false 259028 0375725601 9780375725609 8223 1573 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173214679m/259028.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/259028.The_Devil_in_the_White_City_Murder_Magic_and_Madness_at_the_Fair_that_Changed_America 5869 Erik Larson 40531 7503 4 0 false Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 10 20:59:35 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 19 17:26:03 -0800 2009 Issac's Storm, a book about the 1900 Galveston hurricane which has also been on my to-read list for a while.

After reading: I can;t decide if I liked this book or not. I was engrossed in the story and I kept reading because I was trying to make it through the chapters about Burnham to make it to the chapters about Holmes. Looking back, I just find I wasn't that interested in the minute details about the fair's inception.

A few things annoyed me about the book too. Larson starts by alternating chapters, one short chapter about Burnham then one short chapter about Holmes. It's easy reading, even though there are tons of names and details and dates to keep straight. But halfway through the book Larson changes this pattern, so you end up wading through more and more pages to get to the salacious details of the book.

Larson has done extensive research into the story, and the fair details I found most fascinating where not the numbers of visitors of the hours of work that went into the design, but the little details — the creation of Shredded Wheat, for example, and the epic introduction of the world's first Ferris Wheel.

I can't say I didn't enjoy the book because I burned through it's nearly 400 pages pretty quickly, but when I consider now picking up "Isaac's Storm" from the library it sounds like the last thing I could possibly want to read right now.]]>