Tim

There is no doubt that I always learn something new each time I listen to another title from David McCullough. I really like his writing on history without any personal bias. He is the best historian writer in our time, maybe even one of the greatest.

"The Greater Journey Americans in Paris" is like a precursor of what is to come for many decades. The book establish the inventions, modern art, and science in medicine and also finer things in life. Instead of getting another explanation on another war, you look forward to at smelling the roses in Paris.

Railsea by China Mieville reads almost like a sci-fi western. It's like Moby Dick on a train on land. Almost reminds me of that classic 70's movie, Mad Max, on the railroad tracks traveling to some broken universal.

I am addictive to this author, but Railsea is a bit different from what I'm used to. It feels like that he wrote this one for a younger audience. but it is still very good. I just enjoyed the entire concept of the trains and mole. Trying to conquer some kind of land creature using harpoons is crazy idea, but it really works.

Whenever I visit Las Vegas, I almost always take a detour to visit the Hoover Dam. It's something that you have to see for yourself. After reading The Great Bridge by David McCullough, I was seeking out other great massive infrastructures such as the Hoover Dam.

Colossus by Michael Hiltzik was disappointing and I had a rough time at finishing the book. Maybe I've been reading too much from David McCullough, but Michael Hiltzik fails at explaining the actual building of the dam. Instead, 90% of the book is about politics and very little engineering of dam building.

I would had learned more at reading the encyclopedia than from the information of this book. Do yourself a favor, go visit the Hoover Dam and take the tour because there is not enough dam building in Colossus.

I wanted to know more about how the concrete cures, blowing up the side of the mountain and so on, but instead I heard about politics . I can't remembered if the author explained the height and the width on the Hoover Dam.

If you are going to write national monuments, write on the subject. Don't tell me the side stories that doesn't relate. If you had a grandfather that helped built the Hoover Dam, I highly doubt that he will tell his grandchildren what went on behind closed doors.

There are at least half a dozen of "The Great Gatsby" from different publishers on Audible, but this is the best version from Audible Inc. Maybe even the best audiobook that they have published.

The narrator by Jake Gyllenhaal is super. I could not put this one down just because it was so enjoyable to listen to. They finally got the right voice for the right book.

Why can't they do this every time whenever they do an in-house production?

This audiobook will get many awards because of awesome editing and the perfect pitch to tell a classic.

Usually when I read anything by Haruki Murakami, I am instantly hook, but with "After Dark", I either wasn't paying attention to the story or I was doing something else. The base line of the story was weak. As I mentioned in my other reviews of other short stories from this author, his short stories just lacks. There were a few highlights in After Dark, but not memorable.

Stay away from Haruki Murakami shorts. Almost all of them has been a disappointment. He is an awesome novelist, but not a good comic artist. He can't seem to doodle on a napkin, but can paint a masterpiece on canvas.

Reading about Susannah Cahalan's autoimmune disease and the attack of her brain was interesting. I really liked the technical aspect in "Brain on Fire." Instead of being a feel good story, she writes every torturer and medical symptoms that she went through to find out what was wrong with her. When her brain freaked out, she acted like a action hero discovering her superpowers as being paranoid, and then becoming an infant as her disease became worse, and the remarkable recovery process. Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis could be leak to Autism. It is still unknown what cause Anti-NMDA but her book shed a light on this disease.

If you want to read stories from Haruki Murakami, "After the Quake" is the one to get. Unlike his other novellas, like The Elephant Vanishes, these set of stories revolves around the Kobe earthquake in 1995. They are excellent and a great way to get into Murakami's thought patterns.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of this author, but most of his short stories felt short and awkward until I read After the Quake. This is a must read for any Murakami's groupies. He is pretty much a rockstar among Japanese authors and I'm not Japanese.

Maybe they translated these stories better than the rest, but it was fantastic because it is classic writing from this author.

"The Intuitionist" is a top notch read. It's pretty much about elevator inspectors, which one of them is black and also a woman when race was an issue back then. The different floors in the department is not a straight forward read, but more like different dreams in each floor for Lila Mae. It's really hard to explain it. The entire story feels like a metaphor for racism at the time. It's not like The Help or The Color Purple, but its more subtle. Great writing from Colson Whitehead.

If this is the future of science fiction authors, I hope that I live long enough to see the next next millennium. "Embassytown" is the best sci fi book that I've read all year. I cannot thank my friend enough for introducing me to this author. China Mieville is one the best upcoming authors that I've ever read. I dug every minute of Embassytown. Finished the book over the weekend and I couldn't wait to listen to more. Excellent sci-fi. It could not be much better. I'm hook at Mieville's madness. Like an addict, walking the streets to get another fixed, I cannot get enough of Mieville.

His style of storytelling is a cross between of Neal Stephenson and the Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. They write straight to the point and present themselves at being bizarre, which always been the norm.

This was one of the best credits that I've spent in a long time on Audible.

Enough said.

There are some secrets that are better being untold. Unless you really want to know about WikiLeaks, I would pass on this one because Julian Assange is not a good guy and got his fame because of the leaks. The hipster community consider him to be a rock star of the year, according to the Italian's Rolling Stone, but he is a criminal that was charge for rape.

I just don't understand how we can overlook one's pass transgression just because he leaked the truth. Yes, I understand that Julian is some kind of rockstar in the internet community, but he is not a pioneer in our history and is just a blur. There are far better people that we can look up to.

I like these kinds of books, where information is the plot, but they put the founder of WikiLeaks on a pedestal. I could not get over Julian being the voice of the truth.

Peter F. Hamilton is one of my favorite science fiction writers. I have to compare him with George R. R. Martin and "A Song of Ice and Fire." Like Martin, Hamilton writes without any editing. Every character in his chapters seems like the main focus of the plot and no detail is left untold.

The "Great North Road" is a daunting read. I've read "Commonwealth Saga" before and that was an excellent series and much longer, but this recent title just seems to be bloated and long with every molecule being explained.

It's an epic story by far and a great modern science fiction, but it's hard to tackle because there is so much detail to comprehend.

I should had pace myself at listening to "Great North Road" because I finished 36 hours in a few days. I should had taken a break because I felt that I was being burned out with the story.

The alien monsters and the revealing of the North is totally worth the listen, but there is a lot of reading before and even after.

Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained in the Commonwealth are much more enjoyable and easier to follow.