Audio book reviews

Audio books I've heard (mostly from the Austin Public library):

Rating 1-10 (10 the best)	Title	Author	Comments	Date
10	Gates of Fire	Steven Pressfield	An amazingly well written novel that explores the Spartan culture.	01/2003
9	Longitude	Dava Sobel	Wonderful book about John Harrison's quest to solve the longitude problem. Although he solved the technical difficulties, the politics around him stymied his progress, while sailors died for lack of longitude	11/1999
9	Tides of War	Steven Pressfield	Very interesting historical novel of the Peloponnesian war between Sparta and Athens and Alcibiades. Pressfield hightlights the turn of history influenced by Pride and petty Jealousy; somewhat like a Greek tragedy - oh wait - it is a Greek tragedy. Excellent abridgment, the language is rated PG13 at times.	02/2001
8	Guns of August	Barbara Tuchman	Insightful novel about World War I. A few things struck me. Many of the top leaders for the war were not well prepared, nor suited temperament-wise for their duties. How garbled all the communications were during the war. The leaders had no idea what was really going on during the battles or where the enemy was. How cruel the Germans were to the inhabitants of Belgium and France. How little justification the Germans had for the war. The Kaiser just craved the respect of his cousins and plungled the entire world into a carnage that overwhelms the imagination.	04/2010
8	State of Fear	Michael Crichton	I enjoyed the story, but "State of Fear" is really more a Greek dialog discussing the various views on global warming. Drama and action are spread liberally through the book, but ultimately it's all about the conversations between those who have a clue about science and those who just want to feel good about doing something. however misguided.	12/2005
8	Cardinal of the Kremlin	Tom Clancy	A fast-paced action story about the closing days of the cold war	11/2000
8		Dean Koontz	This fast paced mystery novel was a treat. The first person narration worked well.	5/2004
8		Marcia Clark	Compelling story of the O.J. Trial	12/2000
8		John Grishom	Good, fast paced novel, great abridgment. I loved the book, but thought the identity of the final informant was lame.	04/2001
8		Billy Graham	A very good overview of his life.	03/2001
8		Clive Cussler	His best book yet. Fast paced, intriguing. Clive knows how to tell a story well.	4/2002
7		Nathaniel C. Fick	Interesting, well-written novel about the training of Marines and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The most interesting vignette was about his translator, Mish, who after talking with a group of Iraqis on good-will missions would always get cigarettes handed to him. When Fick asked him why people gave him cigarettes Mish replied, "I told them to hand over some cigarettes, or you'd kill them." Another interesting message of the book is the amount of civilian causalities. Large numbers of innocent civilians were killed during the operation not necessarily from the intent of either side, but just as "collateral damage".	07/2009
7	Journals of the Pioneers 1	Frederick Drimmer	I loved the pure, unadulterated stories from the mouth of the people who witnessed and lived the culture of the Amerindians. Most of what we read today has been processed and refined for political and social reasons, so this book is a valuable resource. According to many of the writers, the warriors would eat the bodies of defeated warriors who died valiantly, but refuse to eat the body of cowards. The writers also said that many whites were kidnapped to take the place of tribe members who had died. The Native Americans would also set prairie fires to flush game.
7		Tom Clancy	A fast paced fun action story about a possible WWIII.	12/2002
7		Sherry Sontag	A well told story of submarine covert actions in the Cold War.	3/2002
7		Caroline Alexander	Story of the incredible saga of Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic is gripping. His crew was trapped in the ice and then stranded on a small island. He undertook the greatest sea voyage ever in a lifeboat in very adverse conditions. The story is tough sledding at first, but picks up speed; its difficult to listen to at times, but worth it.	5/2000
7		Neal Stephenson	An imaginative view of the future. One of the early cyberpunk novels. The language is fairly harsh with profanity, but very original and a good story.	03/2002
7		Jerome Groopman	How do doctors sift through possible causes for our ills? The author explores the question and concludes you should ask these questions of your health care provider when given a diagnosis: What else could this be? Could there be two problems? What other organs are around that area?
6		Ken Davis	An interesting and even handed account of the War of Northern Aggression	06/2000
6	The Intruders	Dean R. Koontz	Good story of a Vietnam Navy Intruder pilot	12/2000
6	Power Plays / Shadow Watch	Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg	A good story	12/2000
6		Tom Clancy, Chuck Horner	A story of Chuck Horner's career.	12/2002
6		Stephen King	Mr. King's thoughts on writing the novel.	5/2004
5	The Ten Thousand	Harold Coyle	The story was not very plausible, the scenarios of battle were interesting, but the editing onto two cassettes was "an abridgment too far".	4/2000
5	Foundation the Psycho-historians	Isaac Asimov	A highly edited version of a very important book. If you read the book, its a fun review. Without reading the book, you'll be lost.	11/2000
5	Icebound	Dean R. Koontz	Mildly entertaining	12/2000
5	Atlantis Found	Clive Cussler	A highly imaginative Dirk Pitt novel on two cassettes	7/2000
5	Cyclops	Clive Cussler	A fairly typical Dirk Pitt novel on two cassettes	4/2000
5		Simon Winchester	A leisurely walk through the events surrounding the eruption of Krakatoa. Winchester is informative and entertaining.	01/2005
5		Dean Koontz	An interesting, but ultimately unfullfilling story of fantastic events. As always Koontz is a wonderful storyteller with well textrured characters we care deeply about, but it doesn't quite save the plot line.	05/2005
4	History of Warfare	John Keegan	Keegan tackles a difficult subject, but comes up with little. He seems intend on having a Clausewitzian encounter with the premises of Clausewitz. He tries so hard to prove that Clausewitz was wrong, and it gets tiring. Keegan is also not afraid to make the facts stand on their heads - like his description of site 117. He really wants us to believe that the Greeks invented "total war", but neglects other cultures like the Hawaiian that do not fit in with his views. Overall this book was a great disappointment.	06/2000
5	Blink	Malcolm Gladwell	Gladwell describes how humans can make instant judgments and be amazingly accurate. The most interesting example was predicting which doctors would be most likely to be sued. People were able to predict the likelihood of a doctor being sued for malpractice not by looking at his grades or IQ, but how well she interacted with patients. By watching a short video clip of the doctor and patients, observers could predict if the doctor would be likely to be sued. If the doctors treat their patients kindly and respectfully, the threat of a malpractice suit is low.	09/2009
4	Inca Gold	Clive Cussler	An adventure action story that strains credibility often, but entertaining	11/1999
4		Miller	An informative history of germ warfare in the US showing that the issue is truly complex. Parts of the story get very tedious.	05/2005
2	The Commodore	Patrick O'Brian	I listened to the 3hr condensed version. Don't bother. I think all the character development, action, and story line where all abridged out.	9/2000
1	White Shark		An action story that completely strains credibility. Not recommended.	8/1999

