"not a mystery/thriller - a romance pot boiler"
This book is a romance novel wrapped in a thin international corporate espionage plot. The performance is fine but the misleading categorization of the book leads me to rate it neutral - I'm not a fan of romance novels and don't know the genre.
A further issue is that Audible's sample for the book gives an "error" when selected though I doubt the sample would have made it clear that the book is a romance novel.
"I really enjoyed Mason"
I suppose it's called a pot-boiler but I enjoyed it. The story turned out quite unique and the pace was brisk. The narration was good. I'm ready for the next one.
"nicely drawn history of the idea of galaxies"
This book is a well done history of the emergence of the idea of galaxies or island universes from the 19th to the mid-20th century. The people such as Shapely and Hubble are portrayed with their foibles as well as their more admirable qualities. The narration is quite good.
"wonderful overview of modern astrophysics"
This book is a very nice overview of modern astrophysics and in particular the role of black holes in astrophysical processes. The author is an astrophysicist / astrobiologist and knows his subject well and presents it with a kind of warmth and care that is infrequent in popular science writing. The author narrates the book himself and does a wonderful job of it. This book is a nice complement to other books such as "The 4% Universe" and "The Day We Found the Universe".
"Love the story. Can't stand the narrator!"
Vintage Asimov bringing to a conclusion his tying up of the origins of the Foundation series. I liked absolutely least the dreadful narration. The narrator didn't seem to actually understand the dialog that he was reading and it came across incredibly stilted and lifeless.
Another one of the cool stings that occur in many of the Foundation stories.
If I wasn't a die-hard Asimov fan I wouldn't have listened past the first 5 minutes. He simply read in a wooden fashion. No sense of timing or emphasis.
Probably but there's little chance of that happening
Get Scott Brick to read Forward and Edge so we have the entire series read consistently