Polly L. Mccall

Excellent ideas I needed to hear right now

Revisado: 11-22-20

Had to rewind and listen again multiple times, and I don't think I'm done with that. Narrator consistently mispronounced "Kamala" and "Roosevelt"

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Hope there's going to be more!

Revisado: 10-06-20

Great world building

interesting story

Zachary Quinto does a great job of making the characters distinct

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Dull, dull, dull, dull. dull

Revisado: 12-06-19

I'm fascinated by the era. I love movies and movie history. i've always wanted to know mote about the Taylor case.

I'm mystified as to how the author managed to make this story so tedious.

Finishing it was a triumph of personal will.

This guy does not know what he would be better off leaving out. He had little notion of narrative style.

This could have and should have been fascinating.

It was crushingly BORING

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

very helpful and accessible

Revisado: 10-17-19

I listened to this twice in a row and I don't think I'm going to remove it from my phone for a while. I found it very helpful and it inspired me to pick up my meditation practice again. I am already seeing results

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Excellent and detailed account

Revisado: 10-09-19

Full background of the political and labor influences and the fire itself. Doesn't forget victims.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

It's not all upside

Revisado: 09-16-19

I didn't get all the way through the book - it ultimately annoyed me so much.

As a listener, I vacillated wildly from "Gee whiz, cool" to "That sounds like a bad idea"

I didn't hear anything about what to do about the people displaced by technology. I didn't hear anything about what would motivate industries to change their ways. I didn't hear anything about the downside risks of certain technologies like nanotechnology and AI. This book came out in 2012, but I haven't seen anything about any of the technologies that are "ready right now" being employed.

Where are the Slingshots? Where are the vertical farms?

When they got to placing our hope in techno philanthropists, I called it quits. They get to decide what's best for the rest of us, when they aren't elected? What if they're not benign? Jeff Bezos certainly isn't. Neither is Mark Zuckerburg. What if their priorities don't align with where the greatest need is? We've had philanthropy for a VERY long time. It has hardly moved the needle on poverty. Carnegie funded libraries. A lot of rich people want their names on buildings. How many want their names on the number of starving children don't die.

Studies have shown that rich people give, in large measure, where they will BENEFIT. Universities that will admit their children and grandchildren. Operas, Symphonies. Museums. Toilets for Africa? Not so much.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Awful narration

Revisado: 05-04-19

I almost stopped and returned this one - only powered through to hear the story.

The narration is unnaturally precise and overly dramatic. Just awful

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

"The Girl" is barely in this book

Revisado: 07-12-18

I got this book after being introduced to the story through "Ragtime." I hoped to learn more about Evelyn Nesbitt, but this was not the boik for that. She disappears from the narrative for chapters at a time as the author focuses on the legal journey of her husband, Harry Thaw.

Moreover, the story the author chose to tell was told in a very repetitive manner. For example, the story of Evelyn's rape at the hands of Stanford White is told in a virtually identical manner several times. Was the author trying to get his word count up?

We get a taste of what I wanted in the book in the epilogue, as he finally gets to Evelyn's post-Thaw life, but it is perfunctory.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Very good

Revisado: 07-07-18

I liked the author's approach. Got a bit muddled in the final chapter as he switched between Sitting Bull in 1890 and the Far West in 1876

Narration bordered on racist at times - I was not comfortable with a obviously white voice mimicking the staccato style of the white interpretation of Indian speech.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

OK - not great

Revisado: 06-30-18

Sometimes confusing, hard to get a feeling for the cast of thousands - Lots of names, not many "characters"

Didn't really enjoy the reader's voice

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña