Pathetic narrator / important book

This poor narrator clearly did not understand the meaning of the words he was reading. It is very jarring to hear such important issues being read without comprehension, feeling or appropriate emphasis. Maybe he offered his services for free, for the sake of the animals; I hope there was a good reason why he was selected. The content is worthy of serious listening, if you can overcome the robotic aspect.

Hai valutato questa recensione!

Hai segnalato questa recensione!

6 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Read Leslie Grey’s review first. She nailed it.

Imagine trying to narrate an intense sexual experience to someone over the phone, or talking dirty to your partner using a mechanical larynx….. I am a voracious audible consumer. I would go head to head with some of our top listeners simply due to the amount of time I spend on the road in the car, and my love of the written word communicated through audible. The biggest thing I have learned after hundreds of books is that you can make a very weak story interesting with fabulous presentation/narration, and you can take some of the best written works of pen applied to paper, and completely ruin them to the point that you can’t stand to listen anymore. While there is no perfect formula, and no one perfect voice for all written works there are audible performers that stand out amongst the best of the best of the best. One true master out of many that I would suggest you take a test drive with is Marc Vietor. I find it interesting how authors who achieve early success sometimes start off hiring some of the best audiobook presenter is on the market, and as they sell more and more and more books they lose sight of the fact that the presentation is as important if not more important as the work itself. Let me give you some quick, off the cuff example’s:
Peter Dinklage in GOT. Imagine, the joker, without Joaquin Phoenix. Same idea. When the author of a book thinks that their work, on its own, can carry an audience in an audio performance, they are going to seriously suffer in the popularity of the work. When we read a book we take the written word and interpret in our minds eye. And extremely well written book allows us to create the right characters or actors in our mental interpretation and performance of the written word. When the written work is done exceptionally well and the writer decides (or are convinced by a cheapskate producer) that wants to save some money and just hire a more affordable voice actor with some genera experience, they are either trapped in an echo and make decisions as such, Or they are narcissistic enough to believe that their written word is enough to carry the audio performance. And to be fair I will say this so other people don’t have to… There’s also the possibility that the writer doesn’t understand the internal process of a readers development of who the end of visual wants the written description of the character to be, so they overlook the critical importance of picking the right voice actor. In my humble opinion I believe the reason people say that the book was so much better than the movie, in many cases certainly not all, was because they had a powerful negative experience when the actor chosen to perform the work meets the (previous reader of the book) and the acting destroyed our romanticized characterization of the character. When this happens we experience some severe cognitive dissonance that all too often results and books being tossed in the bin before we barely crease the spine. So after reading what I just wrote, I’m your minds eye, are you picturing me as a writer as Ephialtes (Kieron Moore)? Leonidas (Gerard Butler), or ?????. Use this as an exercise to put your minds eye to task. Think of a book you fell in love with, that was written magnificently, but also had a relatively good cinema reproduction but that the casting completely ruined for you.

Hai valutato questa recensione!

Hai segnalato questa recensione!

3 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Insightful duality

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. However be aware that it is very short, and only introduces these ideas rather quickly. However a big plus is the fact that the historical origins for most of these philosophical ideas are included. Almost all of the ideas are represented from both sides (where applicable). The best way to listen to this book is to go into it with a sense of dispassion, where you are able to silence your mind, and not judge or criticize any of the viewpoints laid out in this book. It doesn't help you understand the other person's viewpoint if one gets frustrated.

Hai valutato questa recensione!

Hai segnalato questa recensione!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Very well done

Clear, enjoyable narration. Thoughtful instruction through the development of this important area of ethics.

Hai valutato questa recensione!

Hai segnalato questa recensione!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Excellent narration

Really enjoyed listening to this and finished it in one sitting. Loved the narrator and also the use of different voices when quoting other philosophers complete with their likely accents. Not preachy at all and presents both sides of the issue as best as possible though I found it hard to truly believe the arguments against pro-animal are coming from an intellectually honest place.

Hai valutato questa recensione!

Hai segnalato questa recensione!

The Narrator makes this hard to enjoy

I initially thought this may just be a bad recording, but readings of quotes within the recording by other voice actors made it clear that it is the narrator that is the problem here. His reading is just not clear.

As for the book itself, it is an interesting high level discussion around the ethics of our interactions with animals. I initially thought it had an excessive (and outdated) focus on biblical/Christian positions, but this does not continue through the entire book.

Hai valutato questa recensione!

Hai segnalato questa recensione!