Biography Books > T Biography Books > C

Advantages: Good account of two men conquering the elements
Disadvantages: May be of limited interest if you weren't aware of the events at the time

For most sane people the prospect of spending up to 2 months at sea, in a vessel only 25ft in length, with someone you barely know, would be the last thing that they would consider. However, not everyone is like this and this was the challenge accepted by double Olympic champion James Cracknell and TV presenter Ben Fogle. This book is the account of their voyage and a thoroughly interesting read. I first became aware of the Atlantic Rowing Race ...
...flyer inviting me to enter the challenge. I did consider it, for a split second, but soon the reality hit and the flyer ended up in the bin. A few months later I was sat at my computer and saw an article saying how the TV presenter Ben Fogle was planning on rowing across the Atlantic Ocean with a yet to be announced partner. I had first become aware of Fogle when he was on the TV program, 'Castaway 2000', possibly the first ever reality TV show, ... Read review

Advantages: Mythology and Mysticism, Storyline and Exophoric Cultural Reference
Disadvantages: Confusing and Incoherent, Dull and Dubious, Culture Shock, Focuses on the Trivial

The Eagle is an ineffable and terrifying force beyond comprehension. It lives on the awareness' of those who die, snuffing them out like candles. The Eagle's Gift however, is the ability to retain awareness beyond death. Not the ability to live forever, for that is impossible, but the ability to keep a part of your "self". This can only be accomplished through "the art of sorcery" which is made up of two disciplines ("stalking" and "dreaming"). If ...
...of "Warrior" can enter the third state of consciousness "intent" then you can "dart past the Eagle and be free". And perhaps more importantly, never be eaten. I have no idea how. The book didn't say... So, are you still all with me? If yes, good! That's about as simple as it gets. If no, oh dear! Perhaps you would be better off with another less confusing and irritating book. So just to bring us all up to speed then, The Eagle's Gift is the sixth ... Read review

Advantages: Educational
Disadvantages: Heartbreaking

“The Girl in the Picture” is the story behind the subject of one of the Vietnam War’s most shocking images; that of nine year old Kim Phuc, who was badly burned, and was captured on film running naked from her village back on 8 June 1972. the picture itself was shown around the world and won a Pulitzer prize for its cameraman. There were in fact many pictures of this terrible war, but this picture more than any other around the world, made people ...
...Phuc lived in the village of Trang Bang, north of Saigon in South Vietnam in 1972. She was the middle of nine children, born in 1963 to parents Nu and Tung. It was widely reported that she lost two brothers in the napalm attack, although the two boys in question were in fact cousins. Kim’s life was never to be the same again, not only for the injury and the devastation on her country and family, but for the fact that she was an unwilling celebrity, ... Read review

Advantages: Unusual, moving story; loads of dry wit and humor; often thought-provoking, unique ideas; never boring.
Disadvantages: Absolutely none.

...I shouldn't have come, but the trouble with children is that they are not returnable.” --Quentin Crisp, “The Naked Civil Servant” ----------------------------------- With his usual droll wit, Quentin Crisp, that famously eccentric Englishman and resident of New York City, thus described his birth in his wonderfully penned autobiography. So who was this chap Crisp, you ask, and what was he famous for? Well, he might have been the most amusing and ...
...been courage and/or foolishness of the supreme kind for him to do what he did as a young man: he wore makeup, scarves, flamboyant clothes, long, painted nails and colored hair and dared to step daintily out onto the streets of 1930s England, at a time when to admit one's homosexuality, much less to flaunt it, was almost an act of social and physical suicide. This 1968 autobiography, The Naked Civil Servant, covers his life story from his childhood, ... Read review

Advantages: Funny, unusual, interesting format
Disadvantages: Stops just when the fun is starting....sequel, anyone?

...Joanna writes on occasion for the Guardian and various glossies, and Peter writes books with scintillating titles such as 'A white boy in Africa'. They're also a 30 something un marries, childless couple as the book begins. And this book is a diary, written day by day by each of them in turn, of 9 months of their life in the late 90s. Why 9 months? Well maybe the first line of the book can help: JOANNA: The test is negative. There is no pink line ...
...sure I am pregnant. The book is in fact a pregnancy diary, written by the couple as the months progress, but in true contemporary style, it's much more Bridget Jones than What To Expect When You're Expecting. And though the main theme is this new baby, the book incorporates numerous other fun anecdotes from their new American life, even if these all do end up baby themed as a result of the impending arrival. So we hear about how dreadful moving ... Read review