Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin

I thought that this book was written by a man for at least half of the book before finally noticing the name of the author. Something about the tone simply screams self-satisfied individual. Apparently, I associate extreme confidence with the y chromosome. Interesting insight into my own gender preconceptions.

This book was amazing. I learned so much about early church history that I never knew and that gave me a whole new perspective on the history of Byzantium. I loved the global perspective that was broken up into subject areas rather than being arranged chronologically as most historical books are laid out.

I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the Mediterranean, Church history, European history, women in the Middle East, power politics, dynastic rulers, art, writing, philosophy, governance. It's a smorgasbord of yummy facts.

Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen

This is a fun book. Not quite as information dense as The Wisdom of Crowds (Tyler Cowen references that work and cites a number of the same studies), it's more accessible to the non-economist.

One thing that I didn't like was that he saved all of the works cited for a section at the end of the book and did not include end or footnotes when citing other works. I hate when authors say, "studies have shown..." What study? When? Conducted by whom? Some studies are definitely more reliable than others.

I would definitely recommend this book, but would recommend The Wisdom of Crowds much more strongly.

Cheers.

When Science Goes Wrong: 12 Tales from the Dark Side of Discovery by Simon LeVay

2 Toots of the horn!

• 1 for having read a book covered on the Daily Show
• 2nd for having fought my way through this book

Pluses:

• Lots of science. Learn the lingo; talk the talk!
• Some interesting anecdotes: the volcanologists who walked into an erupting crater; the sociologists who experimented on orphans to make them stutter; the guy who convinced Congress that E was a dangerous drug (by killing monkeys with methamphetamine).
  

Minuses:

• The boring stories. I couldn't believe that his opening tale from the dark side was a BORING tale of a man getting Parkinson's disease and having experimental surgery that killed him. Admittedly, it killed him in a really gross, weird way, but still.
• Each blip could have been related in 5 pages instead of 40 or so. The author really dragged this out to make it a book, rather than just doing more research to come up with new anecdotes.

I would recommend a quick perusal of this book while standing/sitting in a cafe at Borders. I would not recommend buying it.

The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki

I disagree with the main premise of this text, and yet this is still the best book on organizational development and basic sociology that I have ever read! I absolutely loved this book and am very glad that I took the time to read it.

The first section of the book is devoted to the (relatively weak) theory that the collective wisdom of a group of average Joes acting independently will outperform the greatest experts. Hmm. The examples are things like guessing the weight of a steer, at a country fair in ye olde England where presumably all of the attendees were experts in the weight of steers; guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar; small decision markets that are extremely complicated to participate in (I've tried the Google one) and would thus only attract a certain type of participant, as they require a lot of time for no pay-off, or only a pay-off of intangibles, etc..

However, slogging through the unconvincing argument in favor of populism will bring you to the meat and potatoes of Organizational Development theory and to a treasure trove of marketing and sociology studies and historical anecdotes. For example, I had no idea that the Quakers are credited with creating the modern fixed-price system that capitalism rests on , as opposed to bargaining a different price with each customer. The book is a fantastic collection of multidisciplinary tidbits.

So, while I would still rather consult with an actual expert rather than with a group of people at a tailgate party, I would highly recommend this book - and it sure is a nice book to be seen with.
:)

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

4 Toots of my horn!!!

• Salman Rushdie is a big name in lit
• He was married to Padma (of Top Chef fame)
• The book is an excellent mini-history of Florence and of the Mughal Empire (historically accurate)
• I love magical realism

Interesting bits:

• The whole thing is fantastic. I love this book!
• I caught references to By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept and to Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels (bit about "my one sovereign life...") interesting
• View of Savonarola from perspective of the man on the street
  
• mini-history of the Medici family
• one of the main characters is Machiavelli (of The Prince fame)

This is amazing. What I really loved about this book is the holistic view of world history in that time period. I was already aware of all of the different areas covered (India, Iran, Ottoman Empire, Italy, England, the Americas) with at least a basic level of familiarity with the main events occurring at that time, late 1400s through late 1500s, but I had never combined them in my mind the way that a ruler at the time must have.

The magical realism crops up in the person of Lady Black Eyes, the Enchantress of Florence, and her supreme power over men. Also, there is a certain vagueness as to time throughout the book, and a few charming side-anecdotes, such as the Mughal court artist who falls so in love with his subject that he enters a painting. Also, Akbar has created an imaginary wife who has taken on full substance. It's all just fabulous.

