Rating: 
Summary: The true history
Review: Dr. Li has devoted his life to be with the man who has change the outlook of China to be a more respected country. He has also proven to the world that an Asian too can become an extra ordinary leader. This is a book for us to read, because it really show us about the real life of Chairman Mao which could not be heard or seen or read in other historical book available in the market today.
Rating: 
Summary: The Last Emperor!
Review: A facinating memoir of Mao's personal physician- Dr. Li Zhisui. I just finished reading this book for the second time and liked it even more than I did the first time.This is a truly amazing story of power, corruption and how intrigues, infighting and byzantine court politics affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people during the 'Great Leap Forward' and 'The Cultural Revolution'. Anyone interested in understanding how one man gained so much influence and power and held such sway with his cult of personality should read this fine book. It was particularly tragic to read how the Chinese people became the pawns in Mao's personal political struggles. Scarier yet is how his wife, Jiang Qing (a obviously neurotic and paranoid woman), would gain so much power for herself. This is a must read for any student of twentieth century politics or modern Chinese history.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Engaging Book
Review: The book is highly readable, and is crammed with enough facts to make it believable. I understand that some people have challenged Dr. Li's claim to have been as close to Mao as he indicates in the book. One must either read the book and accept his claim, or deny it entirely. There is no middle ground. The book presents a picture of Chairman Mao Zedung and of China very different than one would remember from living through the era. Perhaps most interesting (did our government intelligence services have any idea of this?) is the degree to which Mao seemed to admire the United States, while all the time doing everything he could to antagonize it. But this was typical of the man Dr. Li paints, a man full of contradictions. One episode in the book (I won't spoil it) that is absolutely fascinating is Mao's reaction to three requests Krushchev made of Mao in 1958. Mao's reaction to Krushchev (defiance and rudeness) even so early on was not something I think we knew much about, and is interesting, indeed. The book really tantalized me with one big unanswered question. Li portrays Mao as a virtual recluse, lolling around his various bedrooms, never having an office or any kind of work schedule. He seems to have successfully avoided any responsibility for government activity, and in fact spent most of his time in power back stabbing those he put into positions of government. But Dr. Li leaves half the story untold: how did Mao manage to stay in power while being so reclusive? Dr. Li does not speculate about what Mao did when he wasn't with him, so he does not even address this question. Somehow, and it would be interesting to read how, Mao managed to retain the ability to "hire and fire" prime ministers, ministers, generals, governors, and everyone else from behind the scenes. The Cultural Revolution could have easily gotten out of hand, yet it didn't. Any of the prime ministers who he purged, recalled and purged again (like Deng Xiaoping) could have, and one thinks would have, rebelled against Mao, arrested him, and sent him off to hard labor or worse. But, it didn't happen, even when Mao was very sick and almost totally incapacitated. The picture of Mao is of a cruel, totally inwardly focused, selfish, controlling person who could charm anyone straight into an inferno. What Mao really believed is opened to question in the book, although much of his thinking comes through in Dr. Li's reporting of his discussions. On one hand Mao was a simple peasant; on the other he seemed to have an incredibly complex grasp of Chinese history and of human nature. His lack of grasp of economics resulted in the starvation of tens of millions of Chinese people, about which Dr. Li indicates Mao didn't care a whit. When I finished the book I had this feeling that I was leaving a friend (Dr. Li) with whom I had developed a close relationship. His style of writing, his presentation of himself and his thoughts is thoroughly engaging. I prefer to accept Dr. Li at his word and have enjoyed my friendship with him.
Rating:
Summary: comprehensive!
Review: I read this autobiography during a month's stay in Hong Kong. I was hooked after the first chapter. Dr. Li's account of his life and work with Mao Zedong is at times moving and shocking. He seemed to spare us no details of Mao as a person, or as a patient. At times, I could have done without some of his detailed accounts, yet if I were reading this for a college report,this book would be my cliff notes(a huge one) savior. I do wish that Dr. Li had shared more of his life with his wife and his feelings on his children, especially post-Mao and at times I felt he whinned more than need be,in other words he thought of himself a victim. Yet, Mao may have been anyone's worst nightmare for a boss, Dr. Li had a life of privy compared to those he encounted in his re-education days. Yet, I feel blessed in a certain way to have read this book consisdering what kind of person Mao was. I was highly recommed this book to anyone wanting a very very personal look at Mao and Chinese politics during that reign.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is full of lies
Review: I had read the Chinese version of the book when it first appeared. Since the book containes so many vivid details, I believed what the author wrote in the book. Recently I read a lot of materials on the internet about Li, about the book and about the historical facts and I read the book again. All I can say now is that this book is full of lies and is just another dirty commercial and political propagada against China and Chinese people. The author provided no evidence to support his claims except copying published materials (including the mistakes in those materials) and quoting Mao's conversation with only the author himself. The author lied about the time he was with Mao, changed the starting time from 1957 to 1954. He lied about being a English teacher of Mao since he hardly had a chance to teach Mao's English and therefore never got a chance to talk to Mao night after night. He lied about being the medical treatment leader of Mao when Mao passed away, etc. etc. According to a declaration signed by more than 40 Chinese medical experts, writers and the people who worked with Mao, Li himself was a disguisting person. His nanny saw he bathed together with his daughter-in-law and called him an animal and later the nanny was dismissed. He tried to take advantage of his friend's wife in a park when his friend was in trouble and was taken into custody by the police. You just can't believe how far and how low people are willing to go for money.
