Ashley

Emotional cliffhanger

Revisado: 12-13-22

Kepler excels in this story and manages to depart from the infinitely evil, infinitely stealthy and invisible villain and presents a balanced thriller which has something for everyone, action, suspense, camaraderie, romance, and manages to weave the mundane experience of life into a plot with lots of threads.
He maintains the momentum of all of the sub-plots, building around real characters with their varied realities and relationships at with the right level of depth, but doesn't drop any of the threads and brings them all together skilfully at the end. I try to imagine how someone can keep all those ideas coordinated and admire the skill of an ultimate juggler who knows where all the pieces are in the air at any one time.
It's an emotional thriller in which everyones motivations and objectives are understandable in different ways. In particular he ventures into exploring a complex father/son relationship in such a delicate manner I wonder if he is drawing upon a personal experience.
It was one of those books I listened to slowly, wanting to make it last because I recognize that books like this are one the rare treats that keeps me coming back to Audible. Not all five-start ratings are the same - this one deserves every star in full.
Saul is an amazing narrator, his South African accent being a decent proxy for a Scandinavian one, and gives these books a cosmopolitan edge, particularly since this is a translation from its original language.

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Great storytelling

Revisado: 06-07-20

Interesting plot with lots of depth and plenty of twists. Takes department Q characters to the next level of depth and colour. Well narrated and despite a being a detective thriller provides an emotional substrate with a high dynamic range.

I think that although Jussi has hit his full stride after many years, there is a sense he has even greater things to come..

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Great whodunnit

Revisado: 03-29-17

Plot sophistication what I have come to expect from Nesbo.
The narrator does a great job and a beautiful, mellifluous voice and relaxed cadence. Varied, 3D characters. As usual Nesbo keeps you guessing about the guilt and motivations of his protagonists. Very convincing artifact as instrument of torture - so convincing I can't believe he invented the concept, which is believable in the post-colonial Africa he describes so well.

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Medieval History in all but setting

Revisado: 12-31-14

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and apart from the plot I am astounded at the depth of knowledge required to produce this tome. Sociology, comparative religion, history, ecology, metallurgy, physiology ... Astounding!

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A literary cathedral

Revisado: 11-15-07

A magnificent monument to man, echoing with ideas, shimmering with a reflection of mankind's' greatest traits, offset against the unilluminated silent corners of our baser instincts, but buttressed with our Quixotic desire to achieve the unachievable.

Shedding a little light, not only on the dark ages, but on all ages.

Bravo.

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Perspective of 60 years

Revisado: 07-27-07

The book is comprehensively researched, reviewing and comparing the various "Hitler explainers" over the years. The odd thing is that each explanation tends to highlight the holes in our knowledge, the speculation that we must by necessity adopt in order to try and understand the un-understandable.

Understanding Hitler's antisemitism is part of the problem and whether it was key to his personality, or was it a by-product of what he was really about? This is dealt with from many different explainers and angles.

One problem of Rosenbaum's collated explanations is that they all pretend to fully explain his actions rather than each being a partial answer taken together. What IS clear is that it was a miracle he came to power in the first place AND apparently succeeded in what he set out to do (if we can even speculate on that).

One centrally occuring questions: "how do we avoid granting Hitler posthumous victory?" is difficult to analyze and presents a conundrum until one realizes that unless we use what we know now to build a better world - without thought to whether he wins or not - then he does win!

What is amazing are the gaps in the literature - his "nervous breakdown" in 1919 - post traumatic stress disorder now being better understood than it was prior to recent world events. Tie that to his bitterness over the loss of WWI due to "industrialist" (Jewish?) treachery, and some formative experiences ... I still have lots of questions.

The one thing this book teaches me by reading between the explanations is that it may be impossible for a normal person to understand - Maybe that's why many try so hard but STILL CANNOT understand.

Ron Rosenbaum does not state this thesis explicitly in this excellent, comprehensive work, but it is the only conclusion I feel comfortable about. This book concludes many excellent peoples' journeys but for me it is only the starting point.

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A mystery no longer

Revisado: 03-15-07

The book is an archeological adventure and provides compelling statistical evidence for the existence of Yeshua ben Yosef (JC).
The delivery is personal yet scientific and logical. The book is a scientific and personal adventure somewhere between the rigor of a scientific journal and a populist periodical. It takes us back 2000 years to the Realpolitik of the times, relates the customs and behaviours of Jews and raises a number of interesting questions, the least of which is whether JC would have been a follower of his own movement. Another would be: we found it, what next? I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Biblical history, theology, archeology or sociology... or anyone who enjoys a jolly good read!
I am fairly convinced by the conclusion: the only problem is that a mystery is much more exciting when it remains a mystery with all of its possibilities.

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Stupid, smart people

Revisado: 02-16-07

Having worked with PhD's and other smart people without being one myself, Richards words resonated with me about how seldom people really discuss the core issues of problems and rather look at what constitutes a socially/politically acceptable solution. Real problem solving is a skill available to people almost irrespective of discipline. Richard discusses all this and more in a friendly, personal way that reflects the frustration many of us feel dealing with beaurocracies, large projects and implacable organizations. His words will remain a breath of fresh air to those of thus that experience the curse of Casandra.

The book left me with a deep regret that I was not able to meet Richard or to have been taught by him. In a sense, I guess now I have been. Thank you Richard! BTW, If you hear or read these words whatever plane you inhabit now, you must feel a real idiot :). There is no imperical evidence, nor can there be for life after death.

I loved this book .. us common people share the same problems as Nobel Laureates who are, as his book demonstrates, one of us (not so common), common people.

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