Termination Shock
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Edoardo Ballerini
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By:
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Neal Stephenson
About this listen
New York Times Bestseller
From Neal Stephenson—who coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 novel Snow Crash—comes a sweeping, prescient new thriller that transports listeners to a near-future world in which the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics.
“Stephenson is one of speculative fiction’s most meticulous architects. . . . Termination Shock manages to pull off a rare trick, at once wildly imaginative and grounded.” — New York Times Book Review
One man—visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T. R. Schmidt, Ph.D.—has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied?
Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?
Epic in scope while heartbreakingly human in perspective, Termination Shock sounds a clarion alarm, ponders potential solutions and dire risks, and wraps it all together in an exhilarating, witty, mind-expanding speculative adventure.
©2021 Neal Stephenson (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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From the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and other conflict zones to the base of the burning Twin Towers on 9/11 to the eye of countless hurricanes, Rick Leventhal chronicles some of the most amazing stories he’s covered in his thirty-five years as a news reporter, anchor, and Senior Correspondent—with some life lessons thrown in along the way.
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Great insights on catastrophes from a journalistic perspective
- By Laura N. Rains on 05-18-23
By: Rick Leventhal
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Point of Impact
- By: Stephen Hunter
- Narrated by: Beau Bridges
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Abridged
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He was one the best Marine snipers in Vietnam. Today, 20 years later, all Bob Lee Swagger wants is to be left alone. But a shadowy military organization seduces him into one last mission for his country - unaware until too late that the game is rigged. The assassination plot is executed to perfection until Bob Lee Swagger, alleged lone gunman, comes out of the operation alive, the target of a nationwide manhunt, with his only allies a woman he just met and a discredited FBI agent.
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Beau Bridges ruined it for me...
- By Dawn on 05-07-15
By: Stephen Hunter
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Remote Control
- By: Andy McNab
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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After his mission is suddenly terminated in Washington, D.C., British Intelligence agent Nick Stone decides to visit an old colleague, Kev Brown. But when Stone arrives at his friend's eerily quiet suburban home, he discovers a chilling scene of carnage. Every member of the Brown family has been brutally slaughtered except one: seven-year-old Kelly Brown. His instincts on red alert and adrenaline in overdrive, Stone grabs the girl and runs - with anonymous assassins in hot pursuit.
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Not as expected.
- By Brenan T on 01-07-16
By: Andy McNab
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The Freedom Broker
- A Thea Paris Novel
- By: K.J. Howe
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Twenty years ago, a terrified young boy was abducted in the middle of the night by masked intruders while his sister watched, paralyzed with fear. Returned after a harrowing nine months with his captors, Thea's brother has never been the same. This life-shattering experience drove Thea to become what she is today: a world-class freedom broker. Most hostage-recovery work is done at the negotiation table, but when diplomacy fails, Thea leads Quantum Security International's black-ops team on highly sensitive rescue missions.
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Uneven series start but would read the sequel
- By H.C. Trapper on 06-17-17
By: K.J. Howe
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Ivory
- By: Tony Park
- Narrated by: Mark Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Alex Tremain is a pirate in trouble. The two women in his life - one of them his financial adviser, the other his diesel mechanic - have left him. He's facing a mounting tide of debts and his crew of modern-day buccaneers, a multi-national band of ex-military cut-throats, is getting restless. They don't all share his dream of going legit, but what Alex really wants is to re-open the five-star resort hotel which once belonged to his Portuguese mother and English father on the Island of Dreams, off the coast of Mozambique.
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well worth the listen
- By kretin3 on 02-21-12
By: Tony Park
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Genesis: Arisen, Book 0.5
- By: Michael Stephen Fuchs
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Tucked away in a high-tech Tactical Operations Center, inside an isolated safehouse in the Horn of Africa, sits Agency analyst Zack Altringham. He is Kenyan-born, Princeton-educated, badly burnt-out - and condemned by his language and cultural skills to a lifetime of fighting America's shadow counter-terror wars.
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Maybe better to read this after books 1-3?
