Lindsey

Not only is this a wonderfully written and engaging account of the last voyage of the Essex, it is also an excellent resource for those readers who would like to know more about the whaling industry in the nineteenth century. I started to read _Moby Dick_ several months ago and put it aside for a little while. In the interim, I heard about this book and decided to listen to it on a recent trip. WOW. The story of the Essex's crew is interesting and told without sentimentality or sensationalism, and Philbrick easily incorporates clear explanations of every step in the process of a whaling voyage, from recruiting a crew to the results of a successful - or unsuccessful - trip. I'll be picking up _Moby Dick_ again soon, and will happily read it with a much better understanding of whaling as it existed in Melville's time.

Yes. I have many friends who are parents, and I think we've all been at this point with a child. Or three.

His preface was hilarious. And really, given the title of the book, there's no one else who could have read this as an audiobook.

Yes. It inspired me to make sure my child gets tuckered out by some sort of physical activity every day so we're less likely to have a

I really enjoyed the anecdotes that Foote incorporated into what otherwise might be a dry history. The narration was horrible, though. Gardner's voice is fairly monotone, the audio quality jumps around pretty wildly to my ears, and there are incredibly obvious and distracting mispronunciations (especially in the first third of the book.) When I can't sleep, I go back to this book in the Audible app and set it on a fifteen-minute sleep timer. I have yet to make it more than two minutes into the book after doing so.

I would compare it to The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin - it's the same mix of history, background information necessary to understand the subtleties of what happened when and why, and anecdotes and trivia.

Just about anyone. Wil Wheaton or Karen White would have done excellent work with this text.

I've watched Ken Burns's The Civil War three times, so I suppose I'd say yes.

Definitely the variety of stories and viewpoints that Ms. Demick shares in the book. You will hear from all walks of life and how each person's status affected how they were able to lead their lives in a supposedly egalitarian society in North Korea. I also appreciated the thorough background information on what led to the division of Korea and how that directly impacts many families and how they are treated.

Listening to the defection stories of each person profiled. The writing and narration are especially well-paired in this section of the stories.

I have not.

The Lives of Ordinary North Koreans, From Birth to Defection South and Afterwards