Shane Bordoli

This being a John Berger book, the author takes his usual fresh and original approach. Forget the usual biography of documenting their life history as the basis of the book. Here we look at some possible reasons for the way Picasso became who he did by looking at politics, history and many other angles that keep this book engaging. Berger is undoubtedly a great art critic as can be seen in his art books, journalistic work and TV programmes. I'm mainly a fan of this book because Berger obviously rates Picasso as one of the great geniuses, but he refuses to put him on a pedestal and is willing to approach some taboo subjects. These being Picasso's huge financial fortune and that maybe he lost his way a little in his later years. Its a balanced view of the painter and examines him from many angles, all of which are normally ignored. Kudos to John Berger.

Well that was emotional! What a fantastic read. For the most part a kind of biography of a really original country doctor. But as this is a John Berger book, he comes at it from angles you could have a never thought of. It was one of my first John Berger books after devouring all I could find on Youtube that he made. This book blew me away. There are great photos by his longtime collaborator Jean Mohr and they both together make this book a special one. It's one of those life affirming books that inspires and even brought a tear to my eye at the end. Anyway, this book goes in and out of print over the decades, but get one if you can.