mk313

Good intro to the subject

Reviewed: 07-02-23 Listener received this title free

I know the basics of crypto, but haven't followed it carefully. I found this to be a good primer on the subject. Everything is laid out pretty welly for someone new to the topic, and it does a pretty thorough job of covering the topic, good and bad.

Overall, if you're new to crypto & interested in getting a better understanding of it, this is a good place to start.

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2 people found this helpful

Good for someone starting out

Reviewed: 06-30-23 Listener received this title free

In fairness, the title does say the Beginner's Guide, so I'm not going to take off any stars. While it was an interesting book, with lots of useful information, I feel like there wasn't much new in there for me to take away. As I would not describe myself as a beginner, I think it was just a mismatch.

All that being said, I do think the book is a great book for someone who would describe themselves as a beginner in personal finance.

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Good book, but probably better in print format

Reviewed: 06-29-23 Listener received this title free

Overall great info in this Quick Start guide, but definitely download & use the reference guide. I don't think this is a good candidate to listen to while driving or exercising, but it does a really great job of explaining HTML & CSS. But as programming languages, following along in the PDF is vital.

I do think that this book is worth purcashing, but I think it would be a better idea to get the paper or kindle versions and read it, and maybe get the audible version as a supplement.

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1 person found this helpful

Realistic view of day trading

Reviewed: 06-26-23 Listener received this title free

I liked this book more than I thought it would. I assumed it would be a Get Rich Quick book, but it's not that at all. Author lays out the realities of the life of a day trader. Good read for anyone thinking of getting into that career.

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Good content, but the reading was a little weird

Reviewed: 06-09-23 Listener received this title free

The content in the book was good. If you're already really on top of your finances & retirement planning, I don't think this book will offer you anything you don't know about. But for the general person looking for retirement planning info, this is a great place to start.

The performance was fine, but there was something 'off' about it. It almost sounded like it was an AI generated voice. Some words were just pronounced slightly off from what I'm used to hearing. If you click on the audible sample & listen for the first 30 seconds, you'll hear what I mean, when he says if you're in your 20's or 30's..., the way they pronounce 20's & 30's just doesn't sound natural. I'm still giving it 3 stars for performance because other than that, it's fine & you get used to it after a little bit & don't really notice it any longer, but it does catch your attention (or at least mine) when you first hear it.

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Good intro/advice on the topic

Reviewed: 05-16-20

I have a copy of this kindle book, so when the author offered a free audible copy in exchange for an honest review, I took him up on it. I'm a big fan of Martin's work & have enjoyed almost all of his books over the years.

This one is a little different than his usual books, as it's more topical (written during the COVID 19 pandemic) and less heavily footnoted than most of his previous books. While the book is very topical to the pandemic, the advice is also relevant to anyone going through tough times.

All in all, I liked it. I've reviewed several of his audiobooks before and don't generally care for the narrator. This is the same narrator, but for some reason I didn't mind him this time. I think this topic (basically how to take care of yourself during tough times that are out of your control) maybe just plays well to the narrator's strengths, or possibly my tastes have just changed. Usually I recommend the kindle version over the audible one (for Martin Meadow's books), but in this case, I feel like they are both equally good, so I'd recommend either one, depending on if you prefer to read or listen to books.

I thought that Chapter One was particularly relevant and dealt with topics that seems to get glossed over in self help books. Mainly that at first, you don't need to do anything to get out of it/ get over it. Mainly, your first goal should just be to take care of yourself, get enough sleep, eat as healthy as you can, etc, and to not make any major decisions while you are grieving. In fact, he tells you at that point, that if you are dealing with that, to put down the book, take care of those things, and then to pick it back up when you have a handle on them. I thought that was very good advice.

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1 person found this helpful

Great Value

Reviewed: 09-15-19 Listener received this title free

I'm a big fan of Martin's work, and own almost every book in kindle format and many of them in audible as well. The author offered a free copy of this download in exchange for an honest review, which I gladly took him (or her- Martin Meadows is a nome de plume) up on it.

I've listened to every audiobook prior to owning this set and I listen to them one more time before I wrote this review, just to make sure nothing had changed (It hasn't).

These are great books and also good audiobooks. As a 6 pack for the price of one credit, you can't go wrong. The only audiobook that I'm not as enthusiastic about as the others is the 365 days. It's a great book, but for me at least it wasn't harder to listen to. It's meant to be listened to one chapter per day, but if you issei's a day, then you have to listen to two days in a row (or try to fast forward) to get to where you want to go. It's simpler with the kindle version in my opinion. That being said, it's thrown into the package, so I wouldn't turn it down.

