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Title: Just not engaging
Review: I really want to like Jon Ronson's work. I left The Men Who Stare at Goats the way I left Them, though - fun anecdotes, interesting people, but no actual development of the story - no tying together what's happening. I'm not looking for a lot of piercing analysis, but I felt like every chapter was "... and then I met Bob!"It's an opportunity to deliver a great book, and I just found it boring to read.Ronson also draws news-like conclusions with no supporting information. For example, he quotes the Iraqi propaganda materials dropped on US armed forces members that said "your wives are back at home having sex with Bart Simpson and Burt Reynolds," and then says that the US propaganda was obviously more effective than that. He doesn't justify this statement, though - how do we know that our materials weren't as foolish when translated into Arabic? It's just sloppy writing, and it happens again and again.
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