I highly recommend this book to anyone! It can best be enjoyed by someone with a basic knowledge of world history, but I think that it would be enjoyable to any thinking person.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

Horn Tooting Scale: 3 Toots of the Horn

• 1 for being British!
• 2nd for being educational
• 3rd for being amusing and educational

Points of interest:

• The history of punctuation
• There are 17 ways to use a comma
• A great refresher on the use of the colon and semicolon
• The linguistic view of Webbish
• An homage to Aldus Manutius
  

Synopsis:

This extremely charming book examines the history of punctuation and the extremes of behavior that people can be driven to in pursuit of perfection in its use. Each of the major marks gets a section - my personal favorite is the one for the exclamation point; famous wordsmiths are quoted; and the ancient and modern history use of punctuation is examined. I had no idea that modern punctuation was such a recent invention (Venice 15th c). I feel a little better about my reluctance to use the semicolon now that I know how young it is.

The main thing that makes this book a surprise success is that it is fun! I for one would never have thought that a book about punctuation, grammar and history could possibly be interesting as well as educational. Somehow, this book is. With her history as a (self-confessed) precocious brat, Ms. Truss has no trouble sticking her tongue in cheek and poking fun at her own urge to take a red pen to everyday life.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, and especially to young people. What a great birthday present for grandkids all across America.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Horn Tooting Scale: 5 Toots of the Scale

• 1 toot for being name by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2006
• 2 toots for being a rational look at American food systems
• 3 toots for teaching me about #2 corn and its myriad derivatives
• 4 toots for reinforcing my vegetarian diet
• 5th toot for being the best nonfiction book that I've read in years

Points of Interest:

• The rise of corn in America: the industry, the hybridization, the derivatives, the uses it is put to. WOW!!!!
• That America in the late 18th century was boozehound territory. Look up "elevenses". US employers used to have to supply corn whisky for their employees to sip throughout the day
• Factory meat is DISGUSTING! Yuck.
• Mushrooms are mysterious and could be a source of lunaries (calories are units of energy derived from the sun) - yes, I made up the term
• much much more

Synopsis:

Michael Pollan examines three different food systems. First, he looks into the factory farming system, beginning with an Iowa industrial corn farm, following the corn as it is processed into an incredible array of products, follows a steer from his birthplace to his life on a CAFO (confined animal feeding operation), his forced digestion of corn (when nature equipped him to eat grass) with all of the horrors that occur to the cow and to the human consumer that arise from this diet, and then into a McDonald's for a Supersized meal. This was the first, and I thought the best, section of the book. It explores the military-industrial complex in relation to our food supply, hits on the environmental calamities that occur as a result of letting market forces decide what we eat, and examines the politics of agriculture. It was amazing. I want to go back and reread that section.

The second section focuses on grass and on sustainable, local farming. It is mostly an account of Michael's visit to a small farm outside of Washington DC where everything is done by hand by an eccentric and opinionated small farmer, Joel Salatin. Joel's "grass" farm is held up as a model of how our food could and maybe should be grown. It is interesting that Joel has been able to come up with so many innovative ideas, and I loved the description of making compost and of the movable hen houses. However, I found little to no applicability to my own life. Mostly, Joel's farming method is about how to raise meat animals without negative environmental impact. I don't eat meat. I have no intention of ever eating another chicken, pig or cow. So, while I appreciate that these animals are much healthier for meat-eating society that the CAFO raised ones, it's an academic argument to me.

The third segment of the book is a look at the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Michael hunts and shoots a wild boar, gathers 2 types of mushrooms, various fruits and veg, and collects yeast from the air. He also tries for salt from the San Francisco Bay, but finds it to be inedible. This section was especially interesting to me because I live in San Francisco, and all of this gathering occurred in the Bay Area. I especially would like to try to make my own yeast and bread after reading the description in this book. I would also really like to learn how to safely gather mushrooms. However, I have no intention of taking up gardening or of going hunting. The author admits that this lifestyle is no longer possible or even recommended in modern society, but something about being able to gather one's own food still resonates with my monkey brain. Independence from the food supply system is quite attractive.

Overall, this is an absolute must read book. I can not believe that it took me so long to get around to reading it. It is definitely a book to brag about!

Turning Back the Clock: Hot Wars & Media Populism by Umberto Eco

Horn Tooting Scale: 4 Toots

• 1 toot for Umberto Eco, Italian philosopher, semiotician, and medievalist
• 2nd for incredibly erudite collection of essays
• 3rd for being from a European perspective
• 4th for (re)introducing me to many philosophical concepts

Points of Interest:

• Bentham's panopticon - an 18th century prison design that is useful as a metaphor
• Prediction that the US will slowly become Pacific centered, with the East Coast becoming merely a cultural capital
  
• The carnavalization of life - everything is fun and exciting
  
• Benedetto Croce - Crocean aesthetics
• Poujadism - French xenophobic philosophy
• Hymn to Satan - poem by Carducci 1865 extolling triumph of rationalism over the Church

Synopsis:

This is a collection of essays and excerpts from lectures by Umberto Eco from 2000 through 2005. Some of the essays regarding the start of the 2nd Gulf War and the rise of Berlusconi in Italy are dated from a current events perspective, but are interesting in a historical perspective. The result of reading this collection is an overwhelming respect for Signor Eco's mind. I want to be inside his head for a week or a month, just to sort through all of the amazing stuff that he knows! Admittedly, his knowledge is very Euro-centered, but is still vastly greater than that of any 20 men on the street. Just casually reading these essays was a fantastic refresher course in philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, political science, theology, and history. I found myself googling new terms many times throughout the book.

The 41 essays in this book range from 4 pages to 30ish. The topics cover everything from Italian politics and the media to modern warfare (neowar vs. paleowar) to Nigerian beauty pageants to Harry Potter to the Passion of the Christ to the Knights Templar to the scientific method and the end of history. At no point is he giving a lecture on his fabulous storehouse of knowledge. Rather, in commenting on a current situation or event, Eco evaluates this event by criterion that most of us do not have. He might arrive at the same conclusion reached by millions of other people, but the route he takes is much more interesting than the destination.

I can't recommend this highly enough! Not every essay was a hit for me, but as a whole, the collection was mentally stimulating and inspiring. It's wonderful to be reminded that there are people in this world who think!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Horn Tooting Scale: 3 Toots!

• 1 toot for being a well-researched historical novel
• 2nd toot for being a well-researched novel set in rural China
• 3rd toot for being a feminist novel - at least, that's how I read it

Points of interest:

• The concept of laotong - a lifelong contracted relationship between two girls that would provide the deep emotional attachment not often found through an arranged marriage
• Nu shu- the secret phonetic women's writing that lasted for a thousand years in China.
  
• Intense chapter about having one's feet bound at the age of 7. OUCH!!!

Synopsis:

In the mid-1800s in rural China near Guilin, Lily and her laotong, Snow Flower, were born on the same day, at the same hour, to families that matched in every regard excepting that of socio-economic status. Lily was the number two daughter in a tenant-farming family. Snow Flower occupied the same family position in an upper class family fallen on hard times through her father's opium addiction.

At age 6, Lily is singled out by the matchmaker as having the potential for perfect feet, golden lilies. This quality, even more than a pretty face, allows for a socially advantageous marriage. Lily is watched closely and is eventually matched with the premier catch of the surrounding villages. However, before that event, she is matched with Snow Flower in a laotong relationship that is even more important and longer lasting. They are contracted to serve as life-long best friends. To love and support each other unconditionally. This is the most important relationship that either girl will have in life, superseding even that of their marriage.

Unfortunately, their vastly different social standing (Snow Flower is married to a butcher which is EXTREMELY low status in a Buddhist society) slowly comes between them. As Lily moves upward, Snow Flower learns the true meaning of degradation. Through miscarriages, a horrible mother-in-law, an abusive husband, and then serious illness, Lily is helpless to comfort Snow Flower. The culmination of the strain on their relationship comes when Lily misreads the nu shu on their secret fan to mean that Snow Flower has betrayed her to form a new sisterhood with three women from her village. Actually, Snow Flower has not sworn sisterhood with these women, but the misunderstanding is not cleared up until after Snow Flower has tragically died.

I found it interesting that the author, Lisa See, set up the pair of old sames so that the frigid one (Lily) achieved all of the success in life, while the passionate one who enjoys "bed relations" with her husband (Snow Flower) found happiness in no other area and then died miserably. Does this reveal a bit of the old virgin/whore dichotomy on the part of the author? Just a thought.

This book is beautifully written and well-researched. I would highly recommend it to others and am thankful that my library recommended it to me.

