Chris

It would not be fair for me to assign a star rating to Fluent Forever without having honestly attempted to learn a language with its methods—I simply don't think that its methods would be particularly helpful to me given where I am in the language acquisition process.

Wyner is an engineer and an opera performer, not a linguist; in the Notes section he does a decent job of identifying the linguistic research upon which he bases his proposals, but his method should be taken with a grain of salt, in my opinion. The method is heavily flashcard-based and incorporates a spaced repetition system to work concepts into the learner's long-term memory. To his credit, Wyner does have a lot of very clever ideas about how to use flashcards to learn correct pronunciation, establish a basic vocabulary, and explore basic grammatical concepts, all while beginning to think in the target language. There is probably a great deal of merit to this approach for a language learner who is beginning from scratch.

Outside of his very detailed instructions regarding flashcards, most of Wyner's suggestions are a bit obvious. Yes, it's good to speak and write and get corrections from native speakers. Yes, watching familiar television programs in your target language can help with listening comprehension. Apart from the spaced repetition system, most intermediate–advanced learners won't glean much fresh insight. In one of the appendices, Wyner describes three “tracks” for flashcards, the lowest-intensity track (requiring the fewest cards) being the “Refresher” track for intermediate speakers. It is telling that he admits that many of his own card suggestions will be unnecessary for those who already speak at an intermediate level. His goal is evidently to help readers reach a baseline level of fluency, not an advanced or native-like level of fluency. (The book comes off as somewhat self-promotional too, as it frequently refers the reader to Wyner's website.)

If you are learning a language about which you have no prior knowledge, give Fluent Forever a shot. If you already have a good grasp on pronunciation, basic vocabulary, and basic grammatical constructions in your target language, then skip this book, download an SRS program like Anki, and get to work expanding your vocabulary. If you're still terribly curious about what Wyner has to say, borrow a library copy and skim. He does leave some specific suggestions for intermediate–advanced learners at the ends of some chapters, but those suggestions are not worth the price of the book.

Fluent Forever's greatest advantage is that it offers specific, actionable steps that language learners can take. If anyone is interested in a text that holds more scientific weight but lets the reader to decide how to apply the science to their learning, I would strongly recommend [b:Becoming Fluent: How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language|26176934|Becoming Fluent How Cognitive Science Can Help Adults Learn a Foreign Language|Roger J. Kreuz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440704673l/26176934.SX50.jpg|46142142].

A mixed bag.

Lots of legitimately insightful points, particularly regarding how women approach dating and sex differently than men and the evolutionary reasons why. The authors provide actionable advice for how to develop attractiveness, with self-improvement at the core.

Things like the nutritional claims make me doubt the veracity of other claims in the book. Max and Miller say that you should stop eating grains, period. Sorry, but I'm not convinced that if I eat a diet of vegetables, fruits, lean meats, nuts, legumes, etc., that putting my veggie burger on a whole-grain bun is going to harm me in any way. They also advocate for doing weightlifting exercises as fast as possible, which seems like the exact guide for what not to do—slower motions tear muscle fibers more efficiently and therefore contribute more to progressive overload.

(Edit: The more I think about the nutritional advice, the dumber it seems. For a book ostensibly about empowering men to form social bonds with women more effectively, the social function of food is completely overlooked. Good luck trying to date a Hispanic woman whose rice and beans you refuse to eat because Max and Miller told you that grains are a no-no.)

It's worth a read, but you have to assess for yourself what's valuable and what's not. If nothing else, you'll probably finish the book with more consideration of the different factors at play in human courtship. I can also say that I feel that my outcomes are more within my control than I did before—there are many ways for a man to be attractive, and the authors do a good job of demonstrating this point.

A couple of the jokes are home runs, but most are mildly grating. It would have been nice to read a text with similar ideas, but with either a more mature sense of humor or a commitment to a serious tone.

I will give the authors credit for the list of books on human sexuality, which looks quite promising.

Ancient Sea Reptiles joins the ranks of numerous other excellent paleontology books released in recent years. Dr. Naish's book goes into relatively great technical detail to explain the evolutionary history, fossil records, and inferred behaviors of all major groups of marine reptiles present in the Mesozoic Era. Naish neither obfuscates his points with unnecessary jargon nor belittles his readers' intelligence by presenting his information in an overly simplified fashion. In other words, while Ancient Sea Reptiles is accessible to readers outside of paleontology, this book (not unfairly) asks a lot of them. It is scholarly and information-dense, not a breezy read, in spite of its deceptively low page count.

Accompanying Naish's text are fabulous illustrations and photographs that allow the reader to more easily visualize the creatures described in the book. The reconstructions do not shy away from from speculative, but plausible, features (e.g., I adore the Suevoleviathan with the colorful tail fluke on p. 111). Where I concur with other readers in their criticism is that more maps should have been included to clarify proposed ranges and migratory routes. For those who enjoy reading scientific journals, the lack of citations is also quite disappointing, and there were numerous typographical errors that should not have made it past an editor.

This is the only book of which I am aware that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date examination of Mesozoic marine reptiles. If the subject at all interests you, this is undoubtedly the text to read.

If you are interested in a biography of Sarah Vaughan: read it. You don't need the specific critiques of reviews to guide your decision. I happen to believe that Queen of Bebop is about as good of a biography of Sassy as we are likely to ever get.

Vaughan was a relatively guarded woman who seldom spoke of her personal life, and Hayes does admirable work piecing together her life story from available sources. Hayes is a musician and brings a high level of technical awareness and analysis to her descriptions of Vaughan's output. I, as a musician, appreciated this effort.

While a great deal is known about Vaughan's career (naturally), from Hayes' writing it seems that much less is known of her personal affairs apart from her oftentimes tumultuous relationships with men. I admire that the book respects Vaughan enough as an artist to focus primarily on her art. Greater insight into personal matters would have been appreciated, but my sense is that this deficit is due to a paucity of sources rather than any lack of effort on Hayes' part.

I also respect the fact that Hayes does not shy away from discussing Vaughan's life and work in historical, social, and cultural context, which naturally includes the implications of race and gender. After finishing the book, I read James Gavin's review in The New York Times, in which he asserts that Hayes may have been a bit overzealous in assigning political motivation to individual actors, including Vaughan. I'm inclined to agree with him.

One of the best takeaways from the book is the understanding of how Vaughan and other jazz artists had to balance their most artistically valuable work with more commercial output, especially earlier in their careers. Importantly, she does so without judgement and lambasts the jazz critics of the day for their condemnation. Jazz artists are/were real people, with all the complexity that that entails! Vaughan and others were under great pressure by record executives to record subpar material, and they had to financially support themselves somehow. (Billy Eckstine's polemic against jazz critics who would seemingly rather he die of an overdose than live long enough to record pop music was incisive.)

Hayes doesn't create an explicit list of recommended listening, but if you are a jazz fan, she has done the work of separating the wheat from the chaff. As of finishing Queen of Bebop, I have several more Sarah Vaughan records to listen to, and I also know which ones to skip entirely.

I highly recommend Hayes' biography to any jazz musician. The tradition is in the music itself, of course, but it is also in the stories of our heroes, and The Divine One is far from the least of these.

Luis Enrique es un hombre más maduro, sabio y compasivo de lo que podía imaginar. Sufrió tantas experiencias durísimas, pero al final triunfó. Por lo tanto, su autobiografía resulta ser muy inspiradora. Después de leerla, comprendo mucho mejor, de manera más profunda, las letras de sus canciones. Habla en estas páginas de sus luchas, de su música (por supuesto), y también de su espiritualidad (cosa que no me interesaba tanto como los demás temas abarcados en el libro, pero tampoco puedo juzgar a Luis por plasmar lo que para él es parte imprescindible de su vida).

Una lástima que ya no esté con la novia de la que habla a fines del libro. Ojalá este hombre encuentre el amor que busca.