Do you believe this book?

[lavkathleen]

Exactly what I thought. It is quite unusual that everything he got involved, he could complete in a successful manner. We don't know maybe that was the way that actually things happened. But it is quite hard to believe without any other background information or confirmation from a third party

Perhaps what he shared was the successes he achieved. It doesn't mean that he didn't experience failures or shortcomings. Dr. Berrah and former President Houphouët-Boigny were quite the duo, but not everyone agreed with them and bent to their will. They can't get everything perfect, or else Dr. Berrah wouldn't have told us about his dreams.

[lavkathleen]

I think that even though we try to write a book that only brings true events and/or phrases, it's inevitable to be biased. Therefore, I think it is likely that the author didn't describe everything exactly like the events that occurred and I agree with you when you said that Dr. Berrah might have altered some things when writing this book.

Altering historic events, no matter how personal they were to him, would've received serious repercussions from around the world. So I doubt that his version of the events are far from the truth. It could be biased, since it's from his perspective, but I doubt that they are embellishments or made up.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Like many others have said, I believe the author's story is true, although I think it there are some modifications. I feel like the story was too good to be true; like the ugly parts were omitted entirely. And I feel this was deliberate.

That should be deliberate omitting. Otherwise he should have been an extremely lucky person, which is extremely rare. What he has mentioned here can be taken as truth. But what he hasn't mentioned makes even these facts distorted and unreliable. And also, this can be misguiding those who read this memoir and try to take it as their inspiration. They might expect everything to be okay, when it is not so practically

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I believe it. It's been around 3 years since the book was published. With him being a man as renowned as he is, the book would've already reached the reputable and powerful people that he shared these experiences with. If there was anything amiss, it would've already received backlash and we wouldn't even be here to discuss it. As for the disrupted Fidel Castro speech, I doubt that it was far from the truth. As a diplomat sent to a handful of countries and attended hundreds of assemblies, it can't be helped but meet people like Fidel Castro. And knowing what kind of person Dr. Berrah was (from the book), I believe they actually did that.

For that single incident regarding Castro, I won't say that it is impossible to be happened in that manner. But usually when such minor and secret things are done with the help of minor workers, usually they are the ones who reveal them first, not the ones who either took the responsibility or gave the order. Here it has happened the other way round. How can such a thing remain as a secret, even without getting out as a rumour, until Dr. Berrah mentioned it in his book?

[aby johnson]

Its excellent that you have done background check on the author and that's something that didn't cross my mind. I do believe that the author must be saying the truth and maybe he's avoiding all the negetive parts about the truth in his life. Although that midas touch is felt at times, maybe things did become great after his touch. Some parts of the story does seem too good to be true but i think they are true.

[Mary Lou Mills]

People have different versions of history as they remember things uniquely. When talking about the past with my sisters I even find that each of us remembers things slightly differently. Time is a factor.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Its excellent that you have done background check on the author and that's something that didn't cross my mind. I do believe that the author must be saying the truth and maybe he's avoiding all the negetive parts about the truth in his life. Although that midas touch is felt at times, maybe things did become great after his touch. Some parts of the story does seem too good to be true but i think they are true.

Maybe you are correct. Seemingly I am not the only one who felt that the good things in this book are too good to believe.

Apparently he had a godly hand, and whatever touched by him prospered. I think that is impossible. Sometimes people have good times, and in such times whatever they do will succeed. But good times doesn't last forever.

I am not saying Dr. Berrah has lied. But by deliberately avoiding the unlucky stuff, he has distorted the true picture of his story

[Sushan Ekanayake]

People have different versions of history as they remember things uniquely. When talking about the past with my sisters I even find that each of us remembers things slightly differently. Time is a factor.

Your point is true. Unless you have a habit of writing a diary, when you try to recall things, there is a tendency to forget somethings. So the history given by two people can be different, although they are talking about same time period and same events.

That might have been a reason for Dr. Berrah's book missing any of his bad memories. Probably with his contended life, he forgot any of his bad memories

[leiabutler]

Good point. I guess it is a little like in the greatest showman, where P.T is made out to be a great person but the reality is very different. I guess we shouldn't 100% believe anything we read if we don't personally know the person who is being written about.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Good point. I guess it is a little like in the greatest showman, where P.T is made out to be a great person but the reality is very different. I guess we shouldn't 100% believe anything we read if we don't personally know the person who is being written about.

