The first and final chapters had some of the same information and there was what seemed like a lot of extraneous detail throughout, but overall the book provides fascinating information.

من تا سال ۱۹۵۹ به او احترام می‌گزاردم، چون اگرچه به او نزدیک بودم، همیشه به نظر می‌رسید که دیواری نفوذناپذیر ما را از یکدیگر جدا ساخته است که به من اجازه شناخت زندگی واقعی او را نمی‌دهد. از آن پس، به‌تدریج در این حصار ناپیدا نفوذ یافتم و توانستم چهره حقیقی مائو را ببینم. مائو همچون بازیگران نمایشنامه‌های سنّتی چین، با آرایشی غلیظ در صحنه ظاهر می‌شد، لیکن در پشت‌ صحنه چهره‌ای دیگر داشت. مائو در دیدارها و اجلاس‌ها ظاهری آراسته، باشخصیت و دوست‌داشتنی داشت و رهبری جاافتاده، باوقار و سنگین می‌نمود. امّا در زندگی خصوصی بسیار بی‌نظم و زن‌باره بود و جز این سرگرمی دیگری برای گذران وقت نداشت.

Pues fui de no tener ni una idea sobre Mao a tener todo un sentido sobre su tiempo en el poder y las relaciones de la gente a su alrededor. Al principio, Li empieza hablando sobre la conservación de su cuerpo y las dificultades, habiéndole inchado el cuerpo demasiado y no sé pero me pareció gracioso que alguien con una imagen de poder total era estaba to inchado, gordo, y sueva al tocarlo. Después de esto, Li entra directamente a contar su experiencia. Conociendole la primera vez en el Tiannamen Square, se nota como la gente a su alrededor tiene una admiración de él, como si fuera un Dios, cuando en verdad lo único que le interesa es su objetivo de un país comunista, sin aprecio a las vidas perdidas o malamente influidas por sus acciones en el camino. Esto se ve cuando él lanza el Great Leap Forward, llevando adelante las granjas comunales y los pequeños hornos de acero. El resultado? Algo entre 18 y 45 millones de personas muertas de hambre, y piezas de metal inutiles que han usado mucho de lo poco que tenían los campesinos. Los juegos de poder están presentes por todo el libro, pero lo más sorprendente es su vida personal, de como tenía muchas "asistentas", no se lavaba los dientes, no se duchaba, su obsesión con nadar en los ríos más peligrosos y como muchas veces no vestía con nada más que su túnica. El Cultural Revolution es el segundo desastre, que centrado en los estudiantes hace que el país se divide, creeando casi una guerra interna, donde Mao acaba interviniendo para restoral algo la normalidad. Pero sin embargo es durante este tiempo que mucha gente son marcados como de derechas pero critizar cososa mínimas. Hay momentos en los que pensaba que Mao igual sería algo razonable con el movimiento de las cien flores, pero obviamente cuando el critizismo se concentra en él acabo tomamdo acción con tales íntectuos. Alguna de la gente más poderosa durante su poder incluye: Liu Shaoqi, quién protejió la idea de las granjas comunales incluso después de su desastre; Wang Donxing al que echan y vuelve al partido para volverse encargado de la seguridad, parece uno de los más normalitos, algo más honesto y amigo del doctor; Jiang Qing, que aunque es su esposa no hablan mucho y acaba cogiendo mucho poder hacia el final influyendo el arte y la cultura y constantemente intentado dirigir acusaciones para cargarse a gente, aunque al final la arrestan yay; Lin Biao que se vuelve el premier alabando a Mao durante su puesto, pero un coup para ganar poder se desintagra cuando el escapa y estreya en un avión en Mongolia; Zhou Enlai, por un rato pequeño se vuelve el heredero de Mao, pero muere antes que él de tres cancers diferentes; y finalmente Deng Xiaoping, que es él que hay que darle todo el crédito por la transformación de China, y siendo algo más honesto, es exiled por algún tiempo por critizar algunas políticas.

Cukup menghibur, kita dapat mengetahui sisi lain dari Mao dari kacamata orang terdekatnya yaitu dokter pribadinya. Tapi kebenaran/fakta yg terkandung didalamnya tidak selalu dapat diandalkan karena ini hanya sebuah memoir.. apalagi ditulis oleh seseorang yg sudah berumur 70 tahun lebih tanpa dibantu oleh notes atau buku diary dan sebagainya, jadi hanya pure ingatan aja.

9/10

A fascinating look inside the private live of one of the most powerful and influential men of the 20th century. Some interesting insights into his habit and personal life such as:

1.Always wore a robe and swimming trucks, and conducted business from his bed rather then office.
2.Suffered from Insomnia, and would wake his Doctor In the middle of the night to talk at him about Chinese history of Philosophy.
3. Had no friends and was estranged from his Wife, his only friends were his books and he would read voraciously, would read even when he got his hair cut.
4. Would charm people, win their trust and get them to open up and admit their faults.
5. Was rich due to his proceeds from his books and would shower people with gifts to court influence.

I've always found it fascinating reading about how larger than live figures (Mao, Stalin, Ceasar etc) would conduct themselves in private, and this seems to be a very accurate account from his Doctor.

Mao was a superstitious dirty old man who suffered from venereal disease and believed sex with virgins prolonged life. History is filled with cruel men like Mao. He did have high Chinese Emotional Intelligence. Even Stalin was appalled by his cruelty and disregard for human life.

This book was really good at showing how insane Mao truly was. It was so long and very dry but very thorough. I feel bad for Dr. Li. The last lines of the book are "I devoted my professional life to Mao and China, but now I am stateless and homeless, unwelcome in my own country. I write this book in great sorrow for Lillian [his wife] and for everyone who cherishes freedom. I want it to serve as a reminder of the terrible human consequences of Mao's dictatorship and of how good and talented people living under his regime were forced to violatetheir consciences and sacrifice their ideals in order to survive."

据说一本毛医录拯救一个行业（港台政治秘史类出版物），不愧是让阅读变成get hooked体验的大成之作。权力让人回春（毛/林/江），政治使人变性（周/江）。

This book is a fascinating and up close account of the founding dictator of communist China,Mao Zedong,  written by the man who was forced to be his personal physician for 22 years. If every high school and college student were made to read this as part of their curriculum, you would quickly squelch the leftist leaning views being dispelled in modern day academia. From Mao's lecherous personal lifestyle of debauchery to the Chinese Communist party policies that resulted in the single largest famine ever recorded in the history of the world, with 20 million (possibly more) people starving to death from disastrous collective farm and failed industrialization policies.  Definitely a worthwhile read, I found it so interesting, I could barely put it down...the multiple chinese names of various Wang Dongs And Liu Xadong and so forth are a bit hard to keep up with, otherwise very good book if you're a history nerd like me..

As it was written by an insider, it is the ideal window into Mao's life and personality. While many deride him as the worst dictator ever, most in China view him as the heroic founder of their nation.

While he outwitted both Nationalist leader Jiang Kaishek during the Chinese Civil War, and tricked General MacArthur during the Korean War, he also presided over the Great Leap Forward and promoted a personality cult which started the Cultural Revolution. He started that because he was in a bad mood with the rest of the politburo, therefore it unleashed chaos during which many literally tore each other into pieces. Furthermore, there is a chapter in my book about the effect that it still has on the general population of China.

How could one leader have instituted such policies, which were either clever or disastrous? What was he doing both openly and behind closed doors which made him think of such things?
The Private Life of Chairman Mao describes in fine detail the private life of someone who was previously a complete mystery. My view of him has since been better balanced.

I wouldn't recommend reading this unless you have read a broader historical account of Mao. This one is written by his doctor, so you get an intimate look at Mao, and learn about his sleeping disorders and boils, but the context is limited. It is always interesting to me though to read accounts that give a sense of bad, bad, people as real humans.