JAN 2016
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
by Jonathan Lowe
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JUPITER'S
TRAVELS by Ted Simon is the mid-1970s travelogue
of a man on a motorcycle who took four years of his
life to ride around the world, some 64,000 miles on
a Triumph. The effectiveness of such diaries depends
on the ability of the writer to convey not just the
details of what he sees, but his own unique interpretation
of events, the feelings induced, and how he is changed
by it all. Simon creates an epic account of his journey
running almost 17 hours on audio, and it pulls no punches,
making it an unvarnished document full of musings, philosophy,
and commentary on the politics and briberies, the highs
and lows…of being accused of spying, being lied
to, and being a scapegoat for locals intent of having
fun with the gringo (because they can.) Suffice it to
say, this is not a trip anyone hearing is likely to
attempt, although actor Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
tried in Long Way Round. There were numerous problems
with the bike (perhaps a BMW would have been a better
choice?) Plus running out of gas or water or food. At
one point he is sent up a mountain in search of a meat
“warehouse” by a man who had meat all along,
and knew nothing was up there but barren wilderness.
Mosquitoes and flies feasted on Simon. He met extreme
poverty and wild beauty. He discusses the Latin American
machismo, which (for him, at the time) tended to see
every male interloper as a challenge to virility. He
reflects on how poor countries, once enslaved by Spain,
are now being conquered by McDonalds and Coke, whose
signs are everywhere, “like a new revenge.”
Yet despite every possible threat and wrong done him,
he is wiser for the trip, and glad he made it. The simple,
beautiful smiles of peasants and shy people restore
him. The vast acquaintance with nature lends valuable
perspective. And for this audio trip, narrator
Rupert Degas, an award winning voiceover artist
from Australia, interprets Simon’s spirit in such
a way as to be completely believable, and his accents
are always spot-on, particularly the Aussie one. |
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The
authors of $2 A DAY: LIVING ON ALMOST NOTHING
IN AMERICA report that welfare is no longer
available to those who can’t find work in America.
(Those on most assistance programs are “the working
poor.”) Rather, they are talking about the 1.5
million who fall far below the poverty line; some are
hopeful, some have given up. Half are white. The majority
of those profiled in this audiobook get food stamps,
but are forced to sell them to get money for shelter
or utilities. (Against the law, but such barter is common.)
So when their refrigerators (if they have one) are opened,
there is little there, and they rely on soup kitchens,
dumpster diving, or school lunch programs. (When schools
are closed on weekends, many of these kids don’t
eat at all.) Surprisingly, the majority of those profiled
do not want to be given anything, they want work. So
some are willing to nearly starve rather than to beg.
This eye-opening audiobook brings to mind the new documentary
by Michael Moore titled “Where to Invade Next,”
in which Moore travels to other countries to steal their
ideas on how to avoid the social problems we have. (Granted,
he doesn’t go to Africa, Syria, or Greece, but
socialist countries like Norway or Sweden, whose residents
have little crime, debt, or poverty.) Authors: Kathryn
Edin is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Sociology
and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. H. Luke
Shaefer is an associate professor at the University
of Michigan School of Social Work and the Gerald R.
Ford School of Public Policy. He is also a research
affiliate at the National Poverty Center. The audiobook
is narrated by Allyson Johnson, whose
empathic tone reflects the authors premise that more
should be done.
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RECLAIM
THE BRAIN is a new audiobook by Dr. Joseph A.
Annibali, narrated with professional and skillful engagement
by him and Dr. Daniel Amen. It examines all aspects of
psychology related to brain science, particularly depression,
anxiety, ADD, OCD, PTSD, autism, bipolar disorder, and
substance abuse. Particular attention is paid to the limbic
system, that lower part of the brain which controls emotions.
Brain activity in this region has been shown to be high
on scans when someone is under duress (either physical
or mental / imaginary.) This busy brain can interfere
with concentration and cause much unneeded stress, and
the audiobook presents methods and practices and exercises
to calm the limbic system, thereby bringing back a sense
of calm and normalcy (focus) to decision making. Drawing
on the findings of many diverse sources, the author aids
the listener in how to distance oneself from one’s
thoughts, which may sound odd but thoughts are produced
automatically by the brain, outside the conscious will
sometimes, and these repetitive thoughts can trap people
in a cycle of negativity. Recognizing that one’s
thoughts do not define “who they are” is,
therefore, important, (as was noted by Eckhart Tolle.)
Living in the past or for the future solely is therefore
like a living death in which one cannot see one’s
life in the present (which is all we ever truly own.)
Until such time as scientists discover what directs and
constitutes consciousness and ego, this may be the best
we can do in quelling violence and hate. So the tools
that the author relates are important and well organized
in this comprehensive and important self help audiobook.
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For
fiction, in WAR AND PEACE, voted 2nd
greatest novel of all time (behind Cervantes Don Quixote),
Leo Tolstoy reserved scorn “for those, like Napoleon,
who think they can control fate, while they are actually
in the grip of forces beyond themselves that they are
too egotistically blind to see or understand.” Said
critic Donald Adams, “In this great novel the view
of the sky high above the Austerlitz battlefield makes
insignificant the individual’s will and reduces
the words of the great Napoleon to the buzzing of a fly.”
Daniel S. Burt: “The supreme test for the greatest
novels is whether a conception of life is deepened in
the drama provided. Life has rarely been captured in language
better than what Tolstoy manages in War and Peace. If
Cervantes establishes the novel’s potential as a
medium to reflect a massive criticism of culture, Tolstoy
delineates the novel’s epic border, elastic enough
to contain more of life than it seemed possible to circumscribe.
Like
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Shakespeare’s
plays, Tolstoy’s novel defines a conception of greatness
that future novelists may imitate, modify, or challenge,
but cannot avoid.” There are a number of audiobook
renditions of the novel, with various narrators, my favorite
being Edward Petherbridge due to his impeccable accents
and aristocratic air, although Neville Jason is good too.
Regarding Don Quixote, there are two great readers
on that audiobook’s versions: Simon Vance and George
Guidall. Take your pick, you can’t lose.
Both are award-winning veterans of voice acting. So if
you haven’t heard or read these, and before you
click on some piece of trash currently trending, consider
what Dostoevsky said: “A more profound and powerful
work than Don Quixote is not to be found…the final
and greatest utterance of the human mind.” Or as
the Atlantic Monthly more recently put it, “Luminous…it
will overwhelm you in imaginative splendor.” Don’t
we need that most, now? (BTW, ladies looking for romance,
the greatest ever romance novel is EUGENIE GRANDET
by Balzac, read by Jonathan Fried. If
you doubt this, I can supply quotes by several dozen major
authors confirming it! Sorry, no x-rated scenes, though.
LOL.) |
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Finally,
the movie (based on the book) THE BIG SHORT
is a slick, entertaining docudrama about the
corruption and blindness on Wall Street, leading up
to the collapse in late 2008, when millions lost their
savings and jobs due to bets made on top of bets (the
repackaging of inferior subprime loans as AA or AAA,
the complicity of the ratings agencies, the CDOs and
credit default swaps, etc.) It was like a big party
with everyone wearing blinders and drinking booze at
an open bar. But parties or orgies always end, when
the partiers are pushed out into the sunlight to deal
with their hangovers. A telling moment is when the character
played by Steve Carell visits an S&P auditor to
find out why bad loans are not being rated bad, and
she’s wearing dark medical glasses to protect
her eyes from light. “If we didn’t give
them the rating, they would go to our competitors,”
she explains. Carell cringes, knowing that ratings are
supposed to reflect reality, not hopeful fantasy. He
goes to several neighborhoods to discover homes in which
the owners have fled or are renting to others because
they can’t pay their mortgages. Red flags are
going up and no one seems to care. So he decides to
short (bet against) his own bank, and others (like Christian
Bale as a hedge fund manager) do also. Bale is an over-the-top
eccentric who plays the drums to avoid hearing about
his fund losing millions by the day, as the relentless
lie of rising real estate prices (and his bosses’
invectives) increase. He knows he’s right, but
can he make it to the end before investors sue him and
throw him out? The movie adds humor to what might otherwise
go over the heads of viewers, and uses a narration device
to inject commentary, much as Pirates of Silicon Valley
did in that Steve Jobs/Bill Gates biopic. (Hence, “docudrama.”)
One example is when an explanation is required, and
a supermodel in a bubble bath is called upon to deliver
it; another when Selena Gomez explains from a Vegas
gambling table. (Hence, “slick.”) The biggest
joke is saved for the end, which is both funny and sad,
since the joke is on middle class Americans: no one
went to jail, they got bonuses instead. And Wall Street
went back to business as usual, after being bailed out.
Is there another collapse coming? Absolutely, it’s
just a matter of when. And you can bet the super rich
won’t be the ones picking up the tab then, either.
Wall Street, like Coca-Cola in the theater’s previews,
doubles down on the same tactics which have worked in
the past to deceive and distract while it picks our
pockets both coming and going. The 2010 audiobook on
which the movie is based is narrated by Jesse
Boggs, with an intro by Michael Lewis. Little
is known about Boggs, but he has an unassuming and pleasant
voice, and delivers the proper tone while disappearing
behind the text. |
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