DWD's Reviews

Published in May of 2016 by HarperAudio. Read by Kaleo Griffith Duration: 5 hours, 44 minutes Unabridged Besides being a Law Professor at Harvard and a former member of the Obama Administration, Cass R. Sunstein is a massive fan of all things Star Wars.  The World According to Star Wars is a wide-ranging and mostly interesting discussion using Star Wars as a way to explain aspects of the American and world political scene, economics and family dynamics.  He starts with a little history of how Star Wars came to be, including George Lucas's struggles in writing the screenplay, the way the actors all thought they were acting in an interesting movie that was certain to be a big flop and the reluctance by the studios to really push the movie. But, despite the odds, Star Wars became a massive phenomenon - the series is the all-time leader in multiple categories and the hits just keep on coming. Sunstein explores why it became a big hit, looking at the timing of its release...

Published by Random House Audio in 2009 Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 15 minutes. Abridged This book focuses on town celebrations, thus the references to "Grand Occasions" in the title. The quirky town of End of the Road, Alaska puts its own twist on everything. If you follow this series, that is no surprise. If you have not followed this series, do not start with this one. It is excellent but it depends on the listener actually knowing who the characters are beforehand. Adolescent Norman Tuttle struggles with being treated like a kid when at Thanksgiving and in other family activities. Meanwhile, the town gets a town Christmas tree thanks to finally getting a public park and, of course, this somehow becomes controversial. New Year's celebrations become more than a bit weird due to the weather.  Perhaps the funniest story is about how the town tries to open a safe that was used as a time capsule. Why? In their excitement to put important docum...

Originally published in 1989. Audio edition published in 1999 by Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes Abridged This is the first of Tom Bodett's excellent "End of the Road" series and it is a joy to meet the quirky people who live in this small town in Alaska. It starts with the annual town parade and festival in the local quarry (it's easier to clean up a quarry, at least that's the theory), complete with fish tossing and a pistol shooting contest and ends up with a great story of two friends who travel from Alaska to Florida to pick up a brand new fire truck and then drive it back to Seattle to ship to Alaska by ship. It is the road trip of a lifetime. Great quotes from the book: "Men share some of their most intimate moments leaning against vehicles with their arms crossed, looking at anything but each other."  "I don't think there's a man in America who didn't spend at least...

Published by Random House Audio in April of 2011. Read by Dick Hill Duration: 13 Hours, 43 Minutes Unabridged Jack Reacher is on a tour bus in 61 Hours with a lot of retired folks who took advantage of a discounted tour price to tour South Dakota in the winter time. Reacher paid the driver to hop on the bus, ride along, and skip the tour. They are on their way to Mount Rushmore when the bus skids on an icy patch on the interstate and gets hung up. Normally, that is not such a big deal, but a massive series of snowstorms is coming in and the temperature is dropping in a hurry. Photo by DWD The tourists, the driver and Reacher are evacuated to a small town with a big problem. A little old lady witnessed a local biker gang member selling meth to a big-time dealer and the trial is quickly approaching. But, the old lady has been threatened and the local police are expecting an outside hit-man to come to town and kill her so she can't testify and they suspect Reacher just may...

A Review of the Audiobook Published in 2015 by Simon and Schuster Audio Read by Arthur Morey Duration: 21 Hours, 10 minutes Unabridged The premise of 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History is that 1944 is the most important year of World War II - the year that the Allies grew certain that they were going to win the war, the year that post-War plans were laid out, the year of the D-Day invasion and more. This effort by Jay Winik is very readable and was an informative and entertaining listen. There are times when he creates fabulous images in the listener's mind that are worthy of any novelist. His description of the extent of anti-Jewish operations throughout Europe and particularly in Auschwitz and other death camps are so vivid and so striking that I can readily recommend this book as a good place to start for anyone who wants a serious look. The book focuses on FDR, his personality and how he shaped the war effort and post-War institutions like the United Nations. Wi...

