The musicals had a great season in American celluloid in a period of the 40’s and 50’s; and one of the greatest musicals of all time was ‘Singing In the Rain’ (released in 1952). The movie is also acknowledged to be Gene Kelly’s greatest work (with An American in Paris released in 1951 being another great movie). This was a movie that Gene Kelly had thrown his heart and soul into, with not only delivering a great acting role, but also co-directing, and being the choreographer. The movie had some great dances, with the dance on the title song where Gene Kelly danced with an umbrella, with water pouring, dancing in puddles, and generally having a good rain soaked dance being one of the greatest. It is even more admirable due to the fact that the dance happened when Gene Kelly had 103 fever.
The movie also picturised the transition that the American film industry had from the age of silent movies, to the age of movies with sound. This was a major change, and impacted not only the art of film-making, but also had an impact on the film stars of the silent era. Singing in the Rain captures the transition of some of the stars, while others failed to make the transition, and also heralded the appearance of new stars who were more suited for the sound era.

The movie is about a popular star of the silent era, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly). He has risen through the industry while doing all sort of jobs, and is now the leading star. His leading lady is Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen); Don cannot stand Lina, while she feels that they have an ongoing romance (something created by the studio for more publicity). Once, Don gets to suddenly meet a lady Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) (he jumped into her car to escape from some fans); and after some initial back-and-forth, they start falling into love.
However, there is a major disturbance - a new talking film called ‘The Jazz Singer’ has been released by a rival studio and becomes a success. This forces a change of plans, with the studio boss R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) deciding to convert the upcoming Don - Lina film into a talkie. However, it wasn’t so easy, and they eventually decide to get Kathy to dub for Lina, and to make the movie into a musical. Lina does not like Kathy and her romance with Don, and makes sure that Kathy cannot get screen credit for her voice-over; however, in the premiere, after some delay, the inevitable happens. It is revealed that Kathy is the voice, and also the upcoming star.

The Marx Brothers were very famous for their films during the earlier part of the 20th century, and ‘Duck Soup’ was the last movie with Paramount where the Marx Brothers starred (there were a total of 5 such movies with Paramount). During the making of Duck Soup, contract disputes became paramount in the relationship, and both the Marx Brothers and Paramount decided to part ways after the making of the movie. In addition, this was the last movie where Zeppo had starred, and hence can be considered worth seeing just for that particular reason.
The movie did not do so well at the box office, almost being considered a failure, yet, as always happens, the movie was re-evaluated over a period of time, and was seen as a classic, a great comedy and designated for preservation in the National Film Registry (wikipedia) of the United States.

The Marx Brothers specialized in comedy, and this movie was no different, with several comic scenes that would have you enjoying the movie. One of the iconic scenes from this movie is the mirror scene - where Harpo Marx copies the action of Groucho Marx to the last detail to avoid detection and to make the character of Groucho Marx believe that he is seeing himself in a mirror. Although this was not the first time that this type of scene has been depicted, the sequence in ‘Duck Soup’ is probably the best known instance of this scene in a movie.
The movie is a comedy depicting activies on a national level, where a country, Freedonia, wants assistance from a wealthy lady Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont). She in turn insists that Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) be made the leader of the country. At the same time, since Freedonia is in such a bad state, the neighboring country Sylvania wants to take advantage and take over Freedonia. To that purpose, Sylvania’s ambassador Trentino (Louis Calhern) stirs up trouble, trying to create a revolution in Freedonia; he also woos Mrs. Teasdale, and sends in Chicolini (Chico Marx) and Pinky (Harpo Marx) to spy on Firefly.
Firefly spots Chicolini as a vendor on the street and appoints him Secretary of the War, and tries to insult Trentino so that Trentino can attack Firefly and thus be forced to leave the country. However, the plan reverses and Firefly instead slaps Trentino and this brings the 2 countries to the brink of war. There are further comic scenes, and eventually the 2 countries go to war, with lots of song and dance involved. In the final battle scenes, in order to provide another great comic effect, Firefly keeps on changing his costume almost in every scene, wearing uniforms belonging to different armies, and even the Boy Scout Scoutmaster uniform.

