Audiobook Books

We love being able to listen to Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World: Modern History, whenever we're in the car. Jim Weiss reads so well - he uses different accents to make the story come alive and is very easy to listen to. My whole family can't wait for the next instalment when the CD player goes on in the car.

We are a homeschooling family. I Love this whole series! I have all of them on CD which is great because we take them in the van with us. You can listen to them over and over and really remember it that way. They are Told kind of like a story so it holds your interest. I have 5 kiddos and I find they all enjoy and learn from these. I am learning alot too :)

I think this is a good way to start learning Chinese, but I wish that this product had also had a written text with it, so that I could have also used visual learning. This would have made it a stronger product for me.

However, I am making progress with this strictly audio approach, and expect to be able to say a few basics when I visit China at the end of this month. I have heard other people who have praised the Rosetta Stone products. I have no knowledge of those products, but perhaps those considering this product should compare Pimsleur with Rosetta Stones. That being said, I am not sorry I bought this one.

Good product because it is easy for the beginner to learn. It will have you speaking a little Mandarin after a few sessions but you do need to have some sense of the sounds. You have no visual so some words may be difficult to follow despite hearing it many times. I had my son who is also a beginner but with some college coursework in Mandarin under his belt help me with the listening. He says for him, the lessons rate 5 stars. For me, once I got the hang of it, it's the best I've heard so far in my attempts to find learning material that is reasonably priced. Since the lessons are short and build on one another it is not difficult to practice, but like anything you do have to practice.
Sheila Sidney Bender, PhD co-author The Energy of Belief: Psychology's Power Tools to Focus Intention and Release Blocking Beliefs

Even decades after its creation, the Pimsleur system for learning a spoken language continues to be a quick and effective way to attain basic spoken fluency. Using a system of graduated intervals that reminds you of a previously-learned term just as you are about to forget it, Pimsleur's Chinese program will have you speaking and understanding at a basic conversational level in less than 30 hours of study. While the lack of written instruction may be difficult for more visual learners, this CD set remains an extremely effective, albeit somewhat expensive, introduction to the language.

Nathan Dummitt

author of Chinese Through Tone & Color

I've used Pimsleur materials before for German. As a foreign language teacher (French, Japanese, English) I value the thoroughness of the method with regard to pronunciation as well as to the methodology which drills/reviews vocab. and phrases while incorporating new structures & vocab. Especially for a language which a learner may find difficult to pronounce, this is in my opinion the best available short of a native speaker. Pimsleur will likely not be useful for someone who seeks a quick review or overview of a language.

I love Pimsleur's method, but NOT FOR STARTING Mandarin. Needs more explanation, not "listen and repeat".

For an English speaker, Mandarin requires more up-front explanation of how the pitched syllables work.

I've used Pimsleur's audio CDs for learning basic Japanese and Spanish and *LOVED* it.

But when I bought Pimsleur's Mandarin, I was stumped. I couldn't even imitate the very first sentence, no matter how many times I went back and tried again. My mouth just didn't know how to make that sound. And there was no explanation, just "listen and repeat".

After an hour of trying one sentence of this Pimsleur Mandarin, I had to give up. Knowing there must be a better way, I was about to take private lessons.

Instead, the brand new "Michel Thomas Method" to Mandarin has just been released by Dr. Harold Goodman and it made all the difference in the world. A completely different approach that I feel needs to come FIRST, BEFORE you get into the Pimsleur method.

In the Michel Thomas method, someone really takes the time to explain the sounds and grammar. No memorization, just explanation then experience. It gets you really understanding the basic building blocks of Mandarin first, so that when you're done with its 10-hour audio CD program, THEN you can come back here to Pimsleur's Mandarin and it'll all make sense.

I bought Pimsleur's Conversational German because I have always been fascinated with Germany and its language, and at the time was preparing an application to study abroad there (I have since been accepted and will be going there this coming spring). A friend recommended Pimsleur and I decided to try it out.

