Sally Lunn
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The Canceling of the American Mind
- Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All—but There Is a Solution
- By: Greg Lukianoff, Rikki Schlott
- Narrated by: Rikki Schlott, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Cancel culture is a new phenomenon, and The Canceling of the American Mind is the first book to codify it and survey its effects, including hard data and research on what cancel culture is and how it works, along with hundreds of new examples showing the left and right both working to silence their enemies.
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Good book, Important information, poorly read
- By pj on 12-08-23
- The Canceling of the American Mind
- Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All—but There Is a Solution
- By: Greg Lukianoff, Rikki Schlott
- Narrated by: Rikki Schlott, Kirby Heyborne
Good Anecdotes. Naive Solutions.
Reviewed: 10-16-24
I liked the breakdown of the issues. The typical solution, “don’t censor,” was less helpful. The advice to consider all sides and use counter speech only works with good faith actors, not disrupters and trolls.
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
- By: Neil Postman
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In this eloquent and persuasive book, Neil Postman examines the deep and broad effects of television culture on the manner in which we conduct our public affairs, and how "entertainment values" have corrupted the very way we think. As politics, news, religion, education, and commerce are given less and less expression in the form of the printed word, they are rapidly being reshaped to suit the requirements of television.
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Excellent Content Read at Warp Speed
- By chaoticmuse on 03-17-11
- Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
- By: Neil Postman
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
The What Inextricably Linked to the How
Reviewed: 08-02-24
I’m finally reviewing after one reading and two listenings. I’ll be back to this text. Postman’s genius is in having found principals which not just explain yesterday, but also today, and very likely tomorrow. Pro tip: The narration is excellent, but a little fast for my processing of this protein-rich text. I can “chew better” by slowing the audio to about 0.7 of the original speed. The narrator, thus tamed, sounds like an erudite, slightly intoxicated-yet-undiminshed, earnest expositor-friend. Works for me.
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Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era.
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A Man and Biography Relevant to Our Day
- By Darwin8u on 11-14-12
- Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann, Jon Meacham
Jefferson the Mind and the Dissonance
Reviewed: 03-13-24
Felt like a nuanced portrait. He could fix so many problems, but not the idea of people as property, in spite of his light touch at home.
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American Prometheus
- The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
- By: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 26 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb but later confronted the moral consequences of scientific progress. When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s.
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An American Tragedy
- By Edith on 12-13-07
- American Prometheus
- The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
- By: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
Solid, Complex Story. Flawed Audio.
Reviewed: 01-28-24
The text of the story was superb, and I felt like I came away with a nuanced understanding of Oppie's gifts, brilliance, and flaws. The authors (and Oppenheimer himself) did a very good job of explaining the shifting American understandings of "communism" in general from the late '20s into the '50s; how the same person's sympathies could shift over the decades with Stalin's flavor of repressive communism. (It echoes what I've learned from the families of Jewish communists in NYC that I know as neighbors; communism was seen as laudable in Spain, and preferable to fascism, but tended to attenuate to a more palatable socialism over time and due to WW2.)
Mr. Cummings narration was fine, but he'd obviously struggled with Strauss' name, and the audio patches were obvious and disruptive to narrative immersion; they should have re-recorded much more of it for audio quality consistency.
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Bonhoeffer
- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
- By: Eric Metaxas, Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner, Eric Metaxas
- Length: 23 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor and author. In this New York Times bestselling biography, Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer's life—the theologian and the spy—and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil.
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Mandatory Reading
- By cmb on 03-10-20
- Bonhoeffer
- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
- By: Eric Metaxas, Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner, Eric Metaxas
Decent Bio. Bonhoeffer as Evangelical? Umm. When
Reviewed: 01-23-24
Aside from those parts where the author tried to fit Bonhoeffer into the author’s own worldview, it was a good story.
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Franklin and Winston
- An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II.
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Franklin and Winston Review
- By Ronald Hull on 01-29-04
- Franklin and Winston
- An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
History of a Productive, Difficult Partnership
Reviewed: 09-20-23
Gardner’s reading is excellent. This story is solid Meacham research spun in word-painted prose.
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The Sandman: Act II
- By: Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman, James McAvoy, Emma Corrin, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
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In the absolutely packed Act II, the dark fantasy resumes and the Sandman expands into the French Revolution, ancient Rome, 19th-century San Francisco, eighth-century Baghdad, and beyond. New and familiar characters abound, voiced by a bright mix of performers, including Kat Dennings, Regé-Jean Page, Emma Corrin, Michael Sheen, Kristen Schaal, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Wright, and so many more, including fan-favorite narrators Simon Vance and Ray Porter.
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A real review after having fully read this book
- By Chuck on 09-27-21
- The Sandman: Act II
- By: Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs
- Narrated by: Neil Gaiman, James McAvoy, Emma Corrin, Brian Cox, Kat Dennings, John Lithgow, Bill Nighy
Lush Production with Very Good Stories
Reviewed: 03-13-23
Unlike others here, I found some of the stand-alone chapters among the best. Not all, though.
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Algorithms to Live By
- The Computer Science of Human Decisions
- By: Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths
- Narrated by: Brian Christian
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.
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Great listen, just don't expect tips!
- By Adam Hosman on 08-07-17
- Algorithms to Live By
- The Computer Science of Human Decisions
- By: Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths
- Narrated by: Brian Christian
Lessons from Computer Science and Pragmatic Living
Reviewed: 01-13-23
Very good overview of how the lessons of data handling (storage, sorting, caching, branching) apply to and arise from the human experience
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On Liberty
- By: John Stuart Mill
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1859, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty is an exhaustive exploration of social and civic liberty, its limits, and its consequences. Mill's work is a classic of political liberalism that contains a rational justification of the freedom of the individual in opposition to the claims of the state.
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should be read by liberals and conservatives
- By Jim Hennessy on 09-13-18
- On Liberty
- By: John Stuart Mill
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
Clean, Clear Reading of Essential Text
Reviewed: 01-04-23
On Liberty is a dense text capably read in this edition. I’d have liked just a little more EQ midrange removal.
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Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed linguist and award-winning writer John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the American social fabric.
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Thank You
- By Withacy on 10-26-21
- Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
Rational Thoughts on Modern Evil-Finding
Reviewed: 10-14-22
I’m a moderate, a position increasingly radical in this increasingly polarized American society. I’ve been politically unaffiliated since Gingrich’s harbor-no-dissent tactics drove me from the GOP. I’m sympathetic to and support in acts many programs considered progressive, but I’ve resisted the broad brush and persecution of contemporary “wokeness,” even if I understand some of the underlying motivations.
This audiobook resonated powerfully with me. I walked away from one dogmatic religion decades ago. I can avoid this one too, while still doing good works.
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