Some Like It Hot, a movie released in 1959 and starring Marilyn Monroe, has been acknowledged to be one of the top 10 movie comedies of all time, with the American Film Institute calling the movie as the greatest American comedy film of all time. The movie stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon as 2 men on the run from gangsters (having witnessed a massacre), and using the guise of women to try and get away from the gangsters. In between, they meet Marilyn and fall for her, while a very rich man falls for one of them (in his disguise as a woman).
The movie was directed by Billy Wilder, and was adapted from a story written by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan. The same story with some differences had already been used in a German movie called ‘Fanfaren der Liebe’ (made 8 years ago in 1951).

The movie was condemned by religious groups (with the Catholic Legion of Decency criticizing the movie). For a number of decades, Hollywood had been under a Production Code (that covered the morals of movies). It was on its way out, and this movie was one of the movies that contributed to its passing, released after not having received an MPAA logo. The movie was received well, and nominated for 6 Oscars. It won one Award, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Orry-Kelly).
The movie is about these 2 struggling musicians, who are trying to escape Chicago after seeing a mob maasacre. However, it is difficult to find a job, and they find that the only out of town job they can get is 2 positions in a All Girls Band that is going to Florida. They join in, dressing as woman (and this is part of the reason why the movie was made as a Black and White movie, since the makeup to make them look like woman was not letting the movie look good in color); and calling themselves Josephine and Geraldine (later changed to Daphne). Soon, they also find themselves head-over-heels for the vocalist and ukulele player, “Sugar Kane” (Marilyn Monroe). It is a bit difficult to express your emotions openly when you are dressing as a woman, so that part is a struggle for them.
Joe becomes enterprising, taking on the role of a millionaire and romancing Sugar in that role; it is Jerry who gets into more trouble. An actual millionaire, Osgood Fielding III, falls for his female disguise, and Jerry plays along in the hope of making some money from this transaction. And then the finale, where the gangsters arrive at the hotel for a conference, and spot these 2. They run from the mobsters, finally reaching the yacht of the millionaire, where the drama continues to happen. Sugar reveals that she has fallen for Joe, and to Jerry’s horror, Osgood keeps pursuing him, right to the end when Jerry reveals that he is a man, a very famous line is spoken by Osgood, “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

The Gold Rush is silent-era movie, a Charlie Chaplin movie, released in 1925. As with many Chaplin movies, the movie was written, and directed by him and starred him in the lead role. It was another of the ‘Little Tramp’ roles. As per Charlie Chaplin, The Gold Rush was a movie that he wanted to be remembered by. The movie also starred Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman, Malcolm Waite, and Georgia Hale. Georgia Hale got the role by chance, since Lita Grey was originally selected for the role, but Lita then got married to Charlie Chaplin in 1924, and hence was no longer to be the lead lady for the role. However, during the making of the film, Charlie’s marriage to Grey had collapsed, and Hale (who had idolized Chaplin from the beginning) was much more intimate with her leading man.
The movie was a huge commercial success, earning more than $ 4 million at that time. In 1942, Chaplin took the movie into the talkie space, re-releasing the movie with a musical score (that was nominated for an Academy Award), adding a personal narration in his own voice, and doing some more editing to reduce the length of the movie by a few minutes.

Chaplin’s previous movie ‘A women of Paris’ had failed, and Chaplin was looking to see how he could recoup from that. He wanted to make a great movie, something that he would be remembered for. And then he came on the stories of some of the tragedies of the Great Alaskan Gold Rush; with tales of hardship, struggle and tragedy. The movies takes The Tramp in the Yukon, along with many others like him, heading over the Chilkoot Pass (some spectacular shooting in Hollywood sets). He gets stuck in a remote cabin with little supplies, along with another prospector and an escaped fugitive.
In this setting happens one of the most iconic scenes from the silent film era, the eating of a leather boot by a starving man. Another iconic shot from the movie is of the cabin tottering on the edge of a cliff while the inhabitants struggle to get out. You also have the betrayal of The Tramp and the other prospector by the fugitive (who in turn meets his end at the hands of an avalanche).
The Tramp becomes very rich after finding gold. Once he reaches the town, The Tramp thinks that he is falling for a dance-hall girl (Hale), but why would she notice him ? She initially snubs him, but they have a happy ending.

The Goodbye girl was a movie released in 1977, a urban comedy about an odd-beat romance set in Manhattan (centered about an apartment over there). The twist in the making of the movie was that it was supposed to be starring Robert DeNiro and Marsha Mason (the wife of the screenplay writer Neil Simon (they later divorced in 1981)). The screenplay for the movie was called ‘Bogart Slept Here’; but guess what, the movie never got made based on that screenplay. A bit later, Robert DeNiro got written our, and Richard Dreyfuss was brought in, and then the screenplay was dumped; however, Dreyfuss and Mason were kept on as the leading couple and the screenplay was re-written. The movie proved to be very lucky for Dreyfuss, since it led to a Best Actor Oscar for him (in fact, at the time he was the youngest actor to win the Best Actor award).

The movie got 4 other Oscar nominations:
- Best Picture nomination - Ray Stark
- Best Actress nomination - Mason
- Supporting Actress nomination - Cummings
- Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen nomination - Simon

The movie is rated both as a great comedy and as a bitter-sweet romance where the couple initially hate each other’s guts, get into many scenes with each other, but slowly over a period of time, learn to appreciate each other (or a single incident can also do that in some cases); and finally realize that they do love each other.
The movie is about these 3 characters - Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason), her 10 year old daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings), and a young actor Eliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss). Paula and Lucy are staying with Paula’s boyfriend Tony, an actor, and he has promised that the next week they will all move to Los Angeles. After a long day shopping, Paula and Lucy come home and realize that this was not to be, like previous cases where Paula has been dropped by other men (many of them actors), Tony has left them high and dry and gone off to Italy.
Paula realizes that they don’t have money and she needs to resume dancing, but soon realizes that things are not so easy. She needs to get back into dancing form, and while returning from the class, she is told by the building manager (Mrs. Crosby) that Tony (to add insult to injury) had sublet the apartment and Paula can’t do anything about it since Tony owned the apartment. She is by now not terribly fond to actors; so imagine the shock when she finds out that the apartment has been leased to Eliot (another aspiring actor). However, she has to keep her anger and scorn under control, and agrees when Eliot proposes that they share the apartment. Eliot is here to play the title role in the stage production of Richard III (but in the nature of a stereotype homosexual), not something that seems likely to succeed.
They have many clashes, but slowly start adjusting to each other, and Eliot also starts getting closer to Lucy, likely to warm any mother’s heart. And they start to fall in love, and then the inevitable, he gets a call for a great opportunity in another city, a very important chance. This has happened to Paula many times, and so it seems like destiny repeating itself; what happens to their relation now ?

The movie also had a song with the same name, and that was super hit (performed by David Gates).

Isaac Asimov is famous for his visionary science fiction works such as the Foundation series that take on a future galaxy side humanity and its search for peace and order as well as progress, and for his Robotic laws that seem like natural constraints on the actions of robotics experts. Besides these however, Asimov also wrote a number of short stories, and they find place in the 2 Volume Short Stories collection. This article takes on the first volume of this collection; the stories are an incredible mix of societal issues, future trends, and so on. There are some very interesting stories in this collection, and some that were somewhat not so interesting to me.
The best story of this collection, and one that appeals to me the most, is a story called ‘The Last Question’. This is a story that takes on a question, moves it along the ages, never answering it, while projecting the technological advances in the ages that follow until you end up in an age ten trillion years in the future, when the entire universe is dying; and then you get the story of the creation mixed up in this answer ‘Let there be light’. This story, while being a pretty short story, and without much complexity, is about the best blend of science and religion that I have seen.
There are numerous other stories that are particularly interesting stories, with the first one, ‘The Dead Past’, being a very direct reminder about the dangers of tinkering with some things that should not have happened, such as creating a machine capable of looking into the past. ‘Franchise’ talks about a future dealing with ability of machines to interfere in the political process that seems like fantasy, but it could have seemed realistic at some point of time. ‘Gimmicks 3′ is a delightful story about dealing with having sold your soul, and the way to get around that. ‘Kid Stuff’ is another interesting story about dealing with non-human creatures.
Some of the stories are more complicated such as ‘The living space’ about alternate probability patterns of existence. And we do have stories related to robotics, ‘Satisfaction guaranteed’ is a very interesting story dealing with robotics and human interactions, including the natures of self-confidence and jealousy. ‘Hell-Fire’ is a very short story about the dangers of atomic weapons, similary ‘The Last Thump’ is about the dangers arising from atomic weapons. ‘Jokester’ is a story that is very worrying, dealing with the problems about the existence of jokes and whether they are just a lab experiment. ‘Profession’ is a very moving story dealing with the need for future societies to encourage people to have new ideas for development of society; one reads this story, looks at the present, and is very happy that our society did not develop in such a manner (I would seriously recommend that this should be a story that should be part of general reading).
There are other stories such as detective story that would not be out of place in today’s stories - “I’m in Marsport without Hilda”. Asimov also wrote a few stories on the innate nature of humanity to fight wars and yet maintain their overall nature of independence, such as ‘The Gentle Vultures’. Asimov also could not really conceptualize the age of the personal computer, imaging the existence of centralized massive computing resources, and in the midst of this single large computer of his called ‘Multivac’, he wrote a story about the stress of all the troubles of the world on this computer, and the incredible urge of the computer to terminate itself, called ‘All the troubles of this world’. The story ends in this line, ‘I want to die’.

When one thinks of the Winter Olympics, one would think of countries that have a lot of mountains, snow and ice; with a lot of winter games. So you would think of European countries, the United States, Canada, and so on. Thinking of tropical countries or countries that are essentially sun and beach destinations are not ones that typically come to mind when you think of sports such as skiing, sledding, or bob-sledding. This movie thus is a major surprise to those who see it for the first time - it takes a team from Jamaica (a major tropical paradise), and takes their entry into the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada in the bob-sledding competition. But just an entry into the bob-sledding competition is not worthy of a movie, it is their amazing ambition, their panache, their dogged persistence and their almost pulling off a major surprise.

The movie is not fully accurate, there are some differences between what actually happened and the depiction on the screen; however, the movie is somewhat of a good representation of the events. The movie starred the late John Candy in the major role of Irving (”Irv”) Blitzer, a former American bobsled double gold medallist at the 1968 Winter Olympics who was disgraced after being disqualified in 1972, and who retired to Jamaica. The movie was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and went onto be a major commercial success; it cost around $14 million to make and went onto earn more than $150 million worldwide.
The movie seems to start at incredulity, when a Jamaican 100m sprinter Derice Bannock (Leon Robinson) failed to make it for the team for the Summer Olympics (due to a mistake by another contestant Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis)), and approaches Irv for coaching to setup a Jamaican bobsledding team for the Winter Olympics. The first half of the movie is about this coaching regime for the first 3 months, including their initial failures and disappointment; however, they soon start to bond together as a team.
The second half of the movie is about the team in the Olympics; they face scorn and ridicule for their attempt. This is reinforced when they appear last in the first day trials in the actual Olympics. However, they appear fired up on the second day, and start surprising people with a much improved performance, ending up in eighth place. On the final day, they are like world champions, almost ending up with a record performance, however their borrowed sled falls apart a few meters from the finish. Unfazed, and with their spirits high, they carry their sled and walk across the finishing lines to the cheers of spectators.

There have been many movies that have been adapted from successful plays or musicals, less so in recent time; but much more in earlier times. One of the best adaptations of a stage musical was the creation of the movie, ‘My Fair Lady’, released in 1964. The movie was a great success, both commercially and critically. The movie and the stage musical are both based on the famous play, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw. The movie also starred some famous names, such as Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, and part of the success of the movie can be attributed to the presence of these 2 stars.
The movie was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and won 8 of them, a pretty large number. In addition, it won the BAFTA Best Film. The movie picked up the 2 Oscar awards that defined the movies: Best Picture, and Best Direction. The awards that the movie got nominated for and won were:

Wins:

* Best Picture - Jack L. Warner
* Best Director - George Cukor
* Best Actor - Rex Harrison
* Best Cinematography - Harry Stradling
* Best Sound - George R. Groves, Warner Brothers Studio
* Best Music Score - Andre Previn
* Best Art Direction - Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins
* Best Costume Design - Cecil Beaton

