Timpboy
- 23
- reviews
- 3
- helpful votes
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The Road to Character
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, David Brooks
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Looking to some of the world's greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint.
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Rich, textured stories
- By MarkM on 05-25-15
- The Road to Character
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, David Brooks
Very deep observations on human character
Reviewed: 06-20-25
Great book. The author used stories to illustrate the different aspects of character. Some are very engaging but others I found quite abstract and not easy to stay listening to. But overall I took away many insights. Definitely worth the read.
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Joyful
- By: Ingrid Fetell Lee
- Narrated by: Ingrid Fetell Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In Joyful, designer Ingrid Fetell Lee explores how the seemingly mundane spaces and objects we interact with every day have surprising and powerful effects on our mood. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and psychology, she explains why one setting makes us feel anxious or competitive while another fosters acceptance and delight—and, most importantly, she reveals how we can harness the power of our surroundings to live fuller, healthier, and truly joyful lives.
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Boring read of an interesting book
- By Angela Sauer on 12-02-19
- Joyful
- By: Ingrid Fetell Lee
- Narrated by: Ingrid Fetell Lee
Far better than expected
Reviewed: 06-14-25
I didn’t have high expectations for this book, but I was extremely delighted by the breadth and depth of insights. I work in construction so many of her applications to our structures and built environment were instructive to how I do my trade.
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Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73. Through the lens of personality - Stalin’s as well as those of his most notorious henchmen, Molotov, Beria and Yezhov among them - the author sheds new light on the oligarchy that attempted to create a new world by exterminating the old.
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Stalinist Tyranny
- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
- Stalin
- The Court of the Red Tsar
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
Stalin’s inner circle
Reviewed: 05-16-25
A great account of Stalin that focuses more on his interactions with his close orbit of colleagues and family. This book does not go into much of the general history but stays tightly focused on Stalin’s mind through the many recorded interactions with so many people.
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How Big Things Get Done
- The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything in Between
- By: Bent Flyvbjerg, Dan Gardner
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, new reality. Think of how the Empire State Building went from a sketch to the jewel of New York's skyline in twenty-one months, or how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to a product launch in eleven months.
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Great on Project Mgmt But Uninformed on Renewables
- By Richard Redano on 03-09-23
- How Big Things Get Done
- The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything in Between
- By: Bent Flyvbjerg, Dan Gardner
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
Great perspective on the factors of why big projects fail.
Reviewed: 03-12-25
The book was very intriguing to one who executes very large projects. The concepts were intuitive but the authors do a good job of distilling them out. It felt like the later chapters in the book were an oversimplification of the concepts and I found myself wishing there was more rigor put into the concepts at the end.
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Wasteland
- The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
- By: Oliver Franklin-Wallis
- Narrated by: Chris Harper
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In Wasteland, journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on a shocking journey inside the waste industry—the secretive multi-billion dollar world that underpins the modern economy, quietly profiting from what we leave behind.
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Big dose of reality - highly recommend!
- By Josie on 04-05-25
- Wasteland
- The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
- By: Oliver Franklin-Wallis
- Narrated by: Chris Harper
Great breadth of coverage
Reviewed: 05-02-24
I expected this book to cover normal household waste and recycling. I did not expect and was pleased with the coverage of sewage, industrial waste, and even nuclear waste.
I also appreciated the author’s self-disclosing style and avoidance of preaching unrealistic ideals or oversimplifying a very complex problem. The best books cause you to think, question and explore topics further. This does all of that.
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The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
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Superior non-fiction
- By Lila on 05-20-11
- The Warmth of Other Suns
- The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
- By: Isabel Wilkerson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
Great Awakening!
Reviewed: 04-20-24
This book is such an intimate and personal perspective on the lives of Black Americans and subsequent undercurrents of all American society both good and bad that still exist today, influencing our lives. I personally gained a much better understanding and deeper respect for the Americans of the Great Migration.
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The Grid
- The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future
- By: Gretchen Bakke
- Narrated by: Emily Caudwell
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The grid is an accident of history and of culture, in no way intrinsic to how we produce, deliver and consume electrical power. Yet this is the system the United States ended up with, a jerry-built structure now so rickety and near collapse that a strong wind or a hot day can bring it to a grinding halt. The grid is now under threat from a new source: renewable and variable energy, which puts stress on its logics as much as its components.
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A disappointment
- By Ronald on 09-24-16
- The Grid
- The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future
- By: Gretchen Bakke
- Narrated by: Emily Caudwell
A great topic, but heavily editorialized
Reviewed: 03-08-24
The author does a great job covering a very wide and complex set of topics all affecting (or affected in the past) the grid. I found the book intriguing as it touched on so many different topics and examples.
Unfortunately I had a hard time with the author’s style. I believe it’s her attempt at making a complex subject accessible to the layperson, but I found the similes, hyperbole and editorializing a bit distracting, and it destabilized my credibility in the authors understanding of the subject.
An example: The author states: “The only thing stopping your toaster from blowing up when you press it down is the fact that other ‘sinks’ on the grid are using power simultaneously.” The author only mentions later, much later, that there is also a system of breakers and over-current protections the also help stop your toaster from blowing up. If you have a basic understanding of electrical systems you conclude that the author doesn’t.
I almost stopped reading the book right there, but chose to continue. I’m glad I did because there was a lot of interesting content that sparked my curiosity to investigate things further, and eventually I grew to understand the authors style, but I still have some doubts.
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Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
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megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
- Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
Excellent contemporary biology
Reviewed: 10-07-23
Isaacson has written a superb contemporary biography that moves quickly through Elon’s life, hitting the highlights and turning points. It shows Elon’s complex layers and deep rooted drivers which help one understand how a single person could be such a force in driving advancement in human engineering. I’m certain future biographies of Elon will be written, which delve deeper into Elon’s wake of destruction or gain more insights from his children and other close confidants; but not until time has past and contemporaries are more open to sharing their thoughts and feelings about Elon without repercussions. But that won’t diminish this well written biography.
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The Aviators
- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Gifted storyteller Winston Groom, the best-selling author of Forrest Gump, has written the fascinating story of three extraordinary heroes who defined aviation during the great age of flight: Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Jimmy Doolittle. These cleverly interwoven tales of their heart-stopping adventures take us from the feats of World War I through the heroism of World War II and beyond, including daring military raids and survival at sea, and will appeal to fans of Unbroken, The Greatest Generation, and Flyboys.
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Too much a hagiography
- By Joseph Valenzi on 09-08-15
- The Aviators
- Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
Great book on three incredible men
Reviewed: 08-25-23
This is a well written history of three very influential aviators. At first the jumping around in different times in history and advancement in aviation throws you off, but then the stories weave together to an excellent common thread.
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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
Unusually well documented book on health
Reviewed: 07-24-23
There are so many health books out there with passionate claims of what works and what doesn’t. What sets Outlive apart is the length to which Peter confirms Hos statements with clinical evidence and not just stories of a single person who was successful at it.
A must read for all people who enjoy the luxury of western prosperity and its subsequent effects on our health.
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