I recently finished reading Ambling into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush by Frank Bruni. I was not impressed.
Bruni is a reporter who followed Bush during his election campaign. Most of Bruni's insight comes from interactions and interviews with Bush during this time. The book is long winded and seems to go no-where. Bruni uses 288 pages to say nice things about Bush and to talk about the fun he had on Bush's campaign plane.
On top of this, Bruni's style and commentary on journalism left me feeling disgusted. He mentions times when one candidate would be asked a question while the other was unable to comment (due to being somewhere else or being busy with something else). The candidate who commented was on the "offensive", the other on the "defensive" (merely because they couldn't asnwer right away). Bruni and the media would turn events like this into a big issue, changing public opinion and affecting the candidates momentums by turning small things into big deals. Bruni claims this is unfortunate and wrong, but does so in such an off-handed way as to make it hard to believe him.
With all of the scandal and problems in politics, the last thing we need is journalists contributing to the circus. This book left me feeling disheartened and upset. Between Bruni's style and the lack of information, it was a waste of time. In short, Bush is a smart and personable man who does much better communicating in small groups as opposed to giving speeches in front of large audiences. He has a wild and sometimes childish sense of humor and a strong sense of family. There's more to him than meets the eye. Now you don't have to waste your time reading Ambling.
In other news, I started reading Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold. I'm enjoying it a lot so far. I'll let you know if I still like it when I'm done.