Karla Levermore-Rich

It may seem confusing that I give the story 4 stars, the performance 4 stars, but the overall only 3. Here's why: I think this is a fun, useful and well written and performed book, but I think it is better as a physical book than audiobook.

I pre-ordered the hard copy after Hardwick announced it on his podcast, and then promptly forgot. Then, months later, I saw his reminder about his new book on Twitter and since I only ever get time to digest books through audiobooks, I came here to see if it was available. I listened to the first couple of chapters very happily and Chris, as usual, is very funny and delivers his material as only he could, so I was very glad that he read it himself.

Part 1 of this self-help book, which is about the mind, has a lot of narrative and works very well as an audiobook. I related very well to the experiences he relates about anxiety and self-confidence and he made me laugh so much. There are exercises to do, but they are thought exercises that at most, I would pause the playback for a minute to think about before resuming the book. There is also a suggestion for a "character tome" which I will do, and am glad to have the physical book to refer to for the structure of it.

However, Part 2, about the body, includes his story of how he got to where he is in his caring for his physical self, and many conversations with/information from his personal trainer. It is very inspiring. But a large part is composed of bullet lists of exercises and motivational points. These are very useful for actual reading and referencing, but not very interesting to listen to.

Part 3, Time, focuses on ways to use technology to better manage your time to meet your goals and how to get your finances in control. Obviously, I can use some organizational skills, and was pleasantly surprised to see the stigmatizing issue of bad credit in here as well, and Hardwick has a lot of great suggestions. But listening to them in the car and not being able to right away try them out was less useful. For that reason I was very glad that I had the physical version at home that I could reference Parts 2 and 3.

Maybe it's just because I listen to Hardwick's podcast that I had no problems with hearing his voice in the text, but I really think it's because he wrote it in a way that his humor is obvious and, in some ways, better in written form than spoken aloud. So if you are worried that reading it will feel more bland than listening to him, I don't think it's an issue for this particular book.

So please, buy this book! I really do recommend it and in fact will be buying more hard copy versions for friends as gifts. And if you don't mind buying both versions then by all means, do! #Moneybags #HashtaggingOutsideOfTwitter

I love John Scalzi books, so I eagerly and impatiently waited for the day this was available on Audible and bought it immediately. I was incredibly happy a soon as the prologue started, but I have to admit, I almost gave up halfway through the first chapter. I've seen criticisms of Scalzi regarding his overuse of the word "said". I never noticed it as a problem until this book. Maybe it's because two characters have similar sounding names, but it was so distracting I stopped listening for a day and was going to wait to read the book I pre-ordered once it arrived. I decided to try again the next day, and was very glad I did. Once more characters were introduced and there was more action, it became less of an issue, and there really are scenes that are just absolutely fantastic as read by Wil Wheaton. "I'm an astrogator. I just wanna... astrogate." probably makes the whole book for me.

The codas at the end are sweet, though not my favorite parts. I love the Star Trek references, criticisms and parodies, the philosophical implications of the story, the meta puzzle that is this book.

It has been a year since I listened to this book, but there are three things that I remembered being very surprised by:

1. For a non-fiction travelogue (which is not the type of book I usually read) I thought the author wrote a very interesting and compelling collection of stories.

2. Considering the title I was surprised at how fun and funny the book was. And realized I must be quite a grump too, because I very much related to the author.

3. I am usually very disappointed when non-fiction authors read their own work. They just don't usually have the voice for audiobooks. This was the exception to that. Eric has a great voice and reads with great cadence and inflection.

I definitely recommend it!

This is a fun, quick read and one of my kids' favorites even though it is not a children's book (there is some swearing that will offend some, and a violent scene probably not appropriate for really young ones), but my kids were 11 and 17 at the time and both just loved it.

I loved the reluctant hero of the main character Jack, and especially his relationship with is dog Carl. I also loved the anti-corporate, yet not bludgeoning you over the head, message (which is fairly common in sci-fi anyway).

The only reason I gave the story 4 stars is because it is a little simplistic for adult fiction and I will agree that Scalzi overuses "says" to the point that it is sometimes distracting if there's a lot of quick back and forth between characters.

And then there's Wil. I can't love his narration of this story enough. Wil just knows how to read Scalzi's work perfectly. I can hear in his voice his own amusement or sadness at what he's reading and I think his cadence is perfect for it.

This is a fun book and I especially recommend it in audio form!

This is great sci-fi with interesting characters and plenty of humor to break up the tension. The first time Perry talked to his BrainPal had me laughing out loud at the store. Very embarrassing. The fact that I didn't want to stop listening even while I was at the store also says something about how into this book I was.

Old Man's War is one of the first books I recommend to others - especially anyone looking for a new series to get into. The narrator has the perfect voice for the main character and I was very glad that he continued with the sequels.

You know how some books or podcasts are dangerous to listen to in the car because they will make you laugh so hard you can't see the road from the tears streaming from your face? This is one of those books. I love Tina Fey and this book is a great example of why. She is incredible and strong and inspiring and funny and self-deprecating all at the same time.