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Incredible story and narration, incorrect chapters and broken WhisperSync make Audible version frustrating!

Revisado: 08-31-24

The narrator did an amazing job of making this story come to life and I was impressed by the pacing and production quality. The absolute worst parts are when long chapters are split and thus improperly labeled and WhisperSync is totally broken. No matter where I am in the Kindle version, I listen here and then my Kindle shows bookmarks for Chapter 1 13minutes in, page 194 twice, and the Publisher’s Notes at the very end. It never synced properly and having to skim around between both to stay on track was horrible. At least the story was worth the effort!

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Maybe the most important writing manual

Revisado: 12-14-22

I loved the early part of the book as it’s autobiographical and I wish there were more to that, but the book is centered around how to be a better writer and the advice is priceless. King’s narration makes me eager for more. The ending bonuses are fun as well and I hope King narrates more like this!

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Wonderfully narrated tales

Revisado: 11-28-22

I was totally enraptured by the stories Grohl told and the way he’d give backstory and circle back to the initial tale. I listened every day for a week and still don’t want it to end. I hope more comes from him in the future!

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An in-depth, book-by-book look into Narnia

Revisado: 07-06-20

I finished The Last Battle at 2:30am this morning and looked around for a good companion novel to follow up with to help me better understand the overall messages. Listening to this audiobook over the course of a day was the perfect way to end my time with The Chronicles of Narnia.

This book explores, obviously, the deeper Christian meaning behind the series and it's organized by publication order. I'd prefer if it were chronological like how I read it, but that's heresy to many fans though it does put Lewis in context with his thinking at the time of writing the series.

The author draws on numerous other texts by Lewis to support his research and I enjoy that the book seems to have had some personal resonance with the author himself. I haven't read any of Lewis's other writings, but I feel that their inclusion here is sufficient to my deeper understanding of his most important work.

I really like that each chapter is a retelling of the story and it's broken down in detail when it's appropriate. Because it took me a month or so to read through it all, I was thankful for these summaries and so that as I was busy about my day, I could enjoy hearing them and it was like a discussion, similar to a podcast, about historical and religious contexts.

There isn't much to say about this book other than I highly recommend it for it's accessibility, great writing style, and the narrator especially really drew me in an kept me engaged for the five-hour duration. I'm thankful that this resource exists to help me apply the messages in some way to my own life. I have never been religious in any way, but I thoroughly enjoyed the series and I can still take positive things from it.

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Perfect narration for an already engaging book

Revisado: 01-07-20

This is my first time listening to the book after having read it up it's original release some 10 years ago. It's as perfect as I remember it being when I read it in high school and the narration makes it that much more engaging again.
There are many things to say about the story but others have said them better. This is just simply the best book on the topic of school shootings and is so well researched that it dispels all the myths and misunderstandings surrounding the events of 4/20/99.
Very insightful in its prose, detailed in every aspect and fact, and really thought-provoking as to how I come to think of it since I was a high school student.
I can't recommend this book enough.

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Could benefit from better intonation and recording

Revisado: 12-04-19

I think the content and everything was very informative and expertly researched, but I don't know why I initially bought this audiobook in the first place.

I really enjoy the concepts of transcendentalism and I think I was eager to explore it further since my first exposure as a senior in high school, but I feel like this was overwhelming in its depth and complexity. There are so many names thrown around in this book like I'm expected to know or care about them, and I'm sure their inclusion is important in some way, but in that way I was unable to follow which threads were important. Granted, I haven't had time to look over the accompanying PDF but I'm sure my questions would be answered if I picked it up.

I felt like the vocabulary was at time difficult and I love new words, but it's so fast and there's so much information, that I got lost while trying to find the definitions. My head was constantly in a state of whirling dervish momentum that I can't say I'm not glad to have finished these lectures.

Had I listened ten years ago, fresh out of high school, I'm sure this would've been right up my alley, but my current situation left me scratching my head as to why I was still continuing with the lectures. To get my money's worth, I guess.

Now, for anyone who's interested in this topic and doesn't mind the almost graduate-level of information, you'll love it. I just thought it was alright. Definitely not recommended for the layman.

The narrator speaks with a weird eagerness, like he's trying to keep a class of 300's attention, but it's just me. I wish he had an intonation and comfort with using a microphone to treat these lectures like a private conversation and add some depth to his voice to flow with the important points and when to change as info becomes less important, but it's a long monotonous angst of trying to convey the information. Maybe I'm just spoiled after listening to Dan Carlin recently and that's an unfair comparison and it's hard to describe my gripes, but I just wish it were more personal and with better production values in the recording process.

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A passionate series of contemplative lectures

Revisado: 11-26-19

This is my first listen to the series and it was overwhelming in its depth and detail in various subjects surrounding Japan. There is so much information and it's presented in easy 30-minute lectures to digest slowly and reflect on the notes in the accompanying PDF.
The presentation was excellent and the narration was perfect. I enjoyed the pacing and found the content engaging throughout thanks to the lecturer's sincere interest in Japanese culture and the intonation was spot on with how I remember college lectures, which should be appropriately a no-brainer considering that's what this is.
I recommend this course for anyone with an interest in Japanese history. I learned so much and I'm definitely going to listen again to individual lectures.

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Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy

Revisado: 10-13-19

I had anticipated listening to this book for a long time but it takes the right mental state to digest it properly. Today was that day and I listened near nonstop and finished it in one day.

This is an important book because it tells the side of a debate that has raged on for over twenty years now about who's to blame for the Columbine massacre of 4/20/99. I used to be in the mind that there should've been warning signs, even more so because there were two shooters that would seemingly double the odds of preventing the tragedy, but the author claims that honestly there were few signs to go on, just some teenage brushes with the law and school issues.

I can really side with Sue now that the parents aren't always to blame. They try and prod and poke and I remember my own teenage evasiveness and keeping secrets from my mom. It's natural at that age. The Klebold home really sounds like a loving place devoid of guns, racism, homophobia, and all the other rhetoric the killers espoused in their journals and tapes. She had really tried to know her sons lives and even through the ups and downs, she couldn't imagine her son's own participation.

The news was delivered to them through an attorney about the shooting and for days after, the family was pretty in the dark about the facts of what happened because they were unable to get answers and watch the news. This is even pre-9/11 America so the shock was felt harder when the significance of it all came crashing on her. I can't imagine being in her position of media presence, the scrutiny, fear of safety, and having to hide and wait for news.

This book isn't the height of literature, but more an honest account given with a good foresight to keep a journal since childhood, so her feelings and events could be told with a written account to recall back to after years of devastating anxiety and sadness. There are many repetitious phrases and callbacks of events that are told with sporadic pieces that I wish would be told and moved on with, but I can see that bouncing around and reiterating her points of the Dylan she knew were in stark contrast with the boy who murdered and injured so many people.

I feel that her time after the tragedy was spent well in advocating for mental health and for seeking answers of not "why" it happened but "how" it could've happened. She was a pariah for many years and I can't imagine the strength it took to go on living every day and eventually writing this book and speaking out about her son and her own grief.

This is an important book not only for the picture it paints of a loved child who went horribly wrong due to a psychopath's influence, but also because it is a firsthand account of what really happened behind the scenes of a child you'd never predict could do what he did. Columbine changed everything and is almost unparalleled because it was the first major school shooting in American history. It depressingly snowballed into a myriad of problems that America faces almost daily now with shootings, blaming various media, bullying, stereotyping, mental illness, gun rights, so on. The conversation has never died down about the awfulness of what happened, but I'm upset by the fact that they've only gotten worse and it's hard to know who or what to blame these days.

It's not about pointing fingers and playing the blame game. It's about calling out the lack of mental health resources in the past and it's a guide on how to hopefully prevent future Columbines from happening. The book is impactful in its messages and there is a lot to be learned about American culture before and after Columbine. Hopefully Sue Klebold's story can inspire everyone to look out for one another and not feel ashamed in reaching out for help or helping others.

Thank you, Sue.

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The Only True Story of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Revisado: 06-03-19

Gunnar Hansen's book provides an intriguing insight into arguably the world's most controversial horror film. He dispels all the rumors and sheds light on how the mystique of the film garnered it the reputation it still has to this day.
His narration is excellent and engaging. How could this mild-mannered writer go on to be such a notorious film icon? I really enjoyed his retelling of the events surrounding the film but also liked his personal background and stories of the hardships everyone faced personally and monetarily. For a film that seemed so real, this book's brutal truth hits even harder.
I recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone interested in not just horror but films themselves as it's an eye opening look into how a $3,000 budget stretched to international acclaim and infamy. RIP Gunnar Hansen.

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an 11 hour special with more heart

Revisado: 05-12-19

This is probably the best way to enjoy this book is by listening to Kevin read it. I eagerly await each special and this is a more in-depth look into his personal life and how he rose to success.

I laughed a lot and focused hard to catch as much detail as possible. Kevin reads in an engaging manner and banters similarly to his standup.

I learned a lot that I didn't know about before with his history and rise to fame. He explains many jokes what led to his major life changes.

I hope I can use some of his advice in my own life and career so that I can be the best that I can be too.

It's very enjoyable to listen to and it took me less than a week. I laughed out loud multiple times in public, resulting in awkward, confused reactions. I can't wait to listen again or to whatever comes next from Lil Kev the Bastard.

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