HR01

Snore.

Revisado: 11-07-21

He was going to war. And "he was going to kill thousands of people...WITH HIS RADIO."

This is a book about a guy calling in air strikes. He's not a SEAL. He's not a Green Beret. He's not a Ranger. The narrator's attempt to make this exciting is comical. I understand that many people share credit for battlefield events and that air support controllers are important, but at a time when there are many, many special forces combat books available, this one really comes up short.

I didn't know this story prior to listening to this book, but afterwards, I get the impression that the push for the Medal of Honor was mainly a political effort designed to promote the efforts of different branches of the military. There don't seem to be any surviving witnesses and the supposed events at the end are "best guesses" that are pieced together.

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Overused theme. Incomplete development.

Revisado: 11-07-21

This is how the book works: The author imagines a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world. Each chapter starts with a short vignette. He is in a large city that has just suffered a disaster. He must get to his family and leave. He encounters some type of problem. Then the storyline stops and Sheridan tells you how he researched this particular problem. He finds an expert and spends some time with them learning their particular craft. Then, at the end of each chapter, the story continues and Sheridan tells about how he used his new skills to survive another day. The next chapter is a different apocalyptic problem, another visit to another expert to learn another skill set, then a brief return to the "story" where he puts his skills to use, allowing his family to survive another day.

To be honest, the "skills" he researches are often not the usual stuff. For instance, he finds an ex-con and learns how to steal a car. Or he learns gun fighting. Or he learns knife fighting. These are all separate chapters. These are real people and he apparently really learned these skills. The problem for the reader is that you have no hope of learning these skills yourself from the brief descriptions provided. Instead, you are told that these would be important skills to have in the event of a zombie apocalypse. You are given just a taste.

The background storyline that justifies the acquisition of all these skills is the same, tired theme that has been used in countless movies and books. Staggering zombies. Lawless gangs. Abandoned towns. Gets boring.

Quite frankly, once I realized that I wasn't going to learn much, I had a hard time finishing this.

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Calibrate your expectations

Revisado: 11-07-21

I'm a long time Meateater fan and have listened to the majority of podcasts and read most of Rinella's books. However, as others have remarked, this effort comes up short.

I suspect the "success" of this audiobook is mainly a testament to the strength of the Meateater brand and aggressive pre-release marketing.

To be honest, these tales are indeed "campfire stories." But they are not necessarily exciting stories. Storylines often go something like this: "I was out skiing. I went off the normal run and started a small avalanche. When it ended, I was on top of the snow with a dislocated shoulder. I yelled for help and my buddies came and got me. Looking on back on it, it was pretty scary." Or, "I was out fishing and I cut my finger pretty bad. I used my cell phone to call for help. Looking back on it, it was pretty scary." Or, "I was working as a firefighter. People thought they heard someone yelling for help. We looked, but didn't find anyone. Then I looked some more and found a lady who had fallen. I used my radio to call for help and other people from my engine company came and helped her. I probably stood and watched because I don't describe the rescue at all. Looking back on it, it was pretty exciting."

The unifying theme here is "snore." The narration is extremely strung out and prolonged, slowly building to a non-climax. Think about it: in all the stories, not a single person spends a single, unexpected night outdoors. Someone needs to tell Rinella that the bar for outdoor storytelling has been raised a lot higher than this. If they take a shot at a sequel, they need to incorporate some real adventure. Perhaps people stranded in the wilderness for days or weeks. Real survival situations. Maybe work in a little cannibalism.

The production of Campfire Stories is certainly professional, as you might expect. Lots of canned, studio-generated sounds of campfires, etc. The only annoying part is the "ch-ch-ch" sound that is played between every story. Is that supposed to be bugs? I came to dread it.

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It was free. What would you expect?

Revisado: 09-03-21

I downloaded this title partly because the subject seemed interesting and the authors are well known. But I mainly downloaded it because it was “Included with your Audible membership”…in other words, free.

You get what you pay for. I can’t confirm it, but it sounds like edited clips of conversation from podcasts or other works, loosely strung together. I cannot detect any kind of organization, any sense that it follows a subject outline, or really any main topic at all.

Carroll just rambles on: “I knew we’d have to deal with the Super Bowl loss for a while. People process disappointment differently. It was important to stick with my beliefs.” What? What am I supposed to learn from this?

I think the purpose of this “audiobook” is to drum up interest in some podcast of theirs. However this “production” offers almost nothing. No useful information , no discernible organization, no clear subject. Glad I didn’t spend money on this. Wish I hadn’t spent the time, however.

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Interesting, not groundbreaking.

Revisado: 05-29-20

I listened to the author narrate her own book after hearing her interviewed on NPR. If you are interested in the environmental impact of modern life, you've probably heard much of this before, but the author does bring much of it together in one place. You will learn, or review, about the rare earth metals in your cell phone, why the internet and bitcoin mining require so much electricity, and why clothing and "fast fashion" are a bad deal for the Earth. The author does her research and, as JFK's granddaughter, probably had more access to information than many other people.

The author is quite witty, but her humor is largely lost in her monotone delivery.

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Quit while you're ahead.

Revisado: 05-29-20

I listened to all three books in this trilogy. I got through the first two pretty quickly. This third, and final book hadn't been completed yet, and I was fortunate enough to find the Giles Kristian books (Rise of Sigurd, Raven series) while I awaited War King. The Kristian books are excellent, and quite a bit better written than these Schumacher ones, by the way.

Compared to the first two books in the series, War King is a big disappointment. I have no idea about the circumstances of its writing but it FEELS like the author had a commitment or deadline with the publisher and just cranked something out in order to be done with it. It completely lacks the plot development of the first two. Imagine a storyline where the protagonist is sitting around eating dinner. Then some bad guys sail up, so they have a fight. Really? This is what it is like. The description of wound care exceeds the description of battle. Then, for no apparent reason, the book just seems to end without much thought.

