The Professor & the Madman

Great story, but overall it felt... hollow. The author had a daunting task: digging up scant historical records, then writing a book-length tale while remaining true to fact. Not quite history, not quite historical fiction. For the most part it worked: the book was well organized, readable, gripping, informative, even beautiful. Every so often, though, a small hiccup that popped me out of the book. And so many unanswered questions, so many incomplete pictures. Kudos to Winchester for not making things up, but it gives this reader a sense of loss.

4 stars is unfair. I would give 4.5 stars if I could. And I'm glad Winchester wrote it this way, glad that it's book length instead of a blog post or an article in Smithsonian magazine. This is very much worth reading; I just don't know what mindset to go into it with.