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Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
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Them: Adventures with Extremists
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Them began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Jon had got to know some of them - Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen - he found that they had one oddly similar belief: that a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, Jon sets out, with the help of the extremists, to locate that room. The journey is as creepy as it is comic, and along the way Jon is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and more.
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The truth is out there! Really out there... No, really, really out there!
- By Lawrence on 20-01-2016
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The Psychopath Test
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story about madness. It all starts when journalist Jon Ronson is contacted by a leading neurologist. She and several colleagues have recently received a cryptically puzzling book in the mail, and Jon is challenged to solve the mystery behind it. As he searches for the answer, Jon soon finds himself, unexpectedly, on an utterly compelling and often unbelievable adventure into the world of madness.
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Amazing!
- By Bec Booton on 10-11-2015
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The Men Who Stare at Goats
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1979, a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known accepted military practice - and indeed, the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them. Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror.
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Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 11-01-2019
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The Last Days of August
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
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In December 2017 the famous porn star August Ames committed suicide in a park in the Conejo Valley. It happened a day after she’d been the victim of a pile-on, via Twitter, by fellow porn professionals - punishment for her tweeting something deemed homophobic. A month later, August’s husband, Kevin, connected with Jon Ronson to tell the story of how Twitter bullying killed his wife. What neither Kevin nor Ronson realized was that Ronson would soon hear rumors and secrets hinting at a very different story - something mysterious and unexpected and terrible.
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excellent
- By Donna on 15-02-2019
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So You've Been Publicly Shamed
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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From the Sunday Times top ten best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame. "It's about the terror, isn't it?" "The terror of what?" I said. "The terror of being found out." For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world, meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made jokes on social media that came out badly or made mistakes at work.
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Quite the experience
- By K. Ryan on 10-12-2015
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The Elephant in the Room
- A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the "Alt-Right"
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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'But Hillary is a known Luciferian,' he tried. 'She's not a known Luciferian,' I said. 'Well, yes and no,' he said. In The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson, the New York Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, Them, and So You've Been Publicly Shamed, travels to Cleveland at the height of summer to witness the Republican National Convention.
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I used a credit on this?
- By Joel on 22-03-2017
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Them: Adventures with Extremists
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Them began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Jon had got to know some of them - Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen - he found that they had one oddly similar belief: that a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, Jon sets out, with the help of the extremists, to locate that room. The journey is as creepy as it is comic, and along the way Jon is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and more.
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The truth is out there! Really out there... No, really, really out there!
- By Lawrence on 20-01-2016
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The Psychopath Test
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
This is a story about madness. It all starts when journalist Jon Ronson is contacted by a leading neurologist. She and several colleagues have recently received a cryptically puzzling book in the mail, and Jon is challenged to solve the mystery behind it. As he searches for the answer, Jon soon finds himself, unexpectedly, on an utterly compelling and often unbelievable adventure into the world of madness.
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Amazing!
- By Bec Booton on 10-11-2015
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The Men Who Stare at Goats
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1979, a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known accepted military practice - and indeed, the laws of physics - they believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them. Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror.
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Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 11-01-2019
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The Last Days of August
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In December 2017 the famous porn star August Ames committed suicide in a park in the Conejo Valley. It happened a day after she’d been the victim of a pile-on, via Twitter, by fellow porn professionals - punishment for her tweeting something deemed homophobic. A month later, August’s husband, Kevin, connected with Jon Ronson to tell the story of how Twitter bullying killed his wife. What neither Kevin nor Ronson realized was that Ronson would soon hear rumors and secrets hinting at a very different story - something mysterious and unexpected and terrible.
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excellent
- By Donna on 15-02-2019
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So You've Been Publicly Shamed
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the Sunday Times top ten best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame. "It's about the terror, isn't it?" "The terror of what?" I said. "The terror of being found out." For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world, meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made jokes on social media that came out badly or made mistakes at work.
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Quite the experience
- By K. Ryan on 10-12-2015
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The Elephant in the Room
- A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the "Alt-Right"
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
'But Hillary is a known Luciferian,' he tried. 'She's not a known Luciferian,' I said. 'Well, yes and no,' he said. In The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson, the New York Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, Them, and So You've Been Publicly Shamed, travels to Cleveland at the height of summer to witness the Republican National Convention.
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I used a credit on this?
- By Joel on 22-03-2017
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Frank
- The True Story that Inspired the Movie
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1980s Jon Ronson was the keyboard player in the Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band. Frank wore a big fake head. Nobody outside his inner circle knew his true identity. This became the subject of feverish speculation during his zenith years. Together, they rode relatively high. Then it all went wrong. Twenty-five years later and Jon has co-written a movie, Frank, inspired by his time in this great and bizarre band. Frank is set for release in 2014, starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Domhnall Gleeson and directed by Lenny Abrahamson.
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great addition to movie
- By Anonymous User on 08-07-2017
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Murder in Mississippi
- By: John Safran
- Narrated by: John Safran
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The internationally acclaimed true-crime story you have to hear to believe. Taking us places only John Safran can, Murder in Mississippi paints an engrossing, revealing portrait of a dead man, his murderer, the place they lived and the process of trying to find out the truth about anything.
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Tops
- By Tami Sussman on 05-08-2017
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Gotta Get Theroux This
- My Life and Strange Times on Television
- By: Louis Theroux
- Narrated by: Louis Theroux
- Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1994, fledgling journalist Louis Theroux was given a one-off gig on Michael Moore’s TV Nation, presenting a segment on apocalyptic religious sects. Gawky, socially awkward and totally unqualified, his first reaction to this exciting opportunity was panic. But he’d always been drawn to off-beat characters, so maybe his enthusiasm would carry the day. Or, you know, maybe it wouldn’t.... In his book, Louis takes the listener on a joyous journey through his life and unexpectedly successful career.
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Louis Theroux: Everythings weird
- By Joseph Ryan on 28-09-2019
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The Call of the Weird
- Travels in American Subcultures
- By: Louis Theroux
- Narrated by: Louis Theroux
- Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins
- Abridged
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For 10 years, Louis Theroux has been making programmes about off-beat characters on the fringes of US society. Now he revisits America and the people who have most fascinated him to try to discover what motivates them, why they believe the things they believe, and to find out what has happened to them since he last saw them.
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Enjoyed
- By Anonymous User on 06-07-2017
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Talking to Strangers
- What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The false conviction of Amanda Knox. Why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger's motives? Through a series of encounters and misunderstandings - from history, psychology and infamous legal cases - Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual adventure into the darker side of human nature, where strangers are never simple and misreading them can have disastrous consequences.
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Please label the chapters
- By Anonymous User on 14-09-2019
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Ayoade on Top
- By: Richard Ayoade
- Narrated by: Richard Ayoade
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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At last, the definitive audiobook about perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed: View from the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow. In Ayoade on Top, Richard Ayoade, perhaps one of the most 'insubstantial' people of our age, takes us on a journey from Peckham to Paris by way of Nevada and other places we don't care about. It's a journey deep within, in a way that's respectful and non-invasive; a journey for which we will all pay a heavy price, even if you've waited for the smaller paperback edition. Ayoade argues for the canonisation of this brutal masterpiece.
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Ayoade is a flippin' genuis
- By Craig on 24-09-2019
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Depends What You Mean by Extremist
- Going Rogue with Australian Deplorables
- By: John Safran
- Narrated by: John Safran
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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No one turns up where they're not wanted quite like John Safran. In this hilarious and disorienting adventure, he gets among our diverse community of white nationalists, ISIS supporters, anarchists and more, digging away at the contradictions that many would prefer be left unexamined. Who is this black puppet master among the white nationalists? And this Muslim fundamentalist who geeks out on Monty Python? Is there a secret radicalisation network operating in John’s own Jewish suburb?
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Great stuff
- By Rev. David B. Smith on 20-07-2017
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The Dark Side of the Mind
- True Stories from My Life as a Forensic Psychologist
- By: Kerry Daynes
- Narrated by: Sara Poyzer
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Kerry Daynes has worked with some of the most complex and challenging criminals in prisons and secure hospitals as well as the victims of crime. A large part of her day job is spent delving into the psyche of convicted men and women to try to understand what lies behind their actions and how to set them on the path to becoming law-abiding citizens. Welcome to the life of a forensic psychologist. No two days are the same. The people you work with are wildly unpredictable, sometimes frightening and often deeply frustrating.
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So annoyed - I couldn't stand the narrator
- By Annabelle on 23-09-2019
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American Carnage
- On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump
- By: Tim Alberta
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The 2016 election was a watershed for the United States. But, as Tim Alberta explains in American Carnage, to understand Trump’s victory is to view him not as the creator of this era of polarization and bruising partisanship, but rather as its most manifest consequence. American Carnage is the story of a president’s rise based on a country’s evolution and a party’s collapse. As George W. Bush left office with record-low approval ratings and Barack Obama led a Democratic takeover of Washington, Republicans faced a moment of reckoning.