- By Tilo on 04-18-15
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The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle
- Growing Up an Astronaut's Kid in the Glorious 80s
- By: Patrick Mullane
- Narrated by: Luke Covert
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The families behind America’s astronaut heroes are just like yours...sort of. This is the hilarious true story of one of those families. While many children grow up wanting to become an astronaut, Patrick Mullane grew up the child of one. In his memoir, The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle: Growing Up an Astronaut’s Kid in the Glorious 80s, Mullane shares his hilarious coming-of-age story. It’s a story about his quirky and death-defying father, a mother with a secret, and a cast of characters from his extended family who showed their love for him in often bizarre ways.
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Great personal story! Entertaining and funny.
- By Alex MacPhail on 01-10-22
By: Patrick Mullane
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Open Season
- A Joe Pickett Novel
- By: C. J. Box
- Narrated by: David Chandler
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden—especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way—is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in.
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Disappointed.
- By Kristina on 02-18-14
By: C. J. Box
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The Chronoliths
- By: Robert Charles Wilson
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Scott Warden is a man haunted by the past-and soon to be haunted by the future. In early 21st-century Thailand, Scott is an expatriate slacker. Then, one day, he inadvertently witnesses an impossible event: the violent appearance of a 200-foot stone pillar in the forested interior. Its arrival collapses trees for a quarter mile around its base, freezing ice out of the air and emitting a burst of ionizing radiation. It appears to be composed of an exotic form of matter.
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A haunting, beautiful work...
- By M. Stephenson on 11-20-09
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Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the "Saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities, and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community.
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I love Neal, but Good lord... ugh!
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Not perfect, but worth a listen.
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Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil - all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long, Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate.
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kinda meh
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In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
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Two thirds through and quit
- By Joshua on 06-20-16
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Seveneves
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A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
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Quicksilver
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In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
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Be aware of what you're getting into
- By David on 12-16-11
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Anathem
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Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the "Saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities, and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community.
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I love Neal, but Good lord... ugh!
- By SpiderGrrl on 10-08-19
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Not perfect, but worth a listen.
- By ShySusan on 10-01-11
By: Neal Stephenson
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Zodiac
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Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil - all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long, Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate.
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kinda meh
- By L P SCHUTT JR on 05-14-20
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Cryptonomicon
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In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse - mathematical genius and young Captain in the US Navy - is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Watrehouse and Detachment 2702 - commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe - is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence has cracked the enemy's fabled Enigma code. In the present, Waterhouse's crypto-hacker grandson, Randy, is attempting to create a "data haven" in Southeast Asia....
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Two thirds through and quit
- By Joshua on 06-20-16
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Seveneves
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A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
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Quicksilver
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In which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.
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Be aware of what you're getting into
- By David on 12-16-11
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The Diamond Age
- By: Neal Stephenson
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Neal Stephenson, "the hottest science fiction writer in America", takes science fiction to dazzling new levels. The Diamond Age is a stunning tale; set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens what a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life, and the entire future of humanity, is about to be decoded and reprogrammed.
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The rock could use a bit more polishing
- By Tango on 05-19-13
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Snow Crash
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Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.
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A solid sci-fi novel
- By Brent on 02-05-03
By: Neal Stephenson
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Interface
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In this now-classic thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a shocking tale with an all-too plausible premise. There's no way William A. Cozzano can lose the upcoming presidential election. He's a likable midwestern governor with one insidious advantage - an advantage provided by a shadowy group of backers.
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Interface
- By Dianne on 08-14-10
By: Neal Stephenson, and others
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Corvus
- By: Neal Stephenson
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Der neue SciFi-Bestseller von Erfolgsautor Neal Stephenson. Als Richard Forthrast, genannt Dodge, überraschend früh verstirbt, erfüllen seine Angehörigen seinen letzten Willen: Er hatte verfügt, dass sein Gehirn konserviert werden soll, bis die Technologie es eines Tages ermöglicht, die Daten seines Bewusstseins zu erfassen und hochzuladen. Viele Jahre später gelingt es dank eines komplexen Verfahrens tatsächlich, Dodge digitales Leben einzuhauchen.
