THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY: HOW FAITH, FAMILY and DUCKS BUILT a DYNASTY by Willie and Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach

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 Robertson relates his family's story, starting with his parents and his father's early financial and personal struggles. This is quite interesting and inspiring and takes up approximately the first one-third of the book. Willie and Korie alternate in telling about how they met and their family life. Of course, their religious faith features prominently throughout, including Bible verses that match the theme of the chapter.

The fourth disc of this 5 CD set basically talks about the Duck Commander business and how a series of low-budget duck hunting shows sold on VHS evolved into the Duck Dynasty TV show. He also talks about how their family business really is a family business - many family members and family friends work there.

The last disc tells about how he broadened Duck Commander into the deer hunting business with Buck Commander. Willie tells about baseball players that have appeared in his hunting videos and how he has appeared with various country music stars on stage. The last disc was a difficult listen because I am not a baseball fan or much of a country music fan and, despite Willie's protestations to the contrary as he read, it really was a whole lot of pretty boring name dropping.

At the end of every chapter is a recipe that Willie and his family love. Listening to people read recipes is tedious, at best. If I were the publisher, I would have considered leaving out that part of the text and including the recipes in an insert inside of the box with the CDs. After a while we just skipped over the recipes.

Willie and Korie Robertson read the audiobook. Willie was pretty good, Korie was adequate. It made sense for them to read it, though, since it is told in a first-person voice.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family and Ducks Built a Dynasty.

NPR AMERICAN CHRONICLES: THE CIVIL WAR (audiobook) by NPR

Published in 2011 by HighBridge Audio
Multicast performance
Duration: 2 hours, 59 minutes

NPR has searched through its archives and found 29 stories that make for a very interesting listen if you are a student of the Civil War.

There are interviews with historians, including James McPherson and Shelby Foote and authors like Tony Horwitz, Jay Winik and E.L. Doctorow. Sam Waterston reads the Gettysburg Address (so good!) and Hal Holbrook talks about a project of his about the impact of the Civil War on Iowa.

There are also interviews with regular people, like the African American family that comes to see the original Emancipation Proclamation and turns it into a profound and moving educational event.

None of it is very deep, but all of it is deeply interesting. This is a must-listen for all amateur historians of the Civil War.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found here: NPR American Chronicles: The Civil War.

THE BETTER PART of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

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 Tuttle, the adolescent featured in every episode, has love troubles of his own. Pairing these stories together shows that love is confusing and exciting and potentially embarrassing no matter the age of the participants.

Once again, this is the best series that I have heard all year and I am glad I discovered that they had been re-released in digital format.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Better Part of the Road.

NPR LAUGHTER THERAPY: A COMEDY COLLECTION for the CHRONICALLY SERIOUS (audiobook) by NPR

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.

A LITTLE HISTORY of the WORLD (audiobook) by E.H. Gombrich

Published by Blackstone Audio in 2006
Translated by Caroline Mustill and E.H. Gombrich
Narrated by Ralph Cosham
Duration: 9 hours, 14 minutes
Unabridged

As the title states A Little History of the World is a small history of, well, everything. Sort of.

This history was originally written in 1935. The author was an unemployed art historian and was asked to write a history of the world for children for an Austrian publisher. The first edition was written in six weeks and it sold well and has sold consistently ever since. Gombrich retained the rights and after World War II set out to keep it updated and translated it into multiple languages. He was working on translating it into English when he died in 2001 at the age of 92. The work was finished by others and no one is quite sure how exactly he was planning on ending it.

The chapter on early man is quite memorable in that it gives early men and women a lot of credit for figuring out a lot of important things like agriculture, cooking with fire, stone tools and so on. Think about it - it really is quite remarkable.

The history is told in a kid-friendly, patronizing, but not annoying way. It is definitely a Eurocentric history, especially after the Mesopotamian Empires (Sumeria, Babylon, etc.) are discussed.
India is mentioned, but mostly as an introduction to Hinduism and Buddhism. China gets a lot more attention, but not much more. The Americas, including the United States are barely mentioned. The Native American civilizations (Mayas, Aztecs, Incas) are only mentioned in the context of being conquered by the Spanish and being brutalized. Africa may not have been mentioned again after Ancient Egypt.

E.H. Gombrich (1909-2001)

However, keeping in mind this bias, this is a pretty solid history of Europe. The reader, Ralph Cosham, sounds like a welcoming old grandfather who is telling the story of the world as he knows it to the little ones. It is easy to imagine him in a chair on a cold winter's night with the little ones gathered around and the fireplace ablaze. And, in a way, this translation was exactly that - a 92 year old man telling the story of the world the best he could.

I  rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It is a limited history and I would never make this the only history book that I handed to my child (it has some popularity among home-school parents), but it is readable and interesting. A good place to start.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: A Little History of the World.

THE LAST DECENT PARKING SPOT in NORTH AMERICA (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

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 regulars buy her a new coffee maker and fix up her shop a bit to celebrate her 20th anniversary in business. Also, they want to get a decent cup of coffee since her old coffee maker was making some pretty nasty coffee. The problem is she is cranky, cantankerous and just plain difficult so no one knows if she'll take it like it was meant, or if she'll be upset.

The story continues as the town of End of the Road searches for and hires a new City Manager.  Also, we are introduced to Doug McDoogan, a ne'er-do-well liar and get-rich-quick artist who never succeeds and can't seem to figure out why he is always down and out. But, it turns out that actually does have a skill. The story moves on to adolescent Norman Tuttle, who has a near-death experience on his dad's fishing boat and finds his place in this world again.

The last big story is the story of the destruction of the sauna featuring and best friends, the Storbocks and Flanigans, and how they ended up skiing down the road naked in the snow in the middle of the night. It all makes sense once you hear it, I promise.

I rate this story 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Last Decent Parking Spot in North America.

THE BIG GARAGE on CLEAR SHOT: GROWING UP, GROWING OLD , and GOING FISHING at the END of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

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 exactly, but close enough. And, Bodett relates it so lovingly - it is like this really is a town and these really are real people and we can see into their lives and find common ground with them.

In this episode we also meet the town's new city manager as he discovers the joys of fishing and we get to go along with dedicated vegan and animal rights activist Tamera Dupree as she heads off to Hawaii. Why is she going to Hawaii? She won a free trip to a hunting and fishing convention in a drawing and she plans to disrupt the whole thing as a protest.

I enthusiastically recommend this entire series. Among the best audiobook experiences I have had.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Big Garage on Clear Shot.