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The Storied City
- The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
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The Storied City
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Publisher's summary
To Westerners, the name Timbuktu long conjured a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold. Beginning in the late 18th century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for "discovery" tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease.
Timbuktu was rich in another way, too. A medieval center of learning, it was home to tens of thousands - according to some, hundreds of thousands - of ancient manuscripts on subjects ranging from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology, and astronomy. When al-Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of these precious documents, a remarkable thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding.
Relying on extensive research and firsthand reporting, Charlie English expertly twines these two suspenseful strands into a fraught and fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places and the myths from which it has become inseparable.
Critic reviews
“[Charlie English] reconstruct[s] vivid scenes.... A classic nonfiction braid…fits perfectly into ongoing narrative of Timbuktu, a place where the magnificence of the tale can occlude the plain fact of what’s there.” (New York Times Book Review)
"Spellbinding." (The New Yorker)
"Thrilling...English tells the new and the older tales in parallel.... The two stories illuminate each other... a brilliant device." (The Economist)
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-
Story4 out of 5 stars 401
In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world's greatest and most brazen smugglers.
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1 out of 5 stars
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It seemed like a good idea at the time
- By Jennifer A Greenhalgh on 08-10-16
By: Joshua Hammer
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King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,910
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,589
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,590
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Edith on 01-20-11
By: Adam Hochschild
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Spies of No Country
- Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel
- By: Matti Friedman
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 239
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 206
The four spies at the center of this story were part of a ragtag unit known as the Arab Section, conceived during World War II by British spies and Jewish militia leaders in Palestine. Intended to gather intelligence and carry out sabotage and assassinations, the unit consisted of Jews who were native to the Arab world and could thus easily assume Arab identities. In 1948, with Israel's existence in the balance during the War of Independence, our spies went undercover in Beirut, where they spent the next two years operating out of a kiosk....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely brilliant
- By David Mane on 06-23-19
By: Matti Friedman
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A Continent for the Taking
- The Tragedy and Hope of Africa
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
In A Continent for the Taking, Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa's most devastating recent history. While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa's peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa's complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A story to pay your attention to
- By George on 04-30-13
By: Howard W. French
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Labyrinth of Kingdoms
- 10,000 Miles Through Islamic Africa
- By: Steve Kemper
- Narrated by: Ed Phillips
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
In 1849 Heinrich Barth joined a small British expedition into unexplored regions of Islamic North and Central Africa. One by one his companions died, but he carried on alone, eventually reaching the fabled city of gold, Timbuktu. His five-and-a-half-year, 10,000-mile adventure ranks among the greatest journeys in the annals of exploration, and his discoveries are considered indispensable by modern scholars of Africa.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Sarah Broadwell on 02-02-15
By: Steve Kemper
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The Man Who Loved China
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 600
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 369
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 370
No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire.
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5 out of 5 stars
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turn your watch back 70 years
- By Andy on 05-22-08
By: Simon Winchester
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Ibn Saud
- The Desert Warrior Who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- By: Michael Darlow, Barbara Bray
- Narrated by: Brian Bascle
- Length: 21 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 345
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 308
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 307
Ibn Saud grew to manhood living the harsh traditional life of the desert nomad, a life that had changed little since the days of Abraham. Equipped with immense physical courage, he fought and won, often with weapons and tactics not unlike those employed by the ancient Assyrians, a series of astonishing military victories over a succession of enemies much more powerful than himself. Over the same period, he transformed himself from a minor sheikh into a revered king and elder statesman, courted by world leaders such as Churchill and Roosevelt.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Short-est Way to Learn about the Modern Day Saudia
- By Shah Alam on 02-18-14
By: Michael Darlow, and others
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The King's Shadow
- Obsession, Betrayal, and the Deadly Quest for the Lost City of Alexandria
- By: Edmund Richardson
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
For centuries, the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833, it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist, spy, one of the most respected scholars in Asia, and the greatest of nineteenth-century travelers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Exquisite! A Transporting Tale
- By Meg on 05-02-22
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The Lemon Tree
- By: Sandy Tolan
- Narrated by: Sandy Tolan
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 649
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 560
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 560
In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into the town of Ramle, in what is now Jewish Israel. They were cousins, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out of Palestine nearly 20 years earlier. One cousin had a door slammed in his face, and another found his old house had been converted into a school. But the third, Bashir Al-Khairi, was met at the door by a young woman called Dalia, who invited them in.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Steeping The Lemon Tree
- By Faithfull Fan on 04-11-18
By: Sandy Tolan
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Jungle of Stone
- The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
- By: William Carlsen
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 606
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 541
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 544
In 1839 rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world's most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would rewrite the West's understanding of human history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Unsung Explorers at the Heart of History
- By thomas on 01-10-17
By: William Carlsen
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The Trigger
- Hunting the Assassin Who Brought the World to War
- By: Tim Butcher
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 48
The Trigger tells the story of a young man who changed the world forever. It focuses on the drama of the incident itself by following Princip's journey. By retracing his steps from the feudal frontier village of his birth, through the mountains of the northern Balkans to the great plain city of Belgrade, and ultimately to Sarajevo, Tim Butcher illuminates our understanding of Princip and makes discoveries about him that have eluded historians for 100 years.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good, but not what I was looking for
- By Kendra on 07-08-14
By: Tim Butcher
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Here Is Where
- Discovering America's Great Forgotten History
- By: Andrew Carroll
- Narrated by: Andrew Carroll
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4 out of 5 stars 59
The centerpiece of a major national campaign to indentify and preserve forgotten history, Here Is Where is acclaimed historian Andrew Carroll’s fascinating journey of discovery in which he travels to each of America’s 50 states and explores locations where remarkable individuals once lived or where the incredible or momentous occurred.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Man who Loves his Country
- By Daryl on 03-12-17
By: Andrew Carroll
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Explorers of the Nile
- The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure
- By: Tim Jeal
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
From award-winning author Tim Jeal comes a vivid examination of the six larger-than-life men and one extraordinary woman who set out to find the source of the White Nile in the 19th century.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great Story Flawed
- By The Mays-Dickens Family on 05-12-12
By: Tim Jeal
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Inside the Kingdom
- Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Robert Lacey
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 102
Best-selling author Robert Lacey tells us what happened in the Middle East's oil-rich powerhouse---while we weren't looking.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Inside the Kingdom
- By Ibrahim on 03-19-10
By: Robert Lacey
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The Buried Book
- The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh
- By: David Damrosch
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 350
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 270
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Story4 out of 5 stars 266
One day in 1872, self-taught Assyriologist George Smith was sifting through a pile of clay tablets when he realized he was reading about "a flood, storm, a ship caught on a mountain, and a bird sent out in search of dry land". This is the riveting story of the discovery of the world's first literary epic, the "Epic of Gilgamesh".
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3 out of 5 stars
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interesting- but not for everyone
- By J Michael on 07-16-08
By: David Damrosch
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Stones into Schools
- Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Greg Mortenson
- Narrated by: Atossa Leoni
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 496
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 172
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Story4 out of 5 stars 174
In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Better than Three Cups of Tea
- By Cate F. on 12-15-09
By: Greg Mortenson
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Mirage
- Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt
- By: Nina Burleigh
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Little more than 200 years ago, only the most reckless or eccentric Europeans had dared traverse the unmapped territory of the modern-day Middle East. Its history and peoples were the subject of much myth and speculation: and no region aroused greater interest than Egypt.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A lesson in history
- By —- on 01-05-10
By: Nina Burleigh
What listeners say about The Storied City
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- drewdpeabody
- 12-31-17
Notes are a waste of time
As often happens at the end of some books, the ending affects how you look at it. I didn't think it was odd that there are long chapters at the beginning of the book and short ones at the end. After reaching chapter 21, that was when a recitation of the notes began. Who thought it was a good idea for this book to do that? They don't make any sense unless you have a computer-like memory and remember what the notes mean for passages you listened to three weeks ago. Every review of this book should start with this caveat about 1.5 hours of notes at the end. There was 12 hours of a fine audiobook to begin for which credit is deserved but no more than three stars for how it ended
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