Customer Reviews

Bird Man: The Many Faces of Robert Stroud

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A very enjoyable book. I thought it was very well researched and kept my sharp interest from cover to cover! I would highly recommend this book to other readers interested in reading an exceptional nonfictional biography on the real Birdman of Alcatraz.

This book, chosen for my psychology class is a great one. It offers a look at Robert Stroud's life before, during, and after his time was served at Alcatraz. It proved that he is NOT only a murderer that served time but that he truly believed that the prison was serving him time. It is an excellent book about history, psychology and a man of many identities. A must read but not the best book in the world.

I bought the book while on a tour at Alcatraz and it's very hard to put down! Anyone interested in Pyschology and Criminal Justice should read this book!

This is a thoroughly research piece of work and effectively dispels the mythology surrounding Robert Stroud. The author writes in a lively and engaging style. As other reviewers note, though, the work is much in need of editing. It features occasional incorrect word usage, mistakes in punctuation and problems in sentence structure. These are particularly notable in the book's early chapters. Despite these flaws, it's an empirically sound work that will answer your questions about the sad case of Robert Stroud.

Jolene Babyak has written several books on Alcatraz. This one is obviously well researched, and it appears that she has done her homework. But she should really find an editor for her books (or a publisher with an in-house editor), for all of them are marred by many typographical and grammatical errors. For instance, what's with all the hyphens? It's "one hundred" not "one-hundred" (p. 103) and "two thousand" not "two-thousand" (p. 192). She hyphenates numerous words that are simply not spelled that way, such as "hand-cuffed" (p. 152), though she has it correct in a photo caption. Also, a basic grammatical rule states that the hyphen is generally omitted after adverbs ending in "ly." So you don't say "socially-embarrassed" (p. 29) or "harshly-worded" (p. 231). But her publisher does her no favors, as the last page of the book, a publisher's ad, has the same mistake. And there are so many misspelled words. It's "vain" not vane (p. 28), "Adolf Hitler" not "Adolph" (p. 138), and "altar boy" not "alter" (p. 181).

In contrast to Gaddis' book this one is bad written and pretends to explore personal aspects of Stroud's life that have nothing to do with birds or penitentiary reforms.
It is also written in a "yellow press" style, and full of inaccuracies
If you want to read a good book just read Dr. Gaddis one and if you like me enjoy canaries you can also try Stroud's digest on the diseases of birds