David Benjamin

Great

Revisado: 05-02-25

In the long term this will stand out as a great American novel, it will last, and this is a fine reading.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Complex science, good narrative

Revisado: 02-24-25

This goes way over the head of a non scientific reader, but the stories are often fascinating, and the over arching concept is clear. It’s a good book that ‘s occasionally mind numbing. I know nothing, but I love physics books. I didn’t quite love this, but it’s fine, and black holes are fundamental.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Long.

Revisado: 02-09-25

This starts wonderfully well, but soon accumulates so much description, so many adjectives, that the images blur and dissolve in your mind. It’s overwriting by an author who feels he must write as vast a book as the canyon itself. By the end I was skimming like crazy, just to get out of that damn hole in the ground. Surely that is not what the author intended any reader to feel. Ultimately exhausting and not exhilarating. Maybe you had to be there.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Insufferable narration, wasted credit

Revisado: 11-27-24

This may be an okay book, but the hushed, conspiratorial narration forced me to give it up after two hours. Deeply stupid portentous pauses before ordinary words. You want to yell at the narrator(s)— Get out of the way! Just read the damn book! The narrators really wrecked whatever might be good here. I’d return it to Audible but I listened too long so it feels like a used copy. A wasted credit.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Tedious

Revisado: 10-06-24

Familiar situations and dim suspense. Read “The Little Drummer Girl” by John LeCarré instead. It’s long and imperfect but expertly written.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Minority opinion

Revisado: 09-29-24

Mannered shrill narrator exaggerates the close third person writing. Three strand story feels manipulated. Book is a chore. People love Kate Atkinson. I skimmed wherever I thought I could get away with it— which is hard in an audio book, and damaging in a mystery. I was glad when it ended.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Frustrating tease

Revisado: 09-19-24

You read this book for insight into the possible existence of unknown space visitors. What you get is a narrative clotted with credentials, acronyms, corny sci-fi cliff hangers, and mysterious conspiracies to keep the truth from coming out. All the stuff included to give the book credibility make it harder to believe. In the end it’s boring. I skimmed. This is a fascinating subject. This book does not do it justice.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Fascinating report from a distant land

Revisado: 09-14-24

In the language of Nate Silver, I am a lifelong Villager— conventional, square, behind every curve. Like the Lewis & Clark of advanced probabilistic thinking, he brings back vivid reports of a world I dimly perceive. I wouldn’t gamble if you paid me, but his analysis of poker playing is riveting. He starts with something we recognize and builds out from there into increasingly complex structures of thought. He is relentlessly fascinating. This is a wide ranging, artfully structured book. He is a great witty companion. My only complaint is that this book ends. I wanted more.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Fascinating

Revisado: 08-06-24

About the vast, mysterious, buried Native American center of 11th century political, cultural, and religious power, just outside St. Louis. Bizarre, creepy, awe inspiring. A terrific archaeological study.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Literature by the ton, and yet…

Revisado: 07-17-24

This is a dinosaur from the days when literature was weighed by the ton. Endless, overwritten, repetitious, bombastic, with often preposterous narration marred by outlandish accents. And yet… you can’t stop listening. For all its flaws, this book is built to compel your attention. You can’t look away.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña