Betty

I can't rate the content, as I've listened to only 5 minutes and am ready to stick a fork in my eye.
This woman sounds like she should be reading a children's Christmas story. Her floaty feathery voice over ennunciation should not be narrating anything longer than 10 minutes. The whispers that imply wonder and mystery when she's discussing the mundane; eggs, dogs chewing on a bone, it's ridiculous.
I know you can't please everyone,
I wish the book companies would do a better job of matching book to narrator.

Superficial overall, The author seems to have
little or no knowledge of the subjects she includes in this book. She tackled too many serious subjects superficially. Not even worth willing suspension of disbelief

The treatment of Grief, Loss, Mental Illness were devoid of any gritty reality. A mentally ill person spends a few nights in a hospital and gets medicine to make her "all better" PulEEZE

Then suddenly the story was tied up in one big happy bow. But without feeling the despair the happiness was meaningless.

If anyone has seen "A very Brady Christmas"
The vapid ending rivals that, and I didn't think anything could.

I will try.
My reaction to Gladwells work is much the same as my feelings toward Michael Moore when he became
known. I want to say
"Thank you, thank you for existing"

Outliers is fascinating, immpeccably researched and accessible. Gladwell consistantly chooses research in areas that most of us think we know about, assuming our conventional wisdom must be
based on something factual. The reality being, much of it is nothing more than long term societal brainwashing. When Gladwell reveals the big picture, which he does in a style as captivating as any novel; I'm left thinking
"these topics affect us on an intimate level why was this not done before?"
I suppose the answer is obvious. Sometimes we like our minds to stay comfortable.

No pretense, no elitism, no shock value, it's not necessary. Brilliantly researched and narrated work that stands on it's own.

Malcolm you rock!

Stories with little or no depth read by an overexcitable narrator who insists on slamming you over the head with whatever emotion you're supposed to be feeling. He's Kind of like the Celine Dion of narrators. Okay This is the scary part..it must be because the narrator is hyperventilating.
This was just plain boring and bad. Best of the Genre? Was Stephanie Pratt the judge?

Gonzales effortlessly weaves quantam mechanics, spirituality, psychology and James Bond into
a fascinating book that is at first glance about physical survival, but it can be used as a metaphor for many facets of human experience.

I'm in awe of how Gonzales uses information from such diverse sources - yet it all fits so logically. I can't say enough good about this book. It's intelligent, educational, emotional, and entertaining. And finally - the perfect narrator as a bonus.

I keep reading about Lancasters "Sharp wit"
I didn't hear it, she sounds like the teen queens on every rich kid high school series since 2000
She laughs about stealing a bag from a "smelly" homeless man.
After that I wanted her to fall, and hard. She really didn't suffer much, and seemed temporarily chastened but when things looked up became almost as obnoxious as she was before. Revolting on all levels.

I feel bad saying anything negative about someone's grief. This is full of writing cliches, too wordy. It's as if she tried too hard to wax poetic. The narration was awful for this type of book. She'd be better suited to Dick and Jane.

Sorry about that ; 0 but it was torture trying to listen to it.
The subject is one I'm fascinated by, but Morrison
managed to make it not just dull, but painful.

It's unfocused, and full of unrelated personal anecdotes, but what drove me to finally shut it off was when I realized her excessive rhetoric, writers cliches, and inability to be concise was
not a glitch, it's her writing style, and the subject was lost underneath it.

The woman cannot use an absolute word like "never" without adding something like
"not when he was a teenager, not when he fell of his bike, not when he was on trial, not when he was convicted.. never.
Or after "No one"
Not the F.B.I not the Police, not the Lawyers, not the psychiatrists..

Okay, No one means no one. WE GOT IT!

Additionally, she didn't seem aware that using four bland *and* redudant adjectives has the opposite of the intended effect.

And do we really need to hear
"As spring turned to summer, and summer to fall and fall to winter.."
I felt like I had been listening to 4 hours of grade 9 essays

Ironically, when discussing her cases, and detail was necessary, it wasn't there. I expected far more from someone directly involved in profiling.
Where was her editor? if all the garbage had been eliminated this would have been about 30 minutes long.

She made me admire all the more authors such as Joseph Wambaugh, who's judicious use of language and pointed descriptions hone the subject, not drown it.

Admittedly what I found intolerable would not bother everyone to the same extent. But there's not enough (or any) new, or intriguing information to make it worth wading through.

A definite pass.

Joseph Campbell's quiet wisdom and Bill Moyers astute questions are life changing for the interested listener. What I love most about Campbell is that he doesn't *stop* teaching, he's a conduit, the opposite of the self titled "inspirational" speaker. He shares his knowledge without advising what one should draw from it. Almost magically, far more than facts alone, his words stay alive. The have the potential to completely transform the listeners life experience, yet each one will create something different from what he says.

The story is interesting, though I didn't find it spellbinding, but the narration is so bad that it
was hard for me to listen to. I agree with the woman who said it made her angry. Me too! I wanted to yell at him. Oddly stilted speech, lazy pronounciation, and a dramatic intonation at the end of just about every sentence was enough to interfere with the story.
In short bits I found it tolerable.