Joey Doll Stanford, CA, USA

Well written and engaging, I had only a vague knowledge of Thurgood Marshall and the history of the NAACP before and am very glad that I read this book. Considering his achievements and their enormous impact on equality on the US, I'm a little shocked by his nonexistent presence in popular culture. Highly recommended.

A very interesting read. Extremely emotional. Drove home the fact that the soldiers in the military have a very, very hard life (and death) and had many of the same doubts and disagreements as the rest of us with the policy of their bosses who had a lot to gain (in any number of ways) from the invasion of Iraq. The first 100 pages weren't as engaging as the rest because a large cast is introduced in quick succession, but I finished the rest of the book in just a few sittings.

Well written and very highly recommended. However, I don't think that the Boeing argument is even necessary and that Dawkins plays it up a bit much. The pure absurdity of theology, the absolute lack of evidence, and the fact that when confronted by a similarly insane belief in another culture we would rule it out (e.g. cargo cults) is more than enough.

A very good read. It's an autobiography, which tend to paint the writer in generous terms, but I think that this book paints an accurate and likable picture of Craig Venter for a few reasons. First, his childhood immediately grabs your attention, especially all of the what-ifs. Second, his actions in adulthood back up the motives that he writes about, and he comes off as someone who pursued gene sequencing because of its potential and went private because his efforts at the NIH were seen as too risky.

I read this book while in the middle of 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand. The day before I started reading 'A Life Decoded', my impression of 'Atlas Shrugged' was that it was way over the top with it's simplified view of the world as good and evil, and that new technology isn't demonized to such an extent. 'A Life Decoded' illustrated an individual striking out on their own to pursue something that nobody else believed in and actually succeeded, which fit very nicely. Rand books are still over the top and I don't agree with her most of the time, but this book nicely complements 'Atlas Shrugged'.

This book was entertaining at times, but the questions I kept coming back to in my mind was, "why am I reading this book again?"? The book is similar to what you'd get if you published a bunch of twitter posts and connected them with proper sentences. You'll hear about his toothaches, the girl who watches him from her bedroom window, the string of jobs he has held and random news clippings related to the Netherlands.

Again, I laughed out loud a dozen times or so but it wasn't gripping and unless you have absolutely nothing else to read and are in Amsterdam (like we were), I wouldn't recommend this book. If you're interested in finding out what it's like to live in Amsterdam, there are probably better books out there because "My 'Dam Life" focuses mostly on the trials and tribulations of the author.