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Fascinating
- By Stefanie on 21-11-2019
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Fraud
- By: David Rakoff
- Narrated by: David Rakoff
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Abridged
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The wry and the heartfelt join in David Rakoff's prose to resurrect that most neglected of literary virtues: wit. As he finds himself in all the far-flung hinterlands of our culture, this fish out of water winds up satirizing himself more than his subject matter, to hilarious effect.
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Fascinating. Hilarious.Utterly brilliant wordsmith
- By Amazon Customer on 19-10-2015
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Soulless
- The Case Against R. Kelly
- By: Jim DeRogatis
- Narrated by: Jim DeRogatis
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In November 2000, Chicago journalist and music critic Jim DeRogatis received an anonymous fax that alleged R. Kelly had a problem with “young girls”. Weeks later, DeRogatis broke the shocking story, publishing allegations that the R&B superstar and local hero had groomed girls, sexually abused them, and paid them off. DeRogatis thought his work would have an impact. Instead, Kelly’s career flourished. No one seemed to care: not the music industry, not the culture at large, not the parents of numerous other young girls. But for more than 18 years, DeRogatis stayed on the story.
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La Belle Sauvage
- The Book of Dust: Volume One
- By: Philip Pullman
- Narrated by: Michael Sheen
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Philip Pullman returns to the world of His Dark Materials with this magnificent first volume of The Book of Dust series. Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon, Asta, live with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford. Across the River Thames (which Malcolm navigates often using his beloved canoe, a boat by the name of La Belle Sauvage) is the Godstow Priory where the nuns live. Malcolm learns they have a guest with them - a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua....
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delightful. gripping. touching.
- By phoebe on 22-12-2017
Publisher's Summary
Jon Ronson is fascinated by madness, extraordinary behaviour and the human mind. He has spent his life investigating crazy events, following fascinating people and unearthing unusual stories. Collected here from various sources (including The Guardian and GQ America) are the best of his adventures. Always intrigued by our ability to believe the unbelievable, Jon meets the man preparing to welcome the aliens to Earth, the woman trying to build a fully conscious robotic replica of the love of her life and the Deal or No Deal contestants with a foolproof system to beat the Banker.
Jon realizes that it's possible for our madness to be a force for good when he meets America's real-life superheroes or a force for evil when he meets the Reverend 'Death' George Exoo, who has dubiously assisted in more than a hundred mercy killings. He goes to a UFO convention in the Nevada desert with Robbie Williams, asks Insane Clown Posse (who are possibly America's nastiest rappers) whether it's true they've actually been evangelical Christians all along and rummages through the extensive archives of Stanley Kubrick. Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining, these compelling encounters with people on the edge of madness will have you wondering just what we're capable of.
This is an updated edition with new afterword, written and narrated by Jon Ronson.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-10-2019
Book is lost
I quite liked Jon Ronson's so you have been publically shamed so thought I would try some others. Lost at Sea is meandering and I quite often lose track of what he is talking about. It also seems to be an excuse to name drop in some places
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- Graham
- 14-06-2019
Great, why no chapter names?
Loved the book, highly recommend, but why are there no chapter names? Come on guys, it's a book of short essays. It can't take more than five minutes to put the bloody titles in.
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- Levi
- 10-06-2018
Absolutely Enthralling!
Jon's narration and story telling skills leaves you hanging off of every word. While listening to it you aren't washing the dishes, driving your car or working out - you're right there with him, exploring places and meeting people whose bizarre takes and experiences you never would have conjured up in your own imagination.
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- Tami Sussman
- 04-01-2018
Jon Ronson is amazing
I️ will only Listen to books written and read by Jon Ronson. He is the schnitzel
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- Flowergirl1602
- 13-09-2017
Relentlessly fascinating!
I loved every twist and turn of this marvellous collection of stories...Ronson really does go to show that fact is stranger than fiction. A most absorbing listen.
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- Annie B
- 05-07-2017
Fascinating
The stories are so interesting and strange they make you want to jump online to find out more or see if it's really true. Jon is the perfect narrator. His unique voice and speech patterns make this recording all the more engaging and intriguing. I will be buying the rest of his books now.
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- Bec Booton
- Melbourne, Australia
- 10-11-2015
Love
Any additional comments?
I loved the part where he makes himself into different personalities to see what kind of advertising junk mail each personality gets. It’s fascinating and engrossing and definitely worth a listen.
