Mark Twain, by Ron Chernow,
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by
Jason Culp (Narrator)
Samuel Clemens (nom de plume Mark Twain) must be a dream project for biographers. During most of his adult life he wrote almost all of his thoughts down of paper, some ending up in letters and others in articles and books. His notoriety prompted newspapers to record his statements and activities, and his family members and acquaintances apparently kept all letters received from him. In other words, there's lots of material to work with. His younger years are not so well documented. However a glimpse of his youth can be discovered by carefully parsing some his semi-biographical novels.
He was obviously a talented writer and gifted speaker. If he were alive today he would be combination writer/comedian, the sort of person invited to be host at the Grammy Awards ceremony. But from the detail of thought and action as recorded in this book we learn he was human capable of bad judgment, cringeworthy interest in early teen girls, and quick temper. Although regarding his temper, I sometimes got the impression he so much enjoyed creative use of language to express his anger that maybe he wasn't so angry as was being creative.
One thing for sure, he was not a good person to listen to for financial investment advice. A person could make more money doing the opposite of his investment advice. He wasn't all that good at business decisions either. Early in his writing career he was convinced all publishers were crooks. Thus he got into his own publishing and he had early success with The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant using the subscription method for sales. This early success led Mark Twain to believe he had good business sense and proceeded to over extend his business. His later losses at publishing and his investment into a failed automated typesetting machine forced him to declare bankruptcy. If it weren't for the intervention of a wealthy friend he would have lost publishing rights to his own books. He went on a worldwide lecture tour to raise money to help pay off his creditors, and was eventually able to do so.
The Clemens family didn't seem to know how to live frugally. Their household expenses in Hartford, Connecticut caused them to be short on funds so they moved to Europe to economize. While in Europe they often rented chalets fully staffed with servants which made we wonder about their method of economizing.
His family life unfortunately had more than its share of sickness and death, losing a son, two daughters, and wife during Twain's lifetime. One needs to remember that in the nineteenth century sickness was more frequent and death earlier than currently the case with modern medicine. But I'm pretty sure the Twain family's experiences were worse than the average family of the time. His youngest daughter being afflicted with seizures was the cause of much difficulty for the family.
This is a long book which will cut down the number of books I read this year. However, the good thing is that it means that I won't need to write as many reviews.
He was obviously a talented writer and gifted speaker. If he were alive today he would be combination writer/comedian, the sort of person invited to be host at the Grammy Awards ceremony. But from the detail of thought and action as recorded in this book we learn he was human capable of bad judgment, cringeworthy interest in early teen girls, and quick temper. Although regarding his temper, I sometimes got the impression he so much enjoyed creative use of language to express his anger that maybe he wasn't so angry as was being creative.
One thing for sure, he was not a good person to listen to for financial investment advice. A person could make more money doing the opposite of his investment advice. He wasn't all that good at business decisions either. Early in his writing career he was convinced all publishers were crooks. Thus he got into his own publishing and he had early success with The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant using the subscription method for sales. This early success led Mark Twain to believe he had good business sense and proceeded to over extend his business. His later losses at publishing and his investment into a failed automated typesetting machine forced him to declare bankruptcy. If it weren't for the intervention of a wealthy friend he would have lost publishing rights to his own books. He went on a worldwide lecture tour to raise money to help pay off his creditors, and was eventually able to do so.
The Clemens family didn't seem to know how to live frugally. Their household expenses in Hartford, Connecticut caused them to be short on funds so they moved to Europe to economize. While in Europe they often rented chalets fully staffed with servants which made we wonder about their method of economizing.
His family life unfortunately had more than its share of sickness and death, losing a son, two daughters, and wife during Twain's lifetime. One needs to remember that in the nineteenth century sickness was more frequent and death earlier than currently the case with modern medicine. But I'm pretty sure the Twain family's experiences were worse than the average family of the time. His youngest daughter being afflicted with seizures was the cause of much difficulty for the family.
This is a long book which will cut down the number of books I read this year. However, the good thing is that it means that I won't need to write as many reviews.
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