Subtitle: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture
Narrated by Aven Shore
Unconventional Nonfiction Book
Summary:
The author walks the reader through 4-ish different examples of people who changed their outlook on farming. They found a way to restore some of the damage done by conventional farming. She also lays out how conventional farming actually hurts the environment. The book is a little preachy on the this is a whole community problem while being a little light on details of how. The point is that there is no one answer for each community.
Additional Comments:
– The performance is fine. I played the book back at 2.5 speed because it’s very long.
– While not a straight entertainment book, I going the tales of the farmers’ lives and hardships very interesting.
– I probably won’t be switching my eating habits over to organic. But if the opportunity came to get better conveniently, I might.
– The part I really enjoyed centered on the ecology of soil and farms.
– Much of the answer to healing the land lies in letting it return to natural courses. The guy who used cow herds to maintain the farm was awesome. Why doesn’t everybody who can work less and make more? The author’s answer is common sense… fear of change.
– She went on a rant at the end about farmers thinking they’re better but really no different than poor people on welfare. While I see what she’s saying, not sure that’s the note I would have ended on.
Conclusion:
A very informative and educational overview of the issues with conventional farming and 4 viable answers that it’s possible to change farming ideology and practices for the better.
Associate links to follow…
Note: I’m starting to use a few ad sites for audiobooks, so codes are disappearing quickly.
Available Audiobooks: I have free codes for almost everything. That will change very soon.
New Release: The Shadow Council Series 1: Money Makes it Deadlier – An FBI agent gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong.
Shadow Council Book 2: Revenge Makes it Sweeter – A midnight summons calls FBI Special Agent Megan Luchek into a fight for a young girl’s life.
Shadow Council Book 3: Christmas Makes it Chaos – The FBI agent gets a strange ally in the quest to prevent chaos from rocking a lot of people’s holiday season.
Shadow Council Book 4: Treachery Makes it Tense – The agent and the assassin have to team up if they want to survive.
Shadow Council is also available as a ~13 hr bundle.
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.
If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.
Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.
Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…
Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.
Pretty much read the long subtitle and you have a general synopsis of the book. It’s about reading people and turning that knowledge to your advantage. (read, manipulation, but for good, I think.)
Additional Comments:
Not as annoying as a lot of nonfiction books I’ve heard.
Had a few intriguing points.
Narrator did a fine job with this, but I think it might be better to have the ebook rather than the audiobook because it strikes me more as a thing you’d like to reference (flip back to) if you actually wanted to exploit the info included. Having both would be the best of both worlds.
Author seemed knowledgeable, but then again, I know zip about the subject, so it’s all new to me. Some is in fact common sense, but it was neat to have everything laid out in an organized manner.
Certain professions rely upon these skills more than others, but in general, it’s good to develop a people sense.
Conclusion:
Useful, short book on interpreting body language.
Associate links to follow…
Amazon Prime
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.
If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.
Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.
Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…
Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.
A sad, simplistic attempt to offer answers for those with anxiety to deal with it.
Additional Comments:
Disclaimer: I do not have anxiety. I was asked to review this, and I was curious because one of my friends has anxiety. Most of the comments will be hers.
Second Disclaimer: My opinion on the book and the narrator are independent of each other. The narrator did a fine job. The book was useless.
This might help if one is just developing anxiety and wants a list of methods to deal/cope. (Me: Google or a decent doctor could provide you with the same for free.)
The methods (spoilers ahead): Working out, grounding, and yoga are time intensive. Not everybody’s life is conducive to such things. Grounding (there are multiple methods, this author mentions coins, but there are others) might work, but reminding yourself that you’re safe doesn’t really. That’s sort of the definition of anxiety – you irrationally think you’re gonna die even though you know you’re completely safe.
My friend thought the author may not be somebody with anxiety because he starts out with a list of things that cause anxiety that could be taken as a blatant “this is your fault.” That’s intimidating and could lead to more anxiety. (From the outsider point of view, I actually liked this part. That was probably the only part of the book I thought was interesting.)
Coin grounding could actually trigger other phobias (like an obsessive need to clean one’s hands from the dirty coins.)
If you don’t have anxiety, the book will likely just tick you off.
Calling your friends or family could lead to more issues with social anxiety. (You’d then be worried you’re ticking them off.)
Conclusion:
If you’ve recently developed anxiety and want a curated list, this might suffice. Otherwise, it really offers nothing new.
Associate links to follow…
Amazon Prime
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.
If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.
Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.
Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…
Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.
Let’s be clear, the average star rating is brought up by the narrator. She did a decent job. The book’s just worthless.
Additional Comments:
This is a list of 90+ ways to earn $100. In reality, you’d probably earn a lot more than that doing each of these things because most are actual jobs that take skills and a license to do them correctly/legally.
Babysitting and dog walking are good ideas. He mentions that the first might be embarrassing to do as an adult, but it’s more embarrassing not to be able to pay your bills. While I can’t argue with that logic, there are also better and steadier jobs out there that come with insurance and whatnot.
At least 3, Bingo, Fantasy Football, and Slot Machines are straight up gambling. That’s not exactly the sort of message you want to be touting in your “ways to make money” spiel. I think the only good advice he gave was know when to quit because the house eventually always wins.
Another whole slew of items started “tutor/ teach ___.” It’s absolutely true that you can make good money tutoring/teaching, but that should have been 1 item with a long-ish spiel about finding the right thing for you to tutor or teach.
Can’t tell you how many of the items started with “grow ___” in your backyard. I just had to laugh. While it might be lucrative if you own the right land, you’ll likely pay more for the tree saplings/seeds. Then, you have to wait for the plant to mature enough.
He lists buying stocks and then says, go watch youtube videos to learn how to do this well. Gee. Thanks. Never woulda thought of that.
Conclusion:
It’s a quick audiobook. If you can snag a free code, go for it. You might find a treasure among the rubbish.
Associate links to follow…
Amazon Prime
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.
If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.
Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.
Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Beyond Broken Pencils – Contemporary literary tale of a school shooting. Ian unleashes his inner demons on his classmates and teachers…
Scratched Off – FBI agent vs a serial killer. When Sam Kerman sets out to hunt a serial killer, he has no idea how personal the case will become.
Matthew O’Brien chronicles his experiences exploring the depths of the underground society that exists in the flood drains beneath Las Vegas.
Additional Comments:
To be honest, not sure why anybody would want to explore the tunnels beneath Las Vegas for the heck of it, but it makes for an interesting audiobook.
We get a good mix of personal life tales. They sort of blend together after a while.
The people there are like the homeless anywhere else. They have hopes, dreams, and often, addictions to deal with. Some have fought in wars. Some get visits from their families. Some are downright crazy.
Nonfiction’s not really my thing, but since I’d mentioned the tunnel people in a book, I gave this one a shot. Overall, I’m glad I did, even though I can’t in good conscience include the book on my promo list of clean works.
Content warnings: Very strong language. To be fair, in many cases, it fits as part of the recorded conversations this guy had with real people.
Descriptions of life inside the tunnels are good. It’s interesting to see how people make it by hustling credits or selling their bodies for food or drugs. Besides the fact that you’re one strong rain from drowning, it’s a pretty nice place to be homeless in terms of temperature being steady.
Conclusion:
An honest look at a harsh reality. The book doesn’t offer many answers to the problem of homelessness, nor should it. What it offers is a chance to give a voice to those who for one reason or another call the storm drains beneath Las Vegas home. If you can deal with strong language, I highly recommend it.
Associate links to follow…
(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 ….)
Amazon Prime
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.
If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.
Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.
Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
Today, we have a special treat, an interview with an author who also happens to be a narrator. Or is he a narrator who’s also an author? Let’s find out. Welcome, Steve Cook.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’ve been voicing, producing and publishing audiobooks since 2006. Before that I produced radio and TV commercials and imaging for stations across the country. Previous gigs include KIIS-FM, XTRA Sports 1150 and Channel 103.1 in Los Angeles, AIR1 Radio Network, and Sportsradio 680 The Fan in Atlanta. After graduating from Berea College in KY, I spent many years acting on the stages and soundstages of New York and Los Angeles, appearing with Esther Rolle Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre in New York in “Member of the Wedding”, with Helen Mirren at the Tiffany Theatre in L.A. in “Woman In Mind”, and on the daytime drama “Days of Our Lives”. Recently I was heard as the Narrator on the hit series “Swamp Murders” on Investigation Discovery Channel (2013-2017). My audiobook credits include five #1 Amazon Best-Sellers, The “1599 Geneva Audio Bible” (currently working on The Revised Geneva Translation), “Tom Sawyer: A One-Hour Classic” (Abridged & Fully Dramatized with cinematic music and sfx), a one-man 32-voice “A Christmas Carol” (Unabridged & Fully Dramatized), “Rowdy Raccoon and the Turtle Who Wanted to Fly”, “Danger at Wolf Rock”, “Plop! Goes the Blue Swirl Ice Cream”, “Gift of the Magi Audiobook” (Abridged and Fully Dramatized), Ken Ham’s “Ready to Return” and Randy Pope’s “The Answer”. My memorization devotional series called “Memo Devo” has been a featured resource on the most popular Bible website in the world, BibleGateway.com, and my audio devotional/study series called “Witness The Bible” is currently featured on BG and has been since 2011. The New Testament of the Revised Geneva Translation has just been accepted for streaming by BG, starting this Summer. Since October of 2017 I’ve also been blessed to be the podcast producer of Rick Warren’s “Daily Hope” program. Go Braves!
I’m gonna let the Braves thing go … we can agree to disagree on that.
What do you do for fun?
I enjoy hanging out with my 10-yr-old daughter and 13-yr-old son, and getting away with my hard-working wife when we can. Otherwise, I suppose my main hobby these days is the parsing of the autographs and primary translations of the Greek New Testament. (I know, exciting stuff.)
To each their own. I collect Legos. To most people, they’re just painful things to step on.
Share a bit about your writing.
What other writers/people do you consider inspirational?
I especially enjoy biographies, especially political and historical figures.
I’m not much of a nonfic person, but history is pretty fascinating.
What got you into writing?
At this point I would consider myself more of an editor than a writer. I take existing historical manuscripts and parse them for clarity. Then fill them with as much passion as I can in performance.
Editing is a huge part of writing.
What is your writing process?
I have about 5 different websites I filter manuscripts through in order to arrive at a satisfactory translation.
When do you consider a work complete?
When I’m convinced that either I am in agreement with the best scholarship available on a particular passage, or barring consensus, I’ve satisfied my own sense of logic and revealed truth. This applies to both editing and vocal performances.
Tell us about one of your books:
Who designed the cover?
I design all the RGT covers.
Do you write in other genres?
Not yet.
What would you like to try if you were to check out a diff genre?
Tell us about one other book or series and why it’s important to you. Memo Devo: Memorization As Devotion (3 Book series) This is important to me because it’s part of a continuing mission to activate more of God’s Word in people’s daily lives, through a radically ancient concept called Active Scripture Memorization. I believe MD has the power to help us experience better intimacy with God, a better witness for God, and better protection under God, all while using time and resources we already possess.
Let’s dig deeper into the random side of you:
What’s one thing very few people know about you?
That I am a very good golfer.
Cool. Never tried it … er, more than mini-golf anyway.
What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Cookie Dough
Ohhh, nice choice.
Where can we get in touch with you if we want to know more?
I perceived a need among the faith community for a new modern translation of this particular type of Bible.
What was the hardest part of bringing this story to life?
The same as always: To tell a story well without self-consciousness.
Do you have a favorite character voice from the project? Why/ why not?
I enjoy them all. The antagonists are usually a bit more interesting dramatically, like Pilate or Herod, but the protagonists like Jesus and Paul can provide great vocal challenges too.
Do you have a favorite chapter from the project? Why/ why not?
I always relish the opportunity to record well-known sections of the Bible like The Beatitudes or the Lord’s Prayer or something because it provides such a great chance to reveal God’s heart in fresh new ways. Is there anything you’d like listeners to know about this work before they hear your performance? That this is the way most folks first received the Bible in the 1st Century – orally, through story. Most were illiterate and could not read the early letters and dispatches the churches would receive, so they had to speak them back out loud to each other. The great thing about that is that we know how amazingly vibrant in the community these churches were in terms of loving those around them. Hopefully these recordings can have a similar effect today.
Do you have any other narrated works?
So far about 30.
What was the most challenging other work you’ve voiced?
I just began working on The Ancient Book of Jasher. That is gonna be a bear, mostly because of the formatting of the text. I prefer nice big 20-pt font on 6×9 pages. This is a pdf on 8.5×11 so it’s not a matter of just enlarging the text. I just don’t like having to read a lot of words across each line, especially when the text is archaic prose like this. I may need to take the time to try and re-format that whole pdf. 18 hours of joy.
There are some programs that do that. Try Calibre. Change it to Word then mess with the margins yourself.
What is the easiest work you’ve voiced?
