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Micah Balch

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Very interesting book

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-25-20

This is a good book that is well written about an interesting subject. the narrator does a very good job.

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Simon Winchester did it again.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-25-20

I am going to be honest, I wasn't sure Mr. Winchester could make a book about writing a dictionary interesting. I was wrong.

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This is a very important book.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-25-20

Alright so here is the deal. I am a 24 year man from the country (where I still reside). So most of my knowledge of the world comes from The Jocko Podcast, reading books and listening to them here on Audible. Both this book and Ryan's fathers book "Brothers Forever" were unique, in different ways. Tom Manion's book shook me awake to the fact that the hero doesn't always survive. Which you constantly hear, but for someone with limited life experience like me, it didn't click because most the books I was reading were autobiographical. So obviously the guy I'm reading about will live, even though there are other people dying all around him (I'm ashamed to say) it was almost like the other people were not really real in my mind. The book Brothers Forever shifted my perspective on that front. Now this book broadened my perspective further, by illustrating the events through a lens that isn't even available to me in real life. I appreciate these ladies taking the time and making the effort to record their stories and sharing them with people like me, who have a restricted view of the world. I guess that's just a long way of saying, absolutely get the book, if you don't get something out of it than you aren't paying attention. The narrators also do a very good job. P.S. Get Heather and Amy onto The Jocko Podcast.

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2 people found this helpful

There’s some good information in this book.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-23-20

This is a wild story! Told from a partially first person perspective, and partially a standard historian perspective. It’s crazy to think that there was a guy who fought with Custer and then lived to see things like World War One and World War Two. He could have written a interesting autobiography about his entire life. The narrator did a great job delineating between rolls, even if he did go a little heavy on the ancient prospector voice. All in all this book is good to go, get and get to learning.

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Absolute craziness

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-25-19

The Vietnam War has to be the strangest War I’ve read about so far. You have a David Hackworth section where it’s a bunch of draftees being whipped into shape one place. And then you have rear echelon bases with swimming pools and steak and ice cream at another place. Then you have the wild Wild West like Ed Kugler in the Marine sniper scouts and this guy, trekking into the jungle with his posse and capturing an officer and killing his subordinates. It’s a insane story. You definitely need to get this book.

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1 person found this helpful

badass book

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-24-19

This man is the ultimate badass. I really appreciated the stories of his early life, It's very interesting to learn about the contributing factors of the person we get to see today. I think we all have the potential for either going bad or acting honorably, it just depends on which side you decide to feed on a daily basis. It seems clear to me that Travis' ability to act in the manner he did was the result of a lifetime of hard work and constant vigilance. I think sometimes people imagine that it is one moment that defines whether you're up for the challenge or not and forget that there was an entire lifetime of preparation for the moment of truth. I think almost everyone would be better off if we could act as admirably as Travis Mills does. So definitely get the book it's worth a listen. Now I'm off to listen to the Podcast he did with Jocko.

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definitely worth a listen.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-24-19

This is a very complex book, it jumps from one story to the next without much indication. So you have to pay very close attention, which is not a mark against the book. It's just the way the story is told. Regardless the book is most definitely worth listening to. The narrator also did a very good job.

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1 person found this helpful

Good information

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-01-19

My preacher actually suggested this book to me because he and I share some of the same interests. He was right I did enjoy the book. I think it’s a nice quick overview of Socialism and had some information about books that could give you a deeper understanding of the subject. The narrator was adequate to the job.

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Very, Very Well Done!!!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-12-19

So, oddly enough I became aware of this book through a side mission in the game Red Dead Redemption 2 called by the same name. Then I saw that it was on Jordan Petersons reading list which I haven’t been lead astray by yet. I’ve thought about it quite a bit and I think this is my favorite fictional book of the twentieth century. This was one of the most original books I’ve ever read, the only other book I’ve read that it shares similarities with is “The Idiot” by Dostoyevsky which puts this book in pretty good company. I thoroughly enjoyed this stories!!! I don’t see a single way I wished it was different. The narrator definitely did the story justice. His voice, inflection and pronunciation were all A+ but not only that you can tell he took his time to do it right because there were times in the book where there was dialogue and then a description of how the dialogue was said and the narrator had already put the correct inflection where it needed to be, which I highly appreciate.

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Not exactly my style.

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-01-19

Ok so here’s the deal, about half way through the book I was fully planning on giving it two or three stars because it just seemed to me like the author was just setting up different but similar situations and then trying to find one of the most dismal and dreary outcomes. But the epilogue encouraged me to try and be more objective, regardless the author had just learned English and I think it shows. The narrator wasn’t bad but was consistently putting in these weird pauses that sounded like a strange combination of recollective and exasperated. So, I personally didn’t enjoy the book but you’re not the same as me so you may enjoy it, I don’t know.

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