Rating: 
Summary: Let me quickly tell you what I think
Review: This book was a real disappointment. I have enjoyed watching Chris's TV show for the past several years, but I find very little new insights in this book. It seems like sort of a hack job, quickly written, with fairly shallow thoughts. He keeps referring to all the wisdom he has accumulated in 37 years in politics, but frankly, has little to show in this book. The good news though: because it is so short, I was able to finish it in a little over two hours!
Rating: 
Summary: FACTS, FEISTINESS AND LAUGHTER!
Review: Affable, ebullient, and often relentless in his quest for clarity, Chris Matthews offers more of his personal perspectives on politics and government spot-lighting George Bush, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Jack Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Tip O'Neill, Daniel Patrick Monynihan, and Ronald Reagan among a multitude of personalities. Into this conversational pleasant commentary, he adds Goldie Hawn. Carl Bernstein, Woody Allen, Ernest Hemingway, Colin Powell plus some philosophical mind-teasers like, "To win the game, you've got to get in it. Regardless of what you want to do with your life, in order to do it well, you've got to go to where the game is being played, and get involved."--- and --- " in order to win the game, you first need a seat at the table."Author Matthews tells us why he perpetually interrupts his guests on his televised "Hardball" show, and shares memories of conversations at the family dinner table with his father. Those chats molded his communications, conversational, inquisitive, debate abilities. The chapters on "Worldly Wisdom" and "Freedom Is Contagious" are riveting. If you plan to be a guest on his "Hardball" show, here's what he would like to bring along; facts, spontaneity, honesty, feistiness, and laughter.Enjoyable reading. I liked this book. Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly, and Larry Elders really do give their readers something to think about. Yes indeed, gentlemen, freedom is contagious!
Rating:
Summary: A little something for everyone
Review: Republicans will really love the first half of this book, and Democrats will really love the second half. Chris Mathews fans will definitely enjoy it. My only real complaint is that Mathews just touches the surface of the issues. I wish he had gone more in depth with his thoughts. It is a pretty quick read, under 2 hours.
Rating: 
Summary: He can do better than this...
Review: I've been watching Matthews since early '99, and really appreciate his show. He keeps things moving, cuts straight to tough questions, appreciates how personal and social psychology have a major role to play in politics, deftly mixes humor with intense conversation, and is entirely intolerant of talking points.Unfortunately, this book contains almost none of that personality. Instead, Chris has produced a quick read of generally unprovocative ideas. Each chapter ends with, "Let me tell you what I really think...". So, what, everything before the finale was just baloney? What if he started each chapter with what he really thinks, and then spent the subsequent pages elaborating and deepening those ideas. Frankly, the whole thing smacks of a TV tie-in. I wouldn't dismiss Matthews outright -- his book Hardball is a real gem (read it, if you haven't), and the show still gets interesting here and there. But this book is thin on insight, and long on fancy footwork.
Rating:
Summary: At Least You Can't Hear Him
Review: A few years ago, it seemed like every single stand-up comic was putting out a "book." These "books" weren't much more than their stage acts put in text form, in a conversational, rather than literary, style. This year, it seems like political talk show hosts are doing the same. Of course, at least these guys have something to say. Matthews's book is a bit better than most because he is, after all, a newspaper columnist and has some sense of language. And in this book he takes a step back from his blowhard teevee persona back to the earlier, gentler, more thoughtful Chris Matthews -- at times. The rest of the time, it's just a readable monologue from yet another pundit -- a smart one, but a blatherer nonetheless. Why bother reading, when it's on television every night?
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Buy This "Book"
Review: (Spend it on some other Amazon.com product.) This is a small book, both in size and in content. This hardback tends towards paperback size, the font is largish with wide-ish in-between lines, there are blank pages separating "chapters," and the chapters are from two pages (on JFK) to six
(on "selling yourself," cynically warmed-over Dale Carnegie). At fifteen
bucks (reduced already from 17.50?) if you really must have it, it ought to be on the discount
racks soon. If you've seen him on T.V., what you've suspected, that he is
just shy of O'Reilly and Limbaugh in ego, is validated here. He appears to
believe every breath he has taken is of earth shattering importance-----to
everybody else, not just to him, creepily identifying with such actually
great personages as Churchill. For a supposed "Democrat" he has met few
Republicans he doesn't like, while danging his supposed fellow Dems to heck
(except the one or two sharing his own cultural background). He appears to
be mixed up. What he "really thinks" is what you thought he thought.