You are correct. The only person of whom one knows for 100% is one's self. Everyone else can have their own story which might contain parts that we never have heard of, no matter how close that person is. So we should be careful what to believe and what not to believe.

Here in Dr. Berrah's story, we see that he has boasted of himself a little bit. I am sure that many of the facts are correct. But we cannot exclude the fact that he might have sugar coated the story to highlight himself as the hero

[lavkathleen]

Yes he was successful. That is why he says his story. But I think it will be more inspirational if he included his hardships and failures as well. That will teach the reader how to prevail in distress. Unless the reader will get a false picture that success is something that is achieved by luck rather than by hard work and sustainability.

I understand but wouldn't you think that choosing the path that he took was inspirational and awe-striking enough? Knowing that he would have to face powers that wouldn't bend to his will and agree with his ideals? Knowing that he didn't even live to see his dreams come to life? Knowing that his position puts his and his loved ones' lives at risk?

[lavkathleen]

Yea, we become the hero of our own story when we tell it. So, we are tend to either add some exaggeration or make the story more dramatic. Apparently that is what has happened here. But I think that the summary of the story is more or less correct

At worst, it's possible that he worded the events in a different way compared to other parties involved. But exaggerating and making them more dramatic? No. I don't have the right facts but if he really did? Then he failed at it. The book bored me. It took me weeks to finish it. Either what all of you are saying are true or the fact that being an international diplomat and close to the president of a third-world African country can send you on a wild ride where you experience events that doesn't usually happen to commoners like us hasnt sunk in yet.

[lavkathleen]

That's what I was thinking as well. Sometimes when we are biased towards something, it becomes very easy to only look at the positive sides of that, and it is not necessarily that we do it on purpose, but that's just how the human brain is wired. I think that's what happened in this case - due to the author's bias, he probably just remembers things in a more exaggerated manner than how they actually happened. I don't think he is hiding things or lying on purpose, but that it is truly the way he remembers those events. Why would he risk lying and then being called out on it?
Also, some people are naturally lucky; just because some events he lived through sound improbable, doesn't mean they are impossible.

Or, this was genuinely the way he chose to write his memoir. This can't be his whole life boiled down to more than 500 pages of words and black & white pictures. No, he entitled it A Dream for Peace. These are the events of his life that he highlighted to show the fight he fought and tell us about the things that he can only dream to achieve. He wasn't exaggerating or embellishing or making himself look good for the sake of looking good. Read between the lines and look at the big picture.

[lavkathleen]

I think that even though we try to write a book that only brings true events and/or phrases, it's inevitable to be biased.

That's what I was thinking as well. Sometimes when we are biased towards something, it becomes very easy to only look at the positive sides of that, and it is not necessarily that we do it on purpose, but that's just how the human brain is wired. I think that's what happened in this case - due to the author's bias, he probably just remembers things in a more exaggerated manner than how they actually happened. I don't think he is hiding things or lying on purpose, but that it is truly the way he remembers those events. Why would he risk lying and then being called out on it?
Also, some people are naturally lucky; just because some events he lived through sound improbable, doesn't mean they are impossible.

I agree. Given the nature of his background and the value of his position, he won't lie. But on the other hand, no one will go to the extent of cross checking what he says as well. Maybe what has happened is he becoming the hero of his own story. Or else, he wanted to make this book more inspirational and included only the good and lucky things that happened. I think that there are many side details that are not included in this book although theyr are relevant

He didn't only include the good things that happened. The job itself was frustrating as he comes face to face with people more powerful than him and his country. As for the side details that he might have omitted, we can't know for sure if they even exist. I feel like there's enough side details in that book to the point that it bored me; he even had space to talk about smiles.

[lavkathleen]

I completely agree with this idea that the story is mostly true but some of it may be glamorized. A single story will often have a few differences depending of who is telling the story.

Yes. But usually autobiographies are written with the truth, since many authors want to tell their story accurately. This one might have been deviated from that practice either due to the idea of gaining money for the foundation, so the book had to be more appealing, or that the author wanted to inspire people from his book and so he might have removed all the negative parts

If they were aiming to make this more appealing, maybe I would've given it a higher rating. But they failed at that. Also, he didn't "remove all the negative parts." The negative parts are right there, if you knew where and how to look. The path that he took was not an easy one; he's only lucky enough to tell the world about it before he joined his Creator.