Do you believe this book?

Use this forum to discuss the February 2021 Book of the month, "Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir" by Dr.Ghoulem Berrah
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Sonya Nicolaidis
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Re: Do you believe this book?

Post by Sonya Nicolaidis »

I’m sure there may have been some events that were omitted, purely because perhaps the outcome was less than ideal or they don’t fit in with the context of what’s been written. It is unrealistic for an autobiography to be completely unbiased, but I do believe this author did try to represent the facts as accurately as he could. As with most accounts, a certain amount of artistic license should be allowed for.
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Post by Anthony__ »

The truth is that inasmuch as the book have some latent truth. I still think some parts are not true. For instance, In Adam and Eve’s explanation, some parts are not true. Also, the author referenced Isaiah and Ezekiel from the Old Testament when he was explaining the end-times. However, there is an omission of John's account in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. That alone, makes the research incomplete.
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Post by Chizioboli »

To an extent I didn't. If I didn't search the internet as you did, I would have thought this book was a mere fiction story. However, my bass for not entirely believing the book is why he would prefer politics to his scientific career. It doesn't sit in well for me that one can just get up and let go of years of experience because if finding peace in a world where political brouhaha is dominating.
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Post by Noriel DM »

I agree that most of this story told is true. But I also agree that some are not. Some are non-fiction and some are fiction. I think it is interesting to make a true story but it will become more interesting if you put some unrealistic part.
We are all unique in our own ways :D
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Post by Annette M »

I believe it because the narrative is backed up with pictures and when one googles his name and accomplishment, they match.
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Post by ReaderAisha2020 »

The book must be true to the events and major issues that took place, otherwise, there would be people who knew otherwise or do research and refute it on the internet and various places, however, it is a memoir and is written from his perspective. Someone's perspective may be different from another's, and also someone may remember something slightly different from what is was or forget or overlook some issues. Therefore, it may be tried generally but if we had different perspectives and memoirs we would have a bigger picture. However, we don't, so it is acceptable from this perspective only.
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Post by D reviewer »

I think his story is very believable. Yes some people might want to add a little salt here and there to tell a better story but I think on the whole this book is sincere.
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Post by Intel »

I think that many memoirs that cover or speak on the vents that have occurred are always going to be subject to speculation due to authenticity. In my opinion I think that most if not everything covered is believable just that it may be glorified on the parts of how we depict certain people within the book itself.
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Post by Marcel Cantu »

Sushan wrote: 01 Feb 2021, 00:40 To be honest, I haven't heard of Dr.Ghoulem Berrah before reading this book. So after reading I did my own research on him and found that the outline of his story is very true. He has been a remarkable person in various fields and have been a great asset to the world. But when reading his autobiography, at some occasions I feel that some facts are too good to be true. One such occasion is secretly disturbing a speech of Fidel Castro to prevent the harmful results that might have occurred due to it. This is my very own opinion, and I don't mean any disrespect to the renowned diplomat. But for the sake of discussion, did you get the same feeling when you read this? Do you think that all those things have happened exactly as described?
I think the narrative strives to be a completely truthful account, but telling the story of your own life and experiences can be difficult. It is easy to recreate memories or to portray things in a specific light that is not exactly a completely accurate portrait. I believe the story is sincere in its account even if it may be a little altered in its telling.
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Post by jaym_tan »

I have no doubt that his achievements and the other notable things he has done are true, but I think he may have embellished some of the parts in his book so that it would be more entertaining to read.
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Post by kismoody »

As a librarian, I've discovered that most memoirs are only partially truthful. Things are remembered differently by people and editors come in and change and edit out details, so for me, I think it has to be taken with a grain of salt. I don't believe most of the things in the book, but I believe that he does.
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Post by Ruth Naomi »

Its never crossed my mind that memoirs could be telling a lie. I applaud you for going an extra mile to research on Dr. Berrah's authenticity of his work. Personally, I read the book without a doubt. Thank you for confirming the truthfulness of his words.
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Post by Ruth Naomi »

The doctor does not strike me as a person who would tell a lie to get a bigger audience of his work, maybe a little exaggeration, typical to many authors. Importantly, I'm glad he triumphed at last.
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Post by Ruth Naomi »

Jenniferg_1105 wrote: 05 Feb 2021, 11:54 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.
I concur. Most memoirs contain inspirational message in them to give hope and encouragement to their readers. And while this may be the case, authors may add extra words to sweeten the message. So yeah, some bits of the book may be a bit glamorized.
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Post by Ruth Naomi »

gabrielletiemi wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 13:51 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.
I also tend to think that it is likely that you may not remember things as they were when they happened years back. Sometimes authors adjust their words to suit the context and the preferred audience. Dr. Berrah is not exception.
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