Philip D. Mann

Solid foundation for a skeptical approach to modern marketing

Revisado: 06-20-23

This is a concise and informative audiobook that, after a short review of organic chemistry, serves as an excellent introduction to scientific skepticism directed at the deceptive practices of the alternative health industry.

Farina's expertise in the subject matter is evident as he skillfully exposes the misleading tactics employed by marketers in the alternative health industry. With clarity and simplicity, he dismantles pseudoscientific claims and provides concrete examples of deceptive marketing strategies.

The audiobook's accessible approach makes it suitable for beginners exploring scientific skepticism. Farina breaks down complex concepts into easily understandable explanations, ensuring that listeners without a scientific background can follow along.

The engaging narration enhances the audiobook's appeal, with Farina's passion shining through in his delivery. His meticulous research and evidence-based arguments empower listeners to develop critical thinking skills and make informed decisions about their health.

"Is this WiFi Organic?" is a valuable resource that encourages listeners to question and evaluate the claims made in the alternative health industry. By promoting scientific skepticism, it equips individuals with the tools necessary to navigate through misleading marketing practices.

In conclusion, "Is this WiFi Organic?" by Dave Farina is a concise and enlightening audiobook that introduces scientific skepticism and exposes the deceptive practices of the alternative health industry. It is a must-listen for those seeking to understand the importance of critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making in the realm of health and wellness.

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More Divine Dungeon!

Revisado: 02-04-19

The book continues with Cal and Dale, and the rest of the crew, while working through personal and professional issues all along the way. This book gets a bit higher level in terms of power and world events, and shows the rhetorical shape of the world and world events. Mage-rank cultivators are supers.

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Looking forward to the next book

Revisado: 01-30-19

Continues from book 2, but gets a bit more serious. Narration is still great, and there is both more emotional development of the characters and less repetition of the RPG mechanics. These keep getting better!

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Not Aweful, Just Undeveloped

Revisado: 10-30-18

I really wanted to love this book because of the basic premise and potential for combining real world experiences of the main character with the mechanics of the game. Unfortunately, none of the potential of this title is actually realized in the finished product. To begin, the main character's life circumstances -- his sudden, career-ending blindness -- becomes nothing but background and is wholly irrelevant for the majority of the book. After the start, it's only alluded to in a couple of emotional scenes at the very end. His complete ignorance of gaming, game terms, and RPGs in general is mentioned many times, but there is never an effort to bridge his lack of understanding of even the basics. For example, people keep referring to him as a "tank" though he never gets farther into understanding what that means than his own thoughts that he doesn't understand what that means. He's simply led by the hand by more experienced players and never has to come to terms with the mechanics, culture, or even the story of Bushido Online. Overall, it feels rather ham-fisted as the main character is dragged through some of the game accomplishments without engaging or even understanding what he's supposed to be doing or why. I'll leave the next book in the series for a time when I've got nothing more interesting to download.

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Lots of Dictator’s Handbook

Revisado: 05-23-18

I love the series and characters, and I like that this book as character sheet heavy as the first. It’s still angled toward the LitRPG genre with the main character’s power, but it’s not as front and center as before. Unlike a lot of book lately, you really do need to know what’s going on in the previous book to be completely up to speed on this one (a good thing).

I found the clear tie-ins with The Dictator’s Handbook (Bruce Bueno de Mesquita & Alastair Smith, 2012) very interesting, though I was a bit put off that it was presented as how Felix thinks of things —as if it’s his original thoughts—when much is directly from the nonfiction piece. Maybe nobody else would notice if they hadn’t read it, but the catch is that understanding the Handbook is somewhat important to connect the dots with some of the political concepts mentioned by Felix.

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An outstanding production by an outstanding communicator

Revisado: 07-31-17

The thing I always remember about Alan Alda is his voice, and it makes sense that it is a perfect match for his own book. He presents much of the material and ideas not as the expert, but as one who has learned from experts, which is a perspective that is both reasonable and human. If you are interested in the "why" of communication, this book belongs in your playlist.

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Great Work in Transhumanist Setting

Revisado: 06-05-17

I'm a fan of the sort of story wherein the characters grow, literally or personally, along with the story, and the characters in this book do both. Although not a deep book in any respect, it does nudge against a lot of relevant social issues that come with transhumanism in general, and some specific aspects in particular, with some discussion about the implications. This is one of the few books that I have listened to all of the way through two consecutive times, almost back to back (one book in between), because of the setting and the characters. I really enjoyed the internal consistency of the story and the reasonable tactical approaches taken in most situations -- no kid suddenly sees the battlefield as if they are George S. Patton of late.

A great part of this book that shouldn't be missed is the appendices wherein the author explains the assumptions and technology behind the story. Honestly, you could probably skip ahead and go through it first if you need to, but understanding afterward is great as well.

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The Story is Slipping

Revisado: 10-04-16

The story here is not as interesting as the previous books. Also, there is a bit of vitriol against support personnel and city folk comes out of nowhere sometimes. I was disappointed about the continuous use of the term "R.E.M.F." as a spelled-out "R-E-M-F" instead of pronounced as a word "remf" as it is actually used. This is similar to usage in previous books, but the term becomes a wildly swinging bludgeon in this volume. If you don't know, "R.E.M.F." means Rear Echelon Mother F**ker, and applies to all personnel not currently serving as frontline combat troops (i.e. on the ground with a rifle shooting the enemy). I only mention it because there are places in the story where the "R.E.M.F." club is being wildly tossed about by a "R.E.M.F." against another "R.E.M.F."

Anyhow, the story is so-so, with more focus on the rightness of the libertarian ideals of The Commonwealth, and less about the characters themselves. There aren't any big changes aren't any big reveals or character developments. Most of the things I enjoyed about the early books appears to be drifting away.

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Brain-Dead Libertarian Secessionist Claptrap

Revisado: 08-04-16

First, the narration is great; no problems there.

I've listened to many of Nuttall's military scifi books, and I have always enjoyed the tales of fragments of military units grasping for life amid the death throes of a huge galactic empire collapsing under its own weight. This one is not that sort of book, and I wish I'd read some of the other reviews first instead of just trusting in Nuttall's work.

Here, the otherwise good storytelling can't mask a fundamentally flawed story. Maybe the stories set in the more distant future make up for or render irrelevant poor assumptions about military knowledge and functions that this book, set in the present, means that my own knowledge of military training and capabilities keeps coming up. For example, some future combat engineers might be experts in space and naval architecture and working with unintelligible technologies to produce works in months that would take civilian engineers years just to design, but present-day combat engineers are high school educated technicians more skilled in breaking things than building them. But that's only a small piece of what's wrong, and is only bolstered by the ex machina -- I control it with my brain because technology and my shiny headband -- solutions to everything.

The main characters are all right-wing, secessionist sovereign citizens (look it up), who think their perusing of a few online constitutions prepares them to rewrite society in an afternoon. They are full of anger about how things are, while simultaneously demonstrating fundamental misunderstandings about both the facts and the history of their points of contention. Likewise, while complaining about wealth and corruption, they put "those who can pay" at the front of the line for cancer treatments and the like, while making everyone else wait. Oh, and not to forget the constant referrals to only allowing people those who agree with their laws and rules to live in their new nation, and then talking about how they haven't gotten around to getting even the most fundamental laws codified. However, they did build a city on the moon, complete with a carefully screened population, wide-ranging economy, and a school system, in just two months through heaps of jury-rigging and 'Merica-isms from a group of what amounts to Montanan hillbillies in a space ship.

I'm totally willing to ignore the storytelling conveniences, such as the super doctor/vet girlfriend who can't be older than 40, somehow is a master of both disciplines -- I guess she went to college when she was six -- but whose only medical practice is the family farm. Totally good with that (really). Likewise, the I know this world class so-and-so in every single field imaginable and can convince them over coffee to give us their products, conduct illegal trade in a dozen, and fix their product lines to make everything possible immediately. Likewise, totally good with that too (really).

Everything in the book is anti-government, anti-big business, anti-large city, anti-rules, anti-taxes, etc., all while using bribes, spies (nanodrones), lie detectors, arbitrary powers, and bullying willy-nilly. Every time there is just the briefest note of sanity from one of the main characters, it just stops cold. Another reviewer called it something like right-wing militia masturbation, which is about how it works out in the end.

In general, I recommend Nuttall's books, but not this one. Stick with the Empire's Corps series and similar.

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Burke Gets Whipped?

Revisado: 07-25-16

I really wanted to give this book a great review, but the interactions with the girlfriend are far too contrived and one-dimensional to be real. Overall, the impression one gets from the interactions between the two is of a couple of teenagers attempting to get along, where the girl is very domineering, and the boys simply submits to everything she does. This element for the book caused me to have to stop listening to it several times as my brain started screaming "OMFG! How was this guy a ship captain?!" or, "There is no way this guy survived boot camp, let alone PJ training!"

I knocked a few points off the performance rating because the voice characterization shifts a little over the course of the book. There are sometimes when I can't tell who is speaking without them being named. This is it marked departure from the previous book.

Overall, an okay story that might not be missed in the series if you skip it. Moving on to the next book...

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