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Mud, Sweat and Tears - Bear Grylls
by Bullydc1
Mud sweat and tears is Bear Gryliss` autobiography (so far - as a young man of around 40 it can hardly be called his lifes work) - It is neatly broken down as you would expect, by chronology. His years as a child growing up on the Isle of Wight, his time at boarding school and then Eton, his initial years at University and then his ... years in the SAS reserve and his Everest expedition. It then moves onto his family life with his wife and then two children and (very shortly) his success as a television presentor, adventure brand and lead cub scout.
Bear is a very good writer, although naturally the subject matter is very exciting, he seems able to hold your attention well with interesting anecdotes, good humour and dramatic events, of which for a man his age , he has had many.
His Physical qualities cannot be denied, the SAS and Everest achievements alone should be enough for anyone reading them not to dare question his endurance and mental determination. He is too a man of faith, constantly through the book, as in 'Facing up' you find yourself reading about the lord or the church and this can get a bit annoying, but you have to understand that it is this faith that has gotten him through so many hard times, like when he borke his back on a parachute jump at 23. Ive done allot of things that Bear has done, im from a military background, I skydived for years, I now climb some of the highest mountains in the world and I have to say he`s descriptions are very well put, especially his description of SAS selection and the Everest climb - amongst some of the most detailed and accurate I can think of, in fact friends of mine gave me his two books and a Bear Gryliss survival kit for my birthday as they think I try to model myself on him, I dont obviously.
He does come accross as a very unassuming, polite and modest man. His faith is important to him and so are his family obviously. His friendship are with all sorts of people, not just rich boys or old soldiering / etonion folk, but mostly those from an adventurous background.
My one critisism is that he says very early on that he is open about his failures (there have not been many) and he doesnt shy away from them, indeed this is true of what I would style 'trivial' failures, failures at minor friendships, failures with girls, failures at certain jobs which considering his nature is not unsurprising- but his biggest failure which is massively eluded too is his academic background. He states that all young people should excell outdoors and go for the adventure, but most kids cant do that, that wont pay the bills, their families cant afford it and his family oh so obviously could along with his own meagre need of valuable posessions, with the exception of the Everest expedition where he got his own sponsorship through selling the dream to corporations.
He is not an aademic person, never has been really, judging by the quality of his schooling you would have thought that he could have done allot better, but some people arent made for the classroon, he obviosuly failed in achieving very good A-levels, and gave up on his degree, but all of this is eluded to, although it is obvious because it seems strange it isnt mentioned in someones life story...at this time he had just got into the SAS reserve and you cant do that and study its as simple as that. So I thought this a contradiction.
All in all thought I think those fans of Bear will like this read, it will keep you nail biting through some of it and is very adventurous.
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Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind the Throne - Sally Bedell Smith
by eilidhcatriona
Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell-Smith was one of the many books about the monarchy which was reduced in the Kindle Jubilee sale earlier this year. Unsurprisingly, it is a biography of Queen Elizabeth II, covering her childhood up to almost the present, ending in 2011 as she approached her Diamond Jubilee year in 2012.
As ... an American, Bedell-Smith is immediately different to the British biographers I have previously read. She could perhaps be able to take an "outsiders" view of the Queen and the monarchy, not being a subject of the Queen, but in all honesty this is not an angle which she explores. Her style is generally respectful, and she seems to be one of the many Americans who love the British royal family, despite being proud of being a republic themselves.
Another result of the author's nationality are certain stylistic aspects of her writing, some explanatory sections, and her grammar and spelling. An example of what I would view as her American style is evident in the name of the book - Elizabeth the Queen. I don't think this is a term any Brit would use to describe the Queen, but it does seem intrinsically American. Additionally, throughout the book, Bedell-Smith mainly refers to the Queen as Elizabeth II, which is of course correct, but again this is a more American way of referring to her - most British-written biographies I have read use simply "the Queen" as the main way of referring to the subject of their writing, or occasionally Queen Elizabeth II.
Bedell-Smith also includes explanations which are presumably aimed at an American readership which would not generally be required by British readers. She explains the concept of a constitutional monarchy and the Queen's role, but the most memorable one for me was when she referred to the Queen and Princess Margaret being in a Girl Guide company at Buckingham Palace - Bedell-Smith adds in brackets that this is like the Girl Scouts in the USA. Guides are a global organisation, I was surprised that she felt this needed clarification.
