Customer Reviews

Howard Hughes:secret

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is one book about Howard Hughes that should be returned to the book seller if bought without reading it first. The author, an Englishman, apparently tries to be "popular" in America by being clinically dirty. His "shocking" revelations have no references, and he seems to be a grand master of the "he undoubtedly said..." school of research. The book certainly does not belong in a family library, and as far as university libraries go, it has no scholarly value.

Of all the Howard Hughes biographies that are currently available to tie in with the recent film, this is easily the worst. The book is filled with hearsay and speculation on the author's part and attempts to bring his subject down and make him less than human. Higham attempts to get into Hughes' head in order to put a 'dirty' spin on just about everything. Some of the claims the author makes concerning Hughes' sexuality are incorrect-- the FBI report on Hughes never found evidence of homosexuality-- and some of the 'stories,' such as his relationship with Cary Grant, are truly ridiculous in how they are described and are insulting to both Hughes and Grant. This is a revisionist biography that does more harm than good; its sole purpose is to titilate rather than inform us with the facts.

Like many new readers to the Hughes tale, I picked up Howard Hughes: The Secret Life (the bookstore was out of Citizen Hughes). Given the preface and afterword of the book, associating itself to the Martin Scosese film,The Aviator, I was misled to think it would be a correspondingly detailed and insightful account of Hughes successes and personal demons (with words instead of pictures). Instead it was the worst sort of puerile incoherence; the caliber of literature which is often hailed in bathroom stalls and tea parties. In fact, I was a bit surprised not to see "Hughes Eats It!", or "For a good time call HH" somewhere in the book.

The events are not approached with any linear semblance and dates and events bounce back and forth. There is very little structure to the varied liasons attributed to Hughes, and none of them offer a scintilla of insight as to why Hughes was engaged in them, and how it affected his business, reputation, etc. The author has, a particularly, hard time working, a comma, into a sentence, with any literary aptitude. Some of his conjectures are simple falisity and are in direct opposition to verified accounts, in numerous text (see his insinuation of what when on at San Simeon....in short that type of open behavior was forbidden at the Hearst Castle and violators were sent packing (literally)-not to say that it didn't happen, but not at the level Mr. Higman suggests. Additionally he fails to properly index the book, leading references off the index altogether. Stylistically, formatting and content wise this book falls harder then Hughes on Bell Air Drive.

It almost seems that Mr. Higham had something personal against Mr. Hughes (and certainly had a lot of choices to pick from). But an academic interest of Hughes is not served in this book. What might be served is an author's personalized attempt to denigrate a sick man, using conjecture, pubescent embellishments, and sexually charged schedenfreude. He's happy to take care of that on his own.

The APA might concider how this books simply demonizes the effects of OCD, as opposed to helping society understand it. An easy misunderstanding of this book, and one would think all OCD people are bisexual bigamists, who are facinated with their own urine, and have an unatural fetish with Kleenex.

This work might have been amusing article to read in the grocery check-out line, and put down without buying it. (Given it's an easy read, you might finish the whole book before your eggs are secured under your gallon of milk) Having made the mistake of buying it, please consider some advice that a better account of Hughes is out there...somewhere. Don't do what I did. Instead, go to another bookstore and look for a more credible biography. Or if salacious gossip, blissfully free from fact is really what your after...don't buy this book either. By something by Bob Woodward, or heck, just buy the Enquiror
or.....maybe Mad Magazine....I hear the Star is good too.

I picked this up at a sale for $1.50; I should have kept that cash. I am a huge fan of biographies, since you learn not only about that person, but also about the history going on in the world at that time. This book is not very good in any way. It lacks the basic academic credentials you would expect a high school research paper to have. "Facts" are thrown out with no footnotes, no sources, and usually have no meaning. This is a private individual who affected America's course through aviation, interactions and influence on the CIA, Nixon, etc. His father invented, and Hughes furthered, the drill bit upon which billions has been made, and entire countries shaped based on that oil revenue. Yet this drill bit is mentioned as an aside, since the author needs to focus on supposed homosexual encounters with actors. Honestly, I can't believe this book was published. It's a gossip rag thrown together in order to make a buck. I deploy to Afghanistan every other year and always bring a ton of books with me, usually softcover so I can leave them behind in the USO or airports for other service-members. I don't even want this in my house on my bookshelf. This is not because of the salaciousness in its pages, but rather I don't want my teenage son to read this book and think this is how an academic writes a book - it is all rumors, innuendo, and insignificant details. So many historic events happened during this time - Prohibition, WWI, WWII, Great Depression, Vietnam, etc. Yet this book glosses over these events, failing to investigate in detail the influence of Hughes on these events.

Argh, I am annoyed I bought this book and took it with me overseas. What a waste of space in my seabag! I forced myself to read 50 straight pages, then flipped through the rest hoping to find some references, footnotes, or something to save it. Nada. This is going in the burn pit, not the USO's bookshelf.

This book is not really a biography of Hughes, but instead appears to be an expanded tabloid article that alleges that Hughes had sexual relations with just about everyone, and the burning question is--- "WHO CARES?"

It also has a very enlightening section on Hughes' problem with irregularity.

This book is worthless garbage. It's not even a good wheel chock.

I checked this book out from the library after watching all the previews for "The Aviator". I thought I was getting the biography of Howard Hughes, but what I got instead was a book that is no more then a vicious attack on someone who was obviously mentally ill. There is no question that by the time Hughes was in his thirties he was suffering from mental illness and drug addiction. The author of the book goes into endless details about Hughes bazaar lifestyle, his poor business decisions, his strange movie schemes, and his paranoia. The behavior is clearly symptoms of Hughes mental deterioration, but for this author it would appear Hughes was making choices, and should be held responsible and condemned for the behavior. Hughes was a man who did, and could have continued, to do so much, if the right medications and treatments had been available at the time. His story is tragic, and for this book to hold Hughes accountable for behavior that was caused by mental illness is obscene. This book is trash, full of gossip, and just plain mean.

The Aviator is one of my favorite movies, and is why I was drawn to this book. But here in the book the author quickly goes over all the most important issues from the movie in very small detail. Very little was said about Howard Hughes at the Congressional hearings. Which was the most dramatic part of the movie. Also the book only briefly talked about the Hercules and TWA, when both where major parts of the movie. Toward the end of the book in Howard's recluse days, the book sometime spends more time talking about other people other than Hughes for long stretches. Highman never really backed up his conclusion that Hughes had AIDs and because of the disease he died.

The other main complaint I have with the biography is that Highman usually wrote about Hughes's actions as if he was in complete control of his feelings, especially in his recluse years. He made Hughes seem more of a monster and less of a sympathetic tragic human being. The sympathy Scorsese displayed for Hughes was why the movie was so great. Most of the rest of the book when not condemning Hughes for his actions, and only praising him of his shrewd business transactions, was full of gossip. The gossip was almost always about which actors in hollywood were gay.

The book was very interesting to read, mainly for my fascination of Howard Hughes, but I'm sure there are better biographies than this one.

This book was interesting although it deals more with Howard's eccentricities and sexual exploits than his business life. The book paints a sleazy picture of Hughes but it is entertaining. Many reviewers doubted the authenticity of the author's claims yet the book has a good size bibliography to lend credibility to this look at the secret life of Howard Hughes.

I saw the Aviator movie and wanted to read a biography of Hughes. I looked at this one and "Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness -- by Donald L. Barlett".

I started reading the Bartlett book as it was the only one available. So far so good, it seemed to follow the movie fairly well and is well documented. Then I did a thorough browsing of Higham's bio of Hughes. Its NOTHING like the movie and the Bartlett book. As I see it, this one would leave you with quite a terrible impression of Hughes. Bartlett's book (so far) and the Aviator movie had practically none of the sexual content that appears on about every page in the Higham book.

Just choose wisely which book you want to read first as I think it will determine your impression of Hughes (and maybe the human race).

I would first see the movie, then read the Bartlett book, then read this Higham. That way you'd have a chance to first see Hughes as a human being before seeing him as this very sick individual he turned out to be.

I think you'd probably have to read both books to get the entire picture. They do conflict in a few of their facts, even about his birthplace and date. Overall thjough, I feel the Bartlett book seems to be better documented. It does however seem to leave out alot of Hughes's quirky habits. If your only curious about those, then this will definately satisfy.

Once I got into this book I couldn't put it down. I did not know much about Howard Hughes prior to seeing the movie based on his life, The Aviator. The movie made me want to know about such an interesting and complex man. I inadvertently picked up the biography from which the movie was made and loved it. This book does not disappoint.

Like all good biographies, The Secret Live doesn't harp over every childhood moment; it tells the reader what we need to know in order to understand what shaped Hughes into the man he became and then it moves on. And what a fascinating life... from rich heir to Hollywood, the sky literally was the limit for Hughes. The book gives proper attention to his various affairs (with men and women alike), his numerous careers, and his eventual descent into madness.

After reading the book I was disappointed that the movie left out the so-called ugly parts of Howard Hughes' life; the bisexuality, the sadism, and the true extent of his madness. The book certainly doesn't sugar-coat anything, but then again it shouldn't! The author offers an interesting diagnosis for Hughes. Based on evidence, he concludes that Hughes died of HIV or AIDS, unknown at the time of his death. This is definitely one of the more interesting books I've read in a long time.