Adeliese Baumann

Charismania needs some work

Reviewed: 01-18-25

Originally borrowed this book from a friend, then purchased the audio version.

Mr. Hall sounds a trifle sarcastic, preachy, and defensive where he need not. This detracts from his message in multiple areas and really comes through in the audio version.

The unmistakable assertion that the SSPX is superior to the rest of the postconciliar Church comes through loud and clear. This led me to look at Mr. Hall’s YouTube channel, not having hard of him before this book. Recently he posted a video saying he’s “glad they hate us.” They being the rest of the Church and us being the SSPX. I don’t understand the persecution complex not being SSPX. Mr Hall mentions Father Chad Ripperger several times and it might be a good idea for him to remember the points that priest made about the pride and arrogance of trads.

The author comes across as a bit too sensitive to critics, despite his protests to the contrary in introductory remarks. It would be better to ignore fools and detractors and just focus on making one’s case. Calling people wackos and making strident insults isn’t particularly helpful either and sounds childish.

These are possibly just matters of style and personal preference. In terms of substance, there is quite a bit to consider from history to Catholic teaching from Aquinas and the catechism. This is very solid up to the point where Mr. Hall declines to address some very obvious issues by his own admission.

This is where the book really needs to be improved upon. Comparing this book to the many Protestant polemics against charismatic practices shows how much this book could benefit from expansion and more relatable details. John Macarthur, anti-Catholic and Calvinist though he is, has been preaching against charismania and using the term since 1978. We need a Catholic polemic that's just as forceful and convincing.

Mr Hall mentions the many who have told him of their negative experiences, and it's important to hear more from them. Disguising identity to preserve privacy, adding more individual experiences would have made this book immensely more valuable.

One chapter on covenant communities is not particularly helpful in my case, nor to any I know who have been wounded by the charismatic movement. We have very different experiences and nothing in that mostly historical chapter reflects that.

Mr Hall makes some sweeping assertions that are suspect. For example, alleging that most members of the charismatic movement are “not all in” is incorrect. As Mr. Hall says, his involvement was quite limited, and I think his perspective needs expansion. Those I knew in the movement were obsessive, not trifling, in their commitment, which added to their persuasion in recruiting people into Emmaus and Cursillo and other charismatic cliques.

Covenant communities sound more like examples of the Protestant shepherding movement (Derek Prince and company), not like anything I ever encountered in local charismatic Catholicism. It appears the movement is quite varied regionally.

Regarding the narration, Mr Hall shouldn’t be rolling his r’s in Latin, which may have slipped in from his familiarity with Italian. That was the only real clanger in a good performance from an author-narrator with an excellent speaking voice.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Still more validating strategies and insights

Reviewed: 12-13-24

If you’re familiar with Jay Reid, you know he helps scapegoats feel seen and understood like no one else out there. I’ve recommended his first book to so many.

This book brings what I was hoping for after finishing Reid’s first book: more detailed strategy, examples, and insights for healing. If you want to take a look at the contents, a reviewer has kindly screenshotted them on amazon since the look inside feature appears to be unavailable at the moment.

You’ll see each section is short but profound, with the right amount of information to take things slowly and go at your own pace.

I’m very grateful that Reid brought up creativity in this book. Damaged creative impulses are so common in scapegoats. Finding a way back to feeling worthy and joyful in creative self expression is profoundly healing. If you were insulted, treated with contempt, or even just ignored when you created, it is possible to regain some of the spontaneous self expression. For me it takes daily work and always will, but it is the focus of my existence.

Reid also talks about that time when it will no longer serve you to eat, sleep, and research narcissism. Perpetually dwelling in that realm keeps your abuser front and center when you need to learn to put your healing first. You’ll know when the time has come for this, and then the strategies Reid offers will be so valuable. I suspect most pop psych online grifters who live by our clicks have zero interest in our getting well. By contrast, Reid knows the deep research phase is just that, not meant to be a way of life.

My only complaint, and it’s really more of a disagreement, is about the insistence that scapegoated children live out some kind of helplessness. Some of us were not allowed to show one trace of need or weakness. The idea that we got anything we wanted from acting out incompetence, weakness, or helpless ruses is misleading, if unintentionally so. If you were the all bad child, you know these behaviors often led to more severe abuse, not assitance.

For example, in one section, Reid mentions being treated well when sick. His point clearly is to encourage us not to believe we can only be treated well if somehow we are perceived as weaker, inferior creatures to the narcissists, thereby propping up their sense of superiority. That may be true for some, but often scapegoats are treated like garbage when we are sick. Anyone who’s scrolled through the reddit sub about narcissistic parents is aware of this.

I would like to have seen more nuance overall. Some of us who were subjected to constant fake suicide threats to manipulate us whenever we needed help or were one upped by trivial narcissistic whining when we were seriously ill did not have the luxury of feigning helplessness.

Many of us have CPTSD from the abuse we received when we needed medical help. Some of us even now refuse medical care until matters become dire because of it.

The balance between vulnerability and invincibility is be hard for scapegoats to find, and implying we as a group act out helplessness in exchange for better care is misleading. I’d like to see Reid expand his outlook about this somewhat inaccurate view in future.

Overall, narration and sound editing are not up to the standards of the highly professional production of Reid’s first book.

There are many grammatical clangers and recording mistakes that were not edited out. Was the script a rough draft full of errors? I wonder since there are so many instances of subject-verb disagreement and apparent misspelling. If the script were in error, it should have been corrected before giving it to the voice actor. The actor mispronounces many words in basic English as well, which can hardly be blamed on the script.

I’d have chosen the print version if I had known this, and wouldn’t have wasted a credit on a recording that greatly detracted from the material.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Countering centuries of disinformation

Reviewed: 09-15-24

Catherine is one of the most maligned women in European history and this work succeeds in putting to right many distortions perpetuated through centuries of propoganda and disinformation.

It is a reappraisal, not a hagiography nor disingenuous attempt at rehabilitation. It’s not a quick and easy read for those used to the calumnies of Plaidy and Gregory, but a well-considered, deep history of an extraordinary woman who lived in perilous times.

Most of the negative reviews I have seen online have criticized the minutiae of the work, or show an undisguised prejudice against Catholicism. As a Catholic who already admires the good qualities of Catherine, perhaps I am too biased in favor of the work, but I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter, so much that I ordered the book in hardcover.

When I read Leonie Frieda’s biography of Catherine some years ago, it left me with an abiding love of Valois history I enjoy to this day. I’ve particularly enjoyed researching in French and Italian Catherine’s all but forgotten sister in law Marguerite, who deserves a modern English language biography of her own.

Today is the 450th anniversary of Marguerite’s death. She was Catherine’s trusted friend and ally, and I imagine she would be pleased to see this work reveal the Catherine she knew and loved.

For all her faults, Catherine was a brilliant, learned, politically skillful, energetic woman worthy of respect for all she endured and navigated over a long and eventful life.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Nothing new

Reviewed: 09-15-24

The tediousness of this book surprised me, as did the frequently atrocious pronunciation of the narrator. Grueninger doesn’t add anything to the already endlessly repeated, well-known narrative. It’s astonishing that so many people are still obsessed with Anne Boleyn today while Catherine of Aragon and her daughter are nearly forgotten. Perhaps one day an honest author will stop seeing Anne as an innocent angel and will evaluate the role she herself played in her downfall.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Selective outrage and hypocrisy

Reviewed: 08-31-24

Eddy’s previous books were helpful in many ways. Managing unavoidable toxicity in today’s work world requires careful, intelligent strategies, and I found some great info from the author. Conflict resolution is a noble profession and I admired Eddy and his team for trying to help others.

Perhaps because of my previous positive regard, I was surprised to find this work falls short in so many ways.

The information provided about identifying bullies is unnecessary to thinking, observant people. Eddy insists most people cannot identify adult bullies. i disagree strongly.

Many examples of the bullies are straight up Cluster B behaviors, classic NPD and ASPD. If you are familiar with Cluster B personalities, I doubt the book will offer many additional insights or tools.

Similarly, if you are familiar with general political strategy, propoganda, the way news media outlets operate, etc., you will find little new. Again, an observant person is able to see through blatant propoganda and manufactured talking point outrage on both sides.

