As I was reading I forgot the book was about a concentration camp. It became the story of a ordinary boy and his mother, and their day-to-day life amidst a horrific background. The harsh reality is it is a true story. I hope the movie does it justice. This book is extremely under-rated. It is up to par with Oprah's book club books. Please read it, and I think you will be surprised. If anyone knows how I can contact the author, please let me know.

5 comments about Let's Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving and Learning.

1. This is a surprisingly well written biography by an actor whom we thought was only a pretty face. He tells us some inside facts of his thoughts, his life and marriage and how he has grown and changed. The tittle says it all and then he fleshes it out. I'm giving this book to a lifelong friend who was a huge fan of Kirk Douglas 50-60 years ago.



2. I could not put the book down ,I had to read it from cover to cover . He is a one of a kind person It shows how you will always go back to your roots



3. I have read past books by Kirk Douglas which were much better, mainly because they told a story, and this book is mostly ramblings. It is okay to pick up and read a bit from time to time but not a book you will be engrossed in.



4. Kurt does it again. At ninety he is still feisty and funny. And his life- story which he has told in two previous books is only enriched by another retelling. He opens with the story of his ninetieth birthday party, a gala family event in which he laughs and is laughed at as well as celebrated and appreciated. The little kid from Amsterdam did not do so bad. He may have started out as a poor hungry kid robbing eggs from the neighbor's chicken coop but he with a lot of moxie and ability made it to the top of the American entertainment world. In this book which comes across as a series of small essays or talks he wanders all over the place but always interestingly. He in his long career knew a lot of remarkable people and he tells about many of his old buddies. He also in the course of this speaks about how much he misses many of them, one of the sad consequences of a very long life. He also speaks about the tragic death of his youngest son, whose grave he visits twice a week.
   Kurt did not make it the easy way. A heart attack, a helicopter crash which set him back a lot, a stroke which took his speech from him. The stroke however did not take away his will and through great effort much help he fought back to speak and think clearly again. Part of his wake- up process was a decision to explore Judaism which he had sort of forgotten about in his prime acting years ( Except for his yearly Yom Kippur synagogue visits, and the movies made in Israel which he is a staunch supporter of) His strong desire to help young people to educate them to moral dignity and lives of contributing to making a better world is also expressed here. Also he tells the story of his fifty- three year and running marriage to his second wife,Ann, and how this has been the great love story of his life.
   Kurt has guts and heart .He is a tough, caring person, who will always of course be most known for some of his remarkable performances on the screen ( Lonely Are the Brave, The Champion, Spartacus, The Clown, Lust or Life) but his works as a writer also have great entertainment and educational value.
   A wonderfully enjoyable little book by a great human being.



5. 
   You have to be tough to face your own mortality and Kirk Douglas faces it feisty, reflective, and sometimes furious. In addition to great stories from his life that he hasn't told before, this book tells of the things that, 90 years on, move his heart and his soul. I was surprised, delighted and stirred all the way through.

5 comments about Remind Me Who I Am, Again.

1. I thought this was a thoughtful, touching memoir written by a daughter about her Mother. I wish she would have written more about the two of them.



2. Linda Grant, a feature writer for the Guardian [UK], has written a memoir about memory, focusing both on the loss of her family's history as the older generations die off and the deterioration of her mother's mind due to Multi-Infarct Dementia [MID], which stifles short-term memory and gradually scrambles older recollections. The book is also a intensely personal struggle against the guilt and helplessness one feels when making the necessary decision to commit a loved one to an institution.
   
   Grant is descended from Jewish immigrants who arrived from Russian and Poland and settled in Britain and America before the Second World War. (Many of her family's relatives who remained behind were, of course, killed by the Nazis.) A somewhat rebellious daughter during the heady and reckless Sixties, she soon realizes that all those stories that used to bore her as a child will soon be lost forever: "My mother, the last of her generation, was losing her memory," she mourns. "In a hundred years there will no one left alive who remembers her, who can tell you who she was.... Without the past we're nothing, we belong to nobody." All that remain are a few scattered photographs and letters lacking any basic context and the occasional recollection that her mother summons up out of the blue and whose authenticity Grant can no longer verify.
   