The first thing that surprised me is that this is a set of CD's. Though I am an auditory learner, I prefer having the words in front of me to get their spelling and so remember them better. Even so, the CDs started off well; it taught me the basics, such as hello, excuse me, how are you, and how to give directions, which all generally qualify as conversation (though directions strikes me as aimed at tourists). I didn't like how slow it was going, but then I am a very fast learner and pick up languages easily, so the pace was probably decent.

Then, however, it became strange. Pimsleur taught me how to ask someone out to eat or to drink, and proceeded to teach me how to say beer and wine. It also taught me how to invite someone to my house or to their place. I also recall something about how to buy things as well. I do not consider this conversational German. I'm not sure WHAT kind of German this is; perhaps a mix between "tourist" and "how to pick up women"?

A few months later, I remember very little of what the CDs taught me. They were extremely repetitive and ultimately bored me. Furthermore, the CDs give the listener no hint of how to form sentences or actually become fluent in German. Despite this, on a few occasions it expected me to be able to put together my own sentences without any knowledge of German grammar whatsoever. I had difficulty remembering phrases in the end because I had no basis to recall them; no knowledge of grammar, no knowledge of verb conjugation, nothing but repeated phrases over and over again.

Ultimately, I found Pimsleur to a poor introduction to a language that I am fascinated by. It expects you to recall and then regurgitate phrases, which is a poor way to learn a language. I also don't see how half of these situations and phrases would come up during an average conversation; when studying abroad I am certainly not planning on asking someone if they would like to have a drink back at my place. Overall, there must be better language programs out there; I would not recommend this one.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you found my review helpful.

The product is a wonderful value and saved our vacation. Please note that this is an introductory course and is not comprehensive by any means. We were told that most everyone in Germany spoke English but found many uncomfortable to do so. This product gave me enough German to convey my wants and desires. The lessons are easy to follow and teach by hearing and speaking. I was able to review all the material in two weeks and got many compliments on how well I sopke the language. This product would be helped greatly by some written material for back up. Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and heartily recommend it to any beginner.

Would not recommend this for beginners
As there are no books
I took 2 years in high school
and two years in College
so, I know the grammatical side
and how to spell

I bought this box set for my boyfriend who is serving at a German army base. He says it has been helpful and he sleeps with the cds playing in his ears. Luckily, most Germans speak English but they appreciate your effort to speak German.

I have been amazed that I have been able to learn the language so fast. I truly think this is an excellent program.

I thought this was going to be more of a guided meditation or visualization but actually it was a long prayer on each topic. Not so impressed.

I am really enjoying this CD. I didn't think it would arrive before I went on vacation, but it did (thanks Amazon!) & I took it with me. I've had chronic pain for almost 18 years & her meditation for pain really helped me. The morning & evening meditations are a great way to begin & end your day. The meditations are all fairly short, so anyone can take the time to listen, & it will change your attitude.

This disc seems very basic compared to the volume of meditation options available. I really enjoy Marianne's work, but would skip this- unless you're looking for something really basic. Because it is a mediation directed toward very specific aspects of life (work, relationships, etc.), it is hard to imagine me using it routinely. In that regard, money could be better spent on music-based or other meditation disc.

This two cd set is wonderful! I use it almost every day. There are meditations for all your every day scenarios. The key to living a happy loving life is to let go of the all the negative things we tend to hang on to in our lives. This set helps you to be able to let go of those things you do not need any more. I would highly recommend this set for any one.

I'm so new at meditation and this tape has literally 'saved' me it terms of returning peace to my life. I listen to the message in the morning while I'm having my coffee and the words seem to permeate my day with beautiful thoughts and images.

I didn't know where to go to begin with adding meditation to my life and Marianne showed me the way.

I'm also a devout Christian and I was somewhat 'uncomfortable' with Eastern techniques. Marianne's tape fit me perfectly.

HIGHLY reccommend it, especially if you don't know where or how to fit meditation into your life!

What a treasure--worth every penny. David Sedaris is hilarious in his low-key style of humor. And his sister is just as funny. Thanks to Amazon.com for making this an affordable collection.