I could care less that Eddy hates Trump. I don’t favor either party, seeing them both as protectors of the status quo, while lying whenever they are speaking.

However, I do care deeply about endless war and civilian casualties. Eddy’s political takes about these topics were obnoxious and one-sided.

Two examples:

Eddy is a Biden apologist for the Afghanistan débacle. All orange man’s fault. Nuance and shades of gray are allegedly things Eddy cares about, but not in his political commentary.

Second, Eddy picks and chooses his villains.

For example, Putin bad, Netanyahu unmentioned.

In fact, Eddy repeats debunked talking points which have been fact checked in several of his examples.

To Eddy, Ukraine’s invasion is bad, Gaza’s fully justified. This is the rankest hypocrisy. If you care about Ukrainian civilians, care about non-Hamas Palestinian civilians as well.

This will be the last book I read from Eddy because he has shown his compassion and peacemaking skills are really only for the side he chooses to care about, the side that reflects his political prejudices. If I wanted to read political drivel like this, I’d go to reddit and find it for free.

Wasted credit and hours listening. Narrator was average and at times very snarky, reflecting the sarcasm of some of Eddy’s text.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Undisclosed AI narration

Reviewed: 07-03-24

Audible is allowing more and more undisclosed AI narration with a deceptive human name attached to it.

This book is a travesty. Illuminate is pronounced like illumine not, breathed is breath ed, and it only gets worse from there with the computer voice and lack of pacing and inflection.

Unworthy of Zweig. Unworthy of any author.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Disappointing rehash of others’ work

Reviewed: 07-03-24

This book suffers from the usual faults of contemporary works involving Göring. Hyperbolic description and endless fat jokes replace any attempt at analysis of his motivations and interests. This book is unusually snarky in tone, which soon becomes annoying.

There are so many legit things to despise about Göring that history would be better served to treat him seriously for the real damage he did to Europe.

Dolnick relies on multiple secondary sources I’ve already read instead of primary sources, and contributes little by rehashing others’ work.

Many errors of easily checked historical facts point to a lack of gravitas, as does an over reliance upon dodgy reminiscences from Göring’s enemies.

Along the same line, multiple extraneous and irrelevant narratives about other forgers are used to pad out this flimsy book. I’ve already read a book about Myatt and Drew and don’t need to read their story here. What does a hack like Myatt have to do with this book’s thesis anyway?

Overall, there is such a lack of focus that no coherent narrative emerges.

Narration is ok. Heitsch captures the annoying tone of the author very well.

Rarely have I been so disappointed in a book about art, my favorite subject.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Ok for sale price

Reviewed: 06-14-24

The final edition continues on with the three past tenses and some more work on the future construction which uses the kommer att + infinitive option.

First story is about a yet-living Queen Elizabeth, “England’s Longest Reigning Monarch.” Helps to see how one constructs verbs for things which happened in the past and also things which are both past and yet ongoing, very relevant to the subject of a reigning queen.

The second story, “Dogs Love Mozart,” continues on with a more interesting story of alternative veterinary healing modalities.

The final story is environmentally conscious. “Saving the Disappearing World: One Man’s Mission” emphasizes the future tense.

Overall, the series is minimalist, but it’s worth a try during this summer’s deep discount sale.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Worth giving it a go

Reviewed: 06-12-24

This title is pretty much as described and will be very helpful for beginners. The style is varied and includes various sound effects. I believe it would keep a beginner interested without overwhelming.

Doing the exercises and answering questions questions is essential practice. The pdf is clear and helpful. Progression is assured if you practice and repeat each lesson until mastered, and only then go to the next one.

However, it is mostly based on an American style of communication, lots of chit chat. The Swedes are not really rude as some accuse them of being, but they are not big on yapping about nothing and wasting time. Still, it will help you learn Swedish and is fun to use with other students.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Art Deco

Reviewed: 06-12-24

Denna berättelse publicerades 1923. Kim Wesén har en vacker röst! Jag lyssnar på noveller för att förbättra hörförståelsen på svenska.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!