What I love about biographies is the tiny glimpse you get of the author as a person and not necessarily a writer (for the most part I only read the biographies of writers, I don't know why). For that reason I prefer to read them after the subject has already died :-) Dahl was an intriguing character-bigger than life at times, and incredibly, horrifically petty at others. I guess these biographies help remind me to not place my writer idols on a pedestal-they are only human and have the same foibles as any of us. I don't think I actually have anything of real value to say about this book, just that the author did a pretty good job of portraying Dahl as a man, and not a superhuman.