Great CD's...no one can perform them like David Sedaris! Be aware that there is no table of contents on the CD envelopes, in fact they are blank, black envelopes.

I purchased this for my parents, as they do a good bit of driving and like to have something besides music to listen to in the car. I agree that the packaging, as other reviewers have noted, could be better, but we played several of the tracks over a series of short car trips and we all agreed that this is a fantastic box set. Sedaris' material is so spot-on, never too "in-jokey," and just plain funny. I am glad I made the purchase for my parents and I plan to purchase one for myself soon, so that I can keep on laughing.

This compilation of David's work shows how he has evolved as both a writer and performer. Amy's good too.

Dave Sedaris is hilarious, and this set has a lot to laugh at. Don't mind what the other reviews say about the lack of track listings. Each CD now comes with track listings printed right on them. The packaging is weak, but I don't care; It's not like it's going to be on display. I'm going to rip the content to my Zune and be on my way.

The book was too small. I wanted the regular size book which I had to go to a local retailer to get one due to its out-of-date production that Amazon does not carry. They should because this is a classic children's book.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
By Laura Joffe Numeroff
Illustrated by Felicia Bond

"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk."

One thing leads to another in this cute picture book. When you get finished with all of the mouse's requests, he may just want another glass of milk. And we all know what goes well with milk.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Author: Through the Rug
[ASIN:0979845548 Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)]]

I really wanted this book to catch on with my two sons during our bedtime reading. I liked the concept of showing that one action creates another and another. However, the book didn't work and here's why:

1. The narrator doesn't have a voice. Put this against "Green Eggs and Ham" where you've got two distinct voices playing off each other or "Monster at the End of this Book" where Grover's voice goes from whisper to yelling and finally back down to a whimper. This book doesn't help bedtime readers. I might as well have read a motorcycle manual.

2. The story wears on you just as the mouse wears on the boy. I thought it was telling that near the end of the book, the boy in the story falls asleep in a rocking chair. The actions didn't get sillier or funnier or more intesting; there was just one right after another.

3. What the mouse does beyond eating a cookie isn't neither creative nor interesting. For a small character in a big world, choose instead the classic "Jack in the Beanstalk" or a mouse with character, "Stuart Little."

In summary, I give it 2 out of 5 stars. This might make a good early reader book but forget about adding it to your bedtime reading collection.

And it's still a favorite around here two years later!

It amazes me that this book is almost as old as I am, is of course considered a very popular classic, and yet - I never read it until I was an adult!

Given its age, I'm sure everybody *else* here knows the plot, but just in case, this is a book about a (very logical, I'm sure) series of misadventures that happens after you give something to a mouse. Every request leads to another thing, and another, and another, until the poor boy in the story falls dead asleep.

This book is too cute, and it's funny, too, in a way that both adults and kids will appreciate.

Plus, it's short, which is great for those "Oh dear, go to BED already!" kind of nights!

This is the first offering of a wonderfully delightful series of like stories for children. If You Give a Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond tell the story, and the problems you might run into, if you should happen to give a overly active and demanding mouse a cookie. The story begins with a young boy innocently setting by his sidewalk in front of his house. A hungry mouse comes along and the problems begin.

This is a progressive type of tale, where one act of generosity keeps growing and growing. "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw. When you give him a straw, he will ask........." And it goes on and on and on until the poor kid pretty well has a completely trashed house and is exhausted trying to fulfill the escalating requests and the subsequent mess the requests ultimately cause. A pushy mouse and cookies, we find, are not a good combination!

The text is delightfully simple and keeps you turning the pages, page after page. You actually find you self wanting to see what the little rodent is going to ask for next. The story is simple and there is no bang, bang, crash crunch plot nor ending. The only problem I find in this aspect is that in this day and age, I find some children (and even more adults), who have the attention span of ferrets on coffee and if the story is in the least bit mellow, their minds simply cannot track. This is a minor problem though, if it is indeed a problem.

