Very helpful ...best anger book!!

Such a good book, practical. It made me smile and filled me with optimism that I can change. Such a good starting point if you really want anger to stop being a negative force in your life.

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Counterintuitive Perfect Sense

I have yet to try put the theory and practice to the test but the insight is eye opening. Some of the narrators accents pressed a button in me but I couldn't do a better job.

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The narrator is hysterical!

I’m sure it wasn’t the intention of the narrator to make me laugh. But the various silly voices they adopt in this recording had me laughing out loud. A useful book, with the added benefit of making me laugh (unintentionally).

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Good book - However, narrator occasionally jarring

I enjoyed the book and found it very useful. The narrator did a good job of it when speaking normally. However, after a while his impressions of people when quoting them get a bit distracting and jarring.

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Some useful content but ludicrous accents narrator uses are unhelpful, dreadful and increasingly distract from the content

The book seems good, and has valid points that resonate, especially for people new to anger management books.

The content is for helping people have tools and techniques to manage and process anger. It does not aim to help you understand where your anger originates from, and it explicitly states this at various points.

The narration is generally good... He's clear, speaks with good range of emotion and emphasis. The only drawback though, is significant and very distracting; for some unfathomable reason, he does terrible accents for every single person that is quoted in the audio book and there are lots of quotes, particularly from the Dalai Lama. His accent for him is particularly jarring (they all are though) as it sounds like a parody.

It's somewhat comically ironic to include something so unnecessarily distracting and poor in an audiobook where the content is for people who feel they struggle with annoyances and anger!

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Useful book - shame about the accent!

What made the experience of listening to The Cow in the Parking Lot the most enjoyable?

Although I have practiced Buddhist meditation for many years I found some sections of the book very useful - if not particularly original.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Cow in the Parking Lot?

Nothing particular comes to mind - I'm not sure that this kind of book is meant to have "memorable moments!" as such.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Again this question is not really relevant.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me reflect and, unintentionally, provided frequent irritations - or opportunities to observe my own reactions to the authors rather comical, fake Asian accents.

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Voices

My issue here is the narrator’s use of voices for the characters. I could cope with the ‘angry Americans’ he parodies, as he is an American himself. But putting on slight Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Tibetan or Chinese accents was a step too far and I had to stop listening as it was too uncomfortable. I do hope it is re-narrated as this narration certainly speaks of the time it was produced. This kind of accent parodying would not pass the mark these days.

Although from a zen perspective it is very light and doesn’t go deeply into our way, it does have some very valid points which are obscured by the offensive racial parodies.

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Simplified Buddhist theory, NOT Zen specific.

I really disliked the narrator doing terrible impressions and bizarre accents for any quotes from the Buddha, Dogen, Susuki, Thich Nhat Hanh, Trungpa and any other non American teachers. It seemed unnecessary and I couldn't help but find it annoying. But maybe it's my fault for being angry..?

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2 people found this helpful