Anonymous

Did not finish

Revisado: 12-17-23

I listened to the first two books in this series while working in my yard, and they were okay at helping me fill the time. I got about 35% of the way through this one, then moved on to several other books, and I just can’t get myself to start reading this book again. I guess it just isn’t for me - the chocobos and the anime hair colors and the ancient history revealed… it’s fine, but I think I need to move on.

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Dark, grisly, meandering, disconnected

Revisado: 09-12-22

I got through most of the book before giving up with 3 or 4 hours left to go. Even with that much of the book completed, the stories of the two main characters remained completely unrelated.

The islander plotline seemed like a series of disconnected vignettes - a classic Remember the Titans-esque story, then a classic training montage with monks, then shipped off to a foreign boarding school. There didn’t seem to be any driving force for any of this other than “what am I supposed to do with my life?” Plus, he has this love interest for the first 3/4 of the book, which doesn’t exactly work out, but he professes he will always belong to her, but he starts mooning over the very first girl he meets at the boarding school? At least that guy was likeable.

The icy Nordic-style main character seemed to resolve his main dilemma pretty cleanly, but then doesn’t really know what to do next, so the gods of the plot decide he has to get in a boat and follow a flock of birds to see where they go. It felt like a shoe-horned epilogue intended to lead to a second book, a book where maybe the two stories finally intersect, but then there are still four hours of audio left??

And there is a third main-ish character who convinces a bunch of poop-shovelers to start murdering rich people, but I really don’t know what that whole murder spree was intended to accomplish, other than maybe to blackmail the mean Malfoy-esque rival into submission? And once she gets her way she just ignores the murderous poop-shovelers and they all just kinda stop murdering people? And after all that proactivity and murder incitement, she just kinda chills with an obviously corrupt priestess for two years before suddenly realizing that priestess was not a good person?

I just imagine a couple of poop shovelers talking and it’s like “Hey, remember when we used to dress up in all black and kill rich people? What was that all about?”

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Very simplistic compared to other Great Courses

Revisado: 04-14-17

What disappointed you about The Economics of Uncertainty?

I usually learn a lot from a Great Courses audiobook, but this book feels more like an intro to statistics class. For example, one whole lecture was on how to calculate expected value and standard deviation, so if you already know those two things that is a half hour not worth listening to.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom. I listen to audiobooks during my commute. There were some lectures that I just turned off completely and drove in silence. I guess it is a good way for Audible to make money, though, since as soon as I got home I bought a different audiobook to listen to instead, and this one sits unfinished on my phone.

Any additional comments?

If you have listened to other Great Courses books on business or finance, understand that this one is much more simplistic than the others. Clearly I chose this book with different expectations than those people who are giving 5-star reviews.

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I could only take 2 hrs of the dead horse beatings

Revisado: 01-10-17

Would you try another book from Leif Wenar and/or Kevin Stillwell?

Kevin Stillwell narrated the book just fine. I preferred him at 1.25x but that is pretty normal for me. The text Kevin had to read, though, seemed only fit for someone intent on punishing themselves, like a form of flagellation to atone for the sin of being a consumer.

What was most disappointing about Leif Wenar’s story?

It started out well, with some very vivid description of supply chains, but the author's constant need to repeat the same concept over and over with slightly different vivid comparisons drove me nuts. You drive on oil (asphalt), your glasses are oil, condoms are oil... Yes, yes, I get it. Point made. Please move on.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I'm sure the author has a point somewhere near the end of this book, telling me what I can do to play my part in stopping the wars and deprivations that occur in nations that fall victim to the resource curse. Maybe I'll find the book in the library so I can flip to the last page and find out what it was.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona