Derek Bowen

Waste of Time

Revisado: 03-03-22

I don't know how this book made the CSA reading list. It's written at a very elementary level which didn't stimulate me intellectually. He writes as if his audience are only Soldiers. If you're not prior Army, it may be hard to follow this book from his extensive use of Army acronyms and Army jargon that would be unfamiliar to others. He also writes stating just facts. He doesn't know how to weave a story using adjectives and smilies so his storytelling ability is very rigid and dry. The actual book is essentially a diary of his life so I didn't gain any tactical or strategic military insight from reading it which was the intent for getting this audio book. Though he is an inspirational Soldier and leader, writing and storytelling are not his strengths. Finally, the narrator speaks too slowly and over-accentuates all the military acronyms so it makes it hard to relax and enjoy his narration.

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Very intriguing

Revisado: 10-19-19

I consider myself a WWII history buff but I realized through this book that I really didn't know how WWII changed American society both during the war and directly afterwards. This book addresses so many facets of American civilian life during the war such as racism, shifts in population centers, dating life, propaganda and movies, the GI Bill, university education, etc., that this book is filled from start to finish with interesting facts and data. The book also uses short anecdotes from people that lived during that era to help reinforce how these changes in American society affected for better or worse every-day Americans. The book is short, concise, and to the point. Each topic is addressed for approximately 30 minutes so you don't get bored but within that 30 minute topic are embedded a number of corresponding subtopics with only a few minutes spent on each one before the topic changes again. Thus, this is a very cursory but interesting review of all these changes that American society underwent during the war.

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Misleading Title

Revisado: 10-16-19

I thought the book was going to teach me about the different types of dinosaurs, their characteristics and features, etc. Rather, the narrator interviews a number of paleontologists to come up with a definition for DINOSAUR and then explains how the modern day chicken is the closest living relative to the dinosaur. Some may find this interesting but I felt the title misled me. The narrator and most interviewees are British so you'll have to deal with the British accent too.

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Excellent Review of Sherman

Revisado: 10-16-19

This is an overall excellent review of Sherman's life from early childhood through his death. The book focuses primarily on his life from West Point through the end of the Civil War. The pre-war years helps you to understand the man, his experiences and skills, and his mindset. The only two criticisms I have of the book is that the book starts at the Battle of Shiloh then jumps back to his childhood which seemed confusing to me because chronologically that is not how it happened. The other criticism is that the author rushes through his life from post Civil War to his death almost as if the author felt obligated to mention something but didn't go into much detail so the end of the book feels somewhat detached from the remainder of the book.

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Very Interesting

Revisado: 10-16-19

I love reading history but have never found NASA topics to be interesting. This book changed that for me. As I progressed through the book, I continually had to stop and Google the concepts discussed to learn more about them because I was so intrigued by what I was learning. In addition, the book shares a great lesson about leadership and perseverance. I highly recommend this book.

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Amazing from Beginning to End

Revisado: 07-23-18

I thought I knew a fair amount about U.S. operations in Afghanistan pre- 9/11 but this author's research was absolutely amazing. He tells the CIA story so clearly as if he were on the ground the entire time leading these missions. The first chapter immediately captured my attention and it only got more intense chapter after chapter. This is one of the few books I have proactively suggested to my colleagues that they need to read to learn about this amazing story.

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Very Disappointing

Revisado: 07-19-18

This is the only Audible book to date that I will never listen to again. The author skips around too much from battle to battle in both chronological order and from Indian tribe to Indian tribe that it becomes very difficult to understand the actual order of events, locations, etc. In addition, the book essentially recounts events in a "high school book report format". You don't get any historical analysis or thought-provoking ideas until the summary at the very end of the book. Finally, the narrator over-accentuates the entire book as if he were speaking to a deaf person or foreigner and he mispronounced too many words for my liking. Aside from the weaknesses of the actual book, the annoying narration made it very difficult to enoy.

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