John H. Crater

A lively story of an extremely lively man

Revisado: 04-11-23

I really enjoyed this story of this crucial person, who managed to break the religious monopoly that had stood for 1500 years. If he had not done it everything would’ve turned out differently. He was a very lively and human person and he left a great deal of his words behind so we can get to know him through a good book like this.

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Why does Audible have to charge a full credit for a 30 minute book?

Revisado: 01-27-23

Are there people out there who really give a full credit for half an hour of listening? How long will it be before audible learns to handle it intelligently? Why do they even put these tiny little booklets out there if they are going to charge full credit for them? Come on Audible, grow up.

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Great story, great reader.

Revisado: 01-21-23

I have read this book about once per decade since the 70s. One of the ones that got me started climbing mountains. Part of a wave of very good mountaineering books that did not continue for very long afterwards.

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So repetitive and boring! The banality of evil.

Revisado: 01-16-23

Amazingly, the author believes people care what Von Rundstedt and Rommel had for breakfast and who they chatted with, day by day by day, month after month, while they did nothing of any importance to prepare for the crushing defeat they so desperately deserved.

This book takes 23 hours to deliver about four hours worth of substance. Even the four hours could be boiled down to the fact that Germany was in a hopeless situation, micromanaged by an idiot, that there were no resources available to defend the west because Russia was crashing in from the east. Every French five-year-old knew the Nazis were doomed, but Rommel did not. Anyone who thinks that the Germans were having fascinating discussions and making clever decisions will find out otherwise here.

At first I thought the narrator’s voice would drive me insane, but I eventually kind of got used to that: no, it was the mind-numbing banality of these people that drove me over the edge.
We learn a great deal about Rommel‘s home life and find out he was fond of his son. Whether he ever considered how many other people’s sons he and his army had killed or maimed during the course of his career serving a blatantly criminal regime, we are not told.

I soon found myself fast forwarding through chapter after chapter, always landing on another description of a long drive to inspect a fortification or a meal in a French restaurant, all these pompous bemedaled officers surrounded by cheerful waiters and innkeepers… the only part of it worth listening to is the brief final bit about D-Day, when these jerks found out they had been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic for the last six months.

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Really enjoyed it. Strange two minute breaks between chapters.

Revisado: 11-13-22

It’s a great story, an amazing moment in our history, lots of great characters. For some reason the narrator’s volume is lower than other books, but I enjoyed the calm understated style. A curiosity is that there are periods of dead silence about two minutes long after the end of each chapter.

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So much!

Revisado: 08-08-22

So much of the big picture of our reality, our species here on our one little planet at this amazing moment in our story. It’s pretty much all here.

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First rate biography of a remarkable man

Revisado: 07-26-22

This is biography about as good as it gets, moves right along along with this amazing story, really a series of many stories of Lafayette in America and France.

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Very smart guy, brilliant political and social critic

Revisado: 07-11-22

I’m not sure that here in the states we have anyone quite this sharp! Mostly I read his political columns and there is nothing like them. This book is an excellent memoir, with a lot of great lines and some good insights. I hope he lives to be a hundred.

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Great naval history, from the American side of the pond.

Revisado: 05-12-22

These were the great days of fighting sail, and the foundation of the American navy. It’s a very good story and well told here.

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The most amazing political story of the 20th century

Revisado: 04-17-22

Very good history of these amazing events. Snappy writing and a good reader. Really enjoyed it.

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