A Review of the Audiobook Published in 2013 by Simon and Schuster Audio. Read by the authors, Willie and Korie Robertson. Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes Unabridged Part of a flock of books from the Robertson family (excuse the pun), The Duck Commander Family by the CEO of the family businesses (Duck Commander and Buck Commander), Willie Robertson, and his wife, Korie, looks at how they both got to where they are now and what life is like among the Robertsons. The book focuses on the much more interesting story of Willie's family, which is appropriate considering their prominence in the hit reality TV show Duck Dynasty .  If you have never seen the show, this book will be of little interest to you. I have seen a few episodes, but my carpool partner, my high school-aged daughter, is a fan of the show and has watched multiple seasons. She picked this audiobook for us to hear in the car during our morning commute. Willie Robertson in 2015. Photo by Gage Skidmore. Willie Rob...

Re-published in 2009 by Random House Audio Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 9 minutes Alternate title: The Better Part of the End of the Road Tom Bodett's "End of the Road" series continues in The Better Part of the Road with Ed Flanigan learning how to get along with just one arm thanks to a horrible accident with heavy equipment. His struggles seem real and Bodett manages to convey them without being patronizing or voyeuristic. City Manager Emmitt Frank is convinced to move out into a cabin on the edge of town. Emmitt is a former resident of Chicago who came to the End of the Road a city slicker through and through, but is slowly becoming an Alaskan. Calling this cabin rustic would be kind. No running water, no electricity and all of the heating comes from a homemade wood stove and the bathroom is an outhouse. And, sometimes bears show up outside. Two of the towns older residents find love. This is the best part of the story, by far. Norman Tuttl...

Published in 2013 by HighBridge Multicast performance Duration: 2 hours, 19 minutes As NPR readily acknowledges in the description of this collection, they are hardly known for their humor. NPR tends to run a bit stuffy but, from time to time, they do some funny stuff. Or, to be more accurate, NPR is at its funniest when they interview some funny people and let them be themselves. This is hardly a CD full of comedy routines. In fact, there are a few tracks that are re-plays of a series of April Fools Day fake news bits that NPR has run over the years and they are mostly cute at best and definitely go on for way too long. On the other hand, the interviews with Drew Carey, Paula Poundstone, Fred Willard with Martin Mull, Eugene Levy and Mel Brooks are simply great. The interviews with Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers are a cut above. Very good stuff from two ground-breaking comic masters. I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. This audiobook can be found here: NPR Laughter Therapy .

Re-published in 2009 by Random House Audio Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes Tom Bodett's "End of the Road" series is my absolute favorite audiobook collection. It dates from the 1990's and features an eclectic cast of characters from a fishing port town in Alaska named End of the Road because you literally can't drive any farther once you've gotten there. The series is simply the telling of life in this small Alaska town - the kind of drama that one gets in everyday life. Kind of like a more realistic Andy Griffith's Mayberry set in Alaska. This series speaks to everyone's life experiences in one way or another. This is probably the weakest of the series that I have heard so far, which means it is merely really, really, really good and one of the most enjoyable audiobook experiences that I have had this year. In this edition, we learn about Clara, who is also the mayor's older sister and her coffee shop and how the r...

Book version originally published in 1992 Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 14 minutes Published by Random House Audio I am an unabashed fan of Tom Bodett's cast of characters in the fictional town of End of the Road, Alaska. I first found these stories more than twenty years ago on cassette and was pleased to re-discover them because they had been re-released in digital format. To be honest, most of the time in these stories not much actually happens except for life just going on as normal. There is no big plot to rob the bank that gets foiled, no crime to be solved. Nothing like that. It is regular life stuff being experienced by some eccentric folks in an Alaskan fishing town - literally at the end of the road, thus the name of the town is End of the Road. But, when Bodett relates the story of middle school student Norman Tuttle being bullied and his first time going hunting and his experience at the big dance - well, we've all been there. Maybe not exac...

