Anthony

He really "Mailed this one in" Sad

Revisado: 11-21-23

I've listed to all of Cornwell's previous books in the series. This one was not only notably short in duration, but completely lacking in character development as well. It really feels "mailed in" in that it comes off like it was written to fulfill the terms of a publisher's contract, not to engage an audience of loyal readers. Narration was fine. Needless to say, if this was the first book of the series, there wouldn't be a series. If you have listened to the preceding books in the series, you should get this one to close things out, but prepare to be underwhelmed.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A “mailed in” Cash grab

Revisado: 08-24-23

Zero character development, except perhaps for an understanding of their caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco habits.
Balki bartakomous did an ok job, but it felt forced. Perhaps his performance was lessened by the overall poor storyline. It would be hard for any narrator. So three stars for Bronson Pinchot.
I read all the previous books in the series. This one was a huge let down. Sad.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Good book rendered almost unlistenable by narrator

Revisado: 01-06-21

The book itself is a solid 4 stars; it addresses an often-overlooked topic in life and business. The narration is another story. The Shatner-esque staccato pauses blend with valley girl uptalk inflection at the end of EVERY sentence to make listening a chore. Don't take my word for it. Look at the other reviews for this narrator before buying.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Pay credit for Narrator to read YouTube Comments.

Revisado: 02-21-19

If you are going to try and kill the king, you had best not miss. Vox Day misses (badly) and comes off as an insufferable twit in the process. Bombastic, overwrought, trite, churlish. Sad. About 10% of what the author notes are accurate observations where Peterson could improve his content or delivery. Unfortunately, they are buried in Bombast and manure of the remaining 90%. The narrator does a decent job of making it interesting.

Don't take my word for it:
Summary of final chapter 23 (at 6:47:35 in the book): "He wants to serve the tripartite role of messiah, savior, and pope ... Jordan Peterson is Crazy and Evil..."

The content reads like a deposition in which the FBI tries to catch someone on perjury. The focus is on process violations vs the subtext of the message. (for those not aware, when speaking with the FBI ANY statement you make, whether material to the case or not must be factual or you ARE guilty of making a false statement... for example, look up how they got Martha Stewart, it was in the details of the false statement, not securities fraud). That is what hearing this feels like.

Also, in the forward, Yiannopolis palters by leaving out the context of what Peterson said. The context was focusing on the comparison of Yianopolis to Hitler, which Peterson took umbrage with. Peterson was not calling Yianopolis a White supremacist, although the transcript they read could be construed to sound that way because they stop and leave out the part where Peterson takes umbrage with the comparison.

The ad hominem is strong in this one as well. Vox Day (real name Theodore Robert Beale) takes a heavy-handed approach, pointing out Peterson's discussions on his family's history with depression. Beale uses this as the basis to discredit Peterson's work out of the gate (mental illness = unsound arguments and fraudulent positions.) Yet, if Beale applies this own standard to himself, his assessment of Peterson would be tainted by the fact that Beale's father is a convicted felon who was found guilty of a multimillion-dollar tax fraud scheme and who subsequently threatened the life of a federal judge. The fact that Beale led with this ad hominem (which could also be said to apply to Beale and his family). was cause for concern... but I soldiered on. I really wanted to hear what Beale had to say because I value contrary points as they help me to see things from a different point of view.

At least 90 minutes of this audiobook is the narrator (somewhat skillfully yet tediously) reading youtube comments. Unnecessary and pedantic. It really was starting to border on childish at this point.

What is most frustrating about the premise of this book is the fact that Beale takes quotes from Peterson that he has made over time and takes them as a snapshot in time. An example that stands out to me is where he takes a quote Peterson made at age 14 about becoming Prime Minister of Canada and contrasts that with a statement made decades later about how he didn't really have an interest in politics. He uses this to accuse Peterson of being a liar and charlatan. I would ask Beale, is no one is allowed to change their mind over time based on new facts or life experiences? Sad. Waste of a credit.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 17 personas

Questionable reviews and mediocre content - Beware

Revisado: 12-27-18

The content is mediocre. It is as though a person paid a researcher to compile a compendium on the topic and then paid a narrator to read it without affect or intonation.

