The Room Where It Happened
John Bolton
DNF at 10%
I could not subject myself to this book any longer than the two chapters I pushed through. John Bolton presents himself as the only one with the right ideas, always the most intellectually superior person in the room (much like the 'high-minded' people he quite often looked down on). While I am definitely not as knowledgeable as him (and many others) on matters of Geopolitics and American Policy, my problem is with him presenting his ideologies, or suggestions of going forward with only positive effects they would have. Which is simply not true, because there are almost always two sides to a coin. It also did not seem like he was presenting all the options available ,essentially he seemed to be doing the same thing he accuses and criticizes Mattis of. Though he explicitly states in the book that he felt the role of National Security Advisor was to present the President with all possible courses of action. How can you possibly claim you've presented all available options when you can not present cons of your proposed courses on page, but have enough time to write in detail about who praised you and bash who did not.
Not for me really, even if I was to overlook the pro-war ideologies (he is also obsessed with Iran, was pushing for US pulling out of UN Human Rights Convention, from the Paris Climate Accord) screaming through the two chapters I managed to read (ironic to me given how he himself avoided combat during the Vietnam war).
I have better things to do with my time than read roughly 500 more pages of Bolton patting himself on the back, and criticizing every one else in sight for characteristics I feel he himself exhibits (on the pages of the book too) as well.