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- RCF
- 09-03-2015
Enjoyable
If you can cope with Ronson's rather droning narration - and I can as I'm a fan - then I recommend his compelling yarns. Investigative journalism with street cred.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- Pamela Harvey
- 20-10-2012
Like a Collection of TAL Episodes
Ronson's journalistic style and various narrative journeys remind me of the weekly podcast episodes of This American Life, with Ira Glass. I particularly related to the stories of the credit/bank clusterfluck of 2008 - and Ronson was writing way before this crisis started to peak - and the missing cruise ship staff member. Ronson has a signature method of starting small, with an individual or seemingly low impact situation, and then developing the larger picture with expanded implications.
His narrative voice is good, but takes some getting used to. Initially he sounds slightly hoarse, with little projection at a very low volume, but once I became more familiar with his auditory style, it was all good.
Compilations of stories and episodic collections used to be exactly what I would avoid purchasing on audible, but now I find myself enjoying the varied range of perspectives and story lines afforded by edited groupings of shorter pieces. I think this is partly due to looking at why I listen - I'm not always seeking a 9-to-21-hour plot line and buildup to a specific result; nor is "how it all ends" my predominant purpose in listening to books rather than reading the print versions. I just like the explorations of emotional landscape and inner dialogue and it's not that relevant for me to have a specific factual ending. Another aspect of listening for me is that I can read books while doing other things - working, walking, running, driving, so listening to one full-length story is not a huge factor.
This is a superb collection and well-suited to the investigative journalist's voice of Jon Ronson.
42 of 43 people found this review helpful
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- Robert
- 18-04-2013
One of my favorite audiobooks
This has to be one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. Ronson is insightful, funny, and most importantly picks really interesting topics to write about. I do not want to list all the topics or chapters but there are not too many dull moments (even stories I have heard before are given an interesting twist by Ronson. A great listen for anyone that wants something funny and somewhat topical/non-fiction but not 'silly'
17 of 17 people found this review helpful
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- Diane
- 17-10-2012
Bizarre Bazaar
Jon Ronson is a master of the absurd which both surrounds AND is within us. Whether it is indigo children, alien abductees, Christian pentecostalism, SETI, Insane Clown Possee or Stanley Kubrick, Ronson probes into all that is weird and wonderful.
Perhaps one of the best things about Ronson (and his delightfully appropriate narrative style) is that he eschews the superior tone characteristic of most skeptics in favor of a wryly self-deprecating humor which acknowledges his own (and by implication, our) attraction to these phenomena. Not all of it is light-hearted; there is a darker side to some of his subjects, such as the would-be school shooters in North Pole, Alaska. Throughout, Ronson has an extraordinary ability to sympathetically engage with his subjects while retaining his sense of gentle skepticism. His aim is not to ridicule but to understand and to be amazed and sometimes to be saddened--and he invites us to do the same.
Ronson does not have an agenda. Don't be surprised if your own particular ox is gored; but in Ronson's hands the experience is humbling rather than enraging. To paraphrase Pogo, he reminds us that "we have met the crazies…and they are us."
38 of 40 people found this review helpful
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- Kelly
- 05-11-2012
Clever as always
I adore Jon Ronson and his fantastic, quirky voice.
I would recommend listening to this book as you might a podcast and not straight through as it is more enjoyable in smaller doses.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful
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- Jennifer
- 06-01-2013
Quirky Journalism ... Loved It
Jon Ronson is a British journalist who has made a career of finding weird and crazy stories/people and writing about them in a heartfelt but snarky way. I found him very enjoyable, and I liked his somewhat subtle and sly sense of humor. The stories are just amazingly odd and intriguing (Robbie Williams and his obsession with UFOs, the hidden Christian message of Insane Clown Posse, the archives of Stanley Kubrick, the quest of the Jesus Christians to donate their kidneys, real-life superheroes). I never knew what Ronson would be writing about next, and it was fun to see what oddities he unearthed for each story. I particularly enjoyed how he inserted himself into the stories (whether he is flagging down a taxi to avoid a gun fight in Seattle or interviewing a robot). He brings a healthy sense of curiosity, skepticism and personality to his writing, which I enjoyed a great deal. If you like hearing about people who live on the fringes of “normal,” this would be a great read or listen. I definitely plan on reading more of Ronson’s stuff.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful
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- Charles
- 22-01-2013
Essential Listening
If you could sum up Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries in three words, what would they be?
Amusing, astounding, enlightening
What did you like best about this story?
I am interested in the same things that Jon Ronson is obsessed with.
Which character – as performed by Jon Ronson – was your favorite?