There were a few occasions on which the authors nationality showed in her spelling, as of course American English speakers spell some words differently to their English forms. One notable example of this is actually a very poor choice on the part of the author. She refers to a specialist medical centre in the UK which the Queen visits, and names it as the "Queen's Center for...". Now, using the American spelling for centre in the body of the text when not capitalised would be fine, but what she has done here is actually changed a name. There are other name errors, most prominently when Bedell-Smith calls Constitution Hill, Constitutional Hill.
Elizabeth the Queen is a long book, and as such is packed full of detail (although it is not as long as it first appears - approximately the final 30% of the Kindle edition is bibliographies etc). The level of detail included is impressive and interesting, however as the book went on I began to wonder about it. I have read quite a bit about the Queen and her family, yet there were a huge number of anecdotes in Elizabeth the Queen which I had never heard before. The Queen is famously private and very careful about showing emotion, yet there are numerous stories in here which do not match that image. Her friends and relatives respect her privacy and don't talk, as do the palace staff, so I am doubtful as to the accuracy of a lot of these anecdotes. I am sure some, perhaps a lot, are true, but I don't believe they all are. If so, Elizabeth the Queen really gives a very intimate portrait of the Queen and her life, and given her discretion and that of those around her, I really do not believe such an insight, at least an accurate one, is possible.
That aside, Elizabeth the Queen is a fairly enjoyable read. Bedell-Smith's style of writing is easy and light, and therefore lacks the authority that many royal biographers exude, but the book is enjoyable nonetheless.
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Johnson's Life of London: The People Who Made the City That ... - Boris Johnson
by julwhite
This review is of the book "Johnson's Life of London - The People Who Made the City that Made the World" by the current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
Most people have a view of Boris, some may think he's an out-of-touch Conservative, some think he's a competent mayor with a unique personality and sense of humour, ... and others view him as a future Prime Minister. Indeed, in a poll released today (July 2012) he was rated as the person most likely to succeed David Cameron. But whatever your view, and mine has gone from negative to positive in recent years, Johnson is certainly a fascinating character.
The book is structured in chapters which feature one person, and in one case a bridge, and tell the story of their part in London's history. The book is an historically interesting view of how London has developed, but never takes itself too seriously. It certainly isn't a dry history book, the chapter on Hadrian starts, "Clonk. They were rebuilding London Bridge in 1834 when workmen hit something on the bed of the river. It was green and slimy".
The book marches through subjects as diverse as Hadrian, William the Conqueror, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Wilkes, Lionel Rothschild, WT Stead, Winston Churchill and Keith Richards. All of these in Johnson's view have had a major part in the cultural, social, economic and political development of the city.
I'm not entirely sure personally that Keith Richards has played as an important part in British history as many other figures that people could think of, but of course, everyone would pick a different list, and there is a humour not just within the writing, but also in the choice of the characters selected.
I consider that the quality of writing is very high, there is dry humour throughout, but the book's contents has be read in a serious way even with the writing being quite light-hearted. It's certainly the sort of book that I'd have expected to see from Boris Johnson. I certainly found out a number of new things about both London and the historical figures that he's selected.
There is some politics in this book, both in terms of how Johnson writes about the past and how his own beliefs impact on that, and also coverage of some issues which are more modern. These issues, such as transport, construction and bankers, were relevant to the Mayoral elections, which took place between the publication of the hardback and paperbacks versions of this book. However, although I noted the politics, I considered that it was referred to in a humorous way, which I didn't find was trying to over-make a point, be patronising or to distort history by deliberately hiding some facts.
I borrowed this book from the library, but at the time of writing, there are hardback, paperback and Kindle versions of the book available for those that want to own it themselves. The ISBN is the hardback is 9780007418930 and the paperback is 9780007418947.
In terms of the price, the hardback retails at 20 pounds and is currently available for 13.24 pounds including delivery on Amazon, the paperback retails at 8.99 pounds and is currently available for 6.29 pounds including delivery on Amazon, and the Kindle version is available for the reasonable price of 4.99 pounds.
In summary, I found this book excellent and I read it in one sitting. I found that the combination of history and humour blended in a way that is typical of Boris Johnson, and I was both entertained and informed by reading the book. For history to come to life, I feel that it needs to do both of these, and to encourage readers to find out more about the subject. I found the book did this, and I'd personally recommend it.
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