Following is a list of my audio books. If you are a personal friend and would like to borrow some titles, please let me know.

My Audio Library from the The Learning Company

1. Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos by Steven Pollock
2. History of Science: Antiquity to 1700
3. Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition by Richard Wolfson
4. Iliad of Homer by Elizabeth Vandiver
5. Odyssey of Homer by Elizabeth Vandiver
6. Greek Legacy: Classical Origins of the Modern World by Daniel N. Robinson
7. Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations by Brian M. Fagan
8. Greek Tragedy by Elizabeth Vandiver
9. An Introduction to Greek Philosophy by David Roochnik
10. The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis by Louis Markos
11. The History of the English Language by Seth Lerer
12. The Foundations of Western Civilization by Professor Thomas F. X. Noble
13. Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning by Professor David Zarefsky
14. Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor by Professor Kenneth W. Harl Tulane University
15. The History of Ancient Rome Vol I-IV
16. Alexander and the Hellenistic Age Vol I-II by Jeremy McInerney (12 CDs)
17. Age of Pericles by Jeremy McInerney (12 CDs)
18. Ancient Greek Civilization by Jeremy McInerney (6 CDs)

Other Audio tapes

1. Book of Greek Myths D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (4 cassettes)
   
2. How Now Shall We Live, by Charles Colson (4 cassettes)
3. Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge (2 cassettes)
4. God of My Father, by Larry Crabb(2 cassettes)
5. Objections Answered, by RC Sproul (3 cassettes)
6. The Book of Virtues, Volume II by William Bennett (4 cassettes)
7. The Iliad, by Homer (not Simpson) (6 cassettes)
8. The Odyssey, by Homer (12 cassettes)
9. Ultimate Issues, by RC Sproul(4 cassettes)
10. The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis(2 cassettes)
11. The Consequences of Ideas, by R.C. Sproul (18 cassettes)

Books on my future reading list

The Mystery of Capitol	Lost Languages	The Coming Anarchy
The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story