Geoff Blackwell

I'm going to preface this simply by saying I fully agree with Thunberg's views on climate change and have no argument with what she says. She is an inspiring young woman and I think every person living on this earth needs to listen to her.

This book by Blackwell, however, is not effective considering it is a watered down version of Thunberg's 2019 published collection of speeches, "No One Is Too Small To Make a Difference." "I Know This To Be True" opens with a speech that is also included in "No One", then has a brief interview with Thunberg, ending with a short transcript of an early 2020 speech. The interview sadly offers no new information or insight on Thunberg and seems very basic. Also, there is so much paper/page waste in this book? Several pages just have single quotes from preceding pages, followed by a totally blank page. For a book discussing climate change it seems counterintuitive to try and make an "aesthetic" look by wasting paper.

If you want to read Thunberg's speeches, read "No One" instead! It's so much more powerful than this watered down version, and has a greater reader impact.… (mere)

Just gorgeous, there’s no other way to describe this book. It’s a huge hardback coffee table book, but there’s so much substance. At almost 400 pages it’s a wealth of stories about women from all over the world. There are famous women, and some whose incredible stories will be completely new to the reader. Each one was photographed and asked the same five questions. This is a portrait of women from every walk of life. Each one shares their wisdom and experiences on a single page. The book is best enjoyed in small doses so you can savor each story.… (mere)

This is a large coffee table style book that takes a brief, though thoroughly engaging look at 200 very different women. By asking them a series of questions, it gets to the heart of what is important to them, and in many cases, what is also important to the reader. This book is beautiful, well photographed, and features a large diverse, multicultural group of women; every reader can find someone to identify with, and to learn from. In a year of a variety of books about groups of women who are rebellious or daring or forgotten, this is the one that stands out to me as the modern reader. These are 200 modern women that we can look up to, ones that are living in the world. While a few may be considered objectionable since this book came out - certainly no one is saint - you don't make history by being passive.… (mere)