   The second aspect of the book is the most moving--and the most laudable. Grant recounts the frustrations and the episodes that led her and her sister to intercede and commit their mother to a care center, and she describes the legal and bureaucratic obstacles that nearly prevented them from making this step. What makes this decision particularly difficult--and, to some strangers, hardhearted--is that her mother is capable of periods of perfect lucidity and social grace. Grant describes how, while her mother's domestic conditions and intellectual capacity deteriorated to the point where she became a danger to herself, she retained an acute awareness of how she appeared to others as well as "the basest, most acquisitive part of ourselves"--the urge to go shopping: "So we shop together, outside time, mother and daughter united each in our own purposeful quest to do what we have always done, and which to her goes on making sense."
   
   What keeps this book from surrendering to guilt and self-pity is Grant's admirable sense of humor--some of her sketches are heart-achingly funny--as well as the research that lends its framework an aura of objectivity. "Remind Me Who I Am, Again" certainly provides comfort and advice to relatives of those with aging family members, but it is also a valuable read to anyone who cares about individual memory and family history.



3. I bought this book after hearing the NPR interview with the author, because a close friend was coping with a similar situation (mother slipping into dementia, angry outbursts, fighting to get out of nursing home). This book is a fascinating portrait of the author's parents, their good points and bad. Very readable. I didn't want to put it down.



4. If you've ever had a relative or loved one slip away into dementia, this book will strike home. And if you've had a friend going through this experience, this book will help you to understand what they are going through. This book, like the experience of living with dementia, is at times funny, at times tearful. It's an honest picture of what it's like to be with someone who is rapidly losing who they were.



5. I listened to Linda Grant on National Public Radio, Fresh Air program yesterday. Very interesting and moving.

   I can relate to it as my father went thru a similar decline over a 3 year period. He suffered from TIA "mini-strokes" that slowly diminish selected brain capabilities, many times without the victim's or family's knowledge. Linda relates a similar experience. It's frustrating in not ever really knowing what is going on inside his ticker when you speak. It's frustrating to know that each person loses different capabilities at different times. It drags you down, with everything seeming so one-sided. It's frustrating that modern medicine is essentially powerless to stop this degeneration, with no effective tools or strategy.

   Linda is much more articulate than I could be in describing the same experience I went through.

   If it does nothing more, it gives those of us a comparative basis by which to judge our own decisions in similar circumstances.

   For those who have been thru this, it gives us someone to relate to. For those who have not, it prepares you. As a boomer, I've finally graduated to what I call 'adulthood': where we are sandwiched between two generations who both depend upon us. Calling the experience overwhelming only begins to describe it.

   Worth the read.

No comments about An Evening with Dickie Bird: Wit and Wisdom from Around the World with Cricket's Greatest Storyteller.

5 comments about Star Trek Memories.

1. Worth every penny - Chock full of fascinating details about all the backstage and front office folks, and some about the cast. Doesn't go into individual episodes much, and we actually don't hear all that much about Bill Shatner's Star Trek experience: it's more like Bill is the narrator for EVERYONE ELSE'S Star Trek memories. As a die-hard Shatner worshipper I was bummed about that; still, the book has enough juicy backstage scoop to be a really fun read.



2. While Star Trek made a great deal of television history, there were many other significant consequences. To the best of my knowledge, it was the first show to make significant profits via syndication. It was so popular that three subsequent television series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager" each ran for years. Finally, there is also the enormous number of books about Star Trek. I own nearly one hundred Star Trek novels and have read nearly every one of the "memories" books written by a major cast member of the original series.
   In this book, Shatner sets down many of his recollections about the original series. To his credit, Shatner is very honest about things, giving all of the other major players the opportunity to contribute to the book. Those contributions are included even when they are critical of his actions on and off camera. In defense of Shatner, it is difficult to see how it could have been any other way. This was a show about a quasi-military ship that by necessity had to operate independently of any central command structure. The captain of the ship was lord of his surroundings, so the premise of the show was that all the action had to resolve around the captain. Secondly, television shows, especially in that period of time, revolved around the stars of the show.
   These are the reasons why I have always taken comments critical of Shatner by the secondary members of the cast with a grain of salt. Had the show simply languished and died off, none of them would have ever achieved the fame that they did. Therefore, they are criticizing the very means whereby they achieved their fame.
   As Shatner makes very clear in this book, all the members of the cast and production crew were under enormous pressure to get the work done. Given those circumstances, it is amazing that more serious and lasting rifts between the principals did not occur. The fact that they did not speaks to the sense of purpose and community that existed between them.