On Globalization by George Soros

Horn Tooting Scale: 4 Toots of the Horn

• 1 toot for being scholarly nonfiction
• 2nd for being by George Soros
• 3rd for being on the International Political Economy
• 4th for being practically incomprehensible :)

Points of Interest:

• Introduced me to the concept of SDRs - Special Drawing Rights - a strange amalgam supplementary currency available through the IMF that seems a lot like Monopoly money to me
• Though this book is not intended for a lay audience, it reminded me of things that I had learned in college that had shuffled down to the bottom of my consciousness
• Finally taught me what a discount window/rate is (rate at which the Federal Reserve loans money to a bank/corporation/etc.)
• The current floating currency exchange rate has been in existence only for about 30-40 years. Before that, a fixed exchange board was standard.
  
• George Soros really understands IPE

Synopsis:

This is a collection of George Soros' list of suggestions for reforming the international economic structure. The details of his ideas were very hard for me to follow, but as I read, I became aware of a dusty corner of my brain where I had stored information acquired while achieving my International Relations BA. Soros speaks more a idealist/realist perspective that acknowledges the realities of states self-interest while arguing for changes that could support state's interests while contributing to a better distribution of wealth to the peripheral states (Less Developed Countries - LDCs).

One of George Soros' suggestions is to allow recipient states to take ownership of foreign aid, while making them accountable for how the funds are allocated. He asserts that one of the reasons that foreign aid fails is that the IMF or World Bank requires that foreign experts control the development projects and that strict bureaucratic rules be followed that are not appropriate to all situations. He also suggests that in states with corrupt or repressive regimes, aid be funneled directly to community groups. Too often, corrupt governments co-opt aid meant for the people of their country.

When Soros began explaining how he would restructure the IMF, he started to lose me. I had never even heard of SDRs! It turns out that this is a currency deposit that can supplement a state's foreign reserves and is treated like a floating currency on the market. It is an amalgam of the US dollar, the pound sterling, the euro and the Japanese yen. The SDRs daily valuation is posted on the IMFs website. The weight of the currencies are reevaluated about twice per decade. All I can say is that if you'd like to learn more, Google it. Also, I finally learned what a discount rate is, the interest rate that national banks charge to loan money to other banks, corporations, etc. This gives me something else to worry about in terms of the US economy, because now I know that it's a little scary that the Fed has dropped the discount rate so much in the last 6 months. Soros wants LDCs to be able to borrow at the discount window of these banks. An interesting suggestion. He also wants to establish a procedure for nations to declare bankruptcy and to prevent that from happening.

Mostly, George Soros wants to address the inequities of the global financial market, to establish open societies, and to create greater standards of accountability in both foreign aid and foreign direct investment. He sees global capital availability declining and argues for an increase in fluidity in the market. Reading this book might be a struggle, but it will leave you feeling very proud of yourself. Have fun!

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Horn Tooting Scale: 4 Toots of the Horn

• 1 toot for being by a Nobel Prize Winning author
• 2nd toot for being a foreign novel
• 3rd toot for being a historical novel
• 4th toot for being incredible hard to read past the halfway point

Points of Interest:

• Marquez absolutely captures that moment of panic (for me, about 3 months into a relationship) when the woman looks at her lover with revulsion and absolute rejection
• Realistic portrayal of marriage and love in one's later years.
  
• Lots of tidbits of knowledge, such as that mullein puts fish to sleep. I never knew that.
• Fermina's reaction to her husband's confession of infidelity as opposed to her appreciation of Florentino's lie of having kept his virginity for her. Interesting perception of what it means to be a man.
  
  

Synopsis:

Florentino Ariza fell in love with Fermina Daza when he was 17 and she was 13 years old. They kept up a passionate secret correspondence for 3 years before being discovered. Her father separates the young lovers by taking Fermina away to visit cousins in the countryside, yet the lovers still correspond by telegraph. They are wholeheartedly committed to marrying, until tragedy strikes when Fermina finally returns to the city of the Viceroys, takes one look at Florentino and realizes that she doesn't love him and never really did. Anyone who has been in a relationship is familiar with the occasional moment of complete incomprehension that this is the person that you have committed yourself to. Fermina makes a complete break with Florentino and at 20, marries her new suitor, the biggest catch in her area, Dr. Juvenal Urbino. Neither loves each other when they are married, yet over the course of a 2 year European honeymoon, they come to love one another. Indeed, their love seems destined by their respective perfection. Juvenal is the perfect man, and Fermina is close to being the perfect woman.
Over the course of the novel, Marquez goes into the most realistic detail of what it is like to fully share one's life with another human being. He makes a litany of all of the humiliating details of the aging process, as seen in the three main characters. All the while that Juvenal and Fermina are sharing their lives and 2 children, Florentino is patiently waiting for his rival to die so that he will have his second chance with Fermina. Yes, that sounds romantic. However, Florentino is not waiting chastely. He is the Don Juan of the city, the ultimate cocksman who has affairs with over 600 women, not counting the one-night stands that he also regularly indulges in. He causes the death of at least two women, one from a jealous husband and the second, a little Lolita who he molested or "introduced into love" at the precocious age of 13, by suicide for love of him.
Ultimately, Juvenal dies after 50 years of marriage, leaving the Widow Urbino and Don Floro to rediscover each other at the ages of 74 and 78. There is hearing loss; baldness; dimmed sight, "fermenting flesh" odors; sagging skin; impotence and enemas, but there is still love. This manages to be both disturbing and sweet, in the same way that Juvenal and Fermina's marriage was. I highly recommend this book and highly recommend fighting through the tedium at the halfway point and finishing the book.

Rick Steves' Best of Eastern Europe 2006

Horn Tooting Scale: 1 Toot

• 1 toot for being a travel book - for some reason, it's always nice to be seen reading a travel guide, unless you're in that country, standing on a street corner looking lost and wearing an invisible sign that says, "Mug Me"

Points of Interest:

• Austria, Slovakia (especially the High Tatras), and Hungary
• Countess Bathory's castle in Slovakia (she bathed in peasant blood)
  
• Lipizzaner horses in Vienna
• Spas in Budapest

Synopsis:

My branch library didn't have a Lonely Planet covering Eastern Europe. So, I picked up Rick Steves' guide just to get a general sense of the area. It's actually a pretty great guidebook. I wouldn't use this book to choose places to stay or places to eat, but it had great descriptions of the sights, the transit, and the nightlife. I especially liked his hand-drawn diagrams of various cities and major sights. The writing was clear and on topic, and 2 weeks after reading it, I bought a plane ticket. Thank you, Rick Steves!

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Horn Tooting Scale: 3 Toots

• 1 toot for books position as a 60s counterculture classic
• 2nd toot for its position as a literary masterpiece
• 3rd for Herman Hesse's status as a Nobel Prize winning author

Points of Interest:

• Instruction on Hinduism and Buddhism
• The Buddha is a character in the novel (no not the title character; the Buddha goes by Gautama - his second name)
• Excellent explanation of meditation

Synopsis: Siddhartha, a young Brahman boy, is a religious prodigy. At the time of the book's opening, he is a late adolescent (16-20ish???) and already has comprehended both Om and Atman. His every movement is graceful, and his every utterance brings joy to everyone around him. However, he is not happy. Pursuing self-actualization, Siddhartha goes off to join a group of Samanas, Hindu holy men who renounce possessions and live off of charity while moving from town to town through the countryside. With the Samanas, Siddhartha learns how to think, how to wait and how to fast.
After a few years of wandering through the woods suffering pain and privation, Siddhartha decides that he is no closer to his search for enlightenment. At this point, Siddhartha and his friend Govinda, who had followed him to the Samanas, decide to go in search of Gautama (the Buddha), of whom they had been hearing reports for quite awhile. They go to a town where the Illustrious One is speaking and after hearing of the Eightfold Path, Govinda immediately asks and is accepted to be taken on as a disciple. Siddhartha, though he believes that Gautama truly has received enlightenment and that his philosophy of life is the best that Siddhartha is ever likely to hear, decides that he himself can not reach enlightenment through another man's experience. So Siddhartha leaves Govinda and the Samanas and goes off to continue his quest for enlightenment. Siddhartha next makes his way across a river and to a town. There, he falls in love with a beautiful courtesan, Kamala, to pursue this passion and to seek enlightenment in her arms, he is instructed by Kamala to acquire wealth. Using his gifts for fasting, waiting and thinking, Siddhartha does in fact become wealthy. For 15-20 years, he stays in the town, loving Kamala and seeking enlightenment through sensuality.
At the end of this time, Siddhartha realizes that he is still not happy. He leaves everything behind and goes back to the river that he had crossed so many years before. At the river, Siddhartha comes close to killing himself, but instead has an epiphany that the river is holy. That it is part of all humanity and all history. He gradually discovers that atman can be found in the river, in a leaf, in a clump of dirt, in anything at all. This might sound more like an LSD trip than part of any mainstream religion, but when Siddhartha hears Om in the river, I felt it resonate through me. There's an extra little section with Kamala and Siddartha's son, where Kamala dies and Siddartha tries to raise his spoiled son, who rejects him and his life. Siddartha then realizes that this is part of the cycle of life and that he himself did the same thing to his father. I wonder if that part of the book is a reflection of the author's feeling about his own father-son relationship. Altogether, this book far exceeded my expectations. It was simplistic; a short easy read, but very tight and with plenty of tidbits to think about. I would especially recommend it to a reader in his/her teens or early 20s.

