Craig

Well done untold tale

Reviewed: 03-08-11

Fromkin has written the definitive lay persons (non-historians) book on the origins of the Great War. The incidental events of that summer became the kindling for the colossal event of 1914-18. Fromkin carefully and diligently maps the terrain - literally and poltically - then leads us through a labyrinth as Byzantine as any. Yes, there was a person(s) ultimately responsible for what followed that August.
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For his next work, Fromkin could write the story of the post WWI century. He alludes to it's many consequences, but he doesn't set them out and analyze them as this book is not the place.


The research is topnotch, the writing, as Flavius notes, is accessible, and the narrator is excellent. 5 well earned stars.

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6 people found this helpful

Great Adventure

Reviewed: 03-07-11

Haggard was a much better writer than the snobs gave him credit for. The dialogue is realistic - the language pure Victorian. The narrator of this selection is good and separates character's voices well. She is high adventure which misses only in the lack of detail about the trip home. It's a wonderful tale probably better heard than read. Most fantasy, science fiction, and adventure tales have lifted plot lines, characters, and even locales, from She. That alone makes it a must read.

She is easily better than almost any adventure story written since.

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8 people found this helpful

Oh My!

Reviewed: 03-01-11

Callisto has been favorably compared to Catch-22. I have to agree. It is to the war on terror what Catch-22 is to the Mediterranean Theatre of WWII. It is a wacky take on the world we live in. Our hero, who winds up penniless in Callisto, Kansas - the result of a car breakdown - is a dunce. Yet he is an imaginative dunce who becomes less of a dunce as he digs himself into holes - literally - and extricates himself from them. Who knew such happenings could occur in your own backyard? This is a great novel of the new century.

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2 people found this helpful

No. Ah . . .no.

Reviewed: 02-28-11

Complete garbage and self promotion. Specious. Mumbo-jumbo of the most mediocre kind. Unsubstantiated, insubstantial, and intellectually incomprehensible. Oh, and did I say not good at all? Don't waste a credit like I did.

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2 people found this helpful

Sorta OK

Reviewed: 01-29-11

But just sorta. He accepts the popular ideas of how Christianity "stole" all it's holidays and practices from others. Most of this "stealing" is itself mythic. He also mistakes in basic biblical stories - Jacob did not rob Isaac of his birth right. He stole Esau's. That's just one mistake. He also misspeaks giving a retelling of the Gilgamesh Epic.

Someone claiming to enlighten others could do better.

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Hmmmm!

Reviewed: 08-04-10

A better title would have been more descriptive of the book and the author's premise. Perhaps it should be titled Neaderthal Man since that is what the book is essentially about.

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4 people found this helpful

It's Conan!!!

Reviewed: 07-01-10

I dunno. This is classic early fantasy. Love the genre or hate it, Conan is the best of the early stuff. Conan is Conan. Howard was one of the first writers to take up Lord Dunsany's mantle and run with it. Yes it's racist. Yes it's cliched. (Neither endearing but,) It's CONAN. Best to read one of the earlier stories than to start with this triptych, however. This set places Conan in late life after the many adventures in the early stories.

It's not Jordan, but without Howard, Jordan might have been writing in another genre.

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9 people found this helpful

Frightening

Reviewed: 07-01-10

At the beginning of the book you really question whether or not the author has her facts straight. How could it be that so many of us truly are sociopaths? But then you take off the earphones and begin to reflect on past relationships and you have too many OMG moments. There really are 4% of us who are without a conscience and who KNOW the world is theirs and the rest of us don't matter. You yourself know several. You yourself may be a sociopath!

Psychology is pretty generally junk science, but these anecdotes are compelling, as are the ones you conjure up from your own relationships. After listening to this you may see sociopaths coming out of the woodwork. Just know who they are and avoid them.

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1 person found this helpful

It's fiction!

Reviewed: 07-01-10

This is not a book to read if you want to learn anything in depth about Newton,although there are points of his persona which are accurate enough. That said, it is a great story. Kerr keeps the action going while filling in the characters as he goes. The feel of the late 17th-early 18th centuries is palpable. Kerr's Newton is no Holmes, nor is he intended to be, but the same subtle arrogance is a part of the character. The historical references, people, and situations all add to a well told tale. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is possible, but it's fiction! A good listen.

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2 people found this helpful

Great Listen

Reviewed: 06-11-10

Kuzneski has written a seriously non-formulaic actioner. The premise is pretty much hidden from the listener until well into the book, but that is not a problem since the action and the characters drive the plot. There's a compelling - real world/not so real world - mix of story lines which all converge without strain. I enjoyed The Lost Throne and will listen to more of Kuzneski (who uses his own name in a character's mispronounced reference to the unibomber - clever and funny).

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1 person found this helpful