If you are looking for a book on Reptilians, Islamofascism, massive yet somehow plausible conspiracies, Stalino-Fascism, and 'reverse racism', this is not for you.

There is always a caveat on writing biographies about the living: they could always do something big to surprise you and change the whole 'narrative' of the life, so to speak. Maraniss has taken the long view, spending a large portion of the book on Obama's ancestors, and concluding this volume before he was to enter Harvard Law School.

The threads of Obama's ancestry are divergent, from rural Kansas to Kenya. It's also interesting to see how their personalities and goals shaped each other - Obama's paternal side was intense and fiery, whereas the man himself was famously cool and understated - the most anxious his friends saw him was when he smoked two cigarettes almost at once.

His childhood is also an interesting story. Well-traveled, bilingual, surrounded by different people - Hawaii, California, Indonesia. Unfocused, but ambitious. Quiet and observational, but still friendly and gifted in conversation. Played state championship basketball in High School, smoked weed on occasion. Struggling with identity and role.

An interesting biography. Helps understand the formation of the man, if not the whole of his life.