Hawkeye

A glimpse behind the curtain with great payoff

Reviewed: 09-20-21

Really neat book and very interesting for any EP fan that wants to learn more about The Colonel. This is really well researched and Nash chose a very wise format in chronologically approaching the subject matter. It's a warm start but it picks up and helps to shed a great deal of light on the giant ambiguities of the King's career. I don't want to spoil any of this so I will just leave it at that.

If you are looking for a book that just burbles on about Elvis, you won't like this. But if you enjoy books that go into the lives of his entourage (the Memphis Mafia, his lovers, etc.) this is an absolute must.

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Thoroughly enjoyed

Reviewed: 10-29-20

This was an enjoyable approach to the NT and a fair sampling of apocryphal books. I grew to really like Professor Johnson's approach to concepts and he is a talented instructor with a unique pedigree. Stellar review of the synoptic gospels with respect to their individual approaches to Jesus.

Great follow up if you are looking for something after a David Brakke or Bart Ehrman New Testament expository. I really enjoyed this one.

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1 person found this helpful

Wonderful transition course between OT and NT

Reviewed: 10-13-20

Absolutely wonderful Great Course, and I really can't say enough good about Fr. Koterski's entire lesson plan. I am not sure what I was expecting when I purchased it, but I was quickly drawn into his philosophical treatment style of the sapiential literature. This is probably the most accessible comprehensive treatment I have found regarding the wisdom books/Kethuvim and it gives a really fair treatment to those works from the standpoint of all the major religions. Very complete (and entertaining) treatment of Job/Qoheleth contrasts and, if you've never been in love with the Book of Sirach, Fr. K makes it easy...

This is a niche course and I would suggest it fits well for those who have already completed a review of the Hebrew Bible/OT and are looking to dive more into the philosophy at play in, "those books at the end." Some really unique perspectives make this totally worth the investment.

Punctuated by psalm interludes (and some of that wonderful Ignatian spirituality!), this was just really easy to focus on, understand and complete. I feel Jesuits have such an absolute gift of clear and succinct theological instruction and this is no exception. I ended up absolutely loving this course. It's one to go back to and ponder again after you spend some time re-reading after considering the insights. Fabulous written material. Thank you, Fr. Koterski. God bless, sir.

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4 people found this helpful

Comprehensive, illuminating and entertaining

Reviewed: 09-20-20

Professor Miller delivers a comprehensive OT treatment which touches upon literary structure, tradition, content and narrative linguistics as well as archaeological historicity. This course is best focused at an intermediate OT study level, but can accommodate a motivated beginner - not an easy task for the vast topic, but well executed. Like most of the courses in this area, this is fairly Pentateuch / Torah focused and only nips at some of the wisdom literature, but that is clearly a course in itself.

The program was as enjoyable as it is informative - I would pursue further titles by this author. Wonderful sense of humor, almost Indiana Jones-like at times, and very well paced and throughly informed. Even handed and dogmatically objective coverage. Some great insights I had not heard before, which are always welcomed. I really enjoy the accompanying textbook.

Well worth the resources invested in listening and this is a do-again audiobook.

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A sleeper hit!

Reviewed: 07-08-12

I put off listening to this book due to a couple reviews that gave mediocre ratings. What a mistake! Lost in Shangri-La is a wonderfully researched and beautifully written about one of the more interesting "silent missions" at the end of the Second World War. Zuckoff makes an engaging narrator to his novel, neither becoming monotone or annoying during the read. With a true newspaperman's approach to the endeavor, Zuckoff delves into the history and development of his characters aboard the ill-fated C-47, the Gremlin Special, their hardships and a survival story worthy of a movie. The meeting of cultures of the natives of a remote Dutch New Guinea valley and the 20th Century warriors who stumble into their midst is just a flat out four-star recipe for an interesting tale. Enjoyable especially to anyone with an interest of the Second World War in the Pacific, this is a fine use of a credit.

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1 person found this helpful

100 percent, unapologetically, George Carlin

Reviewed: 06-25-12

No surprises in Carlin's own reading of his classic late career book releases. In this narrative, you get precisely what you expect. Social observer, hilariously literal etymologist and patron saint of the realists, this listen was worth it to fill the time on my drives to and from work.

It was interesting - and slightly frightening - to hear how much of his material is relevant, evocative and poignant even four years after his death. The book earned three stars for story only because this book is a stand-up routine and not a story.

I enjoyed it but would not recommend this if you are offended by profanity. Nice addition to the audio library for one credit.

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A decent book desperately in need of an editor

Reviewed: 06-24-12

It's hard to give this book a bad review, because I really can't blame it on the author as much as the editors at Random House for releasing it this way. The book is a story of the author's 1995 trek along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) following a divorce, the cancer death of her mother and a self-destructive meltdown in the modern world. It follows a very unprepared, ill-suited and (ultimately) very lucky, 26 year-old author as she decides to hike the PCT from the Mojave Desert to the Bridge of the Gods on the Oregon/Washington border. The book sells itself as a "wilderness adventure" book, even from the cover, but it belongs better in women's contemporary non-fiction.

The book got the Oprah Book club seal of approval during the time I was listening to it, and you can see why. It is an unabashed woman's perspective on a bucket list challenge. In the end, you can't help but feel torn between what is essentially a wonderful coming of womanhood odyssey and a book chockablock with short stories that have as much focus and direction as a shotgun blast.

Sadly, at a point only four hours from the end of the book, I was so utterly exasperated with what was devolving into a Harlequin romance novel that I almost stopped listening altogether. I stuck it out only to conclude that reaching the end of this book was every bit the analogy to walking the PCT itself.

First, the good parts: Strayed manages the impossible of hiking a majority of a really tough wilderness trail with little experience. She comes to terms with her distractingly untamed libido, former drug use and family issues along the way. Her raw honesty regarding her personal issues was gripping. The listener is truly thrust into her dysfunctional universe headlong.

The bad parts: The book's flow is continually disrupted by the author's insanely voracious libido. At one point nine hours into the audio book as she crosses into Ashland, Oregon, you can just skip an hour of listening and not miss anything. It's soft core porn, not a hiking novel. In fact, you'll probably appreciate the book better that way.

One would think this would be about how an ill-prepared young lady overcame the adversity facing her and rose to the challenge, ultimately steeling herself. But it's the opposite. In almost every possible situation where she can attempt to use her charm or fall back on the fact that she was an overwhelmed young woman in need of the kindness of strangers, she plays the Blanche Du Bois card. I'll give credit where credit is due, but she whines an awful lot.

Substantively, Strayed begins the trail in the Mojave Desert, not in Mexico where it actually begins. She then hitchhikes, in cars and on busses, considerable stretches off the trail. Ultimately, Strayed ends her trek on the Washington/Oregon border - far short of the PCT's Canadian terminus. Functionally, she hiked only around ONE HALF of the trail. You can't help but feel a little cheated by the descriptions of the novel.

Formwise, there are some powerful and very evocative scenes, such as when her horse Lady was put down or when she was robbed for $20 while stoned out of her mind. For the life of me, I could not amalgamate several scenes like these with the rest of the book. They didn't really offer any insight into her character development. There were moments of brilliant writing with no overarching direction to them.

The telling got a little labored at times, as well. The narrator had this way of reading where she deepened her voice, making every male character sound the same. At times, it felt like listening to the puppets from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood as a kid.

I really wanted to give this book five stars when I started it and for most of the book it held out. If you are going to invest 13 hours of your life on this, be prepared for what you are going to get. In the end, I felt this pulled out a 2.5 star rating overall.

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36 people found this helpful

Dr. Denis Leary, LMAO

Reviewed: 04-29-12

"Why We Suck" is a game changer from you'd expect from Denis Leary in his stand-up role - if the addition of his Emerson College bestowed pedigree to the cover isn't already too much of a hint.

This book discusses lessons learned in a life grown up Irish Catholic in America. Breaking from his style of staccato salvos of rants, "Why We Suck" is the most sedate of Leary's works to date. Fortunately it is delivered without losing the irreverent and honest bullyragging style which is also Leary's stand-up hallmark. He still pulls no punches, but his delivery is noticeably more premeditated (and probably more funny because of it). Take heart: it works really well.

What's most striking about this book is that Leary practically makes you feel like you're sitting down with an old college buddy you haven't seen for years, talking about 'what the hell could have possibly happened' to you guys between 20 and 50. "Why We Suck" actually delivers some poignant and brutally humorous observations in what I'd call Leary's most "mature" stand-up piece to date.

There are a few slower parts, but that comes with the turf when you get any kind of
"intro/extrospective." I've enjoyed all of his early stuff, but this is probably the first program that I'd feel comfortable giving to my folks to listen to. (Well, at least the *most likely* one I'd give them to listen to...)

Denis Leary fans, don't run. He hasn't gone off to pasture: he still takes numerous hostages and releases each one, one at a time, with their pants down. Have fun.

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Like Earth, it warms the longer you stay with it.

Reviewed: 02-12-12

The premise of the book is quite simple and Jon Stewart works it well. The target listener is an unknown alien race which stumbles upon the book (in some format) sometime after the demise of mankind. In our wake, this (audio) book is what we've left to guide them and a candid guide to who we were, how we lived, what we did and how we did it. 



This one is a slow starter. I was a little harsh on this aspect at first, but the book gets much better after the first hour and it's enough to pull it up to five stars. The beginning is a bit out of the realm of where Jon Stewart does his best stuff and it sort of slogs along discussing geographical formations and nature in as humorous a way as you can do it. The good news is that it ultimately pulls out of its stall and makes the day.

Nice transition from print to audio. Once we get into the politico-social humor, Stewart shines. And this is classic Jon Stewart, which saves the day. His poignant, honest and sarcastic commentary had me laughing out loud during my jogs. It's on par with what you would expect from The Daily Show.

A nice, leisurely mind-candy listen that you can stop and start during your drives or runs and not miss a beat. Well worth a credit and on par with a David Sedaris or comparable work. Very entertaining and well worth the money.

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6 people found this helpful

This is pure brain candy

Reviewed: 01-29-12

This book rode high on the hog for a majority of it. I truly enjoyed it. There were a couple moments that didn't resonate with me (the Steven speaks for me sports fan spots) but other than that, it was really great satire that you'd expect from Mr. Colbert. Loved it.

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1 person found this helpful