J. Knowles

The narration is horrible!

Revisado: 11-06-05

I can't understand what the narrator is saying. He sounds like a drunken speedreader. He reads in an awful sing song slur, not pausing at the end of a sentence but when he run out of breath. His pace and pitch doesn't change at the proper places and there is no attempt that I can hear to differentiate characters with his voice. I'll have to buy the print version to possibly enjoy this.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

An amazing idea and a fun read.

Revisado: 11-04-05

This book is very nicely narrated and easy to understand. Bortz conveys the Fair Tax Plan with humor and clear examples. It doesn't get too dry or boring and I'd highly recommend it to any business owner or anyone sick of dealing with the IRS. Money Magazine supports the idea if you read their entire article, and the supposed flaw does not exist! Businesses do not get to save and keep the payroll tax of their employees under the Fair Tax Plan. They just no longer remit them to the government. Employees keep getting the same salaries and they get the payroll taxes that used to be remitted to Washington. One of the key arguments in the book and an economic truism is that businesses do not pay taxes, they pass them on to the consumer! Businesses will be able to cut the cost of their goods because they will not have to pay for income tax, social security tax, tax on the raw materials to produce goods, tax attorneys and planners, lobbyists, or as many accountants. Finished goods will become less expensive to produce because less tax burden will have to be passed on to the consumer. Businesses will not have to cut salaries and the tax burden is not shifted to the poor. The book and Money Magazine clearly state that the tax burden would be shifted to the rich! The rich will no longer have loopholes and shelters available to avoid paying their share. The same goes for criminals and other tax cheaters.

That said, it is not a perfect plan. My main concern is that services would be taxed, so service companies may suffer a hit as they have to submit significantly larger bills to other businesses and the public. On the other hand, it also does a lot to solve the outsourcing problem that everyone is concerned about. Read the book, do your homework and decide for yourself. If you think it would be great to have no IRS, to really know how much you are paying in taxes, and to limit the politician's ability to impose new hidden taxes on you, then check it out.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Another great one.

Revisado: 10-10-05

Another great book by Michael Connelly. I liked the insight into the legal system. The detail was well balanced and enhanced the story without bogging the plot down. The protagonist was a very flawed individual, but Connelly did a wonderful job keeping me engaged with him and his supporting cast. I felt like the characters could have been real people. The narration was good and made for a very easy listen. I finished it in two days - could not put it down.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

A bit of a plodder...

Revisado: 09-03-05

Not a bad book, but not one I would recommend when there are so many other good ones available. I completely agree with the other reviewers that say it tries to do too much. It never succeeds in being a historical fiction, a coming of age story, or a thriller. It makes an attempt at each and becomes muddled. The sudden changes in style were frustrating, like watching two television shows, switching from one to the other on commercial breaks.

The ending is wholly unsatsfying. I got the feeling the authors got tired of writing and fashioned a movie style ending that seems substandard. The majority of the book was so intelligent, I have to give it a 3 out of 5. It is a shame, because there were the makings of at least two very good books in this one.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

A bad idea or poorly executed

Revisado: 07-03-05

I'm an Ed Greenwood fan so I was very disappointed with this one. It is basically a collection of 13-14 short stories with another serving as a "wrapper". An old thief and an apprentice sneak into the Silvertree House to loot it. The old thief sees something that reminds him of a tale and *poof* short story one begins. This continues through the whole book. Mr. Greenwood tells us about the lands and peoples around Silvertree House over hundreds of years through the stories. I can't say that it is boring. The book is crammed with sword slinging action, powerful spells, and gore galore. I think the problem is that there were so many of the short stories and so few characters that persisted through any substantial portion of the book. I never connected with the two thieves in the wrapper story, and most of the shorts are tales of groups of adventures who enter the House and get slaughtered to a man, so the whole thing seemed pointless. I think the book may be more palatable if you know going in that it is not a novel, but I still cannot recommend it.

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This is no Dragonlance maybe Miswrit Boringer?

Revisado: 06-12-04

I stopped listening to this book. I couldn't wade through the tedium any longer. I'm a huge Dragonlance fan and I have enjoyed some of the other novels Hickman has contributed to, but this was far too slow. I really liked the start, but when nothing significant had happened half way through, I simply got tired of it. There were no villains and little action through the first quarter of the book. When the villains were finally introduced, they were weak or stereotypical. Ho, ho, marry me fairy princess or I will destroy your land - pahleeze. Another annoyance was that the main character appeared to be stupid, bad horror movie stupid. A number of the things the character did just did not make sense. There was also a funky comedic vibe in parts that did not blend into the story well. There were two "serious" worlds and a goofy demon world like right out of Robert Asprin's Myth series. The switch between them really felt like two different people are writing them, and perhaps that was the case. I gave up when all of a sudden a talking joke-popping sword was introduced into one of the serious worlds. I was severely disappointed. If you are looking for a new epic fantasy story this is not it. If you are looking for an inflated childrens novel that was obviously written by two people, then this should be perfect for you.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas