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Rating: 
Summary: Welcome insights.
Review: Here is Twain in his own voice; humorous, cantankerous, opinionated, sometimes historicallyunreliable, but always engaging, and, unlike almost all of his contemporaries, fun to read.
He went everywhere and seems to have met everyone of consequence in his day, and he reports all with his reporter's eye (and imaginative gifts!). He was also a dedicated family man who, sadly, outlived most of his loved ones, and this work may be seen in part as a memorial to them. The sadness, suffused with joyful recollections, does not detract from the overall entertainment and enlightenment value of the work, which is highly recommended for anyone interested in Twain or the literary world of the nineteenth century.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon"s format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)
Rating: 
Summary: Only for a fan of S.Clemens
Review: I checked this book out of the library two months ago (woops!)and although it did not compel me to voraciously read it through beginning to end, it does quietly beckon to finish his story. I love Samuel Clemens and the way he looked at life. He made outrageous statements concerning people and God, and often irreverent. I'm a Christian and probably should be offended, but I'm not. The reader can see in his books, the quieter search for truth and spirituality. This autobiography is one of them. In his own words.."this autobiography of mine does not select from my life its showy episodes, but deals mainly in the common experiences which go to make up the life of the average human being." His softer side is exposed when discussing his children and thier questions. His young daughters were not jaded and cynical in thier approach to the meaning of life and God, so it often threw him off guard when trying to answer them. He is considered to be the great writers/satirists of American history, and yet he exposes his weaknesses and insecurities readily. He makes the ordinary, unknown man feel comfortable in his "presence". Mr. Clemens had a keen sense of the human ego..he knew that when most people recollect their past, famous and non, they tend to glorify and embellish thier success and justify what wasn't. Often when he is recalling stories, he will finish them with "events which...I have imagined have happened to me" or "Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true." Love that! I also appreciate the fact that Michael Kiskis did not interject his commentary throughout the autobiography (like many commentators do.) He made the distinction between his writing and Twain's clear. His was a simple introduction and follow-up of notes. It's probably a slow-read, but I recommend it to anyone that wanted to become better aquainted with Samuel Clemens and his life story!
Rating:
Summary: Only for a fan of S.Clemens
Review: I checked this book out of the library two months ago (woops!)and although it did not compel me to voraciously read it through beginning to end, it does quietly beckon to finish his story. I love Samuel Clemens and the way he looked at life. He made outrageous statements concerning people and God, and often irreverent. I'm a Christian and probably should be offended, but I'm not. The reader can see in his books, the quieter search for truth and spirituality. This autobiography is one of them. In his own words.."this autobiography of mine does not select from my life its showy episodes, but deals mainly in the common experiences which go to make up the life of the average human being." His softer side is exposed when discussing his children and thier questions. His young daughters were not jaded and cynical in thier approach to the meaning of life and God, so it often threw him off guard when trying to answer them. He is considered to be the great writers/satirists of American history, and yet he exposes his weaknesses and insecurities readily. He makes the ordinary, unknown man feel comfortable in his "presence". Mr. Clemens had a keen sense of the human ego..he knew that when most people recollect their past, famous and non, they tend to glorify and embellish thier success and justify what wasn't. Often when he is recalling stories, he will finish them with "events which...I have imagined have happened to me" or "Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true." Love that! I also appreciate the fact that Michael Kiskis did not interject his commentary throughout the autobiography (like many commentators do.) He made the distinction between his writing and Twain's clear. His was a simple introduction and follow-up of notes. It's probably a slow-read, but I recommend it to anyone that wanted to become better aquainted with Samuel Clemens and his life story!
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