Sohachi

Please, sir, may I have some more?

Revisado: 03-23-23

This is my seventh? Eighth? Course with Mr. (Professor?) Greenberg and I have more waiting.

I am a big opera fan and a big Greenberg fan. As many others have mentioned, Mr Greenberg invariably presents with gusto, and when someone is excited to tell you something, you get excited to hear it.

I did not know a lot about Verdi before listening to this course, although I’ve seen many of his operas multiple times.

I feel that I know him and his works much better, and would particularly love to see Falstaff, which I have somehow missed.

Mr. Greenburg’s sly jests often make me laugh aloud. He did puzzle me with one in which he was comparing the unlikeliness of Verdi doing something and had a list of other things just as unlikely, including “Kathleen Battle writing a book on How to Love Yourself and Others.”

I am a fan a her work, and she was my all-time favorite Susanna in my all time favorite opera, Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, so i am longing to hear the story behind this work.

Nonetheless, even with this little mystery, I highly recommend this course.

Beautiful excerpts of Verdi’s operas are presented and elucidated, his friends and artistic co-workers are discussed, as well as his work for the nationalization of Italy, his great philanthropy and some tea is spilled about his romantic life.

I think any opera lover and most classical music lovers will enjoy this course.

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A Chef’s Menu of Literary Dishes

Revisado: 02-27-23

Professor Armstrong is by far my favorite lecturer.

She is knowledgeable, enthusiastic and often funny in presenting us with information that I, at least, wish I had known long ago.

This book is a sort of tasting menu of what I assume are most of her favorite bits of medieval history.

Many of them are things I didn’t know, even having read several of her previous works on the Medieval Period, including the one that got me hooked on her works, Great Minds of the Middle Ages.

This book offers entertaining, one might almost say “delicious”, chapters on many subjects I’ve not heard her cover before.

For example, I would have thought it would be hard for me to choke down a chapter on Medieval mapmaking, but Professor Armstrong’s description piqued my appetite and I spent about an hour looking at maps from that time.

Another tasty tidbit was the history of the Knights Templar. From old movies to The Da Vinci Code, I’ve heard their exploits and alleged secret practices bandied about, but never made an effort to try to find out the truth about them. Professor Armstrong served it up, and I wolfed it down.

Other delicious and hitherto untasted knowledge included Mythical Beasts (and what they might really have been, if they indeed existed) and the Land of Prester John, whose name I vaguely remember hearing, but whose “life” I knew nothing about.

For dessert, the last lecture is her skillful and believable concoction of the inspiration for the characters and events in Game of Thrones. I have only seen a few seasons of GoT (I intend to finish it up, but am rationing myself) but I was excited to hear the correlations she made.

I highly recommend this sampler of her knowledge and passion.

Why not five stars, you may ask?

While I loved the course as a whole, as in real life, not every dish appealed to me equally.

All were very good, and most were excellent.

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Thrills galore with many deeper layers

Revisado: 02-20-23

I don’t know why I bought this book (I often buy highly rated books on sale and forget about them), but while shuffling through my unread books, I saw the name and the rating and decided to listen.

First, let me say that Rosario Dawson did an absolutely fabulous job of narrating. I have listened to well over a thousand books, and she is one of the best I’ve heard. She has Ukrainian, Kenyan and lots of other accents, and she makes it easy to know which character is speaking. She is particularly spot on as the main character and narrator, Jazz, who is a brilliant, shady, funny yet principled hustler. Her narration was so good that halfway through the book I checked Audible to see what other books she had narrated. Alas, none were found.

I listened to The Martian a few years ago, and I thought it was very good. I liked the mixture of science and ethics, of what to do when things go wrong, and the creativity and resilience of the main character. I was impressed by that book and I liked it.

This book is an order of magnitude better, for many reasons.

The Martian dealt with being left alone, whereas Artemis deals with choosing to separate yourself. Not completely, but somewhat. Jazz is an amazing woman - raised by a devout Muslim father who had high expectations for his only child, but she chose to live a life of adventure and living by her (considerable) wits, while still adhering to many of his deeply held beliefs - a deal is a deal and you never cheat your customers.

I loved the complexity and multiplicity of layers in this book.

There is the straight adventure of the various dangers she faces, the science of how things are different on the moon and the importance of economics in a developing community.

There is also a side issue of when and whether and which laws are truly necessary in such a place.

The thrills are there, but so are the things that make you think - about science, about community, about friends and about life.

I will definitely be reading more of Andy Weir’s books.

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A wonderful and insightful experience

Revisado: 02-07-23

I was an English literature major and had read and/or seen five of the six plays presented in this course.

Dr. Kinney provided numerous interpretations, clarifications and alternate views to plays I thought I understood.

