"tantalus7"

Should Be Required Reading

Revisado: 05-12-23

Thoughtful, intimidatingly well sourced, no easy answers or pat solutions, a timely reflection on questions that the news would have Americans believe are tearing our nation apart.

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What does this do to advance the study of the theater?

Revisado: 01-22-23

Other than removing the problematic and racist language of John Toland’s classic on the Pacific War, I am at a loss to see what Ian Toll’s scholarship brings to the study of the theater. This recapitulates all the old ideas of Toland’s book, and takes an entire extra volume in which to do it.

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Doesn’t add much to existing histories

Revisado: 01-01-23

Other than omitting the blatant racism of John Toland’s masterpiece, it does not bring much that is new to the history of the Second World War in the Pacific Theater, apart from some well-sourced first person accounts.

Meh. I expected much more insight. Or any new insight. I’d recommend Toland, if one can get past the problematic language.

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Still a Classic if Problematic

Revisado: 12-13-22

Though it’s showing its age, and despite its use of racist language, it is an important historical work, very polished production values, and an excellent narrator. Not state of the art, in terms of its interpretations of historical evidence, it is a good starting point for anyone interested in the period in this theater of war.

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Self help or abuse porn?

Revisado: 08-16-22

More of a memoir of the author’s own abusive childhood and subsequent depression than a work of scientific substance, the author pads out the chapters with twenty page sections where he quotes his favorite movies and books and analyzes them. Like your least socially agile party guest, he’s happy to go through the dialogue line by line. It’s very tedious, even embarrassing.

Interspersed with plays, movies, and even a book or two, he also describes child abuse in graphic detail.

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Literally the worst narrator I've ever heard.

Revisado: 07-22-22

Lester Grau is a magnificent scholar and a very good, if excessively economic, writer.

The narrator doesn't pause at the end of thoughts or sentences. He reads the section headings with the same inflection, stress, and even the same breath as the body of the text. His microphone settings change within sentences. He is unable to pronounce Russian names - which is normally not a character flaw, but is more than unfortunate in a BOOK ABOUT THE RUSSIAN WAY OF WAR.

Love Lester Grau, and will buy the paper version. The production of this audio book was criminally bad. Returned.

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Great ideas, terrible voice over talent

Revisado: 07-16-20

Mark Blyth essentially gives these ideas away for free in his numerous YouTube videos on the subject. I had hoped for more content that isn't part of his numerous recorded lectures - this was disappointing in that respect. Also, having watched a number of these videos, Blyth has a distinctive rhythm and tone to his speech, and that comes across in his writing as well. Unfortunately, the narrator, Fred Stella, seems to be doing his best to imitate a machine trying to imitate human speech. He takes an already dense subject and makes it almost unlistenable. Just search for Mark Blyth on YouTube and watch the top five results. You'll get all the same information and hear it in Blyth's inimitable Glaswegian.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Didactic AH.

Revisado: 12-19-19

The stories are uneven - some fairly interesting in conceit, others not so much. Chiang has a very methodical, didactic style, which he transfers onto his main characters. They all speak and talk like Chiang. That's not fantastic creative writing.

The worst thing... the sudden appearance of Chiang's voice at the end of each story, without any cue or time to let the end of the story sit. Poor production choice. Very jarring. The commentary doesn't add anything to the already laboriously worked out narratives. I came to dread it.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas