Octopus Overlords

So the secret to reading lots of books is audio books set on hyper speed and taking dumps as often as possible.

Or have a job that doesn't take full attention.

If I were studying I'd slow the F*** down, of course. But what I read, I can often skip a few minutes without affecting much of the comprehension or overall plot.

Speaking of reading. I want to read this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Eightfold- ... 00LEP7NT6/

What if the three men in the Chinese tale "Journey to the West" were the three wise men greeting the birth of Jesus?

What if Jesus knows kung-fu?

(Yes, it's satire)

https://storybundle.com/satire

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed May 29, 2019 4:53 pm So the secret to reading lots of books is audio books set on hyper speed and taking dumps as often as possible.

What would Evelyn Wood say?

That that was a lot of shit?

Scuzz wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2019 1:40 pm That that was a lot of shit?

But she would say it in 20,000 words or more and in print form so she could show off the superiority of her speed reading technique.

Finished Bleak Harbor by Bryan Gurley. This was a fast-paced thriller about a 15 year old boy with autism who is kidnapped and held for ransom. His mother is the estranged daughter of the wealthy Serenity Bleak, the matriarch of Bleak Harbor, MI. She also works for a corrupt logistics millionaire in Chicago, so she has multiple avenues through which to try to get ransom money. It's a fun and quick read that works better if you don't think too much about it. It's a world where hackers have access to everyone's lives because everyone is blind clicking on links in phishing e-mails, for example. Still, it was nice and twisty and a pretty good read for an Amazon First Read.

Up next is The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler, which is also an Amazon First Read. This is some sort of political thriller that I otherwise know nothing about.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein.

I read about halfway through this book. Then I lost my Kindle, but now that I have it back, I found that I had essentially zero interest in finishing the book, so I'm calling it off. As you may infer from that I think the book is pretty meh. It's by two famous behavioral economists (I know you're already getting excited!), and I've been reading a couple things lately about behavioral economics so I thought this was worth a shot. The book is largely about decision making frameworks and how thoughtful people can use them to 'nudge' people to make better choices. Like, by making a retirement contribution plan opt out instead of opt in - if you do opt out, people will default to saving more for retirement, which is a good thing, but at the same time they still have the power to opt out if they really don't want to save that money (or need it for other things). But the writing is only ok (and they do that annoying thing where they will regularly refer to themselves via anecdote - "this is just like when Thaler went fishing", which I hate when writers do that). And the broader concept doesn't seem all that complicated, so I feel like I basically get the point already.

Anyway, if you are interested in the topic of behavioral economics, just read The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis, which is about two of the most famous (famous-er) behavior economists and the development of the field, and which has much better writing (because it's by Michael Lewis).

Finished The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler. I went into this book knowing nothing about it other than it was some sort of political thriller that I got for free from Amazon First Reads. Turns out the author is somewhat prolific, and this book merges the worlds of two of his characters. John Rain is a semi-retired half Japanese, half American assassin. Livia Lone is a Thai born survivor of sexual trafficking who is now a Seattle PD detective working on violent sex crimes. Lone gets too close to uncovering a scandal, so someone tries to hire Rain to take her out. He declines (doesn't like to kill women), and the mysterious caller tries to cover his tracks by also taking out Rain. They're thrown together (along with a group of other mercenaries, some of which are mutual friends/acquaintances) to try to save themselves and finish uncovering the scandal Lone was so close to.

It was fine. The plot was pretty straightforward, so the draw here is the characters and the action. The action is well done, but the characters are (mostly) too self-serious. I never felt lost with not having read about these characters in their prior books, but it's possible I would have enjoyed it more if I were more invested in these characters. Each chapter is done from the third-person perspective of one of the characters (a la G.R.R. Martin), except that Rain's chapters are in first person for some reason. It's an odd quirk, but it's not too distracting. There was a somewhat dull romantic interlude about 2/3 of the way through where characters worked on their relationships, but the book was an otherwise fast paced and easy read.

