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Fantastic Read, Important Book

Revisado: 05-04-23

Authentic. Great read. The honest insights on what occurred in the administration were great…really exposed how the left injected so much dishonesty and spin. Spilling the beans on how the deep state has taken over many key government agencies is important. That really needs exposed and rooted out. I only have two complaints. I wish he would have went through the book chronologically, but I get that the points he was driving home would have been missed. So just a minor difference of opinion on the format. My other is that I wish he would have narrated the book himself…his son does a fine job, especially in imitating Trump, but there’s just something better about most books when the author reads it himself.

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Refreshing

Revisado: 03-21-23

It was good to listen to a book from someone who is more concerned about doing what is right vice all the scheming and power politics in both the military and our government. He makes a lot of great points…would love to see him back in the Secdef. Wish we had more like him.

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Snyder needs to stick to history

Revisado: 02-22-23

Snyder is great when analyzing historical events. However, he is not when doing so with current events. He is an anti-Trumper/conservative, and that bias ruins his analysis. His lack of attacking many of the left-wing ills in current events just further depicts his bias. He should have just stuck with history. He is out of his element in current events…especially domestic…but that is because he is a captive of his own environment—leftist Yale and the northeast.

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How Audio Books Should Be Done

Revisado: 10-30-21

Gladwell has set the standard for how they should be done. As usual, he is a master story teller. Combine that with music, recordings, and online references, and you have a masterpiece. Just a terrific book! I am now having a problem listening to other audiobooks because they all fail in comparison.

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Fantastic Book

Revisado: 09-09-21

I highly recommend this book. I don’t know how he got all this info, but this is usually the stuff that is classified and we never hear about. Very enlightening.

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Title is Misleading

Revisado: 07-17-20

When I ordered this book, I thought I would actually be reading about someone who had extensive targeting experience, and would provide a professional viewpoint. However, she had really less than 3 years targeting at best. I worked with a lot of people with far more targeting experience, and a lot of people with a lot more analytical experience. I was further dismayed that she did not even hang around long enough to have a hand in Zarqawi’s death. I learned almost nothing about targeting in this book.

Another issue she has is the arrogance of too many in the CIA (not all, but enough). That overblown opinion of themselves just because that is where they work, and poor ability to share and work with the military (team-player) are reasons why her experience working with the military was not the greatest. The fact she even wrote this book tells you that she is a bit self-absorbed. There’s a lot of silent professionals with real experience who quietly do their job, are committed, and don’t do these tell-alls, that in this case don’t tell much.

She comes across as immature and emotional. Reminds me of Specialists in the Army--smart enough to be snarky, be not in a position of adult responsibility. Would have been more impressive if she stuck around to be part of the solution to the problems she identified than being a quitter. A more humble attitude would also have given more credibility. She gets frustrated and quits repeatedly. And quitting after a relatively short period, in contrast to many I know who slogged through it for more than a decade. And the whole PTSD...give me a break. Acute stress syndrome, yes, but PTSD? That’s a slap in the face to those who actually suffered real threats. I would have been embarrassed to mention it for the little action the author experienced. There’s lots of people in the civilian world that have incredibly stressful jobs too.

Her politics are a perfect example of when intelligence agencies are accused of being politicized. I get that everyone is annoyed by how we ended up in OIF--a lot of badness there (Fiasco describes it well). However, I would have been interested in knowing how she tried to fix problems, vice throwing hands in the air. The fact she has the “challenging the White House” in the title tells you she is politicized and all you need to know about the politicization. And frankly that reference to the White House is also deceptive...she had minimal interaction. Yeah, she did some PDBs, contributed some intel, and other stuff, but frankly there’s a whole lot of people better positioned to be able to reference the White House than her...and none of them had it in her title. She’s also pretty focused on the being a female in agency, and highlighting that.

The positive. It can be entertaining to read, and there are a few nuggets of good information. But, if you want to learn something about targeting and analysis, it’s pretty skimpy.

“How to Break a Terrorist” is a much better book if you want to really learn how Zarqawi was gotten...and interrogations, and targeting (though I disagree with a couple things he believes, it’s definitely a good book).

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This affects everyone’s life—Everyone should read

Revisado: 04-19-20

I pay attention to China, but this really opened my eyes to some of the things China is doing. What they are doing is more insidious than I thought. Amazing how many elites are willfully ignorant. Those in the financial and economic sectors need to read this book. For instance, I had no idea how hard it is to get money out of China, and that many companies money is stuck there and they cannot get it out. I checked it out, it’s true...yet it’s almost a secret. Great performance for the audible portion too.

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Enjoyable, interesting, and inspiring

Revisado: 03-26-20

Great book from an underdog who achieved his dream. If you are interested in football, it’s a must read. While I normally like memoirs better that are narrated by the author, the reader here did a great job.

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Definitely Worth Reading

Revisado: 03-21-20

This is a great story! One of the few I have heard about concerning the effects of Mao’s rule on the people. The only two drawbacks are that the booked seemed to end rather abruptly, and I would like to have known more about life in China (on his family) while he has in the US. These are quite minor critiques. It wasn’t a book I could not put down, but I did always looked forward to the next amazing adventure. He has had a phenomenal life! The narration was excellent.

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Lots of Good Information

Revisado: 02-10-20

This is a good book to learn about Xi’s vision of China. Probably a must read if you want to understand China. It wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put down or even yearn to get back to reading...perhaps that is due to the narration, which she just did not capture my interest—at times sounding like an academic vice a good story-teller. Well-researched, lots of data, with sage advice and insights.

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