Tom C. Barros-Wing

Loved every minute of it (55-ish episodes so far)

Revisado: 01-24-25

I was looking for a podcast that would entertain me while giving me more insight into my recently diagnosed ADHD (or at least a glimpse into other people's experiences), and was specifically looking for something that wouldn't be all preachy or didactic or pathologizing or--worse--boring.

Around episode 5 or so, I noticed I was hooked. I had to listen to this every day, to and from work, and just could not wait. I laughed, I learned a whole lot, and I cared about what was going on every minute. Do not skip an episode--the titles really don't tell you as much as you might think; the hosts go on unexpected tangents, naturally, and the information that the guests have to offer can be surprisingly mind-expanding. For example, I'm a 48-year-old man, but the episode about ADHD and menstrual cycles was one of the very best ever with one of the very best guests ever (and she had way more to offer than just on-topic expertise). Not a single episode or guest is a flop. It's all great. And though it's usually funny on purpose, it's often heartfelt and serious, too.

In short, this podcast MATTERS.

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Must listen

Revisado: 10-30-24

Wot’s that, you’re glued to your Insta? Well knock it off and have a listen to this classic Kat & Jack chin wag about how they’ve once and for all solved the internet and how YOU CAN TOO. Seriously, thank me later, no worries, cheers.

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Not for everybody, but fantastic for some

Revisado: 04-28-24

The performance is top-notch and really holds this long and meandering novel together. I read Lord Jim ("read" it--did I finish it? was I able to understand it?) in high school, about 30 years ago, and vaguely remember it seemed worth returning to some day, because I didn't know what the heck was going on so much of the time, but felt like at the core of the novel was something significant. Having re-read Heart of Darkness a few times over the decades, I know that my appreciation for Conrad has the potential to grow. (Honestly, I find he's hit or miss, even then, though.)

Well, Lord Jim goes on for hours without spitting out what the thing at the heart of the novel even is. It dances around it, frustratingly if it's your first time. Even I, knowing where this was heading, found myself saying out loud in the car many times: "Just say what you're talking about!" But if you know what the central defining event is--from reading it before, or hearing about it or something, which I actually recommend in this case--then it's not a big problem. It's delicious, actually, in the exploration of character and psychology and fragmentary knowledge and the impossibility of full knowledge (its main theme), reminiscent of The Brothers Karamazov, I'd say--only without the mystery lingering for so many hundreds of pages. Lord Jim spits out what is going on after a little while, and then the whole rest of the novel is a nice development from the precipitating fact. It's not as meandering as a Melville novel, though the comparison to Dostoyevsky and Melville is not gratuitous.

I would never ever assign this to high school students. Tomorrow is my 48th birthday and I have a PhD from Yale in French Literature, and I still think it's criminal to make a 17-year-old read this book. But for a seasoned and savvy reader with some appreciation of Conrad already, this is one of the greats in my opinion. Maybe not to read three or four times--but it's unforgettable and has some truly quotable moments that astound in their ingenious prose and depth of perception.

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Decent novel; superb performance makes it great

Revisado: 12-13-12

This was a very good, very engaging, suspenseful, but I think destined to be forgotten, book. One comes to care about the characters, which makes for an excellent listening experience. But the overall frame of social issues will probably not age well; or at least, it will become less important to our experience of the book. It has the feel of a slightly too forceful white woman's meditation on racism, and the author knows this only too well (her Afterword, read by herself at the end of the novel, is totally worthwhile), and yet it's still true. It's not totally groundbreaking in its themes, but its characters feel alive and Kathryn Stockett allows the unresolved ambiguities of their lives and relationships to persist throughout. The question is--does she make us think about anything new beyond the specific experiences of these characters? For me, not really ...

I highly recommend it for a listening experience (I bought it for someone as a gift immediately after I finished listening to my own copy), but I wouldn't bother reading it in print. The voice actresses are all pitch perfect, and really bring out what is good in the text--and maybe even inject life into the text where reading it would most likely fall flat.

I could have listened to this straight in one sitting, if that were physically possible.

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Excellent, gripping, relistenable

Revisado: 12-13-12

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, this is one of few audiobooks that I would go out of my way to recommend, because the story is excellent--Sherlock Holmes and Watson are not the characters popular culture has made them to be (c.f. Frankenstein), but much more interesting--and the reading is perfect. My wife and I listened to this whole collection together, and when one of us missed a part, the other one really didn't mind going back and hearing parts of it all over again.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1?

I didn't care a fig for the actual mysteries (that's me, not a deficiency of the text), but I loved and couldn't get enough of the parts that were about Sherlock Holmes and Watson as characters, their relationship, their habits and proclivities. They really come to life, and far beyond the stereotyped images we get from popular culture.

Which scene was your favorite?

Almost every scene from the first 5 or 10 minutes or last 3 minutes of a story were my favorites, because that's where most of the character development was.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I wouldn't; and films have totally ruined Sherlock Holmes already. The pacing of a textual narrative is fundamental to the whole Sherlock Holmes conceit.

Any additional comments?

The introduction to Peter Brooks' _Reading for the Plot_ might be a great place to whet one's appetite for Sherlock Holmes if one feels one is too old or smart or well-read to be interested in this kind of stuff.

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Excellent book, hypnotic reading voice

Revisado: 12-13-12

If you could sum up The Most Powerful Idea in the World in three words, what would they be?

Interesting, wide-reaching, informative storytelling

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A (nonfiction)

Have you listened to any of Michael Prichard’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was the first one I've heard. Other reviewers said they hated his reading, that it was too slow. And yet others said you get used to it in no time. I completely agree. After the first five minutes or so, this book is gripping enough on its own for the relatively slow reading pace to feel fine. And I liked the timbre of Michael Prichard's voice, once it got into me.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I could have, but I bought it with the intention of spacing it out. It might be just too long and too information-packed to do that. But I never got bored of it.

Any additional comments?

Occasional jokes in the narrative or footnotes (which the narrator reads) gave me a positive feeling about the author of this generally quite scholarly book. It was definitely worked into a book that anyone with a little bit of attention span could enjoy, though most people who don't like to read printed books in general wouldn't be able to sit through this. You have to be a little curious about the Industrial Revolution, but just a pinch of curiosity will get you in the door, and William Rosen will take you the rest of the way.

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Reading slightly too dramatic, in EVERY paragraph

Revisado: 12-13-12

What did you love best about Invisible Man?

The opening chapter was brilliant, original, and engaging; very reminiscent of Dostoyevsky's _Notes from Underground_ but significantly new at the same time. The novel as a whole maintains a tacit Dostoyevskian tendency to constantly consider ambiguities of action and interpretation that seem honest throughout--you can really believe in this character. And yet the actual narrative is clear, not muddy like Henry James or other authors who might fit this same description.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Invisible Man?

The opening chapter; the book begins in media res, and you wonder throughout how we're ever going to get back to the beginning, which is fascinating in itself.

What three words best describe Joe Morton’s voice?

Overly dramatic, widely varying volume, impressive range of character voices

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No; I couldn't stomach it for more than an hour at a time.

Any additional comments?

Joe Morton has a truly impressive and useful range of character voices throughout, but he puts way too much dramatic emphasis on every paragraph of the whole novel, and it's just frustrating. Whereas on a scale from Robot (0) to Melodrama (10) I like my books to be about a 5, 6 or 7, he's a consistent 8. (For comparison, I'd put Jim Dale at a 6.) It makes the whole book sound like it's full of caps, italics, and ellipses, and it's just way too overstimulating. I can handle listening to the whole book, but only in 20-60 min. snippets at a time.

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