RedDogRunning

Timeless wisdom for all ages

Revisado: 03-24-20

I completed listening to this the other day. It is well narrated by Grover Gardener and made for great listening. Unfortunately BF never finished his autobiography - this book ended in 1757, just after he traveled to London, leaving me wanting the rest of the story.

I immediately started reading "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life", written by Walter Isaacson and narrated by Nelson Runger (one of my favorite narrators). This biography frequently refers to Franklin's autobiography. I was very glad I had listened to the autobiography first since it helps me me appreciate the additional richness of detail provided by Isaacson.

You cannot help but enjoy this rendition of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. His lessons are timeless and particularly relevant to our world today.Kicking back and listening to what you may come to feel is Franklin himself is a hoot not to be missed.

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A special mindset is required

Revisado: 11-27-19

I enjoyed "Mornings On Horseback". There are some amazing stories of epic endurance embedded in the depths of this story - golden nuggets I'll leave for you to find.

Listening to this book requires a radically different mindset than other McCullough books. You need to want to understand an amazingly complex family interaction and how it created the fascinating subject of this book, Expect that once the character is formed, the book’s goal has been achieved; it will end on that note. The rest of the subject’s life will be untold, unlike a normal biography. That abrupt ending will be hard for most listeners. The reason for this is not explained until Chapter 50, the end of the book. This is not so much a biography as it is a study in character development of a most amazing political leader.

This book, like all of McCullough’s writing, is very well researched.

I appear to be an exception in enjoying the pace of the narration. When you fall under the spell of this story, the pace is perfect – but you need to enter a special place, to establish harmony with the narration – otherwise the deliberate cadence may drive you crazy.

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Exceeded my expectations - new knowledge here.

Revisado: 11-07-19

This audiobook greatly exceeded my expectations.

I had some understanding of some of the author's picks but there were many new things I learned here that had been completely off my radar.

Each battle was descried in such a way as to make it remarkably understandable.

The 36 lectures in this course are well supported with a PDF that is remarkably close to the spoken word, but which has a lot of additional material.

I found it helpful to keep my iPhone handy while listening to these battles; that allowed me to look up maps and understand names and uncommon words more effectively.

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Considered a world renowned masterpiece?

Revisado: 05-02-19

War and Peace is considered a world-renowned masterpiece – now I can see why! I had my doubts at first but after listening to all 61 hours, 44 minutes of audio, I can see why War and Peace is world renown as a masterpiece. As I listened to every word, the richness of this book totally enveloped me. Not a word could have been left out without compromising the intense character development that is manifest here; I am glad I listened to each one. The size of this book is intimidating.

Neville Jason’s narration of both Volumes 1 and Volume 2 was outstanding - intelligent, perceptive and nuanced. NJ’s ability to assume a variety of voices and stay in character with them was a tremendous help. I needed his help with French and Russian names; there is no way I could have made sense of all the names and French phrases without help.

The book has stories within stories, much like a set of Russian nested dolls. This required more than just normal genius; it required the skills of a giant amongst great authors.

Largely a tale of five aristocratic Russian families during the Napoleonic wars, hardly a word is spared to put the reader into the mind of each character. Tolstoy is so detailed that I could not help but feel I was able to feel each character as an intimate friend with something of a mind-meld to each character.

I read Andrew Robert’s biography of Napoleon before reading War and Peace. That was a big help. This audio book, with no maps or visuals, needs help to maintain a frame of reference. Without previous exposure to Napoleon’s history, a reader will find it helpful to have a printed version of War and Peace handy or some other references to the battles.

Characters were fully developed – almost too much information. That was frustrating at times because many of the characters had serious character flaws and idiosyncrasies; some behaved so stupidly much of the time that I could hardly bear it (having totally lost track of the fact that I was simply reading a novel). The historical accuracy of the novel was a big plus for me.

Who did I relate to the most? – Field Marshal Kutuzov; he had a perfect vision of what needed to be done but was constantly second guessed and criticized by others who wanted more visible “progress and action”. They considered him too old and tired. Fortunately, he prevailed, and the French were evicted from Russia despite interference from all the “geniuses” as well as the emperor.

This was as much a book on philosophy as a novel. Epilog 2 goes into a deep philosophical discussion of free will and the destiny of nations. This Epilog probably looses a lot of readers. I found it challenging – something I may have to visit a few times before I feel I have extracted all that Tolstoy wanted to say here. The entire book seems to reflect Tolstoy’s philosophy regarding free will; perhaps Epilog 2 is a little overkill.

I am thankful to Audible.com for making this book available. It is a vital resource for anyone who wants to understand western civilization – so many lessons here. I highly recommend it, but encourage you take the time to listen to every word; let the story engulf you totally, wash over your soul, soak into every pore of your being.

What Tolstoy book to read next? Will it be Anna Karenina or Resurrection? Hard choice.

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Too complex to follow well as an audible book

Revisado: 08-31-18

I had a tough time with this book in audible format. Perhaps I need to read the print version. All the names and events were so interwoven that an intellect a lot more robust than mine is needed to follow the story-line coherently.

There is a tremendous amount of well-researched material here - it was just more than I could keep in tune with.I did finish the book yesterday; but there remains a feeling that I missed a great deal of understanding to the level the author intended.

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Brilliant Passion

Revisado: 08-17-18

I have been awed by Alexander Hamilton for as long as I can recall reading biographies. This book has only reminded me how apropos that sense of awe has been.

You cannot get a better insight into this country's creation than will come from this book. The crucial roles that Hamilton played in creating our government institutions has been described better here than any other source that I have encountered. Ron Chernow does a masterful job of putting the reader in the thick of the revolution and subsequent early years of the republic as the constitution and government was created. He describes brilliantly how Hamilton brought our government institutions to life in a fiery world of intense political infighting, intrigue, betrayal and duplicity.

Think politics is nasty these days? The first decades of our country's existence makes today's politics seem all too familiar and yet not nearly as vicious. The political animosity so prevalent then was painful to read about - sometimes I just became exhausted with all the infighting and bickering .

Two things stood out. Firstly, Hamilton's phenomenal and brilliant capacity for writing - simply superhuman, beyond anything you could expect from a mere mortal. Secondly the obsessions of Hamilton and and a few others. It almost struck me that Hamilton suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), along with a few of his enemies.

The epilogue was an inspiring story of how Hamilton's wife, Eliza, coped with the many disasters brought about by the evils of dueling and his premature death. Her unwavering devotion to "Her Hamilton" throughout their marriage and some 50 years of widowhood beyond, reveals her as a towering figure in her own right.

If you can read the epilogue without tears you may be one of the few.

I loved this book!

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A great history for the Economically literate

Revisado: 02-28-18

Any additional comments?

I completed listening to "An Economic History of the World since 1400" by Professor Donald J. Harreld a few days ago.
Some observations follow:

• If you already have a reasonable understanding of economics, then this history is a good read. Professor Harreld’s treatment of economics is pretty thin on its own, but, if you already have a grasp of topics such as Keynesian economics, then his discussions fit well with this Eurocentric world history.

• A verbatim copy of the spoken text is available in PDF; I liked that since sometimes the spoken word doesn’t sink in as clearly as I would like. It was nice to refer to the PDF to get a better grip on the professor’s thinking.

• The strength of this course is the access it provides to the mindset of the societies making financial decisions since the 1400s, access to their cultural mindset. The emphasis necessarily is on Europe since that is the basis of most of the modern world’s economic engines.

• One key takeaway from this course was the importance of innovation and the ability to accept it – that often decided who would win and who would perish.

• Another takeaway was how the lessons of history seem to vanish over a generation as far as a society in general behaves on the macro scale. One sees the same flawed thinking repeat itself over and over.

• The depth of material in this course kept me engaged; there is a lot of fascinating history to find here. But like every history, you can never get enough. No matter how many books you read on a topic you will always pick up a new perspective and gain new insights.

• I recommend this course, but you can expect it to take a long time to get through all 48 lectures.

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Productivity enthusiansts take note

Revisado: 12-21-17

Any additional comments?

Even us old buggers who may have studied productivity for years (decades?) can learn a thing or two from this young man's dedicated investigation of productivity. Chris jumped into this project with uncommon passion shortly after completing college.

I have to keep my radar tuned to new developments, especially what the younger gererations are thinking - this was a lucky find.

There are a lot of good ideas here and new views of old ones. I found a lot of things I want to start doing, at least more consistently than has been the case to date.

This is a good read but space it out and have a note pad handy.

I listened to this on Audible, but a print version will be very helpful to those of us who like to highlight, write in margins and take notes.

Time, Attention and Energy - we can all do better managing these and Chris Bailey has some good ideas to help us along.

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Productivity enthusiansts take note

Revisado: 12-21-17

Any additional comments?

Even us old buggers who may have studied productivity for years (decades?) can learn a thing or two from this young man's dedicated investigation of productivity. Chris jumped into this project with uncommon passion shortly after completing college.

I have to keep my radar tuned to new developments, especially what the younger gererations are thinking - this was a lucky find.

There are a lot of good ideas here and new views of old ones. I found a lot of things I want to start doing, at least more consistently than has been the case to date.

This is a good read but space it out and have a note pad handy.

I listened to this on Audible, but a print version will be very helpful to those of us who like to highlight, write in margins and take notes.

Time, Attention and Energy - we can all do better managing these and Chris Bailey has some good ideas to help us along.

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Excellent for a good grounding in the Civil War

Revisado: 01-13-17

Any additional comments?

I felt the need for a comprehensive course on The American Civil War after reading several good books centered on that cataclysmic event.“The American Civil War” written and narrated by Professor Gary W. Gallager fulfilled my expectations perfectly.

I have, over the course of a lifetime, picked up the usual sketchy understanding of the American Civil War common to most folks growing up and living on the West Coast – not much really. This course of 48 30-minute lectures was a perfect solid introduction. Now I can read history of this era with the confidence that I have a good broad based understanding of the sequence of events as well as their relative significance to the big picture.

Professor Gallager delivered a lively and fascinating presentation. I was never bored, but, rather, had a tough time interrupting my listening to meet the demands of life. This was not just a study of civil war military action, but it also dove into life on the home front (both Northern and Confederate).

I had never fully appreciated all the political pressure that drove so many decisions by the many military commanders in this tragic struggle - Professor Gallager was a huge help here.

I experienced dozens of epiphanies while listening to this course. One stood out - I found it surprising to learn that, until the Civil War, nursing had been strictly a male profession. Professor Gallager provided a fascinating explanation of how this evolved, and why, during the war.

Even if you feel you are well versed in The American Civil War, there is much you will find here as you refresh your knowledge of this country’s civil war history - this crucible in which our democracy experienced such a searing test of fire.

I highly recommend this course.

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esto le resultó útil a 32 personas