onlineshoppinggeek

My second favorite version of this classic

Revisado: 06-01-15

Any additional comments?

I have purchased five different versions of this classic masterpiece, in audio or Audible formats, trying to find a version I really like.\

My favorite version (Logos Educational Edition, Bill Creasy) is narrated by Don Ranson, who sounds like an old, wise gentleman with wisdom and maturity, with a deeper voice, and no distracting accent. It also feels like he is personally familiar with the text, and is probably himself a strong believer in God and Christ. (I did not get that feeling with all narrators.)
The Don Ranson version also contains fewer archaic English words & phrases (For example something like, 'Whatever thou willest, giveth that thy will be mine and me for thine, for thou art....' That type of KJV Shakesperian language, which is in the David Cochran Heath version. I couldn't listen to the Joe McClane version long enough to know.)

This one with narrator Bob Souer is my second-favorite. The reader sounds older and more respectful than the other three below, and he has a deeper, more impacting voice.

The narration by Joe McClane is my least favorite of the five. But maybe another listener who loves thick Irish accents will enjoy it.

The other version I don't like is narrated by David Cochran Heath, with a U.S. Southern accent, and a very light-hearted & cheerful tone like "everything's fine and I'm super-positive & happy." To me, this tone does not match the deep, introspective subject matter (and probably not the mindset of the 13th century monks who were the source of these meditations & prayers.)

The other version I tried is narrated by Sean Runnette (translated by William Benham). It seems average to me, neither great nor irritating.

I am still keeping an eye out for a completely modern version with no outdated language, which nobody actually uses in everyday conversations. The archaic terms are off-putting to most new believers and non-believers, and can be confusing or misleading. There is simply no need to keep speaking biblical scripture in Shakespearean English, just because the King James Version made it popular to do so, hundreds of years ago. Christ did not speak English at all, so any version in English is a translation; then why create a translation based on a version of the reader's language that is hundreds of years outdated? Christ did not speak to his disciples and followers in a form of Aramaic that was hundreds of years outdated - he spoke to them in the very language of that day and year when he was there.

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My favorite of the 5 versions I've tried

Revisado: 06-01-15

Any additional comments?

I have purchased five different versions of this classic masterpiece, in audio or Audible formats, trying to find a version I really like.

My favorite version (Logos Educational Edition, Bill Creasy) is narrated by Don Ranson, who sounds like an old gentleman with wisdom and maturity, with a deeper voice, and no distracting accent. It also feels like he is personally familiar with the text and is probably himself a strong believer in God and Christ. (I did not get that feeling with all narrators.)
The Don Ranson version also contains fewer archaic English words & phrases (For example something like, 'Whatever thou willest, giveth that thy will be mine and will mine will to will for thine, for thou art....' I mean that type of KJV Shakesperian language, which is in the David Cochran Heath version. I couldn't listen to the Joe McClane version long enough to know.)

My second-favorite version is with narrator Bob Souer, who also sounds older than the other three, and has a deeper, more impactful voice.

The version narrated by Joe McClane is my least favorite of the five, because of the speaker's distracting accent. But maybe another listener who loves thick Irish accents will enjoy it.

The other version I don't like is narrated by David Cochran Heath, with a U.S. Southern accent, and a very light-hearted & cheerful tone like "everything's fine and I'm super-positive, outgoing, & cheerful." To me, this tone does not match the deep, introspective subject matter (and probably not the mindset of the 13th century monks who were the source of these meditations & prayers.)

The version narrated by Sean Runnette (translated by William Benham) seems average to me, neither great nor irritating.

I am still keeping an eye out for a completely modern translations with zero archaic language that retains a careful, reverent, serious, calm reading of this weighty material, as if it were a monk who had sacrificed decades of his life to commit to finding the wisdom which he is now sharing with the listener.

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I didn't find it informative or worth the time

Revisado: 07-05-13

Any additional comments?

I was interested to hear specific details about life after death based on Bible scripture. But maybe most of that content is reserved for the companion audiobook by the same author which is only 59 minutes long, "Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions". Unfortunately, in this 11+ hour audiobook the author spends hours arguing against all the incorrect ideas believed by "heretics" and misguided people.
For example, the first 3+ hours are spent explaining again and again that after you die you won't be a spirit floating on a cloud playing a harp without a body, without memory of your life, without your sense of self-identity. For readers who already understand that, you can skip the first 3.5 hours at least.
It would be interesting for someone with the ebook version to do a word search to see how many times the author uses these words: body, bodies, and physical. There are several sentences where the word body is used 4 or 5 times in one statement. Yes, there is "resurrection of the body." Who in any Bible-based church is denying that? Maybe this kind of information is useful for some readers who are new to Christianity.
About the narrator, his style did not work for me. I found him to have one of those speaking voices that focus on "sounding pleasing" instead of actually relaying information. Every chapter started to sound the same after I got lulled into a hypnosis of the nice-guy-with-a-kind-voice-speaking-nicely-and-slowly.

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7 hours of what should be 1 hour

Revisado: 12-13-11

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I'm sure the author means well, and he does make some good points. I probably would have enjoyed this content in a journal article or business magazine, or a one hour speaking presentation. But I could not endure seven hours of what should have taken one hour to cover. I gave up shortly after he spent 20 minutes describing how he sat next to 'Bono' of the rock band U2 at a dinner, and how great a guy Bono is. I probably could have stuck with it if he didn't speak so slowly and simplistically, as if he was talking to a 10 year old illiterate kid who has a hard time grasping new concepts. This may be an example of when it doesn't work out well for an author of a book to be the narrator of the audiobook version, and it may be an example of a 500 page book that would have made a better 5 page article.

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Read with discernment

Revisado: 07-11-11

I agree with several other reviewers that this book contains some helpful points, but also contains questionable advice and poor ethics.
There seems to be a newly popular mindset of 'the new rich' (whose majority may happen to consist of immature, self-centered, boastful 20-somethings who have made quick fortunes with ecommerce websites, books & ebooks, affiliate marketing, online advertising, etc) that is very popular with young people who are glad to hear that they too can become millionaires with the least amount of effort possible. The mindset seems to be this: For a person to be free and genuine, he must rewrite the rules and mores of society to his own liking, or at least refuse to acknowledge there are any. The actions that flow from this mindset include: Refusing to accept that success takes hard work, cutting corners whenever possible, justifying any means by the ends, behaving and speaking in ways that have always been considered rude and inappropriate, defining success by income, fame, and 'rock-star' status, using shock-value to attract attention and prove courage and independence, and judging maturity, honesty, respect, self-sacrifice, and patience as worn-out, ridiculous principles that no longer apply to the modern world.
In other words, apparently the goal is to live as long as possible as if we are still immature rebellious teenagers who want instant rewards without any responsibility. Don't get me wrong, I too plan to become financially independent, enjoy free time, travel the world, and do what I am passionate about; but I don't agree that the path and mindset promoted in this book is the only way or the best way to get there.

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