“Game Change” by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

Over the past year I started downloading and listening to books on my Microsoft ZUNE MP3 player. I found this to be quite enjoyable when laying around the pool, on long driving trips, laying out on our deck and before going to bed for the evening.

SYNOPSIS: This book is a spicy smorgasbord of observations, revelations and allegations about Obama, Biden, the Clintons, McCain and Palin.  The authors mix savvy political analysis with detailed reconstructions of scenes and conversations they did not witness firsthand relying heavily on “deep background” interviews, along with e-mail messages, memorandums and other forms of documentation to create a novelistic narrative that often reflects the views of the authors’ most cooperative or voluble sources. Though the book focuses on the personal sides of the candidates, not policy concerns, and though some of what will be its most controversial passages could fall into the realm of gossip and reflect the views of chatty spin-conscious aides, the volume does leave the reader with a vivid, visceral sense of the reality of presidential campaigns. REVIEW: Even though, as an audio book, it was more than 15 hours long, it was a very fast read. Whether or not everything is 100 percent true, even though the book is not “footnoted”, I believe there was enough research performed to certainly make everything to be very believable. I challenge any knowledgeable person to read the book in the context of what they have already heard, read and learned through the general media and make up their own mind. It validated the majority of concepts that I had already formed in my mind about these people. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend the unabridged audio version. I give it [5-Stars]