Rating:
Summary: A highly questionable book
Review: Just recently a man by the name of Zhishi Li claimed to be Chairman Mao's private physician. This incredibly bold claim seems to be severly lacking in credible evidence. That being the very individuals that could support this argument are dead or probably will not waste their time on such a trival work. The only argument one can make about this book is its lack of historical evidence along with Harrison Salibury's Three Emperiors. I don't even believe the editors of China Quarterly(a scholarly periodical dedicated to research on China) even wasted their time in reviewing this book. If any reader is interested in reading good books about Chairman Mao. See John K. Fairbank, Jonathan Spence, Maurice Meisner to name just a few. The only use of this book will be used to endow undergrade students with the ability to critize historical books.
Rating:
Summary: My AP Government Book Review
Review: Mao Tse Tung was worshiped by millions. He was a Marxist and proclaimed the rise of the proletariat. However, according to Dr. Li Zhisui, his personal physician, his life was full of corruption, hypocrisy, and decadence. In 1954, Dr. Li Zhisui entered into Maoist China with his wife, Lillian, after practicing medicine for a brief stint in Australia. He entered into China brimming with great hope for and faith in the new Communist government. Because of his unique Western medical experience, Dr. Li is forced to become Mao's personal twentyfour hour physician. Because of his family's bourgeois background, he is forced to take this position against his will in order for his family to be avoid being sent to government concentration work camps. Dr. Li continually requests to be relieved of his duties, but is constantly brought forth closer and closer within Mao's inner circle. From 1954 to 1976, Dr. Li becomes Mao's confidant and physician. However, Mao had no idea that Dr. Li was also writing his detailed memoirs during this turbulent part of China's history. Dr. Li's writing style is very simple, personal, and ingenuous. He brings to life the historical figure, Chairman Mao. The reader soon learns that Mao lived a lavish lifestyle along with corrupt morals. His insightful first-hand accounts need no aid to discredit his former boss. They are just too real to ignore. During the Cultural Revolution and The Great Leap Forward, when millions of his people are being purged or starving, he describes Mao's frightening lack of concern for his people. He had an entourage of young female companions with whom he would have sex often. Sometimes, he had two or three women a night. He would also hold lavish dancing parties along with folk dancers, Chinese operas, and plays. Lavish dinner parties were also a huge favorite. He would hold these often for his "inner sanctum." They would eat fatty oily pork (oil was extremely rare in China at the time) and also other rare exquisite Chinese delicatessen like seafood. This is hardly a lifestyle of a man who is concerned for his people and one who preaches daily the advantages of living like a peasant. Dr. Li also details how inept and unintelligent Chairman Mao really was. Li blames Mao solely for the mass starvation and deaths in China. For instance, during the "Great Leap Forward", Li describes how Mao was envious of Western steel production. Therefore, he urges his comrades all over China to abandon their work and construct backyard steel furnaces. He urges them to frenzily melt down all their amorphous steel products around like ingots, tools, and doorknobs. However, when harvest time came around, there were no men in the field because they were all working in Mao's backyard steel furnaces. The rice harvested was down in famine levels. Starvation soon set in and the death toll exponentially rose. Dr. Li's book is by the best biography of Mao I have ever read. Doing research online about this book, I learned of the huge controversy surrounding this book. Many claim that Dr. Li's account is false, revisionist, or deconstructionist. However, maybe his critics are true, but I still find Dr. Li's message tragic, yet classic. His message is that one must compromise his conscience in order to partake in Communism. He concludes: "I devoted my professional life to Mao and China, but now I am stateless and homeless, unwelcome in my own country. I write this book in great sorrow for Lillian and for everyone who cherishes freedom. I want it serve as a reminder of the terrible human consequences of Mao's dictatorship and of how good and talented people under his regime were forced to violate their consciences and sacrifice their ideals in order to survive."
Rating:
Summary: I strongly doubt this book
Review: This book is said to be a translation from Chinese which was written by Dr. Li. However, after one reads the Chinese version, he will find that Chinese version is a direct translation of this English book and it is certainly not a book that a Chinese writer would write (style, terms, grammer, ..., in a short, all). So, I would say that I simply will not believe this book before I can read a true original Chinese version of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging reading
Review: I enjoy the book very much. It is a very engaging book. Some people claim that there are mistakes in the book. And one of the reviewers also mentioned that there is another Chinese language book out there specifically to contradict Dr. Li's accounts. However, I have also read that Chinese book. And I found that most of the "alleged" mistakes are trivial and minor.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Travel Companion
Review: I read this book while travelling across China by train. Not only did I get a great understanding of Mao, but also the political and economic issues in the last 50 years. It certainly helped me understand a country that is so often misunderstood.
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