Mike

A bit rough narration, a bit brief, but valuable.

Revisado: 05-03-22

Saw some reviews complaining about Benji's narration - and it's true, he probably shouldn't (and undoubtedly won't) quit his day job... But it's not that bad, it's just a bit rough.

I'd also agree it's short for what a credit should be worth, but the authors do manage to load a good deal of information into that short envelope.

I'd also agree that, if you've done a good deal of research on starting and running a YouTube channel, a lot of this information might not be entirely new to you - but that's always the case, in any subject. The more you know, the less new information you'll learn from any given source. It's still worth looking (or listening) - both for the new gems you might find, and perhaps to challenge things you've learned elsewhere.

(H)

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Use woo and magic to make yourself a better actor!

Revisado: 05-03-22

Realistically speaking (no pun intended) I don't think I would have paid for this if I'd known how much the author was going to use pseudo-science and min-understanding of actual science to talk about how you should use magic to improve your VO acting...

Still... Once you get past that stuff, there _is_ a good deal of very good information, and it's worth reading/listening to.

(H)

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Worth buying, but not for a credit.

Revisado: 05-03-22

So, to start - let me say it's got a good deal of good information, and it's well worth listening to. It'd be worth paying the five bucks for, but it's woefully undervalued for a $11-15 "credit".

It also can serve as a great drinking game! Every time the author plugs his website, take a drink. You'll be passed out well before the two hour run time is finished. :)

(H)

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Every bit as good as you'd expect, and a bit more

Revisado: 05-03-22

A confession - I had only a peripheral interest in creating a podcast when I got this book. But, I figured it would have some good general VO and narration info in it (it does) and I figured the narration would be full-on flat-out amazing (it is, of course.)

There's a huge amount of information, it's well organized, and it's expertly presented. Again, not to belabor a point, but... No surprises there.

By the time it was over, I'd decided that I can probably make a good secondary stream of an informational YouTube channel by supplementing it with podcast content, though I'm not yet use if that will really produce a podcast with a justifiable, valuable-to-it's-listeners levels of content, but it's worth exploring - especially for stories that I can "illustrate" as well with sound as I do with images and sound in the video versions. Maybe just as a bonus for patreon supporters - I don't know. But the point is, it's worth exploring, and this book was great for showing me that and getting me thinking about it, and, should it come to pass, I'll absolutely refer back t this book again and again when making it.

On the other hand, if you're actually actively interested or involved in podcasting... What are you waiting for? These are NPR folks, for Pete's sake! You think you're going to find more seasoned professionals with a more genuine interest in just helping people learn and Do The Thing? Get it!

(H)

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No attempt at objectivity was made.

Revisado: 03-26-22

In the introduction to this book the author asks, rhetorically, whether scientists are objective and unbiased, biased and corrupt... Then he spends ten hours relentlessly proving and underscoring his own bias again and again and again.

The author identifies as a scientist - he's got a PhD "in physics, mathematics and astronomy" - but has not spend his life as a working scientist. Beyond teaching for eight years he has, evidently, spent most of his life being someone who talks about science for TV news programs - something I didn't know before I started reading - and writing books for lay audiences about science and math and why religion is better than science.

That's part of the give and take here. Some authors don't narrate well enough to be reading their own books. Guillen is very comfortable with it - he's spent ages on camera. Unfortunately, he feels compelled to cross over from narration into voice acting.

When reading a quote or paraphrased statement he disagrees with, he can't resist the urge to make the speaker out as sounding dumb or specious.

Likewise, he can't resist the temptation to use judgemental rhetoric instead of informative language. People who disagree with him on the subjects he's warning us about aren't advocates or proponents, they're "salesmen", "cheerleaders", and "hypesters".

He also seems to show the tell-tales of a person who substitutes "I have an X degree in Y!" for actively learning about anything new. He spends several minutes clutching his pearls about why apps and technology that collect certain data would possibly perform such an evil act of "spying" (it's never data collection, it's always "snooping" and "spying") when that app or product simply wouldn't work, or wouldn't work as well, without doing so - for instance, a sound product using information about what you listen to, where you listen, what kind of noise environment you're in, etc., to shape the performance profile of the speakers.

