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Up From The Projects: An Autobiography (2010)

by Walter E. Williams(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0817912541 (ISBN13: 9780817912543)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Hoover Institution Press

review 1: This biography is brief, but I don't see that as being a drawback. Williams covers the main points of his life and worldview without delving into needless details. It's an inspiring message, well-delivered with just the right amount of anecdotes and self-deprecating humor. Of course, Williams is an impassioned proponent for libertarian-leaning economics, and most readers will know this going in. I think it helps to be sympathetic to this worldview, but I believe even liberal readers will have to admire Williams for his intelligence, hard work, and refusal to tolerate lame excuses from anyone, most of all himself. The reader will learn of Williams' early trouble-making and mistakes, and how those experiences eventually led him away from "thinking with his heart" to thi... morenking with his head. He acknowldges that he had some luck and help along the way, and that's the beauty of it: just about all of us have some luck and help along the way. The trick is not to squander it, or as Willams says: when opportunity knocks you don't want to say wait while I pack. You want to be ready to go. Willams is a talented wordsmith who treats us to a story of a life well-lived, with hard learned lessons and well deserved joy throughout. Good for him, and good for the reader who picks this book up.
review 2: The always independent and amusing Dr. Williams' very short biography is fun to read and there were a few times I laughed aloud. It portrays the life of poor black Americans when families were still intact, and work was readily available for teenagers. Although he is a conservative economist of the Milton Friedman school (I am really simplifying here), he maintains his own unique take on a wide variety of subjects. Until he married, Mr Williams was in trouble with the law and with every sort of authority figure imaginable, even to the point of a considered court martial. I seldom feel that a book should have been longer, but in this case, I do. My guess is that he is a private person and was not inclined to say more than he did. less

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