Up next is The Reign of the Kingfisher by T.J. Martinson. I saw this in the newspaper on Sunday being billed as a literary superhero novel, and that was enough to intrigue me. I think it's going to focus on the mysterious death of a superhero/vigilante named The Kingfisher in Chicago in the 1980s.

I read the first Livia Lone novel last month. I have the killer collective in my queue somewhere. Need to read that.

Finished Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Omnibus

Jack Forge thought he had room on his grades to slide a little when his brother died defending humanity from the Chitin. But he didn't. When he didn't make the grade, he was conscripted into fleet marine training. Bit too smart for his own good and wont' suffer fools, Jack clashed with fellow trainees, and even training sergeants. But when duty called, Jack Forge is slowly transformed from a boy unsure of his place in the world, into a soldier and leader.

Over 9 volume set, the university student was transformed into a hardened marine commander. It's pretty good if you like military scifi. Each volume stands alone but should be read in order. 4.5/5

Finished Spearhead a WW2 history about one of the few cases where the M26 Pershing actually dueled with its nemesis, the Panther tank, and the story of the tank crew. For those who know a little history, M26 was supposed to be the allied answer to the German Tiger and Panther. Armed with a 90mm cannon, it outclasses the German tanks, but it arrived almost too late for the war. There were only like 20 of them in Europe, and at first, they didn't dare lose it, so they kept it inside a formation, but enemy kinda ignored it. And the regular Shermans suffered heavy losses, so it ended up being used as the spearhead... to take the hits and hope none penetrates. It was a good tale, as it also includes the German side.

Finished The Forgotten 500 a WW2 history about the mission that was classified for decades due to political expediency. Allied had a bombing campaign against an oil refinery in Romania, and many bombers were lost, each with 10-12 crew. Some were captured, but hundreds were rescued by locals. However, due to communist sympathizers in both UK and US interfering with the truth, no plan was put in place to rescue them until the news eventually reached OSS. And even then, the Brits, whether intentionally or negligently sabotaged US efforts multiple times, and managed to portray the faction helping the Americans as "German Sympathizers" and threw allied support behind the communist Tito faction. But OSS was able to put a team on the ground, organized the building of a runway in the Yugoslav mountains, and over the course of several weeks, evacuated 500+ people from Germans troops only 40 miles away. This is Operation Halyard. The mission was classified because US and UK do not want to admit they had to rely on someone they called "German Sympathizer" to keep the flyboys safe. Even Eisenhower awarding Legion of Merit (Highest Order) posthumously to the leader (executed by Tito after a sham trial) was classified and forgotten until 1970's.

Finished Thin Air by Lisa Gray

Jessica Shaw is a private investigator with a bit of wanderlust. She moves at random, usually taking missing people cases. Until one day she received a tip that shocked her to her core. The three-year old girl in the photo went missing 25 years ago. The photo was her own. // LAPD detective Jason Pryce was investigating the murder of a college student moonlighting as a call girl. But Pryce was also at Jessica's father's funeral. When their paths crossed, both knew they are looking for a killer, because Jessica's biological mother died under similar circumstances. But Jessica soon realizes Pryce is hiding something that has to do with her own origins... and her "father" lied to her. And if Jessica gets too close to the truth, the killer is still out there...

Whew! That's one twisty tale of secrets and police procedural, plus investigations. It's great. 8/8

Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

This is the 3rd book in the Liveship Traders Trilogy. Let me start by saying I did enjoy reading the trilogy. The author creates an interesting world and many interesting characters in her books. I have previously read the Farseer Trilogy and enjoyed it. But perhaps in this case the author went a little overboard with the characters and the POV chapters. She also tends to be a bit wordy and when it came to various parts of the story that overindulgence kind of brought things to a halt. You can only read so much about trading and negotiating.

I also thought this series, especially in the last book, used sex in a way the last series didn't that I found unnecessary. The book has a romance novel quality to it (not that I have read any romance novels) that I thought could have been left out and without spoiling anything it has what I can only call some unnecessary story lines which I think detract from the over all story and don't really add to the book. The only purpose I can think for what she adds is to "complete" the redemption of a character that by the time it occurs was superfluous to the story.

So I guess basically I am saying this is a good book with some flaws.

