Sunshinebluebird

This brought back boyhood memories

Revisado: 04-29-25

I read this book when I was 11 years old, and absolutely loved it when I was 11. So listening to it again brought back fond memories from my boyhood. For a boy in his preteens or early teens, this is a five star book.

However, unless an adult is reading it for nostalgic reasons, they may find it to be more of a three star book. For most of the book, there is very little of a plot. Most chapters are simply telling of new adventures, none of which really move the story along.

Similarly, girls may not find the story as interesting, as there are very few female characters in it. Maid Marian is briefly mentioned, but she never actually appears in any of the chapters. The only woman who has a significant role is Queen Eleanor, but even that is only in two chapters.

The narrator does an outstanding job!

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Best book on economics I've ever read

Revisado: 04-22-25

Thomas Sowell gives a clear explanation of every facet of economics and helps the listener to see how they are all tied together. This book should be the textbook of choice for both high school economics and college economics.
The narrator has an unusually deep voice which I found irritating at first. But I got used to it after a chapter or so into the book.

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A great story with an important lesson on perseverance

Revisado: 03-05-25

This is a fictionalized biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, who helped transform navigation into a science. At age 12, he is sold as an indentured servant, dashing his dreams of going to Harvard. Rather than giving up, he continues his studies of mathematics in private. Once he is free from his indenture, he becomes a sailor, and makes great discoveries in the field of navigation.

The book contains an important lesson on persevering through life's setbacks and mishaps. Although written as a book for juveniles, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The narration was great.

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About 40 hours worth of English mystery novels from the 1920s.

Revisado: 02-20-25

The listener certainly gets his money's worth in this bundle, if you like English mystery novels from this period. My wife and I enjoy the Thorndike mysteries, but they may not appeal to someone who is more tuned to modern mystery novels.

My wife likes the narrator, but it took me a while to get used to his high sounding British accent. He does a fairly good job of voice acting--doing different characters and doing female voices. He makes me think that he was once a Shakespearean actor.

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Very enjoyable!

Revisado: 01-03-25

I like the Mary Stewart books that were written before the mid 1960s (such as the present one), as they reflect the values of the world that I grew up in. The main characters do not sleep with each other before they are married. There is some profanity in her books, but no heavy obscenities.

This book follows the contour of all of her other books of this period. The protagonist and heroine is a young British woman who is traveling or working in some other country in continental Europe. Although the protagonists in all of Mary Stewart's books of this period are female, they are also very feminine. In the end, there is always a knight in shining armor who helps capture the villains.

Mary Stewart's books are not whodunit novels. Rather, the mystery develops along with the plot of the novel. There is always an interesting romance woven with the overall mystery.

The narrator does an outstanding job.

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Invaluable work of Christian history

Revisado: 12-31-24

Although this work is not light reading, it is one of the most valuable Christian works outside of the Bible. The narrator is easy to listen to. Every serious Christian should read or listen to this work at least once in their lifetime.

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Thoroughly enjoyable

Revisado: 10-01-24

Compelling mystery coupled with a dramatic ending. Picturesque setting in an ancient convent nestled in the French Pyrenees.

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Too politically correct

Revisado: 06-22-24

The drama surrounding the entry of the Bismarck into the north Atlantic and it's eventual destruction makes for a gripping narrative. That's why I gave the book four stars.

However, the author does his best to make the reader or listener feel sad about the sinking of the Bismarck. As a historian, I know how easy it is to selectively pick quotations from different persons to paint whatever picture you want to paint.

I doubt that most of the British sailors shared the views of the ones he quoted. Also, I am guessing that he has selectively chosen only the portions of the quotes he used that fit his narrative.

If the Bismarck had made it unscathed into the merchant shipping lanes, the amount of death and destruction it would have unleashed would have been unreal. It's always sad when human lives are lost. However, if the British navy had not intercepted the Bismarck, far, far more lives would have been lost.

I'm glad that the author does not glorify war. However, I think he should have better portrayed the huge sense of jubilation and relief the British people felt on the news that the Bismarck had been sunk.

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Basically, a repeat of the 1st Dr. Fu-Manchu novel

Revisado: 05-31-24

B. J. Harrison does a superb job of narration. Unfortunately, the story falls somewhat short. It is almost a duplicate of the original Dr. Fu-Manchu novel. That is, there is a lot of action and exotic drama--but very little plot. Throughout both novels, Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie (patterned after Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson) try to capture Fu-Manchu and to foil his plans of world domination. Meanwhile, Fu-Manchu sends his minions and various exotic animals to kill or capture Smith and Petrie. The struggle goes back and forth throughout the entire book. For awhile, one side seems to be prevailing, and then things change and the other side seems to prevail. This continues from the first chapter through the very last chapter.

I can see how this would have made exciting radio drama serials, Saturday afternoon matinees, or comic book serials. But it gets repetitious for a novel--particularly if you've read the first novel in the series.

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One of Zane Grey's Best!

Revisado: 05-31-24

This is the 6th Zane Grey western I've read or listened to. I have enjoyed them all, but this is my favorite so far. Like his other novels, this contains drama, conflict between good and evil, and a love story--all set against the aura of the old West. B. J. Harrison is my favorite Audible narrator, and as always, he does a superb job. He is amazing at being able to create so many different voices to match the different characters.

By way of note: The first Zane Grey novel I listened to was Riders of the Purple Sage. In that novel, he portrays the Mormons in an almost slanderous fashion. (I am not a Mormon myself.) So I was quite surprised to find that in this novel, he presents them in a mainly positive light. Desert Heritage was his first western novel, and Riders of the Purple Sage was written later. I'm not sure what caused the radical shift in his viewpoint.

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