The performance was not checked for quality. the narrator snorts and snuffles quite audibly for five seconds at only 10 minutes in (8:23 in chapter 3 to be precise). A cursory QA/QC check and simple editing would have fixed this.

If you travel frequently and need to have someone read a series of whitepapers and wiki entries on Scrum, this is an OK stand-in for that use case.

Now... on to the reviews. 25 5-star ratings in 48 hours following the release and then none for two weeks. In isolation, there is nothing remarkable about these reviews, until you compare them with other works here on Audible...

Contrast this with a NYT AND Amazon bestseller "The Point of It All" by Charles Krauthammer, which was released Dec 04, 2018. At the time of this review, the Krauthammer book had 68 reviews dispersed over 20+ days. This book on Scrum has 25 reviews in 48 hours. I should have done my due diligence and research into this audiobook on Scrum, as the author's other Audible volumes appear to have a similar pattern of review distribution and timing. Sad.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Great book ruined by horrible narration

Revisado: 07-31-18

While the content of the book provides a solid argument for productizing and specializing, the choice of narrator was unfortunate. While this may be a bit of a strawman, the author's choice of narrator gives me pause when evaluating the applicability of the material in the book. If someone could misread their audience so badly, what else could the be missing? I realize that there are many factors in the publishing industry that may be out of the author's control, but this is unforgivable.

If you like vocal fry and end of the sentence "uptalk," this is the book for you. I can't believe this narrator has made a career of this. Overwrought, difficult to ignore. If someone talked to you like this in real life, you'd take them aside and say "it's ok, you can just speak normally."

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Irresponsible interpretation of the original works

Revisado: 06-24-18

If you are interested in the subject matter presented here, please do yourself a favor and get the original works rather than sit thru a platitudinous and poorly interpreted version of the originals. I like to give a book a chance, and often find value in works that have less than stellar reviews, but I should have given more weight to other critical reviews of this book.

Original works are misinterpreted and misconstrued in a way that is indicative of the editor's lack of understanding regarding the subjects cited... For example, when citing the oft misinterpreted 10,000-hour rule, the reader is gifted this conclusion: "It is possible for nearly anyone to achieve excellence in nearly anything." This statement is directly attributed to Anders Ericsson and Malcom Gladwell. I do not believe either author would want such a parabolic claim attributed to their work.

This book and the entire series seems to be a heavy-handed pitch for the 99u / Behance offering. This volume may hold some value for that particular audience, but if you have no connection with that organization, you will be disappointed. sad.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Rehashed insights curated poorly... and narrated without affect.

Revisado: 06-24-18

I have no issues with information being presented in useful or novel ways. Often times, substantial value is created for the reader (or listener) when seminal works are presented from a specific angle or perspective. When done well, this information becomes either 1: more actionable, or 2: busts a myth or creates insights on a well-known but misunderstood concept.

This work misses the mark on (at least) three counts
1: the case studies cited are basic reportage at best and rehashed fluff at worst. This could have been improved greatly by demonstrating *how* the cited instances could actually help the reader achieve the outcome the title of the book hints at.

2: “focus on listening to and pleasing customers” was a quote the author attributed to Amazon. After reading this book, I do not feel that this book hit either mark. Rather, I feel the book was written as an opportunity to network and reward promotional partners.

3: narration was mechanical. Though not unpleasant to listen to, the narration was the female equivalent of “Ben stein” reading. While the narration is clear and intelligible, it is absent of any affect or connection. When combined with the previous two points, this final point truly makes me wonder how much the author cares about serving their audience vs putting out another title.
Sad.

Tl;dr summary:
If you are a marketing, CX, or are business analysis pro who is sick of hearing yet another author cite Cialdini... poorly, you will gain nothing by adding this book to your library.

If you are new to business or are transitioning to being an entrepreneur (hint, you already are one) and Cialdini, Deming, Hopkins, Ries are new names to you... start with another book, or start at the source.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas