Rich in BCS

Important but take with a grain of salt

Revisado: 05-11-24

If you learn one word in this book it's iatrogenesis: "harm brought forth by a healer or any unintended adverse patient outcome because of a health care intervention, not considered the natural course of the illness or injury"

As a parent of two young adults, one of which has spent a lot of time in therapy, I wish I was familiar with the concept 20 years ago. While I think all of us is a bit nervous about putting our kids on drugs -- even though it's remarkably common today -- I never thought that the therapy itself might be having adverse consequences. Shrier makes a compelling case that it can and it does. She argues that it is damaging to pay a therapist to spend time with your child, indulging their grievances and teaching a lesson that only paid professionals will really listen to what's going on.

On the other hand, Shrier also goes a bit off the deep end from her right-wing perspective. I can't remember the exact words, but she said that the success of the Black Lives Matter movement was an outgrowth of our poor raising of our children -- I kind of think that well-documented systematic racism and cops killing Black kids might have more to do about it.

I would recommend this to any parent with young children to "read" critically. There are important lessons, but don't buy all the dogma.

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Tries to be more than it can be.

Revisado: 11-05-19

This book had moments that were really fun and interesting. I enjoyed some of the early chapters tremendously. But there was a chapter on "myths" in which the author beat a dead horse for what seemed to be an eternity that almost made me give up. Calling laws, capitalism and religion all myths is pointless. They're human created norms -- a term that he does use later in the book -- but myths, certainly not. I also found much of the last few chapters in which he attempts to tell big stories about the future of humankind mildly interesting, but they lacked the strong arguments that he had in the historical chapters. I would not recommend it to most listeners.

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Hits all the right notes

Revisado: 01-31-19

There are so many good things you can say about this title; I want to highlight the narration. Clive Mantle is truly outstanding. He to have a different voice for each key character, which brings the book to life and makes the story fly by. With the exception of one miserable American accent, the narration is flawless. This is one of those cases where I'm sure the audiobook is better than the book itself, and Clive Mantle gets credit for that.

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Unproductive

Revisado: 02-29-16

What would have made This Changes Everything better?

Klein has an agenda, and it is not about saving the planet. She is anti-trade and anti-big business. She fights for every left wing cause in the book, even when one battle contradicts another. The battle against climate change is simply a vehicle for pushing for a slew of other goals. The result is a book that I think damages much more than it helps in the most important battle of our time -- to figure out how to stop run-away climate change.

What could Naomi Klein have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The book would have been more convincing if it had been more unbiased and more focused on a single issue. Merchants of Doubt is so much more effective even though it ends up being even more of a brutal attack on the climate deniers.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Frustration. Watch the adjectives. She has a remarkable knack for choosing dirty and despicable adjectives for everyone and every thing on the right and laudatory for everyone who she opposes.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Why does Audible make you answer these questions?

Revisado: 04-03-13

Any additional comments?

The best reviews that I read do not answer silly questions like, "If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?" Why does Audible do that?

OK, enough griping.

Leaving Atlanta is a wonderful collection of stories set in a tragic situation. The main characters are all fifth graders and the author deftly draws out the character of each one. They are as rich as a fifth grader can be and marvelously real -- worrying about the superficial things that are so important to a 10 year old, while also worrying that tomorrow that may be killed by a faceless murderer. The author's attention to details make the story all the more real.

I strongly recommend this great piece of fiction surrounded by historical truths.

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Great story. Tragic reality

Revisado: 02-26-10

David Dow's memoir is not just about the death penalty; it is about a father, a husband, and a lawyer. If this were fiction, it would be a great story. But it's fact, making it all the more compelling. Of course, the book also teaches us an awfully lot about criminal justice in Texas, and what you learn is not pretty.

The narration by the author is excellent.

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Not for those with a casual interest

Revisado: 04-14-06

I learned much from this book and, as other reviewers have pointed out, it is very well written and read. However, I must confess that it was a chore for me to get through. The lists of words often went on and on and would definitely work better in written form than in audio. While driving I often had to switch to the radio to keep from falling asleep.


If you have a serious interest in language and etymology, this is a must read. For the rest of us, it's a bit like homework that you know you should do, but don't always look forward to with glee.

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Good review, but avoid being indoctrinated

Revisado: 07-24-04

Skousen's book does a nice job of summarizing the development of modern economics since Adam Smith. But the weakness of the book is his religious fervor for the free market. He makes his bias clear at the start: Adam Smith is at the top of the pyramid, Marx at the bottom. Government intervention in BAD, free enterprise is GOOD. There is almost no attention to distributional issues or market failure, with a consistent belief that the free market will raise all boats. Hopefully, listeners will not be convinced by his repeated attacks on Nobel Laureates and other esteemed economists. He derides economists who, with scholarly hesitation, confess uncertainty about important macroeconomic questions. He tries to convince us that the "truth" of economics was discovered by Adam Smith, and that any economist who deviated from that free-market path is not only wrong, but has damaged society immeasurably. Don't be convinced. You can learn from Skousen, but avoid indoctrination!

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esto le resultó útil a 26 personas