Football - Chuck Klosterman ---------------- 4 Stars

I've read and reviewed a couple of Chuck Klosterman's books (reviews here) and have always found them quite entertaining and unique. He has a writing style that is really his own and a fascinating way of taking mundane things or topical issues and putting a philosophical spin on them. That is the same with his recent release, Football. I found it an engaging read with some deep thinking and really novel ways to reflect about the incredibly popular past time that is modern day American football. 

This book only came out a couple months ago and I was lucky enough to borrow a copy from the library and I'm pretty happy I did. Like this other books I've read, I always find myself thinking far more deeply about whatever subject I'm reading about with a Klosterman book. This was no exception as he made me really consider why football is so popular, when/how long might it continue to be popular, and other engaging ideas.

The book was pretty short and a fairly easily read. Of course, with Klosterman, I found myself realizing just how silly certain things are, especially with the ways he explains them, but also having to re-read sentences or paragraphs, either because of the elevated vocabulary used or confusing observations and viewpoints. Oddly, this book seemed a lot longer than it actually was. On the Kindle, I "finished" it while only 70% completed; the rest was Index with, what seemed, a reference and listing of page number to nearly every word in the book. Which reminds me that I also enjoyed just how funny this book was. I enjoy Klosterman's bizarre sense of humor, and it was fully on display in this book (one example, he's telling a story about something that happened to him in high school and wrote something like, "my friend was there, let's call him Tim, since that was his name").

Of course, even with all these positives, the book can drag on occasion or make a reference to something so obscure that I have to believe most people reading have no idea what he's talking about. The book, of course, is quite focused on football, and, again, really is quite philosophical at some points. While interesting, I am not sure if this book would actually be enjoyed by most passionate football fans. It's a bit ironic that I think the audience for this book is much more likely to be readers of Klosterman books than general people who like football. Perhaps you can check it out and see what you think about it?

The Minds of Billy Milligan: A True Story of Multiple Personality - Daniel Keyes ------------ 3.5 Stars

The Minds of Billy Milligan is not a new book. The book was released a year after I was born and described the life of Billy Milligan - the first person to be acquitted by the insanity defense due to multiple personality disorder. I'm not sure when I came across this book and realized I wanted to read. I do know that it was difficult to procure. While some/many books can be found as an electronic copy with Libby, nearly all others have a paper copy in the library. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a paper copy in the local library either! So, to eBay, where I found a quite old paperback copy. This was both great and awful. On a positive, finally got a copy; the negative - it was about 8 point font and had to pick up reading glasses for the first time in my life. After all that, I did enjoy the book.

As I mentioned above, this book is about Billy and his 24 (yes, 24!) different personalities. Of course, there is some dispute about whether each or any of these are real. Unfortunately, Billy and/or these other personalities committed some burglaries and rapes which put him on trail and in jail and brought his condition out to the public.

The book is interestingly partitioned. In three parts, it begins with the trail phase and eventual decision about his sentence to a mental hospital. Then, it spends the majority of the book, recounting Billy's childhood all the way through the personalties taken over and eventual crimes. The final focus of the book was about Billy's time after sentencing going between mental hospitals while both sides appealed his case.

While I found the book quite interesting, Billy's timeline in the book ended only a few years after he was sentenced (when the book was published). Knowing there was probably much more to his story (there was), I did a pretty deep dive on the rest of his life. There is an uneven and somewhat interesting 4 episode docuseries on Netflix about him (bizarre editing, only need to watch the last two episodes). 

What I've not explored in this review (because it's both complicated and controversial) is how incredible, sad, and bizarre Billy's case of multiple personality disorder (now classified as disassociate personality disorder) truly is. I mean, the guy had 24 different people supposedly living in his head; besides being hard enough to even keep track of that many, the way he seemed to truly change when each one of them took over the "spotlight" was like nothing else I ever read. 

It's hard to know if this particular book would appeal to the average reader. While incredibly fascinating, it's quite long and can be a slog. While hard to believe, it's also quite sad and evident who much trauma and abuse can really change a person. Perhaps check out an article or video about Billy and decide if you want to go much deeper before jumping in.