Palo Alto Engineer

Not much happens compared to Craig Alanson’s Expeditionary Force books

Reviewed: 09-10-24

I listened all the Expeditionary Force books, and they were fantastic! I looked forward to every word. In contrast, I could not wait for this book to be over. I will read some reviews of books 3 and 4 to figure out if I should listen to the rest of the series or not.

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Inspiring stories of compassion

Reviewed: 10-28-23

More than fixing disadvantaged people. We need to stand in solidarity and have compassion. There is great wisdom in this book.

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Preachy and boring

Reviewed: 09-10-23

Out of 100+ chapters, about 5 chapters were captivating. For my first attempt of listening to the book, I gave up. On my second try, I did make it all the way to the end, hoping for something interesting at the conclusion, but was disappointed. At about the 60% mark, I just wanted it to be over. Technical articles about climate change are way more interesting.

The characters in the book all appear to agree that terrorism against carbon generation and capitalism is a good thing. On two days over the course of the story, around 20 passenger jet liners are shot down, to persuade humans to not fly. Killing of the super-rich is celebrated.

The book considers capitalism to be incapable of saving the planet from climate catastrophe, so socialism is the only answer. Laws require the ratio of most-to-least salaries in an organization are capped at 10-to-1. The book talks a lot about post-capitalism and the end of economic liberalism (in the European meaning of the term). Communism is considered a flawed second best choice.

The narration is so dry in places, it is hard to listen. Reports of climate catastrophes are listed off like reading from the phone book, probably to project them as being ordinary daily accepted events. Some chapters are a reading of notes the a character takes during a meeting and do not even quantify as prose.

I suggest you read eco-friendly journalistic articles, they would be way more interesting.

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Interesting but long

Reviewed: 12-15-22

This is a very, very detailed story of Oppenheimer's life, with many high points and low points. The author goes out of his way to tell the whole truth. Years of research must have gone into it. It captures the reality of the times. It audio quality is a bit inconsistent

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of the 7 Foundation books, this is the weakest

Reviewed: 02-16-22

First of all, the performance is horrible. The story connects a few dots from the other books, but lacks the drama of all the other books. You should read the other six books first, then maybe skip this one.

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Horrible Performance, Great Story

Reviewed: 01-20-22

The reading of this book was the worst performance I have experienced so far. Every syllable was individually pronounced in a slow and mechanical way. For the first time, I had to increase the reading speed to 1.1X, just to make it feel something like normal speech. According to other reviews, "Forward the Foundation" might have a worse reading. I am going to hear that book next.

The story was excellent, but a bit long-winded. "Foundation's Edge" was better.

BTW, if you have not yet read all the Foundation books, I suggest you read them in the order published, not in Foundation-time order.

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Better than the Foundation Trilogy

Reviewed: 12-17-21

Great story. Performed excellently in this edition. I suggest reading this book before Prelude to Foundation, but I read this book after Prelude to Foundation.

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Truly great novel

Reviewed: 08-02-21

The novel is very well writing, and is captivating the entire way, down to the final sentence! I have not given a novel an all-5-star rating in a long time.

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Great for American History Buffs

Reviewed: 02-02-21

If you like historical detail and want to learn about FDR, this is the book for you. If you looking for something quick and easy, this is not the book for you. Most of the book is background about FDR's pre-predidential days, which are important to understand the man. I enjoyed it very much!

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1 person found this helpful

A must if you are a Janes Taylor fan, else not

Reviewed: 11-11-20

I am James Taylor fan; not a huge fan, but a fan nonetheless. James Taylor is clearly reading the script, and his reading is a bit stilted. That being said, the story was exceptionally compelling. It shed a lot of light on his most compelling lyrics, and exposed his many mistakes in a sometimes brutal way. At the start, he admits this production is probably for himself, and I concluded this is true. Most of James Taylors songs are, as he admits, autobiographical. He certainly has led an interesting life. I hope he does a sequel.

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