With tremendous faith in humanity and an unrelenting sense of humor, Mohamedou Ould Slahi recounts his tale of being imprisoned, for years, without a crime or an official accusation. Some pages are difficult to read - I took solace in knowing that Slahi has been eventually released. As a narrator, he comes through as a person you can't help but fall for. After all, how can you fail to like someone who says this about chess, "Before the prison, I didn’t know the difference between a pawn and the rear end of a knight, nor was I really a big gamer." The book is full of redactions, which add to the eerie effect (although I understand an edition without reductions is now available). I almost prefer these: they add tremendously to the effect. Even the editor's pedantic footnotes do, in their excessive desire to explain every detail. A must read, at least for every American.