B-Dizzle-My-Schnizzle

Should Have Skipped This One

Revisado: 12-14-21

I normally love books and info on productivity and am always willing to try new authors but I should have skipped this book. It is nothing more than silly, corpo-speak and anecdotal stories about how so and so "looked ahead" and did this one thing that made a difference in his or her career. I work for a large corporation. This book is like if the HR department at the company I work for produced a book full of anecdotal stories to reinforce corporate approved "behaviors" and "culture". With 2.5 hours remaining in the book I couldn't take it anymore and just deleted it from my phone. I can already tell I will never finish it. I'm too nice to give it 1 star or ask for my money back but I thought about both for a time. Do yourself a favor and skip it.

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OK. Basic Information for the Newbie

Revisado: 09-27-18

This book is definitely geared towards those just starting out on their journey to self improvement through financial literacy. I am not familiar with the author in any other way but the book does have somewhat of a minor focus towards women but that does not mean that men can't benefit either as the information is basic and general. If you are just starting out in the area of financial literacy, responsibility, and strategy, then this is probably a decent starting point. If you have already familiarized yourself with "the basics" such as an emergency fund, using credit responsibly, keeping a basic budget, tracking your expenses, and basic frugality (cooking more instead of eating out all of the time), then you are probably already past the information in this book. Still not a bad refresher if you'd like one but nothing groundbreaking here. Since I listened to the Audible version, I'd say the narration was mediocre. Ms. Fagan, skip trying to do voices next time and just read the entire thing in your own voice; trying to lend voices to the excerpts where you interviewed other people didn't come out very well and wasn't necessary.

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Very Interesting

Revisado: 10-04-17

As always, thank you to the authors, narrators, and the publishers for a freebie. Much appreciated.

This edited reading of some of the book was enough to get me to buy the entire book (which I am enjoying very much). Narration is solid, the story is very good so far, a critique of the Utopian (or should I say Dystopian) tendencies of what we give up in privacy for the conveniences and "fun" that technologies like social media bring.

As one who recently quit Facebook, I can attest to just how creepy social media can be when all sorts of strange "coincidences" start occurring like finding out friends of friends are connected even though the 1st and 3rd degree of such "connections" don't even know each other and have never met. How strange to find some of my family and friends buried in a few layers of "friends". Throw in just how much stuff is targeted using the information gathered and and fed back to each of us in ads and sooner or later the only analysis possible is that way to many companies and people know way too much about me, my likes and dislikes, and who I know and how I know them.

This excerpt very much reminded me of the recent Black Mirror episode where everyone is rating each others and how quickly that leaves steals the humanity from us while actually imprisoning each of us into a virtual prison of persona that is both shallow and inauthentic.

Can't wait to see what the full book brings!

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Not Very Funny

Revisado: 10-04-17

Thank you, as always, to the authors, narrators, and publishers for a freebie. Always appreciated.
Otherwise, I don't know what others found so hilarious. The readings are OK, somewhat humorous, but not side splitting funny or anything. To each their own, I suppose. Narration was solid.

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OK. Not Sure If I Want More or Not

Revisado: 11-01-16

First, thank you to the author and publisher for offering the story for free.

So, this is, I believe, my first encounter with John Scalzi. Frankly, I came away a little underwhelmed. The story is just OK (3 stars), the narration is a solid 4 stars, so maybe the real average is 3.5 stars? I'm not a huge sci-fi buff anyways but I do enjoy it once in a while, but the concept of this story was just not real exciting (nor was it believable).

I've heard/read good things about Mr. Scalzi's works so, I'm not sure if this was just not representative of his better writing or if this was what you get. I might give him a try again in the future but right now I'm just not excited about continuing on with his works.

YMMV

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Decent Introduction to Characters

Revisado: 10-25-16

First, when it's a freebie I always take a moment to thank the author/s and publisher for making it available. So, thanks!

Solid short story that hits the ground running with plenty of action. Toward the end we get a basic introduction to some of the characters.

I'm just not a huge fan of the genre but the story seemed well written and the narration was well done. I only rated the story 3 stars because there's not a lot of material there to compel me to continue but it's probably more accurate to say 3.5 stars.

I'll consider Mr. Haywood's writing if I choose to get back into the genre at some point in the future. If you're already into the genre then I say give it a go. I have a feeling there's much more depth to his writing than what is presented in this limited time.

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Solid Alternative Take on the Story of Satan

Revisado: 10-17-16

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The "other side of the story" type of tale is right up my alley. If you like this type of tale I would recommend this story. I liked it enough as well to buy the Kindle version so I can go back over it in print. I'm a little torn at 4 stars but I think I could go with a split at 5 for the story and 4 for the narration for 4.5 actual stars. My only criticism of the narration is that the bass level seemed a bit high which made it a little hard to hear some of the words at times, otherwise the narrator did an excellent job with character and voice. I would love a more expanded version of the tale in the future if the author has more to tell. I could definitely see a novella sized story here. Good job!

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Excellent Introduction

Revisado: 04-15-16

I was looking for a good introduction to the Ketogenic diet and I felt this purchase met that need. Basic history and facts are presented by an excellent narrator. Touches a few times on foods, but not too much for an audio version, which can often happen with diet and fitness books. Looking forward to learning more in print about more specific plans I can implement, but I'll be listening to this one again as a reference. Highly recommend for anybody looking to learn the basic ideas and history of the diet.

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My First Exposure to Yesterday's Gone

Revisado: 03-12-16

First, I always thank the author/s and publisher/s when they give something away for free. It's cool of them to do it and it's a great way to get your work out there to people who might not have otherwise listened. I kept looking this one over and mulling it, but listening to this free offering got me to go for it and find out I really liked it.

This is an introduction to the main characters found in Season 1. We get to find out, as the summary says, that the Apocalypse has apparently happened at 2:15 AM night and that pretty much everyone has disappeared except for scattered survivors who didn't "get taken" (if that's what really even happened).

I don't want to say anything more about it than that because this free sample is just a dip of the toes into the water. I did buy Season 1 in its entirety after listening to this and was very pleased. Pleased enough to buy Season 2 with no available credits. I don't want to wait until my credit renew in four or five days. Hahaha!

The entire season is definitely worth your credit. You can read my review on Season 1 for a more comprehensive look at what follows this sample.

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I've Been Holding Out On This One For A While

Revisado: 03-12-16

So, I wasn't sure about this even though it had good reviews and I had looked it over several times. I finally decided to dive in and I am very pleased with that decision and ready to start Season 2 immediately.

I won't summarize the plot since others have and there is a summary in the audiobook entry. I will tell you that there is a wide range of characters and they don't start coming together until the end and not even then entirely. I would imagine that there is more coming together to come in Season 2.

It isn't really clear what is going on; there are multiple theories thrown around by different characters and each is pretty plausible in their own right. I'm not quite sure of which one I think is correct. It really is intriguing and the authors do a good job at keeping you wondering while also telling a story about people in general, some good and some not so good; well, some pretty bad to be frank.

There's some language and violence, but nothing too graphic sexually (one rape scene, but it is handled pretty tastefully and not described in any graphic way). There is a complete psychopath (one of the main characters) who is quite vulgar in his speech including sexually, so if you cant handle listening to what a dirtbag guy he is and how he thinks then maybe this isn't for you. But, compared to how graphic many books/audiobooks get now days, this is pretty mild.

The narration is excellent. I know some people describe being ignored by Luca's childish way of talking and Borricio's dirty, sexual slang. I didn't think I was going to like either character, but each settled into the story quite well in their respective roles and I didn't end up thinking that much about their styles of speech (Luca is 8 years old, how do people think 8 year olds speak? Lol)

Overall, this is an interesting story with some intriguing ideas. The zombies (although calling them zombies is a bit of a misnomer) are too cliche and each of the characters offers what I think is a look into how different we really are but also how we have the same desires when forced to survive in an end of the world scenario where everybody is left wondering what the heck happened and what to do next.

This purchase was definitely worth the credit. It's good enough that I'm just going to buy Season 2 and not wait until my credits renew. :-)

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