E. A. Clark

Interesting theories

Revisado: 07-25-24

Almost stolen valor for someone who was not actually in the military to identify with combat soldiers. Also, there is NO moral equivalency between the Army deserter Bergdahl and mortgage bankers, though both deserved jail and perhaps execution.

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Not Tom Clancy

Revisado: 06-25-24

I learned a lot about drone technology but the storyline was way too disorganized for me.

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Play the "realpolitik" drinking game!

Revisado: 05-12-24

I generally enjoy Isaacson's biographies and have read many of them, and with the recent death of Mr. Kissinger I wanted to learn more about his life story. Overall I thought it was a bit too long, but I'm not sure how such a life could have been covered in less pages so that was OK. The narration was very good with great impersonations of Kissinger, Nixon, and others whose voices were spot on, and I admit that I learned a lot of history in the 34 1/2 hours it took to get through it.

I guess my only complaint was the author's constant and annoying use of the German term "realpolitik" throughout the book. My review of many published definitions/explanations of this term never once mentioned Kissinger as an example so I think it is typical of how public figures, especially politicians and TV commentators find a catch phrase or word and then hammer it to death.

When I realized that not only did Isaacson love using this word as a description of Kissinger, and that the narrator seemed to relish pronouncing it, I decided it could be a great drinking game and I could take a shot every time "realpolitik" was worked into nearly every chapter, and often multiple times. However, since I usually listen to Audible while riding my bike or driving I feared I would have been too tipsy to even stay on the road!!

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Interesting omission

Revisado: 05-11-23

As a physician I found this book to be very interesting and informative and we all owe a debt of gratitude for Mr. Milkin's enormous role in helping to finance and promote medical technology and research. My only complaint is that he took great pains in this book not to mention the only president who acknowledged his redemption by pardoning him: Donald Trump. He mentions Project Warp Speed as if he was the one who thought of it but never mentions Trump as the President who got out in front of it by promoting a private/public partnership with the pharmaceutical industry.

I fear his praise of Fauci and others will come back to bite him when history reveals how lockdowns and promotion of an unending string of vaccines have been so harmful to millions. Still, his role cannot be denied in the creation of financing mechanisms and his generous charitable contributions to medicine and public health.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Must be another Marc Cameron

Revisado: 10-30-22

I just finished this book and have to say I'm here on the Audible website trying to figure out if there are two Marc Camerons! This is my first, and likely my last Arliss Cutter book. It was like listening to a book where the high school writer was trying to meet a minimum word count to complete it with entirely way too many adjectives thrown in and just poor storytelling. I think it would have been been way better if narrated by Scott Brick or another accomplished narrator he's used before. I listen with Air Pods while I walk and bike, so every extraneous sound comes through loud and clear, including the narrator's lip smacking, swallowing, breathing, etc, which is normally filtered out or just not done by better narrators.

I've read pretty much all of Cameron's other books that were narrated by Tom Weiner, Pete Bradbury and Luke Daniels so I'm thinking it is just David Chandler's style I don't like, but I just don't think I can take more Arliss Cutter books for now.

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Whose bio was this?

Revisado: 04-24-22

As a physician I enjoyed hearing the story behind the breakthroughs in gene editing and Isaacson's usual thoroughness in researching a topic well. That said, I guess this is my first Isaacson bio of a living person and I did not care that he interjected himself into the story as it added nothing positive to it and like so many liberals these days, he could not help but take the opportunity to criticize Trump with a one liner that cast a shadow on otherwise good reporting.

I suppose that I need to recognize that he wrote this before the disaster we live in now in "Biden's America" where more have died of Covid on his watch than Trump's despite the widespread availability of tests and vaccines that Project Warp Speed created. Other books by less political writers will reveal the incredible story behind the development and production of vaccines that could only have happened because we had a president who has actually signed paychecks, built huge projects and negotiated complicated contracts and deals, rather than a career politician who now appears to be the head of a crime family. I grew up with killer diseases such as polio, meningitis, and many other epidemics and as a pediatrician of over 40 years I greatly appreciate the vaccines we now have that prevent so much death and disease.

I just feel that there was no reason for Isaacson to take a swipe at Trump about Covid tests and he should delete that one line from further editions. Because he is an accomplished biographer and I've read several others Isaacson biographies I'll stay a fan, unlike Daniel Silva, who has gone off the deep end with his TDS and hatred of conservatives and Trump. History will eventually sort this out.

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Done with Silva

Revisado: 08-31-21

Before I listened to this book I had already seen a lot of controversy on social media sites concerning Silva's increasingly liberal bias he thinks appropriate to include in his more recent books. I had already formed my opinion based on his inaccuracies and conspiracy propagation in The Order but was willing to give him another chance with The Cellist. I too have noticed that this storyline has become stale and repetitive and figured Silva was going to retire Gabriel for good soon anyway.

As I listened to The Cellist and kept hearing Silva weave into the story his obvious Trump Derangement Syndrome mentality it became harder and harder to continue to listen, especially without my favorite narrator George Guidall, who is far superior to Ballerini. When I got to the last part where he launched into the crazy insurrection nonsense I finally just stopped listening and deleted it, especially now with Biden obvious senility (I am a physician and it's clear to me he is severely impaired) and embarrassing our country with his and his advisors' cowardice in leaving Americans behind in Afghanistan.

Even in a work of fiction an unarmed "insurrection" where the only person who died was shot by the Capitol police for no obvious reason just doesn't fly with me. Daniel Silva has obviously drunk the Koolaid of the liberals who hate Donald Trump more than they love their country and look where we are today! No more Silva books for me and I'm sure he and his fans could not care less but I just had to speak my piece, though I'm sure this review will not get past the woke reviewers in the employ of Audible, Amazon or its limousine liberal owner Bezos.

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Had to stop listening finally

Revisado: 09-09-19

I listen to a book every two weeks and had caught up on my usual fare of Daniel Silva, Ben Does, Brad Thor and Michael Grumley, all of whom are master storytellers. As a physician I am perhaps more critical of writers who try to spin a tale based on current or future science and most fall short except for Robin Cook and others who truly have a grasp of science.

I made it half way through Extinction Code and this morning while on my bike I just stopped it and switched to my next Nelson DeMille book. I just couldn't take the poor narration of a very bad story that was poorly written and completely unbelievable. I was hoping for a new author to follow as I have Michael Grumley, who even emails with his readers and tells a much more plausible story. Not even Scott Brick could make Prescott's book sound believable I'm afraid!

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Incredible story about Reagan and the Cold War

Revisado: 07-21-18

I continue to be impressed by Bret Baier's storytelling ability and this book only adds to my admiration for Reagan but also presents some stunning parallels to Trump and what we are seeing on the world stage right now. Bret has captured the essence of Ronald Reagan in this book and brought back memories for me of these scary times during the Cold War. I can't help but be struck with the many similarities between Reagan and Trump and how each dealt with threats, detractors, the press, a crazy Congress, and dictators in the USSR and North Korea. Both men have deep convictions to doing what is best for our country despite all the criticism and even Bret alludes to this at the conclusion of the book.

Everyone who is a student of history, Reagan and Trump should read or listen to this book as one can't help but draw clear parallels to what Trump is facing now, albeit with a different style from Reagan for sure, but with the same challenges and fortitude. Hearing Bret read it made it even better since I never miss his newscast each day for his unbiased and clear reporting. He is going to rule Fox News for many years to come.

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Can't wait for the next one...

Revisado: 07-09-18

Another great book in the Breakthrough series that is growing. Grumley has done his research to back up his storylines and I can't help but think there could be a movie from the first book. Of course, listening to Scott Brick's narration is always a treat and a smart move by the author to have Brick on board.

Mr Grumley encourages reviews since his a self-published and relies a lot on people like me who enjoy his books. He and I even exchanged some emails after reading and reviewing Breakthough and I told him that offering the first 3 chapters of the next book is a great way to entice readers to keep following him and he confirmed the subplot that many missed reading the first book.

I've already paid for the next book in the series that is coming soon.

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