The art work by Felicia Bond is quite well done and goes perfectly with the text. The pictures are simple to understand, cute and quite eye catching. I liked them.

This is one of in a series of books by this team. Others include If you give a Moose a Muffin, If you give a Pig a Pancake, If you take a Mouse to the Movies, If you take a Mouse to School and If you give a Pig a Party. All are as well done. I have noted in reading this book and others in the series that the kids love them and will always ask for repeat readings.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

It has real nice vocabulary. The technique is very simple but can't be better. It is great for guys who waste time in traffic everyday. It is a kind of passive learning. The price is great for this item.

Excellent method for learning new words. Much different from other methods of teaching; more effective.

The instructors (female and male) employ clear and mellifluous diction for pronunciations, definitions and the giving of witty examples. This, combined with magnificent music is conducive to absorbing the vocabulary being taught. There are thoughtfully placed respites in the course of this 9 CD presentation where Dennis Waitley adds his motivating messages . Knowing some of the words beforehand actually serves as a motivating factor for the learning of the new ones. What I feel would be a useful addition to this CD set is a hardcopy index of the vocabulary that relates each word to a specific disk and lesson number in order to facilitate word review.

I liked the way the authors say, define, and spell the words, however I was disappointed on the level of vocabularly used for this series. I was hoping to build a more sophisticated vocabularly, but I found that the words on these CDs are at a basic level: everyday words I already knew and use. I would recommend these CDs for high school seniors or freshman college level students who are beginning to learn about the mastery of using words. Maybe not for the more advanced student, professional or executive looking to build a spohisticate, powerful vocabulary

I understand that a lot of people couldn't say enough positive things about this product, but I think it was just an incredible waste of time and money. I bought it to study for the GRE and I really couldn't believe the words that were included in this. I wish I had some examples but I haven't listened to in a long time. Maybe this might help someone studying for the SATs, but not anyone beyond that stage. There were a handful of words worth learning, but the explanation of its meaning is not at all helpful if you're trying to understand subtleties in meaning. And even though I'm sure the "suggestopedic" style might have helped a lot of people, it just aggravated me. It just takes up so much time telling me to, "Remember, you can learn these words!" that I couldn't listen to it any more. I haven't found any audio book at a similar price that would be any better but my suggestion is to not bother looking. Buy Verbal Advantage by Charles Harrington Elster (the book); it contains a lot more words with much better explanations that help you remember the more obscure ones. And while the author might be a bit of word snob, the rest of the book more than makes up for it.

I can't wait for the next one in the series, I love the Sisterhood books. As a matter of fact, I re-read the whole series waiting for Collateral Damage to come out, now what am I suppose to do until Final Justice is released?

I just love Fern Michaels! Her books are amazing and she has a great talent for storytelling! :)

I just love this story line of Fern Michaels. The sisterhood give us all something to think about along with being very entertaining. I have read all of them from the very begining and cannot wait for the next one to come out.

An awesome continuation of the sisterhood. I can't wait for Final Justice to come out. I did read it in one day.

Both political parties are stunned when their top secret fundraising lists of donors are stolen. The Democrats and the Republicans ask the Sisterhood to investigate the hacker who stile their lists. However, the Sisterhood is divided as to who to assist. The Dems offer a lot of cash while the GOP offer presidential pardon.

One thing the team shares in common is not to trust either party. They have their extended operatives conduct some serendipitous investigations to see if this is a stunt to catch them. As they learn more of what is going on from their allies, the Sisterhood with its one for all and all for one attitude comes together as they always do.

The latest Sisterhood saga is in some ways typical of the series as the magnificent seven deals with a new challenge. However, it is refreshed as they disagree on involvement and more so by previous tales secondary players playing much greater roles than ever before. Fans of the series will enjoy their latest thriller as they fear the risk of getting involved could cause them to become COLLATERAL DAMAGE, but the opportunity may be too great to ignore.

