Koestler
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Koestler
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4.09 of 5 stars
From award-winning author Michael Scammell comes a monumental achievement: the first authorized biography of Arthur Koestler, one of the most influ... read full description

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Mar 12, 2011
Marks54 rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This was a really good biography of an interesting person, although a bit long. Koestler wrote one of the best political novels ever - Darkness at Noon -- and seemed to be right in the thick of European intellectual life in the interwar and postwar eras. Scammell's bio was everything you could ask for in a good bio. The only problem for me was that Koestler came across as a real jerk - abusive to women, condescending, and too believing of his own press. Genius does not excuse that. Overall, More...
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Dec 20, 2009
Eric_W marked it as to-read
Interesting quote from Johann Hari in a review on Slate:He [Koestler:] said he was cursed with "absolutitis": When a cause didn't offer him absolute salvation, he would discard it in despair and try to find another with the same promise. The one possibility he never explored for long is the only real answer to suffering—incremental democratic reform. Real improvements in human societies almost always come inch-by-inch, without any grand map of a perfect world. If you demand perfection, More...
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Feb 18, 2010
A. rated it: 5 of 5 stars
With the precision of a bullet on "Whittaker Chambers in Books" (also in The Washington Times)
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Aug 19, 2011
K C rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Fascinating, in depth bio of someone who should not have become so obscure
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Apr 28, 2010
Jack rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Life and times of one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century.
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Dec 02, 2011
Terri rated it: 5 of 5 stars
a great way of reading a history of the twentieth century. reading it through the journey of Arthur Koestler, it becomes a personal and passionate story. a must.
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Jan 11, 2011
Malcolm rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Excellent biography of a much maligned and important thinker in the realms of utopian politics, fiction, and science.
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Jan 25, 2012
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Jan 24, 2012
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Jan 04, 2012
Gerry rated it: 3 of 5 stars
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Jan 04, 2012
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Dec 31, 2011
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Dec 28, 2011
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Dec 23, 2011
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Dec 03, 2011
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Nov 19, 2011
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Oct 29, 2011
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Oct 28, 2011
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Oct 23, 2011
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Oct 12, 2011
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Oct 06, 2011
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Oct 06, 2011
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Sep 27, 2011
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Sep 26, 2011
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Sep 26, 2011
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Jan 15, 2012
Amro rated it: 3 of 5 stars
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Sep 03, 2011
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Sep 02, 2011
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Aug 26, 2011
Marcus rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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Aug 23, 2011
edgar rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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