H. Byers

Poetic and concise

Revisado: 02-02-25

Neil will captivate you with a combination of his buttery voice abd poetic presentation of the secrets of existence.

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gripping and inspiring

Revisado: 03-24-24

I found myself just sitting and listening intently, boggled first by the insanity, then by the futility, and finally by the supremely disciplined faithfulness of the men that ultimately determines their fate. The performance was so smooth. The buttery voice comforts you as you cringe while bearing close witness to unthinkable hardship and triumph.
As a fellow sailor, I am in awe of the indomitable spirit and unity among the crew. I was morbidly enthralled with the detailed descriptions of a continent still largely unknown to us and I felt transported to a hostile, alien world. I appreciated the author's delicate way of describing the intimate truth without devolving into gratuitously gruesome detail.
This book is on my short list of must reads in a person's lifetime.

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snooze & smut gives way to intrigue

Revisado: 12-22-23

1.5 speed might keep you awake as opposed to the almost whispered droning of the narrator at single speed. Story line is overwhelming focused on sex, murder and god play. not the good kind but the gross, dirty, forced, and even psychologically twisted coerced kind only a society that enslaves women would find exciting... those were the days of selfish, evil gods and their followers. Some references to "celestial" beings, their behaviors, and extraterrestrial technologies were intriguing from a scientific standpoint. I think with a better narrator or male/female team of narrators could give much needed life to what could be a lovely action story. I abandoned it after a grueling first few chapters, but came back wanting to know what made this so famous. it does have entertaining story lines and would be more meaningful if I had been raised in the related culture.

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Disappointed

Revisado: 09-08-22

Using my only audible credit for the month requires careful selection and I thought I had picked a promising one. Unfortunately, after two attempts and getting nearly half way through it, I couldn't stomach another word. the author is imaginative and talented in word play but the story line was disjointed, imbalanced, lacked sufficient character development, and context setting. I want my credit back as compensation for the many hours of my life lost in trying to make sense of the content.

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Random and directionless

Revisado: 01-21-22

Feels like I'm listening in to some depressed drunks just prattling on about their peeves regarding religions and overtly pleased with their religion bashing. What a turn off. Wishing there was a consistently produced, organized, intellectually stimulating podcast that explores the world through the lens of atheism while maintaining a dignified and respectful attitude that other beliefs exist but do not need to be the center of atheistic discussions. How about discussions that do not include religion or god(s) at all? What a novel idea. Of course there is always the religious element that exists but what's with the hateful focus on religions? It gives atheism a bad name. A forum is needed where atheists can discuss and process life issues and world events without including deities or the groups that believe in them. You will not find that here.

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Apparently for Jain males, not for "everyone."

Revisado: 01-19-22

For someone not raised in Jainism but seeking wisdom in the theologies of other cultures, I found this interesting and worthy of time spent listening to the Jain perspective on many topics. Boiling this down, it is primarily an exercise in exploring many decisions we are faced with in life and isolating how to find the right answer which is most closely tied to our core objective, The Jain way has a specific core objective so these discussions focus on how to be most Jain. It really is not set up to teach you what Jain is but rather assumes you know and already are Jain and are seeking guidance on how you should be your best Jain. Questions are posed such as how to decide if this or that action or thought is in line with Jain life and how to do better or help children reconcile the lifestyle while living in a predominantly non-Jain (American) environment. The answers seem simple but the inquisitors complicate things by microdissection, deconstruction and reconstruction and reanalysis. Such is the human condition to do so and this walks with you through the endless ways your brain seeks to make sense of the rules in comparison to your natural instincts. Analytical minds may enjoy this simply for the act of it and others may find themselves more confused with more question than answers compounding like hydra heads. There seem to be many contradictions here as with any religion but I suspect humans have made a simple plan more complicated than it was originally designed.
Regarding the class environment itself:
As a female, I noticed this is run by and attended only by males. In the first 20 episodes there are no females, except as the subject of a male story or to be used as an example for a male lesson. I wonder if females had been present in these classes, whether they would have been referred to in the same way. I can't say I am offended exactly but I found it disenfranchising and wonder what the participants and instructor, Timir Chheda, would think of their attitudes and actions if they were able to see them from the perspective of one who is not only excluded from the meetings but also a regular subject of distasteful comments during the meetings. I jokingly posit that women have already transcended the need for these classes and that is why they are not present and the men resent them subconsciously which is why they speak of women like objects and hazards. I am sure that possibility is too harsh. Maybe they are simply oblivious to this. If Timir wishes to truly deliver a course that is for "EVERYONE" as it is entitled, he will benefit from intentional inclusion of females and discourage disparaging discourse towards females rather than incite, tolerate and encourage it.
From a performance perspective, it became irritating to hear the person with the eternal head cold regularly sniffing sharply, coughing and clearing throat very close to the microphone. I found this distraction kind of gross and a deterrent to listening to back to back sessions. Other than this and a lot of background noise from mostly female and child voices in the hallway, the recording is clear and you can hear most of what most participants say. I really enjoyed hearing voices of several individuals rather than a broad single-voiced lecture format. The format allows you to recognize how similar we all are in our thinking across genders, cultures and lifestyles yet how much variety does exist in our paths to the same goal.
Overall I say give it a try.