Harriet Klausner

As a child we are free of everything. But develop many beliefs and prejudices as we age. This book again gave me what I needed at the right moment. I would recommend it to anyone. Easy read.

Chopra as a coach shows you seven steps which puts you on a spiritual path that leads you to success and prosperity. Having studied with Deepak Chopra, as I read his books, I can hear his resonant voice revealing the treasures found simply employing spiritual wisdom.

Healing the Rift

There should be no rift between a spiritual path and success and, indeed, Chopra reveals the surest laws of success. But it is a challege to first understand the laws but to practice them will eventually get you to your prize.Healing the Rift: Merging Science and Spirituality

The book may be short and small, but the Spiritual concepts in it are very big. Spirituality has to be practical to have any real meaning in our lives, and most Spiritual books explain concepts in esoteric terms, but give no explanation of how to apply them in our every day lives.

This book gives clear and concise concepts and follows up with how to apply them in your daily life. Not to be missed!

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success have a lot of good concepts to carry the listener through to the approximately hour-long recording on each of two CDs. Chopra talks about developing detachment as a way to obtain the best out of life. One of the many concepts he talks briefly about is that attachment to money will not bring about security and happiness. He doesn't go into too much detail about each of the concepts because then we'd be buying 100 CDs. He does a good job of pulling the important complicated concepts and putting them into everyday words so that I understand what he's talking about.

This CD has a lot of philosophical, abstract concepts, so I listen to it over and over to digest and apply the concepts. In terms of a practical point of view, Chopra's diction is clear and his presentation is neat and well organized.

Overall, I think this CD is worth the cost.

This little book is about creating the affluence effortlessly by unleashing your potential. The capabilities of every human are boundless, including the capabilities to create wealth. Deepak Chopra, the author of this book, is an Indian medical doctor and writer. He has written extensively on spirituality and diverse topics in mind-body medicine. Chopra says that he has been influenced by the teachings of Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita, as well as by Jiddu Krishnamurti, and by the field of quantum physics (although in this particular book there are no references to quantum physics). You can skim through this book regularly to check on how are you succeeding in the following areas:
- non-attribution;
- refraining from judgments;
- cease to defend your point-of-view or your "self-esteem"
- doing things with the least possible efforts,
All the things above mentioned, as well as the other mentioned in this book, lead to wealthy and healthy life.

I also recommend another book by Deepak Chopra: "Creating Affluence", in addition to this book.

Handler does a great job with this collection of essays. I was looking for a Burrough's type of book, but was pleasantly surprised with her own type of light hearted humor, that was laced with an alcoholocis twist. This is more of a humor book than one of addiction or vices, so if you are looking for that type of drama, pass this one up. Still it was a delightful read that will keep you turning pages one after another.

A really funny, quick read. Some of it was a little over the top, but definitely entertaining and worth it. I listened to it on audio, and Chelsea's voice cracked me up. She sounded just like a good friend of mine, and it was like I was listening to her go through all of these funny exploits.

This is literally the funniest book I have ever read! I couldn't wait to share it with all of my girlfriends! It is hard to find someone so relatable and honest. If they had 10 stars, I would've given it 10! Excellent..good for a laugh so hard you'll cry!

Chelsea Handler is hysterical- I couldn't put the book down and I couldn't stop laughing, out loud, like a lunatic. I nearly peed my pants when reading her diet journal-- I think there are many women who attend parties and end up basically eating the house down- at least I know that I have been guilty of eating an entire brick of cheese at least once in my life. If you like Sedaris or any of the other sarcastic, funny non-fiction short story writers, you will definitely like Handler's book.

Chelsea Handler's memoir is slight slushed. Handler is a great standup comic and an actress (In the Motherhood). However in the audio biography, she sound wet behind the ears.

She is a wonderful story teller, however its like telling a great joke with no punch line. Handler's slice of life with a twist is not everyone's cut of tea, its mostly bitter Vodka

However, she showcases she is a survivor in this audio presenation,but not a great narrator, However Chelsea, next time try a stand up comedy album, it would be more enjoyable

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD