john
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The Wise Men
- Six Friends and the World They Made
- By: Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 33 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 408
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 342
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 347
Six close friends shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos, and whose strong response to Soviet expansionism would leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day. In April 1945, they converged to advise an untutored new president, Harry Truman.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Dull with poor narration
- By KD6161 on 03-31-17
- The Wise Men
- Six Friends and the World They Made
- By: Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
Excellent book, flawed narration
Reviewed: 04-29-24
This book is terrific - one of the most momentous and ultimately successful periods of American foreign policy in history - being spoken about as a golden age of decision-making. The characters are fascinating and the writing excellent. A very flat narration - could almost be a computer-generated voice at times. And a ridiculous and repeated mispronunciation of Joseph Stalin as 'Stahl-leeeen.' What producer failed to catch that hundreds of times?
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J.R.R. Tolkien
- A Life Inspired
- By: Wyatt North
- Narrated by: David Glass
- Length: 2 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Story4 out of 5 stars 80
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford. His research on Beowulf is still considered a standard in the field. Tolkien, however, unlike most Oxford dons, stepped out of his role as professor to create popular literature. Tolkien’s best-known writings were The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, in which he created a fully realized world known as Middle-earth, vaguely identifiable as Northern Europe in a pre-history that never was.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A great story marred by an awful narration
- By john on 08-21-15
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- A Life Inspired
- By: Wyatt North
- Narrated by: David Glass
A great story marred by an awful narration
Reviewed: 08-21-15
Would you try another book from Wyatt North and/or David Glass?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why the producers chose this narrator, and then stuck with him throughout production. Nasal, high pitched, using an odd rhythm and accenting all the wrong places in the flow of the story. Terrible reading. I have 400 some audio books and I'm never had to just abandon a book like this because of the narrator. How hard could it have been to get a good one? Or even a less bad one?
Would you be willing to try another one of David Glass’s performances?
No, no, no, no, no. Don't understand how he got into the business.
Was J.R.R. Tolkien worth the listening time?
No, because of the narration. I will read the book instead as I am a huge Tolkien fan.
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6 people found this helpful
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The Heart of the Matter
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 560
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 471
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
Scobie, a police officer in a West African colony, is a good and honest man. But when he falls in love, he is forced into a betrayal of everything that he has ever believed in, and his struggle to maintain the happiness of two women destroys him.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Starts Very Slowly then Boom!
- By Michael on 05-21-17
- The Heart of the Matter
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
Kitchen is perfect for Greene's style and cadence
Reviewed: 04-11-13
If you could sum up The Heart of the Matter in three words, what would they be?
Brilliant. Sobering. Deep.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
Yes, because of Scobie's attempts to reconcile circumstance, love, faith, justice, duty, conscience, lust, and opportunity.
Which scene was your favorite?
Scobie first meeting the shipwreck survivors
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me think.
Any additional comments?
Please get Michael Kitchen to record The Power and the Glory and Brighton Rock, Graham Greene's other serious morality books. The current readers of those two absolutely pale in comparison to Kitchen.
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6 people found this helpful