Debra G. Dudley

The virtual voice reader.

Revisado: 11-23-24

I was so distracted by the virtual voice reader that I only remember one story, "Words Kill Me," which was quite good. Most of the time I was on tenterhooks, waiting for the almost human-sounding virtual reader to go upside my head by mispronouncing a simple word or making some other bizarre slip-up to remind me of its absence of humanity. I don't think people should have to pay for books that are virtually read, and the thought of the great narrators I have enjoyed being replaced by these "imitations of life" chills my blood.

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Loved it

Revisado: 07-05-23

The only thing I didn't like about this hilarious, insightful, crazy-ass collection of stories was when it ended. As I became acquainted with this writer's intentions, I started saying, "Oh, no" and "Oh my God" each time he announced the next title.

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How soon we forget

Revisado: 04-26-23

By the time Mr. Rauch had reminded me of the way the human brain evolved, the way it works, reviewed millennia of human history throughout which we were a horde of bone-headed barbarians awash in one another's blood, and then finally asked the question, "How did we ever overcome this hideous mess?" -- I was on tenterhooks. Yeah! How did we? How did it come to be that I'm sitting on my well-fed behind with the leisure to listen to audiobooks, unconcerned about my village being pillaged and able to walk out my front door with the reasonable certainty that I won't get my head bashed in?

Untold millions of lucky people somnambulate through their First World lives having forgotten that our day-to-day existence is not the typical state of affairs for our species. Everyone should read this book and awaken from their amnesia; remember what it took to get here.

As I enjoy my third listen, I've decided this is the best book of all time. If I were a character in "Fahrenheit 451," one of the people who were memorizing books to preserve them in a book-burning dystopia, I would "be" "The Constitution of Knowledge."

Debra G. Dudley
Amarillo, TX

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Eight Arms To Hold You

Revisado: 10-13-22

Amazing. Confusing. In the end, everything is so ... NEAT!

Kiss a spider good morning.

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Perfect

Revisado: 08-24-22

I loved this book so much, I'll make this brief because I want to listen to it again immediately.

This is the right message from the right person at the right time, read by the same right person who wrote it. I was deeply moved by Konstantin's "lived experience" and that of his family. He successfully lays out the sticky web of wokeness that has engulfed the world in an entertaining, uncomplicated way. All you've gotta do is open your ears.

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yikes

Revisado: 07-27-22

The narrator, his voice a strangely soothing blend of Carl Sagan and Rod Serling, is the perfect delivery device for this morbid material. No light summer read, this -- Iistened to it four times. I didn't know whether to feel horrified or amused, so -- paradoxically -- I did both!

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Short Stories Alive & Kickin'

Revisado: 03-23-22

I grew up on short stories produced during the "golden age" of sci-fi fantasy, including the magic wrought by Harlan Ellison, Alfred Bester, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Bloch, Jerome Bixby, Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dickson -- stop! Can't possibly name them all.

With my bar for short stories set so high, it's no wonder that most contemporary anthologies have left me disappointed. Until this one.

Adam-Troy Castro has taken me where no short stories have taken me before. Some of these selections explore ideas that would never -- EVER -- have occurred to me. And while graphic blood'n'guts isn't my favorite thing, it's something we who read this genre must be prepared for. When the occasion calls for "unspeakably gross," Castro delivers with gory gusto.

The narration is fine, although the celebrated Stefan Rudnicki is a masterful reader, I personally prefer voices less baritone.

I wish this book was available in print version so I could buy it for friends who don't have access to Audible.

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Short but oh so sweet

Revisado: 09-24-21

I like short stories but usually don't get much out of ones that are THIS short. Weir has mastered the art of the super-short story. Each selection is superbly narrated and ends with a completely unanticipated twist. I re-read at least one to make sure Weir had come by the ending honest.
Give me more, I want more!

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Been there, heard that

Revisado: 08-31-21

This book didn't have much new information to offer. In fact, I've grown fairly sick of the trolley problem, the prison experiment and the electric shock thing. I also found the narrator irritating.

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Whoa!

Revisado: 08-19-21

I have been listening to these stories off and on for days; falling asleep (keep forgetting about your handy sleep setting). Today I listened to a couple of stories about the gods, uploaded consciousness. Suddenly I stood as helpless as a ten pin while the twelfth story, "Memories of My Mother," whirled into me like a titanic bowling ball.

My elderly mother died 15 years ago; I lost my 17-year-old daughter 28 years ago. This story released a flash flood of conflicting ideas and emotions that will take me a long time to sort out, if I ever do. The author has created a piece that, though quite short, is a near bottomless chasm waiting to be filled with the contents of some unsuspecting reader's id. Almost anyone could construct a hellacious memoir using this remarkable frame.

After I heal up, I'll start this book over and listen to it with my new ears.

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