Interestingly, it was another ancient book, The Book of Enoch, which was the first project my publishing partner, Robert Bagley, and I recorded back in 2016. I don’t know why but that one just rolled off the tongue like no other before or since. It spent 35 weeks in the Top 20 of its Audible Category in 2016 and has sold nearly 13,000 copies worldwide as of this writing. Go figure!
That’s awesome. Congrats!
What’s the most fun project you’ve worked on?
Rowdy Raccoon and the Turtle Who Wanted to Fly I think the title says it all. 😉 Children’s Books will always reign supreme for me as far as acting challenges and fun.
It does indeed. It’s been hit or miss for me reviewing kids’ books.
Is this the only acting you do? If you do other forms of acting, which is your favorite and why?
Right now it is. I hear Atlanta is a pretty happening place to be these days for on-screen. I thought about getting my printed headshot/resume back together, renting an IMDB page, doing the website, agent, the whole bit. But decided I just don’t have the time or resources to do that right for now. Just too much on the plate. Maybe when I retire!
I didn’t know IMDB pages were rented. Learn something new every day.
If you could only leave 1 lasting impression on the world, what would it be?
The love of Christ.
What kind of movies do you enjoy?
I like war documentaries. The strategies, the geeks who they interview, the human interest, all of it. I get so mad at the horrible decisions the generals make and then so mesmerized when they describe a soldier’s letter home to his wife or a great act of heroism. I’m that guy who imagines he was born 200 years too late. My wife even just turned me on to Outlander. Just hopeless.
If you could meet one person from history or present time, who would it be and why?
Lincoln. Just read his biography.
It’s been a while…share how we can connect with you again.
Website: audiooven.com Social Media Links: Facebook.com/audiooven Twitter: @AudioOven
Conclusion:
There you have it, folks. Thanks for stopping by, Steve. I’m guessing we’ll be hearing a whole lot more from you.
Associate Links:
Means I make a few cents on your interest here… Amazon Prime
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly. If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook. Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery. Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
OR
Very short personal tale from the author’s life. It gives a glimpse into the uncertainty and terror that can accompany a diagnosis of breast cancer.
Additional Comments:
I like that the author pointed out how much she relied upon her family during this hard time but there are many others who aren’t so lucky.
The author also showed that there’s still some humor to be found in everyday life events, even when one is dealing with something difficult.
The narrator does a lovely job as usual, though being nonfiction it doesn’t really stretch her talents much because there’s not a great deal of dialogue. Still, she has a nice energy about the way she reads.
It’s very short. You could probably read the story in about 10 minutes.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for a little bright spot in the midst of a tough thing, this is a good story to check out.
Associate links to follow…
(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)
Amazon Prime
The Collins Case – 2 FBI agents track down a kidnapped family. Kid friendly.
If fantasy’s more your thing, go Redeemer Chronicles. The first, Awakening, is available as an audiobook.
Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.
Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.
4/5 Sort of a Paranormal Travel Guide to Whitby, England
Summary:
The blurb sums up the tale. It’s an essay about how Whitby, a town on England’s North Yorkshire Coast, might have influenced the works of Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Lewis Carroll and Bram Stoker.
Additional Comments:
– I heard the audioversion. The narrator did a nice job. I might be a tad biased, but so is the rest of the world who thinks the British accent is just lovely to listen to.
– It’s a super-short work. ~35 minutes
– It probably would have meant more to me if I was a bigger fan of those authors. (Alas, Dickens is okay, but I find him a tad depressing and high school English sort of ruined his works for me. I’ve not heard of Wilkie Collins. A movie when I was a kid is probably my only experience with Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland. And I’ve never read Bram Stoker.)
– The other thing that could make the work mean more to me is if I planned a trip to Whitby. I heard a rumor that it’s been called the one book you SHOULD read if you plan to visit Whitby, England.
– I found it kind of cool to hear about the tie-ins to the literature anyway.
Conclusion:
Not sure if this book alone would tempt me to visit Whitby, but if I’d planned on visiting, it certainly would enhance the experience.
As Always …
If you want the chance to get the audiobook for free, please join Audiobook Readers’ Edge.
If you’re an author (or a narrator) with an audiobook you’d like featured, sign up for Audiobook Authors’ Edge.
Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Julie C. Gilbert
Audiobook Edge and it’s Matchmaker Program are completely free now, but if you wanna donate anyway, go for it 😉
Please, just do it as a friend b/c otherwise, you’re basically just paying paypal.
Prime Student – Oh, how I wish I was still a student.
