Kevin F. reviewed on 9/4/2014 + 211 more book reviews

I hate biographies but loved this book

Friend: you have to read this book about Teddy Roosevelt (TR)!.

Me: Its a biography; I really hate that type of book.

Friend: Read it, its like a fiction book, except its true.

Me: Meh

Friend: read it or Ill make you eat it (this is a real and credible threat).

So I read it

Me: Great book, I loved it, well worth it.

Friend: Told you so.

Here is the deal. My experience with biographies is that they are written by academics who dont know how to tell stories. Heck, most non-fiction is written that way (in my experience) so I avoid it. If all biographies or non-fiction books were like this one, Id be reading them all the time.

I was so wrong on this book! Drama, and suspense and TR getting clobbered by mother nature.

Trigger warnings and tags
Age groups I dont know on this one, Im going to say 12 and up. The book contains nuanced situations and political correctness, where the writer was being nice to people, rather than being fully honest. If you have a good imagination or life experience so you can see though some of the PC talk the book is richer. Im sure it would be a good read for most ages. In particular it would appeal to budding naturalists as the author spends a lot of time describing the flora and fauna and their ecosystems.

Violence: Some. Wild natives, penis attacking fish, mutiny and mother nature being wicked.

Adult Situations: There is some talk of suicide at the darkest hour, when they thought all was lost.

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