William Vargus

Not well researched

Revisado: 04-20-20

This author seems to have written the book from a faulty memory, without doing the research. There are a lot of mistakes. Most are minor, but as a journalist, I feel it's important to get all the facts right. Otherwise, what's the point?
A few examples: This book says Ali was secretly known as Muhammad Ali by people in the Nation of Islam before the first Liston fight. It also says he announced the name the day after the fight. In reality, Elijah Muhammad gave him the name a couple of months later. (The fight was February 25th. He was given the name on March 6th, according to the book “Ali” by Jonathan Eig.)
The book says Ali was stripped of his title by the WBA and state boxing Commissions after a court conviction. It was actually the same day he refused induction in the Army that he was stripped. That's an important distinction, because he was stripped of his title without a hearing or conviction.
Ch. 6 says “Frazier had a difficult climb to the top of the boxing world. Because he did not have an Olympic Gold Medal, he had to fight countless low paying matches against little-known opponents." In reality, Frazier DID have a Gold Medal. He won the Gold at the Olympic games in 1964.
Right after that, Rummell says “By 1969, Frazier and Ellis had secured the heavyweight titles of the two major boxing organizations. Frazier was recognized as WBA champ, Ellis claimed the WBC title.” Wrong on both counts. Ellis was the WBA champ. The WBC existed, but had no real influence back then. Frazier was recognized by New York State and some other state Commissions.
And so on.

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Short and ....short

Revisado: 12-27-19

The book consists of a few quotes from successful entrepreneurs without giving much real detail about how they became successful. Instead, we get some pretty basic advice. And then...it’s over.

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Great Book

Revisado: 09-12-19

Mark Kram, Jr has written an excellent, and very honest book, about Joe Frazier. That Kram Jr holds Smokin Joe in very high regard is obvious, but he also talks about Frazier’s long-running affair with Denise Menz, which the rest of the media covered up for half a decade. Also, as a black man, I’ve always been offended by the many (white) authors who’ve always said that Muhammad Ali called Frazier an Uncle Tom for no reason, and that black America wrongly turned it’s back on Frazier just because of what Ali said. Kram, Jr, is the first author to talk about some of the things that Frazier himself did to turn off the black community, including his support of Frank Rizzo, the controversial Mayor of Philadelphia. (Kram Jr does not really go into it, but Frazier’s support of Richard Nixon was another thing that angered black people.) Also, Kram Jr talks about how the Philadelphia Daily News wrote an article praising Frazier for being a “one-woman man”, even though he had children by several different woman while he was married to Florence, and even while he had the continuing affair with Menz. So not only do we see an honest portrayal of Joe, but we get to see how dishonest the rest of the media has been, because of their desire to hate on Ali while glorifying Frazier, who was, as Kram Jr points out, “conciliatory” toward white America.
Not that Ali was without blame, as the whole business of calling Joe “the gorilla” was completely wrong. When, as a TV reporter, I last interviewed Joe , he still held a lot of bitterness toward Ali, (I believe that was around 2007), but it was great to hear Kram Jr’s inside story on a moment of reconciliation that he reveals at the very end of the book.
As for the audio elements, reader James Fouhey does great narration and voices.
My only problem is the production values, as you can hear where they dropped in corrected reads, which have a different sound to them.
Otherwise, one of the best books I’ve listened to in a long time.

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Not What I Thought

Revisado: 07-16-19

I thought I was buying a book about the Underground Railroad, in order to learn more about how slaves escaped, and those who helped them do it. But, despite the book’s subtitle, there is almost no information about the Underground Railroad. It focuses on what the escapees did once they were free, and especially on settlements they created in Canada.

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Excellent and Revelaing

Revisado: 06-12-19

A phenomenal book by Randy Roberts, who also wrote a great book about Jack Johnson. Even though I've read maybe a dozen books about Ali, I still learned a lot. The book also reveals some interesting elements of the Nation of Islam and the relationship between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. And it reveals the role the FBI played in the eventual dispute between them.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Sweet Book

Revisado: 06-12-19

Such beautiful sweet memories of growing up with the Greatest as your Dad. She deals with the hard times, too, most notably the breakup between her father and mother, Veronica Ali. In other books, they try to say Ali was not a good father, but Hana dispels that. Some of those books quote Laila Ali, but as Hana explains, Laila was shy, and did not like all the hugs and affection of her father the way Hana did. Also, Hana was closer to her Dad and Laila was closer to her Mom. The voice artist, Kim Taunton, does a very good job, especially with having to frequently do a male voice when Hana quotes her Dad. I do wish she read a little faster, so I turned it up to 1.25%.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Great Pitcher !

Revisado: 11-05-15

Where does Pitch Anything rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Number One.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Pitch Anything?

He tells a story about being in an airplane that rivets you, and illustrates exactly what he is talking about in terms of how to draw in your audience.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Once you understand the workings of the human mind, you can truly pitch anything.

Any additional comments?

Fascinating insight into how the human mind works. That makes it applicable to so many situations. I've never been much for any kind of sales, but as a Producer, I wanted to learn how to pitch TV show concepts. After listening to this book, I feel I could apply the information to almost all areas of life. Oren Klaff's concepts are new and very different from anything else that's out there, but he has the track record to prove they work, as he intersperses many fascinating stories and examples throughout the book. They are very complex concepts, though, so I'll need to listen to the book several times before I'll feel I've mastered them.

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Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Revisado: 11-05-15

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes.

Would you be willing to try another one of Ed Hawthorne’s performances?

No.

Any additional comments?

The Authors are Smarter Than A 5th Grader, but unfortunately, the narrator reads like one. He seems to read word-by-word with no comprehension of the meaning. In the English language, meaning is conveyed a great deal by emphasis on words, but this narrator frequently emphasizes the wrong words, making it hard to ascertain the point. Instead of reading with comprehension, he habitually emphasizes pronouns (even though they're usually the least important words), and when you get the word "you", "your", or "their" several times in one sentence it really gets ridiculous. And when you are listening while driving you simply can't keep re-winding to figure out the true meaning of the sentence. And if you keep going, you miss new information while you are trying to figure out what he actually meant.
When I went back and listened again to several of the chapters, they made more sense to me the second time around, and I realized there's some valuable information in this book.
Might be better to purchase it in book form.

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