Tom Lawson

Engaging, Well-reasoned, and Fearless

Revisado: 07-10-21

A careful and candid assessment of most of the key battlegrounds of intersectionality and the ever-changing rules in the grievance agenda of victim-mongering. Murray shares with a handful of authors (like Neil Gaiman, for example) the ability to read their own work as well or better than most professional narrators.

He lays out the broad framework behind the broad framework that fuels the outrage, heated and often vicious rhetoric, and fundamentalist dogmatism of the current gatekeepers of fairness-orthodoxy. He then takes the reader through several major categories of victims (gays, women, people of color, transgender) and oppressors (inevitably white males). He repeatedly points to the disconnect between repeatedly asserted "facts" and the dearth of actual evidence or science to support them.

Among his more insightful assertions is that all these battles are centered around the assumption that the only currency driving human existence is POWER: who has it, who does not have it, and who should have it diminished or augmented by external agencies of government coercion or social pressure. Other potential meta-purposes such as love or belonging or courage or self-sacrifice are downplayed or ignored (nowhere was this more revealing than in his brief discussion near the end of the book regarding how motherhood and raising children have come to be viewed).

One of the clearest things Murray reveals over and over is the unbridled viciousness used to silence and punish those who have, intentionally or quite on accident, stumbled over one of the numerous trip-wires apt to explode in the minefield of self-appointed Grand inquisitors of accepted group-think of identities, oppression, and intersectionality. He points to the utter absurdity of insisting ideas like gender are fluid and negotiable social constructs (as many transgender activists insist), but race, particularly if a person born white wants to identify as black, is restricted only to those with a biological claim to be black or Asian or first-nations American.

I doubt true believers among activist-progressives will be persuaded or that conservative advocates of American exceptionalism will find the book particularly attractive. His language is often coarse and, at times, sexually explicit. This is not a book to leave around for children (or listen to out loud with your sainted-mother in the room). But, I found it refreshingly candid, entertaining, and tremendously insightful. Douglas Murray is actually measured and careful, not denying or ignoring the validity of genuine grievances. But, he demonstrates that elevating racial identity or sexual identity as the central way to identify ourselves or others is nothing less than racist. Merely changing which group is to be advantaged and which despised does not alleviate historical or current injustices. It ensures and amplifies their continuation.

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A remarkable and engaging epic

Revisado: 11-11-17

Over and over two words come to mind: Unexpected and engaging. The characters, the plot, the movement over vast reaches of time present the listener/reader with a continual flow of unexpected (although always plausible) twists and turns. And yet, for all that great expanse of time, many characters, and evolving technologies, the story remained strangely engaging.

Clearly, this is one the most novel science fiction works I have encountered. It is an epic tale spanning thousands of years. In spite of its scope, though, the story is not about technology or civilizations or species. It is about individuals. Individuals whose unique personalities drive the story, even as they draw the reader into the fabric of circumstances and events at the far of edge of scientific imagination.

The performance by Mel Hudson is nothing short of perfection. A genuinely gifted performance.

By halfway through the book, I found I wanted to go off somewhere and just listen. As with the very best books, the only real disappointment is coming to the end of the story.

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Captivating Reality

Revisado: 08-13-17

The first thing I will note is that it is not, in the typical sense, a novel or fiction story. It reads more like a genuine account, often lacking in a smooth storyline, clear antagonists, tension and resolve. In spite of that, it is in enthralling and captivating book. The detail and level of presumed realism is remarkable. The descriptions of the ancient past, and the imagined distant future, or both remarkably believable and detailed. The 10 soldiers involved emerge as distinct personalities. None of them truly he Roeck or cowardly or villainous. Because the book did not follow a typical storyline development, I found myself starting each new chapter unsure where it would lead.

Details were often introduced that a person for Milyer with fiction writing will surely expect to become significant in the storyline. Often however as in real life, they do not. They are simply the numerous details that naturally go into the typical flow of real life. The fact that these emerge and such a fantastic setting as a prehistoric world of woolly rhinoceroses and mammoth's, a cadre of Roman soldiers, and a smattering of people from other heroes, is all the more remarkable.

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Masterful Work of Great American Literature

Revisado: 06-07-16

Would you listen to Abraham Lincoln again? Why?

Yes. Sandburg's prose transcends the genre of historical biography and rises to the level of poetic prose that ought to join Gibbons and others as examples of the best literature in the English language.

What did you like best about this story?

Sandburg's powerful prose that provides the framework for his majestic portrayal of Lincoln - a figure he holds in almost-mystic admiration. The work is impressive in its use of historic and biographic details that are the product of Sandburgs decades of research and study into the life of America's sixteenth president.

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

The narrative is pleasant and positive, although there are some occasional mispronunciations that are surprising. There are also the occasional recording "re-take" that was not entirely edited out of the final recorded (as in a phrase suddenly starting over and being read aloud a second time). These, however, are infrequent and do not distract from the flow and quality of Sandburg's prose.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Lincoln's immense capability for compassion and his strong (although not unconditional) commitment to honesty. The last chapters of the book are, as might be expected, the most moving.

Any additional comments?

Lincoln scholarship has progressed since Sandburg's work, and more recent Lincoln scholars are probably more accurate in portraying the complexities of Lincoln's conflicted relationship with his father, his driving ambition, his aversion to physical work, and his willingness to use political payoffs and seriously bend constitutional restraints to accomplish his goals. That said, Sandburg's work remains unequaled in the beauty and power of the writing. In the end, nations need heroes and I am willing to acknowledge Sandburg's portrait of Lincoln is somewhat filtered by both his admiration and the tendency of those who later wrote or reported on their impressions of Lincoln also being (at times) more complimentary than entirely candid.

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Could not listen long enough to make a fair review

Revisado: 06-07-16

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No. The audio recording of the narrative is simply too hard to endure for long.

Would you be willing to try another book from Michael J. Metroke? Why or why not?

Unknown, since the quality of the narrator and recording prevented my assessing the book in more detail.

Would you be willing to try another one of Joseph B. Kearns’s performances?

Probably not.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The quality of the recorded narration was too unpleasant to endure.

Any additional comments?

Of 375 audible titles I have purchased over the year, this is the first book I have been unable to listen to more than an hour. The recording sounds as though the narrator was several feet from the microphone in a room with very "live" flat walls. The narrator projects with a very loud voice, as though reading aloud in a very large lecture hall. The combination was simply too pleasant to tolerate long enough to listen to much of the book. I am not that picky (as my other 374 listens without complaint would suggest). This audible title must be professionally redone or removed. If you get the book and do not agree with me, please post your own impressions. If you do agree with me, then please urge audible to have the title redone or remove it from available titles.

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Tremendous Depth and Research Woven into a Grand Story

Revisado: 07-09-15

J. E. Smith provides an impressively detailed and well researched study of the twentieth century's most underrated President. Drawing from a wealth of historic sources and personal papers, Smith gives a balanced story that does not avoid Eisenhower's weaknesses and failures. But, in the end, the reader will be left with the undeniable impression that this was one of this nation's most effective Presidents precisely because it appeared to the public it was an easy eight years of prosperity and peace. Eisenhower's gift of leading without appearing to lead, and with managing complex issues that seemed to somehow, and without great effort from the White House, solve themselves, was his gift and a mark of the uniqueness of his skilled leadership. Upon finishing this book, you'd be forgiven for putting an old "I Like Ike" poster somewhere in your house.

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Intriguing Venture into Quantum Fantasy

Revisado: 07-03-15

Would you consider the audio edition of The Fold to be better than the print version?

Unknown

What did you like best about this story?

The inner thoughts of a savant who determines to live a "normal" life

Have you listened to any of Ray Porter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I enjoyed 14. I found this to be less intense and just a little predictable. But, a great story that holds your interest. One of those "depressed when it was done" audible experiences.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Mostly just kept my interest. No small feat.

Any additional comments?

Certainly an intriguing plot the pulls the listener first one way and then another.

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