John Ronson is an excellent reader of his own work, and since the central character in this book is himself, I'd have to say John Ronson is my favorite character in the book. Although I also loved hearing about Stanley Kubrik!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes, but I did it in two.
Any additional comments?
I'd highly recommend this audiobook to anyone. It's a great listen. Ronson is an excellent journalist and this collection of insightful short pieces gets right to the heart of what is going on in the world today.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
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- Slam Bones
- 06-11-2012
Excellent Listen!
If you could sum up Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries in three words, what would they be?
This was an excellent listen! The author/narrator sounds a lot like Bill Bryson, very similar personality also. I highly recommend!!!
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
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- Darren
- 20-12-2012
Enjoyable and insightful...and delightfully morose
Any additional comments?
Ronson's book is a wrap-up of many of his essays and articles. For those who have read them before and want to hear them again, this is a nice way to do it. Ronson takes an intensely objective view at controversial figures and topics, and does so in a way that is self aware and often ingenious. His narration is perfectly suited to his writing style, and you come away with a sense of being wiser about the bits of the world that are usually somewhat veilled from us.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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- Max
- 19-05-2013
quirky, funny, and fascinating
You'll recognize Ronson's narration from This American Life or other such broadcasts. He has a voice and style, like David Sedaris, that is perfect for his writing. A collection of subjects that he investigated/interviewed/tried to sort out - few people can find the subject matter and true life characters that Ronson looks at and narrate it with dead pan sincerity.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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- RaisinNut
- 26-11-2012
A journey into the strange and bizarre!
My dad used to tell me, "The truth is stranger than fiction, Ange. You couldn't make this stuff up!"
My dad would love Jon Ronson.
Ronson is known for ferreting out strange people with strange beliefs or behaviors and exposing them to the world. He does it again in "Lost at Sea," a wonderful collection of tales about his odd encounters. Ronson makes himself a central character in all of his stories. He plays the good-natured skeptic who kind of wants to believe - the very role we imagine for ourselves in Ronson's place. His openness helps us empathize with his bizarre cast of characters. In the end, we, like Ronson, are a little bit better for having learned what they have to teach.
Perhaps the best part of this book is that Ronson himself narrates, and no one could do it better. Each emotion is clearly expressed through his lilting accent, which is at times quite hilarious. I've said it in previous reviews and I will say it again, you will want to talk like Jon Ronson for days after listening to his work because everything sounds funnier when you say it like Jon Ronson.
If you love the strange and bizarre, you will love this book. If you are a Ronson fan, you will not be disappointed by this latest installment of the strange and weird.
ADDED BONUS:
My top three picks:
1) Doesn't everyone have a solar? (Ronson interviews high functioning robots.)
2) Who killed Richard Cullen? (Ronson invents alteregos with various personality traits to see who is most likely to be solicited by ads for credit cards and bank loans.)
3) Is she for real? (Ronson signs up for a cruise featuring "grumpy" psychic Sylvian Brown.)
Enjoy!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-11-2012
More please Jon
I can't get enough of Jon Ronson's writings, tv programs and radio show. Fantastic story teller and a great view on the world.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful
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- Charlotte Low
- 02-12-2013
Reliably bizarre giggles from Mr Ronson
Where does Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
This is the funniest audiobook I've listened to yet, and when it isn't amusing its baffling, shocking or touching. The situations Jon finds himself in are too hilarious to not be true, such as
What was one of the most memorable moments of Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries?
Who would have thought Stanley Kubrick is the reason why we have post it notes in every pop of colour?
Who knew that Robbie Williams believes in UFOs and aligned being abducted by aliens as much like being in Take That as a teenager?
What happens when someone goes missing on cruise ships?
Jon Ronson's life must be a chain of very stressful or very ridiculous encounters, I would love to delve into his diary and just see what a week looks like. If you've never read his articles before, listening to this book is a great introduction. I'll keep going back to this more than I will a novel just to bask in the bizarreness and check that I heard exactly what he said right - that there are children in Christmas Town who answer letters to Santa as part of their school curriculum?!
Which character – as performed by Jon Ronson – was your favourite?
Jon Ronson's voice is homely to me - my family are Welsh and his accent warms me. I couldn't imagine anyone else reciting his stories, his delivery is the funniest part.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I giggled on my dry morning commute and will be forever bringing up anecdotes from this book (alongside other Jon Ronson collections - the Psychopath test and Them are others which I would strongly recommend. I spend my spare moments narrowing my eyes at colleagues and weighing up their points on the Psycopath test at least once a week, and you should too, it's a brilliant past time).
