sam

great poems/dreadful reader

Revisado: 03-22-24

The reader is so bad that it sounds like a joke. Seriously, it's the sort of voice you would use for a cartoon--a bit like Wally Cox and Edward Everett Horton. Although there is no alternative reading of Gray available on Audible, you are still better off avoiding this version. Have Alexa read it until something better comes along.

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a good podcast episode turned into a middling book

Revisado: 03-14-24

The three main ideas in the book (along which the book is structured) are valuable. However, the presentation of those ideas goes on and on unnecessarily. If the main ideas were genuinely developed over the six hours of this book, it would be more valuable. It's not a question of an aptly slow presentation of the slow philosophy, but rather a lazy attempt to pass what should have been an hour-long podcast as a full length book.

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phony

Revisado: 09-05-23

Much of the book is padded out with irrelevant or overfamiliar information. There really is nothing new here. At times, such as when he tries to make an analogy with Chomsky's "deep structure" theories, it's simply dishonest (there is no analogy to be found between linguistics and Pink's banal point that many regrets are expressions of the same problem.) There is simply nothing here that 99% of readers will not already know.
So why the positive reviews? Can I suggest that the buzz and babble of a book purporting to improve the quality of your life can have a sort of placebo effect? Try reflecting on the difference the book made for you a year from now--or don't. Maybe placebo effects are worth a few dollars and five and a half hours of your time.

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the reader ruins it

Revisado: 01-15-22

This is Portis's last novel and a good read, but the reader is not terribly effective and sounds, frankly, miscast. Is it really so hard to find suitable voices?

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A reasonably interesting discussion of the book

Revisado: 05-18-21

This is one of several Thalia book club audios. I am puzzled how anyone reading the title or glancing at the duration could mistake this for the complete novel.

The conversation is enjoyable and relevant except for the contributions of Akhil Sharma who sounds like a lazy, petulant Sophomore who in his free time chairs the College Republicans.

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derivative and repetitious

Revisado: 07-01-20

I am happy if this book has helped anyone, however the information he presents here is has been offered previously in the world by many different authors, some of them even available here on Audible.

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Soporific

Revisado: 10-26-19

Shallow and amateurish---If you have even the slightest interest in this subject, you already know most of what is here.

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disappointing

Revisado: 06-23-17

There are few new insights here and certainly no "secrets." It's a superficial and often repetitious overview of the varieties of suspense and mystery fiction. It's possibly the weakest of all the Great Courses I've audited.

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PRETENTIOUS FAKERY

Revisado: 10-25-16

When I was first out of college, I remember reading Winter's Tale which was a new book at the time. Now, half a lifetime later, I tried to read this equally hefty novel and had a real flashback. I remembered clearly why I liked the earlier book: its extravagant language and fantastic imagery; I also remember what I didn't like: everything felt a bit shallow and false, everything from the literary and cultural allusions to the unsuccessful, overly ambitious plot that struggled to create a sort of nineteenth century grandness. It felt like an accomplished attempt to imitate great writing, but unlike such writing the novel ultimately rang hollow. There was no need for this book because there was not the slightest hint of a human being communicating much of anything or feeling much of anything. The book had no pulse, no heartbeat. And guess what? Around three decades later, A Soldier of the Great War left me with exactly the same feelings. as the earlier book. The difference now is that I am older and perfectly willing to put aside a book that has failed me. You can do even better and not even start this book.

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a decent, general overview

Revisado: 01-20-16

The book offers a decent, general overview of the changes at work in European intellectual life in the latter half of the 17th century. The book is for the general reader; anyone with much knowledge about the history of science or of European history in general is likely to find the first half of the book a little tedious, but the presentation is probably helpful for younger or less informed readers. The drawback is the 'characterful' (read Hammy) reader whose forced, overripe performance makes the book sound silly and superficial. The book deserved better.

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