P. Friel
- 13
- reviews
- 4
- helpful votes
- 78
- ratings
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8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster
- A Novel
- By: Mirinae Lee
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Life near the North Korean border is a zero-sum game, an ongoing battle in which you either win or you lose. This dangerous, shadowed netherworld is home to an unforgettable woman known only as the “trickster.” Inspired by the story of Lee’s great aunt, one of the oldest women to escape alone from North Korea, 8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster consists of eight dark and spellbinding chapters that follow this remarkable character and her family as they struggle to survive during the most turbulent times of modern Korean history.
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A great story and a great narration
- By P. Friel on 09-11-23
- 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster
- A Novel
- By: Mirinae Lee
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
A great story and a great narration
Reviewed: 09-11-23
I came to this novel after reading a very favorable review by Sam Sacks in the Wall Street Journal. I wasn’t disappointed. The suffering of the Korean people during the twentieth century is told by a woman who was intelligent and crafty enough to survive it. My favorite lives were about her reunion with her husband. The narration was flawless.
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Pathogenesis
- A History of the World in Eight Plagues
- By: Jonathan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Kennedy
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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According to the accepted narrative of progress, humans have thrived thanks to their brains and brawn, collectively bending the arc of history. But in this revelatory book, Professor Jonathan Kennedy argues that the myth of human exceptionalism overstates the role that we play in social and political change. Instead, it is the humble microbe that wins wars and topples empires.
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Devolves into political advocacy
- By Mark Fackler on 04-29-23
- Pathogenesis
- A History of the World in Eight Plagues
- By: Jonathan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Kennedy
Excellent short history of epidemics
Reviewed: 06-29-23
Pathogenesis is well worth reading. I agree with some other reviewers that the last part of the book focuses on what the state can do for the health of its people, but his arguments make a lot of sense to me. If history teaches us that government initiatives to provide sewer systems and clean water resulted in major health benefits for the people, so be it. This is more like a fact than a political opinion. Some of our current epidemics like opioid misuse are not easy to control, but doesn’t the state owe it to its citizens to try hard to end the scourge?
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1 person found this helpful
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In Love
- A Memoir of Love and Loss
- By: Amy Bloom
- Narrated by: Amy Bloom
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease.
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A helpful,healing memoir
- By Helen on 03-31-22
An outstanding memoir
Reviewed: 05-20-23
Amy Bloom’s In Love is beautifully written, seems utterly honest, and is heartbreaking. It tells the story of her husband Brian’s medically assisted suicide, after a diagnosis of early onset dementia. This is not a criticism, but Amy’s description of memory care is one dimensional. My wife developed early onset dementia similar to Brian’s 11 years ago. She was an MSW, and had talked about assisted suicide for dementia when we were younger. When the time came, she wanted to live. I took care of her at home for 8 years, which was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Three years ago, I admitted her to an excellent memory care facility. She is one of the lucky ones who has found a happy place there. I visit her often and she enjoys my visits. She recognizes me in a general way, sometimes her father, sometimes her husband. On the flip side, memory care is very expensive, and drives some families into bankruptcy. Thank you Amy for this remarkable book.
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Travelers to Unimaginable Lands
- Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain
- By: Dasha Kiper, Norman Doidge - foreword
- Narrated by: Holly Linneman
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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After getting a master’s degree in clinical psychology, Dasha Kiper became the live-in caregiver for a Holocaust survivor with Alzheimer’s disease. For a year, she endured the emotional strain of looking after a person whose condition disrupts the rules of time, order, and continuity. Inspired by her own experience and her work counseling caregivers in the subsequent decade, Kiper offers an entirely new way to understand the symbiotic relationship between patients and those tending to them.
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So relevant and helpful for my situation
- By AmazonCustomer on 03-22-23
- Travelers to Unimaginable Lands
- Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain
- By: Dasha Kiper, Norman Doidge - foreword
- Narrated by: Holly Linneman
Best book for dementia caregivers I have read
Reviewed: 05-14-23
I have been a dementia caregiver for my wife, who has early onset dementia, for over 10 years. After 8 years caring for her at home, I ran out of gas, and admitted her to an excellent memory care facility. I visit her just about every day. Travels to Unimaginable Lands is the best book for caregivers that I’ve read. It is sophisticated but understandable, explaining many things, such as why it is so exhausting to try to communicate with someone with dementia. Highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.
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Too Much Filler
- By J. Badaracco on 04-09-23
- Outlive
- The Science and Art of Longevity
- By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor
- Narrated by: Peter Attia MD
A masterpiece
Reviewed: 04-24-23
Dr. Attia’s Outlive is a masterpiece of science writing. There is so much to learn from this book. The medical science is communicated beautifully, and Dr. Attia’s narration is outstanding. As a baby boomer, I only wish all this information had been available to me decades ago. I am recommending Outlive to my juniors all the time. See you at the gym!
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Permafrost
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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2080: At a remote site on the edge of the Arctic Circle, a group of scientists, engineers, and physicians gather to gamble humanity’s future on one last-ditch experiment. Their goal: to make a tiny alteration to the past, averting a global catastrophe while at the same time leaving recorded history intact. To make the experiment work, they just need one last recruit: an ageing schoolteacher whose late mother was the foremost expert on the mathematics of paradox. 2028: A young woman goes into surgery for routine brain surgery.
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Not your father's SciFi!
- By Charles M. on 08-23-19
- Permafrost
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Natasha Soudek
A fine time travel story; superb narration
Reviewed: 03-09-23
I really enjoyed this time travel novella. It is fast paced and engaging, and highlights some of the paradoxes of time travel. A crystalline block universe that can still be altered! The narration is superb, and greatly improved the experience.
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Eastbound
- By: Maylis De Kerangal, Jessica Moore - translator
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
- Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In mysterious, winding sentences gorgeously translated by Jessica Moore, De Kerangal gives us the story of two unlikely souls entwined in a quest for freedom with a striking sense of tenderness, sharply contrasting the brutality of the surrounding world. Racing toward Vladivostok, we meet the young Aliocha, packed onto a Trans-Siberian train with other Russian conscripts. Soon after boarding, he decides to desert and over a midnight smoke in a dark corridor of the train, he encounters an older French woman, Helene, for whom he feels an uncanny trust.
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Excellent narration
- By C. R. on 11-30-23
- Eastbound
- By: Maylis De Kerangal, Jessica Moore - translator
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
Good story, outstanding narration
Reviewed: 03-04-23
A short, evocative novella. A young conscript gets help from a mysterious Frenchwoman. Outstanding narration.
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1 person found this helpful
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Blown by the Same Wind
- Cold Storage, Book 4
- By: John Straley
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Things in the fishing town of Cold Storage, Alaska, are changing. It's the summer of 1968; the men are wearing their hair long, the Vietnam War is at its height, and multiple assassinations have gripped the country. But some things remain the same. Ellie's bar is still the place to catch up on the town gossip, and there's a lot to talk about, from the boys who have returned from the war (and the ones who haven't), to the robberies that are plaguing the locals, to the new guy in town: a famous monk from Kentucky.
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Classic Cold Storage
- By Margaret W. on 12-22-22
- Blown by the Same Wind
- Cold Storage, Book 4
- By: John Straley
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
A fine yarn
Reviewed: 02-22-23
I really enjoyed this book. The story, set in the horrible, pivotal year of 1968, brought back many memories and moved me. The narration is outstanding.
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Eversion
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it's up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
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An entirely new level of science fiction
- By Possum Bean on 01-08-23
- Eversion
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: Harry Myers
A fine novel and outstanding narration
Reviewed: 12-28-22
Eversion is a very enjoyable novel that in some respects reminded me of Cloud Atlas, Engine Summer, and Life After Life. I highly recommend it. The narration is one of the best I’ve ever experienced. Thank you Harry Myers.
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The End of October
- A Novel
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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At an internment camp in Indonesia, 47 people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When Henry Parsons - microbiologist, epidemiologist - travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe: an infected man is on his way to join the millions of worshippers in the annual Hajj to Mecca. Now, Henry joins forces with a Saudi prince and doctor in an attempt to quarantine the entire host of pilgrims in the holy city....
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Powerful. prophetic, with the heros we need
- By tina on 04-30-20
- The End of October
- A Novel
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
Prescient and dark
Reviewed: 05-28-20
I have a lot of respect for the author of this timely book. It is well worth reading. Wright's fictional virus is worse than Covid-19, it almost made me feel that we are fortunate to be dealing with a virus that kills "only" ~1% of victims. Many of the issues we face in response to Covid-19 are foreshadowed by The End of October. It's a shame that Wright is unable to go on a regular author tour due to the present need for social distancing. If I had a chance to ask him a question, it would be whether the book reflects his impression of our human condition, or a fictional worst case scenario?
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