Stephen Ford

Lots of Quotes

Revisado: 07-14-21

The content of the book is great, however, the audio version narration has some issues. Besides the typical issue with military abbreviations (pronouncing or over-pronouncing each letter of the abbreviation rather than the common usage term, or pronouncing roman numerals as letters rather than numbers), the most annoying issue is pronouncing each quote in the book, e.g. "then 1st Lt. Jones said, quote you aren't going to pronounce the quotation marks are you? end quote" Considering how many quotations this book contains it gets a little grating after a while. I almost feel like the run time of the book could have been cut down 10% if the narrator didn't pronounce each quotation mark. The narration was great, but the constant quote, end quote did get old pretty quick.
Overall I found the book to be a great history of the division and really enjoyed it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

False Advertising

Revisado: 08-31-15

What disappointed you about The Hunter Killers?

I was looking forward to a history of the wild weasels, and instead I got a "fighter pilots" history of the Vietnam War with only brief stories from the weasels interspersed. Johnson, and McNamara bad, general's bad, some fighter pilots good.

Vietnam was a complicated war, and the treatment it was given in this books was cursory at best. Even more disappointing was the very brief story of the weasels. These were brave men who were struggling the technologies cutting edge. I wanted to see their story fleshed out more. For example, he retells the story of the first SAM kill by a weasel, and then as an after thought it was mentioned that only a few pilots from the first group of weasels in Vietnam successfully completed their tour. The story gives the impression that they've got the problem solved, and then afterwards you find out that there was a very low survival rate.

In summary, I wanted a history of the Wild Weasels, and not a history of the Vietnam War with some Weasel stories.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 20 personas

Good Book, Bad Narrator

Revisado: 07-22-11

I've enjoyed the book quite a bit, but the narrator repeatedly takes me out of it by his odd pronunciations. Saudi Arabia is Sow-Oodie Arabia, Tarawa is Tar-wa-wa. That maybe how the natives pronounce those words, but it is jarring and takes me out of the book every time I hear them. There are also odd pauses throughout.
The problem for me is when he repeats the words several times,I start thinking about how odd a pronunciation it is, and then realize I just missed 30 seconds of the book and have to rewind. Just to reiterate the content of the book is great, but the narrator is constantly is annoying.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña