George Young

Simply Excellent but BIG Questions Remain

Revisado: 06-28-23

This is a perfect audio book. Jim Popkin's writing, his narration and story are all superb.

The clarity of the writing makes this complex story easy to follow and to enjoy.

The narration, by the author, is measured, clear, and never once falters. I had no problem with the word "quote." I have listened to hundreds of audio books and this narration, both tone and pace, are perfect.

The story of Ana Montes's betrayal is fascinating. Equally amazing, perplexing, surprising is how she got away with it for so long and yet lives on parole in Puerto Rico after 20 years in prison. Were she an Iranian, Russian, Chinese spy, she'd have been pushing up daisies soon after being caught.

Popkin organized the story based on interviews with as many participants as possible, save Ana Montes's, who can't be interviewed for legal reasons. He researched for years and it shows in the excellence of his story. But does he have the whole story? Did he miss something?

I am amazed by a number of things.

I can't believe Ana Montes's family sticks by her to this day, sister, daughter, or not. Even allowing her to write their children! This is forebearance that would impress Jesus.

And I can't believe that Ana Montes is out on parole. There has to be some part of this story not being explained. How she can be so unrepentent, both at her trial, over the years in prison, and now even out on parole (still critical of the USA). No, there is more to this story than appears. What possible reasons can there be that the former Hanssen and Ames were given life sentences but Ana Montes walks after 20 years? Her crimes lasted as long, were just as harmful, and she is utterly unrepentent. No, she did something that Hanssen and Ames didn't.....

As I state, this is one of the best biographies of a spy I have ever read and I salute the work of Jim Popkin.

However, Popkin causes unanswered curiosity about the lieniency shown to Ana Montes. For instance, if she was such a great friend of Cuba, why haven't they taken her in? Why would the USA even let her stay in Puerto Rico for her parole?

Oh, one thing did bother me at the end: how Popkin takes the moral tone that Ana Montes hurt everyone in the entire world by her actions. What a silly attitude. Spying is fundamental to international security. Western nations do it and we don't get all high and mighty about how immoral spies for us are. I don't like spies like Montes, Hanssen, Ames, but discussing their behaviour from a moral point of view is wrong. We don't get moral about enemy soldiers who kill our men and women in combat. We should not get moral about enemy spies either. We should accept that spying is endemic to nations and we should do everything we can to find, stop or turn, those who spy against us. We should not kill spies. We should treat them exactly as Ana Montes has been treated. We should make it as easy as possible for enemy spies to reveal themselves, even to benefit from their turning. Over the long run, if spies know that they can give themselves up and survive here, the West will probably be safer. Is it possible that Ana Montes turned herself in years before her arrest, allowing the USA to really mess up the Cubans, and that's why she is now free?

How to explain the relative lieniency Ana Montes has seen compared to Hanssen and Ames? I know that 20 years in prison is not that lienient for sure, yet she is out on parole now while Hanssen just died in prison, and Ames continues to rot there.

Ah.... the state of Denmark.....

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Cringe

Revisado: 11-29-22

I am listening to Chapter for so this is a pre-review.

I will keep listening to this book but I have two complaints about cringing.

1. If I hear another list in this book I am going to scream. There is no information given when a list is provided, unless one is shopping. The information in this book does not need lists. This has happened often enough I have almost been triggered to stop listening.

2. Unnecessary, even implausible, descriptions of the body. Like stressing that money led to whorehouses and sale of sex. Betcha that had been going on a little earlier!! But the author seems to delight in mentioning that. And in Chapter Four he describes the mass execution by burning of Templar bankers, a fate some people wish on bankers, in a ridiculous description of opening skin, melting rivulets of fat... really? REALLY? It's like the author was standing right there roasting marshmallows.

This type of amateurism in writing should have been caught by an editor. Such lapse in style might seem colourful, but they make me cringe....

Oh well, on I got listening....

George Young
Montreal, Canada
20221129

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Listen before or long after dinner

Revisado: 10-19-22

This is a delightful listen! I love the various stories and it's nice to see corn and honey getting their due as dreadful to human life!

I, unfortunately, was eating lunch as listened to the section on honey. Quaffing honey from a container found in an Egyptian grave might be silly to start with, then being unfamiliar with their practice of coating body parts in it for preservation can only lead to, well, vomiting: for the participant and the listener!!! Yikes!

Roger Wayne brilliantly delivers this material with charm and, well, gusto, as required.

George Young
Montreal, Canada

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This is a GEM of introspection! WOW!

Revisado: 12-14-21

Understanding our own lives is a challenge and few of us get it right. We either have done stupid things we can't take back, or we don't have a clue why we choose to do awful things, or, worse, we don't care why we do what we do.

It seems that only pain is able to bring us to some understanding by forcing us to poke at it afterwards to gain knowledge.

In her brilliant autobiography Erica Schickel has picked at her life with the care and focus, and intention to understand, like a coroner.

There is no grandstanding, there is no shyness, there is no fear of judgement by others. There is only the cutting back of layers of reality to explain to herself, and to us, what the hell happened in her life.

When I read biographies I judge them against two that I simply love for their honesty: U.S. Grant's memoirs and the diary of Samuel Pepys. Both men lived in times of great change and had major roles in them. Erica Schickel is a woman who has lived a modest life that happened during a rich, and mostly boring, era. She had no great role in it, nor does she describe any of the big historical events that happened in her time. She simply tells the story of her life. How can that compare to Grant's and Pepys's? HONESTY. Grant is one of the most remarkable men in history for having done great things but with zero ego. Pepys was a nasty, selfish, careful man, who wrote in a shorthand he was sure few could penetrate, so he wrote exactly what he was thinking, leaving behind as brilliant a portrait of his times, as of his mind. Erica Schickel has created an autobiography that is as rich, honest, and potent, as Grant's and Pepys's. At one point in her book she quotes her father saying that writers must tell stories for others to be able to understand their own lives better. Erica Schickel certainly does that.

I have been thinking about what she wrote and her understanding of her life since I finished the book yesterday. I listened to her reading her own words and she is a master not only of writing about her experiences, but also of narrating them. I felt I was in the presence of a friend describing her life as sincerely as she could to a sympathetic listener. And I was a very sympathetic listener because I felt she was giving me her life with open hands: this demands a respectful, thoughtful, listening.

As I listened to her own words, and extensive quotes from her father's letters to her, of her mother's cold behaviour, the indifference, selfishness, or plain criminality of lovers or sexual predators, in her life, I kept thinking of "theory of mind."

Ultimately, I believe, if we are able to imagine what others will be thinking about our actions, we'll be able to act properly. The people who hurt Erica Schickel all seem to me to be lacking in the ability to imagine the result of their actions in the minds of others. Of course, we don't expect sexual predators to care about the harm they cause in the minds of the people they hurt because they are selfish. But those closest to Erica Schickel seem unable to understand either how to see into Erica's mind, or how their actions will be understood by her. Her father writes with such clarity but his behaviour, from his marriage for influence, to his sexual behaviour, reveal a man so unaware of himself and others, that it's a wonder his daughter could soar above such indifference. Her mother, dying, has a sudden awareness of how she abandoned Erica when she was a struggling teen, and that is impressive, if way too late, even if Erica appreciates it.

As Thoreau wrote, we all live lives desperately trying to learn as we live. We are rarely completely successful. Some of us act selfishly and have relatively happy lives. Some of us are predators of others, often successful in our crimes by being unpunished. Still others act without malice, getting hurt, hurting others, and, finally, before it's too late, come to understand how complex life is, seeking justice, extending forgiveness, standing before others naked, unafraid, and, well, human, honestly human, in the end.

When I read history I often wonder what the life of a person was really like in their time. When I read the words of Grant and Pepys I come as close to that knowledge as words can bring us. When I listened to the words of Erica Schickel I felt the same intimacy, honesty, understanding.

I am sure digital libraries of the future will be lined with the lives of the great, the infamous, who made history. But somewhere in that ocean of digits there will be autobiographies like Erica Schickel's, which are just as potent and important, because they will tell us what it meant to be human at a particular moment in history.

As well, reading Schickel's words, others will feel their own sense of self. Having comprehended herself and others, Erica Schickel has lived, and taught, theory of mind. I come away from her autobiography with better understanding of the behaviour of others and of myself. Schickel is to be admired for that.

When the West is no more. When the tyrants against human happiness and honesty again rule the world, I am happy to know that Erica Schickel's book will be out there, like a middle finger extended, saying I matter! And that is the most powerful statement most of us ever get to make.

Wow, what a great autobiography.

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Incredibly GREAT!!!

Revisado: 10-15-20

I am a Canadian and the leadership shown by Cuomo is brilliant, even by Canadian standards!!!

This book is partisan for sure, but honestly, how can one not be when faced by people as cruel as some of the leadership in Washington? Cuomo is always fair, and never mocks, always keeping to the goal of reducing the impact of SARS-CoV-2. Always human in the face of the incredible inhumanity of the Republican Party in the Senate and in the Presidency. Oh, let the reckoning come...

It is incredible to hear the story from the Governor directly. He is an excellent communicator and speaker. Hearing him tell his story is so wonderful!!

This story is one bright spot, to hear a leader explain how to behave during the pandemic, that gives hope not just to New Yorkers, Americans, but to the whole world!!

Wow, I am so impressed!

America generates some of the finest leaders and it has done it again!!

I hope Trump reads this book during his leisure time after November 3rd when he can reflect how his lack of action led to the peacetime deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Cuomo provides much that will be useful for Trump to think about.

George Young
Montreal, Canada

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BRILLIANT!!!!!

Revisado: 08-22-20

Graham Hoyland is a delightful storyteller. This history of the Merlin engine is so much more than that!!! Hoyland is like a weaver of historical threads creating a work rich with knowledge of personalities, events, design, politics and human greatness and human perfidy.
If you love history that includes all the facts, but is rich with the characters and events that define human action, not just the dry facts, then please purchase this work!!
Graham Hoyland has created a history that only a deeply intelligent and richly emotional person could!!!

I bow to the author for creating a history that recreates a fascinating world, which affects us still!

My single complaint is that the narrator, an excellent, excellent reader, had some trouble with sticky mouth noise, and the recordist must have let the window open a few times because I'm pretty sure I heard birds twittering a few times...

George Young
Montreal, Canada

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Well, Robert, did you listen to THIS book??

Revisado: 08-18-20

There's a fellow reviewing here named Robert and he reviewed this amazing book like a Russian troll.

I was really surprised to read Robert's review where he states, again, that Mr Clapper lied about the IC (Never forget that acronym!) collecting dossiers on millions of Americans. He answered truthfully that the American IC does NOT collect Stazi-like files on Americans. Yes, meta data on millions of Americans are collected but with no personal data attached. This is NOT the same as dossiers. DUH!

And Mr Clapper had NOTHING to do with the Benghazi deaths, as he clearly outlines. This wasn't even a "terrorist" attack, but akin to heavily armed looters roaming around. Two Americans died of smoke inhalation and two by a mortar, so hardly an organized terrorist attack.

This book reveals a few things to me. Issues covered by the media are often done hysterically and for attention, not the truth. Sensible people are trying to do their best to stop cruel people, like the leaders of Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Russia, from killing yet more people. And our democracies face internal threats from boneheaded citizens believing crap put out by Russia and unless we get a grip on this the world will see more Trumps goofing around for four more years!

I really appreciated Mr Clapper's ability to provide thoughtful detail behind many issues and his stress that politicians and citizens have to be sensible in their understanding of issues, rather than using events for political gain.

Our democracies are weak when the intelligence of their citizens and politicians falls to Trumpian levels. That, for me, is the message of this book and,wow, Mr Clapper really sells that message well!!!

A brilliant book by a man who really served America well!! AND THE WORLD TOO! I don't want to live in a world where deadly fools like Putin get to act with impunity because he fools Americans to give up on truth.

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Ships are metal, duh.

Revisado: 02-02-20

This book is excellent but I just about screamed when I listened to the umpteeth description of a big metal boat sinking. The loving, warm, caring descriptions of boats sinking was on the level of perverted: overly emotional and simply dumb.

When I am listening to a history I do not want some creepy descriptions entering a text of otherwise, apparently, careful considerations. The pervey eulogies given each sinking boat in this history gives pause about the emotional stability of the writers, hence in what they had to say factually about this battle.

Tone down the nonsense if you expect to be taken seriously.

Oh, and I know the difference between a boat and a ship. I just don't care.

George Young
Montreal, Canada

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Boswell Would Have Been Proud!

Revisado: 10-24-19

I am half-way through this amazing blend of bio and autobio and am only posting a review now because of the hateful reviews I have read here.

Ms O'Meara has accomplished what few writers can: tell an engaging story from a personal perspective, to provide the reader with the world!

I can mention James Boswell, Ulysses S. Grant, Blair Tindall, who have done this as well. Am I stretching your belief?

Well, we live with all sorts of pretense in this world. One of the worse is the omniscient narrator in biographies. I am tired of reading bios and wondering if the writer is hiding an agenda. I don't have to worry about that with someone like Blair Tindall, for example, the author of the brilliant Mozart in the Jungle. Like Tindall, O'Meara is telling it like it is, with all the richness and honesty that she can. Her mind and body and social experience are well integrated into the story!

To be able to speak honestly, clearly, with perspective, is a rare thing, and happens in human civilizations in rare times. We are in one. The people here who think she is being self-indulgent are being cruel. They confuse bold truth with showing off. Just as O'Meara states, she has to tone down her rage to get people to take her seriously about sexual and social nonsense that would enrage anyone if it happened to them! The reviewers here who think she is doing something wrong probably are the first to turn away from anything sincere, especially when it's about social norms being challenged.

I am sad and angry that some reviewers here mock, diminish, and professionally belittle a woman who has written as fine a biography as is possible, putting herself in it with the intelligence and flair that Boswell, Grant, and Tindall did.

This book is brilliant and sparkles with charm, youth, honesty, curiousity, delight, and what matters most, the truth. I sincerely hope that O'Meara recognizes that she is a natural biographer, who gives her writing the breath of life by being so much a part of it. I want to read more by her, fully confident that she will adapt herself well to the next person she writes about.

Thank-you, Mallory O'Meara for making it personal, uncovering this fascinating story, and for writing it and telling it with such verve.

I sincerely do NOT understand anyone who posted here criticisms of O'Meara's reading voice. I am walking about town for hours listening to her and I think she has the most pleasant voice, enlivened by her joy at telling the story she brings to us.

Oh, I hope that Mallory O'Meara ignores all the really wrong views of her style, her voice, and her skills: She is one of the best!!!

Oh! I saw The Creature from the Black Lagoon on television when I was a kid in the mid-Sixties. It has remained a very strong memory because it was such a strange creature. I very much remember being both frightened and delighted by the beautiful swimming scene. The creature's face particularly startled me because I felt it could never be communicated with, or accepted, as a human, and that made me more frightened. O'Meara mentions all the horror movie monsters, but I think her creature is more related to H.R. Giger's Alien, which gives me the same sense of being unable to communicate with it on human terms. Much as I think we all feel about very real human killers, who often seem incapable of being communicated with in rational human terms, which is why we put them into prison.

And considering that nasty father of hers, and the men around her who were often equally nasty, save, surprisingly to me, Walt Disney, who hired her, I am not surprised that Milicent Patrick would create a creature that was attracted to a woman, but who could be so dangerous to her at the same time....

George Young
Montreal, Canada
October 24, 2019

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What a fabulous biography!

Revisado: 06-24-19

I am listening to this biography and am on Chapter 31, just after Catherine gains the throne. What a fabulous story of a little girl from Germany who is seriously abused for years by her idiot husband, and paranoid Empress!! Catherine strikes back just before her husband does her in. She butchers him and another rival, either by commission or omission, and rules Russia for thirty years!

Ms Erickson has a clear and reasoned way of presenting her story. Allowing us to get a feel for the people and times. I simply can't stop listening to her words!!

I do have one wee complaint. Her description of Catherine's co-conspirator, Grigory Orlov, is way off, considering his official portraits. Ms Erickson describes him as a caricature of a Russian bear, when his official portrait makes him look just like a regular guy. I think she might have toned down the hairy back description.

But the description of Catherine's rise to power is brilliantly told, and though it probably paints a more glowing picture of her than the reality, it is fun to listen too!! I mean, Catherine informed the public that her murdered husband had died of hemorrhoids, the first, and last, known such cause of death in history. Oooooo she really hated HIM!! And for good reason.

Anyone who thinks women are too weak to govern had better listen to this biography. Wow.

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