3. After reading this book, I was able to tell that William Shatner knows how to write! Not that I had any doubts, but this book is so intriguing, it feels like he is talking to me as a friend while I read. This is written like a documentary, and it is just as interesting. There are facts in here that I never knew, and stories are told about things that happened in front of and behind the camera. About the smallest detail of how Star Trek works that you wanted to know is talked about. Shatner not only talks about and interviews the cast, but the behind the scenes set builders and script writers among other people that are revealed and talked about.
   
   The book is written in a light hearted, joking way, with Shatner making fun of himself and having fun at other people's expense. The only problem I had is that the book also kind of brags on how great Shatner is, and how many problems some of the other cast members had while filming. Coming from the man who wrote the book, it feels kind of like an ego trip since it occurs many times throughout the read. There is also a very nice collection of pictures that are on some of the pages that shows behind the scenes laughs and on set memorable scenes. Overall, this is a book I recommend to all fans. It hardly ever gets dull and by the end, it feels too short and could have lasted longer.



4. The first big chunk of this book is taken up with giving lots of attention and credit to Gene Roddenberry and the many people behind the scenes, and explaining the interworkings of network TV- very interesting to those who like to know how the series was created and why it started losing in the ratings wars and why it was eventually cancelled.
   
   I would have loved to hear more about the crew of the USS Enterprise and enjoyed immensely the few stories related. The book became much more interesting once he launched into the separate sections with the interviews with Grace Lee Whitney, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, but there was not much on the rest of the crew. The format used of letting others speak for themselves was unique and entertaining. The conversational style of writing made one feel right at home. William Shatner is a fine actor and a gifted writer. Obviously, he was the star of the series and movies and that caused much friction, especially since the other cast members didn't let him know when he upset them or hurt their feelings. I would have loved to read much more concerning all the crew of the Starship Enterprise. "The Captain" turned the spotlight on the cast and crew but overall kept out of the spotlight in this book. Since William Shatner has all the notes from extensive interviews and possibly the ability to gain more information from the other actors, I would love to see one more book on our Star Trek heroes.



5. Keep in mind going in that William Shatner (with Chris Kreski) set down these "Star Trek Memories" a quarter century after Gene Roddenberry's "Wagon Train to the stars" aired on television, so this is not a contemporaneous account by the actor of the television that made him a pop culture icon. In fact, this memoir begins with a mea culpa from Shatner, who acknowledges that he was "Blind with personal problems, with fatigue and with the necessity of spending those incredibly hard hours shooting 'Star Trek,' the series." Sometime between the end of the series and when he wrote this book Shatner apparently made a transition from being a supreme egotist to someone who can make fun of his own persona (the man sold his kidney stone for charity this week), passing somewhere along the way the Shatner who did the infamous "Star Trek" convention skit on "Saturday Night Live."
   
   Shatner began writing this book on the final day of shooting "Stark Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," which was being promoted as "the final voyage of the Starship 'Enterprise/.'" Consequently, Shatner found himself in a nostalgic state of mind, and goes back to the beginning. "Star Trek Memories" proceeds chronologically, from the creation of the series, when Shatner was not the captain of the "Enterprise," to the show's cancellation. Of course around the same time that Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, "Star Trek" was becoming enormously popular in syndication, which is why there were all those new "Star Trek" movies and television series. However, the epilogue to this book is not about the success of "Star Trek" after the original series, but about Shatner learning what his co-workers thought about him, his efforts to reconcile with them, and his regrets over the lack of stronger friendships. The final subject of the book is Roddenberry's death and the legacy of "Star Trek."
   
   In covering the three seasons of "Star Trek," Shatner tells what he remembers about the various episodes and guest stars, with his developing friendship with Leonary Nimoy a constant element. But not as much as the series of practical jokes that took place on the "Star Trek" set. There are chapters devoted to the Shatner's favorite episode, "The Devil in the Dark," which was filmed the week Shatner buried his father, and Harlan Ellison's "City on the Edge of Forever." There is much more about the first two seasons than the show's third and final season when it became obvious cancellation was inevitable. The story of the "Save 'Star Trek'" campaign receives more attention from Shatner than the season it produce, which makes sense. The result is a decent but certainly not comprehensive look back at the history of the television show, Die-hard fans should read in paperback as opposed to hardback. Shatner and Kreski followed this book up with "Star Trek Movie Memories," which continues the actor's journey to the death of the character of James T. Kirk.
   
   In addition to his recollections and anecdotes, Shatner includes the personal recollections of cast members, producers, designers, and crew, who are able to provide some different perspectives on the series (No surprise, Nimoy provides thoughtful insights, but my favorite is Nichelle Nichols getting to the heart of the NBC suits worried about the first interracial kiss on television, which, Shatner reveals, did not really happen). There are also more than 120 photographs and illustrations scattered throughout the book, most of which include wry captions because while Shatner might be willing to give up his ego, he is always going to go for the laugh. It is clearly pathological with the man, which explains why he has won consecutive Emmy Awards as Denny Crane on "Boston Legal."

5 comments about Talking Back... to Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels.

1. Talking Back: ...to Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels
   
   By Andrea Mitchell
   
   A Review
   By
   Colin J. Edwards
   
   Whenever possible I avoid reading autobiography. I rarely read fiction, and essentially autobiography is fiction. Who can resist fine tuning ones achievements or smoothing the bumps of a relationship; not to mention flat-out lies? If such a paragon of virtue existed, writing an autobiography would be an anathema to them.
   
   "Talking Back: ...to Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels", is an exception in so far as it is more a journalistic memoir than an autobiography. However, there are chunks of personal history that Lady Greenspan (Alan Greenspan was knighted by the Queen of England in 2002), chose to omit. Perhaps the most telling of these is the not inconsequential matter of a first marriage. There were also children, though non-biological, that she treated as her own. It is poignant that while she extols the virtue of her friends; even labelling their offspring as "...children she never had", she is silent about her own children. Would it be unreasonable to suggest that this might betray a propensity to edit out inconvenient truths? Alan Greenspan doesn't mention it either in his book "The Age of Turbulence". "But then statements of fact pertaining to both parties have been scrupulously edited and they don't differ even by a comma.
   
   That said, Andrea Mitchell describes her three or more decades of journalism in a modest, balanced narrative which moves along at an exhausting pace. She resists the temptation to `drop names', but she does inflate the purity of journalism. I wonder how many people would crave a career in journalism if their contributions lacked a by-line? I have the feeling that the insatiable desire for a scoop would loose its appeal if the story was anonymous.
   
   Ms Mitchell's volume does not betray anything about her. She tells us that she is Jewish. We can deduce that as a couple they are very rich because they don't spend any of their own money. Every event she describes; including her honeymoon, was funded by someone else. All their travel is tacked-on to official business somewhere in the world. If there is ant `self-funded' travel, she doesn't mention it.
   
   After reading her book, you come away with the impression that she is a very modest person in most things. There is one area where I perceived a little insecurity. She wants to be judged as an intellectual. She reminds us that she went to an Ivy League college. Whilst this is technically true, it is stretching the distinction a little. She tells us that she was accepted for a woman's college at Cambridge, but she doesn't tell us which one - and there are only three. Her attention for detail in other areas exaggerates her amnesia about Cambridge, even though she mentions it twice.
   
   Her writing style is predictably journalistic and a little tedious, but none-the-less an excellent commentary on current affaires of the last three decades. There are no attempts to take credit for successful events; indeed she describes everything with brutal honesty - warts and all.
   
   Ms Mitchell shares few personal details with us, and the work is the poorer for it. One is left with the impression that she is the definitive spinster married to the definitive bachelor. She does her thing and he does his and they meet occasionally at the White House for dinner.
   
   If you are already a student of current affaires, then this volume will add nothing to your fund of knowledge. However, if you need a crash course in the happenings of the last thirty years, then this is a book for you.



2. This is a fabulous read...you can hear Andrea speaking as you read ...descriptive, exciting and historically fascinating.



3. And people who are expecting a tell-all, fully detailed account of Andrea's life had better look elsewhere. This book is about her rise into the national broadcasting media. (If people want a detailed account they should read Magdaleine Albright's book "Madame Secretary.") This is not a book revealing every secret, ever detail of every person she interviewed or her feelings of all the events she covered. She's more "Just the facts, Sir" type of writer.
   
