Column

Full Review

The whole listen, start to finish, with the writing and the narration scored apart.

In Full Review

Emergency Neil Strauss Review: The Book That Changed How I Live

Neil Strauss, narrated by Neil Strauss

The highest writing score on this site, and it is not a score for the sentences. Writing 4.75, narration 4.0, and the reason to read this one rather than listen to it.

Writing: 4.75
Narration: 4.0

8 hr 17 min

Full ReviewNarrative Nonfiction

Everyone Loves You When You're Dead Book Review: No Audiobook, and Why

Neil Strauss

Five hundred pages of interview fragments, scored 4.25. There is no audiobook of it at all, and having read it, I do not think that is the loss it looks like.

Writing: 4.25
Narration: none exists

544 pages

Full ReviewNarrative Nonfiction

The Game Neil Strauss Audiobook Review: What the Cut Costs

Neil Strauss, narrated by Neil Strauss

Writing 4.0, narration 3.5, and the gap between them is the edition. The only audiobook is abridged, it cuts the field reports, and it does not announce itself.

Writing: 4.0
Narration: 3.5

9 hr 27 min

Full ReviewNarrative Nonfiction

The Truth Neil Strauss Review: A Reckoning, Not a Sequel

Neil Strauss, narrated by Neil Strauss, with Ione Skye, Jessica Sattelberger, Justin Gunn, Adele Jacques, Mem Kennedy, Carola Madis, Leah Cevoli and John Runnette

Writing 4.25, narration 4.0. The genuine reckoning with The Game rather than a sequel to it, and the rare read-first verdict that still rates the audiobook.

Writing: 4.25
Narration: 4.0

16 hr 50 min

Full ReviewLiterary & Contemporary

Great Big Beautiful Life Review: Margaret Is the Reason

Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan

Two books stapled together, and the historical half is the better one. Whether that suits you decides everything.

Writing: 4.0
Narration: 4.5

12 hr 3 min

Full ReviewBusiness & Money

The 4-Hour Work Week Review: What Still Holds Up, and What to Skip

Timothy Ferriss

Read it, and skip about a third. The first third is the reason to bother; AI has overtaken the rest.

Writing: 4.0
Narration: not heard

448 pages

Full ReviewFantasy & Sci-Fi

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil Review: Two Different Books

V. E. Schwab, narrated by Julia Whelan, Katie Leung, Marisa Calin

Stunning sentences, not much momentum, and a three-narrator audiobook that is the better way in. Which of those two readers you are decides everything.

Writing: 3.5
Narration: 4.5

18 hr 26 min

Full ReviewFantasy & Sci-Fi

Project Hail Mary Audiobook Review: Why Ray Porter's Narration Is the One to Hear

Andy Weir, narrated by Ray Porter

Listen to this one. Ray Porter plays the alien language and the fear under the jokes, and the book still gives you what the film cannot: a man thinking.

Writing: 4.0
Narration: 5.0

16 hr 10 min