Glenn G Poole II

O, The Humanity

Revisado: 06-11-23

In a tale researched and written as well as his unquestionable classic, "Empire of the Summer Moon", Gwynne gives us the full backstory of Britain's ill-fated attempt to extract empire value from a planned fleet of lighter-than-air dirigibles.

Following largely the empire-minded Lord Thompson, Air Minister of Britain at the time, he finds answers to the question, "Why would good and reasonable men promote the use of travel-technology that had already been proven wildly risky."

As an elementary school student, one of my favorite books in the library was, "The History of the Dirigible Airship." Even at that age, while secretly thinking the massive ships would be really neat to see, I concluded, "They all crashed, burned and lots of people died." Even then I knew they were a bad idea.

It feels like Gwynne may have had a similar fascination with the great airships, and had come to the same conclusion: airships were a bad idea. But he eloquently tells us why in a manner echoing, in story form, the cry of Herb Morrison in his 1937 eyewitness report of the Hindenburg explosion and crash at Lakehurst, ”O the humanity!"

This was an excellent book and I've given it triple 5's.

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No Spin Native American History

Revisado: 01-16-23

Gwynne gives us the facts of the Texan and Comanche conflict of the 19th century with no spin to please some social or political ideology.

The Comanches were warriors: brutal, torturous, and a-moral by most standards. And they were that way before the Texans threatened their Empire.

The settlers and "white men" moved into their land, killed their buffalo and broke every treaty they ever made with them.

Gwynne tells it all and leaves our hearts ripped at the horrific treatment of both sides toward the other. It's a dark chapter of American history, but the retelling of it's full facts cuts across the political (but ignorant) assumptions made by most today.

Quanah emerges in the tale, first as a deadly warrior, and then as the most resilient Comanche to embrace the new "Reservation" life. His story is a powerful example of leaving what's lost behind and moving forward to take command of your own destiny under trying conditions.

If you want more truth about the Native American history question, this is a must read.

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Gripping

Revisado: 03-16-22

Departing from "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," the author takes us into the very real lives of the high altitude porters - the men from dramatically poor backgrounds who risk their own lives to take Westerners to the tops of mountains like K2. And we find in them our brothers in humanity: Passionate, spiritual, sometimes desperate and fearful, dramatically selfless and heroic, and in the end, battling death and grief as they conclude, "I just want to live and be with the people I love."

Couldn't put it down. An excellent story and fine performance.

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Fantastic

Revisado: 01-13-22

Real dive stories, real accidents, real characters and real tech diving history all told and read in a way that grabs my attention. The author divides his writing among all of these in natural flow. His tales of personal dive trips to the Doria validate his writing authority. I feel his passion: tell the truth to make everyone else a safer diver. I've listened to it twice and will certainly hear it again in the future.

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Gripping Tale

Revisado: 02-24-21

Loved the story. Couldn't put it down. The technical diving parts were gripping. The life stories and drive to find themselves and be true to that self of the two main characters was deeply moving and personally challenging. This history of the U-boat men was fastinating. All thumbs up to Kurson.

But, why can't the audio producers line up the audio book titles with the actual book titles? That's maddeningly sloppy. I'd fire you. So unprofessional. If you guys were divers, you'd be dead from your own mistakes. That's why I gave it an overall 4 instead of 5.

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A timely spiritual message

Revisado: 10-02-20

Truth in story form for spiritual people everywhere. Being read by the author was fantastic. He fit the role perfectly. The stories were moving and gripping and heart warming, eaching timeless lessons.

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A Rated-R Hallmark Film

Revisado: 12-22-19

I had no need for a man's private sexual thoughts or dragged out dialogues about a womans vibrator. Won't finish. Don't want to know what comes next. A content warning would have been nice. I don't do trashy romances.

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Heart-warming Memoirs

Revisado: 11-27-19

William Finnegan nailed it for finding that holistic and joyful father/daughter relationship! Loved it!

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Awesome content, bad format

Revisado: 10-26-19

don Miguel Ruiz' content here is fantastic. He takes things we've learned from him in The Four Agreements and applied them to relationships. This book affirms what some of us have already learned.

The audio production falls flat. The book has many chapters but the audio is not organized into those chapters. If I want to re-read chapter two, for example, I'll have to guess at where it started because I can't just click on it in the chapter list. Seems like a really unnecessary oversight

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