G. Elliot

Increíble cuenta.

Revisado: 04-01-25

El narrador fue perfecto, y la cuenta buena comida por el mente. ¡Excelente descripción de la vida medieval!

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fossils

Revisado: 12-22-24

Fascinating story, the science and the politics. Much more to be learned about human origins, no doubt.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A sad story

Revisado: 05-13-24

Since I live in West Texas, this story was particularly relevant. A vital part of our history.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Bio of Oppemheimer

Revisado: 04-13-24

Good read, they had to patch the reading a few places, but no problem. The story is engrossing, and makes one want to read Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, since Oppenheimer gave it so much weight. Highly recommended.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

The Double

Revisado: 12-31-23

This story was a fine beginning for Dostoevsky, although the critics didn’t like it. Subsequently he ended up getting mixed up with a revolutionary group and being sent to Siberia, where he got a real education! This story was written before all that, but already shows his preoccupation with the psychological.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Interesting history of a severe epidemic

Revisado: 04-17-23

Well done review of 1918 flu epidemic. It also got into the history and development of modern medicine, including more into the scientists and researchers trying to figure out the cause of this sickness. They didn’t figure out it was a virus until many years afterwards, although they had defined viruses in general by the time this happened.

The death toll in the US is estimated at a bit over half a million, for a population at the time of 110 million. This comes out to around 0.5%.

The book was written several years before COVID19, but after the first SARS outbreak (COVID19 is the second SARS outbreak). The book pointed out several countries, including China, initially lied about their various outbreaks, which was a shame. In the US, after this book was published, we had about a 0.34% fatality rate with COVID19, significantly less than the 1918 flu, it’s worth bearing in mind.

Anyway, much enjoyed this book and recommend to anyone interested in this subject.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Detailed, like Tolstoy

Revisado: 02-27-23

The story is full of believable detail, and believable inner monologues. Reminds me of Leo Tolstoy’s mode of writing. Characters well drawn out. Likely the best thing Mailer wrote.

The person reading (who also happens to be named Mailer) did an excellent job with the various American dialects. Usually I prefer that not be included, since it’s distracting if not done perfectly.

In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed this version.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great story

Revisado: 02-02-23

Precursor to a lot of subsequent sci-fi, like Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. But no one did it better.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Energy & Civilization

Revisado: 01-07-23

Great book, full of all sorts of useful information. The narrator did a great job, too.

Smil dispels the idea that our energy-intensive high standard of living is fore ordained, including the current excessive promise of renewable electricity sources. He also reminds us that many still don’t share in the high standard of living. Even if you don’t believe in equality (or nowadays, equity, I guess) for all, this disparity is a potent source of political stability.

In the end, he suggests perhaps a less energy and material consuming society might save us, but leaves open the question of who would enforce it.

I liked the book so much I bought an e-book version, but the graphs and data tables were unreadable, so finally settled on a hard copy book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Account of WWII from a Japanese destroyer captain

Revisado: 11-30-22

Good to hear an account from WWII that is not American. Puts more perspective on it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña