Judy

Facebook Face-Off

Revisado: 04-08-25

I can see why Zuckerberg has tried to block this book. His efforts to get Facebook implanted in nations around the world reveal much about his character as well as about the typical billionaire's feverish compulsion to accrue ever more money, money, money. Author Wynn-Williams also exposes the unsurprising heartlessness of Facebook's on-the-job culture and management's expectation that employees be on the job 24/7.
Much of the book is a boring examination of backroom functioning, with frequent forays into the author's importance as a broker of consultations with international heads-of-state. She also devotes considerable time to personal domestic issues, such as her pregnancies, difficult labour, and associated health crises. Indeed, she opens the book with a detailed examination of a shark attack that she suffered as a child in New Zealand - a dramatic story, but puzzling in its inclusion, as it is completely irrelevant to the topic.
Narration is borderline annoying, and includes pronunciation errors such as "eck-cetera", "vunerable" for vulnerable, and "ad-VER-sery", a word that crops up many times throughout the book. And "Me and Joel" is a grammatical error too shocking to let pass.

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Dreadful Truth

Revisado: 02-25-25

This is a book worth reading/listening to, as it brings to horrible life the literal fallout of the bombing of Japan in general and Nagasaki in particular. The devastating consequences visited upon the people, the wildlife, the urban development of the two cities calls into question the moral right of the United States to inflict such terrible carnage on the planet. The usual excuses provided - that it ended the war, that Japan got what it deserved because of Pearl Harbor, that Japanese war tactics were barbaric - are simply that: excuses.

The current occupant of the White House has demonstrated that he lacks the constraint exercised from 1945 to today and it is increasingly apparent that the world is approaching the edge of the cliff.

After awhile, the narrative becomes repetitive, and consequently, boring. The last five chapters could have been eliminated without detracting from the impact of the book.

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Boring Rage

Revisado: 02-25-25

I ordered this book after having heard the author interviewed by CBC's Matt Galloway. Finally had to chuck it as each successive chapter grew more boring than the one that preceded it. It just laboured on and on and on.
Narration was mediocre with some notable mispronunciations, e.g. "re-nuneration" for "remuneration". At least I think that's what she meant.

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OK

Revisado: 10-26-24

This is a Goldilocks book, not too hot, not too cold, not even "just right", but ok.

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An Illuminating Look At Canada's style of politics

Revisado: 09-23-24

As a former insider, Dr. Philpott provides us with a clear look at the workings of government - the hypocrisy, the vacuous exchanges that pass for meaningful debate, the political paralysis that blocks progress on vital files. I am a politically active Liberal but I have no use for the spineless arrogance emanating from PM Justin Trudeau and his governing Liberals. The nasty schoolyard culture that defines debate in our House of Commons is little more than a loud-mouthed competition for social network "likes". God help us all, Pierre Poilievre and his far right convoy troops seem poised to win the next election, an outcome that will probably finish off Canada's deteriorating system of public health care.

Dr. Philpott: please return to politics and run for leadership of the morally crippled Liberal party.

Narration is fine, but far too slow and plodding; 1.5 speedup brings it up to a comfortable listening level.

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The Dream That Became a Nightmare

Revisado: 09-02-24

The story is a familiar one, so there is not a lot to discover here, except that the Titanic musicians probably DID play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the unsinkable ship slid into the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

Several reviewers mention the wordy slog through the first half of the book, but, to be fair, the sub-title advises us that the sinking of the great ship also signalled the end of the Edwardian era, an obvious clue to some significant digression from the main plot.

Jenny Funnell's narration is pleasant enough, but her pronunciation of many terms and well-known names exposes an appalling lack of general knowledge. Nass-ow for Nassau, or Jawb for Job of biblical fame? There are countless other maulings of common terms in her narration, but these two are particularly unacceptable in a professional narrator.

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The Quest for the Northwest Passage

Revisado: 08-18-24

Excellent telling of Captain Cook's final voyage of discovery.

I studied the three voyages of Captain Cook as a child, but the material was cut, dried, and boring. Author Hampton Sides provides us with a look at James Cook, the man. This book is a large lesson in History wrapped in an accessible, engrossing study of loyalty, character, and seafaring adventure.

Narration is fine.

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BOR-ing

Revisado: 08-01-24

Given the current, very bad posthumous publicity surrounding fellow Canadian Alice Munro, I decided to read this collection of her short stories. I have listened to 5 or 6 of these go-nowhere do-nothing selections and am packing it in. I enjoy quiet, ordinary novels and stories such as those written by Anne Tyler, but these Munro stories are just boring. The narration goes on and on, providing little more than subdued background accompaniment to whatever I happen to be doing, and that's about it. Nothing happens. Nothing.
It's like listening to paint dry.

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Boys Will Be Boys

Revisado: 07-12-24

This is a pretty fair summary of the wanton behaviour of all Kennedy men, whether those sired by pater Joseph Kennedy or those offspring subsumed into the clan through marriage to the Kennedy sisters. Small wonder that Jackie did her best to protect her children from the wretched influence of these flawed men. Their "me first and only me!" attitude is perhaps best summed up by Callahan's referencing of the skiing incident where a gaggle of Kennedys zoomed down an Aspen ski hill while tossing a football back and forth in open defiance of ski patrol agents who were attempting to stop their reckless game. In true Karma-esque fashion, Michael Kennedy, son of RFK, ultimately skied headfirst into a tree and died.
Apart from a bit of occasional minutiae, there is nothing new here; however, all things considered, it does make for an interesting listen.
Author Callahan no doubt had a structure in mind while assembling her dissertations on the lives of the various Kennedy victims/wives/girlfriends, but the rambling result is a confusing hopscotch from one to another and back-again-later for all.
For a truly enlightening look at the Kennedys, I recommend Joe McGinniss's book, The Last Brother. Beware the Audible version: it is abridged and drastically diminished in quality as a direct result.

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Sad Story

Revisado: 06-29-24

Spencer's account of his boarding school days is a sad tale indeed. The cruel culture of these institutions makes little sense until one realizes that the system was designed to promote the advancement of the nation, not the child. Spencer's revelations also make clear the misery suffered by the present King Charles when he was forced into this barbaric system, a misery that clearly moulded him into the person he is today.
My husband - a Brit - described for me the cruelty so routinely dished out by these thugs when he was a boy, although he did not attend boarding school. It seems that this wretched treatment was inflicted on all children throughout the U.K., regardless of the institution.
The unrelenting misery of Spencer's narrative is difficult to listen to; I probably should have taken more breaks. Narration is fine.

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