Paul

Not an addiction

Revisado: 07-18-19

I think the word "addiction" is overused here. In fact I don't recall hearing a true professional diagnosing the author as such. We do hear about a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The website WebMD at least admits that there is a controversy regarding sex addiction as a diagnosis and I would recommend the writings of Dr. Marty Klein. Another source is at https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/skeptical-of-the-porn-skeptics/.
But there is no doubt that the author has gone through some difficult times and she has an important story to tell. I wish it was told in her voice instead of the narrator's but I have no objections to the narration. I saw the author giving an interview on YouTube and she doesn't have any difficulty speaking for herself.
Some of the problem in this author's life is that she has a strong but not abnormal sexuality. I would recommend this book to a reader who has at least a bit of skepticism regarding sex addiction. My fellow cultural Catholics will recognize a lot.

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Truly a great performance

Revisado: 05-26-19

Make no doubt about this. This is not just a recitation of a book. It is a performance and a great one at that. I did notice that my default audiobook speed of 2x failed when it included clips from Monty Python and other snippets. The dialog was simply too fast for my American (i.e. not English) brain so I had to slow it down to normal speed.
Do you know the connection between the famous "cheese" sketch and a drugstore? Me neither but it is there in the last chapter.

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More candid than I had hoped

Revisado: 05-10-19

I was prepared for a memoir that didn't include any juicy bits. You know what I mean, right? It's a real let down when you read an autobiography and are left with the impression that they are life-long virgins who never even thought about sex. From Anna we get a bit more than that. She is as adorable in this book as she is on the screen or on late-night talk shows. (See the YouTube clip of her singing with Stephen Colbert - I am so jealous).

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Describes the U.S. intelligence community

Revisado: 05-10-19

Nonfiction works that are not narrated by the author tend to get lower marks from me. I don't have any real problem with the reader although you do notice a few edits were made. Still feel like I can't give more than 4 stars for narration.
This is a very interesting look at how intelligence is done in the U.S. This is not the kind of book that I would normally read but the current administration's problems with the U.S. intelligence community makes this book critically important. This is the book to read to understand what happened at Benghazi (I haven't read Hillary Clinton's). He also gives a fully reasoned look at Julian Assange (though this book does not include Assange's recent arrest on April 11, 2019).
This book, along with Wendy Sherman's book about the State department, has given me a much greater appreciation of the work done by dedicated professionals within the federal government.

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An American Hero

Revisado: 03-28-19

Fans of Preet's podcast (Stay Tuned) will like this Audible book. Those who aren't familiar with the podcast can get up to speed with this book. Of particular interest to me were the specific legal cases: wins and losses. With this book you don't get just the facts. You get how it feels to be a prosecutor who is fully human. I didn't detect any bias in this book but that might just be my bias. Let's all agree that if any of us wins the next presidential election we will make Preet the next Attorney General.

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Does anger matter?

Revisado: 12-27-18

If you don't already know the author (e.g. from Chris Hayes podcast with her) this woman is mad and not afraid to show it. In fact, it becomes a tool for supporting change. It was used by men for years and in this country (see the Caning of Charles Sumner - an incident I didn't know before this book).
From the beginning of this book I was cheering on "go, sister" or whatever cheer is appropriate coming from a mail senior citizen. Then she got to Andrea Dworkin. If you were near me you could hear the brakes in my head squealing. Traister goes some distance in trying to convince us that Dworkin did NOT imply that all heterosexual sex is rape. OK, my brain is probably over-simplistic and I appreciate being set right. But it does make me think about the limits of anger to bring about change.
Katha Pollit in The Nation wrote an article (circa Oct-Nov 2018) that showed how anger from the left is not making any headway in changing the hearts and minds of Trump supporters. If anger was working, shouldn't male and female anger combined bring about the change we desperately need?
But make no mistake, I learned a lot in this book and I'm very glad I read it. And thanks to Chris Hayes for recommending it.

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Of course it is a 5-star book

Revisado: 12-27-18

We saw this book coming and knew it would be great. After all, we know the author pretty well before we start. I think this book shows us more of the feistiness of Michelle Obama particularly when it comes to trying to make life "normal" for her daughters. Yes, it is too bad we could never convince her to run for president but Malia is eligible in 2036.
Do not be deterred by the 19 hour length of this book. This is a conversation you would enjoy if it lasted for weeks.

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Wish I was president ...

Revisado: 12-27-18

...so that I could name Wendy Sherman to be Secretary of State. This book moves around chronologically but it isn't a history book. If anything it is psychological. In this book we don't simply see how negotiations end (we can see that in the newspaper). Instead we get insights into what it feels like to negotiate things like the Iran deal and having to handle relationships with multiple countries and different viewpoints at home.

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It is/was worse than you think

Revisado: 10-04-18

You may have an opinion about the current state of racism in the United States. In 2018 we see evidence that it is either making a comeback or at least getting noticed more. This book will show you how slavery was worse than you thought, Jim Crow was worse than you thought, the backlash Reconstruction was worse than you thought, now is worse than you think.

As one way to confront this nascent racism, the author suggests considering reparations for slavery. I don't think he really thinks that will happen but he holds out hope that the mere public consideration of it will improve the current situation.

Maybe so, I think it might be interesting to consider reparations along with UBI (Universal Basic Income). But I don't recall UBI getting a mention in this book.

I don't know why this book was narrated by someone else when the author's previous work was self-narrated. Because it was longer?

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A great read if you are the right "type"

Revisado: 12-27-17

This is a very entertaining set of short stories. A typewriter is often involved, maybe even a character, in these stories. If you are reading this then you probably are the right "type".

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