By: Neal Stephenson
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Some Remarks
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most talented and creative authors working today, Neal Stephenson is renowned for his exceptional novels - works colossal in vision and mind-boggling in complexity. Exploring and blending a diversity of topics, including technology, economics, history, science, pop culture, and philosophy, his books are the products of a keen and adventurous intellect. Stephenson ponders a wealth of subjects, from movies and politics to David Foster Wallace and the Midwestern American College Town; and more.
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Worth a revisit
- By Duncan on 08-09-12
By: Neal Stephenson
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The Big U
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The New York Times Book Review called Neal Stephenson's most recent novel "electrifying" and "hilarious". But if you want to know Stephenson was doing 20 years before he wrote the epic Cryptonomicon, it's back-to-school time. Back to The Big U, that is, a hilarious send-up of American college life starring 30-year-old junior Casimir Radon.
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Bad first novel by great writer
- By clint on 01-03-21
By: Neal Stephenson
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Choc terminal 1
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Maud Rudigoz
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- Unabridged
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Parce que la montée des eaux menace l'existence même des Pays-Bas, leur reine Frederika Mathilde Louisa Saskia comprend mieux que quiconque la notion d'urgence climatique. Invitée à une rencontre secrète au Texas par T.R. Schmidt, l'excentrique propriétaire d'une chaîne de fast-food, Saskia découvre non sans inquiétude les plans du milliardaire. En bon Texan, T.R. veut mettre fin, de façon décisive, aux hausses de températures qui accablent le sud des États-Unis. Et si son remède, inspiré par l'explosion du volcan Pinatubo, était pire que le mal?
By: Neal Stephenson
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Sinner
- A Prequel to the Mongoliad
- By: Mark Teppo
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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A severed head and a cry of “Witchcraft!” start a frenzied witch hunt in a sleepy German village. When her dead husband’s severed head appears on her doorstep, a local woman is charged with practicing heretical rituals. It is up to the knights to discover the truth behind the brutal murder before the torches are lit and the woman is burned at the stake. Their task proves daunting, though, as the townspeople have their own long-buried secrets and sins that they want to keep hidden - even if it means allowing the sacrifice of an innocent woman.
By: Mark Teppo
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The Cobweb
- By: Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When a foreign exchange student is found murdered at an Iowa University, Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks finds that his investigation extends far beyond the small college townall the way to the Middle East. Shady events at the school reveal that a powerful department is using federal grant money for highly dubious research. And what its producing is a very nasty bug.
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Et tu, Neal?
- By Richard on 06-16-11
By: Neal Stephenson, and others
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Error
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Detlef Bierstedt
- Length: 45 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Es ist nur ein Spiel. Aber es geht um sehr viel Geld. Und für manche bald um ihr Leben...
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great storry! fantastically narrated!
- By Anonymous User on 06-16-17
By: Neal Stephenson
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The Ministry for the Future
- A Novel
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Ramon de Ocampo, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us - and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.
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Great ideas, uneven narration
- By depthpsychologist on 12-09-20
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The Starship and the Canoe
- By: Kenneth Brower, Neal Stephenson - foreword
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Freeman Dyson is a world-renowned astrophysicist who dreams of exploring the heavens and has designed a spaceship to take him there. His son, George, a brilliant high-school dropout, lives in a tree house and is designing a giant kayak to explore the icy coastal wilderness of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
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Excellent Story - Captivating, Poignant, Educational
- By Anonymous User on 11-25-20
By: Kenneth Brower, and others
What listeners say about Termination Shock
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John
- 12-28-21
Just a tad disappointed
I'm used to the author building a story over a long time. I'm not used to flimsy and predictable love/sex just thrown in to tie two characters. I'm used to the author pandering to the notion of the benevolent billionaire. I'm not used to it somehow justifying environmental ecocide for the benefit of one demographic. yes, it's just fiction - I get it. I'm also getting bored watching a great author trying to become the next Ayn Rand.
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- Jackie Stephens
- 02-28-22
Entertaining and smart
I like Neal Stephenson's stories. This one might be more palatable for non-Stephenson fans.
I don't know if the story is plausible, but definitely thought provoking and a fun read.
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- frs
- 12-14-21
What a great story
Yet another gripping and exciting one by Neal Stephenson. Thoroughly enjoyable and timely. In light of today’s climatic chaos created by greed, it’s worth thinking about the consequences of continuing the current course and direction.
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- Paul Houser
- 12-08-21
A Master of his Craft
A Queen, Comanche, Texan, and Sikh hero meet in a Texas showdown about CO2
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- Heather MacArthur
- 12-04-21
Ended too soon!
What about Papua? Vadan? Was there termination shock? How long do we have to wait for the sequel? At first it seemed like the prequel to Seveneves but it opens up a much bigger discussion of geopolitics and climate change. Definitely worth another listen after I've digested this and done some homework. One of his best!
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- The Judge
- 12-24-21
Lacks dramatic punch
A decent story, with lots of clever “ripped from the headlines” bits. Well written. However, the dramatic energy of the story was somewhat lacking. Fantastic reading by Edoardo Ballerini. Really top notch.
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- Chris
- 12-29-21
Interesting concept but didn't really deliver
I gave this a lot of time but the ending was meh. Never really showed how this changed the world or any of the color around this new era. it was mostly about the characters.
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- Mark Holt
- 03-28-22
Mediocre story, much longer than it needs to be.
I’m a fan of Neal Stephenson, and find much of his work to be truly extraordinary. He is an utterly unique voice and, when at his best, is unmatched. This book however succumbs to some of his worst tendencies as a writer. The story is exceedingly thin and somehow bloated to 22 plus hours of audio.
The novel starts out very well, introducing compelling characters in a unique survival situation. There is impressive bear future world building and it seems like it is going to barrel ahead as an action heavy, thought provoking thriller.
This impression quickly vanishes, however as we are soon treated to an almost endless, pointless detail heavy, unveiling of technology designed to combat climate change and rising sea levels. When finally unveiled, it is not that spectacular, though certainly interesting from a scientific standpoint. After all of this is revealed, nothing whatsoever of interest happens for a very long time.
The story takes is on the parallel track of a Sikh martial artist who eventually becomes a celebrity warrior known as Big Fish. His entire character arc appears to have nothing to do with the narrative until the very end of the book, so is mostly a frustrating element in a long tale straining to pick up steam. The bulk of the book alternates between him and the other characters established at the beginning of the book. There are long diversions into some of Stephenson’s favorite obsessions such as the functioning of other countries politics and the peculiarities of etiquette surrounding royals and society of that ilk. Such things are explored in excruciating detail.
There is no clear conflict explored for most of the book. Big moments that happen along the way, such as a Chinese plot to flood major cities, go seemingly nowhere, having no impact on the story. It is approximately 18 hours into the 22 hour audiobook before anything resembling a story with narrative drive emerges. When it finally does, it is entertaining enough, although ultimately somewhat anticlimactic.
I would rate this book lower were it not for the saving grace of Stephenson’s ever present wit, which makes even slogging through the dull parts tolerable.
If you have never read Stephenson, I would not start here.
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- TangoDeltaDelta
- 03-21-22
Good story lines
There are a few different story lines going on at the same time, and each is interesting, but you know they are going to intersect before the end. The inclusion of very recent real world events (e.g. COVID and the White House events) as part of the backstory for some of the characters was cool. In addition to enjoying the story, I feel like I learned a few things that can be further researched in the real world.
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- Peachy2
- 04-04-22
High hopes dashed
I found the characters hard to follow. For me the combination of uncommon names and family connections was just more trouble than it was worth. I don’t mind the climate change theme but this got a little “preachy ” for me. Anyone who try’s to read/listen to this knows the facts presented. It doesn’t need a hammer to include them. The book starts off good but by the end it was work. Sure didn’t leave me wanting more.
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