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Scintillating and Never Disappoints

Revisado: 01-03-22

After having listened to every single episode of this podcast, and many of them repeatedly, I cannot think of any way to limit my compliments and exclamations other than to say if you don't like listening to these guys you are either brain dead or boring and unworthy of their brilliance!!! Seriously though, they'll take any topic and explore the heck out of it in ways you didn't know anyone could or should. For example, the sinister truth about those cute little woodland creatures in your own backyard, the fantastical monsters you never knew you should fear (respectfully so), the funky fun movies you'll be glad you never watched but heard described so well and everything else they explore will make the rest of the world's mind numbing garbage fall away. You'll find yourself clicking refresh on your screen trying to force the next episode to appear because it is THAT addictive. Rob and Joe and Seth make me smile, laugh and sometimes cringe at the interesting facts they bring into my life and I am even willing to labor through the irritatingly, oversaturated IBM sponsorship stuff knowing it keeps them employed. :p I have tried other podcasts but this is my forever favorite and it can be yours too so go head, click on it. You know you want to.....

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Great classic tale told in a hurry

Revisado: 11-16-21

Remembering that this is a famous author's first attempt at a fiction novel I found the story captivating yet a little laborious in listening to Old English verbiage and rhythm and sometimes straying in tangents; but, the piece is written as if a family member is recounting a story to you and feels like a good bedtime story in spite of the many unhappy events suffered by the characters. Some inspiration may pop up to dig further into this period of history after hearing detailed descriptions of social burns, laws and general activities of the time and place. The narrator has an appropriate voice, although too nasal for my preference and does an OK job distinguishing between characters in voice but reads as if he's getting paid by how quickly he can blurt out and finish the text rather than provide a story teller's relaxed presence that brings you into the story. When he reads his own bio at the end, it becomes apparent why his style seems rushed and forced.... lots of news and sports broadcasting.

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Excellently written and performed, sick and sad

Revisado: 11-03-21

Although some apparently do not consider this a horror story, which must be since it is not full of overt scenes playing out violent blood and gore, I do consider it a horror story woven from the foundations of what creates a feeling of being horrified by common and vile human behavior that is recounted here.
I feel poisoned and sickened as if I was too present in the community to ever forget what I have heard as real; but, not blinded by their collective consciousness and interpretation and measure of life experiences, enabling me to reject what they all accept and ignore. Only the most abused of the population has the courage and clarity of sight to recognize the truth of what others truly are under their public personas. Although this story was expertly laid out and does leave you with both knowing the truth and wondering what comes of it, and the narration quite entrancing, I will not be able to erase it from my mind and regret it. For others who enjoy reveling in such things, this is probably a match.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Excellent Narration of a beautiful story

Revisado: 10-06-21

The narrator did an excellent job with the many character voices, scenes and even songs weren't bad. Songs without music can be difficult to adequately song when read from a book and although the singing was not what I imagined it could be, it wasn't bad considering the context each song had within the story. I enjoyed listening to him read this favorite tale and I'm glad I purchased this version as I plan to enjoy it many times over.

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