By the River Piedra I Sat Down & Wept by Paulo Coelho

Horn Tooting Scale: 2 Hoots!

• 1 for being authored by Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist, etc.)
• 2nd for being a foreign novel (culture, mind-broadening)
  

Points of Interest:

• Concept of "the Other", that inner being who is obsessed with acquiring wealth, status, and other inessentials that do not lead to happiness, and how to resist/suppress the mutterings of the Other
• Excellent treatise on self-actualization in engaging, novel format without excessive preachiness
  
• Mini-history of the miracle of the vision of Mary at Lourdes
• Exploration of the feminine aspect of the divine, interesting
• Asserts that love is a help rather than a hindrance on the path to self discovery
  

Synopsis:

Pilar attends a lecture being given by her childhood friend. This friend, who is now a monk, speaks on the feminine face of God and on the power of love. After the lecture, Pilar goes with him from Madrid to Seville for a second appearance, and then agrees to visit a small town in the Pyrenees with him.

Pilar slowly lets go of her preoccupation with school, study, thrift, planning for a safe retirement while still in her 20s and learns to disregard "the Other" that voice telling her to play it safe, that life is perilous. She begins to trust in herself and in God, culminating in a rainy overnight worship session at Lourdes with a group of charismatics who believe in the laying on of hands and speaking in tongues. Freed from the burden of daily cares, Pilar is free to love her friend and to decide to give up everything and work with him to bring the message of love and the feminine face of God to the world.

The mysticism was a little heavy for me, and having attended Pentecostal worship sessions, I was less charmed by the notion of speaking in tongues than the average reader might be. However, the concept of the Other, and the lesson to live in the now and trust in oneself and in others resonated with me. An excellent, thought provoking book.

Hugo Chavez: The Definitive Biography of Venezuela's Controversial President by Hugo Chavez: The Definitive Biography of VZ's Controversial President

by: Cristina Marcano, Alberto Barrera Tyszka, Moises Naim (Intro), and Kristina Cordero (Translator)

Horn Tooting Scale: 3 Toots

• 1 toot for being a biography
• 2nd for being about a foreign country
• 3rd for being about a man of the moment (topical)
  

Points of Interest:

• Authors seem to be careful to stay neutral, yet reveal an anti-Chavez bias
• Close attention paid to Chavez's relationship with Fidel Castro
• Hugo Chavez doesn't need much sleep and is an autodidact who reads voraciously
• Hugo is a hottie! Apparently, he is quite the ladies man
• One of Hugo's favorite books is the Green Book by Muammar Qaddafi
• Hugo has his own TV show (Alo Presidente) that takes over the airwaves without warning, for an indeterminate length of time
  

Synopsis:

This biography was originally completed in 2004, then was revised in 2006 when it was published to include recent events. In that sense, it is a little patched together. It covers Hugo's life from his early years being raised by his paternal grandmother, being called Goofy by his peers, through to his time in the military, his love life, his time in prison after the failed coup against Perez in 1992 and his surprising electoral victory in 1998 and his evolving presidential style, including the mini-coup against him in 2002. The main theme of the book seems to be that Hugo's political convictions are opaque and possibly illusory, that he has become, if he wasn't always, a corrupt power-seeker, just like those that he railed against. The conclusion was that very few Venezuelan poor have actually been assisted by his programs, and all of his original inner circle has turned against him and now bitterly oppose him. The authors are clearly underwhelmed by Hugo's promise to stay in power until 2021. Viva la Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela!