Jeb

So boring

Revisado: 11-08-24

I trudged through the first 3/4 of it and just couldn’t bear sitting through the rest of it. I appreciate that his themes and plots were copied by every generation of writers in this genre thereafter, but this was entirely void of tension, intrigue, action, and character depth. It was just flat and inconsequential.

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Heartwarming, upsetting and inspiring

Revisado: 04-29-24

I rarely rate books, though I listen to at least four per week. This one is inspirational enough to deserve a rating. I am not from the hillbilly south east, though I relate very much to the conditions in which he was raised. It was refreshing to see his life story displayed so clearly as an example of a plight on a larger scale. I admire how he narrated relatable horrible episodes with a blunt honesty. It had an element of appreciation and slightly humorous tone as well as self-forgiveness and accountability.

He never preaches at the end of the book about specific legislative or social engineering steps to take to solve these problems, but he clearly demonstrates that taking responsibility and developing impulse control is a major step. He did it in his own life , and references friends who have done the same. This book made me appreciate the people in my life who have also prevented me from following the same downward trajectory that many of his peers and family took.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Well researched, reasoned and objectively presented

Revisado: 02-22-24

As a lifelong student of history I’ve read many dozens of books on the Civil War and Lincoln. After hundreds of hours of research I’ve only read about five books that actually go deeper than the incongruous blanket statements about the cause of the war and Lincoln’s economic motivations. My curiosity was piqued when I read Lincoln’s speeches and saw legislation he tried to pass prior to his invasion of the south. This author examines all of this as well as the economic factors. It was interesting to see that the Gettysburg Address was basically a political ploy to prevent European nations from aiding the South, and to read about Lincoln’s plans to deport the freed slaves. Was also good to hear an author who duly criticized aspects of both the north and the south while recognizing that they were products of their times. Above all I admire how he refuses to make blanket statements.
The author read the book himself, and he wasn’t as polished as many other Audible readers, but he was sincere and his confidence increased as he got further into the reading.
This is a must listen, especially for those who care about humanity but who mainly learn about their values from Federal institutions and the parroting on social media.

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Only boring Reacher story so far

Revisado: 02-14-24

I’ve binge listened to the previous seven books, and loved them all. I was so disappointed with this book! I ended up returning it when I was over halfway done, because it went on and on and on, and on with no action and tons of talking, tons of speculation on who did the crimes at the beginning. Even as a major fan of this series I just could not listen to another minute of meandering dialogue and no action other than road trips that lead nowhere. There just wasn’t any dramatic tension.

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4 stories and narrators, from great to painful to hear

Revisado: 04-15-23

The first story and narrator was fabulous (Heros Von Borck). The Longstreet story had a few interesting angles I hadn’t heard, but otherwise for most of it the author (General Longstreet) made excuses for how he frequently made mistakes and possibly won the war for the north. I’ve read countless books by his contemporaries who had a different perspective. Also, Longstreet spent tons of time just listing troop movements without emotion, something great for a military strategist with a white board, but it got old as an audio book as it was hard to picture and his dry adjective-less writing gave me little reason to get invested in hundreds of troop pivots and flank maneuvers. The narrator was as dry as Longstreet’s writing. The third story had a decent narrator and was interesting mostly in that the author described how they survived on very little at home. The fourth story was very good (an emotional diary with day to day details of the daughter of a plantation worker) but the narrator was EXCRUCIATING to hear. It was like an overdone fake creole southern accent that occasionally broke. Condescending actually. I almost NEVER abandon a book, but with 4 hours to go (at 2x speed, 8 at regular) I couldn’t handle it anymore. That being said, it was worth it for the first story and for the third story.

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A must read for both the left and the right

Revisado: 01-05-23

The last chapter is the best. Highly important book for the survival of our democratic republic.

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The best great courses presenter

Revisado: 12-13-22

I’ve listened to over 20 great courses, and I almost did not listen to this one. My interests right now are more in other areas, but I’ve always been curious about the evolution of language, so I listened to this one. John McWhorter is such a great storyteller, he’s so personable and extremely funny, it made this course delightful to listen to. I literally laughed out loud for a long time longer than I have with any other book in over a year, which is something I did not expect from this course. I did listen to him on 1.7 speed, because he talks so slow.

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Eye opening

Revisado: 06-25-22

This was the first book I’d heard by McClanahan, and I’ve since then been listening to his podcasts and am about to listen to another book.
It is not preachy or sanctimonious. Everything is simply framed in terms of the relatively small amount of power originally given to the federal government. He walks us through the progression of deterioration implemented by former presidents that have completely taken the country in the corrupted, micromanaging and invasive non-constitutional direction we see today. I knew about Lincoln and Obama, but I didn’t know about the illegalities of the other 7.

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A classic, though incomplete

Revisado: 06-25-22

Am a huge fan of Ayn Randy’s work. Every word of this short story is well placed. The theme is clear and resonates. The dystopian world is almost as creepy as Joe Biden. However I only gave the story 3 stars as it seems incomplete, almost like a story outline that never delved into a proper clash between protagonist and the antagonistic forces. It built up a bit, had a moment of slight conflict and then coasted to a conclusion.

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98% inspirational!

Revisado: 06-23-22

He is very clear in the points, and he describes them succinctly. He nails it on immigration and the Fed and 47 other points, gets me looking to become active in communicating to anyone I can influence about the need for smaller government.
I only disagree with him on the point about Islamic terrorism/religion. He is certainly correct that our interventionist foreign policy has stirred up the problem, but I do not believe that this is the only reason the west (The USA included) has a problem with Islam.

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