Noah Smith

Lots of events, not much big picture

Revisado: 02-25-17

This book was alright, but the type of history it presents is of the "one damn thing after another" variety. I would have liked a bigger picture - Why was the Ottoman Empire so institutionally and militarily weak? Were the Young Turks actually strong leaders who did the most they could with a bad hand, or were they fools and blunderers? Why were Mustafa Kemal and a few other top generals so surprisingly effective? I would have liked to have heard a few less battle blow-by-blows, and a little more explanation and context.

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Libertarian fan fiction

Revisado: 02-25-17

The Evil Empire is coming to kill all the gays! And their weapon is...fiat currency! Fortunately, our hero, armed with gold (the one true money) is here to infiltrate their evil statist bureaucracy and bring them down!

OK, this is a caricature, but the number of libertarian tropes in this book made me laugh. I listened to it for a book club, and the main question people asked was "Is this fantasy?". I answered "Yeah...the economics is the magic."

That"s far from my only criticism, though. The protagonist"s motivations are never really explored in depth. We know she"s out for revenge for the death of her father and the conquest of her hometown, but that hometown culture just isn"t developed very thoroughly. We never get that warm, homey feeling of pre-colonial society the way we would in, say, an Ursula LeGuin book. Instead, Baru seems to be making a bunch of dire decisions and dreadful acts of will for...what? We never really know.

So I"d say this is a fun book, but ultimately unsatisfying.

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Good book ruined by unlistenable narrator

Revisado: 09-27-15

I wish I had read this series on paper instead of trying to listen to it on audio. The series is a solid high fantasy epic. The narrator, however, ruins the audio version completely. He alternates between hushed mumbling whispers and shouting bellows, so that you have to choose between missing half of what he says or blowing your ears out. The man sounds like he is trying to tell a story to seven-year-olds around a campfire. It"s basically "AND THEN, HE...mumblemumblemumble...YOU...WILL...NOT...mumblemumble". I slogged through one book of that, just because the story was so interesting. But I couldn"t make it through two.

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A window into the nasty world of the Middle Ages

Revisado: 09-27-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Tuchman has the rare ability to make readers feel as if they are actually living in history. That ability is on display in this book, which took me into the reality of the Middle Ages as no other book has. Reading this book, you will learn that romantic fantasies like Game of Thrones bear little reality to the squalid, violent, chaotic reality. Life in Medieval Europe really was, as Hobbes described it, "nasty, brutish, and short." The 14th century was the point when it all came crashing down - when the repeated blows of plague, famine, and war knocked the struts out from under the rotting edifice of European feudalism. The following 500 years, of course, saw Europe"s amazing rise - but to understand the magnitude of that rise, it helps to start at the bottom. And this book describes the bottom.

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The definitive history of the Civil War

Revisado: 09-27-15

What made the experience of listening to Battle Cry of Freedom: Volume 1 the most enjoyable?

This history has it all - the battles, the personalities, the events, and the economic, political, and social context of the war. Together with part 2 it"s 40 hours long, but it"s so readable and well-written that it just flies past - and leaves you far more edified than when you began.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Battle Cry of Freedom: Volume 1?

The most memorable moment was the description of the fight for the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania Courthouse. You could almost see the era of limited warfare ending and the era of total war beginning at that one spot.

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What it was like to fight for Japan in WW2

Revisado: 09-27-15

Where does Japanese Destroyer Captain rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high. It"s an amazing, eye-opening testimonial from one of Japan"s best naval officers - an iconoclast even in his own culture. Anyone interested in war history or Japanese history should read this book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Japanese Destroyer Captain?

The most memorable moment is a speech Captain Hara delivers to his men right before they go on what is probably a suicide mission at the end of the war. He tells them never to die, but always to keep fighting - a message very at odds with the prevailing dogma of the time. It"s as inspiring a speech as I"ve ever heard.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

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A weak second effort.

Revisado: 09-25-15

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change it into a totally different book. A good book.

What was most disappointing about Ernest Cline’s story?

The ending was remarkably weak. It felt totally "mailed in". Interesting questions are never resolved, hugely important events are glossed over, and the climax has zero suspense.

Have you listened to any of Wil Wheaton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Wil Wheaton is excellent as always - possibly the best audiobook narrator in the business.

Any additional comments?

Armada is an incredibly weak showing for an author who had an amazing debut novel (Ready Player One). This second effort is listless, uncreative, emotionally flat, unoriginal, and just plain boring. It felt like the author forced himself to write something he didn"t really want to write. Fans of Ready Player One should skip this book.

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Macroeconomics is hard

Revisado: 05-11-14

What did you love best about The Undercover Economist Strikes Back?

Tim Harford is the Great Explainer of economics, and no one could have de-mystified the subject of macroeconomics as well as Tim. But still, no one really knows how the macroeconomy works, and "teaching the controversy" is a tall order even for the greatest of explainers.

Any additional comments?

Tim"s first book, The Undercover Economist, is on more solid theoretical and empirical ground, simply because microeconomic phenomena (buying and selling things) are so much better understood than macroeconomic phenomena (recessions, booms, growth and inflation).

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A bit dated but a masterful classic nonetheless

Revisado: 05-11-14

Where does The Thirty Years War rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It"s a bit dated compared to more recently written war histories. The sweeping one-line characterizations of personalities and moods would be rare in a modern history, for example. But the book is clearly an incredibly thoroughly-researched masterpiece, and really transports you into the strange, chaotic era of the 30 Years" War.

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Great "folk history"

Revisado: 05-11-14

Where does Destiny Disrupted rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It"s a good book!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Destiny Disrupted?

The description of Muhammad"s life was particularly detailed and engaging.

Any additional comments?

This is a "folk history", intended not to be historically accurate, but rather to describe the general Muslim narrative of history. It"s a very innovative idea.

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