Spiny Norman
- 5
- reviews
- 2
- helpful votes
- 10
- ratings
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The Player of Games
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,579
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,077
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,069
The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game...a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great introduction to The Culture series
- By Ken on 08-04-11
- The Player of Games
- By: Iain M. Banks
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
A rollicking good time
Reviewed: 11-28-22
The novel is outstanding. The descriptions of game playing are particularly entertaining. The main character is charming and even the drones are likeable. This was my first but will not be the last Iain M. Mark’s novel for me. It was recommended to me by a professor friend who is quite simply obsessed with science fiction. This is understandably one of his favorites.
The reading is quite entertaining. Every character has a unique voice.
Highly recommended.
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Cloudbursts
- Collected and New Stories
- By: Thomas McGuane
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4 out of 5 stars 35
For more than four decades, Thomas McGuane has been heralded as an unrivaled master of the short story. Now the arc of that achievement appears in one definitive volume. Set in the seedy corners of Key West, the remote shore towns of the Bahamas, and McGuane's hallmark Big Sky country, with its vast and unforgiving landscape, these are stories of people on the fringes of society, whose twisted pasts meddle with their chances for companionship.
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5 out of 5 stars
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McGuane... I’ll Take You There
- By Rick S. on 08-31-20
- Cloudbursts
- Collected and New Stories
- By: Thomas McGuane
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
Read this book
Reviewed: 06-02-19
McGuane’s short stories rival the best of his novels. Unity, intensity and brevity: the classic characteristics of a short story, and is a cloudburst.
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Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 18,353
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 16,256
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Story5 out of 5 stars 16,208
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Made me question justice, peers and myself.
- By Kristy VL on 04-17-15
- Just Mercy
- A Story of Justice and Redemption
- By: Bryan Stevenson
- Narrated by: Bryan Stevenson
Vivid history of recent civil rights legal battles
Reviewed: 04-30-18
What made the experience of listening to Just Mercy the most enjoyable?
The inspiration of knowing that there are lawyers who use their skills to fight for those most in need
Who was your favorite character and why?
The author. He is a brilliant and caring lawyer but tells his own story with humility and an emphasis on those he has tried (and sometimes failed) to save.
What does Bryan Stevenson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Hearing the story in his own voice gives emotional life to the harrowing triumphs and failures. He imbues his clients with humanity.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Absolutely.
Any additional comments?
We read this book with our college aged children and it may inspire them to legal careers.
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The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,435
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,844
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,843
The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.
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5 out of 5 stars
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McCullough takes it to the next level
- By gregory m loyd on 07-12-11
- The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Another Tour de Force from one our best historians
Reviewed: 04-30-18
Would you consider the audio edition of The Greater Journey to be better than the print version?
The audio performance is first rate. The readers (including the author) make the stories come alive.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The description of Samuel Morse as an artist was very revealing for someone who knew him before entirely as an inventor.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The description of John Singer Sargent's controversial painting of Madame Gautreau.
Any additional comments?
I listened to the book in preparation for a trip to Paris. I'm not sure there is a better book for Americans traveling there to make the trip more alive and connect the traveler better to Paris and the rich history of Americans who found inspiration there.
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Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon
- By: Suzanne M. Desan, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Suzanne M. Desan
- Length: 24 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,320
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,057
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,045
The 25 years between the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Bourbon Restoration after Napoleon in 1814 is an astonishing period in world history. This era shook the foundations of the old world and marked a permanent shift for politics, religion, and society - not just for France, but for all of Europe. An account of the events alone reads like something out of a thrilling novel.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wish I could've given this course 6 stars
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 11-21-16
Lots of facts, minimal analysis, dry delivery
Reviewed: 04-30-18
What did you like best about Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon? What did you like least?
The course provides a lengthy, detailed narrative of the French Revolution. It has very little in depth analysis and gives an implausible apology for the Terror. I found her delivery very dry and her ungrammatical English is very distracting.
Would you be willing to try another book from The Great Courses and Suzanne M. Desan ? Why or why not?
Yes, but would suggest an editor review her prose for English grammar and usage.
Could you see Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
No.
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2 people found this helpful