DWD's Reviews

Published by HighBridge Audio. Originally broadcast in 1996. Multicast performance. Duration: approximately 3 hours, 15 minutes. The third installment of NPR's STAR WARS -based radio dramas was also written by sci-fi author Brian Daley (Sadly, he died of cancer very soon after it was recorded). The budget for RETURN of the JEDI was much, much smaller than the original so the recording was about half the length of the first. It still features the wonderful original music soundtrack by John Williams and the original sound effects that make the listener feel like they are part of the action.  Anthony Daniels returned as See-Threepio. Mark Hamill, however, decided to opt out of this one. Ed Asner stepped in as Jabba the Hutt (he sounded like he was choking as he spoke, though) and John Lithgow took over as Yoda (sadly, he sounded like John Lithgow pretending to be Yoda rather than creating a real voice). The shorter run time hurts RETURN of the JEDI when compared to th

If you are a fan of this series and have not listened to this version of the story you need to pick it up today - it is that good Published by HighBridge Audio. Originally broadcast in 1981. Multicast performance. Duration: approximately 6 hours. When Star Wars was at the height of its popularity in 1981, George Lucas gave a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate permission to create a radio drama of the original movie, now known as Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope . Sci-fi author Brian Daley was tapped to adapt the movies since he had experience with the series having written a trilogy of Han Solo novels in 1979 and 1980. I have no idea what Daley's qualifications were for writing radio drama were besides those books, but he clearly was an inspired choice. He had a feel for the story and, more importantly, the characters as he more than doubles the original length of the movie. Listeners get more about Luke's life on Tatooine and a lot more about his friend B

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2007 Duration: Approximately 4 hours The hosts of NPR's  Car Talk , Tom and Ray Magliozzi, offer highlights from their radio show with the theme of motherhood. If you are not familiar with the show, well it is unique. Two brothers who aren't really mechanics (but do have a lot of experience fixing cars) take calls about cars and car repair. They laugh and mercilessly kid one another and sometimes actually get around to offering advice on how to fix a car. This a a 4 CD set featuring four entire hour-long episodes, which is different than many of their collections that are composed of a series of edited segments. While this is mostly highly entertaining, especially the segment with Martha Stewart (to me, Stewart can seem stuffy and stiff on her show. She rolls with these two jokesters and their enjoyable, sophomoric antics and holds her own and exhibits a quick wit) there are segments that I could only characterize as wearisome, such as th

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2005 Duration: 1 hour, 11 minutes The hosts of NPR's Car Talk , Tom and Ray Magliozzi, offer highlights from their radio show with the theme of motherhood. If you are not familiar with the show, well it is unique. Two brothers who aren't really mechanics (but do have a lot of experience fixing cars) take calls about cars and car repair. They laugh and mercilessly kid one another and sometimes actually get around to offering advice on how to fix a car. Some of the highlights feature their own mother as an in-studio guest, the rest are from callers. Topics include a mom who does not want to break down and buy a mini-van, a mom who wants her sixteen-year-old to buy a sports car and my favorite - the older mom who plans to drive her 1977 Datsun 510 station wagon from Houston to Massachusetts that prompts a hilarious side bet between the brothers. I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. Reviewed on August 15, 2013.

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2009. Performed by the guests and cast of  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Duration: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. If you have not discovered NPR's weekly radio show  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!   ,  then I pity you. This clever show is truly one of the funniest shows on radio or television or just about anywhere. This collection has 12 of the best visits from celebrity visits from 2001-2006. Most of these are funny or at least interesting. Then Senator Barack Obama starts off the collection with possibly the funniest visit of the bunch (and I am not a fan of Mr. Obama, but funny is funny). Tom Hanks ( Saving Private Ryan ) and Tom and Ray Magliozzi (NPR's Car Talk ) are also funny throughout their segments.  This audiobook focuses on a part of the show - the "Not my job" segment. In this segment a celebrity is asked 3 questions about a topic about which they may not have any particular expertise  and if they get 2

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2009. Performed by the guests and cast of  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Duration: 2 hours and 29 minutes. If you have not discovered NPR's weekly radio show  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!   ,  then I pity you. This clever show is truly one of the funniest shows on radio or television or just about anywhere and this collection is promoted as a distillation of 12 of the best visits from a very funny crop of celebrity visits. They truly are all funny. Even the people who I had never heard of like Philippe Petit and Michael Pollan were funny and interesting. Other, more well known personalities (at least to me), like Carrie Fisher ( Star Wars ), Jane Curtin ( Saturday Night Live, 3rd Rock from the Sun ) , Neal Patrick Harris ( Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother ), and Leonard Nimoy ( Star Trek ) were as funny or funnier than I expected. This audiobook focuses on a part of the show - the "Not my job" segment. In this segment a c

Can't Miss for Fans of Garrison Keillor Published in February of 2013 by HighBridge Audio. Duration: 1 hour, 9 minutes Multi-cast Performance NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion" has an extensive collection of audio CDs based on lots of different themes, including skits that highlight certain regular actors on the show. This CD focuses on Sue Scott , an actress with a versatile voice and an admirable repertoire of characters to draw upon. She has been a member of the cast since 1992 and is the only female member so she gets a real workout. This CD has 14 different tracks. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, some are merely amusing.  Altogether, this is a very solid hour of listening and a sure thing for any fan of Garrison Keillor. Disclosure: I was sent a complimentary copy of this CD by the publisher through the Audiobook Jukebox Solid Gold Reviewer program in exchange for an honest review. I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. This audiobook can be found

Published in 2013 by HighBridge Audio Multicast performance Duration: 3 hours, 40 minutes NPR has collected 24 stories that were originally broadcast over their radio network concerning the Vietnam War. All of the stories are high quality productions. Some are quite moving. All are informative. The collection starts with a look at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. followed by a story about a Washington, D.C. anti-war protest that was broadcast on NPR’s very first day (May 3, 1971). As the collection goes along the listener is treated to stories of Red Cross workers, orphans of the war, the analyst that leaked “The Pentagon Papers”, two stories by Walter Cronkite, actual tapes of Lyndon Johnson discussing how to present the war to the American people, the My Lai Massacre, refugees who fled the North Vietnamese conquest of South Vietnam, pilots and sailors that saved those refugees, the Kent State shootings and so much more. South Vietnamese helicopter

Published by HighBridge Audio in 2012. Performed by the guests and cast of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Duration: about 2 hours. If you have not discovered NPR's weekly radio show  Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!  , then I pity you. This clever show is truly one of the funniest shows on radio or television or just about anywhere and this collection is promoted as a distillation of the best of a very funny crop. The question is, is it truly "More of the Best"? Yes. It lives up to its own hype. They truly are all funny. Even the people who I had never heard of like Neko Case and Tavi Gevinson were funny and interesting. Other, more well known personalities (at least to me), like Henry Winkler, Jane Goodall, Vince Gill and Brian Williams were as funny or funnier than I expected. This audiobook focuses on a part of the show - the "Not my job" segment. In this segment a celebrity is asked 3 questions about a topic about which they may not have any pa

Published by HighBridge Audio Duration: about 2 hours. Every installment of HighBridge Audio's NPR Driveway Moments series is composed of collections of stories that aired on NPR. In this case, the common theme is cats.  The stories aired from 1984 to 2011 and cover everything from lions to mock youtube videos of a cat running for the Senate (Hank the Cat - see the video below) to the origins of the domestic house cat to cats being used in the fight against AIDS. But, the heart of the collection are the stories about the connection between every day house cats and the people they live with. There are travelling cats, vacationing cats, a cat that lives in a hotel and several stories memorializing cats who have passed on. All of the stories in the collection have first-rate production values but, as always happens in any collection, some stories are better than others. The cover of the audiobook promises "Radio stories that won't let you go" and some d

