Lionel Barber

There are a few interesting stories here, but it is hard to get past the narrator. Barber is nearly insufferable—arrogant, clubby, never wrong (even in hindsight). While he obviously enjoys namedropping, he does seem to be incredibly, even inspirationally, well networked. His most important job qualification seems to be that he knows everybody (or at least every man) who is anybody. It's not a pretty world that Barber shows us, but it is a very different one.

> A chatty Scottish chauffeur picks me up at Glasgow airport but is soon lost for words as we drive aimlessly around the 2,000 acres of grounds around Dumfries House. He ends up dumping me at the wrong door of the mansion, where I am greeted by a friendly Scottish woman servant: ‘Good morning, Sir, are you here for the squirrel symposium?’ ‘No, I am not here for the squirrels,’ I reply, ‘I’m here to see Prince Charles.’… (meer)

This is an excellent book: well written, mostly fair, insightful and entertaining. Even if you don't agree with Barber's point of view, you will find his survey of the past fifteen years to be illuminating and engaging. Potential readers should note, however, that this is a memoir, not a collection of contemporaneous diaries. Although the 'diary' format provides immediacy, it also imbues the book with a tone of twenty-twenty hindsight that does a disservice to its author. Despite this small caveat: highly recommended.… (meer)

This is a book about the humanity beneath the mover and shaker. The format is revealing in as much as it shows how the interviewees choose what to eat, where to eat and how to interact with restaurant staff. Often the actions surrounding the meals speak more eloquently and poignantly than the people being interviewed. This is not to denigrate the content of the interviews, however. It is often fascinating. Collectively the work has much insight into some of the major events of the last 20 years or so. Each session is nicely judged and written and the book itself is a work of beauty.… (meer)