Zeno
- 8
- reviews
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- helpful votes
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- ratings
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Radical Uncertainty
- Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers
- By: John Kay, Mervyn King
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
Radical uncertainty changes the way we should think about decision-making. For over half a century economics has assumed that people behave rationally by optimizing among well-defined choices. Behavioral economics questioned how far people are rational, pointing to the cognitive biases that seem to describe actual behavior.
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4 out of 5 stars
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At 1:23:50: "we must expect ... a virus"
- By Philo on 03-18-20
- Radical Uncertainty
- Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers
- By: John Kay, Mervyn King
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
Thorough Treatment of Essential Concepts
Reviewed: 06-24-21
A great addition and complement for those who enjoyed Peter Bernstein's Against the Gods, and Nassim Taleb's Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness, The book covers key concepts in decision science, probability, and game theory by using interesting and easy to grasp examples. Even if you are familiar with some, most, or all of the content, much tends to be slippery and unintuitive; (e.g. The Monty Hall problem, which is given an excellent treatment here). The more I hear these concepts, the better I am reminded to avoid common and easy to make financial mistakes in the future.
As for the narration, Roger Davis did an excellent job with both pronunciation and presentation. So often great books are marred by bad narrators, which happily is not the case here. Mr. Davis enhanced the material, which I had already read in print form. Too bad he didn't narrate Time of the Magicians, and Kindred; two excellent books that terrible narrators ruined in audio format.
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The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume I: Visions of Glory 1874-1932
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 41 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,661
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,159
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2,153
Winston Churchill is perhaps the most important political figure of the 20th century. His great oratory and leadership during the Second World War were only part of his huge breadth of experience and achievement. Studying his life is a fascinating way to imbibe the history of his era and gain insight into key events that have shaped our time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb - Review of Both Volume I & Volume II
- By Wolfpacker on 01-23-09
Excellent Author, Horrible Narrator
Reviewed: 11-09-19
Frederick Davidson-- who I understand has been dead for a while now-- has got to be one of the most annoying narrators ever to record audio books. His nasal drawl on so many excellent books needs to be retired for good. This recording is over 41 hours long and after an hour of his voice you will be ready to drive your car into a retaining wall. Even listened to at double speed, Davidson's voice still grates. Incredible to imagine how he was hired to record so many classics, so many of which I would like to listen to, but won't until they are re-recorded by a different performer. RIP Frederick Davidson, may your voice join you-- and soon.
As for William Manchester's book: Five Stars
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Classic American Short Stories, Volume 2
- By: Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and others
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 46
The greatest short story writers strive to achieve a single, dramatic effect, a feature which the early masters of this genre perfected. Although the short story came from Europe, it was reborn in America and reached a pinnacle of superb form on these shores by the turn of the 20th century. In so many of our best writers, we hear echoes of a pioneer ethos that sustains the heart of a great literature. Here are 12 of America's best.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fun listening too
- By Michael on 10-01-06
Mr. Griffin drops his English accent-- hooray!
Reviewed: 11-26-18
Charlton Griffin is such a great narrator, if only he would refrain from his attempts at what he thinks a Received Pronunciation English accent sounds like (he pronounces nearly every "a"vowel as "ah"). He chooses excellent material, but the falseness of his accent in so many productions is distracting to those of us from the UK. This may seem a quibble, but he does so much better with an American accent that I hope he will consider it for more of his narrations in the future. This is meant constructively; I hope it will be taken as such.
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2 people found this helpful
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The Theory of Moral Sentiments
- By: Adam Smith
- Narrated by: Michael Lunts
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) was the first major text by Adam Smith who, seven years later, was to publish what was to become one of the major economic classics, The Wealth of Nations (1776). However, Smith regarded The Theory of Moral Sentiments as his most important work because in it he identified the profound human instinct to act not necessarily in self-interest but through, as he phrased it, a ‘mutual sympathy of sentiments’.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What Makes Humans Humane
- By Zeno on 10-06-18
- The Theory of Moral Sentiments
- By: Adam Smith
- Narrated by: Michael Lunts
What Makes Humans Humane
Reviewed: 10-06-18
Important, interesting,, and amazing-- Adam Smith's insights into human nature are also timeless. Michael Lunts does an excellent job of reading this classic. All who invest the time to listen to and absorb its wisdom will come away better than when they started. Another excellent release from Ukemi Audiobooks. Highly recommended.
