My feelings about Glen Beck are mixed in the political arena, but this book isn’t about politics; it’s about people. Dreamers and Deceivers is a fun read. In order to gain the maximum benefit from the book, you have to go in knowing that it’s not history, it’s historical fiction. The distinction between the two can often become blurry, and certainly, this is more based in fact than say, a good GA Henty novel. Just for fun, I compared the historicity of Beck’s Turing story to “imitation game” with benedict Cumberbatch. Can you guess who won? It wasn’t close. Beck was way more historical in his take. Ultimately I think he did a good job fusing entertainment with history: better than most.The fundamental appeal of Dreamers and deceivers is hidden knowledge. Basically, read this and you’ll know some fun details about historic events that you can use to impress your friends at dinner parties and could even be useful to illustrate points in presentations. Unfortunately, it’s not really rigorous enough to justifiably alter your paradigms in any significant way. Still, there is no denying that it’s fun, engaging, and hopefully inspires genuine interest in the subjects of the story. For me, this served as an inspirational jumping-off point for a much deeper dive into these stories.
I particularly enjoyed the stories of Charles Ponzi and Alan Turing.
If you’re looking for a short fun read that also has some educational value, this is a good one, just be careful not to take any of it too literally.