(FWIW this is the third time I have tried to post this. Servers keep being elusive)
I am interested in learning more about B.O. I have seen his book at the top of the charts for a while, so I guess it is not your regular dry drivel published by presidential hopefuls.
Have any of you read it? Its not a policy manual is it? Did you find it “readable”? If it were not about a US Senator who could make Presidential history, would it still prove an interesting read?
Thanks for your input!
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Are you sure you’re not Barack Obama trying to drum up press for your new book? 
Steven Levitt of Freakonomics fame gave it high praise on his blog. I can’t seem to get the link to post but if you Google Freakonomics Blog and then search on the blog for Obama it is the 2nd story that comes up.
It’s actually not too bad. Dude’s a pretty good writer (and he wrote it himself, no ghostwriter). It’s not dry at all. Some parts are more interesting than others but he has a conversational writing style that works pretty well. The best parts are when he’s talking about what it’s like to be in Congress, how people treat you, what it’s like at airports, etc. It’s almost like an “Ask the US Senator” book.
It’s worth noting that the book you’re talking about, The Audacity of Hope, is his second book. His first is Dreams From My Father, which is an autobiography of his life from childhood to right before running for the US Senate, and discusses his issues with race, dealing with his father, and so on. I found it very engaging, well-written, and thoughtful.
I haven’t read the book, but the excerpt I read in Time magazine was very good and makes me interested to read the rest.
Aren’t “B.H.O.” (Barack Hussein Obama, I kid you not) better initials than just “B.O.”?
Then again, maybe he’d rather not remind anyone of his middle name. And I like the guy!
Here’s the Time magazine excerpt from Audacity of Hope: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546298,00.html
I am only in the fourth or fifth chapter, but I have found it very interesting. He’s a bit idealistic, but c’mon, he’s a young politician that still believes he can change the world. Actually, while reading it I started to think he might. I come in here and search the web for some other view points so I don’t get too sucked in, but he’s got me hooked for now.
Not dry at all, and he is very personable. Seems like the kind of guy I could support.
I’ve read his first book, Dreams from My Father, which was very good. Written well before his political career, It’s an extended review of his upbringing and life to that point.
The theme of the book is how he was influenced by the myth and reality of his absent African father, which he uses as a lens to examine what it means to grow up and live as a black American. That sounds pretentious as hell, but the book does this through a series of interesting and engaging stories about his childhood in Indonesia and Hawaii, his youth as a disaffected Black student, his visit to his fathers’ extended family in Africa, and his life in the working world, starting in corporate New York and going through his years as a tenant activist before entering law school.
The guy can tell a good yarn, and the book is well worth a read.
As to the new book, I’ve taken it out of the library and will start it shortly.