Jonathan

This is an interesting, personal memoir of one woman's early life in the rigid and old-fashioned Satmar sect of the Jewish community. It is not a documentary and not an expose of this ultra-Orthodox group of people. For those who don't know, the Satmar tend to live lives that are largely cut off from neighboring communities. The communities are mostly self-sufficient, somewhat like the Amish, although the Satmar do use clothes, books, food and products made in modern manufacturing facilities.
From watching an interview with the writer, it becomes apparent that she has too much 'spark' and individuality to be satisfied and/or successful in such a rigid, narrow, male-dominated (some would say sexist) environment. Part of Feldman's personality has probably developed since she left the Satmar community with her young son a few years ago. I don't think people "choose" to belong to a Satmar comunity; one is born into that tradition.
I can recommend this book to people who know about Judaism (or are Jewish) and want to read a personal story of life both inside and outside the Satmar Jewish community. The narrator is just "OK" in my opinion, but the storyline keeps one listening all the way through to the end.

Engrossing. Informative. Thorough.

Moshe Dayan comes across as a key figure for initiating and overseeing the War. As a man of action, Dayan had acquired sufficient battlefield experience to be a wise and charismatic leader in a time of crisis. As was said of Winston Churchill in 1940, "Cometh the hour, cometh the man."

Michael Oren covers a lot of interesting ground leading up to the June 1967. At this vantage point 45 years later it easy for us to forget the that Nasserism, the Cold War, President Johnson and the Vietnam War impacted the key people involved, and the decisions that they made (or failed to make). This book covers the extensive statesmanship of Abba Eban and the military preparation/build-up that preceded the War.

Probably one of the best as far as the storyline goes. Really very interesting

I thought it was fascinating to read how Haber developed poison gas for use by the Germans in World War I. Haber then developed a system for deploying/distributing the gas, and supervised the release of the gas at the front lines. Haber's wife committed suicide, using his service revolver, soon after the chemical warfare was initiated.

There are parts of the book that sound like an "Introduction to Chemistry" textbook. An understanding of the chemistry involved helped tell the story. Although engrossing, this was not a book that I personally would have enjoyed in "one sitting".

This was an all-round fascinating biography of a man whose discoveries/inventions have had both positive and negative impact of the lives of millions (if not billions) of people. Highly Recommended!

This is an interesting (even fascinating) biography of a significant personality of the 1950’s and 60’s. I found that the story was well told by Manning Marable; he provided a good level of detail and the fact that he included some contrary versions of the same story added to his credibility as a researcher and his stature as a writer. I read favorable reviews of “Malcolm X” by reputable publications like The New York Times and The Economist. Neither publication cast any doubt on the quality or depth of Marable’s research – after all, he spent 10 years on this project. I read the reviews below that questioned the book’s accuracy – if you're considering this audiobook, I would take those comments with ‘a grain of salt’.

I also liked G. Valmont Thomas’ reading of the book; his tone and pacing reminded me of Samuel L. Jackson. I particularly enjoyed the reader’s addition of various accents that helped make a relatively dry subject “come alive.” Not being an expert of regional accents, I cannot comment of their accuracy, but the various accents certainly helped when I (the listener) could not see the quote marks on the page when an individual was talking or being quoted.

The previous biography I read was the much-heralded “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. The story of Jobs was very interesting, but the quality of the narration by Dylan Baker was not all that good in my opinion. Mr. Baker would have benefitted from the use of a few accents to help convey a better story.

This audiobook comes highly recommended – both for the story and for the narration. I would recommend “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” to anyone with an open mind who’s willing to learn about an important person and significant events in the USA from 50-60 years ago.

Probably the best audiobook I've listened to out of about 20 books so far.

Peekay's first boxing match was described with lots of color, action, and emotion.

Bower uses a few accents that helped bring the characters to life - one felt the characters' personalities come through via his reading.