fm2

only got 1 hour or so through

Revisado: 01-14-19

Intro and part of Ch. 1 i listened to were horribly repetitive....went around in circles a bit--these are not such difficult cocnepts that they require this. the editor failed in his job.
gave up
maybe back end is better

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good story, but amateurishly written

Revisado: 03-07-18

Contains bombastic language, exaggeration, many, many very trite expressions ( and a bit of condescension in the early pages/minutes). It's not boring, but it is annoying and it seems like it was written by a teenager even if a well-informed and well-read one. As a result, hard to "trust" it and after 2 hours i gave up. i think i'll go see the movie instead.
performance was okay

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2 stars if youve read goldsworthy; 2.5 or 3 if not

Revisado: 10-21-16

Hes an excellent writer and historian, well balanced and realistic.
this book however, has too much recycled material from his other books and some of the lengthy chapters are badly organized...especially 8 and 9..those chapters wore me out

the chapter on cicero's governorship are interesting


the intro and the conclusion are his same warning hes used in other books not to use rome as a lens for today etc etc etc

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still good but

Revisado: 08-27-16

as the series wears on the author overplays his hand on the personal story lines (as opposed to the crime). he takes too many opportunities to stretch them out book after book.

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series review: very good noir; a bit unusual

Revisado: 08-27-16

The 7 books in the series are good- some are very good. i have my quibbles and complaints about a couple of 'em (i.e. the author intentionally misleads) but mystery novels often have those issues.

the books also bring a nice flavor of naples.

grover gardner is great as always--yes, his italian is a bit off...but an excellent narrator.

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too much minutiae

Revisado: 02-11-16

way too much unimportant minutiae....well written and read, ltos of background, but she goes too far
could be cut by a quarter without loss.

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wrong title for javcobi

Revisado: 03-23-15

Jacobi is a great narrator for many things but does lousy americna accents and this book had a lot of americans in it-at least in part two. so part two was much more unpleasant to lsiten to than part one
.

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Written for the college freshman

Revisado: 02-09-15

The author, although clearly knowledgeable and has studied the sources from several angles, writes as if he is teaching a lecture hall of 250 freshman, and is trying his best to get good student "reviews" or "ratings" at the end of the semester. Annoying for an adult.

The narrator is very competent but i don't like him. Not everyone will have the same problem of course. I listened to one other book which he narrated, and it is the same. He is best described as SMARMY sounding. I'm sure that he wont irritate many people, especially those who themselves are smarmy. But i find him irritating to listen to...not droll, but........

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Excellent

Revisado: 12-13-14

Well told and interesting. The author is from a school of history prior to that which started to gain prominence 20 years ago or so.

the sound effects are cheesy but they dont really spoil the book.

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a few tedious spots, but fantastic scope

Revisado: 11-26-14

Lot covers many elements of the decline of the ancient world (science, various art forms, political..etc). The book gives a rare combination of depth of understanding with broad survey. Some would complain that hes not P.C. or 'deliberative enough"-- e.g. he will flat out say that "by the 5th century plastic art had declined and was utterly worthless" A mark of a great historian is one who is capable of and not afraid to give you rapid judgements and explanations on small items. its a bit out of vogue today.

The production--chuckle! well..others have complained about the gongs, the gregorian chants at the end, the weird reverb chamber when the narrator reads quotes. Yes its a bit strange or as some have called it "cheesy". I like griffin well enough though, even if he over emphasizes -sort of like John Houseman in the old smith barney commercials. The weird production is a minor element that has little real impact

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