Jim Gigliotti

For a short read it packed a lot of "punch"... I'll see my self out. I did not know much about Bruce Lee, but after reading it I can imagine the mourning that occured. He did most in 32 years, that a lot of people do in their whole lives. I'm 32 now and it gave me goosebumps, he had so much life left, and also reminded me to become more motivated. He changed the industry for the better forever.

This biography of country legend Johnny Cash caught my eye when I was looking for a short audiobook to fill in a gap while waiting for a hold to become available. Johnny Cash was a superstar during my childhood. (He’s also at the center of one of my favorite family stories. When I was about five years old, I was traveling through rural southern Indiana with my grandparents, and my grandmother got very excited when she spotted Johnny Cash along the road. This was the first time that my show more brother and I experienced my grandmother talking in her sleep. I remember being really disappointed that Johnny Cash wasn’t actually there.) I learned some new things about Johnny Cash from this book. While the target audience seems to be middle grade readers, it’s a book that many adult readers will enjoy. It seems like a biographical article that might have appeared in a popular magazine such as Reader’s Digest back in the day. show less

I knew this was written for a much younger age group when I picked it up at the library book sale and I already knew a bit about Bruce Lee, but I figured it was a $2.00 per bag sale and the book would help fill up a sack of books.

I'm not sure what age range this is recommended for. Maybe ages 8-9? Could be higher or lower depending on the reading skills and/or the interest in the subject matter.

I almost gave up on it in the beginning section "Who Was Bruce Lee?" when it had sentences like show more "What strength Bruce had!", "What speed Bruce had!", and "What power Bruce had!" (Not that I don't agree--and each of these sentences was prefaced with a short story about something Bruce had done that demonstrated this attribute.)

I am glad I pressed on. I did learn a few things about Bruce Lee that I hadn't realized before. I hadn't realized he studied philosophy. I hadn't realized that he had many books. I hadn't realized that he had combined a bunch of different disciplines to create Jeet Kun Do (or that some call him the father of modern MMA).

I also never realized he'd had a back injury that he had to come back from.

I did find it a bit confusing that his movies had different titles in Chinese and English. show less

I learned a lot from this slender volume -- what a fascinating human being, and what an immense impact he had in his short life. Well written, moves right along.