Linda

Cupcake Brown had a terrifying childhood and young adulthood. She is orphaned, then sexually, emotionally, and physically abused in the foster system. She resorts to prostitution, lives homeless, and struggles with addiction. Her triumph over terrible circumstances is worth waiting for, but not for those who are easily offended. Her description of her hardships is explicit and uses language -- including frequent profanity -- fitting to the atrocities described. Author might not be ready for an acting career, but reads her own story with feeling and realism. A great pick for those who have a constitution strong enough to hear a disturbing story with much to teach.

I'd love to have friends read this. I picked it up because I thought it would give me memory tools. It did give me insight into memorizing, but it was much more engaging that just some ways to remember things. It was a personal story as well as interesting background and tips on the art of the memory.

The author is a great character. He's a reporter who cares enough about a story to step inside it. He's funny, intelligent, and someone I'd love to meet.

He read with perfect inflection. It wasn't dull - although some of the material was somewhat straightforward and factual. It also wasn't overly dramatic. It was like hearing a friend tell the story as well as some interesting information.

My favorite moment was the final World Championship. The tension buildup was perfect, but I won't give away the ending.

Inspiring, captivating, breathtaking

I'd compare it to Nelson Mandela's memoir, Long Walk to Freedom. Both of these men overcame adverse circumstances and mistreatment in captivity to become inspiring leaders.

Edward Hermmann is a fabulous professional. If he read an audible version of the phone book, I'd want to hear it. His reading has a very natural and unforced quality and yet it's completely captivating. This isn't the first book I've listened to him read and it is the same consistent high quality with everything I've heard or seen from him.

A life lived with enthusiasm and honor

I don't know enough about McMurtry to be a fan and I absolutely loved this book. If you love knowing about the history of books and how good booksellers find, evaluate, and place good books, listen to this. Even without know all the characters and all the places, this was engaging and fascinating.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating thing about this book is that it was written prior to the current economic meltdown. And, by the way, it's exactly on target.

Rather than demonizing the US and what it does wrong, the book points out that for decades, we've been encouraging the rest of the world to follow our lead in building their economies and political systems. Low and behold, it's happening! There are certainly some admonitions for changes we should make at home, but this book is more about what the future holds and our place in it.

The author engagingly reads the book with an intelligence.

Malcolm Gladwell gives us yet another insight into the human condition. Blink explores the good, the bad, and the ugly of first impressions. It explains when we can trust our snap decisions and when we need to delve further. The author does a wonderful job of reading this wonderful book.

Here is another fabulous analysis by Malcolm Gladwell. His insight into what goes into making an outstanding person who and what they are is engaging and thought provoking. Excellent!

If you love Denis Leary, you’ll love this audio book. It’s five hours of Leary’s acerbic ranting about everyone from The Pope to Al Gore to Rush Limbaugh. He does love his family and Oprah. The profanity is not for the faint of heart. If, like me, you can take a little of Denis Leary in small doses and like to change the channel when you’ve had enough of him, this is too much Leary. To paraphrase the author, “Open ***. Insert head. What the **** was I thinking?”

The Starfish and the Spider offers a new look at how organizations run and what can make them successful (or not). Also the outlook on different leadership styles is telling. The real life examples from contemporary history and the present day are fascinating. It's a great book for people who are interested in organizational behaviors and attitudes, how to motivate people, and lovers of history. This is a well written and well read audiobook.

Writer gives the good and bad of a complex world power.