Disher

Fun and Educational

Revisado: 01-03-20

Thoroughly enjoyed this narrated version while driving. Some heartbreaking facts are offset but never undercut by a good dose of humor at all appropriate places.

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Entertaining with a hearty portion of Wheaton

Revisado: 02-01-19

If you are okay with the first person, 1980s style of speaking.. and if you know all the cultural references (and experiences), Armada is highly entertaining. Wheaton does it so well, all the inflection, the emotional pitch, that I have to think hearing the audio book version is way better than I could have read to myself. Kudos to Wheaton, the directors, etc on that.

Beneath is a story that could go in several directions which we know just because the same themes have appeared over and over since.. theoretically back to early sci fi, but also the 'family and friends' side of the story is about the same level of maturity as an 80s teen movie. (Gotta love the Iron Beagle.) Cline knows what it is and is pretty open about it. Yes, I say it's okay to revel in your nerdiness. Sure, it is a bit of a guilty pleasure, although I'm pleased to say that I don't feel a bit guilty.

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Changes in science and scientists

Revisado: 02-01-19

The author is pretty up front about the lack of actual information available with respect to Mendel. The irony is that.. had Mendel not been meticulous about avoiding such leaps, his work would have remained unknown and or possibly would have made assertions that would have been disproven. Luckily for the author and unluckily for us, history is the interpretation of facts through the lens of the historian’s own research. It need not be proven because it’s largely anecdotal. In that light, I found this book to be everything I had hoped for and successfully had my own mind working, not just on Mendel, but on my own personal analysis of why this book had been written at all. Reading critically is as important with this book as it is with all its predecessors.. which I may have read and accepted without thinking about it. In that way, it adds to the body of literature that reflects our own time. We get 1) the life of Mendel and how his valuable work was ignored for decades, 2) the man who rediscovered and fought for Mendel’s rightful place in science (caveats included), and 3) we get a contemporary view of it all from a scientist’s perspective. This is what happens in the realm of untestable assertions, and yet, we hope that our current attitudes will lead to better science and better treatment of scientists (okay, people in general). History is an art. Nonfiction writing is an art. How to treat science and scientists is probably (probability is a science) still an art.. but we’re working on it.. hopefully.. one day we’ll have a better understanding of the best way to get at and use science. Okay.. maybe that’s beyond the scope of this book.. but like I said.. it got me thinking.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review...

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Child’s perspective of Death, Love, War, & Living

Revisado: 12-19-18

Shorter than GRRM novels? Yes. But then, so is childhood. Short enough but not the end of grief. I don’t think this is the same world of ASOIAF but you can see that Martin’s mind was working toward it. There’s still the assumption of 4 seasons in a year, for one thing. But it's almost certainly a building block.

By way of reviewing this as a stand-alone story.. it was beautifully written and narrated. Everything you can say about a fantasy, coming of age story can be said about this. It’s just that the details are a bit darker. Very real, special sort of beauty exists in this character.

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Answers and Questions

Revisado: 12-19-18

This epic transcription of GRR Martin, reading by Simon Vance, stands on its own as a delicacy of Westerosi cuisine. A morsel which may be consumed again and again as Vance’s performance works especially well.. sounding every bit the Archmaester who wrote it. Explanation of terms, elaborations of stories we know, suggestions of answers to ASOIAF mysteries, and of course the long story of the end of Targaryen dragons.. along with the things lost that allow some possibility of return. We meet the original namesakes, the personalities and their hardships. Stone burns. We learn to love Viserys, Dickon, Sandor, Arya, Samwell. Lots of people name their swords. We have distinct opinions of Aegon, Aegon and Aegon. Enchanting and thought provoking and simultaneously, for me, exquisitely relaxing.

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Incandescent

Revisado: 05-23-18

For hours after reading Jane Austin, my mind always tries to rise to the language of such a renowned and respected example of literary excellence, so please pardon this treatise on its accomplishments if, in tone, my writing both fails in its endeavor and comes off haughty instead of sincere.

