5 comments about Man Who Stayed Behind.

1. Anyone who has made seeking truth his or her quest should read this book. With a painful honesty, Rittenberg accounts a sincere believer's failed efforts in pursuing idealism. He does not shun away from the truth that idealism and stupidity were often twins in human history. In fact, "faith" can make one blind and an involuntarily contributor to harm. It took the author a lifetime - including 16 years in the prisons of the system he believed in - to realize this simple truth. An ordinary person might have woken up a lot earlier, but not a believer. Is this faith or stupidity? The reader should draw his or her own conclusion. Nonetheless, what I really want to say is: although his effort in pursing ideals has failed, his life experience is not a waste; we can all learn from his lessons. In this sense he is still a hero, or in classic Chinese terms, a "hero by failure". To the reviewer below who called Rittenberg a "coward" with the "integrity of a worm" I want to ask, could you do better than him in those circumstances - in the bombing and in the prisons? That is a very pointed question.
   
   Rittenberg's Chinese name Li Dunbai has been known to me since my childhood during the Cultural Revolution in China, though I never knew him personally, and still don't know him now. In this book it is his candid and thorough accounts of the personal experiences of the familiar history that grab me, from the opening page to the last. Unlike some other bestseller memoirs on the same period of China, such as "Wild Swans," which emphasize the virtue while downplaying the deficits of the protagonists, Rittenberg hides nothing about his own personal weakness and mistakes. Anyone who has gone through the same period knows that we were all participants, no matter how noble or gaudy our motives were, no matter you admit it or not. To deny this and dress up as a pure victim or even a hero is truly a shame. Only by facing our mistakes and failures honestly we can help ourselves.



2. Sydney Rittenberg was one of a tiny handful of misguided utopia seekers who escaped from America to the Workers' Paradise, Mao's China. Rittenberg spends decades of his life in China championing a supposedly idealistic movement that was rife with intrigue from its inception. I cite Mao's "Let a 100 Flowers Bloom" campaign as one of many examples. It was a call for a dialog with the country's intellectuals. After getting them to air their true feelings he launched his "Uprooting Poisonous Weeds" campaign in which those who's views didn't spout the official party line were sent to the laogai, the Chinese gulag. I won't get into Mao's manufactured famine (read The Hungry Ghosts and Scarlet Memorial) or the Cultural Revolution. He was imprisoned twice for a period of 16 years. He didn't commit any criminal offense he was simply an international pawn for the Communist Party. What is so frustrating about this autobiography is that he never wavers in his so called "faith". For whatever reasons he just can't contemplate the reality that the intensity of his obsequiousness and fanaticism or political correctness (we got that term from the communists) is irrelevant to the Chinese. Perhaps that realization would have totally destroyed his persona. At the end he decides that the Communist Party has deviated from its "pure and humble" origins and moves back to the capitalist United States where his wife makes a windfall from an import deal. The United States is hardly perfect but I think it speaks to our generosity that after Rittenberg's dream of a totalitarian utopia failed, after he spent decades denouncing the "yellow dog imperialists" he was allowed to return along with his Chinese wife and Chinese born adult children.
   
   I was more impressed with Army Private James George Veneris, the man who stayed behind until the end. Veneris was one of 21 POWs during the Korean War, between America and China, who chose not to be repatriated. Eventually all but Veneris returned to the US in disgrace. I realize that a lot of Americans would consider Veneris a traitor, but at least he stayed true to his principles to the end. I was quite intrigued by the adaptability of this man and what motivated him to sever all aspects of his former life. I spent the academic year of 1999/2000 in China and had many difficulties adjusting, even with access to the Internet, English TV, and Hong Kong nearby. I wanted to write his biography. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago. In the process of searching for Virginia Pasley's book, 21 Stayed: The story of the American GI's who chose Communist China: who they were and why they stayed, I came across Rittenberg's book.
   
   The book is worth reading for the fact that Rittenberg had a unique experience during an interesting period of history. I would also recommend Jan Wong's Red China Blues. Wong is a Canadian born Chinese who was a college student during the Cultural Revolution. She decided that revolution was the way to paradise and was allowed to go to China to participate in the process. She became an ardent fanatic, but it only took a few years for her to wise up.



