Bo Bennett

Full disclosure I had never heard of Bo Bennett. Having finished this memoir, I can’t say that I am familiar with any of his projects, and perhaps that is why it was a shock to realize this is a posthumous memoir. Written from his own experiences, the story is told from the story of James, youngest of 3 children born to 2 alcoholic parents. Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80’s James relates his life struggles, lessons and triumphs as he moves through childhood. While some of his stories are completely bananas, others bring back memories of a childhood we’ve all had. A short and sweet look back at a life that was both ordinary, and extraordinary for the resilient, competent person that emerged. Only took about an hour to read, and made me laugh and want to cry all at the same time. Thank you to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.… (meer)

This book has some good points. It includes a discussion, with examples, of a number of logical fallacies, and ways to avoid them. The author writes with a sense of humor, but it is not a sense of humor that I am in general amused by; there were some genuinely funny moments, but unfortunately some of them came from him getting something egregiously wrong. The book is poorly laid out, and a pain to the eyes. It is obviously self-published, and he didn't put a lot of work into the formatting or the editing. Random commas show up in strange places, making some parts of the book difficult to read until you figure out which commas to remove, and where commas are really needed. In addition, he apparently cut and pasted (or did a macro) of one particular reference he made often, and it had a jarring error in it that appeared so often it was enough to make the book cringeworthy. Some of the fallacies seem to be a stretch, and some that are rather common he lists as rare, suggesting perhaps he didn't do his homework well enough. Over all, okay but a disappointment and a pain to read.… (meer)