Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
In the near future, a Texas billionaire starts a geoengineering project to counteract global warming. International intrigue results. Similar feel to his other books. 4/5
An Economist walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk by Allison Schrager
Examples of how people in unusual situations handle risk and how you can apply it to your life. Interesting and useful. 4/5 – Accidental reread from July 2020.
The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood by Julie Salamon
A start-to-finish tale of the making of the 1990 big-budget Hollywood bomb. The writer embedded in the production and talked to just about everyone from the director down. fascinating amount of behind-the-scenes detail and insight into people making the film from the director down. 4/5
Leonardo da Vinci: The Biography by Walter Isaacson
Covering what little we know of his life but with analysis of his major works and notebooks. Helps if you have the PDF with all the pictures but listenable if not. 3/5
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Thought I’d try this new version. I think I still prefer Rob Inglis. My general feelings are:
Pro: He does distinct voices for each character and generally good ones. The voice are influenced by actors in the movies.
Con: His voice is a little indistinct. Not to bad since he’s an actor but separate words are not always clear. He’s not the best with the songs/poems, I’ve heard similar about his LOTR presentation. 4/5
Footprints in the Dust: The Epic Voyages of Apollo, 1969-1975 edited by Colin Burgess.
Covering all Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Soviet programs. Mostly tries to take different angles from other books so some new stuff even if you’ve read a few of them. 3/5
My Audiobook Scoring System
- 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
- 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
- 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
- 2/5 = Disappointing
- 1/5 = Did not like at all
