Customer Reviews

Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography

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It's often better to know certain people only through their works, and to avoid altogether what passes for a biography written by "long-time friends." This is the overview he was afraid of reading, what had to wait to be written until his passing? There is no semblance of objective distance in this book. Even the most awful, and possibly revealing, aspects of this man's life--chief among them the suicide of his sixty-nine year old wife of more than four decades--are glossed over and swept aside, the authors preferring to concentrate on his happiness in taking up with the wife of one of his friends soon after. And there are countless mentions of his "brilliant color sense"--a subjective talent, at best--to the extent that by the end of the book you might believe that this was on par with the cure for polio. Dr. Seuss was a wonderfully talented author of children's books, and a worthy subject for an honest and well-rounded biography. Unfortunately, this is not it. Go back and read "Green Eggs and Ham" again. Go read "The Cat in the Hat." Leave this alone.

Dr. Seuss has become such a fixture in our world that its hard to fully appreciate the impact he had on children's literature and our culture. This book explores both the origins of his whimsical books and the impact he had on the publishing industry. As portrayed here, Dr. Seuss is possessed of a slightly skewed view of life, but is devoted to promoting the causes he believed in, including children's literacy. As a man who truly believed that reading should be fun, he wrote books that he felt were fun to read, and knew that others would enjoy them too. Its a shame that his fear of public speaking kept the world from knowing him better during his lifetime, but he lives on in his impressive body of wacky and delightful books and art. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to get a glimpse of the man behind the cat.

I have read almost all of the books written by Dr. Seuss, but knew little about the wonderful man. This book is full of humour and delightful insights into the workings of children's books (non-existent before Dr. Seuss) and the many other projects under his guise. Recommended reading for everyone over 20-- to recapture the magic behind the Cat, Horton and the Grinch!

A cleverly written biography of one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Although he died not so long ago, it seems as if Dr. Seuss the legend has been replaced by Dr. Seuss the label in the minds of America's youth. This biography was a touching, insightful look into the life of the man behind the cat. Although obviously written with a pro-Seuss bias (they were his friends, after all), the book was pleasure to read, and is sure to be passed on to friends and family.

Dr. Seuss is an American icon by anyone's standards. He taught millions of children how to read and enchanted young and old alike with his clever, unsentimental stories and rhymes, as well as his fanciful, detailed drawings.

While this biography doesn't get to the core of the man, it is nevertheless entertaining and good at portraying Dr. Seuss' perpetual, impish, childlike vision of the world. We see that he was a prankster and ever-young at heart, even into his 80s. At the same time, we also see a man who was passionate about his work and perfectionistic in his sense of color, meter and story development. And he didn't shy away from heady topics such as the environment, nuclear war and aging. Indeed, because of his skill and keen, honest, funny insights into the world, both children and adults reveled in his surreal, magical worlds. With books like The Lorax and The Butter Battle Book, we see a subversive, brilliant man who was thirty years ahead of his time, simultaneously writing about important issues, while entertaining everyone and also teaching children how to respect their world and the people around them.

Dr. Seuss seemingly had infinite energy for writing, drawing, painting, collaborating, imagining and building a canon of classic literature. It started early, from his days at Dartmouth, to his early attempts to break into the publishing market during the 1920s. His biographers, the Morgans, do well to emphasize his boundless spirit and curiosity---he managed to travel to exotic corners of the world, write over fifty books, and still never missed a parade or retrospective in his honor.

This biography is not a "tell-all" and doesn't probe into the depths of the man or his wonderful, mysterious, inexplicable creative process. It's a light, charming biography of a man that all of us seem to know and love, despite having never met him. Of course, after reading this book, you'll wish that you HAD known him.

Dr. Seuss' as a person was as fascinating as the characters in his books. Unfortunately, this biography doesn't really capture that.

The authors steer clear of saccharine praise. But the style is empty. The book catalogs the man's life in full, but by the end of the read I felt I knew everything about what he did and when and very little about who he was and why. As if afraid of criticism, the book makes no serious attempt to connect the themes of his literature with his personality or experiences. The authors waste an opportunity at creative writing about an extremely creative man, thus the biography simply feels like an extensive Wikipedia page. Not poorly written, just not very much fun.

Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography, Judith and Neil Morgan

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss

I'm not at all afraid to admit this. I still read Dr. Seuss books. I have an entire collection of them on my bookshelf. Leave it to the dull sunset of an uninspired day or perhaps a lazy Saturday morning alone in my office; sometimes a glass of wine in the dark or pancakes loaded with syrup fail to unlock a sniffled case of writers block quite like the clever musings and imaginative artwork of Dr. Seuss.

If you're like me, three decades old without kids, but haven't subscribed to the Doctor since the Regan administration, then I highly suggest retrieving one from your parent's attic, dusting it off, and sliding it in your magazine rack next to GQ or Entertainment Weekly for future bathroom reading, this time digesting his worldly observations with an adult's authority.

Seuss innovated children's books in a non-existent market the way Disney did animation. Judith and Neil Morgan's intimate research reminds us that Theodore Geisel was more than just a silly word collaborator. His anthology exhibits the inquisitive ponderings of a discontented, sarcastic, often defiant muse, gazing cleverly at the fundamentally disjointed, politically obsolete world surrounding his tower window, and scribbling it down with rhymes.

-Noel J Hadley (200 Word Review)

The Doctor's suggested medicine intake for bathroom reading adults:

You're Only Old Once
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
The Sneetches and Other Stories
The Lorax

A silly, shallow and uniformed bio that falls far short of lending any insight nor new information on this brilliant author/illustrator. Written by a local reporter for the San Diego Union, this is one of those "gee, and I knew him!" efforts that does not deserve to be seriously considered.
Pass on it.

When I read a biography I expect the writer to give me some insightful glimpses into the person's character, motivations, etc. In other words, what makes the man tick. This book did not do it for me. It seemed to be written from an outsider's point of view. By someone who wrote the book using mostly secondary sources. The man was a genuis, yet, in reading the book, I still don't know him.

I found this book to be helpful in learning about Dr. Seuss's life. I order this book for our school library during the week of Dr. Seuss' 100th birthday celebration. I found it to be an excellent way to let the teachers and students know about Dr. Seuss's life. Thanks for offering this book on Amazon.com.