Randy

Were it possible, Ender's Shadow is more than just a "shadow" of Ender's Game, it is the much deeper story in my opinion. Seeing Ender through Bean is genius and worked so well, that I feel it's an improvement on Ender's Game. Wow, what a book, what a series! More!

Superbly written and the superb narration enhanced the writing. The ONLY part of the book I will take issue with is opening up yet another conspiracy theory touting more than one gunman for JFK's assassination. I will admit that the book does give a fascinating motivation for killing Jack Kennedy, one that I had not thought of nor have ever read in any other of the thousands of books and various accounts over the decades. I guess in some ways, the authors of this book had to address the issue given the good doctor's rare proximity and relationship to JFK, so I guess I have to forgive its conclusions. I salute the book for exposing the "good ol' days" as not at all so good. So many celebrities, so drug affected. Many might blame the doctor, forget that. Personal responsibility is something that has always plagued human beings from the dawn of time. Take some responsibility for yourself, stop blaming others and man up, cowards!! Anyway, this is a book that should not be missed by those who love the micro-history of the past.

I read one review called "Is It Just Me?" and whereas I don't agree with all said in that review, it's just a matter of what I didn't enjoy compared to that review. There are many who have enjoyed this title, good for them. I had heard that Lewis had a pretty hefty ego, it showed here. I had to stop because I don't enjoy gratuitous and voluminous name dropping of dead and irrelevant Hollywood names. Maybe I'm too young at 61 years and this title belongs to those in their 80's, I don't know. All I know is that it did not work for me. Now, if Mr. Lewis wishes to recall his years with MDA, that could be really good, too bad this title did not go there immediately. I will say that narration did all it could do to help, talented, but alas not enough.

I was a late comer to Arnie's Army. He was already past prime, but I still wanted him to best Jack. That all changed into 1986, Jack's final major victory at Augusta, a glorious televised ending to a legendary career. I enjoyed Jack then as much as I had Arnie. Great one on one rivalries in sports are rare, especially now. Tiger Woods has no such counterpart, never will. Even Tiger would admit that the modern game of (and business of) golf has Arnie and Jack to thank for what it is to day and will be forever more. This was great read, albeit limited to those who love the arcane history of a sport that quite frankly is still mostly about rich or well to do kids with a talent for performing and making a great living on not the most stressful of backdrops. I would guess that mostly older men and golf fans as myself will enjoy this read the most, but if you're young and you really want to know about a rare sports duo that will likely never again be matched, try it out. The narration is smooth, a bit monotonous at times, but still lovingly given.

I picked this one up because the author popped up on NBC News one morning. I'm not sorry, but not thrilled either. There are a zillion of these what's wrong with America nutrition books, they all pretty much say the same thing in different formats. I did learn some things from Lustig, but I could have learned it from most of the other books as well. As for the politics and government activities thereof, must less of the industry involved, just say no. Trying to change either of those is a waste of opinion and print.

Ironically, it was one of the interviews that Mr. Dillon confesses he could not acquire that says it all, to paraphrase, "we're getting away from Beach Boys Q&As." I'll give credit to Dillon for telling us not only who he did interview, but more importantly who declined. That's honest and Dillon is obviously a huge fan, but fandom is not nearly enough to save the book. The idea seemed a good one, tell us some insider details about some of their songs, but once again, Dillon was honest and told us which songs did not make the cut and frustratedly, most of my favorite songs could not be in the book. I got very annoyed with his recollections of other books and of other interviews, not very original and quite boring. Dillon has a good voice for narration, smooth and even, but it felt rushed and never nuanced or enthusiastic. I really wanted this book to work, but it simply does not.

When the principal member dies in a band, it's very sad and tragic and the great ones know when to bury the band with the member. Kurt Cobain and Freddy Mercury of Nirvana and Queen respectively immediately come to mind. When they died, the surviving members allowed Nirvana and Queen to cease to exist. The Beach Boys survived the death of Dennis in 1983, but for me the band ceased to exist in 1998 with Carl's tragic end by cancer. Brian Wilson is still around, but he moved on personally and professionally, the rest of the cut and paste meaningless pseudo-BB bands should do the same.

For me, Shatner will always only be Captain Kirk, and yet the rest of the book worked, very well actually. The most poignant chapter was his very heartfelt accounting of the tragedy of his third marriage, very sad but told in a way that others can benefit. I did not know Nimoy had that problem to beat as well. I'll never read this one again, but glad I did it once. By the way, I have found celebrities reading their own books generally problematic and not entertaining for reasons unknown. Shatner's narration however was superb!

WWII from an entirely different perspective. Enthralling read, perfect narration. The author's research is unbelievable. Makes one wonder if Makos has been contacted by Hollywood for a movie. I hope so on one hand, but on the other, screenplays quite often water down the content far too much and part of the joy of this book is the detail presented on a closely knit time-line. In any case, I acquired a much different perspective on German military sensibilities during that era as a result of this great history lesson.

First, the narration was fantastic, absolutely made the listen come alive. I missed out on the hey-day of MTV. Too wrapped up in rejection of pop culture because of the horrid deceptions of religion, I missed out and am bitter about that, but this book and listen brought it all back to me as if I had been there in front of my television mesmerized as millions were. Let's face it though, I did see glimpses of MTV in the middle of its high run and who am I kidding, I was so naive, I really could not have understood its power. But enough. This book is utterly entertaining to the max. and should not be missed by anyone who enjoys the history of pop culture in any form. I would put this book in my top three best listens with no hesitation. Thanks for a great experience!

Let's face it, there's all sorts of sci-fi styles out there. I guess Mr. Phillips does not do it for me. The reviews are spot on. Many like it, but one said "bad, bad, bad" and another said "not the cleanest ... " Yea, pretty much in between for me. I have indeed stopped this title, just didn't flow for me. I don't think it was because there were teens involved. Enders Game by Mr. Card proved you can use young characters to great advantage, just not the teens in The Second Ship. MacLeod Andrews is a very good narrator by the way.

The book is well done and I felt like I was reading about the history of a great company and a great technology. Levy did not whitewash how Mr. Jobs really was nor how kind of lucky the whole thing was to have actually got up and running. Those were weird times, how weird nobody knew until now. The book's ending is understandable, but certainly makes Levy out to be a sycophant. There's nothing wrong with that I suppose, but came off a bit gratuitous as well. Levy is actually a really good narrator.