John Bald

I really enjoyed this. Wonderful reading by John Lee. Great writing by the author and although the "story" moves along swiftly, there's actually a lot of historical detail. What a story! It's rich and full of characters. You'd swear you're listening to some well plotted spy thriller. Highly recommended.

I'm glad I read this (listened) and I recommend it to anyone who's interested in the topic, even if I don't agree with some of the author's conclusions. My favorite part of the book, the author's insights about people's moral convictions (and the political candidates they're attracted to), was fascinating. It's changed the way I look at (or listen to) people on the other side of the moral/political spectrum. I actually *hear* them differently, and their convictions make more sense to me.

Interesting book, well written and well read by the author.

Wow, this one really surprised me. It was deeper than I'd expected, and honest. The author takes you into the territory of Doubt, rather courageously, and there he finds that doubt can be helpful for the soul. He brought up a lot of ideas and perspectives that were new to me. The whole book, which is very well written, opened my mind. Truly, I'm grateful for writers like John Ortberg for honestly examining spiritual ideas like faith and doubt. In the end he tells you his "conclusions" about faith and God, but he invites the reader to find his/her own. This was my first book by the author.

Great plot, interesting & well drawn characters. I thought the writing was well above the average action/thriller fare.

This was my first Ann Patchett novel. Wow, what a storyteller. She has a unique way of spinning out a tale. Her plot was beautiful, rich, intriguing -- even though the events don't include guns, murder, evil villains. Really quite a gifted novelist. It was a pleasure to hear the words and watch the story unfold. It's a (mostly) quiet story but you find yourself on the edge of your seat! All that would be enough, but Hope Davis does a sparkling job with the prose!

An interesting and rewarding exploration of Nicholas Steno, his love of knowledge and science, and the life he lived in that era. It's also interesting to see how the crowd of "knowledgeable people" can sometimes be quite blind and quite wrong. Well written by Alan Cutler and easy to follow. Grover Gardner does well. I enjoyed it.

Let's face it, the author went to a tough, tough place. And things didn't get any easier. There was the poverty, the tragic childhoods, the heartbreak of early, violent deaths. The author came from very different circumstances himself, so how did he make it in the neighborhood he now lived in? How on earth did he stay there for 2+ decades? That is the story told in this book.

Much less interesting than the first Freakonomics. This one doesn't have the depth, just some glib conclusions from data scooped up here and there. Example: how did the women's liberation movement strike a blow against education and student test scores? Answer: women gained more career choices so fewer of the brightest women now go into teaching, resulting in less able teachers and therefor poorer test scores. Come on. Why bring up important issues only to be silly & superficial about them?

1) I'm glad I read it because it gave me insight into autistic behavior in general, 2) the writing is very good with an accurate first-person voice, 3) honestly it was such a chore to get to the end because the mystery and surprises aren't very interesting. The father is interesting and the main character is interesting, although often dry and long winded. Not sure what to think about this one. P.S., interesting: the author of the autobiography 'Born on a Blue Day,' who has Aspergers Syndrome like the main character in 'Curious Incident,' came to a completely different conclusion about the existence of God.

An interesting, intriguing suspense novel (a mystery novel, too, actually). Kept me in suspense until the end! Entertaining historical fiction. Paul Michael did a good job reading.