Guest Author - Julie L Baumler


I'm still one of those people who feels weird about saying that they �read� a book when they listened to the audio version, but I really enjoy listening to long meaty non-fiction when I'm on a road trip. For a recent trip, I choose A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani. Naturally, covering such a large topic, this is a rather long book � about 20 hours for the audio version.

Parts of the book felt repetitive. In order to provide appropriate coverage of many time periods, the book focuses on several different issues and areas during that time period � for instance a chapter on life in the cities and one on life in the country side. Usually, I find this to be one of the best and most understandable ways to split up a large subject. Naturally, there are still some issues that overlap between such sections or between time periods, and those issues may be mentioned more than once. In A History of the Arab Peoples, it seemed like whenever a subject overlapped, almost identical words were used to describe it, to the point where several times I wished I had a paper copy so I could check to see if, in fact, the text had just been copied and pasted. That said, I really enjoyed listening to this book. It was an excellent and through survey of a very large topic. I found the passages describing the landscape of various areas of the lands of the Arab peoples in different times to be particularly well done. I think I have a better feeling for the various landscapes and their role in Arab culture than if I had looked at a series of photos. If you are looking for a good framework for further knowledge of Arab culture, this is a good resource.

I'd really like to be more enthusiastic about this book. I truly enjoyed listening to it. It was through and did a fabulous job of providing enough detail to be interesting and useful while still keeping the text to a manageable size. Usually, when I really enjoy an audiobook, I want to go back and read all or part of the book. I just didn't feel that way about this book. And while I enjoyed every minute I spent listening to it, for some reason I just didn't get excited about it.

Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: Warner Books, 1992. Order from Alibris

Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Audio Edition, read by Nadia May. Ashland, OR: Blackstone Audiobooks, 1995. Order from Audible