Matt

This book is an overall history of Area 51 and is interesting as such. Some of the more controversial stuff that's been in the press lately, though, is from a single source she interviewed and should be viewed as such. Not saying it's not true. There's no way for me to know that. But that stuff comes from interviewing only a single source and was not corroborated by any other source.

Anyway, the overall history is pretty interesting despite that.

The writer does a decent job of reading her own book. Not exceptional, but not annoying either.

Having just come off listening to a few bad audio books, this was refreshing. The plot and characters are engaging and the use of language is great. Ron Perlman does a very good job.

This was a pleasure to listen to, all the way through.

Throughout, the book hints at heavy trials and tribulations that the writer will experience in his travels away from the Amish, but ultimately the book delivers none of this.

It is a boring book about the angst and restlessness of youth that finally reveals itself to be a Christian tract.

Not recommended.

Well written and interesting, but a bit slow to build up and ends without any sort of real ending. Unsatisfying ending. But of course, you have to read the sequel. Should have just been one book. This doesn't feel like a complete book. I realize it's intended as a first part, but it would have been nice if there was some sort of sense that this was the end of a chapter at least, but there wasn't.

That said, the characterization is all great. And the general premise as well as execution are interesting.

The reader is really great.

Not very interesting. Too short to get into anything in depth, leaving just an overly simple overview making it impossible to get very interested in anything.

An interesting listen. It's fascinating to hear how a religion can be founded by a pathological liar and loser and become such a huge success. Also fascinating what people are willing to believe in.

The writer interviewed a lot of scientologists to write this book, and there's a pretty broad perspective here with lots of insider stories. It can be dry at times but I found it interesting overall.

The parts with Kunta Kinte and Chicken George are interesting and entertaining. Luckily they take up the majority of the book. The last few hours of the book are rushed as the writer sounds like he's just listing off facts about his family rather than telling a tale. Throughout the book as the writer tries to weave historical events into the book, he doesn't do a very good job of it. Most of that stuff other than the civil war seems to be an afterthought he included to give the reader an idea of what else was going on in the world, but he didn't work it into the story at all. The writing is decent but not great though dialog is very well written.

All that said, the parts with Kunta Kinte and Chicken George are great overall. The characters are fleshed out very nicely, giving a very deep understanding of them. The other characters in the book are not nearly as well realized.

Avery Brooks does an awesome job reading.

Worth listening to. A historically important book for sure. It's a very strong experience but not as amazing as a book as some seem to think.

Anyway, those are my 2 cents of nonsense.

Like some others have said, the start's a bit slow in building up. For me, the first 3 or 4 hours were pretty boring and I almost gave up on the book. But I'm glad I didn't. It builds up and builds up, fleshing out all of the characters. Funny and sad at the same time, it's brilliantly read by the various actors. Well worth listening to. Have some patience with the slow start and it'll pay off.

But, warning. If you're easily offended, turn elsewhere. Drugs and sex abound in this book.

As with Ender's Game, I love this book but cannot stand the female reader who reads part of the book. She's way too melodramatic and heartfelt, eking her heart out with every phrase whether it's appropriate or not.

Otherwise, this is great. I actually enjoyed it more than Ender's Game though I suppose if I hadn't listened to Ender's Game first that might not be the case. I was concerned about listening to this when I read what the basic concept was, thinking I didn't really want to listen to a ton of overlap. But this is its own story and well fleshed out. And Bean is a very likeable character.

Well worth listening to.

I agree with the reviewer who said that this was like a 16 hour lecture. The first half setup is interesting, but in the second half it devolves into a boring commentary on sex, politics and religion. It was pretty boring to me and if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't listen to or read this book. I understand that at the time it came out, this may have been a very controversial book, but now in 2011, to me, it was just boring.