Serendipitous Reader v2.0

This little book is a heavy read. The injustice described is heart-breaking and astounding. It's appalling that this type of action by our justice system continues... and yet it does... We still see it in the news almost daily. Bryan Stevenson and his team at the Equal Justice Initiative (eji.org) are heroes for doing this very hard and very important work.

This book is amazing!! One of my favorite books of all time. Churchill said his whole life up to his becoming Prime Minister (at the age of 65) was preparation for that role - and it certainly seemed to be true. He was an amazing person, who - despite his flaws - was the right person at the right time in history to have an almost unbelievable impact. I had no idea how close Germany came to completely overrunning Europe. In 1940-41, without Churchill's staunch refusal to engage with the German in any way except all-out war, and without a handful of strategic military errors by the Germans, the world might look very different today.

I mentioned Churchill to a British friend of mine who immediately raved about this book. I was skeptical about a book written by Boris Johnson, but that was my mistake...  The writing is actually very good, and the book is entertaining, easy to read and fascinating. It's not a traditional "linear" biography, and in some places, Johnson discusses Churchill's impact on historical events without providing much detail about the event itself. So for those of us who aren't well-versed in British history, there were times when I felt like I wasn't "getting it" as much as someone who knew more about the broader context. Regardless, the more I'm reading about Churchill, the more there is to admire about him and this book was well worth reading.