Sam

Anthropomorphising human emotions and neuroses onto animals may never grow old, but in the hands of David Sedaris, the conceit is heightened into a wonderful, artful group of stories.

The craft of writing is perscuted here. Language is used to nauseating effect in this terrible story that is so caught up in its own attempt to be ironic and cleverly cynical that it kills any sense of craft, bludgeons the reader with such awful metaphors, similes and sentance structure that it hurts the psyche. The narrator, having nothing good to work with suffers with the listener. Don't do it.

This is definitely worth a listen/read. I think a lot of people will dismiss Biocentrism as a mad theory, which is apparently heresy coming from scientists! However, from a philosophical perspective there are some great ideas, fascinating and playful analysis, and profound associations and insights with physics and consciousness research here, and listening to these these is worth the investment of time.

As exciting a proposition as Biocentrism is, it does not come across as 'true' in the subjective way that Robert Lanza constantly refers to when establishing various arguments and principles. It also lapses deeply into whimsy and subjectivity on occasion to be more than a creative opinion per se. There are some very basic contextual ideas and constructs completely missing, which alongside profound insights, undermines the intellectual rigour of the whole text.

Unfortunately there's very little accessible criticism of Biocentrism (online) that doesn't instantly dismiss it, or make it seem cultish and simplistic. Other critiques discuss logical misteps, or addressing what seem obvious logical misteps that are present in the text. These need to be addressed. Nevertheless, I definitely recommend listening if you're inquisitive and interested in consciousness research, there's a very creative perspective here... But as Evelyn Waugh warned, beware of charm in all things.

The 'good' of Bourne's books is found in the continuity of the experience. True to its title this is the blow by blow rendition of an adept soldier's survival in the face of armaggeddon. A good, (if disappointingly simple) man facing almost inescapable oblivion. A survivor's narrative where every mile endured is a minor miracle. Bourne's military experience and balanced, logistical view is the text's best quality. If you enjoy the genre and don't require great writing, this is as good as it gets.

I was fairly gripped by the book. Although by no means great writing and too long, there were enough good ideas on the page to carry through a clever premise. This audio production however is very poor. The style of writing cannot withstand being read out, and the cast taken as a whole, including great actors, come across as flat, overly cynical, bored and uncompelling... which is a great shame.

This is one of my favourite books. Just listen to it. Marlantes' took decades to craft this beautifully written story based on his experience in Vietnam, and Bronson Pinchot has rendered the most perfect performance of it. It's a deep and exquisite journey, frequently heartbreaking and beautiful and occasionally tearfully funny. One of the finest audio narrations ever performed, and definitely one of the greatest final paragraphs in literature!

The 'good' of Bourne's books is found in the continuity of the experience. True to its title this is the blow by blow rendition of an adept soldier's survival in the face of armaggeddon. A good, (if disappointingly simple) man facing almost inescapable oblivion. A survivor's narrative where every mile endured is a minor miracle. Bourne's military experience and balanced, logistical view is the text's best quality. If you enjoy the genre and don't require great writing, this is as good as it gets.

This is a grand and at the same time deeply claustrophobic adventure. The setting, between the great wars, is perfect for the precise and scientific exploration of haunting and horrid, menacing presence.

Dark Matter succeeds as an intelligent, evocative and visceral ghost story and its central metaphor remains strong and intact, evolving and gaining depth as the deeply personal narrative unfolds.

Jeremy Northam is superb and reveals how great and majestic a craft narration can be.

Apparently you have to give at least one star, but make no mistake, this is a deeply awful piece of writing and narration - haggard, cliched characters and scenarios, poorly conceived and unimaginatively rendered. The zombie/apocalyptic/dystopian/super-vius genre is amorphous and full of so much possibility, but in the hands of Z. A. Recht it dies and I wish it had remained dead. Oliver Wyman's narration is equally awful, offering us up movie character parodies (Bill Paxton's chr in Aliens is abused the most), and generally killing an already dreadful piece of writing. I'm not sure it could have been worse. This genre badly needs resuscitation. Zero stars.

This is an even more sublime experience than the outstanding BBC television drama, and it's difficult to imagine that the other audio versions could come close to Jeremy Irons' rendition. At once deeply personal and epic in its execution, this is a perfect match between writer and narrator, greatly enhanced by Irons' long and brilliant relationship with the text.