Trust me when I say that you can, and should, quit after the second book. You will be left with a far better feeling and a far better opinion of the author. You don't need "closure," and definitely not this kind of "closure."

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Sometimes he was allowed to carry a gun.

Revisado: 05-29-20

This story is not what I expected. It describes a US DEA agent's attempts to pinpoint the location of El Chapo within Mexico by following cell phone/ Blackberry signals ( think, "Find my Friends"). This job proved difficult because El Chapo had subordinates relaying him information and cell phones were changed frequently. Nonetheless, the grand search amounted mostly to office work, "pinging" or trying locate the position of these mobile devices. When they believed they knew El Chapo's location and it was time to break down doors, our protagonist was definitely not the first guy in. The front line, dangerous stuff was carried out by Mexican Marines, a US Marshall, and others. It seems that our main character hung well back in armored vehicles, sometimes in possession of a pistol that someone found for him to carry. Then, after the buildings were cleared, he would come in and have a look around. When our main character heard over the radio that El Chapo had been captured by others, he almost was the guy to drive the prisoner back to headquarters. But then it was decided that work was too dangerous, so someone else did it.

The main writer does a nice job trying to build a sense of pressure and suspense. The book seems pretty exciting at first. There are descriptions of being in bars full of "narco junior" drug dealers and even an undercover meeting with the bad guys (again, our protagonist isn't the guy uncover, but he was nearby). However, by the end of the book, you realize all the talk about armored vehicles, suspicious people sitting in cars outside, etc, just isn't going anywhere. Near the end of the book, it really starts to sound funny; he is walking down the hallway of his own office building, sleep-deprived, disoriented, in a daze. Then a few days later, he was better. What?

Nice job following phone signals. It was important work and led to good results. But let's hear the heart pounding tales from the guys who actually knocked the doors down.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

I'd like more information

Revisado: 02-27-19

I just finished the Audible version of Mental Toughness by Luke Caldwell. I would suggest that prior to purchasing this, you do a little research. Keep reading...

The truth is that this is a "one star" book. I gave it two stars only because I assume many potential buyers automatically discount one star reviews, assuming the reader/listener is biased, had some problem with delivery, etc. In terms of content, this book is extraordinarily superficial, lacking in focus, and not obviously supported by any kind of rigorous study or academic research. Maybe the author is extremely well-read and highly educated. You decide. The contained information could have been gleaned from a quick web search or simply by reading chapter headings of some real books on the topic. As an example of the level of detail and instruction you will receive in this book, consider the "chapter" describing 15 pieces of advice from "mentally tough" people. By the way, these people are anonymous. The advice from these "anonymous" people? Avoid caffeine. Say "no" to things that interfere with your goals. Etc, Etc. How about the chapter describing the 7 day mental toughness challenge? Drive home from work using a different route. Eat something different for dinner. Etc, etc. No further development or explanations. Also included in this very short book is some parenting advice. The book concludes with a series of vignettes. These apparently help you test your "mental toughness" by choosing the correct multiple choice response. The examples are ridiculous. You child is not a good basketball player but is a member of a good team. The team loses the championship game and some players use your child as a scapegoat. You encounter a rude person in a convenience store. This is such an odd book. It casts a very wide and superficial net over a variety of self help topics but offers no depth or expertise.

I wondered how so many people could give this book 5 star reviews when, in reality, it is such a poor book. I wondered why this author released a number of self-help books within such a short time period, all of similar short length, and all supported by roughly 25 or 30 five-star reviews. Note: I have not listened to any of the other similar length books, but I did read the reviews for several of the other audio books by this author. Interestingly, the 5 star reviews seem to follow a pattern. For one book, the five star reviews come from reviewers giving a first name only. For another of his books, five star reviews come from reviewers giving first and last names only. For another book, the five star reviews come from reviewers who leave first name, middle initial, last name. Why aren't the five star reviews coming from reviewers with different types of user names? Why do all the five-star reviewer names seem to follow a pattern? Why doesn't anyone use a number as part of the user name? I honestly don't know the answers to these questions. I would, however, suggest that you investigate this yourself.

I was also unsuccessful in finding out much about the author. What are his credentials for authoring all these short self-help books? Again, I don't have the answers, but would recommend that before you invest money, you consider trying to find out for yourself.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Surprised, but not in a good way.

Revisado: 05-26-18

I found “The Thrall” while looking for Nordic/Viking-based fiction. There weren’t many reviews available, and some of the existing ones sounded like “invited” reviews. Nonetheless, I purchased the Audible version as the “Viking Hero Series” and promised mysterious encounter in the forest sounded intriguing.

I’m honestly surprised that this audiobook is available on Audible. I had to double check to make sure this wasn’t classified as young adult literature. The book sounds like it was written by a (talented) fifth or sixth grader. The dialogue is extraordinarily simplistic and repetitive. Plot details don’t seem well-planned and are occasionally implausible. One reviewer on Amazon commented that perhaps the author was not writing in his native language. That would be the most charitable explanation.

The narration is well-matched to the text. As you listen to the entire book, you will believe you are attending a junior high school play. The narrator’s attempts to change voice are comedic. This has to have been a low cost production.

On the positive side, the story moves quickly and most chapters have some kind of action. The writing and narration are so poor that I considered not finishing it. However I did get wrapped up in this short story and was curious about the ending. Be aware however, that you will not find any typical seafaring adventures or Viking battles. This is a story about some village folk and a resident slave or “thrall.”

If there is a second book in this series, I will skip it.

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