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6 people found this helpful
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Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 684
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 616
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 614
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Where Have You Been All My Life, Thomas Mann?
- By Virginia Waldron on 03-30-17
- Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
A Classic Brought to Life
Reviewed: 08-06-18
Timeless chronicle of a family's decline. David Rintoul's reading is superb. Kudos to Ukemi Audiobooks for presenting such consistently great works. Highly recommended.
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The Power of the Dog
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 20 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,956
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8,947
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,919
This explosive novel of the drug trade takes you deep inside a world riddled with corruption, betrayal, and bloody revenge. From the streets of New York City to Mexico City and Tijuana to the jungles of Central America, this is the war on drugs like you've never seen it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping Drama
- By Deborah on 01-06-11
- The Power of the Dog
- By: Don Winslow
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
Must be adapted as TV miniseries
Reviewed: 07-10-15
What made the experience of listening to The Power of the Dog the most enjoyable?
This is a gripping novel. What's more, it is very closely based on facts, something that should infuriate most readers. Without preaching it shows the disastrous effects of the War on Drugs and all the monsters it has created. It is an important book that just happens to be a fantastic listen, the kind that will keep you sitting in your car in the driveway with the engine idling just to get to the end of a chapter.
Amazon Prime--- this, along with The Cartel, should be your first big-budget mini-series event. Not only because it is a blockbuster, but because what it has to say needs to be heard.
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Tristram Shandy
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 203
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Story4 out of 5 stars 198
Laurence Sterne’s most famous novel is a biting satire of literary conventions and contemporary 18th-century values. Renowned for its parody of established narrative techniques, Tristram Shandyis commonly regarded as the forerunner of avant-garde fiction. Tristram’s characteristic digressions on a whole range of unlikely subjects (including battle strategy and noses!) are endlessly surprising and make this one of Britain’s greatest comic achievements.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Like discovering Frank Zappa in 250 years
- By Darwin8u on 01-02-14
- Tristram Shandy
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
Monty Python's Great, Great Grandfather
Reviewed: 09-25-13
Where does Tristram Shandy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Anton Lesser is pitch-perfect in his reading of Sterne's 18th Century masterpiece. The story itself is possibly the least straight-forward narrative in literary history, but its endless digressions lead to real delights. Zany, cryptically bawdy, witty, and at times beautifully philosophical, it has more than earned its status among the Western Canon. Naxos has done a brilliant job in translating this, at times, difficult to follow text, translating it brilliantly for the ear. Time well spent!
What was one of the most memorable moments of Tristram Shandy?
Slawkenbergius's Tale-- had to have been an influence on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Have you listened to any of Anton Lesser’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
One of his best.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
A Cock and Bull Story (Already used when film was made).
Any additional comments?
A head trip that's also a master-course in wit.
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20 people found this helpful
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Nightmare Alley
- By: William Lindsay Gresham
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 197
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 174
Nightmare Alley is American author William Lindsay Gresham’s first and best-known work. The novel - most admired by noir fiction fans - was published in 1946, adapted into a film in 1947 starring Tyrone Power and subsequently printed as a graphic novel by Spain Rodriquez. During the 1940s Gresham worked as an editor for a genuine crime pulp magazine in New York, during which period he wrote this book; characters range from hustlers to Machiavellian femme fatales in a dark world of show business.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Classic Noir
- By Zeno on 08-10-13
- Nightmare Alley
- By: William Lindsay Gresham
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
Classic Noir
Reviewed: 08-10-13
Where does Nightmare Alley rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
One of greatest psychological thrillers, both of its time and ours.
What about Adam Sims’s performance did you like?
Excellent characterization of each voice. Realistic not cartoonish. A perfect match of voice and text.
Any additional comments?
This is a book for adults that implies much without being graphic. It is a dark, dark, look into human nature-- a cynical, and keenly observed depiction of greed, ambition, deception, and ultimately self-destruction. Plus, Gresham provides a personally researched glimpse inside the now almost-gone world of the carnival midway, not to mention the old tricks psychics still use to this day, to exploit the gullible and desperate.
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9 people found this helpful