Douglas

I have mixed feelings about the book. It is very repetitive, and approaches its thesis from many angles. Yet, it is a very interesting subject matter.

The reading of the book is good, although someone who is not familiar with the mathematics may have trouble following the tables read aloud in the final chapters.

If you want to read this book, do so in print: at least that way you can easily skim it. It has only a few points, which you will most likely get out of any newspaper or magazine review. The key point of the book (and I doubt I'll be able to find the details) is that you should find a job that lets you work remotely. Once you have that, you can be creative to reduce your "work load" to its core, which is only a few hours of real work a week. This can be achieved through entrepreneurship, outsourcing, or just working from home where nobody is watching your hours. You are then free to intersperse your "retirement" throughout your life, doing things you enjoy.

The rest of the book, as far as I can tell, is platitudes and case studies that are light on details. In the print copy, I'm certain you can skip all that junk, but in the audio version, you'll want to listen to it at 2 or 4x speed, if you can. The only redeeming feature of the audio version is that the narrator does try to add drama to the reading.

This book offered some entertaining and enlightening studies into how people behave. It is certainly light-hearted, and a pleasant read. In response to people who considered it a series of anecdotes: that it may be, but they have a useful theme. The results offer a way to improve your interpersonal relations and personal behavior by placing less trust in your rationality when presented with temptation.

Since the presentation is so biographical, I found it a little distracting knowing that the author was Israeli and the narrator British; it caused a minor disconnect. However, the reading is quite good.

This book has three distinct parts, only one of which you should listen to: the introduction, the beginning 2/3, and the last 1/3. The introduction is insufferably boring, meandering, repetitive and generally uninteresting. The middle 2/3 are very interesting, well-researched, and quite engrossing. Listen to that twice. The last 1/3 (I believe it is the last "Part" of the four parts) is monotonous, and feels like filler tacked on to give the book sufficient heft. Once he starts discussing his hunting experience (you might enjoy the discussion of the vegetarian movement), it just drags on and on.

The reading is among the better for audiobooks; it is enunciated and well-paced for the material.

The story proceeded a little slowly and did not come to a suspenseful climax as much as a long unwinding. It is not entirely out of character, I believe, since the other book of McEwan's I have read (The Innocent) was also deliberately written, if more exciting.

The reading is also good, and certainly does not interfere with your enjoyment.

This book is an excellent addition to the Ken Follett collection. It is enthralling, shocking and surprising.

The reading is also quite good; the narrator often changes voices and accents to depict different characters. He is never too fast or too slow.