Tony Youngblood

Not a history but an academic study of interiority

Revisado: 06-21-24

If you're looking for a fun history of Marvel Comics in the 1970s, this ain't it. I feel like the publishers foisted the deceiving title "Marvel Comics in the 1970s" upon the author. He refers to his own book as "The World Inside Your Head." I'm guessing the publishers figured the other title would sell more books.

"The World Inside Your Head" is a more fitting title though. This book is not a history of Marvel but rather an academic study on "interiority" in '70s Marvel comics. I'm still not completely sure what he means by this, even after reading the book, but I'll give it my best attempt. "Interiority" in this sense is the degree that Marvel characters have rich interior lives, replete with thoughtful interior monologues, internal struggles, etc. The opposite would be the "less talk more action" heroes, who didn't have time to carefully weigh every move. After all, there is ass to kick.

If that specific subject interests you and you don't mind a more academic style of writing, then you'll love this. Although the book is quite cogent and quite funny at times -- and the narrator's voice is well suited -- I still found myself going into "mind drift" quite frequently. Very often, I realized that I drifted off and completely missed what was just said. I had to rewind and replay VERY frequently.

It feels like 80 percent of the book is just simply summarizing comic arcs and then offering small insights afterward. I found the summaries quite boring for the most part. The chapter introductions are entertaining though. I do want to read many comic runs that he discussed here.

I like the narrator overall, but he frequently substituted a similar word for the intended word. The chapter pauses are too rapid, making it hard to realize that one chapter ended and another began. Overall, I'd say this book needs another Quality Control pass.

I probably would have returned the book, but sadly, Audible stopped allowing returns for non-credit purchases.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Great story well told.

Revisado: 05-20-20

This book is A must read for anyone trying to understand mental illness especially schizophrenia.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Mesmerized by the rescue

Revisado: 06-12-17

Loved the book and couldn't put it down. The 'lost at sea' portion was hard to take due to details of their suffering, but the rescue made me cry. This book will make you appreciate those who gave Their ALL for your freedom.

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Loved it!!!

Revisado: 05-08-17

This book should be required reading in American schools. It opens our eyes to the freedoms that we enjoy.

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Editing / Quality Control Could Be Better

Revisado: 04-10-17

You probably know all about the book itself, so I'll skip to the production.

Jim Dale is an amazing voice actor who is perfectly suited for the saga. However, I have two gripes:

1. Someone was lazy with the quality control. Many words are mispronounced. "Apoplectic" was pronounced "apolectic". Tom Riddle's middle name "Marvolo" was pronounced "Malvolo" the first time it was mentioned. And plenty more. The editor should have caught these mistakes in the quality control step.

2. There is hardly a pause between end of chapters and next chapter titles. Editing is all about pacing, and the pacing here is rushed. For example, there should be a 2-to-4 second pause before the next chapter title, to give the reader time to process what they've just heard. But the chapters barrel on with hardly a pause. It is disorienting. In some places, there are long pauses in the middle of a paragraph where in other places, there are several paragraphs without a proper pause. Timing is the audiobook editor's true art, and this editor flunked.

I don't blame the narrator or the engineer for these mistakes. I blame the editor.

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Narrator and editing make this nearly unlistenable

Revisado: 09-07-16

The book itself is fine ... perhaps not one of Larson's best ... but nevertheless, engaging. But the narrator and editing make it nearly unlistenable. For one, there are pauses in odd places, which is quite normal in the recording process. (The narrator sometimes has to take a drink of water or re-record part of a line.) The problem is the editor did not fix them; he or she just placed room-tone over them and moved on. Sloppy pacing in the editing.

However, the narrator is not without blame. His pronunciations and choices on which words to stress are just ... off. Awkward. Compare to Scott Brick or any other competent narrator and you'll see what I mean.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

Great book, great performance, terrible editing

Revisado: 02-27-14

This was a wonderful book, and William Dufris is a very engaging narrator with excellent character voices. The problem is the editing. For example, most chapters begin without a sufficient pause from the previous chapter. The editor does not leave enough room for the listener to reflect on what was just said. This also leads me to wonder if the quality control is up to snuff, although this is hard to discern without reading along.

Pacing is the editor's art, and this editor nearly ruined a first-rate book read by a first-rate narrator. It's a shame I have to give the performance 2 stars since the narrator deserves 5. But until Audible makes production a separate star rating, this is what I must do.

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Great Topic, Writing & Narration. Poor Editing

Revisado: 03-09-13

I really enjoyed this book because I am fascinated with the subject of how viewpoint shapes the world for the viewer. This book seems tailor made for me.

The writing is engaging, and the narration is refreshingly excellent for books narrated by the author. I would give Horowitz five stars for narration, but sadly, Audible does not let me separate performance and production.

My only quibble is with the editor. Some sentences feature a long pause for no particular reason. Other gaps are rushed. Horowitz's rhythm is quite good, but I suspect the editor grew complacent and forgot that some pauses are not intentional (pausing for a drink, the pause before a punch in, etc) and left them in without really listening.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Poor production mars possibly entertaining book

Revisado: 01-27-13

I can't really comment on the quality of the book itself. I had to stop listening after a few hours in. Why?

Two reasons.

First, the narrator reads the book as if he were a Shakespearean actor at a community playhouse, very hammy and very distracting.

Second, the audio editor did a terrible job with the pacing. Even the chapters are read with no break between the sentence before and after. Normally, there's a 4 second pause between chapters. Here, there is NO pause.

I'll give this book another try if a different team makes another production of it.

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Great Book -- The Read's Pacing is too Brisk

Revisado: 01-02-13

I thoroughly enjoyed Too Big to Fail, however, I felt the information-dense material could have used a slower pacing between important lines. The audio editor did not leave enough room between paragraphs to let the material sink in. I found myself rewinding this book to catch missed details moreso than any other I've listened to on Audible. The editor also left in so many breaths that they become a source of constant distraction. Half the number of breath noises and an editor more skilled in the art of pacing (or less rushed, you pick) would have served the material better.

The narrator did a fairly good job. I would rate his performance a 3.5. The two stars I listed above are for the editing.

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