Charlatan

I remember seeing this book at Borders (that's how long ago) and being interested, but not interested enough to buy it. So here I am probably a decade later listening to it and... yeah, it's interesting but not that interesting. With the synopsis it has, how was this book as boring as it was? :/

I loved this book! When I got near the end and realized that there were 40 pages of notes and not 40 more pages of prose, I was contemplating putting the book down for the day so that I could postpone (and savor) finishing it. It was fascinating reading and, though set primarily in the 20's and 30's, very pertinent today. I will never look at infomercials (or Wall of Voodoo's, Mexican Radio, or political robo-calls) the same.

This book reminded me a lot of The Devil in the White City, another one of my all time favorites. Though the stories are about different topics, it is fascinating to see how aspects of today's daily life came into being. Oh, if only I could get one of those goat-gland surgeries so that I could be around in another 100 years to see the unintended consequences of Facebook, botox and rap music.

The book wasn't as grand as I'd hoped. To be fair, I listened to this as a book on tape, which was probably not a good choice. There were too many names, dates, places, and intersecting stories for me to keep track of while only listening.