Lots of Fun Published by HighBridge in 2012. Multicast Duration: about 1 hour. My family and I are avid fans of fairs and festivals. We like to wander around and experience the hullabaloo of all of the people, the noises of the midway, the incessant sales pitches of the guys trying to sell replacement windows or guttering and, of course, the animals. 2012 Indiana State Fair Midway. Photo by DWD. We just attended the Indiana State fair last weekend and spent an astounding 13 hours wandering around the giant circle of the fair (it is built around a one mile dirt track) seeing everything from Star Wars Stormtroopers to a petting zoo filled with week-old calves to a giant carving made of cheese (still being carved as we watched!). I learned about $261,000 John Deere Tractors, heard an acoustic blues band, bought a wallet and saw a clown marching band performance - all before we hit the midway! So, when I found this little audiobook of stories collected from NPR over the ye

Published in 2006 by HighBridge Duration: 1 hour Usually Ray and Tom Magliozzi's "Car Talk" show on NPR is a mixture of humor, stories and lots of advice on car repair and maintenance. This collection, though, is all funny stories (only the barest amount of car advice is given).  There are sixteen stories in all, with topics ranging from the dangers of carrying plywood on the roof of your car to what to do if a customer brings in a really smelly car to how one of the brother's did during his stint in the army as a young man (hint: not well). Some are really funny, some are merely amusing but if you are a fan of the show you will enjoy this collection. Get this audiobook from Amazon.com here: Car Talk: The Greatest Stories Ever Told: Once Upon a Car Fire . I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. Reviewed on April 1, 2012. <br /> <img src="http://wms.assoc-amazon.com/20070822/US/img/noscript.gif?tag=dwsre-20" alt="&quo

Absolutely Fantastic Original Radio Broadcast by NPR Duration: 3 hours Published 2011 by HighBridge Audio NPR's American Chronicles: World War II is a 3 hour collection of 27 stories broadcast over the radio network from 1982 to 2010 around the topic of World War II. Atomic mushroom cloud over Nagasaki This collection is not designed to introduce the reader to the war or to its causes - it assumes the listener has a basic grasp of the facts. But, what it does do is delve deeply into certain topics that are associated with the war, such as the life of Londoners during the Blitz, the story of a young Japanese man who was in an internment camp, the Doolittle Raid, Bill Millin - the "Mad Piper" who played the bagpipe for his Scottish regiment as they landed at Normandy (because tradition demanded it), women on the home front, artists who may have used their skills to help the Americans to trick the Germans and an interview with one of the pilots of the plane

Fun and you just might learn something. Narrated by Tom and Ray Maggliozzi Duration: 3.5 hours. Publisher: HighBridge Audio Tom and Ray Maggliozzi's car repair show, Car Talk , has been a NPR staple for years now. The show features the two wise-cracking brothers as they field questions about cars and car repairs from all over the country. Car Talk Classics: The Pinkwater Files features four complete shows from the mid-1990s that featured phone calls from author and NPR commentator Daniel Pinkwater. Pinkwater's sense of humor is different than the Maggliozzi brothers, but they roll with him quite well and those four phone calls are the highlight of the collection. Pinkwater never really has a question for the brothers but instead offers his observations concerning his struggles with getting a car that fits his stocky build, how to know when your dog is going to throw up in your car and the Theory of Displaced Misery (this theory states that a person can only have so m

Published by HighBridge Audio. Originally broadcast in 1993. Multicast performance. Duration: approximately 5 hours. Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (The Original Radio Drama) was created for National Public Radio and originally broadcast in 1993. It features several members of the original movie cast including Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian). John Lithgow steps in and does a strong job with Yoda. Vader suffers with Brock Peters as the voice - not because he did anything wrong, but because he is just not James Earl Jones. George Lucas opened up the Star Wars vault and let NPR use the original soundtrack and original special effects - and they use them well. The soundtrack punches up the story and the special effects are used to move the story along as often as they are used to add a little detail to the experience. The story is well told and has the added bonus of being able to take a little more