First off, despite the title this is a memoir and not a self help book about surviving dark times. It is a wonderful memoir and Gidon is an inspirational, immensely likable person. The first half of the book is his life story and I honestly wish it had ended there. The second half is sort of rambling thoughts about fake news and such. While his thoughts are valid, it felt sometimes incomplete. He says that he has spray painted over things he disagreed with in his home now in Israel but doesn’t say what, which is intensely frustrating considering he talks so much about the importance of speaking up early about injustice. He also skirts the issue of what has been going on in Palestine, another issue that we just can’t be silent about. The entire second half of the book feels like an accumulation of Q and A answers from talks he’s given. Read the first half and get to know this remarkable man and his story, though. I learned so much about the holocaust and the history of the time (and what happened to people after) and he is also such an interesting, wonderful man.

I read a digital copy of this book for review.