He wants to understand everything, he always needs to know where he stands, where he's going and how best to get there. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Invariably, people talk about human spirit in assessing this book - I’d like to think that, that it is within any of us such survival, humour, kindness - but strongly suspect it’s HIM, or THEM- that love, fortitude, chemistry- it was them. There's also enough insight into his behaviour that makes me realise he's probably grown up a fair bit and stopped doing several of the things that I thought were particularly inappropriate for the circumstances.

Afterwards he accepted a teaching position at the American University of Beirut, where he worked for about four months. His story, along with other hostages taken, was headline news which at the time affected me quite deeply.I was very interested in the details given, both the practical reality of his days and his methods of survival and why it was effective. I could quote so many passages from this book but one stands out "I wanted to affirm that I was myself and would not allow my integrity to be taken from me by a surrender to what another believed or would make me be". I now know far more about the conditions of hostages than I could ever have imagined, and am sure I won’t forget. He has a great ability to explain abstract philosophical or political ideas through personal anecdotes.

It is a rare occasion that you get to read a book that manages to surprise you from beginning to end. This book stands up with the classics of prison literature, one of those books that makes you look at even the most mundane example of your daily life and see your freedom in new and appreciative light. Yet I didn’t hold back from reading; the descriptions somehow manage to stimulate the imagination while avoiding any goriness; they are harrowing at times, but never gratuitous. Made me feel very humble reading about what the hostages survived and how they came through with dignity and humour.

Two key takeaways: the importance Keenan places on humour as a humanising quality, and the prison in which both the prisoners and guards were kept (physical versus religious).

Scriptural in its resonances and its broad artistry, while being as gripping as an airport thriller ― Observer --This text refers to the paperback edition. I'll start by saying that I started reading this book after I saw a Facebook comment claiming this is good literature. There may have been more important books than Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling, but its thoughtfulness and delicacy of feeling are unforgettable.

Considering that he spent several years in a series of rooms, he does well to make the experience interesting and compelling. These were not two-dimensional villains, but humans with desperate, misguided hopes and sinister, obsessive fears.