Slick and Jake

Hard Time Keeping Attention

Revisado: 03-14-25

I did not like the narrator’s voice, it made it hard for me to concentrate on the story. May be a personal issue and others may not find it as difficult. I also found the story a bit tedious, as if a day to day account of his life at times. I don’t know if that was caused by my difficulty with the narrator or the overall way the story was presented.

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Love the Theology Here

Revisado: 02-13-25

I listen to the podcast and love it as well. I originally listened to the podcast for the novelty but have grown to love the theology behind it all. Fr. Carlos brings so much teaching and knowledge it has allowed me to avoid the two traps, fear of the devil or fascination with the devil. All we need to know is that the devil exists and how to clean up our spiritual lives to keep Jesus in and the devil out.

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Great Discussion About Priesthood

Revisado: 02-13-25

There is some good discussion regarding priests and the origin of priesthood. I had difficulty concentrating, however, due to the monotone voice of the narrator. I think I would have gotten more out of reading the physical book. I do listen mostly on my commute to and from work, so it would be helpful for me to re-listen at home where I can take pieces and reflect before moving on.

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Good summary of concepts, but disagree with concepts

Revisado: 09-21-24

First, I have to mention my bias. I am a white male, born in mid 70s in a rural Midwest community. I grew up in an area of nearly all whites who were basically the same culture and many people including family looked down upon African Americans, i.e. they talked about the negative stereotypes and applied them to all African Americans. I have been conditioned therefore to think that way and always have to be conscious of that conditioning. Interestingly when I went to college I realized dark skinned people from other parts of the world such as Asian Indians I wanted to learn about and interact with, but African Americans is where the conditioning held me back from being open with them. In other words, my conditioning affected my approach to African Americans but in general I loved to learn about different people and different cultures. It is when I began interacting and working with African Americans that I realized many of the things I was conditioned to believe were flat false. Still that unconscious conditioning will likely always be there.

Now for the things I liked. I think the concepts are put together in an understandable way. And with the language used it certainly appears logical especially towards those with a certain worldview or bias. I never really understood exactly what was meant by privilege, or intersectionality, cultural appropriation, microaggressions, or other terms I have heard but I have rarely seen explained well. Or at least understandable from my world view or bias. For me, it is good to understand the mindset and position of those who use that language and have their world view. It should enable me to better understand conversations on subjects and the points of views of people who see the world differently. I also like where the author challenges to continually think about your beliefs and how they are shaped. I think that is vital for personal growth, and really the reason and purpose of why I chose to listen to a book on this subject.

Now for the issue I have with the overall concepts and several obvious contradictions I noticed. The language is used in such a way to frame a world viewpoint of a zero sum game. If someone has an advantage that means someone is at a disadvantage and therefore oppression exists. I disagree with this view. It is, in my opinion, destructive and demotivating for all groups. From my view life is much more productive as a collaboration. And when one gains an advantage towards reaching their potential and personal purpose that can also be a good thing and all can gain from people reaching their potential and the societal gains that come from it. It also motivates others to reach their potential. The narrative and language would change considerably when changing perspective to a different world viewpoint. A “privilege” instead is a “blessing”. And “advantage” is instead an “opportunity taken for personal growth”. I found it interesting the word contradiction in the privilege chapter that one who is disadvantaged versus one who is advantaged gives the advantaged an “opportunity” to change and improve, but doesn’t recognize the advantage likely came from them taking an opportunity to improve in the first place. Rather it called this difference as “oppressive”. I find the entire concept of an oppressor-oppressed relationship as illogical and inefficient, with the only exception being when true corruption exists where one benefits at the expense of another. I think that doesn’t happen often, and the examples used in many cases do not show true corruption. There is no differentiation between gaining true personal growth gained from effort and is socially beneficial versus pure corruption. They are both viewed the same, an advantage at the expense of disadvantaged and oppressive. This is a concept I cannot accept and I find opposed to true social improvement. I actually like Michael Harriot’s “Black AF History” as an example because it more clearly shows the actual corruption and its destructive qualities towards minorities in the US history.

I will also mention two contradictions that I found ironic, and these are two of many. First, in the introduction she talks about how being called loud in work meetings and being asked to recognize how the behavior impacts the meetings was racist, which really bothered me. But later she was avoiding talking to her Mom because she was loud, even having to get herself in the mood and mindset having to talk to her and holding the phone away from her ear. She recognizes the personal difficulty dealing with the behavior, but criticizes those who find it difficult when she exhibits the behavior. And it is the behavior, not the person, that is the issue and therefore calling it racist, and therefore personal, just didn’t sit right with me. The second was the chapter where she stressed not to minimize lived experiences, but starts the chapter off by minimizing George W. Bush’s lived experience. These double standards are used often and for me really takes away from the arguments.

So these contradictions, double standards, and language from a world view I do not accept is what drives down the value of this book for me.

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Important Historical Perspective

Revisado: 06-27-24

An important book for all Americans to learn about American history from a perspective rarely fully taught or exposed to…….black people in America. The author does a good job intermittently injecting humor and makes the material entertaining, but also covers some dark and disturbing material to leave a lasting impression of how poorly America has treated citizens of color. It gives a very good summary which makes it understandable where the modern grievances are rooted in, whether the view of police, government, incarceration, drugs, reparations, etc. The treatment of Africans and their descendants in America has had consequences which still looms in today’s America, no matter your “race”. The book kept me engaged, entertained, and taught me all at the same time. For that the performance score was 5 stars.

With that being said it is not a book that attempts to mend wounds or even suggest how to solve the race issue in America. White Americans looking to read this book need to be warned the author pulls no punches. It lumps them all into a single “white people” group and implies they are inherently evil or bad. It attempts to say slavery was taken to a new level in America, that of treating humans as chattel and that white people were the inventors of this whole new level of slavery. And while it is a fact people were treated like chattel, this is not unique in human history. All “races” of people have engaged in maltreatment of slaves and even treated as chattel including in Africa such as that in the Kingdom of Dahomey, the Kingdom of Kongo, and the Ashanti Empire. Even today Africans in places such as the mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are treated very nearly like slaves for their labor all for the profit of the DRC government, American clean energy corporations, Chinese corporations, and other entities. Therefore the implication America and specifically whites took things to a new level all alone and considering the material doesn’t serve to pave a better future but feels more like fueling revenge or hatred drops my overall score. The lack of any consideration on where America goes from here was a disappointment.

I actually loved the part of the book that discusses the origin of the categorization of “race”. It wasn’t even a concept until the 16th century. Personally I think it is a categorization that should be abandoned because dividing people is all it has done since its inception. Throughout history people have exploited other people, it is not unique to America nor exclusive to any “race”. Exploitation has always been prevalent to some degree in human history and is likely the reason the author recognizes nobody seems to be fully free. We love to think we are a much higher order being/species than the animal kingdom, but the reality is humans are not that far away from being animals, even to the point of occasionally treating other humans like animals. Therefore the key, in my opinion, to books such as these is to learn from how exploitation occurs and figure out ways to collaborate between people rather than compete in order to exploit. And viewed from this perspective I was disappointed. However, overall still a book I would recommend for the history and how it influences today’s racial perspectives.

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Evidence-based Discussion

Revisado: 02-07-24

Dr. Lennox addresses all of the significant arguments against the existence of God, using reasoning to show the fallacies of those arguments and identify the evidence of God’s existence. He also addresses how Science and God meshes and are not mutually exclusive. A well thought out Christian apologetic case.

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The Palestinian perspective

Revisado: 02-01-24

The author painted a very good picture of the plight of the indigenous Palestinians ever since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Palestinians were at the mercy of the western powers who emerged victorious in WWI, and the author points out not only what these western powers did to advance Zionism at the expense of the Palestinians, but also illustrates several occasions when the Palestinian leaders and even other Arab leaders made decisions that set the Palestinian cause back. The book certainly has strong bias for the Palestinian cause but only does a cursory look at the Jewish side. In the end, however, I do like his stated end goal and potential solution. I wish he would have went more in detail how this could potentially come to fruition, it is only discussed briefly in the closing. This book therefore is mainly a case illustrating the injustices committed against and still being committed against the Palestinians. It actually satisfies exactly what I was looking for, namely a summation of the Palestinian side of this conflict which, as an American, I don’t really get to hear. The one thing that bothers me about modern Americans is the desire to take sides, to root for a winner and therefore by extension rooting for a loser, as if life is a zero sum game. It seems you can only be pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian. There is an alternative, that both sides compromise to achieve a mutually agreed upon peace settlement. It was refreshing to see this truly is the author’s desired goal despite his bias.

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Funny and Interesting Story

Revisado: 02-28-23

Stephen Fry’s performance in this audio book was hands down the best narration of a book I have ever heard. He brought the characters to life. The story is also really well done, good comedy intertwined with an interesting plot, story progression, and some plot twists. Other reviewers likened the comedy to British comedy and I can see that, although I am not a huge fan of British comedy it still was funny to me. If you loathe that type of comedy than maybe the book isn’t for you. And while the book is also sci-fi in a sense, it isn’t complicated and actually is a source of humor itself. You can likely enjoy it even if you are not a sci-fi fan but also something to be cautious about. I was very entertained and will be continuing the series.

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It was unexpected, in a good way

Revisado: 09-20-20

I was wondering if this was going to be a book on 100 business ideas, but really it is a book about how to tap into your potential. Some really good life lessons here. I am thinking of a business to start and this has helped me develop the initial plan and start putting it into action.

About the only negative was the narrator. Not that he was bad, he did use some inflection in his voice, it just took me some time to get used to his voice. It sounded, for lack of a better word, dreary or monotone at first. But overall I enjoyed the book and if you want to be an entrepreneur or make some side income this book can really help with the mental side of how to approach things and get the business off the ground.

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