3. Sidney Rittenberg is a truly amazing character, and you must read his story to believe it. It's also one of the most insightful and thorough evaluations of Maoism and the Cultural Revolution, written by someone who believed firmly in those ideals at the time, but came to reexamine and question them as he saw their darker sides. This book is highly recommended for anyone even remotely interested in China, Chinese history, Communism, or just a really well-written autobiography of someone with an extraordinary life.



4. Few books written about Communist China are pleasant to read because of the experiences related, this is certainly one of them. Mr. Rittenberg's quixotic adventure in China was tragic-comic to an unbelievable proportion but still his undying idealism commands one's respect.
   
   I have googled and read his speeches about China on internet and I think he is one of the wiser guys in matters of China. He knows China inside out.



5. Lots of people have derided Rittenberg in this space, most seemingly because of Rittenberg's religious-level belief in communism in his earlier years. Read this book not as a defense of communism (it isn't, at all), but as an intensely personal journal of one life, lived at the core of the PRC, from 1946 to the late 1970s. Rittenberg, now in his mid 80s, gives a unique perspective on the early leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, and the vision, plus the folly, that intertwined with the early years. Whether one believes that he earned his 15+ years of imprisonment or not, no feeling human can fail to empathize with those, including him, who were jailed by the regime.
   In recent years, the PRC has admitted that the Cultural Revolution was a mistake, and therefore these years have seen a flurry of what's called 'scar literature' in China. Rittenberg's work cover much more than just his years in jail during the Revolution--it provides a remarkably close-up look at the emergent PRC in its first 25 years. Read it without fail if you seek to understand the roots of China today.

5 comments about The Book of Honor: Covert Lives and Classified Deaths at the CIA.

1. I haven't read the book but the 6 hour audiobook was fairly slow for what could have been much more interesting considering the subject matter. It seemed like the author really has an axe to grind against the CIA. The stories seemed overly focused on any mistakes the CIA made. The author lost credibility with me when he said he was the one who revealed the presence of the secret nuclear bunker that was to be used by the US Congress in the instance of a nuclear strike.



2. When imagining the deaths of those CIA employees fallen in the line of duty, each symbolized by a star engraved in the Book of Honor at Agency Headquarters, images conjure up of Hollywood-style gunfights between shadowy figures in a European capital or of a heroic American spy being tortured to death by his Russian captors. The reality of the matter, however, is that these fantasies couldn't be further from the truth.
   
   In a stunning feat of investigative journalism, Ted Gup reveals the powerful, untold stories of the lives led by these nameless stars and their less than glorious deaths. Some were victims of terrorist atrocities, others lost in plane wrecks while covertly participating in proxy wars, and one was even left to rot away in a Chinese prison for almost two decades. What is most surprising, however, is that so many of these deaths were due to simple accidents and nothing more.
   
   Gup also tells the stories of those family members left behind, of those grieving spouses, parents, and siblings who were often told fairy tales about their relative's death. In most cases, the CIA publicly disavowed all knowledge of their existence, and family members were left to mourn in silence.
   
   This book serves as a somber reminder of the risks involved with intelligence work overseas, and how those affiliated with the security services must accept the possibility of being "left out in the cold" should the public reputation of their country be put on the line as a result of their actions.
   
   On a side note, Ted Gup brags about previously uncovering "extremely sensitive" government secrets and publishing them in the Washington Post, specifically, that of a "top secret government installation... [where] Congress was to go as a kind of government-in-exile in the event of an impending nuclear war." The last time I checked, jeopardizing national security was a treasonous act, and I therefore see no reason why he should feel proud to have damaged our nation's ability to defend itself. While I fully understand and support Gup's argument about combating unnecessary government secrecy, there must be limits about what can and cannot be revealed (like conservative columnist Robert Novak's politically motivated publishing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame's name in a major US newspaper).
   
   All in all, this is definitely a book to be examined and kept in any quality collection of literature dealing with intelligence history. Well worth the read.



3. The problem is that this book is biting off more than it can chew. (There also happen to be at least a couple of factual errors in it, though that may not be the fault of the author, I wonder about some of his sourcing.) Gup is trying to give us real insight into the lives of these fine folks who died in the service of their country and the world.
   
   But, try as he does, he is missing critical context around many of the stories. The context is key to filling out what ends up otherwise as flat. The author's bias seems to be towards enlightening the world about convert operations - as if that in itself is a higher good. Unfortunately, while I must admit that at times the "government" paints with a broad brush when it "secretizes" things, nearly everything that has to do with clandestine service needs to be kept in the dark.
   
