Hannibal and Me – A book Review

 

“Meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” from Rudyard Kipling‘s poem “If –“, first read in “Hannibal and Me“

Andreas Kluth is The Economist‘s US West Coast correspondent and author of a new book “Hannibal and Me: What History’s Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure“. I’ve been reading Andrea’s blog for some time, so I knew I would like his book but I ended up loving Hannibal and Me!

The following is my review of the book, video interview clips, plus some additional bonus materials about characters trimmed from the book.

*** Book Review ***

I love biographies in general and reading Hannibal and Me to me was like reading the crucial slices of lives of many interesting people’s stories of “successes“, “failures“, and sometimes “impostors” (successes that actually lead to failures, or failures that become foundation of future successes) all in one book woven into many cohesive lessons.

To give you an idea of the “who’s who” in the book, take a look of this partial list of characters featured in the book: Hannibal, Andreas (the author himself), Barack Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt, Steve Jobs, Amy Tan, Meriwether Lewis (and Thomas Jefferson, William Clark), Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman, Ludwig Erhard, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Tiger Woods, Cleopatra, Lance Armstrong, Liu Shaoqi (and Mao Zedong), plus Albert Einstein.

In Andreas’ throughly researched and eloquently written Hannibal and Me, the lives of modern day people like Steve Jobs, Tiger Woods, Amy Tan, Eleanor Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman were woven into the spectacular venture tale of Hannibal, bring every characters to live.

Don’t let words like “history“, “military strategist“, “Hannibal” in the title deter you from reading the book. I had to study history for six years and pretty much hated every minute of it. Andreas’ Hannibal and Me managed to bring all these characters to life to teach me, Kempton, teach us, readers of the book, important life-changing lessons. I originally thought I would have to skip a few pages so I can get to the interesting/fascinating modern real life stories sooner. To my pleasant surprise, I ended up reading every page over a few days. I find the lives, decisions and actions of the charters in the book absolutely fascinating and illuminating.

Ultimately, each reader will learn different lessons from the book depending on our own life experiences and life stages. Hannibal and Me is one of the best books I have read for years. To me, the book crystallized some of the life decisions I have made over the last few years and will be making in the future. I know I will be re-reading Hannibal and Me again and again over time as I grow older and gain more experiences. I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I did.

*** Video interviews with Andreas ***

Here is the main video interview clip. (My previous post about my multiple interview video clips with Andreas.)

Andreas on Eleanor Roosevelt

Interviewing Andreas Kluth author of “Hannibal and Me”

Earlier this week, I had an insightful and fun interview with Andreas Kluth (Google+). Andreas is The Economist‘s US West Coast correspondent and author of a brand new book “Hannibal and Me: What History’s Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure“.

I highly recommend “Hannibal and Me“ and will write a book review later. For now, have a watch of my interview with Andreas. I hope to give you a sense of why I love the book so much.

Interviewing Andreas Kluth author of “Hannibal and Me”

*** Extra English interview clips & Chinese articles ***

Andreas Kluth, “Hannibal and Me” author, on Eleanor Roosevelt – interview extra

Chinese article: 唐英年太太郭妤淺應向羅斯福總統第一夫人Eleanor學習面對凱旋及厄難【短片】

Andreas Kluth, “Hannibal and Me” author, on Liu Shaoqi (劉少奇) in Cultural Revolution (文化大革命) – interview extra

Chinese article: “Hannibal and Me” 從文化大革命中的劉少奇學習 – 防人之心不可無

Andreas Kluth, “Hannibal and Me” author, on Harry S Truman – interview extra

Chinese article: Hannibal and Me” 美國總統杜魯門在韓戰中大敗於中國？ Harry S Truman in Korean War

Flash of Genius: Andreas Kluth

I’m preparing for an interview with +Andreas Kluth, author of “Hannibal and Me“, The Economist‘s West Coast correspondent. In my research, I found the following video in which Andreas talked about his book at the Economist Ideas Economy, Innovation event in Berkeley, California in March 2010.

Meet with Triumph and Disaster – New Quote I Love

A new addition to my collection of Quotes I Love,

“Meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” from Rudyard Kipling‘s poem “If –“, first read in “Hannibal and Me” by Andreas Kluth

By the way, I find ”Hannibal and Me” an excellent read and I will be writing a book review plus video interviewing Andreas later.

Debate motion: California is the first failed state. (Tuesday Jan 19)

My blog friend and The Economist reporter Andreas Kluth will be debating “California is the first failed state” in New York with the likes of Gray Davis (CA governor from 1999-2003) on Tuesday Jan 19, 2010.

The following is the line-up,

1. FOR–Andreas Kluth
2. AGAINST–Gray Davis
3. FOR–Sharon Waxman
4. AGAINST–Van Jones
5. FOR–Bobby Shriver
6. AGAINST–Lawrence O’Donnell

Here is the info from New York Times,

INTELLIGENCE SQUARED US Tuesday at 6:45 p.m., “California Is the First Failed State,” a debate on California’s financial problems. Those arguing in favor of the proposition are Andreas Kluth, a writer for The Economist; Robert Sargent Shriver III, a lawyer and member of the Santa Monica City Council; and Sharon Waxman ofTheWrap.com. Those arguing against it are Gray Davis, California governor from 1999 to 2003; Van Jones, a lawyer and environmental advocate; and Lawrence O’Donnell Jr., a writer and political analyst for MSNBC. The debate is the first in a spring series; a reception takes place at 5:45 p.m. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South, Greenwich Village , (212) 303-4322,intelligencesquaredus.org; $35; $45 includes the reception.