Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother—a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego. Obama opens his story in New York, where he hears that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has died in a car accident. The news triggers a chain of memories as Barack retraces his family’s unusual history: the migration of his mother’s family from small-town Kansas to the Hawaiian islands, the love that develops between his mother and a promising young Kenyan student, a love nurtur...

#Our Father, Who Art in Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name. (2008-11-22) Published in 1995, long before Barack Obama could have even conceived of running for president, this coming-of-age memoir brilliantly reflects the confusion of having mixed race parents and of being a black man in today s America. It also finely tells the story of a boy and then a man and his elusive delusions about his missing father. Finally tracking down his heritage and the truth, through Kansas, then Hawaii, and then Kenya, Obama spins a truthful and authentic tale about losing and then finding himself through his...

#The Seinfeld candidate (2008-11-22) Bill Ayers sure can write a good book. Some great fiction mixed with some nice platitudes that everyone can project on to - like the candidate himself.

#An Insightful and Powerful Book (2008-11-21) Barack Obama has written an insightful and powerful book of self-discovery that shaped him and his father s legacy. Obama s search for the truth about race and faith has revealed the powerful character of this great American leader. This book guides us to a further study of identity, class and race alongside Jeffery Leving s www. ourblackheritage. com.

#Obama, a remarkable generalizer (2008-11-17) I have rarely been so privileged to read a book such as DREAMS OF MY FATHER. Obama reveals his thought processes as he struggled to find his place in the larger sicial fabric. Were that all, this would not be so great a book. But, he describes his maturation in thinking as he interacted and learned from others. And, while personally growng, he was able to empathize with others from virtually all walks of life, to relate to them and to abstract the essence of their needs and being. Finally, he was able to integrate those observations int...

#Get to know Obama (2008-11-17) This man has a truly inspirational and amazing life and history. I devoured the book and came back for more. I ve since recommended it to friends and family who have felt that they don t really know the man. Now that he s been elected, I hope everyone will seek out his books and get to know him a little better and let him touch your life as he s definitely touched mine.

Outrageous, raw, and painfully funny true stories straight from the life of the actor, comedian, and much-loved cast member of The Howard Stern Show—with a foreword by Howard Stern.When Artie Lange joined the permanent cast of The Howard Stern Show in 2001, it was possibly the greatest thing ever to happen in the Stern universe, second only to the show’s move to the wild, uncensored frontier of satellite radio. Lange provided what Stern had yet to find all in the same place: a wit quick enough to keep pace with his own, a pathetic self-image to dwarf his own, a personal history both heartbreaking and hilarious, and an ingrained sense of self-sabotage that continually keeps things interesting. A natural storyteller with a bottomless pit of material, Lange grew up in a close-knit, working-class Italian family in Union, New Jersey, a maniacal Yankees fan who pursued the two things his father said he was cut out for—sports and comedy. Tragically, Artie Lange Sr. never saw the truth i...

#initially funny, then predictable, & poorly edited (2008-11-23) a good editor could have made this a 4-star. there are lots of laugh out loud moments in the book, but the tone wanders all over the place. it wangs around from hilarious incidents well told to look-at-me-i m-totally-out-of-control-&-can t-be-trusted segments to oddly preachy & sentimental segments. halfway through, the weight of the accumulated repetitive-&-therefore-predictable grossness of much of his behavior started to spoil my ability to enjoy the funny moments in that context. i am, BTW, completely unfamilia...

#Respect (2008-11-22) Just wanted to write that this book made me think about the love that I have for my parents and my children. Thanks Artie.

#Too Fat To Write (2008-11-22) Haven t we read similar themed books over the years with regard to celebrities? The Dirt, Heroin Diaries, Slash, Marsha Brady, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, and several other stars/people that have faced addiction and want to share redundant stories with us. As Artie would say. . . Waaaahhhhhhhhhhh. This topic/genre has been played over and over and over and over again. Are we supposed to celebrate a guy that thrives off his own self-destruction? I d rather read a book about Riley Martin and his close encounters with Bohavians, or whatever the F you ...

#ARTIE RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (2008-11-21) As a gay fan of HS, and cast and crew, it was a great pleasure to read what Artie had to say. Artie & family, wish you all well. Patdallas tx

#Artie provides a guide of how to live like a maniac (2008-11-21) Artie Lange, Jr. is clearly mental. He is also lovable, sincere and blatantly honest in his first penned effort. His memoirs provide a Jack Kerouac-like narrative of drugs and more drugs from his early days as a stand up in NYC clubs, to his on-air Stern Show melt down. Artie opens his mental disease completely to his fans - showing the manic swings that can be triggered by nearly anything. This book is his atonement to those he injured, and his praise for those who provided salvation, during his path from tragedy ...

Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same ...

#Left me sad and depressed (2008-11-23) I thought the book was well written and very informative however, it left me feeling depressed and thankful for my life. It doesn t seem that Warren Buffett is really all THAT happy. He has many close friends and family but how close does he let them get? And the jab that is taken at his granddaughter is equally sad. If those children were adopted by Peter they are no longer step children but actual children. Not to mention they were an important part of Peter and Big Susie s life and that should carry some weight. The arrangement of al...

#The SnowBall: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life (2008-11-22) The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of LifeThe book s presentation and bookbinding as supplied was completely unsatisfactory as the pages were unevenly put together in an uneven mess. The content was compiled from over 1000 interviews and although interesting appeared like a documentary with little heart and soul. At times there was extensive detail about family connections without providing details of transactions involved and their intricacy. It did highlight some human frailties in Warren that is com...

#The best soap opera I ve read.... (2008-11-19) This is a very enjoyable book, particularly for those hoping to get a feel for how Buffett has lived his life, over his many years. What it WON T do is go into any practical depth as to how he evaluates an investment decision. High-level generalities, yes, specifics, no. Still, it s a great read. His early (9-13yrs old) business dealings. . . . . his first stab at stock investing. . . . . his first date. . . . . etc. etc. . . . . . on to the lifestyles of the rich and famous existence that he has enjoyed for probably 2 decades now. ...

#the best biography about an investor i ever read!! (2008-11-19) i think this book is really thoughtful, no matter in investment or others. It really got into deeply the greatest investor s life. Also it provides a lot of his opinions about investing. I really enjoyed this book.

#Life of Warren Buffet (2008-11-19) Unlike what many have been hoping for, The Snowball is not a book on what and how of value investing. You won t find detailed breakdowns of the Berkshire Hathaway deals, or the motivation behind them - the deals are discussed in passing, but the focus is always on Warren Buffet himself. The book is a chronological look at the upbringing, the early years, and his consequent rise to the status of Oracle of Omaha . Alice Schroeder provides an in depth look at Warren Buffets family and his immediate circle of friends throughout his life - without a do...

The year was 1957, the month September, and I had just turned eight years old. Dwight Eisenhower was President, but in my life it was the diminutive, intense Sister Mary Lurana who ruled, at least in the third-grade class where I was held captive. For reasons you will soon understand, my parents had remanded me to the penal institution of St. Brigid’s School in Westbury, New York, a cruel and unusual punishment if there ever was one. Already, I had barely survived my first two years at St. Brigid’s because I was, well, a little nitwit. Not satisfied with memorizing the Baltimore Catechism’s fine prose, which featured passages like “God made me to show his goodness and to make me happy with him in heaven,” I was constantly annoying my classmates and, of course, the no-nonsense Sister Lurana. With sixty overactive students in her class, she was understandably short on patience. For survival, she had also become quick on the draw.Then it happened. One day I blurted out some dumb...

#Bold, Fresh and Real O Reilly (2008-11-22) In order to follow the recent presidential election I became serious about watching and listening to Bill on T. V. and radio. He often refers to his parents and the Catholic experiences that shaped who he is today. Bold-Fresh gives futher humorous insight into a fair and balanced, upright, moral, and sometimes obnoxious gentleman. He has great respect for his parents and the nuns who helped him define right from wrong. This book is an enjoyable quick read with lots of laugh-out-loud parts. The emotional softer side of Bill is also rev...

#Still haven t received it! (2008-11-22) I have not received my copy of Bold Fresh. I wrote to the vendor and got no response. I entered a complaint to AMAZON and got no response. My order was placed on October 18. Help!

#This Time It s Personal (2008-11-21) As the book jacket of A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity says, this time it s personal. Bill O Reilly, the man so many folks love to hate (please don t get Barney Frank started), this time around explains how he came to be the man he is. While it is doubtful that his detractors will read the book, those who admire O Reilly, or at the least find him to be entertaining, will probably enjoy this one. Bill O Reilly, born in 1949, seems to have always been a bit of a rebel despite his upbringing by Depression era parents. Many of his core beliefs, suc...

#This book was a bore (2008-11-20) This book did nothing for me. I couldn t get past the first 20 pages! Don t waste your time and money.

#honest,raw as always (2008-11-20) Reminiscent of the past as relates to future. My life similar as well I am sure many of age 44 and over. Changes aren t always great. I always love O Rielly s books

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

#Just Amazing (2008-11-23) One of the most touching books I have read in a long time. It is just amazing how much we can do with a little bit of financial help to these NGO s like CIA. I have decided to become a regular contributor of these noble cause, just because of this book. You have to read it, you will never regret you did.

#Inspiring (2008-11-22) What an inspiring book! This is a great read about what one person can do with a vision and very little resources. His tenacity is incredible. Hooray for Greg Mortenson!

#Would have been a great article (2008-11-19) This is a tale about a remarkable man - unfortunately it is not very well written. Even tho the action takes place in different towns, it is basically the same story over and over. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in building schools for the poor in Pakistan and also as an aid to sleeplessness.

#3 and a half stars (2008-11-19) The story itself was quite amazing but I found it difficult to read at times. I think it could have been much shorter. . . I could not keep all of the people straight about halfway through the book. It must have been difficult to write this book with so many stories to tell but it bordered on boring and tedious at times. It would pick up for a while and then I d be bleary-eyed again a few pages later. I really liked the beginning of the story and felt connected to his mission and promise but then I started to think he was a bit off (good inten...

#No wonder it unanimously gets 5 stars (2008-11-18) Truly one of the most inspirational books I have read in awhile. The beginning of this book is a little slow, focusing on Greg Mortenson s climbing expeditions that eventually leads him to find the people of Korphe, and promising them a school. After coming back to the states and scrounging up funds from philanthropists, Mortenson goes back and builds many schools in various regions through Pakistan/Afghanistan/Waziristan. And the story of his determination and the struggles he goes through are extremely inspirational. There is no o...