   The fact is, that these men understood the "deal". They volunteered. They were heroes because they went willingly to do harder work than most people can imagine because they believed in it. They understood they might "win a goald star". They knew what it meant to win a medal only to have it stored it in a box at HQ.
   
   But they didn't give a damn about the kind of recognition Gup wants to give them. Is it hard on the families? You're damn right it is. That's why the families are true heroes as well - sacrificing so much for something bigger than themselves. But that is also besides the point.
   
   The context is where it's at. Tell the story of each of these people by explaining what THEY understood about the life and death of the geopolitics in which they operated - and WHY they chose to operate in it, Guppy, and maybe YOU'LL earn another star.
   
   By the way, both the Agency and a reviewer got the quote out of context: It does say, "Know ye the truth and the truth shall set you free" but what follows is, "I am the way and the Truth and the life. Whoever believes in me shall not die but shall have eternal life." It is a quote from Mathew's Gospel. The truth is always more complex than it may seem.



4. By far the best book that I have every read. Ted Gup does an excellent job of painting the picture of the lifestyle and dedication of the people that worked with or for the CIA.
   Within the book, he tells various accounts of those that sacrificed all for love of the country and not recognition or money.



5. As much information as this book provides, it only scratches the surface. We lost my Uncle in Angola in 1989...he was close enough in age to me to be like an older brother. As heart-wrenching as his untimely, unwarranted death was for our family, it was compounded by the secrecy surrounding the crash (even with other family members in the Agency, it was a nightmare to piece together any semblance of the truth regarding what happened, even over a decade after it happened). While we are well-aware, and totally respect and understand the imperative to maintain control over the flow of information to protect other operatives on current missions, surely there is a way to give the family more truthful, accurate information specific to their loved one, without risking others or leaving us to imagine even more horrifying scenarios, especially after the sacrifice these men and women make. Most Americans have no idea of the sacrifices being made by these agents and their families every day, and if they are killed in the line of duty, their funerals usually can't even feature appropriate honors due to the need for secrecy, so you have even less closure because you are left to grieve, but also expected to maintain a fictional story regarding the death. Anyway...I hope this book will give people a little insight into some of the sacrifices made on their behalf every day without their knowledge. I know many people think this sort of thing doesn't really go on at this or other agencies, but they need to understand just how much they don't understand about everything that goes into making their world as safe as it is (though it doesn't always seem so safe, they should realize how much worse it could be).

No comments about Following the Inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi.

5 comments about Quivers : A Life/Cassettes.

1. this book was incredible for me to read and really changed my life. i related to so manyu of the things that Robin went through even though i am neither female, black or in her age group. Robin is an extremely intelligent woman who overcame a lot of BS to get to where she is. i highly reccomend this book.



2. After hearing Howard Stern play a few snippets from the audiobook edition of co-host Robin Quiver's autobiography on his radio show a little while back, I knew I hadda give the whole shebang a listen. When I finally did take a listen, I was a bit bummed by Robin's unusually unemotional reading of her life's story. Fortunately, the harrowing ordeals and trials she went through in life-- from coping with parental abuse and neglect as a kid, to toughing out a nightmarish stint in the U.S. Air Force, to an enlightening membership in a cult-like outfit, to a rarely-ever-dull working relationship with the man who would be the King of All Media, to battles of will against insufferable coworkers-- were quite compelling, and for the most part took my mind off of her less-than-rousing recitations.
   
   But even though I received a fair amount of enjoyment listening to this audio presentation, I think Robin missed a golden opportunity to make this into one of the funniest audiobooks of all time! I can just see it: Jackie Martling does the reading in his "snooty royalty Robin" voice (along with his "Kingfish" impression as Robin's ham-handed dad), while Fred Norris works the goofy sound effects carts and plays the "Robin's News" theme at just the right moments. Tell me that wouldn't have been a hoot...
   
   `Late



3. I read this book a few years ago and it has stuck with me ever since.
   
   Truth be told, I was only interested in Robin Quivers because she was on Howard Stern's show. She was entertaining in her own right but I was a bit annoyed at her constant agreeing with him (or what I thought was that. If these critics bothered listening to Howard's show, they'd know that she agreed with him about half the time - if that!) and by that laugh.
   
   BUT after reading her autobiography, I came to like her just as much as Howard and developed much respect for her work ethic and her determination to overcome huge obstacles.
   
   Unlike *some* celebrities, who just about make a living from the fact that they were molested as a child, Robin dealt with it and moved on. She proved time and again on Howard's radio show (as well as on TV and the few videos that Howard made over the years) that she could have people joke about it and she took the teasing like a champ.
   
   Robin's and Howard's paths zigzagged towards each other and they've been inseparable ever since. (And, according to her, she was tricked into the military and when she wanted to get out of it, she realized she couldn't - not without being dishonorably discharged. It's the only reason why she served.)
   
   Robin fought against some pretty bad odds, got her priorities straight and has been on the right track ever since.



4. Forget the website advertising with Negative ratings.
   If you are interested in the show, this is an interesting book.



5. I am a big Howard Stern fan and I just had to read this book. I found it to be enjoyable in the begining (Robin's early life), but I got bored about three quarters way through. The book is written by her, so we miss some outside views on how she really is in her life outside of the studio.
   I found the book a little self serving and you get the impression she thinks very highly of herself.
   I would recommend the book if you get it for a good price on the used self.

1 comments about Aristotle: Greece 384-322 B.C. (Audio Classics Series).

1. This audiobook provides a good introduction for 2.5 hours of a reader's time. However, with this much time one can only touch Aristotle. Too short. A proper basic introduction would have needed, at bare minimum, three to four times the time of this tape.

5 comments about Peter the Great- Part 1.

1. Massie's biography of Peter, the Czar of Russia is unquestionably author's best book.
   
   For nearly quarter of a century Peter strode upon his nation like a colossus.Though tyrannical and cruel Peter unlike other Russian contemporaries was broad-minded and had progressive outlook toward life.Russian Czar was dynamic had unbridled curiosity and insatiable thirst for knowledge.
   
   Old Muscovy state ,as author rightly puts it, was conservative,xenophobic rigidly adhering to antiquated ways.Interacting with foreigners in Muscovy's German suburb Peter realised how backward his nation really was.A fact which prompted him to undertake 'Great Embassy' to the West.Peter strove to modernise Russia particularly its armed forces incorporating latest in western technology.There was hardly a sphere of human endeavour in that nation which lay untouched by Peter's reforming zeal. Czar can rightly be dubbed the architect of modern Russia.
   
   Czar's love for war,soldiering ,sea,ships,navigation lends colour to this biography.Big events of his life was Great northern War and founding of the city of St. Petersburg along the banks of river neva.In the former case, Peter wanted to make Russia a maritime power .this was not possible as long as Russia had no natural access to sea.In the south ,Tartars blocked Russia's route to sea and in the north Swedes controlled the Baltic coast.Peter's determination to break the stranglehold led to war with King Charles XII of Sweden.
   
   The book is also a brilliant sweep of late 17th and early 18th century history.Author narrates Streltsy revolt which precede peter's accession to power,the reign of King Louis XIV of Bourbon dynasty,splendid court life of French nobility. Religious strife ,dynastic quarrels leading to wars of succession,rise of Holland, growth of Ottoman power and Glorious revolution in England.Hence I deem this book an essential reading for History buffs.
   
   My only grudge is bibliography which looks inadequate considering the scale of research undertaken by the author for its production.Research notes not very impressive .However footnotes adequately compensates for this lacuna.
   
   Book carries good quality maps especially on Battle of Poltava. Reader is easily able to follow the ebb and flow of the battle ; different manoeuvres practised by Swedish and Russian infantry and cavalry units.
   
   On the whole,Massie has done an excellent job.



2. i THINK PETER MASSIE's biography on Peter tue Great is a classic book. You read it more as a novel than an historical biography. I highgly recommend it for people interest in history. Peter the Great is an icon of Russian and Universal history, with a stunnig personality, with very dark and very positive sides. It is a most for people who want to understand russian history.



3. In short, I am an amateur historian of Russian history and found this biography to be very detailed, thoroughly researched biograaphy while at the same time reading as a top notch novel. I can't recommend it more. If you are interested in the man, this transitional period in Russian history or are after a great read, you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!



4. Massie's work of Russian history is one of the fines biographies I have ever read. It keeps interest start to finish. It never gets boring at all, and that is important since the book is over 800 pages! Massie delves into the experience that made the man who is Tsar Peter The Great, yet at no time does it ever let down. It is exciting, readable, and very human. I enjoy Massie's book, and I intend to read more of his works



5. I teach history and have read a lot of books. This is the best history book I have ever read. Massie does such an amazing job at bringing the reading into the age. Peter was a fascinating man. Massie makes you understand what made him also great.

5 comments about Night of Many Dreams.

1. I was recommended to this book by a friend, and before that, I had never even heard of the author. The plot wasn't intricate nor breathtaking, nor is it the psychological workings of the characters violently stirring. This story of Emma and the years of her childhood to adulthood set with the scenes of boisterous Hong Kong, friendly Macao, and abroad in San Francisco could only be depicted with a style of such grace and candor. Whenever I feel like a rest from the rush of this world, I would pick up another book by Tsukiyama and allow the lightness of her beautiful writing life me up.
   



2. I approached this novel after relishing Tsukeyama's "Women of the Silk" and "The Samurai Garden". After two such masterpieces, I was half-expecting a waning ability to keep fresh story ideas and a slip into banal immigrant themes. As with her other works, I found strikingly-moving interactions between characters and a fluidity which draws one into the scenic location changes of the individuals in the story.
   One of Tsukeyama's talents lies in her subtle ability to introduce character traits through tight dialogue and her resistance to pepper the discourses with Asian-sounding metaphors and references. By using the latter sparsely, she paints a more realistic San Francisco, Macao, and Hong Kong, three cities seeking modernity against the pull of traditionalism and sentimentality. I enjoy her choice of time and places, depicting a family's progression over a period which spans several decades beginning with WWII-the most volatile and growth-inspired decades of the Pacific Rim.
   Through each of her tales, I imagine Tsukeyama talking to procurement agents with negotiations on upcoming screen adaptations. If not done yet, perhaps she might convince an Asian production company to supervise such films, for they call for more subtle and engaging cinematography than is generally found in blockbuster films.
   I can imagine how the story might read if translated into Chinese for an Asian readership. With her formulas and style, Tsukeyama shall continue to breathe beauty into her character-driven stories. Although I read it alone over a Chinese dinner at a restaurant on San Bruno Avenue, it beckons to be shared with another as a corn-cob-piped storyteller might. Try reading this book aloud to a friend, even in English--you will understand what I mean.
   I highly recommend this book.



3. I found this book in a hospital waiting room recently while waiting for a family member receiving a treatment. After about three pages, I was hooked and conned a nurse into letting me borrow it from the hospital.
   
   Overall, the book was well written, interesting, and informative. If it is historically accurate, I learned some things.
   
   One thing that I didn't like about this book was that it jumped around so much. For instance, in one scene, Emma and Jack have their first date and in the next, they are married with a two-year-old child.
   
   I didn't like that the male characters weren't really developed. Hing is always off in another country for work. Joseph's a letch. Chin is elusive. You learn nothing of Wilson's life outside of the Rec Center. Jack is developed pretty well, but then is axed at the end. I knew it was coming, but found it completely unnecessary to kill off Jack's character. That was just wrong.
   
   I found it odd that Joan and Emma have English names when no one else does (in Hong Kong) except for Joseph.
   
   I like Emma's and Joan's characters. Joan is depicted as a strong, stubborn person who can succeed at anything she desires. However, I didn't like it and found it strange that such a strong character was reduced to premarital sex with her director.
   
   That was a really unusual scene. Here's a young woman going into her house after work and her boyfriend drives up saying he needs to speak with her. So, they drive off to his apartment, which seemed like an odd place just to go to "talk." Along the way she thinks that whatever happens, she has no control over. Huh? This is a strong woman, who once fought off an armed soldier and she thinks she has no control over a chat with her boyfriend? That didn't make any sense.
   
   At his apartment, he's so embarrassed about his messy bedroom, that he closes the door. Then, he just picks her up out of the blue mid-discussion, carts her off into the embarrassingly messy bedroom, undresses her, and does the deed without her saying or doing anything. Just bizarre.
   
   Overall, I really liked the book, but would have liked some characters and relationships developed better and to not end when it did.



