The Mispronounced Teachings of All the Ages

I was going to wait until finishing this audiobook to review in order to place the experience in its total context but three hours have already given me a sense of what to expect and a strong desire to alert other potential listeners to this audiobook’s peculiarities. The book itself is a wonderful, incisively- researched treatise on comparative mythology, religion and philosophy, containing illustrations of various symbols, archeological groundplans, etc., so if you are the type like myself to read and listen definitely get the physical or digital copy of the printed book for full context.

The major warning, which could stem from a pet peeve of mine, is that the narrator mispronounces words very frequently. Certainly names and terminology from ancient cultures, which is a problem in a book dealing chiefly with these subjects, but even common words in modern English parlance. This can become exceedingly irritating and distracting, either from eliciting laughter or ire, but is definitely bad enough in places as to render the text unintelligible. The narrator also occasionally leaves their recorder running while taking a pause, memorializing breathing and the odd sigh or grumble, and some garbled and restarted reading of passages are left in. I have run across all of this in three hours of a thirty-plus- hour book so although it is possible that henceforth the reading of the book will be flawlessly delivered I highly suspect I will have to continue reconstructing the author’s words from the ruin of the narrator’s utterances.
I may revise this review in future, after finishing the audiobook, which I fully intend to do, and hope to not meet a fate like Zeuxis and succumb to laughter at my own inanity.

22 people found this helpful

✌

here's my critique for what it's worth! Graham needs to practice cadence! Russ did great. Editor left mis pronounced words and strange silences. I do love your podcast and listen frequently. Keep going I understand reading this book outloud is challenging ...nevermind everything seems to clean up on chapter 6 after that it's great! ok I lied fire your editor!✌

6 people found this helpful

Narrator is unfortunately very poor

Great book, but will have to delete this version and buy another with a proper narrator. Graham Dunlop is the same narrator that bungled Hamlets Mill so badly I couldn't finish it. Do not buy this version.

Great book great narrator

Great indepth book on the history of various mystery traditions. My alltime favorite narrator so far.
Great calming voice with perfect rhytm for carrying the story.