Archive for the ‘Biography’ Category

I found this to be a strong and engaging account of one of the more intractable problems I’ve run into. I wish it had left me feeling hopeful, but it was far too consistent with my own experience to permit such self-delusion. Instead, it left me filled with admiration for a hero (John Githongo) who, thanks to the author’s incorporation of her personal experience, can be seen as a human and not as the caricature that time will eventually make [...]

This book is a real literary treasure. I read it first as a teenager. It astonished me then, with its unique portrayal of Africa. Who could fail to love the African wilderness and its diverse people after reading The Flame Trees of Thika?! Africa seen through Huxley’s youthful eyes is given a magical quality I have never again encountered (though BBC came close to portraying it in their rendition of this book). And it continues to astonish me even now. [...]