Alison

Sensitive, compassionate and interesting case studies, with a sprinkling of autobiography. As always, Sacks writes at a level that is interesting to this neuroscientist, without being too jargon-y for my sweetie, who also loved the book. Major drawback is the narrator. At least Dan Woren can pronounce all the brain structures correctly (thank goodness) -- but Sacks' voice doesn't really get translated in the flat performance. We get a tease of Sacks' fantastic reading of the introduction, so we know what could have been with appropriate narration. As the title suggests,the book is an exploration of hallucination - seen, heard, smelled and felt through avenues involuntary (associated with some neuropathology), or voluntary (drug induced). Hallucinations is historical, witty, and scholarly without being dispassionate or boring. Well worth a credit.

I really liked the story, which meanders back and forth across fantasy/hallucination, supernatural occurrence, and everyday experience -- while somehow being impossible to stop listening to. The unreliable narrator-protagonist, a mentally ill young artist, India Morgan Phelps aka Imp reveals her slow unraveling through her accounts of being haunted -- by an archetype first glimpsed in a turn-of-the-century painting of a mermaid. The haunting-thriller-quasi-horror thing isn't usually my cup of tea, but this was intelligent and creepy and doesn't have a pat ending. Recommended if you're up for something new.

I didn't want to stop once i started, but then when it was over, i thought "why did i every think that was a good idea?" Okay so the elemental assassin series is fun -- the characters are really likeable, and the pacing and story lines pretty addictive, but the writing and dialogue are just horrible. Extensive, nearly verbatim repetition of random exposition, patent clue-dropping for the next book, and ultra lame, "coathanger in a leather jacket" type cardboard love interest. Please, Jennifer Estep -- get a better editor, and respect your audience more. One million times worse writing than the first book. On the plus side, Lauren Fortgang is a fantastic narrator.

You know its bad for you, but you just cant stop. Initially a promising story of academic research, a quest for a secret, and a society of supernatural beings the Harkness' novel soon lapses into a sticky sweet romance. You won't really be enjoying it, but still you wont be able stop listening till the ending -- which will still leave you somewhat unsatisfied.

This is part of a two book series. The ending of this "episode" really leaves you hanging, pretty much in the middle of the story; with a serious lack of resolution to every major plotline. I was like "The End?" "Are you kidding?" Up till that point, i was hanging on, super involved with the lastest adventures of time traveling historians in WWII London. Entertaining, witty and fun: pure Connie Willis. I'd give it a "must listen", but you might want to wait till both parts are out before using your credits.

I was initially really excited to see this book on audible. However, this revisiting of a childhood favorite was a real disapointment, mostly due to Madeline L'Engle's shrill narration.

This engaging view of the creation of the OED and one of its most fascinating contributors William Minor was extremely enjoyable until about 3/4 of the way through the book. However, when Minor stops his work for the OED and leaves England to return to America, the book turns to armchair clinician speculation about Minor's retroactive diagnosis, mental ilness and society,the mixed blessing of medication, etc. Personally i found this part *much* less fun that the wonderfully researched history of the OED. Though i was initially leery of 'read by the author" Winchester does a great job as a narrator. Interesting bonuses include author commentary on researching the book and an recorded interview with both Winchester and the current editor of the OED. In short, wishing for 3.5 stars.

You can see from the other reviews that people either love or hate this book. I loved it. Helprin has a wonderful sense of comic timing that is drawn out to great (sometimes excruciating) effect when experienced "out loud" vs. on paper. I loved both the laugh out loud descriptions of American and British politics; well as the idiosyncracies and beauties of american life and landscape. I listened to some parts of this book multiple times. Helprin has a unique viewpoint; somehow both sorrowful and silly. Enjoy!

As a Stephenson fan, who already knew and loved the book Cryptonomicon-- I decided to ignore the advice of previous reviewers and download the "unabridged excerpts" anyway. Though Stephenson’s writing is great, and Scott Brick does a good job on the narration -- the abridgment is horrible! The chopped story is extremely hard to follow -- focusing on the "epiphyte" narrative line, and skipping most of the fun math stuff, world war II stories, and historical overview of encryption which makes the book so interesting. A real disappointment, even though I was forewarned. Save your credits!

This story is about as engaging and believable as a George bush speech. Badly written and slow to develop, the story is compromised for character development, and when all is said and done you are left with unbelievable characters that you can't relate to.

This is a drab and humorousness tale of a woman's struggle for change in a repressive, hierarchical, and tyrannical society. Instead of the fantastical land of ahz we love, we are shown a fascist state: complete with a personality cult, prison and child indoctrination camps. A bad allegory at best, this book is entirely without substance and uninteresting.

Look elsewhere to use your credit.