DJ

Lovely story

Reviewed: 08-07-18

I always enjoyed David Mitchell, and this was excellent! Funny all the way through, except the ending, which was heartfelt instead. I wish there were more David Mitchell selections available! This was awesome!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Lovely story!

Reviewed: 07-21-18

Excellent variation on a traditional fairy tale. Lovely story, magnificent performances! I thought it would feel very short and rushed but it pulls you into the world and halfway through I was amazed to find it had only been twenty minutes, and I marveled at how much could be told quickly.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Excellent

Reviewed: 03-17-18

It felt like it dragged a bit in the first half but it more than made up for it by the ending. Very satisfying. If you’re reading everything by Brandon Sanderson, go ahead and read this one before The Stormlight Chronicles. Otherwise, you’re just going to have to reread them again! (Again!) The thing about this one is the amazing way he can write characters you kind of dislike and then you end up loving them by the end. There’s a lot of character growth and change in this one. And I’m still in awe of yet another book where he lays everything out for you, explains all the pieces, then suddenly they come together in an utterly surprising, yet inevitable way.
The narration was good.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Excellent, just a teensy bit distracted

Reviewed: 03-03-18

Interesting premise, the story kept me engrossed, and the narration was phenomenal. He was seriously great at narrating this.

Just one thing made me scream “no! No! No! That’s not how math works!” Call me a Bayesian, but if an event occurs randomly 1/1000 of the time then the probability of it happening two times in a row *given it already happened the first time* is only 1/1000 not one in a million, assuming the events are independent. Not a huge part of the story. Of course if one can accept the rest of the premise without an explanation one can allow inaccuracies. And real people in this situation won’t know much about probability anyway. Just a trigger warning for mathy folks.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Meh

Reviewed: 02-05-18

The narration was excellent!
The plot was enjoyable. But several things were simply annoying. Listening to all the character sheets being read felt interminable. It felt like some things were too easy to accomplish for the main character. The main character’s reaction to the women in the book was also uncomfortable to listen to.
The book also could have used a little more editing. The majority of it was in the point of view of Richter, except for a brief section in the POV of an ally. And the first time the author switched from “Richter did blah” to “The chaos seed did blah” was very jarring, because he wouldn’t have thought of himself as “the chaos seed”.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Good for examining hoarding thoughts

Reviewed: 01-27-18

I’ve listened to a slew of decluttering books lately but this one comes from a different direction. Many books start with an average house and attempt to explain the procedures and benefits of minimalism. This one, however, seeks to reduce even a slightly cluttered house by starting with a hoarded home. By examining the thought processes that those with compulsive hoarding tend to have, one can start to recognize one’s own cognitive distortions and try to correct them. Although the underlying idea is the same (declutter things you don’t love and bring fewer things in), this book tries to dig deeper into the “why” behind one’s accumulation of stuff. Although the average minimalism book was fine for helping me with most of my home, I really needed the deeper examination that this one provided for my problem area. It’s something that I’m still working through and building new ways of thinking for, but I’m heading in a positive direction instead of being stuck. Excellent book for those who aren’t looking for minimalism but just normalcy. The only drawback are a few sections with a lot of lists that got pretty tedious in audio format.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

It was okay

Reviewed: 01-22-18

It had some good perspectives on minimalism, but nothing not covered in most other minimalist books, except maybe for the focus on generosity in the last hours. It started well enough with a decent introduction into minimalism. What I didn’t like: the author’s delivery became very grating. He had a whiny, pleading, “sermony” voice especially in the last third, and I found myself angrily rejecting what he was saying (even though I agreed with him) simply based on his tone. Maybe this would be better in print and for someone new to minimalism.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Interesting and philosophical

Reviewed: 11-12-17

Contains a lot of good insight to the thought process and motivation for minimalism. Listened to it twice in a row and got even more from it the second time. The phrase that stuck with me: “you can still write with one pen.” It has tips which are deeper and more fundamental than other “decluttering” books because it’s more about the state of mind of minimalism. I’m no minimalist but I was motivated to streamline a few areas of my house and they’re more peaceful now.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Better than I expected!

Reviewed: 11-10-17

An excellent book full of well explained research and techniques which actually work. I expected it to be full of stuff I’d heard before but there were some interesting studies and results which finally explain the human behavior that doesn’t make any sense. (Or at least, points out the behaviors which act against what we might believe to be the case. ) It left me with much to think about and try. Well written. Excellent narration. Recommend waiting a few days between each hour long chapter to try the experiments.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Clever

Reviewed: 06-18-17

Very enjoyable, short. A YA novel. The main character breaks the fourth wall throughout to discuss his own writing of the book which I found mostly fun but occasionally annoying. Excellent narration.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!