Nate

Should be required reading

Revisado: 03-24-21

Agree or disagree with the legislative recommendations, the logic in this book is sound and just as applicable today as when it was first written decades ago. Should be required reading in every American high school.

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Very good installment

Revisado: 12-02-19

These books are tough for me to assess. They have good writing, likable characters, realistic dialog, and are relatively light. But there is something that makes me slightly uncomfortable. Maybe it's just how foreign the culture and mythology is, compared to, say, the Greek mythology of Percy Jackson. Maybe it's how completely random some of the experiences seem to be. Things can be a bit jarring and hard to follow when they are so random.

This book specifically was good, though it was one of those "everything stops working for no reason" sequels. Spoilers ahead. The yogi powers suddenly stop working due to lack of concentration. The flying carpet stops working due to... something. The flying elephant phone doesn't work. Etc.

Anyway, it's still a fun story. If you liked the previous books, you'll love this one.

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Lots of potential wasted

Revisado: 08-26-19

The beginning of the first book was very intriguing; lots of potential and another spin off the Percy Jackson-style fantasy. But things started to drop off very quickly.

There are far too many things that are thrown out there at the beginning or along the way and then never pursued. The homeroom classroom dynamic, with the divide between regular and rich kids. Blake being a bad boy, tempting Nicole to the dark side. Danielle causing brain damage to a mortal. Family dynamics are explored a little early on, and then completely abandoned. The final thread with the Australian girl is pointless and serves no purpose in the story. The way they deal with her brother should have serious consequences, but never does. And the possible relationship or history between the two elders that they work with.

The romance comes early and hard and is eye-rollingly puke worthy. There are constant deep gazes and intense looks. The romance comes out of nowhere, develops way too fast, and is simply not believable. The romantic dialog (really, a lot of the dialog in general) comes across as awkward. Blake also cheats on his steady girlfriend of the past year, deliberately and repeatedly. This is supposed to be because it's "true love" or some such garbage, but it really just reveals his (and Nicole's) total lack of self control and integrity. And there are quite a few grammar/word choice mistakes that are pretty glaring.

The characters are not deep or well developed, so it's hard to care much about them. Blake is probably the worst, the others at least start off in a good place but just aren't developed enough. Too many cookie cutter cliches are used.

There are too many things that don't make sense. How did Nicole heal herself before the comet? How can elders create portals when magic is heretofore mental only and cannot affect the physical world? Why does the author call boys witches, bucking decades of literary tradition?

The last book in the series is the worst. Constant whining, complaining, accusing, and Deus ex machinas. I predicted the ending almost as soon as the predicament was described, though it's not satisfying. This book also contains teenage sex and drinking. These are young kids, in high school. The best I can figure is that they are sophomores, making them about 15 or 16. I can't remember if it ever specifies age, but they reference freshmen as if they aren't freshmen yet are clearly near the beginning of their formal magical education. But they casually refer to drinking alcohol at parties in previous years, drink wine in the book, and sleep together. In fact, the two main characters basically move in together and are sleeping together every night. One or two of the books also contain fairly graphic sexual language and references. The violence is also graphic and over the top. Think blood spurting, torn off limbs, and severed heads described in detail, but there's lots more like that. It's pretty disgusting and unnecessary. A big reason I often read young adult books is to avoid this kind of stuff. So much for that.

Yes, these books take several themes and tropes from Percy Jackson (casual, modernized Greek gods, a band of friends completing quests, the sacred cows, the sea of monsters, the lotus eaters, fighting Medusa and using her head, etc.). But the most important core elements of Percy Jackson were unfortunately not emulated. Friendship developed over years. Innocence and integrity of youth. A slow, believable romance developed over many books. And likable main characters.

Oh well. at least it only cost me one credit, and the books go by quite quickly.

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Good book, but mostly centered around Obama

Revisado: 06-26-19

This book has some extremely crass and offensive language, all quoting left wing actors. The book was quite interesting and enlightening, but primarily centered around president Obama. So, while the bullying is still taking place at least as much a few years ago, that focus on Obama feels a little dated.

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Excellent and interesting

Revisado: 03-19-19

This book, read by the author, is engaging and interesting. It reviews the recent history of James O'Keefe and his organization and their undercover investigations. It illuminates on the reactions of the mainstream media. I've been watching Veritas videos for a while now, and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It provides an important perspective in today's media and political environment.

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For those who want an intelligent protagonist...

Revisado: 05-01-17

Excellent package.

The wiring is very good, for the most part, with just a few awkward or unrealistic exchanges. The protagonist actually thinks about things like a normal, thoughtful, intelligent person would. Narrator does quite good, but there are occasional spots where the emphasis is wrong, shrouding the meaning. The original Percy Jackson narrator does this all the time, so if that doesn't bother you, this won't either.

The similarities between this and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (yes, this is a real fanfiction, and a top notch read) are astounding to me. One author must have been influenced by the other. The biggest difference is that in this book, the protagonist is not a super genius, just a regular person.