Published in 2012 by HighBridge Audio Multicast Performance Duration: 1 hour, 38 minutes. Billed as "Radio Stories that Won't Let You Go", the premise of this audio series is that each of these stories is so compelling that when they were broadcast over the radio you would have waited in your car in the driveway to hear the end of the story rather than going on in to your house. There are 21 tracks in this collection and, as in all collections, they are of varying quality. Some seem to have been included only because they fit the theme but not because they are particularly riveting. However, most are really good and a couple are very touching. The story of the dad and son who go with the Boy Scouts precisely because the dad has no real outdoor skills was quite funny.  The "Driveway Moments" series is pretty strong and this is a solid entry. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: NPR Driveway Moments for Dads .

Humor, Like Food, Is Highly Subjective Published by Symphony Space in October of 2010 Multi-cast performance Duration: 3 hours, 6 minutes Here is the premise behind Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs - get a collection of funny short stories and have them be read by great performers such as Stephen Colbert and Alec Baldwin. There are eight stories of varying quality. As I noted in the title of this review, humor is very subjective. What I can really tell you is that this set is designed to appeal to a wide variety of tastes - not by being middle of the road but by bringing a true eclectic mix to the production. That is certain to guarantee that the listener will not enjoy everything. Stephen Colbert begins the collection with "The Lie",  the story Jerry Zaks (b. 1946), one of the performers in this collection. of a man who is just overwhelmed with being the father of a new baby. In fact, he is overwhelmed with everything - his dead end job, his wife's new confidence...

Published in January of 2015 by HighBridge Read by J. D. Jackson Duration: 9 hours, 3 minutes Unabridged I am torn by this audiobook. On the one hand, I am absolutely fascinated by Civil War, including all of the controversies leading up to it. On the other hand, this audiobook has real issues, including some stretches of tedious writing and stumbles from the reader. Perhaps the most annoying thing about this book is the way that the title of the book does not really describe the book. The title, Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad , implies it is about the Underground Railroad across the country. Instead, this book is exclusively about the Underground Railroad's activity in New York City. Other locations are mentioned only in relation to how they tie in to the story of the Underground Railroad in New York City. His decision to make the title so inclusive while making the actual book so exclusive is either a clever ruse by the marketing t...

Published by HighBridge Company/NPR in 2008. Multiple Performers Duration: 2 hours, 11 minutes. If you are familiar with the NPR radio show Wait Wait...Don´t Tell Me then you know what this collection is all about. Clever people playing silly games with news stories. This collection comes from 2006-2008 so the news is a little old. But, then again, you don´t listen to this show for the news - you listen to it for the funny takes on the news by the guests and the panel. Guests include Michael Moore (note: I am not a big fan of Michael Moore but he was very funny), Ted Koppel, Drew Carey and NBA star Chris Paul. Besides the guests, there is just a lot of silly news and even better commentary on it. Regular panelist Paula Poundstone was hilarious as was P.J. O´Rourke, Roy Blount Jr, Mo Rocca and Tom Bodett. If you love this radio show, this is a must-listen. I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Best of Wait Wait...Don´t Tell ...

Published in 2015 by Random House Audio Read by Paul Michael Duration: 25 hours, 30 minutes Unabridged The fourth book in what started out as a trilogy, The Fateful Lightning concludes Jeff Shaara's story of the Civil War's Western Theater with Sherman's March to the Sea and the eventual surrender of the Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina.  But, the story is more than that. It is also the story of newly freed slaves discovering what freedom truly means. It is the story of a way of life being destroyed and the hope that a new, more equitable society can rise up in its place. It is the story of a legendary commander whose self-doubts constantly plague him. It is the story of an army that knows deep down that it is going to lose but still tries to survive - for pride if for no other reason.  Confederate Lt. General William J. Hardee (1815-1873) The story focuses on two generals - Union General William T. Sherman and Confederate General William J. Har...

