A. Landry

Sad but necessary accounting of how Europeans ruined the New World

Revisado: 07-31-23

He does cover earlier peoples as well but the most upsetting parts are accounts of what old world Europeans did to native peoples and their flora and fauna/ small issue- latest news reports and science point to Covid as escaping from the Woo Hand lab but other than this it’s a sad but thorough account of all the damage we did. The narrator is the worst. I’ve ever heard. Not sure why Dan didn’t narrate his own book….

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An excellent account of the history and behavior of the coyote

Revisado: 07-28-23

I first heard about this book on the Joe Rogan podcast, and I was excited to read it. It’s an excellent history, albeit a sad one, of how native peoples viewed the coyote versus what Europeans have done to the coyote. Although Europeans also treated native peoples, other animals and plants in the new world as expendable, Dan does a great job of balancing the way native peoples interacted with the coyote versus the appalling way our European ancestors behaved towards coyotes. He skillfully goes back in time and then weaves in the biology of coyote behavior in the face of attempts to exterminate them. I was saddened, angered and then resolute in my determination to spread the word about how good coyotes are. All because of this book. Definitely recommend it.

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Now I understand why it won a Pulitzer

Revisado: 05-30-22

A gripping novel- bleak, desolate, sad, realistic- I was riveted from the first sentence on. Definite must read before one dies…..

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Great book marred by Bret’s voice

Revisado: 10-19-21

This is a great book and recommend READING it. However, Bret has a speech lisp that is super annoying- words with a ch come our of his mouth like he’s got a mouth full of saliva and is about to gurgle. I am Sure he aware of this lisp- I’ve heard it when he’s appeared on Joe Rohan’s podcast, bur it appears he hasn’t not engaged a speech therapist to work on it so after getting deeper into the book it starts to become super annoying. The tone of his voice is nice it’s just the weird lisp he has. Hope he fixes it before he narrates any other books.

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Loved Barrack’s voice but story a bit long-no real revelations

Revisado: 11-27-20

I purchased this book as an audible title, and the book is read by the president himself. Barrack has a wonderful voice, but the book ran long, was short on juicy tidbits/insights and it read like it was co-written by the speech writer he mentions he used during office. Everything is polished, and thus seems sanitized-for example he only briefly hints at what his marriage went through, after 2 terms. Also, it is obvious that he must have a sizable amount of ambition, but to hear him tell the story, he just sort of fell into the decision to go into public office, due to timing and circumstances not entirely of his making. I wonder if the reality is more along the lines of a very ambitious Harvard law grad, who is also of mixed race, decides to start padding his resume with stints as a community organizer. Since he was not from Chicago, getting involved in local community issues, to me, seemed to be calculated, like he was doing so because it looked good if he decided to run for public office. I believe Barrack was, from an early age on, unwaveringly determined, no matter what, to run for president. In the book he has a tendency to see many issues through the lens of race and to recount the stories through the lens of race/disrimination, , but luckily he does not let this dominate the entire story. Barrack, ever the well spoken politician, produces an acceptable account of his first 4 years(approx), but you can tell he’s choosing his words carefully. I suspect there was a lot more trash talking that went on, especially when he discusses Trump questioning his birth certificate, but Barrack takes the high road and sadly this book left me wanting more. Glad to hear he’s stopped smoking though:)

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

goes on way too long

Revisado: 03-04-20

I had high hopes for this title, but now that I just finished this tedious audio book, I am super disappointed. She has some really nice observations, but I found the author went on WAY too long without any really good solutions or advice. If you want to know how to train a german shepherd in a kind way, check out any of the excellent videos by Michael Ellis, of Santa Rosa. Suzanne's book has many sad, sad stories, and some very frustrating ones-all of these stories just bummed me out and got me angry. A dog that Suzanne had bred and sold to some crappy excuse of a woman ended up being euthanized. The woman called Suzanne first to tell her what she intended to do-why Suzanne did not offer to take the dog back I just don't understand. She tells the story but never mentions that she could have offered to take it back. Lots of her dogs die of cancer-she mentions she gives the dogs water from her hose-I also think she mentions that she lives somewhere in New Jersey. If that is where she lives, NJ has some of the most polluted water in the country(super high levels of PFAs and PFOAs) because of all the years of industrial capitalism and dumping/polluting of the rivers and ground water, so why this person is giving unfiltered water to her dogs, I just don't understand. I was expecting it to be more organized and full of useful insights but I ended up tuning out because she just kept going on and on. Not the best dog book, sadly.....
Save your money and watch the Michael Ellis videos that are available on Leerburg.com

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

OMG His Voice is Horrible

Revisado: 01-21-20

I am going to return this book to audible and check it out of the library because it is too annoying to try to listen to his voice! It's like he is trying to be a dj, but an annoying DJ on one too many cups of jo. I couldn't last more than 10 minutes before turning this book off.

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A must read before you decide where to live

Revisado: 01-10-20

This wonderful book confirms all my suspicions about chemical companies and other corporations that create pollution. Corporate profit trumps everything else, including safety and the environment. Companies love to put out PR pieces touting their concern for the community and the environment but books like this show me that these companies have known for years that their chemicals are dangerous and all they focused on was quietly trying to dump them so that the public did not find out. In the next decade it will be interesting to see what the science comes up with for some other ticking time bombs, such as RoundUp, which is just beginning to make it into the news cycle, based on recent jury awards in favor of plaintiffs harmed by Round Up. This book confirms that Dupont, made and continues to make, thousands of tons of environmentally dangerous chemicals. This well written book is a must if you care about what is in the air and water that you drink. This book showed the lengths that Dupont's lawyers were willing to go to fight the truth, so hoping that chemical companies will operate in a safe manner is a pipe dream. I had heard PFAs were really bad, but thanks to this book I now know that 99% of us carry this man made carcinogen inside our bodies, and that this chemical is inside of us forever. Hopefully in the future we will have governmental leaders that put our environment and thus the health and safety of our citizens above corporate profit and greed. Eternal thanks to Mr. Bilott for writing this book.

What I decided to do after reading this book: As a realtor, who is looking for a home on acreage, here is what I would do when thinking about a property, especially if it is surrounded by large tracts of land. Note, I am sharing my opinions, NOT advising anyone else as their realtor.

1) Start with a visit to the EPA's superfund site, and look up all the known sites that are hazardous in the state you want to live in.

2) Google the top 50 chemical companies in the US and try to figure out which states they have facilities in. Avoid living near these plants, or their dumps, if at all possible.

3) Before you buy a home, even if it is in a subdivision, get your realtor to pull records of all the surrounding property that could be housing a chemical dump. Look for large tracts owned by LLCs, Limited partnerships, or other corporate entities. At worst, these parcels could become future plants(Austin has a problem with concrete batching plants that spew tons of toxic dust into the air that is known to cause lung disease), or other corporate complexes that could damage the environment. Even tech companies create alot of pollution, even at their US facilities.

4) If your home has a well, have the water tested by a third party water testing company, and test it ANNUALLY! Ask the current seller for past water results, if they have kept those records.

5) Ask the local chamber of commerce if there are any big industrial complexes planned for large tracts of land near where you are thinking of living.

6) Ask neighbors if they have seen any changes in the water or people's health.

7) Install the very best water filtration system you can afford-one that results in filtered water coming out of every tap in your house, not just at the kitchen sink. Chlorine is often added to water supplies and it can be absorbed in a hot shower as steam that you breath in. Chlorine breaks down into trihalomethane, a known carcinogen. Never trust that your local water district is truly on top of the filtration system. Many large cities have aging pipes-that was part of what happened in Flint.

8) If allowed, install a rainwater collection system. Rainwater can still trap airborne pollution as it falls from the sky, but in the future, with many aquifers in the US becoming depleted, and many surface bodies of water contaminated from decades of rampant industrial growth, rainwater may be the safest choice for your family.

Remember: What Dupont did is not an isolated event-who knows how many skeletons the chemical companies operating in the US have in their corporate closet. The amount of work it took this attorney to out Dupont shows me that we all have to look out for our own family' health. Don't wait for government or companies to do the right thing. I hope reading this book will open everyone's eyes to what is truly going on behind our backs, and inspire us to ask more questions.

Finally, question all the products we use in our daily lives. PFAs were used in the manufacture of non stick fry pans. Those pans eventually get scratched and come off as flakes that can get into our food. Do we really need a non stick fry pan? For every product you use in your daily life ask yourself, is there a sustainable alternative?

If we all stopped buying the products that contain or are made from these chemicals, we could reduce the thousands of pounds of waste material these companies create, and end up dumping somewhere.

Thanks again to this author for waking me up to what is really going on..... My nomination for best environmental book of the year.

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Frustrating and wordy and author focused

Revisado: 01-02-20

I listened to Atomic Habits, by James Clear and it was such a fantastic book that I saw this title and decided to give it a try. This author is also reading the audio book and unlike James Clear, this was a terrible decision. Brendon has gone on now for an hour and 40 minutes and I just cannot figure out anything useable. I haven't heard anything new-it feels like an advertisement about his coaching company. It's just Brendon talking, and talking and talking. Very difficult to follow and irritating to listen to. Save your money and listen to Atomic Habits instead. This book, High Performance Habits, is a total waste of time. Wish I could get my money back:(

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Long and tedious

Revisado: 12-11-19

Probably only appealing to war history buffs. Definitely look for a book summary of this one. Fell asleep several times so a useful, non addictive sleep aid.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas