1 comments about Reborn Overseas : Identity Building in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

1. Written by Trent Sands, this books can at best serve as a primer for establishing identity in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. It falls far short of being useful for the actual acts which it portrays to be designed. It does give some overview information on the process, and that alone is useful. However, the real identity seaker is going to find many blocks to using the methods presecribed. Use it as a starter, not as a guide.

No comments about The Great Shakespeare Fraud: The Strange, True Story of William-Henry Ireland.

No comments about The Poet and the Murderer.

No comments about Cultures of Forgery: Making Nations, Making Selves (Culturework: a Bookseries from the Center for Literacy and Cultural Studies at Harvard).

5 comments about The Poet and the Murderer: A True Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery.

1. The only reason I think this book warrants two stars instead of one is because at least Worrall had the sense to recognize a story rich with possibilities. His "Wikipedia" version, though, is disappointing. Worrall spends way too much time practicing cheap psychology, repeating cheesy pet phrases (ex. "Hofmann was beginning to sense the thin line separating reality from illusion"), and way too little time on the key elements of the tale. There are significant connections to be made from this intersection of poetry, Mormonism, and murder!! But he DOES NOT make them. It's still a fun read, but ultimately disappointing. I really wish someone with more scholarly dedication had written this book - it should have been about 500 pages long and intensively researched, and NOT dumbed down for the reader. See "Death of Innocents" for a good example of what true-crime nonfiction can be.



2. Simon Worral is clearly an accomplished writer and his book, The Poet and the Murderer, demonstrates that skill. It's a fascinating story about a forger who earns a good living faking historical documents, mainly those that could be important to the Mormon Church. The reader learns a great deal about how document forgery is accomplished, about how little concern the nation's major auction houses demonstrate for the validity of what they put on the block, and about the roots of Mormonism.
   
   The only problem with the book is that the story wanders around in interesting but not necessarily riveting detail --- detail that sometimes loses sight of the story line. What was auctioned off as a poem of Emily Dickinson frames the story in an opening that zeros in on the purchaser, Daniel Lombardo, then the curator of special collections for the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts, the center of Dickinson lore.
   
   The character who turns out to be a forger and murderer, Mark Hoffman, fails to come alive in the sense one can identify with him, or pity him or even be truly appalled by him. Raised a Mormon and obsessed by the church, he is portrayed as mechanical man. If his crime had been foreshadowed in greater detail, with a more sympathetic portrayal of the victims, I think the story would have held more of my attention.
   
   But it is wrong to be too critical of Worral's work, which is an easy read. I just wanted more. That is not a bad way to leave a reader, but it does seem that more might have been available to Worral, more of what I wanted to know about Lombardo as well as Hoffman's victims. Finally I'd like to have footnotes on Worral's detailed analysis of the early years of Mormonism, or at least some citations of his secondary sources, so I could easily follow up where my interest was stimulated by this book.



3. This one starts out a bit slow and then speeds up with great exposition about technique, method, motive - leading to grisly murders and a bizarre central character. Dry wit style takes you into the backsludge of a flimsy industry full of fakes. A great read. It is about way more than Mormons or the literal crimes. And I think Aunt Emily is a vastly, grossly overestimated , third rate poet. From Mass, she gets itellectual praise. If she were from Nashville, people would just laugh. But the story is about human nature and greed on the base level, right in polite society. Great writing, page turner, one night read. Would be a great airplane book. Five stars in spite of the slow, polite start and the attempt to make Aunt Emily appear a worthy poet. Got it from library, read it and bought two for gifts from Amazon vendors. Not for the kids.



4. This book goes beyond the usual anti-Mormon quasi-historical documentary/docudrama. As Mormon history is often documented despite unsure, poorly substantiated, and conflicting facts, this book is convincing based on the writer's sharp research and study of sciences such as forgery, art dealing, and the New England rural lifestyle. I could barely put it down.



