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Not as bad as some say, but not as good as it could have been

Revisado: 10-12-18

Though I don’t feel this is a 5 star book, I gave it that to try to help balance out the ratings. As I feel a good amount of people rated this book based on how much it deviated from their expectations. Not trying to be disrespectful to them, but this book does match up with the description on audible.

I think most individuals who like history and Harry Potter will enjoy this book. I think it is a fascinating premise, and it was somewhat executed well, but it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been. I do think the interviews is what really detracts from how engaging and interesting the audiobook is. For one, a great deal of interviews had me wondering if anyone actually listened to the audio, as the interviewee was virtually whispering, mumbling, or the audio was too low. Additionally, I feel this book is too long and it kinda gets annoying jumping from interview to interview. A lot of the interviews or snippets were superfluous and could have easily been cut out. I think if they would have sifted out some interviews and/or just had Natalie Dormer read summaries or quotes of the interviews it would have been a much more engaging book. Lastly, some parts were a little dry as it was talking about artifacts that you can’t see cause you’re listening to the audiobook.

I did see some review say Natalie Dormer was over the top with narration, which I did not see at all. She was the perfect narrator for this and I really wish she just read the whole book. And truthfully, I found the real world history behind the magical stuff in Harry Potter and different insights into how the books were created prettty cool. Though I think it was more my love of history that kept me reading than my love of Harry Potter. If you’re someone who loves Harry Potter but not that intrigued by history, this book probably isn’t for you.

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Similar, but insightful nonetheless

Revisado: 10-11-18

As with any Brene Brown book, this book is full of wisdom and insights. IMO, Brene Brown is one of the most articulate writers and makes complex/ abstract ideas practical and easy to understand, and it really shines in this book.

I took off one star because if you have read any of her books before, this one will have a general brush of deja vu, as there is a lot of rehash from her other books. I was mostly disappointed in the last part, which felt pretty much copy and paste from “Rising Strong”.

That being said, moving forward I think I will return to this book the most out of her books, as it is a great synthesis of all her ideas. Even if you’ve read her work before, still highly recommend :)

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Monumental book. Needs a new narrator

Revisado: 08-27-18

I don’t feel like I can really say anything about this book that hasn’t been said before. It’s incredible, and a classic for a reason. Highly recommended.

As others have mentioned, the narration is pretty poor. I’m thoroughly convinced this is the first time he read the book. The sample isn’t indicative of the quality, as his voice is rather pleasant, the issue pretty much everything else.

He constantly uh’s and errs throughout the book, which definitely gets more bothersome as the book progresses. His cadance is very strange, sometimes he moves too quickly, other times he has elongated pause between or within words. Truthfully, some parts it felt like he was trying to understand the book as he read it.

I absolutely love Audible, but it’s books like these where I wish it had a system to go through reviews, and redo the narrations. All that being said, I think you should still get the audiobook if considering it!

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Monumental book. Needs a new narrator

Revisado: 08-27-18

I don’t feel like I can really say anything about this book that hasn’t been said before. It’s incredible, and a classic for a reason. Highly recommended.

As others have mentioned, the narration is pretty poor. I’m thoroughly convinced this is the first time he read the book. The sample isn’t indicative of the quality, as his voice is rather pleasant, the issue pretty much everything else.

He constantly uh’s and errs throughout the book, which definitely gets more bothersome as the book progresses. His cadance is very strange, sometimes he moves too quickly, other times he has elongated pause between or within words. Truthfully, some parts it felt like he was trying to understand the book as he read it.

I absolutely love Audible, but it’s books like these where I wish it had a system to go through reviews, and redo the narrations. All that being said, I think you should still get the audiobook if considering it!

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Fascinating

Revisado: 07-10-18

I’ve been waiting to read this book for a while so I was super happy when audible got it, and I was not disappointed. This book is a fascinating blend of history, “science” and wit. I consider myself well read in medicine and medical history and though some stories I’ve heard before, I still learned about from this book! I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t, unless you majored in medical history.

Although the narrator was perfect, I found whatever they used to record her to sound a little too robotic. This distracts from how engaging the book is imo. It wasn’t as bad as other books as I still finished, but I still wish it sounded more human.

That being said, if the title peaks your interest I highly recommend this book as I doubt you’ll be disappointed. However, if you have the time to pick book vs audible, id recommend getting the book due to the slightly “robotic” narration. Or at least give the sample a go!

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Phenomenal

Revisado: 06-22-18

This is by far one of the best books I’ve read on audible, if not the best. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t find this book inspiring, eye-opening and moving. I’m not the emotional type but I had to pull over when driving at the end, this book really got to me. And to top it off the narration was outstanding. The only bad thing I can say about this book is I can’t rate it more than 5 stars. To say I recommend it is an understatement!

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Mixed bag but mostly good

Revisado: 06-13-18

I wanted to love this book but as stated in the title, I found it to be a mixed bag. The science itself is pretty school and I loved that aspect of the book. Although as other reviews noted, the science is backed by weak evidence and there is a lot of confusion with correlation and causation.

What I especially didn’t like about the book was the stories. While most of them were inspiring, the author weaved in so many superfluous details that didn’t add any value to the narrative, I found it aggravating. He could have trimmed a lot to make the flow a lot better. Not as big of a deal but the chapters seemed to jump around, it didn’t really feel fluid or a logical progression of events.

That being said, I would still recommend this book if the title peaks your interest. You’ll for sure learn some things (though don’t take everything he says as the absolute truth) and it has definitely inspired me to change some of my habits and try something new.

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Get this one at the library

Revisado: 01-25-18

I was actually really excited to listen to this book, it seemed like the first of its kind. However, I found that most of the information I already knew, it’s just woven in a different way in this book with some new stories.

If you’re not that big of a reader I would recommend this book as it covers a lot of topics and has some practical tips. If you are an avid reader, I wouldn’t recommend this book for you as you’ve probably read the information somewhere before.

The narration itself wasn’t that bad. But I was honestly annoyed by how many times I heard him breathe in between sentences. It doesn’t sound bad, but I found it distracting.

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As fascinating as it is not funny

Revisado: 01-01-18

Unlike some reviewers I have not heard of Zach and Kelly before this but I thought they did a great job with this book! It covered a breadth of scientific topics and explained things exceptionally well. Depending on your knowledge, some sections will probably be a little more rudimentary than others.

While I appreciated the light hearted approach to subjects covered, I honestly didn’t find their jokes funny, they fell flat on most occasions. If you look at the goodreads reviews you’ll realize I’m not the only one who thought this. However, this didn’t take away from the book (most of the time) because they were superb at keeping the subject matter fascinating and I learned a lot and think most people who read this will too!

Audible vs the print version? While I love listening to audiobooks sometimes I do feel books are better as print. I thought this would be one of them due to the comics. However, I don’t think you need this book in the print as the comics are few and far between. Plus Kelly (narrates most of the book) does a great job! Well worth your credit.

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Valuable and insightful, with a few caveats

Revisado: 12-29-17

I highly enjoyed this book by Gretchen Rubin and think it is a valuable tool for anyone! It definitely helped explain some of my idiosyncrasies and helped me understand some of my close family members and friends.

However, there were a few gripes I had with this book. Because it is not based in scientific evidence, there are a lot of personal anecdotes within the book and sometimes it felt like too much. This also led to repetitiveness in the book, for example, she built the case that obligers need external accountability and I grasped that concept, but the examples kept flooding in and it felt repetitive. Finally, she acknowledges that these tendencies are just a component of your personality, but sometimes it seemed she over exaggerated the tendencies in the examples provided.

Regardless of my gripes, I do think it is insightful information that people should read! You will definitely understand yourself and people you are close with much better, well worth the credit.

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