Melissa

I am so thrilled to have found this series by chance. It is far from my normal reading habits. This third book takes you on an exciting journey around the world. It was clear in previous books that Aubrey and Maturin were good friends, but this book develops that friendship and shows how incredibly deep it has become. I thought by now that the ship fights would get old, but O'Brian manages to keep them fresh. Surprisingly, I find I actually look forward to them. Tull does another amazing job reading this book. With the various accents and the way he takes his time, pausing in all the right places, this book was a joy to listen to!

Even if I had been more aware of Mongol history before I listened to this book, I would have still found this book fascinating. Although I felt this book probably had the pendulum swing a little too far from the western view of the Khans, even if a fraction of it is accurate (I believe it is) we've done the Mongolian Empire a disservice by portraying them as simpleminded, bloodthirsty barbarians. A very interesting read, even for one who doesn't read a lot in the genre of history.

The narrator, Mr. Davis, was superb. There were a lot of foreign words to get right. He made it sound simple.

I'll admit, like many westerners, I know relatively little about Africa, particularly Somalia and other Islamic states. After listening this book, I feel like

This book is incredibly inspiring. It is brutally honest about the conditions Ms. Ali had to deal with. At times, it is painful and very hard to listen to.

Although I tend to dislike authors reading their own work, I think Ms. Ali did a respectable job of it. Many of the names and terms would have been hard for a professional narrator to get correct.

This book was recommended after a friend suffered severe brain damage. Ms. Bolte Taylor provides a unique look into the process of brain damage and what the injured person goes through during recovery and that from the point of view of someone with a knowledge of brain anatomy.

It's clear from the book that Ms. Bolte Taylor is a scientist and not an professional author or narrator. The writing was decent, but she should have had a professional read the book. I didn't feel self-narration added anything to the experience over what a professional narrator could have done.

I don't think you need a background in probability or statistics to enjoy this book. There are no equations or theories to ponder. I do have a little background in the field and was already skeptical about human perception of the subject matter. This book, however, put real examples to my skepticism. I thoroughly enjoyed the examples and the explanations.

This is one of the few audiobooks I plan to re-read.

This book did a great job of showing how we as humans affect our plants' genetics, with or without modern biotechnology. I especially liked the handling of the apple, such a common food item. Little did I know how little I understood about the apple and its history.

The reader does not need a background in science for this book.

This book shows the less serious side of a man who took part in some historical times in the world of physics. The pranks he played were funny and ingenious, but what fascinated me was his interactions with some of the biggest named scientists of the past century. Of course, Mr. Feynman was an amazing contributor in his own right, but hearing his inside perspective was very interesting.

The narrator was too folksy. It felt like a little kids was reading. I don't know if this is how Mr. Feynman really talked, but it was annoying.

With books written in the first person, I find I can judge my enjoyment by how much I believe the story is true. In this respect, Irving and Barret do an incredible job painting a believable set of characters and story. I hadn't heard of this book before, but took a chance. After several hours of listening, I had to look up the book see if it was fiction or not! Irving is a master storyteller. He carefully exposes more and more about the characters and story along the way, never giving away too much at a time. Given this gradual exposition, the excitement ramps up bit by bit. The beginning starts out slow, but hang on. It gets better. I thought it went a little over the top in places, but the rest of the book made up for those weaker spots.

This book doesn't belong into the "faith" category as some have stated. Yes, some of the characters hold strong religious and political beliefs, but that helps make them real.

I am not a vampire aficionado, so I was a little hesitant to choose this book. I had listened to Moore's Fool and enjoyed his irreverent style in that book. This book did not disappoint. You don't need to be a big vampire lit fan for this book, just sit back and enjoy!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. In fact, until I looked it up on the internet, I had assumed it wasn't fiction! (Although, toward the end it was clear it was fiction. It got rather silly.)

The story line itself was decent, but nothing spectacular. I enjoyed more the backdrop of India and modern Indian culture, as well as the historical perspective from both the British and Indian side thanks to the old British lady the main character lives with for a while.

Bala does a pretty good job with the narration. The accents she uses lend some authenticity to my rather naive ears. Maybe somebody who knows the actual fine points of regional Indian accents could critique them, but they were good enough for me. There were some awkward points in the narration, but those seemed to mirror to the "English Language Learner" status of the main character.