   Now, with that out of the way, this is an easy-to-follow chronology of events as Andrea Mitchell saw them starting her days as a Philadelphia reporter for KYW and then the Jonestown massacre in late 1978. But it was later with Three Mile Island in March 1979, her first national exposure as an energy correspondent that brought her to the forefront as an aggressive reporter. It was a line on page 46 that summed up Andrea's personality, when she wanted to be there to cover the Three Mile Island melt-down but was denied her chance to report because her supervisor, an elderly and paternal Sid Davis didn't want Andrea, as a woman of child-bearing age, be exposed to potential nuclear radiation: "Men's testicles were as vulnerable to radiation as women's ovaries. I was on a plane to Three Mile Island the next day."
   
   She was there for the rise of Ayatollah. She spoke well of Reagan as a gentleman, but also reported on his often-noticed fatigue, disorientation and his lack of detail which he delegated to his advisors. She was much less forgiving of Reagan's Chief of Staff, Don Regan.
   
   Had Mitchell written with greater detail there's no doubt that this book would have required many more pages. One thing I can fault her with is not revealing much about her personal life and how her profession often dictated her personal life. She was very careful not to reveal too much about her early years with her now-husband Allan Greenspan.
   
   The Paperback edition also provides additional reporting since the hardback book was published, which gives Condoleeza Rice much credit for her stance in the Middle East.
   
   I will agree with Bill O'Reiley when he described Andrea Mitchell as one of the more non-partisan reporters. This book reflects that.



4. If you enjoy a mix of autobiography, history and current events, this book will delight you. Andrea Mitchell covers the American scene through the eyes of a journalist who, as husband of Allen Greenspan, was, at times, participant. Fair and balanced. Goes well with a shade tree and glass of lemonade.



5. I thoroughly enjoyed the approach of this book, reading about her experiences as a journalist & working with various presidential administrations. I never felt mislead as some others have written, that she was going to write an autobiography; she calls it a memoir.
   This book seemed very objective until it hit the Clinton section. In my opinion, it became extremely evident Ms. Mitchell is not a fan of the Clinton's. That would not be an issue, had she not attacked them as she does, taken this section to also delve into her personal relationship & in future chapters, brag about White House get togethers with the Cheneys, Rumsfelds & Bush's.
   It's too bad Andrea lost her objectivity & took her jabs. She would have had an excellent book, had it been written in it's entirety as a journalist.

5 comments about One Ranger: A Memoir: Library Edition.

1. Great book! I love hearing first hand stories from an old Ranger. I have read both of his books and they are a must read for anyone who likes stories about the Texas Rangers.



2. Great book covering the modern Texas Rangers. But, the author would be fired these days due to the liberal press and the hands-off approach to the scum of the earth.



3. After listening to the CD's, I wanted to become a Ranger or at least a Texan! A riveting story of One Man, One Ranger, you will be totally engrossed in one man's story of his law enforcement career with the Texas Rangers as they were during the latter half of the Twentieth Century. The narration by Rex Linn is first rate and, at times, spellbinding. Don't miss this great epic! If Hollywood doesn't make this into a movie, they will miss the chance of a lifetime to chronicle this Ranger's journey as the last of the old west's Ranger's.



4. This Texas Ranger's life story is a review of how one man made a difference, and a journey through Texas history. Told in forthright, vivid prose, the book is an easy, interesting read.
   
   Mr. Jackson's experiences are things many of us have gone through. He describes what a man thinks about when life is upon him. Parents, siblings, children, bosses. His honest acknowledgement and acceptance of the turns of his life are a lesson for all in this age of feeling sorry for yourself because of hardship.
   
   Mr. Jackson ties together the history of Texas, and the hisotry of crime and criminals in Texas, with his love of the land and resulting adventures trying to explain why things happened while describing his law enforcement actions as consequences that cannot take the why's as excuses.
   
   His talent, hard work, and rugged upbringing provide Mr. Jackson with special opportunities we all would enjoy. He clearly revels in them as he spins the yarns.
   
   It was a joy to read this Texan's story. It is an American story, for all to experience.



5. Our dad had been wanting this book for some time and we were able to get it through Amazon as no other local book store had it and he just loves it, in fact he went home right after getting it and didn't go to bed until late due to wanting to read it. It came just in time and was in great shape.