Phil Preston

This is TC doing what he does best: stories about lives that intertwine and deliver themes that are as relevant to today (dysfunctional relationships, environmental sustainability, individual vs the State etc) as they were for the era he writes in. I found this to be similar in style to the Water Music premise and the writing to be just as engaging and effortless to read. Highly recommended.

Can't get over how great the passages are in this work, even if the plot is not the finest, it's the sort of book you'd read as a budding author and become dispirited rather quickly! And listening to it as an audio book on Audible, I have to praise the reading of Simon Vance.

Some interesting and poignant moments, and plenty to think about. It seemed to be a work of poetry in itself, in that it analysed and exposed the human condition. When reflecting on whether it was a great book, I can't say there was enough in there to make me want to keep picking it up, or even finishing it for that matter, apart from the fact it was our book club choice.

Despite an awkward start to the book, this has some great methods for applying innovation in organisations., giving great insight into the growing management gap between companies that “get it” and those that are failing to adapt to new social dynamics.

Section 1 is a rant that doesn't really fit the rest of the book. Suggest it is avoided!

I don't know much about the Marx brothers but found this a very enjoyable and informative read. The author manages to bring objectivity and enough pace to maintain interest, which I reckon is often hard for biographies.

The bio itself raises the nature vs nurture question, as well as the impact of social development skills (or lack of). Fascinating read.

Big picture and message is 100% on the money, but I found the writing, constant name dropping and general style of the book so irritating that I have just abandoned it 2/3 of the way through.

There is also an apparent contradiction between his own lifestyle - which sounds quite carbon intensive - and the message he is preaching.

Difficult to come up with a rating, gave it 3 for strength of message, but on the generous side.

I just found it a bit boring and couldn't wait til
I finished it. Seemed to be trying too hard to be clever. My fellow book clubbers are indicating they loved it and from the reviews here it is certainly a polarizing experience.

Some really good insight here. Seemed to be padded out and ran out of steam near the end, but valuable nonetheless.

Interesting but not stunning work.

Written a fair time ago but timeless in its message and methods, as long as you can mentally update the technology aspects in your own head. I wish I'd read this 3 years ago, would have saved a lot of time and anguish!

Writing too rich to be enjoyable and tortuously slow pace. Not for me.

[note, listened to this as an audiobook, excellently narrated by John Chancer]

This is great writing and the themes in it are as relevant today as they were back then. Chapter 5 alone is worth it. For a book to retain such powerful themes that resonate well after their time is a sign of something special.

The structure of the book is interesting and works once you are used to it. I like the solid tempo of the writing. I love the characters, good people - not perfect - and the author brings out their humanity. How could you not feel for Tom and the various travellers they meet along the way? And how is the dynamic between Ma and Pa, where they openly talk about giving each other a “whuppin'”. And the language, the “fambly” (family) and “overhauls” (overalls) etc.

This is a dimension to the human cost of an aggressive capitalist system that I had not encountered before. It was startlingly powerful and moving.

The ending seemed a little weird at the time, but on reflection reminded me of the more recent, The Road, where you are delicately sandwiched in between hope and despair. I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could, but on deciding whether to round up or down, I went up to 5.

Very interesting to get a perspective on race relations in the US at the time. Story was ok but didn't really transport me to any place magical. Recommended by Karen who said one of the best reads she'd had, so that probably meant it would never live up to expectations.

I read a much earlier edition of this work and have to say it was extraordinarily well written. As a maths major at uni (who never really applied anything I learned) I found myself wishing that my tertiary lecturers could have brought the subject - of maths in general and its historical highlights - to life like Simon has.

Cute but didn't cut the grade for me. Historical interest yes, writing style not to my tastes. That weird bit where the perspective switched a couple of times quickly was perhaps arty, but random and without reason.

A long, boring read. The humour was too slapstick for mine. Maybe funny in its day but all I could think was that perhaps it was just one long dream, given that some of the scenarios were like things that occur in dreams (talking to guy in plane who couldn't hear and he kept repeating). Sorry for all the fans out there, I tried.

Loved it, partly because of its simplicity of writing style and relevance of the situation to challenges today - even though the cause of the holocaust is unknown - easy to suspect it is a global warming scenario; regardless, to live out what things would be like if social structures break down and animal instincts prevail is a scary place to go.

Read this a long time ago now. Heck, it aint the greatest piece of writing, but it sure was a page turner.

If you want a philosophy book that uses running as its mechanism, this is for you. I was after a running book that had a bit of philosophy added in.

A lot I liked and a lot I struggled with so parking it with a 3-star while I think it through!!! Looking at other reviews, I do find it interesting that many people say unlikeable characters = bad book, exposing them for what they are is surely the writer's craft? And I may be on a different warp factor because I found the first half more interesting. :)

What a brilliant book! I found it to be more like “a short history of the world through the eyes of those who have exerted influence through wealth” and would recommend it to anyone as a social or business studies text

Exquisitely written ... however I have two gripes. Firstly, the back cover mentioned the spy angle and it didn't amount to anything except a cursory sentence; and secondly, there was no real tension in the story, and felt like a linear family saga that didn't make any substantial point. I did like Claude though!

This is chock a block full of interesting data and examples of people or organisations doing ‘stuff', but I found it a bit hard going. I know it is non-fiction, but a stronger narrative and possibly leaving some of the research in the drawer could have helped.

Read it when much younger - made an impact for the alt universe these characters seem to live in

TC is on form here - a story that just slides off the page to make a point about the human condition.