Todd P.
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You Never Forget Your First
- A Biography of George Washington
- By: Alexis Coe
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Alexis Coe
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Young George Washington was raised by a struggling single mother, demanded military promotions, caused an international incident, and never backed down - even when his dysentery got so bad he had to ride with a cushion on his saddle. But after he married Martha, everything changed. With irresistible style and warm humor, You Never Forget Your First combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have listeners - including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dads - inhaling every word.
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You Never Forget Your Worst
- By Wm Cole on 02-27-20
- You Never Forget Your First
- A Biography of George Washington
- By: Alexis Coe
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Alexis Coe
You never forget you're interspersed
Reviewed: 07-06-20
Never Forget Your First. More like. You never forget you're interspersed. For better or worse, this is a highly episodic biography of George Washington. The upside is that if you're not in it for the thousand plus page tome treatment, this little ditty will get you there in just under three hundred. The downside is that you really breeze through events, jumping in at high water marks.
Of course, a lot of the received history of George Washington is apocryphal and exaggerated folklore, and Alexis Coe puts paid to these myths. At the same time, in the preface and introduction, Coe makes a big ado about her work being a biography just like her largely, almost exclusively, male counterparts. The thing is she has done something different than them. So we can justly say don't believe everything you're told. In this case, either by folk history or in a preface.
In large measure, You Never Forget Your First addresses blind spots and lacunae left by Coe's counterparts. Be it conscious or unconscious, she has largely told a tale of George Washington's domestic life as it was colored by his historic journey from being reared by a second generation widow to leader of the continental army and first president. Given the interest taken in his domestic life, the journey unfolds with a particularly salient look at Washington's relations with his widow mother Mary, elder half brother Lawrence, courtship of Martha, rearing of his stepchildren Jacky and Patsy and grandchildren Nelly and Washy, and his troubling status as a slaveholder all along the way.
In the end, looking back on the whole, you never forget that the episodes are interspersed. The Never Forget Your First treatment perhaps serves as antidote to the hero worship and cult of masculinity that so marks biographers up to David McCullough and Ron Chernow. Side note, her calling them "thigh men" for their infatuation with Washington's physique and virility is laugh out loud funny. At the same time, the more episodic nature of this well-nigh alternative or counter biography, leaves you feeling that you need both to get a fuller picture. You need David McCullough or Ron Chernow to get the picture of the journey. In the same breath, you need an entry like this to take a deeper look at his personal life and problematic relationship to slavery.
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An Act of God
- By: David Javerbaum
- Narrated by: Sean Hayes, Cheyenne Jackson, Colman Domingo, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
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The One with the first and last word on everything has finally arrived to set the record straight. After many millennia, and in just 90 minutes, God (assisted by his devoted angels) answers some of the deepest questions that have plagued mankind since Creation.
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Not funny at all.
- By Beto on 04-07-20
- An Act of God
- By: David Javerbaum
- Narrated by: Sean Hayes, Cheyenne Jackson, Colman Domingo, Patrick Page
short, irreverent, kind of funny, and forgettable
Reviewed: 04-22-20
Almost saw this on Broadway when it was making its rounds a few years ago. It's short, irreverent, decently funny, worth a few laughs. You'll forget about it after you're done
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The Reactionary Mind
- Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump
- By: Corey Robin
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Reactionary Mind, Robin traces conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution. He argues that the right was inspired, and is still united, by its hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market; others oppose it. Some criticize the state; others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality - while simultaneously making populist appeals to the masses.
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This is a brilliant book.
- By Will2Combat on 04-10-19
- The Reactionary Mind
- Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump
- By: Corey Robin
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
Interesting, a bit disorganized
Reviewed: 11-30-19
This books responds to a need. What's been needed is a theoretical elaboration of political conservatism. There have been plenty of those but, for the most part, they have been provided by conservatives so they were partisan and they were attempting to redefine the movement.
What Corey Robin provides is a survey of conservative theory and some practice. In chronological order, Robin takes his survey through Hobbes, Burke, Nietzsche, Hayek and Austrian school, mid-century American reaction, Ayn Rand, Bush-era neocon warmongering, Scalia, and Trump. Robin posits a unifying definition of reaction throughout.
The biggest shortcoming is the episodic nature of the survey. As this plays out throughout the book, the chronology is not as clean as it should be and the consistency of the episodes changes throughout the survey. For instance, after moving on from Burke, Robin circles back to him in subsequent chapters for additional excursions. This time and space would have been better spent flushing out one of the main premises of the second half of the book, where Robin posits two strains of reactionary types, following in the lineage of Nietzsche and the militaristic type on the one hand and on the other hand the Austrian school and the captain of industry entrepreneur type.
Despite these shortcomings, it is still an enjoyable book. Robin was responding to a need and he contributed to the literature on conservatism and reaction by do so. While he didn't write the definitive guide to conservatism and reaction, he did provide an edifying and at times stimulating tome.
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Man's Search for Meaning
- By: Viktor E. Frankl
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Man’s Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl’s struggle to hold on to hope during the unspeakable horrors of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering, but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.
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Read This if You're Very Sick and/or Thinking About Ending Your Life
- By Derek on 07-21-15
- Man's Search for Meaning
- By: Viktor E. Frankl
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
Testament to survival. So so psychological theory
Reviewed: 04-29-19
After about 15 years since first reading it, I decided to reread this book. The current editions of this book are broken into three sections: 1) his experiences in the camps, 2) a summary of his school of therapy, 3) a post-script from the 1980s.
The first section, chronicling his experiences in the camps, is the strongest. What sets his reportage apart, and differentiates him from much of the other first-hand camp and Auschwitz accounts, is placing his account within his psychological framework. Frankl interprets his experience and the other detainees' experiences in light of his psychological constructs. To his credit, and this is part of his enduring legacy, he was a keen observer of the camps and his constructs help explain the behavior, motivations, dynamics experienced there. Among other things, Frankl noticed an intriguing behavior in relation to a cigarette, an otherwise mundane object even in the camps but worth a soup in trade. He noticed that detainees who had went on to perish in the next few days tended to smoke the cigarette rather than holding onto it as tender for a meal. This he took as a sign that they had at long-length lost their last resistance. Call it the will to live. This is the kernel at the center of his theory of meaning and purpose.
The second and third sections were considerably weaker; they are pretty much standard post-Freudian fare. Even though they are weaker, in the main weaker expositionally compared to the first part, they are necessary to flesh out the remainder of the theory. Frankl posits three paths for man to construct and find meaning in the world: 1) through activity, such as work, careers, and volunteerism; 2) passively: by encountering someone, e.g. through love, or experiencing something, e.g. through art, religion, and aesthetic experience; and 3) by the attitude we take towards unavoidable suffering. The third path we do well to understand as the insight Frankl has pulled from the harrowing camp experience. Reinterpreted this path through suffering can remind us of the negative observe side of religious experience.
It is a somewhat annoying artifact from the early and mid 20th century that every therapeutic methodology needed to hang up a sign convocating its own "school." This is famous annoyance of the "-isms" played out in the microcosm of therapy staring with and continuing after Freud. The problem is that the world, especially the human world, is complex, and they are each partially right and each partially overstate the influence of the aspect they describe. If you were able to run a regression of underlying mechanisms posited by the various theories, they would each explain x percent and y percent of the human psychological situation. In the end, we need the Freudian theory to explain the drives and their relation to the preconscious, conscious, and unconscious. It's to Frankl's credit to recognize and rediscover that we do need meaning, and this situation is generalizable inside and outside the camps, and that one of the problems facing 20th century man has been the lack of meaning and lack of rootedness that was previously described under the sociological concept of anomie.
Aside from the harrowing setting and experience in which he discovered this, it is an important aspect of psychology, but even in 1945 not particularly groundbreaking or revolutionary. In fact, this was at the foundation of the existentialist movement from its inception. Another weakness is that Frankl does not connect the search for meaning and the various human projects in which it is sought to the wider social or political context. This seems like a glaring omission given the time and place of his camp experience. The history of the 60s, 70s, and 80s also casts a narrow light on the treatment Frankl takes. The connection to the social habitus only amplified over the following decades. The problem of meaning did not go away. It could not be dust under the rug, and when it was lost again, it cropped up—via a very Freudian return of the repressed—in the rampant consumerism of the 1980s-2010s. A wider treatment would have made this apparent.
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Have a Nice Day
- By: Billy Crystal, Quinton Peeples
- Narrated by: Justin Bartha, Annette Bening, Dick Cavett, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
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Tony and Emmy Award-winner Billy Crystal leads an all-star cast including Oscar winner Kevin Kline (President David Murray) and four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening (First Lady Katherine Murray) in a performance of this hilarious and poignant story about a man desperately scrambling to put his affairs in order: to save his presidency, his marriage, his relationship with his daughter – and possibly his life.
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Midlife crisis in the white house
- By Kingsley on 11-02-18
Light fare.
Reviewed: 04-29-19
This play was a little slow getting going, but it picked up speed as it went and ended decently strong.
The strong points were the depictions of the relationships and its use of about the right dose of humor. The plot was sound enough for a comedy and the message was sweet, without becoming too saccharine.
On the other hand, the depiction of the presidency was pretty cliche. Something that would have flown in the early 90s like in Kevin Kline’s earlier film “Dave.” In fact, I was questioning the whole time whether this really needed to star a fictional POTUS. A congressman, senator, or high powered business CEO may have been an even more potent story; it would also have hit closer to home (like “Death of a Salesman.”)
As is, it was fine. A decent way to pass an hour and a half while preparing a meal or while working out at the gym.
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Lake Success
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Soneela Nankani
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Narcissistic, hilariously self-deluded, and divorced from the real world as most of us know it, hedge-fund manager Barry Cohen oversees $2.4 billion in assets. Deeply stressed by an SEC investigation and by his three-year-old son’s diagnosis of autism, he flees New York on a Greyhound bus in search of a simpler, more romantic life with his old college sweetheart. Meanwhile, his super-smart wife, Seema - a driven first-generation American who craved the picture-perfect life that comes with wealth - has her own demons to face.
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Really can't stand Arthur Morey's reading
- By Anne on 12-11-18
- Lake Success
- A Novel
- By: Gary Shteyngart
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Soneela Nankani
Fine. Could have harder bite.
Reviewed: 04-29-19
I liked it fine. Did not love it. There were times that I could not get into it. Other times I was engrossed and felt there on the road with Barry. The dual and intertwining narratives of Barry and Seema, conjuring a mix of schadenfreude and empathy, signal that we are still deep in the midst of the anti-hero moment. The narrative arc was something like a cross between Sister Carrie--the rise of Seema (Carrie) and the fall of Barry (George)--mixed with On The Road, on crack instead of LSD. Some of Barry's adventures felt to drag on; I would have enjoyed some additional time with Seema. Nevertheless there were a few good laughs; the satire, like a dessert topping, was laid on but not too thick. Other times it took us viscerally through the debauching of Barry with the grittiness that you would expect of a Grayhound reststop. Perhaps in the fallen world that is Trump's America, that's the fourth circle of hell deserving for the Martin Shkreli’s of the late 2010’s. In fiction at least there is still karma and comeuppance. The close felt both unearned and completely fitting in the current moment. Any fuller satire, like a topping poured on too thick, would have drowned out the underlying narrative, and would have landed the novel in parody or absurdity. In short, it would have made it a comedy. As is, Shteyngart delivered a serviceable funnyish drama.
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The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 10th Anniversary Edition
- Follow Them and People Will Follow You
- By: John C. Maxwell
- Narrated by: John Maxwell
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Abridged
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If you've never read The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, you've been missing out on one of the best-selling leadership books of all time. If you have read the original version, then you'll love this new expanded and updated one. Internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author John C. Maxwell has taken this million-seller and made it even better. Seventeen new leadership stories are included and two new Laws of Leadership are introduced. New evaluation tool will reveal your leadership strengths - and weaknesses....
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Incomplete
- By Yolanda Charles on 09-30-18
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 10th Anniversary Edition
- Follow Them and People Will Follow You
- By: John C. Maxwell
- Narrated by: John Maxwell
Meh
Reviewed: 02-21-19
Meh. Retread. Most of these "laws" are common sense business. Most of his examples I've heard cited elsewhere--sometimes multiple times--throughout the literature.
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Dynasty
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors. Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman emperors. It's a colorful story of rule and ruination, from the rise of Augustus to the death of Nero.
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Accessible, enjoyable history
- By Mary on 01-28-16
- Dynasty
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
Pretty good
Reviewed: 11-22-18
Entertaining, although not as good as Rubicon.
Overall an edifying narrative of the emperors in the house of Caesar. Bridging from where Rubicon left off with Scipio Africanus, taking us through the Roman Civil Wars, and the rise and fall of the House of Caesar. From the rise of Augustus, the establishment of the Augustinian dynasty, down through the fall of Nero.
Dynasty given its timeframe and subject matter was more a of chronicle than its predecessor Rubicon. A few chapters dragged on a bit. Others were attention grabbing. Was awaiting the climax like Rubicon, it never came. The rise and fall of the House of Caesar was more of a slow burn.Well suited for the audio book format. Solid narration.
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2 people found this helpful