Finished The Saga of Pappy Gunn

Pappy Gunn is one of those characters that could have only thrived in war as he's larger than life, and it's not boasting if he could do it. Any of you history buffs remember special "commerce raider" version of B-25 in WW2 Pacific, armed with like 6-8 50-cal MGs in the nose, or even a 75mm howitzer, for ship busting? That's Pappy Gunn's doing. But even taller was the tales he told, like claiming to have landed on the back of a whale on a seaplane. This book was written by one of his commanding generals, who recognized his talent and tried not to interfere with it much. A little short, but packed with info.

Finished The Reign of the Kingfisher by T.J. Martinson. This was an excellent book. It's a superhero novel where the superhero is mostly a secondary character. In the late 1970s/early 1980s, someone started violently cleaning up the mean streets of Chicago. Some called him a superhero, while others called him a vigilante. There were reports of incredible feats of strength and bullets bouncing off of him, but first hand accounts were pretty rare. A local newspaper writer dubbed him The Kingfisher, and his legend was born. In 1983, however, the police announced they had recovered his body - The Kingfisher was dead.

In modern time, a mysterious masked man has taken hostages and his threatening to kill them unless the Chicago Police admit that they helped to fake The Kingfisher's death. The focus is on trying to uncover the truth about what happened to this hero, whether he was really dead or not, and to save the remaining hostages.

The idea of doing a book about a superhero where we're not just following the exploits of that hero is interesting, and it leaves us with a group of interesting characters taking the lead roles in the story. The book is dark and violent, much like this supposed superhero, and it is very well written. I highly recommend it.

Up next is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I picked up the version that contains "the author's preferred text", which apparently means it's a mixture of the original UK version and the version that was first sold in the US.

Finished "Starship Blackbeard Superbox" by Michael Wallace

This is a compilation of the entire Starship Blackbeard series (1-4) as well as its semi-sequel, The Sentinel (1-3).

Captain Drake had just helped won the war against the Hroom Empire, when he was suddenly cashiered, court-martialed, and sentenced to 2 years on a slave planet. Then his old crew, those that managed to stay on the ship, broke him out, mutinied against the existing officer, and they ran for their lives. Then he learned that Admiral Malthorne had basically framed him, and is enlisting his best friend to command a sister ship to bring him in... But the further than ran, and stay one step ahead of pursuit, the more they realized this "frame job" is just a cover-up of a much bigger conspiracy... That can end the Albion Monarchy, and instigate another interstellar war. And there is an enemy alien specie, known as "Apex", that even the Hroom fear. And Apex is raiding both Hroom and Albions pace... Drake must tread carefully, seeking friends, vanquishing enemies, among the lawless frontier... and save both humanity and Hroom in the sector.

The Sentinel, the semi-sequel, deals with his first officer, now commanding HMS Blackbeard, escaped into "Dragon Quadrant" into the space of Singapore Imperium. But the space is occupied by a sentinel battle station. And the station is divided into two factions: the openers want to talk to the new arrival as friends, the sentinels want to destroy the arriving ship and conscript survivors into service. And the station commander can no longer keep the peace. Then the Apex showed up... The next two books detail the ship and its taskforce, along with an expeditionary force lead by Drake, ended up facing a HUGE alien fleet, and somehow still managed to destroy them.

Good space action, a bit reminiscent of the Horatio Hornblower era as the ships mostly fire kinetic shots, but still have torpedoes and missiles.

Will probably read the spin-off, "Void Queen" series next.

Half way mark and at 49 books completed, I'm off last year's pace, much less my goal to beat Freelunch's 2018 total. My pages per day are up though, 5 pages more than last year. To get back on pace, I think I need a few more qualifying kids books (the last was Max Brook's Minecraft). Adult themes get a dirty look from the wife if I try playing them on long drives, and we seem to take a lot of 2-hour trips where the time is wasted on the radio.

Zombies!: Book 1: A Small World by R. S. Merritt

This is the audiobook that our own msteelers had narrated and kindly provided a copy for review purposes. Hope I wasn't too brutal, I did try to make it a constructive criticism. The last paragraph pertains to our intrepid narrator and was not included in the review posted elsewhere.

