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Every American voter should read this

Revisado: 01-09-24

Rachel Maddow has shed a light on some parts of our history that we Americans weren't taught about at school. It's a shame that these kinds of stories get left out of our history books, because knowing something of our fascist past might make it possible to recognize fascism when we see it close up in our own time. The parallels with the modern age are uncanny, but she mostly leaves it as an exercise for the reader to note the similarities and connect the dots. In some ways, we were just lucky last time. We can't always count on luck. The kind of education Maddow provides here is invaluable, and I hope many people will avail themselves of it.

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Every American Should Read this Book

Revisado: 07-10-20

Well researched and well read, it explains how we got here to this big mess we are in. It might seem obvious at this point, but the details are worth knowing, especially in an election year.

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If Neal Stephenson had written the Bourne Trilogy

Revisado: 03-24-20

...it would have been something like this. This is a book that every American should read. You ought to know what your taxes pay for, and Snowden gives us a peek into that world. But if you don't want to read it for that, just read it because it is such an exciting story.

One note on the performance. Holter Graham does a fine job, and I have no complaints about him. But I heard about this book when I watched a YouTube interview with Edward Snowden. He has a really fine speaking voice. It would have been nice to hear him reading his own work.

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Classic Science Fiction - meh

Revisado: 11-12-19

"The original trilogy of novels collected a series of eight short stories published in Astounding Magazine between May 1942 and January 1950" - Wikipedia. This classic science fiction novel, the first in the series, is a must read for students of the genre. Of course I had read it before, decades ago, and was mildly intrigued to see how poorly it had aged. It is basically a collection of dialogues between a smart man and some dumber men (different men in each story). The smart man outwits the dumber men. You get all the way to the last part of the book before you encounter a female character. In a totally shocking twist, she falls into the dumb category. I recommend this book in spite of these flaws, because modern readers should know what "Classic" science fiction looks like, that Asimov - who promoted science and education - was relatively liberal for his day, and no one at that time found it at all shocking that women would have no role in the running of society. This seemed normal to the people living in the time that these stories were written - the 20th century, I might add. We must know our history if we are to avoid repeating it. I suggest getting it on sale. Scott Brick gives his usual brilliant performance.

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Practical illustration of modern US health care

Revisado: 11-02-18

It is true, as some reviewers have already mentioned, that Dr. Reilly doesn't tell his story in a linear fashion, so the listener does need to pay close attention. Since he is dealing with multiple patients, it's hard to see exactly how he could have written it any other way... Because each story has background information without which it wouldn't be complete.

This book is worth any extra effort involved. It shows how a modern big city teaching hospital operates, and lets the reader understand the historical reasons why the system operates as it does (and how the for profit motive impacts US health care). It's always much better as a patient to go into that system armed with facts and understanding. Since everyone gets sick at some point, and everyone dies, this is the kind of information that is universally useful.

For readers of Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, this is a good complementary listen.

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Every Voter should listen to this

Revisado: 11-02-18

It's just two and a half hours, and it explains with concrete examples what your vote translates into at a federal level. This is the kind of information that can inform your decisions in the voting booth. A must listen.

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Some people see a tunnel

Revisado: 03-09-18

Some people see a tunnel, some people see a tower. I noticed some reviewers didn't care for Carolyn McCormick's reading - I thought she was absolutely spot on perfect for this story. With her mesmerizing voice,she completely creates the character of the biologist, even as you have to question every word that comes out of her mouth.

When I first started listening to this, I thought, "Roadside Picnic," But it's that and something more... The story is told from the viewpoint of someone already transforming into something alien, although when the transformation started, we can only guess. There are so many layers of duplicity here, the reader/listener hardly knows where to begin. But I love these juicy sort of literary puzzles. The biologist is about as unreliable as unreliable narrators can be, and so you can maybe guess some things from what other characters say about her... but how reliable are they?

All in all, it's beautifully written, beautifully read, and an entertaining piece of fiction as well. If you liked Gene Wolf's New Sun series, I can recommend this without reservation.

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Loved the Narrator

Revisado: 02-27-18

I love everything by Connie Willis, but when I first read the print version of this, I thought it was one of her weaker stories. It has all the stuff we CW fans love, like the detailed research, interesting facts, and the frustrating ends and outs of solving a puzzle, but I found the main character lacking. Finally I realized it's because we don't know what she does at her tech company. With all the meetings she ducks out of and people she avoids, it's never made clear what they need her for or what position she holds there, and I suspect she is one of those finance people who would have driven the characters from Bellwether crazy. Usually CW does better when her characters are scientists, or historians or other academic types. But I did go ahead and get this Audible version anyway... and I am happy I did. I loved it so much I listened to it twice in a row... Just because the narrator has such a pleasant voice to listen to and did such a great job with all the voices, male and female. She really brought the whole story to life.

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Awful narrator - could not finish

Revisado: 02-27-18

I really hate to give a bad review of a book based on the awful narrator, because this started out looking like a very interesting story, and I still might try to pick up a print version sometime. But here's the thing... just because you are reading about babies, it doesn't mean your listeners are babies. In fact, they probably aren't. Please save the cutsy babyish intonation for reading to your six month old, and read adult books about adult experiences using a normal adult voice. I gave it 30 minutes and couldn't stand anymore, and I don't even object to listening to books that were written for kids. I have a few in my library, and some of them I have listened to more than once. But this just totally missed the mark for me.

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Perfect marriage of story and narrator

Revisado: 02-27-18

This is a tightly written, suspenseful crime drama with a lot of sudden changes of fortune. Samuel L. Jackson is so right for this story, and so good at creating the different characters, that you can totally forget you are listening to someone read and lose yourself in the story. Really impressive considering what a distinctive voice he has. I listened to this right after listening to Brideshead Revisted read by Jeremy Irons, and both works are just stunning examples of what can be achieved by professional actors in bringing a story to life. Well done Audible. Let's have some more like this.

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