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Good book for Riordan fans

Revisado: 05-27-16

Audible reviews are pretty much crap, so see my Amazon review. I can't submit my full review here for some reason. Basically, this book has great potential and is a fun read, with mostly good narration, but suffers from convenient but unlikely plot devices, flat characters, and not enough realistic intelligence and rationality.

It's still worth checking out though, and convinced me to read the rest of the series.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Pretty good, but some conflicting advice

Revisado: 12-05-15

Where does NurtureShock rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's a very good book overall, with some good advice, but also some problems with no solutions, and a little seemingly conflicting advice.

Any additional comments?

Here is a summary of what I got from the book. If you enjoy it, I highly recommend Drive by Daniel Pink and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. They will give additional insight on both parenting and self-development

1. Give targeted praise regarding effort rather than general attribute praise (you worked really hard on that, rather than you're so great, you're so smart) to encourage them to try things that are difficult. (For additional reading, see Drive by Daniel Pink.)
2. Ensure that children get adequate recommended sleep, and avoid time-shifting sleep on weekends (letting them stay up late and sleep in). This will combat moodiness, lack of focus, obesity, and lack of energy and encourage higher academic performance.
3. Talk about skin color early, openly and candidly, because humans naturally identify with those visually similar to them and categorize by visual cues like skin color and hair (racism does not start as an artificially created phenomenon from society). Talking about skin color and race can counteract the natural sorting that children do.
4. Kids naturally learn to lie early and frequently. To combat this, emphasize the trust and happiness that comes from the truth, rather than punishment for lying. Be very careful about white lies around children, they see all lying the same way, regardless of intention or belief. Telling an adult about being wronged usually happens after a child has put up with a lot of mistreatment from a sibling or another child. Do not punish this or shame their telling the truth by labeling as "tattling". This is extremely destructive to their value of telling the truth.
5. School testing for gifted/advanced programs is generally done much too early, with no follow up testing for new entrants or to maintain eligibility. These early tests leave out tons of "late bloomers" who are trapped out of the gifted programs. No advice on what to do about it. This agrees with findings by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.
6. Teens lie and rebel. A lot. Supposedly they lie to try to maintain a good relationship with parents. The solution is not to be ultra lenient and permissive, that just tells teens their parents don't care and they get into even more trouble. Being extremely strict and iron fisted is not as bad; teens don't get in trouble as much, but are more likely to be depressed. Best is to have a few areas of rules that are consistently enforced, and agree on areas autonomy for the teen. Teens see arguing with parents as positive, but parents see it as destructive. Arguing is a sign of respect; it means the teens trust that their parents will listen to a logical "argument". Parents should listen and make exceptions when it makes sense.
7. Many programs with good intentions make no statistical difference, like DARE, or can even make things worse, like driver's ed. The "Tools of the Mind" curriculum is shown to make a huge difference, because it focuses on proactivity, self directed play, and self discipline.
8. Child aggression (toddler to high school). 1 Educational children's shows are full of insults and put downs, and result in higher increases in social aggression than violent shows result in increases in physical aggression. The resolution of a social difficulty is usually a tiny part of such shows, compared to showing the social misbehavior itself. A related example is the time spend on "Hakuna Matata" (no worries, no responsibility, no consequences) in The Lion King. 2 Children seeing parents argue does not automatically contribute to child aggression, it can be constructive if it is mature, devoid of name calling, and especially if children see the sincere, loving resolution. 3 Apparently, zero tolerance bullying policies often lump in things that aren't actually bullying. Social aggressors are often very highly socially developed, not social rejects. Popular kids are the most active social aggressors. Kids of progressive dads show almost as much aggression as distant dads, since progressive dads are uncertain and inconsistent in giving correction or punishment. No solution given by the author.
9. Verbal development is determined (apparently) not by how much the parent speaks to the baby, but by how often they immediately react to the baby's babbling, gestures, and glances. This teaches them that sounds and words have meaning. More reactions equals higher vocabulary. But... Don't overdo it, give them breaks, give them mixed amounts of feedback, don't respond as much to simpler babble, or babies won't be pushed to develop more complex babble. What??

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esto le resultó útil a 32 personas

Great book, good narration

Revisado: 06-25-15

This is quite a good story; not spectacular, but really good. There are occasional moments that feel a bit contrived or unnatural, but character interaction is mostly pretty smooth.

The narration is also great, with distinct voices for every character, with one exception. I know Saphira is a dragon, but the throaty voice that the narrator uses for her is over the top and unpleasant to listen to, with no feminine quality at all, as other female characters have. She speaks in Eragon's head, so it doesn't have to sound like a little kid trying to do a monster voice.

If you're a fan of Lord of the Rings or other similar, teen-appropriate fantasy books, I recommend this.

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Excellent book, good full cast production

Revisado: 04-30-15

The story is great, especially if you like Shannon Hale's popular Goose Girl and sequels. If you like dramatic, full cast audiobooks, this is a great one, well done, and high enough quality audio. If you don't, you should probably just read the book.

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