Originally published by Phoenix Books in April of 2001 Re-published in 2016 Multicast performance Duration: 1 hour, 6 minutes Moe Moskowitz used to be a semi-regular feature on NPR in the morning. He is a character created by author and high school English teacher Robert Kaplow. NPR is not known for its humor. In fact, I listened to one of their compilation CDs that was supposed to be funny and found it to be even less funny than the normal types of stories that NPR covers during a normal morning. Great news stories but, aside from the weekend stuff, they're not particularly funny. Robert Kaplow. Photo by Lynn Lauber Moe Moskowitz must have been like the proverbial bull in the China shop when his bits were played. He is quick, clever and non-stop. His attention ranges all over the place. He sings, he pitches new product ideas, he pitches new story ideas, he parodies everything from Alvin and the Chipmunks to Cokie Roberts.  The collection is sort of a recounting the am...

Published in November of 2015 by Hachette Audio Read by Titus Welliver Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes Unabridged I n The Crossing Harry Bosch is newly retired from LAPD - a forced retirement due to a suspension due to a rules infraction. Harry's past caught up to him - too many people in too many important places are tired of Harry's "screw protocol - I'm going to solve this case" attitude. So, Harry is now unemployed. He's suing the department. He's restoring an old motorcycle - a project that he's been looking forward to for a long time. And, he is miserable.  His goal has always been to solve murders. It's practically his reason for his existence. Now, he has no more murders to solve because he is off the force. Along comes his half brother, Mickey, the defense attorney, also known as "the Lincoln Lawyer" with a proposal. He wants him to do a little work on a murder case as an investigator for the defense because his regular ...

Published by Hachette Audio in October of 2013. Read by the author, Malcolm Gladwell. Duration: 7 hours Unabridged Malcolm Gladwell has made his reputation by writing insightful articles in which you thoroughly learn about one thing but also how it applies to a larger concept.  Usually, there's a little light science involved and, if nothing else, the reader (or in my case, the listener) feels like he or she learned a little bit and heard an interesting story. In this case, the premise is that in the David vs. Goliath stories, the underdog is not always as much of an underdog as it seems. He starts with the original David vs. Goliath story - the one in the Old Testament of the Bible and explains that Goliath clearly had size and strength going for him but those weren't all-pervading advantages. Goliath was strong and large but his strength made him reliant on the sword and close-in fighting. If an enemy got close to him and if Goliath got hold of him, Goliath would win. B...

Published in 2011 by Random House Audio Read by the author, Tom Brokaw Duration: 7 hours, 8 minutes Unabridged I picked up the audiobook of The Time of Our Lives in the hopes that former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw would be offering some in-depth analysis on a wide range of issues. After all, the cover promises to look at "Who we are, where we've been and where we need to go now to recapture the American Dream." Instead, we get a lot of amiable reminiscing about Brokaw's family, his early career, and a bit of of a slanted history lesson with every chapter with some half-hearted advice that is based on discussion with industry leaders. That is the essence of the problem Brokaw is a top-level journalist. He is a journalist emeritus - respected and admired for what he used to do but he is not doing the gritty stuff any more. He hobnobs and socializes with elites. If he wants to talk about some new trend in computers he can literally call Bill Gates and get his t...

Published by Eugene Penny in May of 2016. Duration: 5 hours, 58 minutes. Unabridged. Read by Rebecca Roberts. FBI Special Agent Christie Lovelace is a plucky, sarcastic, foul-mouthed agent who investigates offbeat cases. Think X-Files, but with a much more gross, much more weird take. Lovelace has been sent to Danbury, Texas to investigate a charge of corruption. It seems that the whole town is being controlled by one man and a person may have died. But, once Lovelace arrives, after a frustrating series of humorous personal disasters, she discovers that the body has disappeared from the morgue. When she goes to the jail to follow a lead the stench of feces is overpowering... Plus, people keep hinting about the dead coming back to life. It's going to be a strange Monday. My thoughts: For me, this book was a little too gross and a little too interested in being weird for the sake of weirdness for my taste. Too many oddball characters in one place. I like Christie Lovelace and ...