BRUCE

I have listened to hundreds of Audible books. Before that I listened to hundreds of tapes from the public library and Books on Tape. This is one of the worst. Scott Brick was great, as usual. The first part of the book is reasonably interesting, but the rest is disjointed and increasingly boring. It is like the author had two or three partially written vampire books, and he just jammed them together with minimal connections. I'm with the prior reviewer who wanted to scream with frustration.

Three general thoughts about this book:

1. It was generally interesting (although not concise), and made me think about investments in new ways.

2. He claims that his "antifragile" idea is so original, there is no word for it in any of the major languages. The problem with this claim is that any serious student of the Bible will recognize his "new" idea as the old "refiner's fire." Difficulties and hardships help us to grow and improve.

3. It would be better to read this book. LIstening when driving in traffic makes it difficult to give it the level of concentration it deserves.

Finally, he must have been dropped on his head by an academic when he was a baby. He has a level of animosity towards them that makes me grin, but seems unjustified.

Dr. Amen has some good ideas that will help you live longer and better. The problem with this book is that he keeps repeating the same ideas. It became so repetitive that I performed my own abridgment and gave up listening. Generally I have great tolerance for dull books, but after a while this one was too much for me to tolerate.

While this book increased my knowledge, and I am glad that I listened to it, I'm quite uncertain about the quality of the knowledge gained. When the author announced that his only historical basis for a section of his book was the Bible, I was alarmed by how badly he managed to misstate the facts. It made me wonder about the rest of his "facts" when drawn from sources where I was not an expert.

Another cause for concern about his credibility arises from how he treats his relatives in the book. For example, he describes one elderly ancestor who (as I recall) raped a household servant. (I say "raped" because I understood the servant to be a 14 year-old.) Instead of treating this as a character flaw (to put it mildly), the author claims this event shows the vigor of his ancestor. It made me wonder about the accuracy of his conclusions where he did not recount the underlying facts.

The narrator has a most unusual way of pronouncing names. Historical names familiar to most people are pronounced in such a bizaarre way that it takes a few moments to realize which historical figure is being discussed. Time yourself to see how long it takes you to realize that the person under discussion is, for example, Hercules or Nebuchadnezzar.

Great and entertaining book, as is normal for Vince Flynn. I love to listen to George Guidall, but this narrator was just fine. I would almost believe that George's mother was writing all the nonsense about the terrible narration.

Most of the reviews seem to rate the book favorably or unfavorably based on the reader's political views. I'm with Thor on his political views, and I believe I've read all of his books, but I thought this book was average. The dialog is not particularly good. Some narrators, like George G, help weak dialog. This narrator seems to highlight the weak dialog. I'm tempted to skip Thor's next book.

The book is based on a novel idea, but it is just plain weird. I love this narrator, but I wish I had not taken the time to listen to the book. Wonder why almost all of the beginning reviews are very positive, and the ending reviews are negative.

This is an astonishing book! It takes you through all of the human emotions, and leaves you a better person. Plus, it is an interesting listen. After I downloaded it, I was uncertain whether I had made the right choice, because I've recently listened to a number of books set in WW! or WWII. At the end of the book I knew I made the right choice. This is a war book, but it is more of a human spirit book.

A pretty good half-book were it not for the left-wing claptrap. He needs to add the last half of the book and a right-wing (if he can find one).

DeMille never writes a bad book.