Rick Hall

Not very useful

Reviewed: 05-07-25

I have read a couple of similar books recently. I found this one to have some good information, and I think the author means well, but really it was not worth buying. If you are 30 or younger with crippling shyness / social anxiety, then perhaps this book would be a good purchase, but I expect that even in that specific case there are better options. Dating Essentials for Men by Dr. Robert Glover does a much more thorough job presenting the same information, with a similar philosophy. I would recommend that book over this one for anyone who wants to get better at meeting women.

I don't know what was going on with the narrator. The pronunciations were so random. If it had been read by a computer, and the original text had a lot of spelling mistakes, you might end up with that result. But generally I would think a computer would be less random. I could believe that the narrator was not overly familiar with English words, except they did not have an accident that implied proficiency in any other language. It was well articulated, and the voice was clear, but the strange pronunciations, while intelligible, were distracting.

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Buy a different version

Reviewed: 10-09-24

This recording has a number of places where it skips. It sounds like it was transferred from CDs and those CDs had scratches or splotches on them. At least 7 or 8 times in the book it is completely unintelligible and there is no way to know how much you are missing. Certainly whole paragraphs, possibly many. And often at an exciting time.

I really enjoyed the book despite this, and the narrator did a good job. But you have many versions of Moby Dick to choose from on Audible. Choose a different one.

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A surprising murder in an unusual setting

Reviewed: 07-06-24

I really enjoyed this. It was a murder mystery in a very strange setting, with some very unusual characters. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but more than anything I enjoyed the writing. The author uses the most creative metaphors.

The story takes place in the modern day, but in an alternative history. In this book, the distressed Jews of Europe settled in Sitka, Alaska in the late 1930s.

The friend who recommended the book said that he was constantly laughing out loud. I thought some of the the things were quirky, but not laugh out loud funny. Probably there were a lot of jokes that I was not even aware of because I am not Jewish.

The narrator did a fantastic job. I think I would have struggled with some of the names and yiddish words if I had been reading the print version.

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Good writing, fascinating theme

Reviewed: 03-30-23

What woould happen to a city where the police relied on vigilantes for help? While the main character tries to find out how and why this got started, we get to experience the effects. This book shows us from the perspective of the criminals, the vigilantes, the police, and the general public how everyone has been corrupted, as we follow the attempts to chase down a violent criminal.

The writing was very good. The characters were interesting, and very convincing. Some of the developements seemed inevitable, and others came as complete shocks. I also enjoyed the narration.

I can't wait for more of the series to come out.

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Engaging story

Reviewed: 03-17-22 Listener received this title free

This was an interesting story right from the start. The characters were likable, and you really cared what happened to them. I will definitely be looking for book 2, but don't worry this one is not a cliff hanger.

The narrator also did a great job. It was really easy to stay drawn in to the story. The character voices were really well done too.

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2 people found this helpful

Good introduction for newbies, bad pronunciation

Reviewed: 08-06-18

This book covered a lot of topics. I was most interested in the rules and techniques, and when I was reading that part of the book, I was satisfied (I am a complete beginner). That was just a small portion of the book though. There is so much history and descriptions of different teams and competitions around the world. It is tough for the current events to stay current though. The book is looking forward to the 2014 World Cup.

My only complaint is about the narrator. Learn to pronounce people's names. Lionel Messi is an important enough player that you should learn how he pronounces his first name. Ian Harkes is not a household name, but it is an easy one to pronounce. I can see how Thierry Henry might be difficult, but I laughed out loud when I heard how that one was pronounced.

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Informative discussion of amazing music

Reviewed: 11-26-16

I have listened to several of the Great Courses musical courses, and this is my favorite (so far). Professor Greenberg explains that the Sonatas were Beethoven's laboratory where he explored a lot of his ideas. The music is fantastic, but with 32 sonatas the attention paid to each really helps them come alive and stand apart from each other. In other courses Greenberg talked about the influence that Beethoven had on the composers that came after him, but listening to the later sonatas you can really hear the starting point of a lot of ideas they developed.

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