Books: The Audacity Of Hope by Barack Obama

I just finished reading Barack Obama’s second book, The Audacity Of Hope. It’s basically about his ideas on what politics should be, what policies he suggests that might improve all sorts of things, and it’s sprinkled with little anecdotes of his life.

The book is interesting and so are his ideas and suggestions. If you have followed his “career” (for lack of a better term) since he announced that he was running for the presidency – as I have – some of the things in the book will sound familiar, since it’s basically what he’s been talking about in TV appearances and such. It gets a little repetitive in a way when he basically keeps describing how people are generally decent and good and just trying to make an honest living, and how the government should help. However, it is very well-written and so pretty enjoyable to read, even when you’re at a part where you know what he’ll say next.

I did learn a lot about Mr. Obama through this book, though, and I still can’t help but wonder how such a decent, smart, self-reflecting guy managed to become President of the USA. (That sounds really offensive, but hey, it does feel kind of like bizarro world…) It will certainly be interesting to see whether he can manage to do a lot of the things he suggested.

I found myself enjoying the little anecdotes about his life he told in this book and so I expect that I will enjoy his first book, Dreams From My Father, more than this one. I’ll report back on that, however, so watch this space.

[The Audacity Of Hope by Barack Obama ** 364 pages ** Read in 19 days ** 18 Jan – 5 Feb 2009]