John Clapp

Whew. Be careful what you wish for . . . I'd had this in my wish list for a while and was running low on credits so I decided to pick a long book. (57 hours I think?)
Having just gotten back from living for two months in the Marais, I really enjoyed the book, and I can definitely see why it's a classic, and something everyone should read. (like Moby Dick) But wow . . . it's a long haul. I'm glad I got the unabridged version, but there were moments that for the first time in my life I considered the value of an abridged version.
Give it a try when you know you're going to have some long drives or commutes!
Try it, but know what you're getting yourself in for! (Btw, if I could I would have rated 4.5 stars.)

As I believe some other reviewers have mentioned, if you read this sort of book often, you won't find much new material here.

Maybe I'm too close to the industry, but I was struck by two things:
1) I felt like I was reading a book proposal.
2) Authors, DON'T read your own text unless you are acknowledged as an excellent reader of your work. (David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, etc.)

Summation: An aging frat boy's guide to science. At times this book makes People magazine look literary . . . Dude . . .

A waste of time and credits unfortunately.

On a positive note, if you're interested in this sort of book, Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahnemen was BEYOND brilliant. One of the best books I've read in years.

A very enjoyable "mini-book" for those of you running low on credits! :)
(I'm assuming it's still a free download!)

While I wouldn't quite put it in the same class as Shogun, First Man in Rome, or Memoirs of a Geisha, and while the target audience is clearly women who are interested in a higher-class of romance novel, this novel did not disappoint. Brings to life the characters to the degree that you will be tempted (successfully) into googling the truth of their existence!

Well done and well worth the credit!

Very thought-provoking. I found myself thinking about this book often while NOT listening to it and also mentioning it to friends. (always a sign of a good book!)

A wonderful picture of the age . . .

The narrator . . . simply incredible. A friend mentioned that they "couldn't get through it" and I think had they listened rather than read it, it would have made a difference. a really worthwhile use of a credit!

The subject line really says it all. It's not a book I would recommend for everyone---it does become a little academic and dense at times in it's presentation---but I think I found myself talking about this book to others more than any other book I've read the last few years. It was VERY thought-provoking and really had me reflecting on it's content as I walked around and dealt with the rest of my life. I know I'm going to carry many key ideas away from it and into the future.

Honestly, while I respect and enjoy Malcolm Gladwell and those types of books, THIS is the book that I've been looking for!

Should have listened to it a long time . . . never got around to it and am now kicking myself. Was in the middle of a poorly written book (albeit with good content) and switched mid-stream out of frustration.

The immediate leap in the quality of the prose was SO refreshing! Truly a classic book---it will be read for generations to come. Remarkable.

A caveat: if you are a fan of Jane Austen, you "may" like this book. For me however, it was Sherlock Holmes--poorly narrated, and as written by Jane Austen (but without Austen's considerable skills).

An hour into a 15(?) hour book I found myself wishing that the bees would swarm and attack the narrator. I don't think I have ever read a book where I started rooting for the villain if only to end the novel immediately. I don't give up on novels, so I listened to the end, and the only satisfaction I gained was in deleting it from my iPod immediately thereafter.

Cliche-ridden writing, tedious "clever" dialogue, and pretentious English characters. Save a credit, there has to be many better books out there.

I have no idea if the narrator is actually English or not, but if she is, her's is the first "British" accent I have heard that I do not like. Then when she tries to imitate a French MAN, speaking British English with a bad French accent . . . it's just painful.

I have no idea how this book has become so popular. I have to believe it is female Jane Austen fans who like the tedious digressions and pompous English society characters, and are willing to forgive the actual quality of the writing.

(FYI, after probably 30-40+ audible listens...I think this is my first one star review.)

I'm not a devoted sci-fi reader . . . I just want a great book---the subject matter doesn't matter much to me. as such, I found this book to be better than most sci-fi books: it had an interesting premise that didn't telegraph itself---but the characters overall were pretty flat, cliched, and hackneyed and I didn't really care what happened to them. Overall---a fair book---but I won't be recommending it to anyone I know.

I thought the author did an excellent job---particularly with the history up through Gauss---of crafting an interesting "story" out of the history of Geometry. Lots of fun anecdotes, many of which were new to me, and I think would be of interest to a reader interested in the subject.

I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but for someone who likes interesting non-fiction, it's not bad.

So I enjoyed both books (The Male Brain, The Female Brain) by this author, but to a friend, I'd recommend they read only one of the two. (whichever is the opposite of their sex I think.) There seemed to be a decent amount of common material, and reading them back to back, I felt like I was listening to the same book twice at many times. Good books though! I think they should be required reading!