4. My book club selected this book because Tsukiyama is one of our favorite authors. Compared to her other novels like Samurai's Garden, Language of Threads and Women of the Silk, Tsukiyama's Night of Many Dreams does not have a compelling story line - mildly interesting, but not a page-turner. It's defintiley not one of her best efforts. Ironically, the title seems to have nothing to do with the tale, except that reading the book might make you snooze.



5. NIGHT OF MANY DREAMS by Gail Tsukiyama
   January 21, 2008
   
   Rating 3.5/5 stars
   
   I think this is the third Tsukiyama book I've read and so far the least favorite. It is the story of a Chinese family living in Hong Kong before the start of W.W.II and the communist takeover of China. The story is written from various viewpoints - Emma, the youngest sister who is studious and bright; Joan, the older sister, who only wants to be an actress; and Auntie Go, their mother's sister who runs a knitting factory and never married.
   
   What I found lacking in this novel was any clear direction of where the story should be going, except that of a family's story from 1940 through 1965. The reader will watch the two girls grow up in Hong Kong, will learn about the family history, in particular that of Auntie Go but also that of the girls' parents. I think the highlight of the story were the years during W.W.II, when the Japanese took over Hong Kong and the Chinese and British subjects that remained in Hong Kong lived in fear. The writing during this part of the book felt more solid, and I actually felt something for the characters at this point. What I also enjoyed about the story were the details of their lives, from living with loyal servants, to their years in Macao where they waited out the war years in safety.
   
   I think my opinions of this book will probably be in the minority, but I really was looking forward to a much better written book. There was definitely something lacking, and while I enjoyed the story in general, I didn't connect with any of the characters, except possibly Auntie Go. This wont' stop me from continuing to read Tsukiyama's books, however. NIGHT OF MANY DREAMS gets a marginal recommendation.

5 comments about Wisdomkeepers: Meetings With Native American Spiritual Elders/ Cassettes.

1. The book is so well done, but the talking book is far better. You enter the jounery with them. You hear the wisdom of the spirtiually elders and long with the creaking of the doors and beatiful pow-wow/drumming in the background. You get a great opportunity to hear the calling of the eagle out of the sky at wounded knee that was prayered out of the sky by Frank Fools Crow. The best part that makes me laugh is when Steve Wall and Harvey Arden go and see one of the elders. Steve doesn't have a chance to go into his spell when the elder tells them I know why you are here you lost your orginial instructations. Also when they go and see charlie Knight and he asks them each time when Ya Leavein.



2. Very informative, Well done and a listening pleasure...Something you can listen to over again and pickup something new each time....



3. She:Kon (Sago)(Hello) To all who read this and hope you are all well. I personally know some of the Wisdom Keepers, Elders whose words are in this book and know them to be of good mind and person. I am Mohawk and Odawa and I come from upstate New York near some of the Reservations and I fully recommend this book for any person who needs to come back to the reality of the living world around them and bring them back to the basic relation between humankind and all the life that is on this earth and surrounds us in the cosmos.



4. I have had the pleasure of knowing both Harvey Arden and Steve Wall for many years now. Their books have touched the heart of many people around the world. This book is one of their best ever! The photos and stories/histories of the Wisdomkeepers within awaken your senses in a profound way. Journey with these two former National Geographic icons and learn with them, through them, and find what you've been looking for - an understanding of what it is to be human, through the journey of these amazing purveyors of hope, wisdom and truth.



5. If you are interested in Native American history and culture, this book (like all of Arden's books) is a great place to provide insight. Wisdom is the key point in this work as well as his others. A fantastic piece and one that will grab your heart, mind, and soul.

No comments about Colin Powell: It Can Be Done (High Five Reading).

2 comments about Will Smith: The Funky, Funny, and Confident Fresh Prince (High Five Reading).

1. I am a huge fan of Will Smith, and I have read many books about his life. This book, however, inspired me to bring Will Smith to our children. Well-written, accurate, and fun, this book really entertains as well as informs.

   I look forward to seeing more of Embacher's work.




2. Excellent research and writing by Mr. Embacher have provided an exceptional book which is both an easy read and informative. As a children's book it is impeccable because it provides inspiration to youthful readers and allows them to learn new words using the footnotes on each page. As a biography, this book is a quick look at the incredible life of Will Smith, and while it only focuses on a few events, it gives an entire view of his life and how hard he has worked to achieve success. I can't wait to see more films and rap albums from Will Smith; and more book from Eric Embacher.