Daniel

Depressing

Revisado: 12-05-24

I was attracted to this book because of the mixed reviews. People seem to either love it or hate it. I think Richard has a lot of good things, true things, to say. Overall tone is very depressing. Like life, relationships aren't all bad, it's not all scary. He could of been more positive, but tone of book is very dire. Worth reading, just be prepared. One thing about the performance, it's a bit monotone.

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Important Topic Especially After the Pandemic

Revisado: 02-09-24

With the propaganda barrage we experienced during the pandemic I've become very interested in this topic. It was so interesting to get front row seats to how the propaganda machinery, levers, and mechanisms worked during the past few years. Book seems concerned in the beginning to not paint propaganda as purely negative. Found that kind of odd since propaganda in the 21st century is pretty much always viewed as negative or sinister. I guess if you view everything as propaganda (Even benign marketing and advertising) like the lawyer that sees the source code to reality as a set of laws, the sales person that only see human interaction as sales pitch, or the roofer that separates the world in two categories, hammers and nails, it makes sense. Overall I felt the book attempts to be balanced, but becomes increasingly left of center as book progresses. Book uses more evidence from right than left which I found annoying since it's a book that's presents itself as balanced for the classroom/teachers. It's a good start to my propaganda educational journey.

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One Of Best Audiobooks On Meditation

Revisado: 12-30-23

This lecture/audiobook got to the truth about human nature and how you can use meditation to improve quality of life. Light on dogma, heavy on practical ways to implement mediation in one's life. Bonus points for the audiobook soundtrack. Will definitely listen to this one again.

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Slightly Biased Decent Book Overall

Revisado: 07-02-23

I think we can agree that extreme views on both sides of the political spectrum are not ideal. Book is biased, sensed it's crafting a narrative using evidence from one side of the political spectrum and omitting the other side. Free speech is very important, this is a tough problem to tackle. Book makes it sound like nothing is being done, but this is simply not true. Turn on the news and everyday someone is losing their account(s), getting shadow banned, having their reach limited, demonetization, and if that doesn't work getting dragged to court, etc. Max Fisher works for the New York Times according to a quick internet search so this may contribute to some of the narrative crafting one might expect I saw in the book. Not saying Fisher is wrong I'm just saying when you omit other extremes from other side because it might tarnish that side your work can be seen as biased. Decent book overall.

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Women Are Perfect Men Are Projects Subtext

Revisado: 01-14-23

First of all let me just say I like this book. I really like how Karen Brody goes into the different types masculine archetypes. When I listen to Brody's dating advice this Shakespeare quote comes to mind, "all the world's a stage." Feel like the ultimate outcome of this book will be men trying to "fake it until they make it." She asks a lot of men in this book, that's why I feel there is a slight underlying subtext that women are generally regarded as perfect and men are almost always projects to be improved. Obviously not true, but I think this is one downside of a book written in a female perspective. Overall worth reading even though at times it sounds like a romantic comedy.

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Where Was This Book During The Pandemic?

Revisado: 11-20-22

At pandemic peak fear where was this book? Book talks a lot about fear and surrendering to true love or God. Just recently watched "The Vow" on HBO Streaming so couldn't help but think about some of the downsides of this, but if it's actually God and not some false idol could be a good thing.

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Has Essentialism Really Changed Your Life?

Revisado: 11-16-22

After reading this book I'm still skeptical, but please if anyone out there has used essentialism to change their life please let me know! The book talks about weighing all options and choosing the most essential. I think essentialism is most needed for thoughts and ideas. Except for the periphery of life I'd argue most activities are essential, even seemingly trivial activities. For example essential activities include sleep, eating, bathroom breaks, bathing, exercise, paying the bills, maintenance, keeping up with family & friends... yes, you can start saying no to TV, social media, news, meetings, parties, etc. but will this really change your life? If it has please let me know. In the end this book at best gave me more confidence to say no when appropriate to concentrate on must activities. I'm still in doubt if this philosophy will really make me happier, more successful, and all the things. There isn't enough to cut out. Lets say you did cut out 80% then what? How is this any better unless you fill the time life's most joyous activities 100% of the time (Difficult to do).

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Strange Book With Constant Rapid Fire Opinions

Revisado: 09-26-22

Before I begin the review let me just say this is my first Shapiro book. I agree with some, but disagree with many points especially in later chapters. It's just a non stop barrage of rapid fire opinions without a clear connection with overall theme. What annoyed me about this book is what Shapiro seems to see as air tight logic is just line for line regurgitation of the propaganda when book was written, 2004. Many of the points Shapiro argues vehemently have been proven less than ideal, anyone with critical thinking skills today would probably be embarrassed to admit these past conclusions. The way Shapiro argues seems naive at times. He has lots more books so I'm sure Shapiro is more nuanced now, this book is just strange in my opinion.

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Very Interesting

Revisado: 09-10-22

Learn about the inside world of a WWII foreign correspondent trying to report real news while propaganda is being pushed from top down. Very, very interesting listen.

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Scares You Just Enough To Take Action

Revisado: 06-09-22

If there was one criticism of the book it would be using fear of death as a way to motivate you to try new treatments ultimately benefiting TR. Obviously this is hard to avoid when talking about medical field. I do like that he's putting money where his mouth is (Investing in some of the companies he speaks of) even though this fact could be criticized by some. Overall it's less hopeful than I expected. Yes, these treatments sound very promising, but I wish I could get in a time machine go 500 years from now where problems are really fixed. We are getting there, but painfully slow. I'm a big Tony Robbins fan so I will continue reading books he puts out. Because of the subject matter I didn't really feel the familiar TR empowerment feeling, I felt anxiety.

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