Steven

Right on Doc!

Revisado: 11-25-22

Having read almost all of Dr. Berry’s homework previously, it was easy to follow the conclusions in his book. Thanks for your enlightening work.

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Without Hope

Revisado: 08-02-20

Back in the dark ages when I was in high school, I endured English Literature teachers who seemed to have no clue as to what would interest and engage teen aged boys in reading. My friends got to read books like "The Lord of the Flies", "Day of the Triffids", "Brave New World" and of course,"1984". I was compelled to read books which I won't bother to list. Suffice to say, it's a miracle that I enjoy both reading and listening to books today.

Having gone back and listened to or read some of these classics I can honestly say that my crummy teachers may have done me a favour, at least in the case of "1984". This book is well written, well narrated and well produced but the end result of listening to it is a bleak sense of hopelessness.

I can't un-listen to "1984" but I can offer this advice; choose something else. Really.

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Sadly, he isn't Mitch Rapp.

Revisado: 03-30-20

I am a huge fan of Vince Flynn's "Mitch Rapp" series narrated by George Guidall. I didn't expect the Gray Man series to measure up to that gold standard but hoped it would come in at silver. Unfortunately the characters in this novel, without exception, were two dimensional at best. I didn't cheer for anyone and I really didn't hate any of them. They were all just gray.

The narrator, while not anywhere near to George Guidall, was acceptable. Not high praise but not awful.

I took a chance purchasing books 4 and 5 on sale for 1 credit but after listening to the first book I returned them without listening. 11 hours and 11 minutes is more than enough time to know that for me, the gray man can just fade into black.

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Interesting and yet, boring.

Revisado: 02-29-20

Living in western Canada, I get more than enough of winter. I am constantly amazed at how animals can survive in an environment that is openly hostile to me as a human. I thought this book would provide insight into the magic behind the curtain that keeps everything from farm yard animals to deer, birds and even amphibians from dying of frostbite. In short, it did provide details on a variety of creatures and how they survive so I guess I got what I paid for.

Along with the details I also got a heaping helping of evolutionary theory. I didn't find that surprising or offensive but in multiple cases I found these theories to be overtly lacking in explanatory power. I just can't get my mind around irreducibly complex systems such as bee hives, evolving, even in ideal climates, let alone in the brutality of winter. Certainly there were anecdotes of variation within a species which I found plausible and even interesting but to blindly write off an intelligent designer behind what is obviously not accidental I found to be intellectually weak and disingenuous.

The narrator was adequate to the task but unless you are an uber nature geek, this isn't really a barn burner of a book. I think three stars is about all anyone verbalizing this into audio is all that could ever be expected.

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Unlistenable

Revisado: 02-27-20

Audiobooks are all about sound. Levels MUST be consistent. In this story the narrator is good but there are audio clips throughout that are far quieter and/or blended with background noise that make this book impossible to follow.

I gave the story 3 stars just because it may have been a worthwhile listen if the sound was discernible.

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Underwhelmed

Revisado: 01-21-20

I enjoy novels for the usual reasons someone would enjoy any lengthy story such as compelling plot, likeable protagonist(s) or at least heroes that I can relate to and cheer for as well as engaging character development. I enjoy post-apocalyptic stories for the above reasons as well as examining the realistic problems that would be encountered because disaster X has occurred.

In this series I ran into too many issues with characters (or nations) behaving in unbelievable or downright idiotic ways. These included poor strategies, emotional reasons for decisions rather than sound rational thought and also poor tactics. There were also technical errors such as planning an assault but then arriving at the battle where the character, "slammed a magazine into his pistol." What kind of idiot shows up at a gun fight with an empty gun? Is that part of the US Marine handbook? What page is it on? Maybe it's a Navy SEAL thing? Their entries are very dramatic. Duh!

Bronson Pinchot is a fine narrator. Four stars is realistic for his performance.

Three stars is generous for this story but two stars would be a bit too harsh.

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Not my cup of tea.

Revisado: 01-16-20

I've tried to listen to this book multiple times but find myself steeped in apathy. The vocabulary is interesting but that is not enough to rescue the "Shah of Blah" from a plot that cannot hold my interest.

The narration is good enough but, without being able to finish the story I won't go higher than three stars.

I wonder if perhaps a child's imagination is required to engage with this tale?

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

It took 25 years to listen to each chapter.

Revisado: 11-12-19

No answers to why. No truly redeeming "aha!" moment. No need to struggle to make a living, like a real person. No value in reading this book.

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Little of value

Revisado: 10-18-19

I had hoped to learn more of life in Haiti from the perspective of various Haitian patriots and ex-pats. There was little of that and much more than I need to know about sex, ranging from straight to gay and some rape thrown in as well. I can’t recommend this one.

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Too late for me.

Revisado: 01-24-19

I listened to this book hoping for insight into what happened to someone I loved almost twenty years ago. The book includes a lot of information on treatment options which is no longer an area of concern or interest for me.

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