She has one of the most beautiful reading voices I’ve heard (perhaps she can get a side hustle reading audiobooks.)

This course has given me so much more to consider in plays that are over 400 years old.

I was particularly moved near the end of the last lecture, when Dr. Kinney seemed to struggle not to weep while reminding us of the tragedies that befell various characters in each play. She obviously feels these works deeply and profoundly.

As I neared the end of the course, I checked to see if she prepared any others for The Great Courses.

Alas, not on Audible.

But I thank her for this remarkable work and envy her students at UVA.

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So appropriate for this historic year!

Revisado: 08-16-20

I didn’t know much about Bella Abzug besides Jewish, politician and hats.

Harvey Fierstein made me see how remarkable, incisive, brave, funny and amazing she was.

I wish I could have known her, votes for her and supported her.

Thank you Harvey for making my life richer.

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One of my top five books

Revisado: 05-11-19

I have listened to hundreds of books, and this was absolutely one of the best. The characters seem real - imperfect, but generally kind, and trying to figure out what a good person should do. The situation, a girl removed from her home by the courts and sent far away to live with people she's never met, is almost prosaic. The author lets us see this angry, lonely little girl bloom in the (metaphorical) desert where she now finds herself. We see this pre-teen begin to understand how love and kindness should work, and to eventually recognise both in the people around her. I'm an AARP member with no children, and this book amazed and touched me. I have recommended it to friends with grandkids in the 11-14 range, but I think most adults who love and worry about children would enjoy this book.

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Interesting topics, but the humor wasn't my type

Revisado: 05-11-19

I love the history of medicine, so I was familiar with many of the stories - the discovery of how cholera is created and spread, the Resurectionists, trepanning. I was fine with revisiting them and even appreciated exact details on how to poke that hole in your head. What I didn't enjoy was the authors' sense of humor. Poop and vomit jokes would have to be absolutely amazing to make me laugh, and I would say their all-too-frequent jokes varied between kindergarten and second grade level. I may have laughed once while listening to this book, but I can't think when. I am also always brought abruptly out of an audiobook when I hear a mispronunciation, as happened more than once. Sydnee's reference to the common heart condition angina, which I have always heard rhyming with "vagina", as "an-GEE-na" made me wonder how she could have been around American medical professionals for more than a few weeks and not had that straightened out. This book is a hobby the two authors share, and they seem to delight in making each other laugh and grossing each other out, an interest that is somewhat endearing in a couple. Had there been more original content I might have been willing to ignore the silly asides, but I was generally either thinking "I know that one" or "How old ARE you?"

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Thrilling and well acted

Revisado: 05-11-19

My expectations for this were low. New playwright, free from Audible, what were the chances it would be good? Almost from the first moment, I was captivated. The characters rang true - the over-protective old fashioned mother who just wants her daughter to get married; the exasperated daughter who just wants to live her life. It was funny, sweet and totally relatable. When the daughter meets the perfect guy, rich, handsome AND kind, but her mother has a "feeling" that something is wrong, the story takes an unexpected jog. Can the mother simply never be happy? Is she mentally ill? What is the mystery the father keeps hinting at? Will the daughter live happily ever after with her handsome prince? I was late for work because I HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! This reminded me of radio drama at its best.

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Did you ever have a kid tell you about the weird dreams he had that one time?

Revisado: 04-24-19

That’s what listening to this book was like. One weird dream after another. There was no humor, and the protagonist did not inspire attachment in me. The book had a good premise (PTSD from mysterious past for the hero, alienated and pesky little brother, both in danger). Unfortunately, the longer the story went on, the more I just wanted it to be over. I didn’t really care what happened. I just wanted it over.

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Life changing questions with an immediate effect

Revisado: 02-17-19

I am one of the most curious people I know, and I much better at questions than answers. This book showed me how to refine my questions, and create better ones. First, my questions are generally too simple. I want a simple answer. "What is this? What does it do? Who made it? Does it take a long time to make? How do you learn to make it?" These are easy questions to ask, and answer, and once I heard the answers, I would generally stop thinking about the subject. Better questions that now occur to me, "How well does this solve the jobs? Do other people make other things to do the same job? What do think about their products? What is the hardest part of making this thing? What do you dislike about the process?"

About halfway through the book, I woke up one morning clearly recognizing a continual problem in my work environment, and a possible solution to it. I had not been consciously thinking of the problem, but somehow this book helped me expand my curiosity or ability to frame questions.

I discussed my thoughts on the process and solution with my boss, and he asked me to pursue it. I am eager to do so.

The enthusiasm I am feeling, together with possible solution to a continuing problem, makes the 7 hours I spent reading this book a very worthwhile investment.

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