Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I’m not really into nonfiction. Contemporary, often discardable, novels are more my genre for pleasure reading. However, I recently had the occasion to read two nonfiction books back to back. They were The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer and The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria.

There is no comparison between these two books. Well, yes there is. Both explore contemporary political problems. The Iyer book examines the current Dalai Lama’s predicament of representing the old Tibetan order while having lived in exile from Tibet for fifty years and realizing that the world has changed. The Zacharia book examines how the United State can best operate in a world where other countries are beginning to assume center stage. So I guess both are ultimately about change.

Where I find no comparison is possible is in the writing style. One of the books clearly grabbed me and I held on for every word. The other was a difficult plod through muddy writing and mucky discourse. I never felt engaged.

Which book was which? I’m not saying, because maybe you’ll check them out for yourself. I only know both authors have written other books, and I plan to track down the work of one of them. And, maybe I’ll become more interested in nonfiction in the deal.