Daryl James

Excellent!

Revisado: 05-28-24

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. the character development was well done, the narrative was rich and supported by a well developed setting. The story explored themes of class, race, colorism, ethnicity, politics, and aspirational ideals, in a well thoughtout and nuanced way. I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

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Very elucidating with a unexpected glimmer of hope

Revisado: 08-10-22

This book is impressive on multiple levels. Firstly, Mr.French's apparent command of the Mandarin language has to be highly proficient to have facilitated all these interviews. Secondly, his journalism is sophisticated and spares no nuance when describing the differing elements at play in this ostensibly neo-colonization of Africa. French, unlike so many China hawks recognizes the CPP's political objectives, but consistently reveals the very real problem China has of maintaining an authoritarian state via the many interviews of people who are effectively fleeing from the state's far-reaching chokehold. French's interviews of various Chinese nationals reveals just how tenuous the apparent national unity of China is because despite the facade of unity, all the cultural, class, and socioeconomic limitations differences between the provinces are actually Chinese nationals to leave China. It is somewhat depressing if not predictable to see the political complicity of African leaders handing over the vast resources of Africa to Chinese entities without much knowledge or regard for getting a better deal for African people. But I don't think it will leave the reader hopeless because the very foil to authoritarianism is freedom (and options), and so many Chinese nationals express they are motivated to leave China because there's so little social and class mobility there. I think this presents an opportunity, and may indicate that the metaphorical castle will fall from within, as Chinese nationals are attrated away from submission to the CPP to places where when they get a taste of freedom even if it is unfettered to the point of seemingly impunity because of the monetary disparities between China and the 54 African countries. Though, Chinese people will have to recognize that they cannot completely exhaust the natural resources of African if they want to sustain whatever markets they develop by using those resources.

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A History and an Autobiography

Revisado: 07-20-22

I learned so much from this book about African literature, the Biafran War, the Igbo people, Nigerian history, and the differences between British colonialism in Nigeria vs other African nations in the commonwealth. Achebe names the titles of other African authors, and historial figures-- which makes this book A GREAT resource. I really enjoyed the voice of the reader, and liked the book so much that I purchased it in hardback

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A guide for those with the ears to hear it.

Revisado: 07-10-22

So many in the "Civilized" West forget that we were all born to die. Elders like Malidoma Somé give our culture direction and insight into the customs and wisdom Indigenous people have retained in the face of colonialism-- that which is lost in this "civilized" world that is beholden to machines, and schedules, and spiritual vacuousness, is what Elder Dr. Somé provides in this book. May we have the ears to hear him.

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A thorough white-washing of Europe's atrocities

Revisado: 07-01-22

I was hoping this would book would present more history covering the Linguistic and cultural history of Swahili speaking regions. It did at first, but quickly (within 20 minutes to a half hour) pivoted to a disappointing (but not surprising) white-washedbhistory of European colonization throughout the continet. The book's subtitle should have been "The History and Legacy of European colonization and the effects on African Indigenous cultures" because that's what it was. If you are at all interested in Swahili language and culture, the book's framework is very eurocentric in orientation, and greatly downplays the atrocities facilitated by Leopold and Stanley in the Congo (who are presented as a cunning and heroic). The series of events leading up to the 1865 Berlin conference is most important because of the partitioning of the African continent, but the extensive coverage of those events left less than 5 minutes to give a very rushed resolution about the title topic of the Swahili speaking region or people's history: 1 minute to quickly gloss over the Maumau revolution and African liberation movements, 2 minutes addressing whites concerns and fears of being slaughtered in their beds during a transition to majority rule of Africans on their ancestral lands, and 2 minutes addressing placated African states not ruled by the naughty despots that African governments are notorious for.

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The intermittent translation was a terrible idea

Revisado: 04-29-22

I'm a non-native speaker of Arabic. I would say I'm somewhere between intermediate to advanced, and have little trouble following extended discourse. For me, the intermittent translation was an unnecessary distraction that interupts getting into the groove of thinking and following along exclusively in Arabic. Part of improving one's language proficiency is getting over the discomfort of not knowing everything that you are hearing in order to listen closer to find what you can understand. The format of this audiobook completely hinders one's ability to get into the groove. Additionally, i found the british woman's voice obnoxious, and she actually made what would have been an interesting story rather boring because there's no excitement in discovering that you understood something when it is interrupted by her very dull sounding voice.

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Interesting but idealistic

Revisado: 11-28-21

A lot of the moral conditions raised against racism, sexism, and binary gender conformity as imperatives for ballet to survive sound like whining that won't make a difference if the final outcome doesn't produce a more popular and commercially viable artform and product. I totally agree that Ballet must remain socially relevant if it is to remain a popular artform and not just as staple of middle-upper class white ladyhood, but I don't see Ballet ever fully abandoning it's central position to bougoise white ladyhood, which makes all of these aspirations to make Ballet politically correct ring hollow.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

intellectual waffling

Revisado: 11-02-21

The author starts off debunking Zecharia Sitchins and ancient alien theory under the auspices of ruling out that the Annunaki did not descend in 50's era styled rockets, because mythology must mean something symbolic and would of course not be literal in any way only to turn around and acknowledge that the Pan Spermia theory has clout with regards to cephalopods and mushrooms, and not answer why a clearly advanced civilization which produced the likes of Enki and other Annunaki would be obtuse about the origins of their knowledge when explaining it to a less developed race/class of people that they were sympathetic towards. And then she claims to be a renegade academic archeologist and historian who believes the Annunaki's gods were explicable as the delusions of Shamans inspired by a DMT trip. Oh, and finally she does not rule out that the Annunaki could have been aliens after all.

The benefit of this book is that it puts all of the arm chair archeologist theories and speculations in "academese" and the detriment of this book is that she writes most of the beginning in "academese". Nevermind the filler tangent chapter that have nada to do with the title subject. I understand that she sought to add some gravitas to the topic, but nothing she offered rules out what has been presented by "armchair archeologists".

And the narrarator mispronounced some basic Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek words that could have been easily searched on google translate.

Even if you are skeptical of ancient alien theory, I recommend listening to Zecharia Sitchens' books or Michael Tellinger's book "Slave Species" before listening to this book, if for no other reason than because they're more engaging and provide a narrative. Even if their narratives are way off the mark, this book does little to flesh out the contexts which would explain the contents of the Sumerian tablets, their language, their cultural origin, and their quick ascent to a high culture.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Terrible Narration

Revisado: 08-03-21

There is a significant opportunity missed by having a white man narrate this book. The voice of the author does not even adequately relay the content of the text because he sounds too perky, chipper, and completely indifferent to the gravity of Dr. Woodson's thesis. A Black man's voice is necessary for narration of this text, and ideally a man whose voice conveys the experience of thinking about, and dealing with the ideas and subjects covered within the this book. Some people just are not capable of providing intention and delivery a book deserves and requires, amd this is a prime example.

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good information not a fan of the narrator

Revisado: 01-11-21

This is really good information to dispel liberal idealism about crime, policing, and incarceration. I particularly appreciate that the author identified the primary cause for crime in Black communities as a breakdown of the Black family structure, and that she dispelled misleading ideas about property crimes which have lead some to believe they're not as important as violent crimes.

I did not care for the narrator's reading. I think her reading will makethis material less desirable to listen to by the audiences that most need to hear or. A Black female reading it narrating this book would be better in my opinion.

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