Flopadoo

Like a lecture from a guardian acolyte

Reviewed: 28-05-22

I found this alright, but about three quarters of the way through it just started to feel like listening to a diatribe from someone who reads and accepts the agenda of the guardian (privileged, faux left, pro western/pro establishment, high opinion of his own ideas) and it just started to get a bit tiresome. It's not bad, but I didn't find it very witty and it didn't really provide anything new. If you enjoy the guardian and its world views, you'll probably quite enjoy this. Andrew Scott writes for Politico, so you could check there first to see whether his opinions and preconceptions would be a good fit for you .

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4 people found this helpful

Don't bother if you want some serious science

Reviewed: 05-07-18

When I got this audiobook I was hoping for something insightful and different. Sadly both the content and narration are very poor.

The narration, which I think is the author himself, sounds rambling and slurred - it made me wonder if he's had a stroke. Considering it is his own text, he reads it as if it is for the first time. It really didn't work for me and put me off very quickly.

The content, with it's focus on nondescript "energy" and "calibrations" that he never actually explains clearly was a big let down. It reminded me of the nonsense churned out by Eckard Tolle. Maybe you really can answer any question - past, present or future with a few lever presses of the arm, but personally I am far from convinced based on this audiobook.

I'm going to ask for my money back on this one.

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A country that's never done anything wrong...

Reviewed: 10-07-17

It's a huge audio book, and the narration is good. The story left me with mixed feelings. As an Englishman, I was superficially reassured that my country had just blundered through history trying to do the right thing. My predecessors weren't really selfish, greedy and vicious on the world stage. The leadership wasn't particularly elitist, racist or wasteful of human life.

And it's this that bothers me. There is a pattern that emerges through this book which seems to be as follows-
1. Explain the history using the traditional narrative.
2. Mention that in recent times people have criticised or challenged the narrative.
3. Selectively choose some facts or explain "if we didn't do it, someone else would have."

So what it boiled down to was a narrative that presumably is comfortable for nationalists. I'm sure Tombs will be put up for a knighthood or suchlike for this - a narrative that is safe, dismissive of dissent and very friendly to the established order. I can't think of an instance in the book where he offered some serious challenge to the status quo.

So if you want a run through of the history of England, this is ok, but I suspect you'll probably get a bit fed up with Tombs' 3-point plan as described above.

Overall - it's a classic example of what you get if you let nationalists/traditionalists write their own history. Overemphasising the positives and downplaying or dismissing the negatives.

I'm sure this book will become de rigeur for Tory anglophiles for many years. And if that's what you're after, then go for it - I'm sure you'd enjoy it. For anyone who's a bit more skeptical about the official version, the first half is better than the second. It's ok, but gets tiresome once you know the pattern.

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21 people found this helpful

Voyeuristic, good in places, weak narration

Reviewed: 27-03-17

The scope of this book is good and I overall it was worth a listen, but want to highlight a few points:
1. I almost stopped listening very early on because it really just seemed like there was an over emphasis on the salacious gossip without the wider context that a lot of what happened was not dissimilar in other countries of the time. It grated on me a bit but I'm glad I persevered.
2. The narrator mispronounces just about every Russian name and place. Please, if you're going to narrate a book about Russians, make sure you know how to say the words you've got to read.
3. The perspective, as with so many Western books about Russia comes from a position where moralising and preconceptions are hard to get away from. For example at the end there is a little bit of what I can only describe as propaganda, digging at the current leadership in Russia (de rigeur for Western experts, for sure). For example, without mentioning that the war in Georgia was started by the US educated and backed Georgian PM Saakashvili (subsequently turning up in following another US-backed regime change in Ukraine), or without many of the other important contextual elements that would recast Russia as acting in a relatively defensive way to stave off a range of encroachments and encirclement attempts from the US &co. Omitting to mention this is a bit like talking about the British Empire as if it was driven purely on a mission to help indigenous people rather than as a brutal drive for economic dominance.
4. The author often slips into using nicknames for some of the characters. For example "Scarface", "Nicky" &c. This didn't work for me - I know it's meant to help avoid the dependence on unfamiliar Russian names, but for me it just distracted me and I often found I'd forgotten who the person actually was.

Overall, since the book's focus is on the individuals rather than the wider situation, it does quite a good job of covering a lot of ground and is generally a good listen. Personally I found the points above irritated my quite a lot hence my rating, but if it's a subject that interests you, then this is a good listen.

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Excellent - accessible and informative

Reviewed: 06-03-17

I really enjoyed this. the coverage is really broad and Kenneth Harl does a great job in putting it into the wider context and also humanising many of the protagonists. Great stuff. Well worth a listen.

