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Good story, not so the performance

Revisado: 11-19-19

I am a fan of Ilona Andrews for quite some time now and this one also hit the mark. I didn’t like the narrator though, she has nice voice but often I had issues understanding who is speaking, as she didn’t made a big difference between some of the voices.

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Entertaining in a typical Malcolm Gladwell fashion

Revisado: 11-04-19

I was waiting for this book to come out since May when I got hooked on Malcolm's podcast "Revisionist History". The moment it came in my Audible gallery, I directly put it on and since then I've been listening to it in a slow fashion, like sipping a good red wine.
To summarize my experience: I liked the book, as it has the Malcolm Gladwell stamp all over it and it sounds like a huge "Revisionist History" season (which I love by the way). I liked the content, the storyline, the logical conclusions, etc. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about talking with strangers, but does not expect to find clear tips on how to do it. All in all, a 4,5 star book, with Blink being the top one with 5 full stars.

What I liked about the book:
- if you like the podcast, then this is a book for you. It is like a full season on the podcast collected around the topic of "why we suck at talking to strangers". The new, enhanced way of listening to audio-books is definitely a good approach for me, it makes sense to listen to it if it is for a non-fiction book such as this one
- I liked the topic - talking with strangers is something we all do on daily basis and the experts are suppose to be the ones to guide us. The books shows that even they make mistakes and miss to hit the center (or sometimes even to hit the target)
- Malcolm Gladwell builds in a good and logical fashion on why we cannot talk with strangers, what to do about it and basically at the end, can we learn to talk with them. The story-building is in a good tempo, the stories fit and the proof is clearly stated and explained.
- The book also covers some topics, which are hard to find in a general book such as this (rape, racism, perception of both). It did a good job of making me feel uncomfortable and thinking about the topic at hand
- I liked the music and how it divides the chapters in the book - a genius way to refresh the mind of a person without making him forget all about it
What I didn't like about the book:
- On a couple of occasions, the book delved too much into the topic at hand and I had to rewind to remind myself what was the discussion about
- The music sometimes came a bit too loud, so good that I listen it mostly during traffic jams in the car, otherwise it could have taken my attention out of the road for a second there
- Although at the beginning it was stated that the book was for why we can NOT talk to strangers, I was kind of disappointed at the fact that there were not that many tips on how to talk to strangers, but more about proving we cannot do it so we should not really try it. It is a book about pitfalls and not tips and tricks, which I was expecting in a way.

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If there is 1 book to read in 2019, this is it

Revisado: 03-11-19

Nowadays it is rare for me to leave a review of a book, but here I am. The book moved me somewhere deep down, it caught me with the story of the piano lessons on the ground floor, kept me tight with the growing up and didn't let me go until the last minute. I don't know if Michelle wrote it herself or someone helped her write it, but this is a book that although quite lengthy tells the story of a little black girl from a Chicago district, dubbed "ghetto", who fights for her place in the world, who was dragged in the political world by way of her husband and struggled to make a difference for the people often rejected by other politicians.
The story is enchanting and Michelle reads herself the audio version of the book (which was the original reason to buy it - when is the last time you listened to an almost 20-hour book read by the author?). She has a voice which can tell a story, it is emotional when it has to be and able to send a message across the time. She is honest, emotional, full of ideas and purpose, she believes in what she did.
I recommend the book not because of the turbulent times she describes from a unique perspective (the First Lady during the financial crisis), although this also is a very good recollection, but because of the humanity of it, of the struggles of a person with skin color different than the accepted one - white. If there is one book to read this year, make it this one. It is worth the time and the insight you'll gain into the life of an American woman, which achieved everything that she wanted.

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A good finish of a worthy trilogy

Revisado: 08-25-17

The book doesn't disappoint. At the beginning I was looking at the minutes and was thinking "This won't be enough" but it was. All story line hangers were closed and finished and I got to laugh a lot.
Maybe one thing I didn't like - the ending was a little bit too neat. It didn't deliver full satisfaction. It felt like there was not enough time to finish the book properly.
Other than this, Ray Porter is one of the good ones, The author is also great and the series finish with a possibility to be picked up later in time. All in all, a worthy last book.

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Great audio performance, average book content

Revisado: 08-17-17

I am a fan of Stephenson - Seveneves and Cryptomicon are a set of books worthy of re-reading. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for "The rise and fall of DODO".
The book started quite engaging - the story between Tristan and Melisande takes the first part of the book and builds up the interest. Once the other main characters are engaged, the plot is set. But somewhere in the middle the book lost me - the explanations were a little too much and the suspense was not maintained. I was disappointed by the end of the book - it finished too open for my taste and a little bit too "happy style".
One great thing is the cast - some of them are damn good and made the book nice to listen to and engaging on places where normally I would skip due to boredom or non-activity.

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Two of the best protagonists I've read about

Revisado: 04-12-17

I downloaded the book quite skeptical: unknown author with seemingly interesting concept (but not overdone). I have just finished a classic "Rendez-vous with Rama" and was still reeling from it, when I started looking for my next listening experience. I recognized the narrator from "The Martian" and decided to give the book a shot and soon realized this is one of the most funny and engaging books I have read in quite some time.
The book is told in first person by Joe Bishop, who makes due with what is available. The second protagonist - Skippy The Magnificent AI, is introduced around half of the book and from there on, I couldn't stop laughing at the seemingly biting conversations.
The book is written masterfully and the scientific explanations are believable (to a non-scientific person). I love how the narrator changed his voice to match the ethnicity of the character or the style when he was doing Skippy vs Joe. At times I forgot that there is only one narrator.

I would recommend it to any Sci-Fi fan.

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Sublime and unique!

Revisado: 01-02-17

I didn't thought it can get better than the first one, but I was wrong. While in the first I felt gollowi
G the fight of a boy, in this one I forgot about the kid Ender and listened to the adult Andrew telling about his views, ways, believes and fights with a mich more mature takeover of the history.
I absolutely enjoyed the performance which was matching the one of the play Ender's game and especially Graff's and Valentine's voices.
Well done and totally worth it!

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Entairtaining and easy to listen to

Revisado: 11-10-16

Zachary Quinto adds an additional element in the book of Scalzi that makes the book worthy of listening to. Not the longest or most thrilling book therr is, but it was not its purpose to be a deep thriller. It is fun, light, engaging and comfortable during a long commute.

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