J_T

Legendary Sagan

Revisado: 08-10-24

The content is impeccable, just as one would expect from Carl Sagan.
The problem is with LeVar Burton. I genuinely enjoy his on-screen work and am grateful for his work promoting literacy. I admire the man.
His audiobook narration though is... difficult to enjoy. Here in Cosmos, it is a relentless, lilting, breathy excitement, even when speaking of an apocalyptic event. I'm not sure what effect he was going for. He narrated a book on jazz, and used an awful character who sounded like a mumbling Miles Davis on downers throughout that whole book, so I am sure he has a character in mind for Cosmos. I don't know who the character is, but it doesn't fit at all.

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Weak Narration

Revisado: 06-21-18

The narrator attempts to read at least half an octave below his natural speaking voice. It makes me think of a community theater actor trying to sound like his character has a sore throat, but knowing that he has to project to be heard.
The mispronunciations begin with "canonical" fairly early in the preface. This is followed by multiple examples of "treatise"... tree-at-us? Read that as "The giant threw a tree at us". There are others, but these examples should make my point.
I'm not sure if the print version is wrong or if the narrator adds the "S" on his own, but the book of "Revelations" is mentioned.
This is all within the preface of a 44+ hour book.
I hope to finish this, as the subject fascinates me, but so far it is extremely disappointing as far as the narration goes.

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Stephen Hawking would have been a better narrator

Revisado: 03-04-18

What didn’t you like about Fajer Al-Kaisi’s performance?

From the half hearted attempt at an unnecessary French accent to the rest of the utterly flat narration, this was a mind numbing treatment of one of my favorite subjects.

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Good book almost ruined by narrator

Revisado: 07-15-17

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would reccomend this to friends. There is a lot of conjecture in this book, but it provides a place to begin asking questions and doing research.

What didn’t you like about David Drummond’s performance?

I simply cannot fathom how David Drummond has been hired to narrate 187 audiobooks. Every one of his "efforts" that I've had the displeasure of listening to sounds like a mediocre actor playing a parody of a 1940's newsreel announcer in a B movie.

Any additional comments?

For humanitarian reasons I wish Mr. Coppens hadn't passed away in 2012.I also have my selfish reasons for wishing that same thing. I wanted to see more from him. I think his writing would have gotten stronger. This book lacked some depth, but I feel like it was groundwork for future endeavors.

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I'm convinced that Professor Johnson is an alien

Revisado: 06-18-17

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I have several courses by Luke Timothy Johnson. Usually, I can get used to his bizarre delivery. For some reason, I just couldn't with this course.
I have decided that he intentionally creates new pronunciations and rolls a die to choose which syllables to accent.

Any additional comments?

The information in this course is top notch, although not overly deep, I wouldn't really expect a survey course to be loaded with groundbreaking revelations, so that's fine with me.
It's just too bad that his vocal presentation is the aural equivalent of the old movie ransom notes made from cutting and pasting words and syllables from random magazines.

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Good content, rather poor presentation by narrator

Revisado: 12-28-16

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, but I would warn them about the patronizing narration style and recommend the print version.

What other book might you compare The Bible's Cutting Room Floor to and why?

History of the Bible- The Making of the New Testament Canon
by Bart D. Ehrman,The Great Courses

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator speaks clearly and pronounces names and places properly, for the most part (far moreso than most non-fiction narrators tend to do).
The problem is that his style is that of an adult reading "down to" a child. He makes me feel like I am a 6 year old during story time at the public library.

Any additional comments?

There is some highly interesting information in this book. Overall, I think Bart Ehrman's works are a bit better, but you do yourself a disservice if you only look at things from one vantage point. This compliments Ehrman's similar books and Great Courses lecture series.

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Legitimate 5 stars

Revisado: 03-05-16

I am a big fan of The Great Courses. That being said, not all are worthy of 5 star reviews... unless they feature Professor Aldrete.

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Good lecture, bad introduction.

Revisado: 02-04-16

Any additional comments?

The first line of the introduction (which is not by the professor, thank goodness) is "For more than 200 years, Sherlock Holmes has...".
More than 200 years? Now there's a trick.
The lecture itself is quite good, although the professor does have a few strange pronunciations.

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Gratuitous foul language

Revisado: 12-27-15

Any additional comments?

10 minutes in and I've turned it off.
If the language fit the content I wouldn't be bothered, but this garbage sounds like a group of 14 year olds trying to impress each other with their curse word vocabulary.

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A crime has been commited

Revisado: 08-21-15

Any additional comments?

Some truly great stories have been murdered by absolutely awful performances.
I m quite sure any (free) Librivox version would be superior to the very best performance in this audiobook.

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