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This book is a joke, but no-one's laughing

Reviewed: 30-06-14

I thought I would get this ebook to listen to those who argue against Chomsky's views. I have read a lot of Chomsky's work and am familiar with some of the arguments he's been involved in. However, it is always important to consider other viewpoints and ideas, since one person cannot always be right.

So, I wanted to go in with an open mind and consider alternate points of view, since I think that is important.

I wish I hadn't bothered. I lasted 15 minutes before getting totally sick of the emotive drivel and shameful distortions that Collier has turned out. Yes, it is that bad.

Some quick points:

1. He either does not understand Chomsky's arguments or has willingly distorted them since he constantly makes claims about what Chomsky's views are, but they are pretty much unrecognisable from what I had understood from Chomsky's work.

2. The writing is overflowing with emotive descriptions of Chomsky's alleged (in fact, just straw man arguments) views and behaviour. Chomsky is, we hear, "anti-American" (note to Collier: being critical of a country's foreign policy or power structures does not make someone 'anti-that-country'), and a wide range of other snide digs, that play the man rather than addressing the actual issues.

3. There is no attempt at balance. This is just a diatribe made by someone who clearly doesn't like Noam Chomsky and so will stoop to any level to denigrate him. There is clearly no interest in laying out a mature and sensible set of counter-arguments. Instead, it is playground squabbling from the start.

The narration is ok, although there have already been some mispronunciations in the first few minutes.

Conclusion:
This book is like listening to the ranting of a certain kind of person with far-right views, poor education and a very limited world view. That means that:
1. If you are limited in your faculties, and think far-right narratives like Fox are balanced and reasonable, then you might like this book.
2. If you have a brain in your head and understand the Earth isn't flat - then you really should stay clear of this by a country mile.

I am glad Audible has a no-quibble returns policy. This rubbish is not worth paying for.

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29 people found this helpful

Very biased, but worthwhile

Reviewed: 24-07-13

This book gives a good overview of the 6-day war if (and only if) you remember that this is a very one-sided account of things. Oren is an Israeli diplomat, and despite going to some trouble early in the book to claim impartiality, this account is very partial indeed.

Put simply - everything Israel did was, in Oren's view, entirely defensive, moral and justified.

He mentions with abhorrence the Arab Legion shelling civilian Jewish parts of Jerusalem, but expresses no such concern about Israeli bombing/shelling of Arab settlements. Nasser is portrayed as a vain madman who was hell-bent on destroying Israel. There are no mentions of why the Arab states were angry about the behaviour of Israel in the run up to the war, no mention of why Israel would not allow the UNEF to be re-positioned onto their side of the lines. Operation Dawn is discussed at length as a threat to Israel, and yet the Israeli plans to attack the Egyptians are explained as a morally just "response" to potential Egyptian aggression. The list of unbalance in this book is endless.

However, it is actually a good account as long as you remember it is just the Israeli version of events.The narration is excellent and it is well structured and easy to listen to and follow.

I would recommend it, but with the caveat that this is not a balanced account of what happened.

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18 people found this helpful

Great.

Reviewed: 12-07-13

I really enjoyed this. As usual with Chomsky, it is very detailed and is enlightening. It is well narrated and overall is well worth a listen. It's another one I'll be going back to multiple times.

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Really interesting and well produced

Reviewed: 08-07-13

The quality of audio book productions varies quite widely in my experience. This is definitely one of the better ones. The narration is spot on and does justice to the content.

The book is a great way of getting an overview of fifty key philosophers and their ideas. It is structured as fifty 15-20 minute bios that provide an overview of the individual and of their most significant works. I found this a great way to learn about various philosophical ideas and to pick up lots of tips for further reading.

Overall, I really enjoyed this audio book and definitely will be listening to it again. I recommend it for anyone who wants to get a broad view, although of course because of the breadth it is not possible to go into each theory in a lot of detail, so you will probably want to identify the ideas that ring true with you and follow up on them for more information. The production is useful in this way because the books/publications in which the theories are set out are named.

Highly recommended.

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9 people found this helpful

Very good. Interesting, moving and well produced

Reviewed: 27-06-13

This is a very good audio book. The story is very interesting, moving and thought provoking and the narration matches it perfectly.
I recommend this. The only change I would make is that the narrator when reading dialogue assumes a mock Jewish / German accent which isn't a big deal but to my ear sounded strange.
I'll definitely be listening to this multiple times.

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6 people found this helpful