Biography Books > S Biography Books > R

Advantages: Introductory essay, clear and concise, beautiful illustrations
Disadvantages: None

...the poet and historian, Robert Southey in 1813. It has been revived and edited by Richard Holmes in a series of biographical books, Flamingo Classic Biographies series, released by HarperCollins on 17th September 2001. The book retails for £7.99. I attended a talk given by Richard Holmes promoting this set of short books (The Life of Nelson is just 300 pages) whilst at the Hay Festival this year. For the Talk, Holmes focused on another biography, ...
...At the time when Southey wrote Nelson’s biography, he was the Poet Laureate. The Life of Nelson was acclaimed as his greatest prose work. Southey meticulously researched his subject to avoid making any technical mistakes. The book is beautifully illustrated with 12 glossy prints of paints including the Battles of The Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar and the Death of Nelson. The front cover is a portrait of Nelson by Hopwood. Richard Holmes embarked ... Read review

Advantages: you dont have to read to understand his carrer
Disadvantages: nothing

today i will be reviewing shane warnes official illustrated carrer. the book is about the amazing and eventful carrer pictures taking you it also has him as a baby right through until he is a adult from his first ball he ever bowled to this day each picture has captions of what the picture is about. this book is the sort of thing that you can sit down and read time after time and never get bord. after all shane warnes carrer was anything but ...
...back on the times when shane warne was at his best this book provides great infomation about his amazing carrer if you can get this book under £15.00 then you have got an excellant bargin my opinion love this book such a good book always worth looking at thanks for reading this review ... Read review

Advantages: Well-rounded, objective picture of the man and his times
Disadvantages: Lacks index

Ian Dury was a complete one-off. Stricken with polio in childhood, born in middle-class Harrow but determined to shake off such origins to the extent of acquiring a real Cockney accent, he became an art school rebel whose early pub-rock experiences, as front man of Kilburn & the High Roads, led to one frustrating move after another. But he came out smiling, briefly, with the music sea change that was punk and new wave from the end of 1976 onwards ...
...to take Britain by the scruff of the neck, hitting the Top 10 with "What A Waste" and going all the way to No. 1 with "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick". After that it went pear-shaped, and a short career in films and associated avenues beckoned, before he started working for children's and cancer charities, and returning to the music scene as a much-beloved elder statesman of rock. Few will forget those moving last appearances on record and TV with ... Read review

Advantages: Important, moving, well written
Disadvantages: Disturbing at points.

As a student of the Rwandan genocide, this book was one of my first ports of call when researching my dissertation. This is perhaps one of the most honest and complete accounts of those fateful 100 days in April 1994, in which almost a million men, women and children were slaughtered, written by the commander of UNAMIR (the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda). It is a stunning indictment of Western organisations and governments who failed to act to ...
...not shy away from the details of the horror of the war, and as such is at some points a highly disturbing read, but one which I believe everyone should endeavour to undertake. The details that Dallaire provides about his early life help to explain some of his actions during the genocide, and the effects that his placement in Rwanda have on his family are deeply distressing, although the plight of the Rwandans is always at the forefront of his narrative. ... Read review

Advantages: Some insight about Robbie is given
Disadvantages: Not the biography it is portrayed as being

Could not wait to read this book when I bought it unfortunately I was not too impressed. The book says that it will give an insight into the real Robbie and tell the truth about his love, and his drug and alcohol addictions. This is really not the case. The book is written in the words of Mark McCrum who accompanies Robbie and his entourage on tour. We learn all about the hard work that is involved in the making of his shows and the pressure he ...
...get introduced to his few close friends/work party and hear about their antics on tour and how they miss the old Robbie before he stopped the drugs and alcohol abuse but thats pretty much all. It does tell of the after show antics of this so called rocker which might suprise you all as it is not the wild parties as you would expect but more like a game of uno sitting around a big table. I have the paper back edition of this book which is published ... Read review