Rating: 
Summary: Dan Blather, A Very Strange Man
Review: I've lived in Colorado's front range for nine years and gotten more conservative by the month. I saw Rather's book in the library, expecting not to like it. My first thoughts were cynical. "Short book, must not have much to say, look even the print's extra big." Seven essays into the book and I was ready to invite the man to dinner. In his brevity, Rather quickly gets to the core of the subject and leaves you room to compare your own thoughts about a history always personal and compeling instead of distant and inane. I find myself liking this book very much in spite of myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Short, plain and thought-provoking
Review: I've lived in Colorado's front range for nine years and gotten more conservative by the month. I saw Rather's book in the library, expecting not to like it. My first thoughts were cynical. "Short book, must not have much to say, look even the print's extra big." Seven essays into the book and I was ready to invite the man to dinner. In his brevity, Rather quickly gets to the core of the subject and leaves you room to compare your own thoughts about a history always personal and compeling instead of distant and inane. I find myself liking this book very much in spite of myself.
Rating:
Summary: Short, plain and thought-provoking
Review: I've lived in Colorado's front range for nine years and gotten more conservative by the month. I saw Rather's book in the library, expecting not to like it. My first thoughts were cynical. "Short book, must not have much to say, look even the print's extra big." Seven essays into the book and I was ready to invite the man to dinner. In his brevity, Rather quickly gets to the core of the subject and leaves you room to compare your own thoughts about a history always personal and compeling instead of distant and inane. I find myself liking this book very much in spite of myself.
Rating:
Summary: Tales told on an unfortunate frequency.
Review: Mr. Rather's attempt to join fellow anchormen Jennings and Brokaw on the bestseller lists is, to our misfortune, a hastily-assembled and ill-thought project culled from radio scripts and jottings that were obviously spoken into a dictaphone and transcribed and rewritten by a minion. As a newsreader, Mr. Rather shouldn't be expected to deliver wisdom or even original thoughts on his own, but this collection of half-truths, lowbrow insight and he-man posing doesn't even fit comfortably into the CBS orthodoxy promulgated in other ghostwritten volumes by its stars. A homespun ramble about grandma is comfy, an appreciation of Audrey Hepburn is a welcome wrinkle in the Rather crackpot legacy-- but the less-than-forthcoming profile of Charles Kuralt is downright dishonest (knowing what we've learned about the rotund one's twenty five years of adulterous gallavanting through this great land) and a deliberate attempt to recast CBS history. In the words of Capote, this isn't writing, this is typewriting. Not good.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining tidbits from the past into present time
Review: Some of the essays in this book made you think, made you muse and ponder certain ideas. Some of the essays were flat out BORING. The last section, "The Lighter Side," made trudging through the rest of the book worthwhile. But it didn't make it GOOD, necessarily. I though this was going to be a small book of summarized and commentated-on current events. Wrong. Half of the essays are about things most people could give a hoot about. All in all, the book was disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Lukewarm and somewhat boring
Review: Some of the essays in this book made you think, made you muse and ponder certain ideas. Some of the essays were flat out BORING. The last section, "The Lighter Side," made trudging through the rest of the book worthwhile. But it didn't make it GOOD, necessarily. I though this was going to be a small book of summarized and commentated-on current events. Wrong. Half of the essays are about things most people could give a hoot about. All in all, the book was disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Rather disappointing...
Review: The "commentaries" you hear on the radio are usually bits that are written on deadline, reacting to news stories or events-- spur of the moment stuff to fill time between the denture ads--but they ain't the stuff of literature or books-- at least not stuff you pay good money for. And I did. This ain't Paul Harvey. But what's more frustrating is that even though the book tries to touch on all the demographics-- from Clinton to Elvis... the crackerbarrel philosophin' don't ring true (and neither does the story about his wife almost marrying The King). If Dan wants folks to care about what he thinks about things, next time maybe he ought to maybe think about taking a sabbatical or at least a vacation to sit down at his estate and write something real. What'll they sell us next-- a book of his intros from the Evening News? (and according to the credits, he don't write them, either!)
Rating:
Summary: Variety is the Spice of Life.
Review: This collection of essays from his syndicated weekly column is sorta like Nick Clooney's in Cincinnati. This book contains 99 short composites espousing his point of view on diverse themes; he's not afraid to state his likes, dislikes, and fears plus his sense of humor. Like his take on Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' which is different but thought-provoking, and the "immorality" in the White House during Lincoln's term.
Surely he wasn't serious about an Oscar for Debbie Reynolds as an old woman. She was just playing herself, as she always did. He chose her because she was born in Texas. Hey, she grew up in California! For his deficient memory, she was the 'original' Tammy, then Sandra Dee took over in "the Doctor" with Peter Fonda. Debbie is a good entertainer but not so successful in normal living, as being "turned on" is the only way she knows how to be. Last year, she moved her movie memorbilia to Pigeon Forge (not too far from Dollywood) in the Smokies and, as a result, was chosen to ride the main float in their Christmas parade. Now, that's a star -- to come to Tennessee after the flob in Las Vegas. It appears that she lives through her obese daughter, Carrie, who writes. He had flattering things to say about Dolly Parton, a native of this state but not representative of us all.
He bemoans the fact of the seasons overlapping in 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Easter,' due to marketing and displays in the stores. I wish we could go back to the old days when fruit and veggies are available only in the growing season for America; they do taste better then, as he lamented.
He likes to go where the action is. In June 1996 in Moscow, at 3 a.m. after filing his last report on the Russian elections and on the way to his hotel, he heard the voice of Ella Fitzgerald who'd just died. She had a pure quality to her voice, received much acclaim in life as in death. He wrote, "We never knew much about her personal life; we never knew anything about her except in her songs." If he listened to MUSIC OF YOUR LIFE and Chuck Southcott, he'd be sad to learn that she'd lost both legs due to diabetes, and her friends would take her for a daily afternoon ride around Los Angeles while Chuck played her songs on the radio. She may have seemed "alone" in her singing, but her friends in the Society of Singers made her life bearable, so as not to be completely alone.
Some of these "timely" accounts are dated, but all in all I found it an interesting book. I'm glad I have it as he is one of my favorite broadcasters. The comprehensive index was helpful.
Rating:
Summary: A side of Dan Rather that one doesn't see on CBS News
Review: This is the first book I've read by Dan Rather, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I never had the chance to read his essays in the newspaper or hear them on radio, so this book was a big surprise to me. I thought his collection of essays were serious,touching, and thought provoking. Sometimes they were downright funny. My favorites were his his essays on teachers, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the last grandmother, and his homage Princess Diana. I also enjoyed his humorous essays. I never knew that Dan Rather had such a good sense of humor. It's definitly a side of him that you don't see when he does the news. If you're a fan of Dan, then this is a book that you should check out.
Rating:
Summary: Bleh!
Review: Well, if you're really interested in one man's opinion of where we are and where we are going, I suppose you might want to read this book. I made that mistake.Dan Rather shows us all the stereotypical crap that comes from people his age. You know, all about how back in the day... Things were sooo much better. Get over it. Things are different. Who is Dan Rather to say they are worse? Its the age old story about the man who walked 3 miles each way to school, uphill both ways, and probably barefoot too.
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