Ever since George Romero brought us "the living dead" nightmare, zombies have been a phenomenon all their own. Stories tend to boil down to the same thing - visceral battles where the living try to stay alive and attempts to somehow outwit the witless. An effective zombie story passes the terror to the reader through effective development of the characters. Dialog between the characters is an essential tool for this sort of character development and here is where Merritt fails. The story is almost entirely a narrative, such as something composed by an omniscient observer writing well after the events took place. The endless descriptions of battles with the zombies are reminiscent of observations made of someone playing a video game killing zombies. There is no sense of terror, no sense of doom. When characters die, it's almost a welcome break from the routine zombie bashing.

I think this novel is closer to becoming a satire of the zombie genre than a ground-breaking participant. Characters in the story even admit that tactics learned from zombie movies appear to be effective here, there is no real attempt at originality. Fast zombies or slow zombies? Hell, why not both?

The end of the book might not seem so odd if the second book was readily available to continue the story. The narrative would alternately follow several groups of survivors, and the end of this novel felt like the author wrote a bunch of chapters and just decided to cut the story at an arbitrary point without crafting a proper ending that gets readers intrigued for the next book.

So how did msteelers do in his debut as an audiobook reader? Let's start by admitting the material posed somewhat of a handicap. A narrative does not give the reader much of a chance to act out individual characters - something the best readers are extremely good at. His voice has good tonal quality and the pacing was good. One thing that absolutely drove me nuts, however, was chapter transition. Most chapters end on a solemn note, but the next chapter is always announced in an inappropriate, up beat and chipper cadence that distracted from the content of the story. This would be fine in a satire, but when announcing the next chapter, you really need to maintain the same gravitas matching the end of the previous chapter. While I think the author could benefit greatly by studying -- not merely reading -- someone like Stephen King, you should do the same with an accomplished audiobook narrator such as Scott Brick. I think with more practice and opportunity you can become really good at this and as a first effort you can be proud of the results. I hope to see some growth on both you and and the author's part in subsequent volumes.

Jeff V wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2019 2:54 pm Half way mark and at 49 books completed, I'm off last year's pace, much less my goal to beat Freelunch's 2018 total. My pages per day are up though, 5 pages more than last year. To get back on pace, I think I need a few more qualifying kids books (the last was Max Brook's Minecraft). Adult themes get a dirty look from the wife if I try playing them on long drives, and we seem to take a lot of 2-hour trips where the time is wasted on the radio.

At halfway I'm well behind my total for last year at this point, and even more so on page count, so I feel you've nothing to fear from me this year.

Finished "The Hangman's Daughter" by Oliver Potzch (translated by Lee Chadeayne)

It is 1660 in Germany. The small town of Schongau still remembers 70 years ago when a witch trial swept through town and dozens were executed for alleged witchcraft. The town hangman Jakob Kuisl was summoned when a local boy was pulled from the river, mortally wounded. A mark was found on the shoulder, and rumors of witchcraft quickly spread. When even more children went missing, and another was found dead with the mark, the local midwife was quickly accused of being a witch. Jakob is soon forced to torture the woman who helped give birth to a good portion of town, including Jakob's own children, to elicit a confession. But Jakob realized there's a larger conspiracy at stake, and the only one he can count on is his own daughter, Magdalena, and her suitor, Simon, who's somewhat university-educated son of the town's physician. Can they solve the crime before an official arrive forcing an even bigger trial and loss of life?

Wow, for a historical thriller, this one is great. And apparently the author was a descendant of the hangman himself. Obviously this is fiction, but it's a fun one. 8/8

Finished Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

For a biography, this is superb. A lot of insights, impeccable research, from the somewhat illegitimate birth all the way to death from the duel, Hamilton is a great but flawed person. And for $2.99, it's a MUST-buy.

i am about 1/3rd of the way through the new Neal Stephenson book. it's turned into 'Neal describes how he messes around in Minecraft Creative mode' (in a manner of speaking) for many, many pages. i can't imagine a neurotypical person trying to read all this and not having given up many, many pages ago.

Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

100 Below by Adam Hoss (K)

It takes a special kind of crazy to live in a remote polar station, and this is an underlying theme of this book. Oddly though, conditions that can drive a sane person crazy would seem that a psych eval is in order for anyone choosing to endure polar winters with six months of no aid from the rest of the world. When a scientist is found dead in the library, the librarian becomes the immediate suspect only because she owned a gun (never mind it wasn't the gun used in the killing) and the personnel recruiter who allowed her to have it (Dylan, the main character in the story). The murder becomes an international incident, the scientist was Israeli, the librarian, Muslim, and the United States wants to unilaterally take possession of the international station because of an interest by one of the richest, post powerful people.

The story and plot worked well enough, but the character development seemed off. Dylan was prone to crazy nightmares and often questioned his own sanity. He took accusations of culpability much too nonchalantly. He was caught and escaped several times...despite there being literally no place to run. The supporting cast of characters are largely 2-dimensional, and the villains resemble something out of a James Bond story. Still, Hoss got the atmospherics right (at least as well as I can judge them to be after reading a blog by a friend's father who was recruited for a particular task in Antarctica). If you want a nice chill on hot summer day, this could do it for you.

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:47 pm Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

what i was referring to isn't that kind of digression, but i didn't want to spoil anything.

also: page 300 is where the book actually gets to the theme (or just actually starts) and page 400 is where it finally gets interesting (albeit deeply, deeply silly). just reached the halfway point, so ~440 more pages to go...

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:59 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:47 pm Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

what i was referring to isn't that kind of digression, but i didn't want to spoil anything.

also: page 300 is where the book actually gets to the theme (or just actually starts) and page 400 is where it finally gets interesting (albeit deeply, deeply silly)

There has been a lot written about this book in a couple forums so I appreciate your not doing spoilers. I do figure to read it once it hits paperback.

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:02 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:59 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:47 pm Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

what i was referring to isn't that kind of digression, but i didn't want to spoil anything.

also: page 300 is where the book actually gets to the theme (or just actually starts) and page 400 is where it finally gets interesting (albeit deeply, deeply silly)

There has been a lot written about this book in a couple forums so I appreciate your not doing spoilers. I do figure to read it once it hits paperback.

i have it out from the library right now, so i'm trying to finish it before it has to go back in ten days - there's almost a 300 person queue. reading this much this quickly is a part time job.

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:47 pm Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

Oh yeah, the Captain Crunch tangent is an infamous example of this.
http://akkartik.name/post/capn-crunch

Still, a great book. And I even read the Baroque Cycle.

Oh, speaking of tangents. I'm currently reading The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons. It's a Sherlock Holmes story. Part of it is meta-ish as Holmes contemplates his existence and his partner in this story is author Henry James. They travel to America to solve a mystery in D.C. Anyway, in giving something Henry James something to do, Simmons has Henry James review many of the Sherlock Holmes classic stories at length. Several long chapters of this with commenting of the stories. Holy tangent city! I thought Stephenson was bad at this. I think he's found his own match.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:07 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:02 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:59 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:47 pm Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

what i was referring to isn't that kind of digression, but i didn't want to spoil anything.

also: page 300 is where the book actually gets to the theme (or just actually starts) and page 400 is where it finally gets interesting (albeit deeply, deeply silly)

There has been a lot written about this book in a couple forums so I appreciate your not doing spoilers. I do figure to read it once it hits paperback.

i have it out from the library right now, so i'm trying to finish it before it has to go back in ten days - there's almost a 300 person queue. reading this much this quickly is a part time job.

I don't do the library thing because I rarely read anything that fast. But my wife and daughter are constantly heading off to the library.

reading on computer screens is sucky and i can't get the official PDF to display in a very legible format on my Kindle, so i reserved a paperback edition of MUELLER REPORT from the library. just wondering if anyone has heard the 'audiobook' version. i see it has 16 narrators - what could that be like??

Sorta finished Weaponized Lies

Goes over how "spinners" can hide the truth and mislead with tricky / weasel wording, massacre data and graphs to disguise bad numbers and overemphasize good numbers, and so on. I'll have to re-read this one.

Finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Every time I read something by Gaiman I wonder why I don't read more of his stuff. Richard Mayhew is an ordinary Scottish bloke working in London when a mysterious, bleeding waif-like girl tumbles out a door in front of him. Over the strong objections of his fiance, he takes her back to his apartment to help her. This leads to him essentially being erased from "London Above" and becoming a part of "London Below", the forgotten class who lives (generally speaking) below London proper in a world of danger and magic. It's wildly imaginative and tremendously fun. This was Gaiman's first novel, and the version I read has been updated to the "author's preferred text", mixing parts of the original UK release with the American release. There's also a short story at the end that Gaiman wrote in 2014(?) that involves one of the characters from the book. If you're like me and haven't read as much Gaiman as you should have, this is a great place to start rectifying that.

Up next is Trance by Adam Southward. It's an Amazon freebie about some clinical forensic psychiatrist who is helping the London police try to solve some nasty murders.

Gaiman reads most of his audiobooks himself and as such is worth the price of admission (disclaimer: I borrow them from the library so the price is no more than the portion of my taxes going to fund the library). I've never been blown away by the actual story, probably a bit too eccentric for my taste. But I would be entertained by him reading the phone book, so yeah.

Anansi Boys is a great listen. It's read by Lenny Henry (Chef) who does an awesome job. Highly recommend.

WYBaugh wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:11 pm Anansi Boys is a great listen. It's read by Lenny Henry (Chef) who does an awesome job. Highly recommend.

That was one of his stories that I rather enjoyed on its own merits.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:07 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:02 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:59 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:47 pm Most of his books contain at least a couple times when Stephenson just goes on and on explaining something. Sometimes I skip those pages, other times I work thru them. It is just what he does. Cryptomoniacon (sp) is like that a lot. But I loved the book.

what i was referring to isn't that kind of digression, but i didn't want to spoil anything.

also: page 300 is where the book actually gets to the theme (or just actually starts) and page 400 is where it finally gets interesting (albeit deeply, deeply silly)

There has been a lot written about this book in a couple forums so I appreciate your not doing spoilers. I do figure to read it once it hits paperback.

i have it out from the library right now, so i'm trying to finish it before it has to go back in ten days - there's almost a 300 person queue. reading this much this quickly is a part time job.

done - 884 pages in two and a half weeks, a new record for me.

Jeff V wrote: ↑Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:24 pmSo how did msteelers do in his debut as an audiobook reader? Let's start by admitting the material posed somewhat of a handicap. A narrative does not give the reader much of a chance to act out individual characters - something the best readers are extremely good at. His voice has good tonal quality and the pacing was good. One thing that absolutely drove me nuts, however, was chapter transition. Most chapters end on a solemn note, but the next chapter is always announced in an inappropriate, up beat and chipper cadence that distracted from the content of the story. This would be fine in a satire, but when announcing the next chapter, you really need to maintain the same gravitas matching the end of the previous chapter. While I think the author could benefit greatly by studying -- not merely reading -- someone like Stephen King, you should do the same with an accomplished audiobook narrator such as Scott Brick. I think with more practice and opportunity you can become really good at this and as a first effort you can be proud of the results. I hope to see some growth on both you and and the author's part in subsequent volumes.

I just saw this post. Thanks for the review! I'm starting on book 2 now, and I'm going to work on the chapter transitions. That's fantastic feedback, and something I never even considered. Thank you!

I finished 1493 by Charles Mann. I read 1491 several months ago and enjoyed it. While this book has some interesting history and facts in it I wasn’t quite as captivated by it as the earlier book. He talks about mosquitoes, disease and silver, and how their exchange made the world different. How various crops moved from place to place and made life better, and in some ways worse. He also spends about a third of the book on the development of the slave trade. Some of the numbers there are staggering.

But I think with this book he is called upon to make a few more conclusions than with the first book and he tends to walk a fine line explaining why the Columbian Exchange works in both good and bad ways. Also how people in general, humanity, is the biggest contributor to those negatives.