Z.

Enjoyable, BUT......

Reviewed: 31-03-24

It kept me listening, BUT, what happened happened, what did not happen did not happen and that is unchangeable.
We gain nothing by agonising over it.

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OH DEAR !!!

Reviewed: 22-08-23

Life is too short to spend it on boredom. The topic probably was unique in Jane Austen's era but not anymore. It is almost like the modern Reality Shows. Uninteresting, boring and dull. At least the female narrator is not trying to sound like a little girl with a lisp, common mistake of other female narrators.

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PURE BOREDOM.

Reviewed: 21-08-23

Even Greta Scacchi's excellent performance could not endear me to this uninteresting, put you to sleep, story. I was so happy to hear a female Voice-Artist who does not try to imitate a little girl with a lisp kind of speech like the vast majority of female narrators do, thinking, wrongly, it sounds cute. This audio was an INCLUDED option for me. I would have returned it otherwise.

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Great topic BUT ...

Reviewed: 21-08-23

Excellent topic, unfortunately, I could not finish it. After three hours of listening to the lecturer swallowing his saliva every minute I had enough. I understand that their mouth gets dry from all that talking but they should switch their microphone OFF when they need to swallow. It is not a nice sound to listen to especially when it is happening almost every minute.

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1 person found this helpful

KILLING and TORTURING ANIMALS IS THE THEME.

Reviewed: 08-03-23

I always thought, Charles Darwin is hugely overrated. He wasn't the first, not even the second with the idea of evolution, BUT, he lived at the right time and place to publish his notions after hiding it for 15 years in fear of death by the church.
IN THIS BOOK, THE THEME IS KILLING AND TORTURING ANIMALS. Killing them in the name of religion, in the name of science and just for fun. Even Darwin thought nothing of it to hit a fox on the head with a hammer and call himself a naturalist at the same time. Also, Darwin, in this book, seems to classify animals by how easy it is to kill them. Not my kind of entertainment or what one would expect from a naturalist.

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HALF OF IT DEBATABLE.

Reviewed: 25-12-22

A big chunk of this book is just the repeat of the agreed upon version of the past.
Napoleon said: What is history but a fable agreed upon.
Here are some of the debatable parts of this book.

Henry VII had as much reason to kill the Princesses as had Richard III. As winners write the history books, Henry VII made sure it was Richard III who was branded as the murderer.
Mary was no more bloody than Elisabeth I . Mary killed protestants, Elisabeth catholics in equal numbers. Again, winners write history, Elisabeth's evil deeds were toned down, Mary's amplified. The Armada was defeated by atrocious weather and weakness from disease and NOT by Elisabeth I , but it was good for propaganda.
The only reason the Royal Families stayed in the country during both wars was to continue the monarchy. They would had NOT been accepted back if they leave when there is crisis. I very much doubt that they were rationed as the rest . Probably tucked away safely and well cared for.
The English language became important not because of Great Britain but because of the USA.
Monarchy is just a perpetuating snobbery and an unjustified expense on tax payers.
My belief is: if they wish to play Kings and Queens then they should pay for it themselves. They have stolen enough money from the coffer done the centuries to afford that.

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2 people found this helpful

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED.

Reviewed: 20-12-22

I was not expecting an English Lesson, just hoping to widen my knowledge of idioms.
This book did not fulfil that expectation.
The origin of sayings to me is NOT where it was used the first time but their logical explanation.
Also, I do not want to hear about political leanings, badmouthing politicians in the example sentences, in a language book.
I find that "Way Out of Line".

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DRAGGING ON AND ON.

Reviewed: 13-11-22

I could put the story in three sentences after ten hours listening. Then I changed the reading speed to fast but there was still 15 hours left when I gave up. We were told about the whole story in the first hour. The rest is just dragging it on and on and on.
Probably it was a sensation when the novel first came out in 1878 due to the adultery element in the story but in todays thinking it lost its interest entirely.

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UNJUSTIFIED.

Reviewed: 01-11-22

I have listened to part of the Animal Farm only. Did not bother finish it or listen to 1984. Take away the word "COMRADE" from the Animal Farm story, and then, what is left can apply to a vast number of countries, including the UK in a previous era. After all, all the English monarchs were executing people by the thousands, what in Stalin's time counted as millions. (We don't even know if it was millions dying under Stalin's reign as all the data comes from the western countries, which is of course pure propaganda.)
Also, we have to count the number of "casualties" in the weaker and less developed countries the English were running down during the so called empire-building period. Hypocrisy comes to mind when listening to George Orwell's Animal Farm book. He should have carefully studied his own country before attacking another.

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Narrator spoilt it for me.

Reviewed: 19-10-22

I liked the topic, although there is too much mentioning of God for my taste.
I did not like the narrator. He's got a nice voice but speaks like half asleep. His style if narrating more suitable to read bedtime stories than science books.

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