Pick posted:

I read this book, and unfortunately I'm not sure I'd recommend it?

I think there's perhaps some good content there, but similar to Tokyo Vice (which I'm convinced is 85% total B.S.), I think the author got too caught up in his own narrative, or trying to refine a narrative. He does say the conversations are based largely on memory, but they seem... way too crisp? They read a lot more like a screenplay than an actual recitation of fact. I'm not claiming he didn't do the work, but I think his memory has been affected substantially by what he wanted to learn when he first set foot in the projects. He made himself the main character of a story that's just too clean (and rather condescending). It ends up feeling paper-thin and more like a novelization of The Wire than a serious academic work.