Rating:
Summary: What was I thinking
Review: The title of the book is Let Me Tell You What I Really Think. After reading this book you will know for sure what you always suspected. Chris Matthews doesn't think. He has strung together a whole bunch of homilies, many of them contradictory. He projects his own biases to the population at large. He hates Gore, so everybody hates Gore, which is why he lost. Trouble is Gore won. He won with a bigger margin than Kennedy over Nixon and Nixon over Humprey. This book is strictly for Hate Radio listeners who think Rush Limbaugh is an intellectual. What was I thinking buying this book?
Rating:
Summary: Ho Hum.....
Review: Just before Thanksgiving, I saw Mr. Matthews (along with Jeffrey Toobin) at the Philadelphia Lectures. I'd never seen his TV show (don't have cable), but was impressed enough with his conversation and views to buy this book to learn more. The book is a breezy, easy read, but about as deep as most TV shows. There's lots of amusing stuff in the genre of "how I came to believe this", but that stuff is largely of the populist sort. It is engaging enough as basic barroom banter (and I imagine that Mr. Matthews would be a gas to have a few drinks with), but as an exegesis of a political personality, it is not particularly satisfying or even interesting. Mr. Matthew's vocal admiration of Winston Churchill was one of the reasons why I bought the book. Mr. Churchill would be disappointed in this memoir. It does suffer from it's populist intent. The stance of "I believe it because I believe it" doesn't really need the kind of passionately erudite engagement that I was hoping for here. Perhaps he is better on the TV. (...) a love letter to his fans(...) may be just the right way to categorize this book. The fact that I wasn't impressed may mean that I'm not engaged with Mr. Matthews as a TV personality and pundit. Others who enjoy and follow the TV appearances may find more to engage with here.
Rating:
Summary: Fast-Paced Look at American Politics Since the New Deal
Review: Mr. Matthews uses this book to develop several points: How he developed his political consciousness and views; the purpose behind his Hardball television show; describing the key points of the top politicians he has known; defining what it takes to get elected as president in America, defining what is best about America, outlining where the political discussion needs some refocusing, and how to succeed in life. These elements are loosely and nonsequentially combined in chapters loosely build around themes like 'freedom is contagious,' 'truth,' and 'common ground.' The reader will often have the feeling that Mr. Matthews is having four conversations with himself at the same time . . . all at high speed. With all of this ground to cover, Mr. Matthews skims at or above the surface. The best part of the book comes in the brief profiles of the politicians that Mr. Matthews has known. He sees George W. Bush as a likable man rising to the occasion in responding to the foul attack of September 11th, Al Gore as someone who should have taken a stand that the president must not lie to the American people, 'I have no idea who William Jefferson Clinton is' but he had 'astounding skill at political positioning,' Tip O'Neill was a principled political warrior who was uncomfortable in the spotlight, and Ronald Reagan was a quick-witted man with a multiple decade run for the presidency. Unlike many journalists, Mr. Matthews likes politicians, which he candidly confesses. Mr. Matthews is a democrat whose family was of a conservative republican persuasion. 'I've got a conservative gut, tolerant mind, and a heart . . . .' He identifies with the middle class as the people who work hard and play by the rules. The middle class will elect people as president who are taking an outside the Beltway perspective. 'Look for the candidate you picture with the sun in his face.' Those you think of in a suit in an office will not succeed. He feels that he never recovered from JFK's death. As a young man, he joined the Peace Corps to avoid Viet Nam service, and learned a lot about the challenges of Africa, serving in Swaziland. The book details important thoughts about the moral need to respond to the AIDS crisis in poor countries. As to practical advice, it is basically to 'Show Up! Ask! Believe!' As to Americans, there were two quotes that I was particularly struck by. 'We will forgive just about anything from our politicians but condescension . . . Gore talked down to us.' He feels Senator Hillary Clinton has the same problem. While with the Capitol police force (his first paying job after the Peace Corps), Sergeant Leroy Taylor told him, 'The little man loves his country, Chris, because it's all he's got.' As we pull together to counter the terrorist threat to American society and deal with other new challenges, perhaps more of us will come to feel that way. In defending his tendency to interrupt guests, Mr. Matthews points out that viewers like a fast pace, and don't want to hear a politician's preplanned talking points. Then, more candidly, he points out that he cannot help himself. Each section ends with a blunt statement like that, under the heading of 'now, let me tell you what I really think.' The candor was refreshing. Ultimately, Mr. Matthews points out that 'Democracy is a noisy business.' Make some noise!
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting and easy read
Review: I've read Chris Matthews' other books and was looking forward to receiving this one. I wasn't disappointed and finished it in one night. He has an honesty that rings through, which is refreshing considering the subject is politics. Some other reviewers didn't appreciate his personal experiences being included, but I disagree. I think the personal experiences make the book very appealing. I enjoy his show Hardball; this book seems like an extension of the program in some ways.
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