Benoibe

I can't fathom why this book is only available in abridged format. I was so excited when I purchased it, only to read half a book! This is one of the most famous and respected historical fiction novels on Audible.
I'm bitterly disappointed and frustrated that the full audiobook is available. I hope the full book will be available soon.

Books like this shouldn't be abridged. Ruins the story!

A 5 star book in print. Don't waste your $ on this abbreviated version!

The problem is that I listened to A Short History of Everything first. That is a hard act to follow!!

However, I think this book is still really well done. The style is novel and highly entertaining. It is a fascinating history that centers around each room of an historic English rectory.

I'm not a fan of authors reading their own books, though Bryson does a fine job. I would have preferred a professional narrator. I know many Bryson fans love his narration, it is just personal preference.

Definitely highly recommended.

If I had to pick one book that every human being should read, this is it!

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is beautifully written. The book isn't centered around Wounded Knee, instead it tells the painful history of the many Native American tribes during our nation's early years.

The author does an OUTSTANDING job of using the words of the native Americans themselves, thus giving them a voice that is seldom heard! I must admit that my pride in my country has been lessened by reading this book. The broken promises, lies and greed of the founders of our nation is devastating. The absurd ideology of Manifest Destiny demonstrates a nation of tremendous greed and unjust entitlement. In the end, our policies and treatment of the native Americans amounted to centuries of persecution and mass ethnic-cleansing,

Please don't let my opinion of the events shade the book itself!! Brown doesn't overdramatize the events and stories in the book. This book isn't an opinion piece or editorial. The writing style is very straightforward and fact-oriented. That is what makes it so powerful and important. The events and stories speak for themselves. There were good and bad on both sides. This book provides historical context and perspective.

Exceptional audio performance. This is an award worthy performance for the great Grover Gardner!

The saddest thing is that it doesn't feel like the policies and treatment of Native Americans have changed much. We fought to the death for the abolition of slavery and civil rights of black Americans and women. Why didn't we fight for Native American rights as well? Why are native Americans treated differently?

I'm very thankful that I listened to this book. I wish there were more books about native Americans and their circumstances up to the present day.

Having read Bryson's The Short History of Nearly Everything and At Home: A History of Private Life, this book was a surprise for me. This book was written well before those two, and was a huge departure from what I expected.

This has a little history and a little science, but it is mostly the story if Bryson and a friend walking Appalachian. While that may not sound very exciting, it is! This story is never boring and will constantly make you laugh. It demonstrates a much different side of Bill Brysonthan I knew.

Highly recommended.

Also, whole many reviewers say they prefer when Bill Bryson reads his own work. I do not agree. At Home was read by Bryson, and it was ok. The narrator for this book is more than ok! He is exceptional and does an amazing job with the character voices. I don't think fans of the author will be disappointed with the narration!!

Upon finishing this book, I couldn't understand why I didn't already know more about this shocking tragedy. I realize that the suicides occurred before I was born (Im 33) , but so did the Charles Manson murders- and I grew up knowing all about that story and its victims. Anyway...

Knowing just a little about this story, I was transfixed with this book. It is so well written and well read! Kudos to the author for the ability to be empathetic, but also straightforward and cutting when necessary. The reader definitely gets to make up his own mind about various individuals involved, i.e. the members who were forced to leave family including their children behind when escaping.

The thing that was most surprising to me is that Jonestown was a movement for socialism, and not actually a religious cult. Jones started as a religious minister, but dropped all pretense of religion after a while. He forbade bibles and told the group that he was god. His message was not religious or spiritual, but economical. They killed themselves for socialism! ?????

I was shocked and disgusted after listening to a book about Scientology recently. Compared to Jonestown, Scientology barely registers on the radar! I have so much trouble understanding individuals who fall prey to men like Jim Jones or L Ron Hubbard. Both men had similar personality types, marked by the ability to charm and move people, and also by a growing and bizarre paranoia and isolation. Though I must add that Jones was just a really bad man, through and through. Why do people get caught up in cults? There was an obvious point where Jones had gone nuts, and yet these people followed him still. For years, the members lived in squalor and starved. Many lived in fear, and rightly so.

The final chapter of the saga, the circumstances before the mass suicide, was the most shocking. I knew about the suicides and forced suicides, but not about the slaughter of nonmembers.

I haven't read a more interesting book in a long time. I will definitely read more by Julia Scheeres. Also the narrator Robin Miles was excellent.

I finished listening to this author's first book, Demon Under a Microscope, just yesterday. I immediately went online to see if he had written anything else. I definitely recommend starting with Demon Under a Microscope first, as the stories are somewhat connected. I think you get a better understanding if what life was like at the time of this story.

This is another EXCEPTIONAL story from Thomas Hager. He gives the reader a rare point of view. I listened to both of his books straight through. (Honestly I think Hager could make anything interesting!) Hager is a truly gifted author, who tells each story with a fresh and unusual perspective. I loved the way he presented the main protagonists, with their flaws and disappointments.
Ultimately, this book is about the unintended consequences of the work of two important German scientists, from WWI to WWII, and how things just don't turn out like people intend or expect.

Great narration. Highly recommended!

While the name of this book is catchy, I really don't believe it does the book justice.

Devil Under the Microscope is a history of the first real advances in medicine in the 1930's. The story is better than fiction. One of the best nonfiction books I've read/listened to in many years! Could not put this down for a second.

This author did an amazing job with the subject matter, and the narrator is perfect.

Devil Under the Microscope gets my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!!

As an abridged version, I was a little reluctant to by this book. But the reviews from various sources, including amazon, goodreads, and audible, convinced me to try it.

While I would buy this book again if an unabridged version were released, I am thrilled with my purchase! This is fascinating newly charted territory!! The author has done a great job showing so many aspects of the Americas and its native peoples. For ex., religion, philosophy, art, poetry and other writings, along with the complicated cities and structures and lifestyles of these people. We discover the vastness of life on the americas; perhaps for the first time we can see how tragic the loss of these civilizations really is.

I don't feel like he blames anyone. Instead, I was impressed that he gave the native Americans a powerful voice in the book, instead of just portraying them as being victims of the inevitable.

Highly Recommended!!

My god! What a tragic story! This is the story of most well-known tragediy on Everest in my living memory: the 1996 Everest attempts.
Jon Krakauer was is a magazine journalist and an author of many excellent books. His story on Pat Tillman is fascinating, and his book Under the Banner of Heaven is a favorite of mine. Into The Wild received so much fan and critical success that they made a movie.

This book is if different, though. He was on one of the two ill-fated expeditions that shared a common fate. An amazing story told by the author. I never really like to listen to the author read, but it definitely works here!

Because Jon Krakauer wrote this only 6 months after the disaster, it has an intensity that is rare. Krakauer was dealing with a tremendous amount of survival guilt. I only hope he is me a man at peace.

A must read!!

Extraordinary book by Candace Millard! Beautifully told and well documented. Great performance by Paul Michael.

A book about the most dangerous of expeditions.

Great book. One I'll listen to again for sure. For anyone interested in general science, or anyone just curious how the world and universe works!

Very accessible and extremely well-read by narrator.