All in all, I find the books to be useful and ones that I go back to occasionally when I feel that I need to make progress on a specific aspect.

The one thing that I view as slightly less than positive is the narrator. He does a good job enunciating, etc, I just don't care for his voice for super long periods of time. But take a listen to the sample & if you like it, then no concerns there.

Overall, I'd rate any of these books as worth purchasing. I'm not sure of the cost of them individually vs as a bundle (since I already own them all, I can't see what they list for any longer), but I'm assuming that the bundle is cheaper than buying each book individually. I'd recommend grabbing it if you're interested in any of the topics, as you are essentially getting the other 5 books (all of which I rate highly) for free.

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Kind of closes the loop on Martin’s books

Reviewed: 08-17-19 Listener received this title free

I’ve been a fan of Martin’s work for years now & I always buy his books on launch week, as he offers a discounted price for the first 7 days. I got the Everyday Evolution kindle version when it first came out & read it in 2 sittings. It’s like most of his books, pretty short, focused and broken up into distinct chapters that build on each other. When he ran a promotion offering a free copy of the audiobook in echinacea for a review, I jumped on it. So here’s the review.

Martin mentioned that he will not be publishing any more books (at least in the short term) & this book kind of feels like that. Whereas most of his books are written around how to become more disciplined in a certain topic/ area of life, this one focuses more on how to make sure to continue to get better, in general, over time. I liked it a lot, although I think it’s more general than some of his previous books, so if you are looking to get better in a specific area, one of his other books might serve you better. If you are looking for a more general, holistic book on mow to improve in general, this book is probably the one to start with.

Lots of good info packed in here. My favorite tip was in setting goals. I’m probably not doing it justice here, but he talks about setting goals that you actually have control over. Which sounds obvious, but reading the examples, it’s obvious how often we do the opposite. He gave an example of a woman who wants to make $5,000 per month. While it sounds like an achievable goal, the reality is that there are may things outside her control that might prevent her from hitting it, a better goal would be to focus on “specific actions that increase her odds of reaching the outcome, such as creating engaging content.” I think that makes a lot of sense, and it a really good takeaway. You could be doing everything right and still not hit the first goal, through no fault of your own, but by focusing on the actions, you improve your odds while working on things you can control.

Overall, I like both the book and the audiobook, it I feel like this one is slightly better in kindle format. I’m not a big fan of the narrator, but that’s a personal preference. Listen to the sample & if you like him you’ll be fine with it. I think the audio is a good companion, even if you buy the kindle version, as it’s a quick listen and helps to reinforce what you’ve read when you need a boost.

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Review from a non-writer

Reviewed: 07-01-19

I’m a big fan of Martin’s work & bought this when it came out on Kindle. I’m not a writer, but it was only $0.99 for the launch week, so I figured I’d give it a shot. While it will obviously be of more use to people who are looking to write, I found it interesting to read (and now listen to thanks to the author’s offer of a free audio copy in exchange for a review).

I thought the book/ audiobook was full of good advice for anyone trying to accomplish any endeavor outside of their comfort zone. The part that related to me the most was Chapter 3: How to deal with self doubt. I run into that all the time, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Martin gives solid advice on how to face/ overcome self-doubt, that is instantly relatable and actionable. I think that chapter is worth the price of the audiobook/ book.

Overall I recommend the book if you are interested in the topic. I think that both the book & the audiobook are equally good here, so be preference on my part for one format over the other. I would recommend listening to the audio sample first if you haven’t listened to one of Martin’s books yet. I’m not a huge fan of the narrator, but that’s personal preference and it doesn’t really take away from the book at all.

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Really well written book with a unique angle

Reviewed: 06-29-19 Listener received this title free

Martin has written a lot of self help books himself, but this one is different. It's on how to best use the self-help books that you read/ listen to. I'm assuming that if you're reading this review/ looking at this book, you are probably interested in self-help to begin with. Where this book is different from others is that it gives you guidance on how to use the other books that you are reading.
One quick example, The first chapter lists 5 common self-help pitfalls. #1 is Reading without Taking Action. This is a really great point, and hits at the core of a lot of self-help failures. It's easy to read the books, but much harder to carry out the actions recommended in the books. The other pitfalls are also interesting, as is the rest of the book.
I bought the kindle version of the book when it came out, and the author ran a promo where he offered a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for a review. I was glad to take him up on it. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.
Many of Martin's books are heavily footnoted & on those, I recommend the kindle version over the audiobook as the footnotes don't carry over to audio well. But this book doesn't have extensive footnoting, so I think that the audio & kindle versions are equally good & would recommend either based on your personal preference.

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1 person found this helpful