narrowback slacker

An utterly charming look at politics and graft

Revisado: 02-23-17

I stumbled across an excerpt from this book while editing a US History reader a while back, and was immediately charmed. Grabbed the ebook/audible bundle and can highly recommend both. Plunkitt is a character, and his little homilies on NYC, graft, and in particular the political machine that made this city such a plum landing pad for Irish immigrants provide telling insights into our particular immigrant story. Riordan's introduction provides valuable context, and Robert Bethune's gives an audiobook performance worthy of a one man stage show.

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Everyone should read it.

Revisado: 02-23-17

My son recommended this one to me after reading it at school, and I was embarrassed I hadn't read it already. Beautifully written first-person account that stands the test of time, and sheds light onto the hidden history of our country.

The reader, Steven Anderson, gave a beautiful performance--a clear voice that doesn't distract from Douglass' prose. I took one star of just because the production is a little glitchy, with skips and retakes that should have been corrected by the producer.

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Charming mix of humor/research, great performance

Revisado: 02-23-17

I read a lot of social science scholarship for work, and now I wish that I could hire Aziz Ansari to just translate it all for me. And then to read it aloud for me, because I was one of the lazies who downloaded the audiobook instead of the book. His performance (and occasional scoldings) lent another fun layer to the experience.

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Wish I'd chosen the book, rather than audio.

Revisado: 02-23-17

Parts of this book I loved, and parts I just wanted to get through... but I suspect my troubles with it were due to the uneven (and sluggish) performances in the audiobook. I generally prefer narration that disappears, when a single reader just reads the book in a lively voice (and PLEASE--don't "do" voices). When that's the case, the narrator essentially becomes my own voice internal reading the book, rather than a "performance" by a "cast." This story switches the POV frequently, and each time a new actor comes on to read--and I just found it distracting and annoying. Also, the narration was mind-numbingly slow. It's beautiful prose, but it's supposed to be set in New York, and no New Yorker speaks that slowly. (I had to listen to much of it on 1.5x just to make it sound normal).

It's a lovely story, though, with a diverse array of characters--some I would have like to have heard less from, some I wanted to know more about. It's beautifully written and captures a New York that I remember seeing, mostly out of my peripheral vision, when I was growing up along the city's edge.

I'd recommend the book, but not the audiobook. I found myself regretting choosing Audible for this one; I think this is just one that was meant to be read.

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Excellent all around.

Revisado: 01-23-17

As a New Yorker, I grew up in the shadow of Hamilton. But as an adult, I'm amazed at how little I knew about one of my favorite founding fathers. A fabulous study of a fascinating life, and Scott Brick's straightforward narration disappears as you listen, which I think is an indication of a perfect performance.

The book has been on my list of things to read for about ten years--but I've only been managed to really get through big histories/biographies now that I've discovered the beauty of the synced Kindle/Audible bundle. Being able to go back and forth from reading to listening has made it so much easier to digest these sorts of books, where you may want to highlight or check out the notations as you go.

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Midway through, performance is killing me.

Revisado: 01-23-17

I read the first four books in the series on my Kindle, and decided to switch to audio for this last one so I could listen while walking. I regret the purchase. The narrator has a fine voice, but I really hate it when readers try to "do voices" for characters in general, and some of the choices he made were really distracting (seriously, the young mother of dragons sounds like a 90 year old crone). I prefer to narrators to simply narrate, so that their performance sort of disappears and you just hear the story as if you were reading it your own mind. Looking at other reviews now, I see that this was an abrupt change from prior audiobooks in the series. I am abandoning the audiobook in favor of print/kindle. Given the length, it will take all year for me to finish it, but at least I'll enjoy the story.

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A must-read for every New Yorker.

Revisado: 10-23-16

A phenomenal work of investigative journalism that captures the behind the scenes manipulations that shape the lives of New Yorkers every day. Moses was a schemer and an authoritarian despot who was able to capitalize on characteristic that both makes and breaks most New Yorkers—impatience. He built amazing things, usually at devastating expense.

The only reason I did not give this five stars is because there was some coverage that--reading this book many years after it was published--I suspect was left on the cutting room floor. Not much on the Rockaway improvements here, and not a single mention of Jane Jacobs. I will have to follow up by weeding through old Caro interviews to see where those bits went. I'd also be interested in reading some defenses of Moses, just for the sake of equal time.

A few other notes/questions:
1. Why, oh why, is this not available on Kindle? When listening to intense histories I like to be able to refer to the book and notes as I go, and being able to search an ebook for keywords is very helpful in that respect. And also, this is not a book that fits easily into one's purse.

2. The audio performance is ok, but I found it excruciatingly slow, to the point where the voice seemed distorted (perhaps a recording or download glitch?). I found it sounded much more natural when sped up 1.25x (although still a little slow; I listened at 1.5-2x).

3. And finally: This would make a freaking amazing long-form TV series, a modern day, real-world Game of Thrones. Who is sitting on the rights and why isn't it in development with HBO (or Netflix?) already?

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Reader was distracting and I just couldn't finish.

Revisado: 12-07-15

What didn’t you like about Dan John Miller’s performance?

The reader had a tendency to try on different voices, and they were unconvincing (and a little stereotypical) and just really distracting.

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Good, but largely redundant with the podcast.

Revisado: 12-07-15

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Great stuff, as expected from Levitt and Dubner. But much of the material was covered in the podcast, and as an audiobook (read by Dubner) it lacked lacked some of the sparkle of the podcast, which weaves together different voices.

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Lovely story. Excellent reading.

Revisado: 11-28-15

What does Kirsten Potter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Fabulous reading. Each character had a unique voice, and yet the performance was so subtle that you forgot you were listening to an audiobook.

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