Blich... Once you get used to it, it’s easy and enjoyable. Pike’s performance drew me in and I lost myself in the story even more than when I read the words myself, which is not always the case in narration.

I expect that I will listen to this recording every couple of years... about as often as I used to read the book.

Through the years, I have come to appreciate each character more and more. I’ve grown into them, grown out of them, and back into them again. It has made me long for sisters, and made me glad that I have none.

Mostly, Pride and Prejudice has just enough gravity and history that it occupies my mind, but not so much that it troubles me. It’s a respite from the world, easy to listen to during a long drive, easy enough to put down (if you know it), and easy enough to pick up again.

Hope this review helps somewhat to differentiate between all the available methods of ingesting this particular novel.

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We can dance if we want to...

Revisado: 05-19-18

Loved it!

I’m not even sure how to thoroughly review this book in the space allotted, so forgive my oversights.

I have been an avid video game player, a little frustrated especially in my younger years by my lack of funding for the necessary hardware to experience the games I played fully — which put me squarely in the targeted demographic, along with my age.

Our hero, Parzival/Wade is also a classic myth hero, beginning as a high school senior whose avatar is Level 3 in a hardcore game with the ultimate real world prize. He follows that myth hero path in both worlds.

That said, the story and characters are in no way the traditional sexist male, nor is it particularly feminist.

There is, in my view, an enchanting simple romance.

It’s not the type of story where everyone is bad, or everyone is good. There are clearly good guys and bad guys.

That’s as close as I’m getting to spoilers because it’s also true, apparently, that you either love it or hate it.

So here’s my vote. — Love it.

Oh. And Wil Wheaton’s narration is pa-ha-erfect! In many cases, I might not have gotten an obscure 80s reference had I been reading rather than listening to his voice mimicking a commercial voice, or cartoon, etc. You get the idea.

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What I don’t know is a lot.

Revisado: 02-06-18

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

As a grown white woman, I’ve known for a long time how the society I live in only half acknowledges the world that Iceberg Slim lived in. What I hate most is the rejection by many to make the connection from slavery to the increased difficulties of a “square” black person to the inevitable conclusion that if being square is hard enough and not rewarding enough, you get men like Slim and women like the strong, sad, beautiful women that were part of his life. This book covers urban life for a poor black man who never quite had enough of a strong male role model, from before the First World War into the 60s. It was a white world. It was a man’s world. With the information available, he made rational choices.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Phyllis... She could have done better.

Which character – as performed by Cary Hite – was your favorite?

Sweet

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Subject matter required thought to process my feelings so, I could not have listened to it all at once even if I’d had that option.

Any additional comments?

Cary Hote was impressive. I’d like to hear more books read by him. I think he could do mystery and detective type books very well.

This book was held up by Dave Chappelle in one of his performances as a means of explaining the entertainment industry by analogy. “Do you know what a bottom woman is?”

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Thorough. Ambitious. Possibly, as good as it gets.

Revisado: 11-25-17

Definitely worth the hours I listened during several driving trips I have taken in the last month.

I found it to flow smoothly from topic to topic, trying to maintain a balance between how far humanity has come while acknowledging how far we have to go. Occasionally, I get the impression that the author’s morality created a more subjective approach, but since I try to be as objective as possible, I get stuck with the thought, “Well, THAT was judgmental, but I guess that’s the only way to provoke curiosity, thought, and ultimately social involvement.” If the author has any lower aspiration than actually improving the human mind, I could not detect it, even if I disagree, in some areas.

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Lovely, Intense, Loyal to the book, Necessary

Revisado: 02-14-17

When you listen to a book you read 30 years ago, and it's a book about time, it seems important to read (or listen to) it again. It's about change. Dune begins, "A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct." The entire Dune 'saga' could be viewed as a warning to authors about writing well. Then again, it's not at all about that. My advice is to read this one at least twice, if you have time, to read it or listen to it at least 20 years apart.
The movies are okay, but reading or listening are both more loyal to the original and wonderful ways to take it in. For me, Herbert's optimism is still infectious.

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