Amol
- 19
- reviews
- 14
- helpful votes
- 36
- ratings
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Buddhism
- By: Malcolm David Eckel, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Malcolm David Eckel
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
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Buddhism has captivated many millions of people around the world, its vitality and adaptability enabling it to transform the civilizations of India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan, and also become a lively component in the cultures of Europe, Australia, and the Americas. But have you ever wondered how a religion that doesn't even have a god could have accomplished this?
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Fascinating summary of Buddhist History.
- By Amazon Customer on 25-12-2017
- Buddhism
- By: Malcolm David Eckel, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Malcolm David Eckel
Just average
Reviewed: 17-08-2018
Had to listen to this book at 1.25x speed, otherwise it is toooo slow reading.
Narrator laughs sarcastically at Buddhist beliefs and traditions and events which makes those important things look trivial or untrue.
Could not finish listening the book! Will look for better alternative on Buddhism.
The series of lectures tries to cover a lot about Buddhism though which is appreciable.
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Down Under
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Australia has more things that can kill you than anywhere else. Nevertheless, Bill Bryson journeyed to the country and promptly fell in love with it. The people are cheerful, their cities are clean, the beer is cold, and the sun nearly always shines.
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Excellent content, xenophobic reading
- By Henry on 26-06-2015
- Down Under
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
Quite good description of a vast continent
Reviewed: 09-08-2018
Australia is a very vast continent. Bill Bryson has covered a lot of things about this continent in a very lucid way and in very much in his own style.
He has covered urban, rural, outback, flora, fauna, aboriginal people, sports, language and much more.
Bill Bryson has done justice to the aboriginal people and their heritage by acknowledging their role in preserving this continent for thousands of years before European occupiers came and giving ample description of aboriginal's treatment at hands of Europeans in past and their present day apathy and alienation.
This book gives a fairly good idea to someone planning to travel around Australia about whats and hows of travelling.

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The TCS Story
- By: Subramaniam Ramadorai
- Narrated by: Anil Cherian Mani
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The TCS story is one of modern India's great success stories. In this fascinating book, S. Ramadorai, one of the country's most respected business leaders, recounts the steps to that extraordinary success. The inside story of one of India's premier corporate institutions, this is also in part a history of the rapidly developing IT software and services industry in India, told from the perspective of an industry leader.
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Story of TCS or Mr Ramadorai?
- By Amol on 18-07-2018
- The TCS Story
- By: Subramaniam Ramadorai
- Narrated by: Anil Cherian Mani
Story of TCS or Mr Ramadorai?
Reviewed: 18-07-2018
With due respect to Mr Ramadorai, this could have been much more interesting, inspiring and informative.
A missed opportunity for "The TCS story".
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An Economic History of the World since 1400
- By: Donald J. Harreld, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Donald J. Harreld
- Length: 24 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
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Most of us have a limited understanding of the powerful role economics has played in shaping human civilization. This makes economic history - the study of how civilizations structured their environments to provide food, shelter, and material goods - a vital lens through which to think about how we arrived at our present, globalized moment. Designed to fill a long-empty gap in how we think about modern history, these 48 lectures are a comprehensive journey through more than 600 years of economic history.
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I have learnt a lot
- By Anonymous User on 19-06-2018
Economic history of only Europe
Reviewed: 18-07-2018
The title is misleading and the claim that this is economic history of world is totally wrong.
This book is only the economic history of Europe.
Europe started becoming relevant only after its people began occupying outside lands and that is why the author can find anything of relevance to talk about Economics only from 1400.
1 person found this helpful
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Holy Cow!
- An Indian Adventure
- By: Sarah Macdonald
- Narrated by: Kate Hosking
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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After backpacking her way around India, Sarah Macdonald decides she hates the country with a passion. When a beggar at the airport reads her palm and insists she will one day return, and for love, she screams "Never!" and gives the country, and him, the finger.
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excellent read
- By Matthew on 19-12-2020
- Holy Cow!
- An Indian Adventure
- By: Sarah Macdonald
- Narrated by: Kate Hosking
Truthful, engaging, sometimes exaggerated
Reviewed: 18-07-2018
You may not find everything said in this book when you go to India. You will certainly find most of it albeit toned down and less pervasive. Obviously, overstatement and exaggeration helps to sell!
Mind you, it is a different culture and a cultural shock is obvious to westerners.
Story nicely develops and understanding of India gradually matures (becomes more realistic) as the book progresses.
Overall, very good book on India, life in India and people of India.
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India Uninc.
- By: Prof. R. Vaidyanathan
- Narrated by: Anuj Munot
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The small entrepreneur, says Prof. Vaidyanathan, should prevail over crony capitalism. Scholarly yet accessible, and offering a wealth of information on an uncharted territory, India Uninc. is a must-listen for anybody who aspires to understand the Indian economy - as well as India itself.
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Facts and reasons
- By Amol on 18-07-2018
- India Uninc.
- By: Prof. R. Vaidyanathan
- Narrated by: Anuj Munot
Facts and reasons
Reviewed: 18-07-2018
This book starts with lots of numbers which made me almost put it down thinking it is just a read of numerous tables of data. But it picks up after initial hour of numbers gets over and that is when the real reason for that initial overload of number becomes relevant. Those numbers with sources attached are proof of Prof Vaidyanathan's reasoning and revelations throughout the book.
I always heard people saying how Nehru's economic policies were not best suitable to India and how the current sensex and FDI obsession is not right. This book clears it to a large extent.
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Radical Self-Acceptance
- By: Tara Brach
- Narrated by: Tara Brach
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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According to Dr. Tara Brach, feelings of shame and unworthiness are the source of many problems we experience with our relationships, careers, creative endeavors, and most fundamentally, our spiritual unfolding. On Radical Self-Acceptance, this respected clinical psychologist and Buddhist meditation teacher shows you how to free yourself from the grip of your insecurities about being "good enough."
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Life changing book
- By Anonymous User on 25-07-2018
- Radical Self-Acceptance
- By: Tara Brach
- Narrated by: Tara Brach
Overrated, not suitable listen while driving etc.
Reviewed: 25-06-2017
I think this book is bit over rated. I bought it by looking at reviews but didn't find that great at all. May be, I was not expecting long pauses in the book reading for breathing and meditating. I listen while driving and walking, obviously don't want those frequent long pauses asking me to lie down calmly and breath!
8 people found this helpful
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The Prophet of Modern India
- A Biography of Swami Vivekananda
- By: Gautam Ghosh
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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A journey through the life of Swami Vivekananda is a study of the Indian civilization, its ethos and value system. Not only did his message of tolerance, based on knowledge, make him an exemplary spokesperson of the country, but his life's mission of creating an order of monks who dedicated their lives for others made him a prophet and a leader. His teachings continue to be relevant even today, especially in the light of the prevailing intolerance and fanaticism in the nation, and the increasing turmoil in the world.
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I returned this book - bad narration
- By Amol on 02-06-2017
- The Prophet of Modern India
- A Biography of Swami Vivekananda
- By: Gautam Ghosh
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
I returned this book - bad narration
Reviewed: 02-06-2017
The narrator actually killed my interest in listening this book within less than 1 hour.
There is no need to pronounce everything so literally phonetically!!
Every Indian listening will find it absurdly strange to hear Indian names and words pronounced in funny sounding accent that lose their meaning.
Every non Indian who anyways would not have known those Indian names and words will find it of no use to hear literal phonetic pronunciation and will not be able to later relate those words heard in this book to same names or words they might hear elsewhere.
I will look for some other book on Swami Vivekananda or wait until this book is narrated by some Indian narrator in normal accent (not uselessly phonetically).
Swami Vivekananda was a great great great personality and every person in this world must know about him. Ill conceived narration of this book is not helping at all.
I am not against the narrator but the particular (meaningless) approach to narration of this book.
My feedback here is not for "story", it is for "performance" which turned me off from this book.
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The Silk Roads
- A New History of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The sun is setting on the Western world. Slowly but surely, the direction in which the world spins has reversed: where for the last five centuries the globe turned westward on its axis, it now turns to the east.... For centuries, fame and fortune were to be found in the West - in the New World of the Americas. Today it is the East that calls out to those in search of adventure and riches. The region stretching from Eastern Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia, deep into China and India, is taking center stage.
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Misleading title, very Eurocentric history of M.E.
- By Tim on 11-09-2018
- The Silk Roads
- A New History of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
Reader pronunciation is poor
Reviewed: 06-05-2017
Reader has not pronounced city and person names properly.
This takes away the fluency in listening.
It will be better if this book is made available to existing buyers in another reader's voice who can pronounce names of places and persons of regions of India, Afghanistan, Iran.
The current pronunciation is really bad and incomprehensible.
1 person found this helpful

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Ambani and Sons
- By: Hamish McDonald
- Narrated by: Anil Cherian Mani
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Ambani and Sons is the riveting story of one of the wealthiest families in the world. Dhirubhai Ambani was a rags-to-riches tycoon whose company Reliance, is now one of India's major corporations. His sons, Anil and Mukesh, took over after his death in 2002 and their respective arms of the company are bigger than the parent ever was. However, a family feud of colossal proportions, that has had political reverberations, ensued.
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Bold, real. Must read for all Indians.
- By Amol on 04-04-2017
- Ambani and Sons
- By: Hamish McDonald
- Narrated by: Anil Cherian Mani
Bold, real. Must read for all Indians.
Reviewed: 04-04-2017
The book tells the story of Ambani family in detail. A must read for all Indians.
You will come to know that most of the stories about their business practices are actually true.
From the book, one can know how their business practices are in a way responsible for creating and nurturing corruption in India.
The reading is bit poor though, it seems at times that the reader is moving near and far from the mic causing variations in sound level.