Robert Blair Kaiser

First of all, overall, I enjoyed Just Farr Fun. I like Jamie Farr and enjoyed the tales he told, both about himself and others. It was not all about M*A*S*H, Mr. Farr had lots of experiences to share. It was all sort of put out in a ramble, but that didn't prevent me from enjoying what Mr. Farr had to say.

What irked me was that someone....the editor, proofreader, publisher, co-author Robert Blair Kaiser, or even Jaime Farr, should have seen, and have corrected, all the book's errors before publication. There are innumerable words printed together as one....printedtogether!! Drove me nuts! There are probably other grammatical or punctuation errors, but two words printed as one was a glaring error that occurred throughout the book.

Also, I took all the stories about other people with a grain of salt after reading Mr. Farr's version of the death of Red Skelton's son. Mr. Farr stated that death occurred when Mr. Skelton's son was 14. I did not know about this so I Googled to find more info. What I found was that Richard Skelton died of leukemia at age 9, not age 14. This should have been researched and correct info should have been given, or the story should not have been included at all!

So, in conclusion, I did enjoy reading this book because the stories were entertaining. I just felt let down by the poor job done by everyone involved in its publication.… (mehr)

The premise of the book -- looking at the state of the Catholic Church by examining the lives of 6 of the cardinals attending the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI - is an interesting idea, but I found it lacking. Though he draws more universal truths from the stories of the various cardinals, such as an interesting discussion of the emergence and subsequent snuffing of liberation theology in Latin America, I found the experience of the congregations needed more attention to fully explain where we are as a church today. If you are interested in the details of the election of our current Pope, however, this is an excellent source.… (mehr)