5. I found it be a terrific book, well written, flowing, and plenty of information about forgeries and past histories. If nothing else, I discovered plenty of information on Emily, her family, and the area and climate around her home. There's always been plenty of information about Mormonism, and it's to the individual ot make up his/her mind about the religious aspects. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to others.

4 comments about Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic.

1. Ignorance is not bliss - it only gives more time for identity thieves to ruin your life. I already own a shredder, to indulge my paranoia of having credit card applications and other personal information easily available to those with sinister intentions. This book confirms the need for the paranoia, but also points out how little control I have over "keeping" my own identity. This is a page-turner, flavored with stories of real people who have experienced identity theft, making it a very interesting read. This issue is huge, much more than someone trying to run up some charges on a credit card I have in my wallet. And what I found particularly shocking was how unwilling different institutions are to come up with solutions.



2. This book is all about a problem that simply didn't exist only a few years ago. Now it's become the fastest growing white collar crime in America. It strikes in every community from the smallest to the largest. The crime is profitable, nearly unpreventable, and hardly ever prosecuted (by one estimate only one out of every 700 incidents). It's the down side of the information super highway. Getting a bit of information about a person is easy, and then you can get a bit more. Soon you can buy a car in his name, get credit cards in his name, like the TV commercial, you're on the beach, your credit cards are in the airplane flying by.
   
   The book says, rightfully I believe, that you are basically on your own. The police don't seem to care, the credit card companies write off the loss and go on about their business. Just don't you try to ever use your credit again.
   
   The author is a leading expert on the subject, as well as being a senior writer at MSNBC. He knows how to write and he knows his subject, what more can you ask.



3. To begin with, I was terribly distracted by all the typographical/spelling and editing errors that ran rampant in this book. Why would anyone put a book out for sale that hasn't been proofread?
   
   But most of all, this book covers an extremely important subject, one of potential interest to just about everyone, and yet it was so shallow. I have been better informed about identity theft, what it is, what is being done about it, and what we can do if we are targeted as victims in local newspapers and in magazine articles. There was no discussion of many very common methods of identity theft, including observation of victims as they enter their ATM or telephone pin numbers and codes, inadvertantly leaving passwords and usernames on public computers, giving credit card numbers to untrustworthy websites, using credit cards in untrustworthy restaurants and stores, writing passwords in places others can easily access, being victimized by phishing schemes, etc. Each of these and many more are methods of identity theft easily avoided yet this book doesn't mention them.
   
   Even the anecdotes left me hanging for more detail, more of what happened and why. Instead, they rambled on disconnectedly and often had no beginnings nor conclusions. The organization of the book was sub-par, which accounted for much unnecessary repetition of minor details. This book simply screams for a better editor.



4. Much has been written about identity theft, and what people have to go through to clear their credit reports. But what I had never given much thought to is that identity theft goes much beyond stealing identities for financial gain. In fact, what is much more difficult to deal with is when your identity is stolen and used by criminals in general. Try to clear a supposed criminal record. And if you are in the United States, try to do that if you are black or Hispanic. That is just part of the excellent discussions you will find in Bob Sullivan's Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic (August 2004, John Wiley & Sons, 314 Pages, ISBN 0471648108).
   
   A journalist by training, Sullivan presents an easy to read, if unsettling, narrative talking about different aspects of identity theft that do not often get discussed. Some of the material is material found in magazines and other journals, but the strength of this book is that it beings many different pieces into one place. Sullivan starts out by showing that no one is immune to identity theft, whether it be a CEO or even Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. He goes into some detail explaining who was taken advantage of and how, though he does not offer solutions for the problems.
   
   But this does not mean he is afraid to take on the real villains in identity theft, the credit card companies and retailers who push easy credit every chance they get. Sullivan makes the excellent point that the availability of easy credit is actually better for the bad guys than those who do the right thing. He also does not shy away from calling out the credit reporting agencies and their role in this problem. Why should they be charging people for "Credit report watches", when they helped create the problem? It was fascinating from a historical perspective to read how the three major credit reporting companies came to be. It is a heck of a trivia question to ask how a railroad fits into the scheme of things.
   
   You will, or at least should, find yourself challenged by the reality that the race factor plays in how victims are treated. Like it or not, we live in two Americas as clearly shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Discussions of this topic in the book really offer a time for reflection and thought in the area of identity theft.
   
   One should not expect this book to answer every possible question about identity theft, but should be considered as part of a larger library on data privacy and identity theft. It provides a human perspective that other titles on the subject often lack.
   
   Who Should Read This Book?
   
   This book, while not a "must read" would be of interest to people who want to explore more of the human side of identity theft and would like some additional historical/political perspective.
   
   The Scorecard
   
   Birdie on an average Par 4

No comments about Stealing the Scream: The Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece.

5 comments about A Gathering of Saints: A True Story of Money, Murder and Deceit.

1. I am a lover of suspense books but I don't read them because when I do, I feel guilty, like it's a waste of time. I also love to study religion. When you mix the 2 together, you have an excellent book.
   Have you ever read a book that you speed read because it's so exciting yet at the same time, you try to read it as slow as possible because you don't want the book to end. This is that kind of book.
   Have you ever read a book that immediatly after you read it, you know for a fact that you will read it a few more times...this is that kind of book.
   Anyone interested in mormonism, or religion in general will love this book. (well maybe not mormons). Anyone who just loves a good page turner, will love this book.
   If the author of this book is reading this review, please turn this book intoa movie. I have read probably close to a thousand books, I'm sure. A book has to be real good to get on my top ten list.
   religion enthusiasts, this is the most exciting religious lesson you will get. take advantage of it. Oh by the way, another good book about mormonism is housewife to heretic by sonia johnson.



2. This book is based on the murderous actions of Mark Hoffman, and in this regard is fairly accurate. However, when it comes to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), the Church's founding prophet Joseph Smith, and current Church leaders and doctrine, this book is slanted, twisted and just plain wrong. Its inaccuracies cause the book to end up being more fiction than fact. If you are really interested in learning the truth about the Mormon religion you should read The Book of Mormon, visit with some missionaries, and pray to know the truth. Reading this book is not the answer unless you wish to be misinformed.



3. Read The Mormon Murders: A True Story of Greed, Forgery, Deceit, and Death, by Naifeh. A well told, thoroughly researched book covering both Mark Hoffman as well as a study of the foundations of Mormonism. When I read reviews of books covering this story that say the treatment of the history or Mormonism is innacurate and to read the Book of Mormon for the truth, I have to laugh. The strange history and early beliefs of the Mormon religion are well known to be at best odd, or at worst cultish. Mark Hoffman, although a horrible murderer, scared the heck out of the LDS church hierarchy by forging documents from their dubious past.



4. This book, detailing the history of the Mark Hoffman case is very solidly researched. It does present, I believe, the history of Mormonism and the Hoffman case in a relatively balanced fashion without the sensationalism of the Naifeh book.

   To all those who wish to learn more of the "Tales of Hoffman", I can't reccommend this book enough.




5. This book should be read in conjunction with Under the Banner of Heaven : A Story of Violent Faith
   by Jon Krakauer. This book is a spell-binding story of an accomplished forger, Mark Hoffman, who turned to murder to cover his crimes. Hoffman even tells exactly how he was technically able to accomplish his feats. Lindsey did excellent reporting on this incredible story. But the bigger story is how the official LDS Church was willing to buy material from Hoffman that they thought to be true for the precise purpose of hiding it from public scrutiny. This willingness of high church officials to buy and hide information perceived to be true that might present a negative image of the LDS Church from both church and non-church members is amazing to me.

No comments about Deception and Detection in Eighteenth-Century Britain.

No comments about Fakers, Forgers & Phoneys: Famous Scams and Scamps.