Rating: 
Summary: Finding your passion
Review: No doubts: Jayson Blair is a good writer! His passion was to use writing to help and inform others. His story is really about how we loose our focus and meaning when we allow the evil of "pressure"(either externally or internally induced) to destroy our common sense. It's also a story about how bad lifestyle habits which seem to give short term satisfaction(e.g using drugs and limted sleep to propel ahead) can destroy us in the long run. After reading this story, I was reminded we are indeed "spiritual beings" having a human experience. So many young people, like Jayson, get caught up in the material aspects of success and forget to take time and smell the roses... I wish Jayson all the best. Just remember life is about "process" and the ends do not justify the means. I
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating insight into the most powerful U.S. newspaper
Review: The New York Times was caught red-handed practicing its questionable brand of journalism. Only its immense power in controlling the media has kept the lid on the scandal. Blair provides a rare look inside the inner workings of this giant. Read this book to find out how the information you get from the mainstream media is twisted, shaped and formulated to suit the powers that be.
Rating: 
Summary: Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be Jayson
Review: The only thing "burning" about this silly, badly written book should be Jayson Blair's ears. However, as he has demonstrated through his multiple television appearances, he is beyond shame. Many journalists with drug or alcohol problems get help and rebuild their lives, but the first step to that is to accept responsibility for allowing their lives to spin out of control. Blair sees no reason to do that as long as there's the Grey Lady to blame for giving him a job, an expense account, and even car service. I hope to see Blair, and this appalling book, become a footnote in journalism history. Or perhaps the answer to "Celebrity Burnouts" for $200 on "Jeopardy"!.
Rating:
Summary: a sickened reader
Review: The only thing that the Jayson Blair incident indicates is that most members of society expect that everyone else conducts him or herself in accord with expected behaviors, and does not expect to be taken advantage of by sociopaths like Blair. Sure the NYT is a high powered pressure cooker to work at, but it seems to me that Blair's superiors actually went out of their way to try to support him and even make excuses for his deviant behavior. Jayson Blair's selfserving attempt to cloak his actions in the mantle of racism are laughable. Far from being an indictment of the so-called liberal media, it is only a piteable attempt to cash in one more time. By the way, given his track record, I wonder how many of the 5 star review were actually written by Blair.
Rating:
Summary: A RIDICULOUS WASTE OF INK
Review: The title of this book alone is a huge turnoff. What does the slavery reference have to do with anything this compulsive lying "little person" has to say? This man clearly spends his life manipulating and lying most especially to himself. People like "JAYSON" are truly some of the most vile creatures lurking on earth....for they pray on the emotions of others with twisted lies and feel sorry for me stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't ignore everything you hear...
Review: There is truth to almost everything said about this book. There is also definite truth to what is written. We all know that Blair has lost reader's trust and that most will find themselves reading the book with large doubts--especially at points where he's clearly gone too far to get attention. I am sure that he realized all of his wrongdoings could make a great book almost immediately, but I have sincere doubts that he had a tape recorder with him in the mental hospital to catch those vibrant, lengthy quotes from other patients. But there are also points that deserve further thought. (...). You can take a lot of what Blair says about his own reasoning and problems however you choose, but it is clear that he has some gift for writing, is not one hundred percent evil, and he, too, deserves the chance to tell his story. Yet, as horrible as I find Blair's wrongdoings, I almost want to thank him for creating an uproar that will hopefully cause lasting changes and reforms at the Times. I look forward to hearing what comes as a result of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Poor prose from a supposed writer
Review: This is the closest I've come to being sorry I bought a book. For a NYT calibre writer I thought the book was rather poorly written, and more poorly edited. Some of the stories are fascinating, but you find yourself wondering if you are again being conned by a guy who seems hell-bent on blaming everybody and everything but himself. The most extraordinary thing about this book is how such a poor writer even got the chance to work at NYT.
Rating:
Summary: Poor prose from a supposed writer
Review: This is the closest I've come to being sorry I bought a book. For a NYT calibre writer I thought the book was rather poorly written, and more poorly edited. Some of the stories are fascinating, but you find yourself wondering if you are again being conned by a guy who seems hell-bent on blaming everybody and everything but himself. The most extraordinary thing about this book is how such a poor writer even got the chance to work at NYT.
Rating:
Summary: -30-
Review: Unlike the pieces Jayson Blair "reported" for the New York Times, this laborious account of the aftermath of his infamous crash 'n' burn is way too boring to be anything but the real deal. (Okay, he does try to commit suicide in a coffee shop restroom--but, conveniently, he changes his mind and there are no witnesses.) And despite the book's deliberately inflammatory title, even Blair himself isn't able to work up much of a head of steam that affirmative action somehow played a role in his downfall. Regardless of his race (or his much-touted slave ancestry--what, were his they plagarists, too?), Blair's pathetic tale is not worth revisiting.
Rating:
Summary: Was there a ghostwriter involved with this book?
Review: Upon second reading, I am curious if others wonder about this: was there a ghostwriter or rewriter or professional book polisher who helped bring this book into print? Nobody has mentioned this, and no reporter has asked Blair this, so I guess I will here: "Jayson, did you have the help of a ghostwriter with this book, because large parts of it sound dictated and then rewritten?"
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