Jeff

Out of all of the non-fiction books I've listened to, this ranks as the best one yet. This is the second book by Dawkins that I've listened to. I am fascinated by evolutionary biology so I have a natural bias to this book and probably any book on the subject. While some parts of this book are dry, they are necessary for giving a complete picture to what is being discussed.

I enjoyed the discussion on the cumulative selection early in the book. It is a very important concept that helps explain Darwinian evolution.

Dawkins is often viewed as an atheist paragon seeking to always tear down religion but this book does not do that. His focus is on evolution and why it properly describes how we as humans came to be rather than just attacking opposing views.

Born in Africa provides an overview of our human ancestors along with those responsible for the discoveries. I thought it was a nice balance between evolutionary science and simply telling the story of the individuals and what they faced. Martin Meredith did not shy away from pointing out the competing groups, as well as some of the politics and even supposed back-stabbing that happened between prominent paleoanthropologists. If you are looking for something that gets in to the down and dirty of human ancestry, look elsewhere. However I think this is must read for any anthropology student or anyone looking for a foundation in the history of human ancestry.

Some of the readings in this book came right from George's stand-up but that is perfectly fine with me! Full of short stories, thoughtful sentences, and vulgar comments, this audiobook is definitely for the George Carlin Fan.

As I expected, I enjoyed some stories and did not care much for others. This is an anthology of work by George R.R. Martin covering a good portion of his career. I really enjoyed that each "section" of the book began with the author providing some background on the works about to be read, telling the personal side of the stories. I thought these were at times more entertaining than the stories themselves.

While some were not thrilling or unpredictable, it does not detract from the quality of writing I find with much of Martin's works. Dreamsongs does not disappoint, especially for fans of George R.R. Martin's style of writing.

Being fascinated by evolution and actively studying it, Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection is simply a must-listen. Remind yourself of the time at which Darwin published this book and it becomes even more astounding. I would not recommend this book for anyone who is curious about evolution and natural selection as this can get very dry, very quickly. I would try an abridged version if you don't want to hear every little detail about the book.

The narrator left a lot to be desired and seemed to have to force his way through the book and did not at least sound like there was an interest on his part in the subject matter.

This book was insightful into the origins of not the creator of Scientology as well as how the organization currently operates. Some of the stories I expected but others were pretty disturbing, especially given the protection given to them by their status as a recognized religion in the US. What I found very interesting is the attempts by Scientology to remain mysterious and have secret information only given to members that reach a high level within the organization. With all the technology and access to information provided by the Internet, it is hard to keep much of anything hidden when people are allowed to come and go from a group, even though this group tends to keep tabs on high members that leave. I think this book as a whole shows an example of how an idea can spark faith and a religion.

This book came highly recommended from a few friends and coworkers as a thought-provoking and almost groundbreaking book about what makes the outliers of society so successful. A big part of the book emphasizes that the rags to riches story is more the result of being given the right opportunity at the right time. When you stop and think about how someone like Bill Gates became so successful, you know that he had to have everything in his life line up. There are thousands of cases of people who are very smart but just don't have the opportunity to succeed and become extremely wealthy. While Gladwell does bring up some good examples to support his main thesis, he often over simplifies things with statements like in order to become a great hockey player you have to be born in January. The reasoning makes sense, but it throws out any other variable that may come into play and it seems like he almost wants to discredit an individual's drive and natural ability.

Overall the book did get me thinking about how I view the outliers in society but it was nothing earth shattering or entirely new. Gladwell does a great job at dramatically portraying examples to make them pop and stand out, although at their core they are very simplified almost to a fault.

It played out like your standard CSI-style television show. There was nothing all that exciting, intriguing, or suspenseful. I would say it was pretty much a cookie-cutter story with the usual rough-edged character as the protagonist. The narrator was good, did not detract from the story and made it easy to listen to. Overall it was ok, worth a listen especially with it being free. I would imagine it gives a little insight into the style of this author and could be a good way to see if you'd like to listen to more. I will pass but maybe others would enjoy it more.

I really enjoyed Total Recall. I thought it gave a good snapshot of who Arnold was and what drove him. From what I could tell it was a honest telling from his perspective and his opinions, including his good moves and bad decisions.

For whatever reason, I will always remember how often he cited his in-laws as a source for inspiration. I think his closeness with them helped him in being more of a bi-partisan leader (the US could use more politicians like that). I had not imagine that they were really as close-knit of an extended family.

Personally I would have enjoyed Arnold narrating the entire thing rather than 2 chapters. I understand that some people would not like to listen to him and his accent for the entire reading so it makes sense that he didn't narrate it entirely. Personally the chapters he did narrate I thought were stronger because you part of Arnold is his accent and it made the stories that much more personal.

These meditations are quick and help build a foundation of good techniques. These have helped me in working through my issues with panic attack disorder as well as anxiety. They are by no means a replacement to treatment for me but have given me a guided means of practicing relaxing my mind and body. Bodhipaksa's narration is smooth and easy and not distracting in any way. For anyone dealing with stress or anxiety or are just looking for a way to relax a little more, give it a try. Each meditation session lasts about 8-10 minutes and you can go for longer if you'd like.

I liked how the impact of each drink and it's impact on society was broken down but not overstated. Obviously there were many factors that contributed to the significant events of human history but Tom Standage shows how these beverages truly were a big part of the equation.

I'm being a little picky here but I thought it would have been nice if he took a little pause before reading the section titles within the book. It had to register in my mind that it wasn't the next line of the book but actually a topic/subtopic. It doesn't detract from the book but I just like to know by some kind of change of inflection or a brief pause that this is the beginning of a new section.

While it was a shorter book than I normally listen to, I did take a break after each beverage was discussed. I decided to actually have a class/cup of each of the beverages under discussion. I thought it was fun to drink along with the stories.