William Zinsser is famous for being an excellent coach for writers. He has mastered the art of communicating through words. He has followed an alternative career path that has brought him success and fulfillment. He shares his insights in this memoir of his life while coaching the reader how to write about her/his own life. Zinsser’s style is humble and consistently strikes the right tone for sharing the memory. That skill – sharing memories –…
Why should one read this almost 900-page biography of this American hero? Douglass penned several autobiographies of his own. Why is this work needed and important enough to be read in its entirety? First, the writing and depth of research are marvelous. Blight considers and presents detailed arguments about the finer points of Douglass’ life. Each chapter is replete with scores of endnotes for further reading. Second, the topic is timely, especially to America. Race…
David McCullough is surely one of our country’s greatest writers of history, and he presents us with a jewel in his depiction of the Wright brothers’ great conquest of the air. As McCullough shares, the Wright brothers remained true to their project and true to themselves to the end. In so doing, they earned the praise of their hometown Dayton, Ohio, their nation, their sister-nation France, and the world. McCullough’s account is heavy on detail…
Lewis Thomas spent his life revolving around various aspects of medicine – apprenticeship, patients, research, administration, being a patient, and writing. In this memoir, he shares tales and insights from all of these experiences in an easy-to-digest and relatable format. I especially enjoyed his notes from his time as Dean of Yale’s medical school. Perhaps it’s because I work for an associate dean of medicine now. I appreciate his admonishments not to intervene too much…
The notion of this book is very interesting. A Presidential biography written by a fellow President who is also a son. Parallels to the Adams family abound. George Bush the Elder, possessing a lifetime of experience in government, is like John Adams, also a one-term President. George W. Bush and John Quincy Adams are both sons who became President. Both sons had shortcomings which can be linked to their elite birth. Both sons knew how…
The name William Faulkner evokes a great deal of respect (and perhaps fear) from readers. He is known for long sentences that span more than one page. He is inescapably deep – an abyss. He sees into the Southern American male experience as no other and draws out truths that apply to all of humanity. His allure extends from the South into New England, across the Atlantic to France and down the isthmus to Latin…
Stephen King is one of the most best-selling writers of all-time. In this book, which I read in a tenth-anniversary edition, King shares his insights into the process and lifestyle of writing. Obviously, these insights are of interest to writers who seek to improve their craft. Although I still prefer Strunk and White’s classic more than King’s, I am quite grateful to have spent the time to read this classic. Strunk and White harp on…
Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, has been much maligned for being a weak president. Certainly, there are things he wishes that he could redo. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see in this memoir what positive things he did accomplish and how honest he is about the unresolved problems of our world. Carter has been called the most-successful ex-president our country has ever had. He founded the Carter Center at Emory University and has spend a…
Catherine the Great is indisputably one of the greatest women Europe has ever produced. She ruled Russia as an enlightened monarch and spread the philosophy of its prior pro-European monarch Peter the Great. She created an intellectual culture in Russia that blossomed with talent like Dostoyevski, Tolstoy, and Tchaikovsky. Ironically, she was not born a Russian but a German. Her marriage to a future king was a failure, but not due to her lack of…
Author of the Canterbury Tales (among other works), Geoffrey Chaucer is a pioneer of the English language from the late middle ages. He is eclipsed in his innovations perhaps only by William Shakespeare. Peter Ackroyd is a modern British historian and a worthy biographer of this giant. In this accessible series (read: short books), Ackroyd provides us with a great summary of what there is to know about Chaucer from historical records. Chaucer was not…