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Fix the chapters!

Reviewed: 04-23-25

Dear Macmillan Audio or Audible, FIX THE CHAPTERS. Why do the audiobook chapters not line up with the written chapters? Honestly, how did you guys mess that up?

Good book but Macmillan FIX THIS.

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Good but lost energy towards the end. Pun intended

Reviewed: 12-27-24

The first part was all about energy in the US and it was thrilling and incredibly insightful. Everyone, especially Americans should be required to understand the US's position in geopolitics as a massive energy producer.

The second part about Russia was also decently interesting, although it could have been shortened a bit.

Everything else just felt like an extended Reuter's article about random geopolitics that felt too shallow to be elucidating and too long to keep one's attention.

I feel the author wanted to write two books but made it into one and now we have this weird mix.

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This is truly a profound philosophy book disguised as another self-help book.

Reviewed: 09-17-24

In general, I’m the type of person who’s repelled by self-help books because they’re often corny and produced simply to help the author get rich. So I only got this book because it was on sale. Pretty much everything I intentionally read is on academic philosophy so self-help books often reveal such extreme philosophical issues that make them impossible to listen to. This book is not that. This was genuinely enlightening and interesting.

The more background you have in philosophy, the better for reading this book, which is extremely uncommon for “self-help” books.

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1 person found this helpful

If you want to understand how people work, listen.

Reviewed: 09-10-24

If you're interested in sociology, psychology, philosophy, or simply want to understand a massive part about the human experience you need to read this. Burke and Stets' explanation of identity theory is challenging and it can be dense but it's possibly one of the most valuable learning experiences I've had. It reveals how one perceives themselves within the social structure with more than just philosophical speculation. I can say that this book has contributed to completely changing the way I see myself, others, and groups.

I suggest however that you look up the figures mentioned or buy the book to go along with this because the figured referenced are not included in the audiobook.

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Your average business book with a few very shiny nuggets of advice.

Reviewed: 08-01-24

Warning: I’m cynical about business books in general so you should consider this review to have a pretty strong bias.

THE GOOD: I would like to thank the author or editor for at least keeping this at around three hours because most business books bloat their size to unreasonable amount. The author is doesn’t have his head in the clouds; most advice is hedged with a solid expectations and it makes for a truth worthy author. There were more than a few pieces of advice that were so good I wrote things down which I didn’t expect to do. This is definitely motivating to take gifting seriously, something which I believe is extremely underrated about in the business world.

THE BAD: Cutco is a “company” (they are an MLM that targets children) that the author appears to be affiliated with. His constant plugs to them makes listening to this an even more cringeworthy experience than it already is. You’re also in for a lot of sales guru stories and pandering to the types that eat that stuff up.

Overall, If you’re a real entrepreneur, founder, CEO, or whatever, you should hear this book out. It may feel you’ve entered the world of thought-leader slop (and you sorta have) but this is actually useful consider it’s length.

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Mostly entertaining, sometimes lost

Reviewed: 03-15-24

This was definitely entertaining and sometimes enlightening. I liked the breadth of industry covered. I hate to sound nit picky but a few moments of editing were needed, like when you’re 3/4ths into the book and the author gives a 1-2 sentence description of who Rasputin is like we haven’t been listening to a book relating to Rasputin this whole time. I also wish the author went deeper into the control these “Rasputins” had and covered more obscure figures.
I also want to say something about the political bias in the book. I’m not a conservative nor some apologist, but the moments of forced virtue signaling and irrelevant political discussion would have been tolerable if it didn’t steal from an already shallow analysis of the Rasputin qualities of our subject.
Overall this was decent despite its flaws.

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The absolute best solo performance you’ll probably ever hear from an audiobook

Reviewed: 03-07-24

The book was amazing and the narrator was incredible. I feel bad that I even got to hear this for free with my subscription.

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Choir preaching for those seeking cathartic confirmation bias

Reviewed: 11-08-23

I’m disappointed. Considering the books title, I was expecting a rigorous analysis into the prison system and from that analysis, an argument that would be brought to answer the question “Are prisons obsolete?” Instead, this book gives you something else. This thing the book gives you is what so many radical and leftist literature unfortunately gives their readers: choir preaching and cathartic confirmation bias. Throughout the book, the author lists statistics and claims about policing and prison (with thin/non-existent evidence) with hardly any analysis of the statistic. It’s like the author expects the audience to gasp at the injustice and agree with the implicit claim set forth in this lonely statistic, and somehow make the incredible leap that prisons need to be abolished. An actual argument needs to be made in this book, not a casual list of perpective-heavy injustices for a select radical audience. If this book or author hopes to achieve any of the abolitionist dreams talked about, a courageous exploration into the hardest topics of the subject need to be done FOR an audience that isn’t clapping before the show starts.

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So much potential that got diluted with unfocused writing and too many characters

Reviewed: 05-17-23

It felt like every chapter at least 4-5 new characters were introduced. Most of these characters who seem to do nothing at all for the story, and the story doesn’t seem to move after the first main event. Some characters were more fleshed out than others but most were near carbon copies of the last 20 just mentioned. I found myself mentally tuning it all out after a while and had to give up. I really want to like this book, and it’s not bad, but it just needs better editing - it needs to cut out all the fat and stay focused.

Maybe this book is probably better read than listened to. It’s easier to keep track of a longer story and tangled storylines when you can actually read the words and names.

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