A review by trudilibrarian
Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert

2.0

This book was okay and I found certain passages more than a little amusing (I did laugh out loud several times). Unfortunately, Borchert is a one-note guy and I found the book as a whole to be a superficial treatment of public libraries. What Borchert has essentially done is string together a bunch of colorful anecdotes (librarian "war stories") but offers very little insight into what makes the job so great and why public libraries are so important to their communities. He hints at it, but never really gets there. I know his goal was to make us laugh, perhaps even shock us, but I found the lack of real substance disappointing and uninspiring.