Any additional comments?
Jon is working on a film I believe is called Frank at the moment which I can't wait to hear more about if it delivers more of the same humour as this.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
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- D. Faulkner
- 15-10-2012
Absolutely Brilliant !
I first "met" Jon Ronson when i picked up a copy of "the men who stare at goats" in the airport. It took me a while to work out if i was reading a true account or a clever parody, it was the former - i was hooked. Since then i have read "the psychopath test" and "them" and enjoyed both very much. However, this latest book is by far the best. I listened from start too finish, only pausing to eat and sleep (i bought it on holiday) Every chapter was a little christmas cracker of bangs and surprises. Some left me feeling sad, some left me feeling incredulous, some made me laugh out loud (the james bond chapter was hilarious) others left me feeling furious. the last one left me breathless and smiling from ear to ear. I loved this book and it will undoubtedly go on my "read (listen) again" list. This is the best book i have read since Malcolm Gladwells' "Outliers" and "Blink" Absolutely brilliant. I cant wait for his next one!
23 of 25 people found this review helpful
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- Brooksies
- 29-09-2014
A collection of suprising real life stories
This is quite a big collection of short stories/articles that Jon Ronson wrote over the years. His style of journalism is very distinct and it is not for every one, he makes himself part of the story. But I quite enjoyed that. I always like listening to a book read by the author because they know how they intended it to be read and for these stories that was definilty the case. I do have to say that I did expect more 'fun' strange stories but there were a couple of truly depressing ones. One of them I actually did not listen to because it is a subject which is bit tough for me personally. But overall I really enjoyed this book.
I did look for other material by Jon Ronson and found that he repeats himself in his books, so if you already own some of his books, make sure you realise there might be some overlap!
6 of 7 people found this review helpful
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- mrs
- 08-07-2015
A fabulous journey
Jon Ronson at his best. Honest and insightful. Kept me entertained for days. You will not be disappointed.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful
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- Chrssie Maitalnd
- 08-04-2016
Jon Roson, as always, never fails to entertain.
Could listen to Jon Roson all day, every day. His mix of stories here told in a honest & intresting way keeps you hooked for the whole book. One of my favourite authors, I can't recommend enough!
4 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- Katherine
- 28-03-2016
super interesting
This is a group of diverse tales, all weird, fascinating and unique. worth a listen!
4 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- David Blackburn
- 23-07-2016
Great read!
Love Jon Ronson's journalistic wanderings and his search for the nature of human experience, good and bad. Wonderful!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 07-04-2013
Take a walk on the left-side.
As much as he undoubtably hates the comparison, Jon Ronson is the more down-trodden, less well-connected, face-for-radio version of Louis Theroux. They both pursue the left-fields of culture, often in seemingly mundane territories such as interviewing semi-washed up TV-show hosts or attending motivational seminars with self-help gurus, but whereas Louis, whose natural habitat is TV, would play events so as to get the interviewee to paint themselves into an emotional corner from which the viewer sees the mask fall away, Jon is more likely to turn inwards into self.analysis and doubt. Often by the end of each story I feel I know more about Jon himself than the victim he is supposed to be dissecting, his inner demons are worn for all to see, and this is what makes Lost at Sea such an enjoyable read. With Louis you feel he is always calmly in control leading his subjects through the steps, but with Jon you always wonder if he'll actually be able to make it to the end of each assignment without first having a break-down. I imagine this is why so much of the material he's covered over the years has been on mentally questionable people of one kind or another, from derranged psychics and their belivers to the "I've been vetted" founder of the Indigo children movement. He seems drawn to the delusional and psychotic. However, I do sometimes wonder if somewhere inside Ron there is still a little child with a less cynical journalistic mission, who secretly hopes to find something truly awe-inspiring such as a UFO or real life super heroes. A few times in the book he does come across some truly amazing people, but most of the time he finds only crack-pots, all beit entertaining ones. A final comment I'd like to make is that in my opinion Radio is Jon's best medium and as such it was great to have Jon, with his almost whispery delivery, narrating his book. I'd also highly recommend Jon's free short stories on Audible. Hilarious!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Thatadamlad
- 07-04-2013
a real pleasure
Listening to and audio written and read by the same person works so well in this context. Jon Ronson has a certain style to his writing and I feel this is enhanced by listening to him.
I love these short stories, they are a perfect length. By the time Jon wraps up one story you are ready to hear the next. Each story is as quirky and interesting as the last.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful