Church of John Elway

Hackneyed political diatribe

Revisado: 02-28-25

Until the ending, it was perfectly cromulent. 3.5 stars or so. A fine pot boiler if far from literary. Characters painted in the broadest of brush strokes. An inexorable march toward the exact (totally impossible) predictable ending you expect. The pretty women falling for the unattractive guys. Great. Fine. I didn't come here for ambiguity and subtlety. Again: perfectly fine until the ending.

Then it becomes a political diatribe that'd make Ayn Rand blush. I don't have to agree with an author's worldview to enjoy a novel. But whether I agree or not, I'd rather not have the author’s entire political grudge list shoved down my throat with a ramrod.

This is rendered even more objectionable by the silliness of the particular points of contention. I won’t spoil it for you masochists who want to listen despite my warning, but suffice to say that this is not the industrial policy on which evil billionaires are building their fortunes, nor the metaphorical hill on which environmental activists are choosing their last stand. (Something like a data center to fuel AI would have been much closer to reality. Then the caricature of a bad guy could emulate someone we're already peeved at: one of the tech sector's uber billionaires.)

When it comes to good triumphing over evil against all odds, magical fortune tellers, and mythical creatures? Great! I’m here for it. But when it comes to the broader world outside those elements, I’d just like much more realism in my magical realism.

And even if the political setting were painted much more realistically: put down the ramrod!

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

An extraordinary novel!

Revisado: 10-01-22

Great story. Heartbreaking. Heartwarming. The author is even a great narrator for the story. He doesn't "sound like an audio book narrator" (over polished and so on) but instead like a normal person, which really adds to the experience. It feels like Sam himself is telling you what happened. Strongly recommend this one!

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Great recap of a bunch of major threads in philosophy

Revisado: 09-04-22

I was a philosophy major many years ago. I'm rusty and behind on the field, but this is a great summary of a lot of the major questions and some of the more influential answers.

I appreciate the synthesis of classical answers (Descartes, Hume, Kant, etc.) with more modern thinkers. He also does better than my faculty did of bringing in diverse voices, long since past (often unknown until more recently) and present day. Would have liked to see more famous black feminist theorists whose non-admission to the "philosopher" club is IMO a real problem (Patricia Hill Collins and bell hooks, for instance), especially given the reasonably sound discussion of race where they have especially good, unique insights. (And given that other disciplines are represented here.) But he does better than most cis white guy philosophers with not just citing other cis white guys.

I also appreciate the author's humility and focus on methods and disputes instead of just giving us his answers. We could all use more of that approach, for sure.

The convos with his boys are obviously edited for brevity and clarity, and if you can't stand children the hook may be annoying. But I thought it was sincere and charming, and that it added to the book.

Add in solid narration and this is a 5 star listen all around!

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Great American novel. Truly!

Revisado: 10-30-21

Kyle Kinane says it all in the preface. It's obscene that this is a first novel. So well crafted. Such excellent use of language. You feel the main character's pain and then some.

The narration is a bit uneven as they go from comic to comic, but overall it's fine. I enjoyed Jackie Kashian (a fave comic of mine) the most, but most do it some justice. And there's one especially notable Easter egg unbilled appearance.

Get ready for a close up view of the life if a stand up comedian. You'd have to date one or go into the biz to get any closer.

A small bonus: the few moments of accidental humor which result from Tallent using words that a comedian narrator clearly doesn't know.

Anyway: Best novel I've consumed in years.

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Okay insights. Glib. Downright offensive in spots.

Revisado: 09-21-21

Even for someone with these credentials, the author is monumentally full of himself. He does own some mistakes in his professional story, but nearly every conclusion herein is advanced with a certainty befitting words handed down from on high. Even for the genre, it's glib certainty on tap. He scoffs at subtlety and countervailing perspectives.

One particularly galling example is his dismissal of Apple's opposition to creating a security backdoor for the iPhone and handing it to the FBI. There are terrifying civil liberties implications here, well argued by many people, and he doesn't even engage with that literature at all. He dismisses those who sided with Apple as fanboys--hardly a reasonable rebuttal to serious civil liberties critiques. A professor owes readers better, even in a popular press book.

He's also blithely offensive. He uses the word "molest" as a metaphor for business triumph. Twice! He uses sexist metaphors throughout. And he explicitly refuses to honor Caitlyn Jenner's name and gender identity. These pointless, deliberate slaps to the face of some would-be readers are inexcusable for any published author, let alone one who teaches at NYU.

Grow up, man. This is garbage juvenility that contemporary readers wouldn't accept from a comedy writer.

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Important background and lessons for business ethics

Revisado: 08-10-21

The utter lack of ethical decision-making at Facebook has been horrifying. But it's illustrative of the issues that tech and media companies face, and I hope current and future leaders of those businesses can learn from Facebook's mistakes.

The book itself is meticulously crafted. Even as a longtime critic of the service who has followed this story closely, I learned a great deal. Very well done! This book deserves the attention, praise, and booming sales. Congratulations to the authors.

Performance is good. The male author's attempt at a feminine voice are nails-on-a-chalkboard bad, but the performance is otherwise great as well.

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Must-listen insights and a heart-warming story

Revisado: 02-03-19

I've been talking about this book nonstop for the whole week. Strongly, strongly recommended. Vance is a solid performer as well. His soft accent helps bring it to life, and you feel like you get to know him even better.

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Great book, fine performance, background hum

Revisado: 01-16-19

Love Gaiman, another great book, and he does good work on the performance. But his (home?) recording setup has a decided background hum throughout. Not fatal. Even on a THX-certified car stereo, it's fine. But it IS audible, and Audible is usually better than that.

PSA: American Gods is perhaps the best audio book in the whole Audible catalog. Full cast performance, and they CRUSH it. Highly, highly recommended.

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