Nominations:

* Best Adapted Screenplay - Alan Jay Lerner
* Best Film Editing - William Ziegler
* Best Supporting Actor - Stanley Holloway
* Best Supporting Actress - Gladys Cooper

The movie is seen as an all time great, one of the 100 best movies. The concept of the movie is interesting, about a person so confident of his linguistic abilities that he is willing to bet that he can turn any woman (of any upbringing) from the street into a proper refined lady who can deceive anybody.
And so, the arrogant Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) boasts that he can turn the young flower seller girl, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) on the street, the one with a strong accent that can be as un-aristocratic as you can believe; in fact, he is positive that he is willing to pay for the expenses of this transformation and has a bet with a new friend, Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White). And so starts the whole project. In fact, in the beginning, this whole effort seems to be headed for failure - the desired transformation is difficult, and Henry is a strict teacher. However, just when they all seem to be giving up, Henry lightens up and gives her a good explanation of the history of the English language, along with its beauty. This speech seems to have done the trick, and Eliza now seems to be able to speak with an upper class accent.
Eliza is now able to start acting the part, and she is able to make a good impression in the races at Ascot with a new sophisticated way, except for when she lapses back into a cockney accent. And then comes the decision time, Eliza appears at an embassy ball as a mysterious lady, of an obvious noble rank, and passes the bet even with the evaluation of an expert. However, now that the bet has been won, Higgins starts getting distanced from Eliza, being seemingly callous to her future prospects. She is not happy and walks out. He soon starts missing her, and tries to get her back; but his ego again comes in the way and she refuses. He reaches back home, seemingly initially unconcerned about her not coming back, but misses her and plays her phonograph records. And then, she comes back and things are now right.

Being a musical, the movie had some great music. Here are all the songs from the movie.

Act One

* Overture (conducted by Previn)
* Why Can’t The English? (Harrison)
* Wouldn’t It Be Loverly (Nixon)
* An Ordinary Man (Harrison)
* With A Little Bit of Luck (Holloway)
* Just You Wait (Hepburn/Nixon)
* Servants Chorus
* The Rain in Spain (Hepburn/Nixon and Harrison)
* I Could Have Danced All Night (Hepburn/Nixon)
* Ascot Gavotte
* Ascot Gavotte [reprise]
* On the Street Where You Live (Shirley)
* Intermission

Act Two

* Transylvanian March
* Embassy Waltz
* You Did It (Hyde-White and Harrison)
* Just You Wait [reprise] (Hepburn)
* On The Street Where You Live (Shirley)
* Show Me (Shirley and Nixon)
* Get Me to The Church on Time (Holloway)
* A Hymn to Him (Harrison and Hyde-White)
* Without You (Hepburn/Nixon)
* I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face (Harrison)
* Finale
* Exit Music

It Happened One Night is a comedy released in 1934, from the stable of Director Frak Capra. The movie was based on a story by Samuel Hopkins Adams, called Night Bus. The movie was very popular, and was the first movie to win all 5 major Oscars
- Best Picture,
- Best Director: Frank Capra,
- Best Actor: Clark Gable
- Best Actress: Claudette Colbert
- Best Screenplay: Robert Riskin
An interesting tidbit is that Clark Gable’s award statuette was auctioned in 1996, Steven Spielberg had the winning bid of $607,500. He got it, and then donated the award to the Academy. No such luck for Claudette’s award; when it was offered for auction in the next year, nobody bid for it.

The movie had a different sort of love story - a mismatched couple; an indifferent out of work reporter out for a story, and a superior acting heiress running away from a protective father. The story of how they came together over a period of time (the title is a bit misleading, no climatic event happens on any one night), and realize that they are in love with each other was skilfully presented, making this an all time great movie. And this was after neither Gable nor Colbert were satisfied by the script, but after starting the movie, they accepted it. The end result was a movie that was reckoned to be smart, sexy, funny, and a great see. Imagine a movie in the 30’s having a scene where the hero claims to be an expert at hitch-hiking, but is unable to stop a single passing vehicle. Then the heroine uses her unfair advantage by lifting her skirt and flashing a bit of thigh, presto, a vehicle stops.
The movie is about this rich heiress Ellie Andrews; spoilt rotten by her father. She falls for a rich money-seeking and handsome weasel, King Westley. Her dad stops her in the nick of time, but the call of love is over-powering and she jumps off from her prison aboard the family yacht and wants to make her way to New York to join her love. Boarding the bus, she meets Peter Warne (Clark Gable). Gable has just been fired from his newspaper. They have a brief skirmish over a seat; when that is settled, she misses her bus the next day (hilariously assuming that the bus will wait for her when she is having a great breakfast). Her purse has been stolen, she has no money, and the reporter has recognized her. He threatens to tell her dad about her location unless she gives him the story, and what a juicy story that will be.
They have to spend nights at motels on the way, and he uses a clothesline with a blanket to separate the single room in which they are staying (staying as a married couple in order to save money). All the time he taunts her for being a rich spoilt girl (when she suspects him of being funny by booking a room as a husband and wife, he turns it around by telling her that he is only interested in the story and not in her). Near the end, he leaves the motel for some work, and the couple owning the motel kick her out suspecting some funny business. Ellie is so disoriented that she calls her dad, who is so relived at getting her back that he agrees for her marriage. In a misunderstanding, she thinks that Peter has betrayed her, while Peter believes that she has double-crossed him.
Peter does contact her dad, but not to claim the large reward, but only the sum that he spent on her. Her father is so intrigued that he gets after the reporter until Peter tells the truth, he is in love with Ellie, although if he were rational, there was no reason that he should be in love with her. The climax, the marriage scene. Andrews tells his daughter that Peter did not betray her, he only came for the expenses, and if she really loves Peter and wants to make her dad happy, she should run away. There is a car waiting at the back, and she does. The happy dad negotiated with Westley to get the earlier marriage annulled, and everybody is happy.

I’ll admit it right away, there are many of Bill Bryson’s books that I really liked. I had read some of Bryson’s later books before I read this one, so there was always the thought that maybe his earlier books would not have the same level of humour, and the great style of writing that I always liked. Well, I felt great while reading the book and did not regret it one bit. He writes a lot about travel and adventure, while presenting a great deal of information. And to tell the truth, I had not heard of the Appalachian Trail before reading this book; by the time I had finished, I knew a great deal more. And it was not only me; after this book was published in 1998, there was an upsurge in interest about the trail, with a lot more people wanting to hike the trail.

The book is about the attempt by the author and his old college buddy, Stephen Katz, to walk the 2100 miles of the Appalachian Trail from start to finish. Neither of the 2 is in top physical condition, with Katz in a much worse physical condition. By the end, neither of them has done anything like what they attempted to do, having covered a very small section overall of the trail (and for which the book was criticised to some extent, as a travel book that did not even cover the whole trail).
In addition, the book was also criticized to a large degree because of the depiction of fellow hikers, with the author having been accused of turning them into absurdities.
However, the fact remains that this is not just a travel book. The book is not supposed to be a guide for traveling the trail, instead it is a humorous depiction of a journey, with the focus on the effort and the adventures while on the trail. The book is chock full of humour that makes you laugh, and makes you want to read more. About the travel of the author with his old friend, the entire adventure from the start (preparing what to take, and what to discard), and how whether their physical condition is adequate for the trip that they are considering.
The fear of bears, and maybe of mountain lions, is apparent in the writing, and the time where the author described how a bear came into the camp makes for some riveting reading. The book also tries to explain a lot of geological information (how the mountains and its various aspects came into existence), how the trail was formed due to the efforts of 2 dedicated people, and a lot about the fauna and flora along the trail. You also get to read a lot about the various stops, towns, and fellow hikers that they meet when on the trail.
The only time when the book deviates from the light reading and humour is when you can perceive the author’s anger against the mismanagement of the trail by various administrative bodies such as the Parks and Forest Services of the federal Government, as well as the ineptitude of the US Army Corps of Engineers. He is downright hostile to their mismanagement, and when you read the way in which the information is presented, you can tend to agree with him.
Overall, this is a book that is worth reading, and you might find yourself chuckling along with the author.