He closes with a special section on why religion is better than science, and how science should go hand in hand with religion, and how "scientism" is a religion anyway, so "scientismists" should, presumably, just be religious in other religions instead.

The "science is a religion" claim is likely very familiar to anyone who isn't religious, and depends on the false claim that science demands - and we scientisimists are happy to comply! - that we accept everything science says as gospel, without question. I don't know about you, but I never got the memo - to the contrary, I'm accustomed to scientists and science teachers reminding us that we need to question everything, demand proper evidence, and remember that essentially no answer in science is final - every scientific answer is predicated on the prefix phrase, spoken or unspoken (news media generally prefers to leave it out) that it's based on our best analysis of the best data we currently have available.

Maybe new data, from observation, from experimentation, from experience, will prove the author to have been right to sound the alarm about some of the things he's painted as "the end of life as we know it"... But, for now, it looks an awful lot like he's choosing his conclusions before doing his research, and cherry-picking data, testimony, and quotes to support what he wants the answer to be.

(Mike's Wife, Honor)

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This is NOT a book on writing.

Revisado: 10-26-21

It's ok... For what it is, it's really ok. It's a story about things that have happened in this guy's life, and part of that was writing... But it doesn't tell you anything about writing, really.

If it were titled, subtitled, and presented as what it is, I'd rate it more highly, but I can't get past the idea that the problem with the title and subtitle - which clearly lead people to think this is about writing, in a technical sense, and not just in a... metaphorical, conversational sense - is intentional.

As a result, you end up feeling angry and mislead toward the end of what would have otherwise been a perfectly good story.

So, if you're going into it looking for a story about a guy who's had an interesting life and done some interesting things - including trying to write a thriller with his friend John Grisham coaching him, jump in - you'll enjoy it.

If, on the other hand, you're looking for Grisham's tips on writing... Outline, both in general and each chapter. Keep your plot tight. Read dialog aloud, several times. Show, don't tell. Your first draft isn't your book.

There. Saved you five hours.

(Reviewed by Mike's wife)

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Wonderful stories paired with top-notch Narration

Revisado: 10-20-21

Because "Ummm, yeah. I'm going to need you to come in Saturday to write more Bobiverse books, mmm-kay? So if you could just get on that, that'd be greaaaat." won't fit in the headline area.

I imagine with any book, there are qualities that would make you more or less likely to enjoy it, and while I think these books are easily broad enough in appeal to reach a wide variety of readers, I think if you're the kind of person who's over, say, 40 or so, and maybe has a fair number of con badges at home, you're _really_ going to love these.

I'm going to write reviews for all of them, and they're awesome - look at the pile of stars! - but I just wanted to mention Ray Porter's narration, specifically, and how very much it adds to the whole experience. I think it would be at least feasible to lump narrations styles into two larger camps - one being more narration, by strict dictionary definition, and the other being more voice acting, and the thing with voice acting a book is that while it can add tremendous value, it can also be really easy to do poorly enough that it's a bigger liability than is it an asset.

No worries about that here. In the series, there is room for dozens of accents that make sense, including aliens for crying out loud, and they're all performed anywhere from merely quite well to well enough that it made me stop and take notice. There's a female character with a Scots accent who's so well done he gets the lilting up-note at the end of sentences right... And that's so different from the main character, and so perfectly spot-on it just feels natural - admittedly, I'm an American with UK friends and family, so my immersion level isn't absolute, but it's a pretty high bar.

I wouldn't listen to a book _strictly_ based on the narrator, but I have to say, I'm going to look to see what else he's done and at least look at the stuff that's in my usual interest groups.

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SciFi that manages to be fun without being silly

Revisado: 09-26-21

The science is good (not "hard" SciFi, but solid, the story is engaging, and the narrator does a great job, as well.

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