The narration is intolerable

What would have made Search Inside Yourself better?

What would have made this book better is to match the narrator to the tenor of the book. By all accounts, the author is absolutely delightful, cheerful, Google's court jester (not sarcastic in nature but positive, happy). The crime here is that the narrator is so terribly tedious and pedantic that it robs the book of it's joy, it's pleasure, and indeed, the thrust of it's highly compelling argument. Every word is ponderous: no syllable gets left behind. The correct narrator would have conveyed buoyancy, genuine enthusiasm, and warmth. This makes you want to cry because the material is so incredibly profound and groundbreaking, but the author's passion and warmth is never genuinely heard. The effort to pronounce every syllable and make sure the diction is perfect is diametrically opposed to the sense of the author. The work that Google has done in mindfulness has the potential to meaningfully bolster the lives of corporate leaders and employees, to reintroduce pleasure and emotional intelligence in the workplace. That is never felt in this: it's all about words and letters.Audible really should reconsider redoing this.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Search Inside Yourself?

When I was trying to keep myself from throwing my phone out the car window in frustration at the narrator. Eventually (early in chapter 3), I decided that it was so counter to the soul of the book and it's author, that I just couldn't listen any more, fantastic content notwithstanding. I bought the hard copy and enjoyed it immensely, even following the work of the author.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nick Sullivan’s performances?

Yes. If I were in a coma and need to either wake up or pass on. Listening to this would absolutely cause one or the other.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I LIKE the book, the message. It's very relevant, timely, and research-based. The book is filled with redeeming qualities. The narration has none.

Any additional comments?

Audible, please consider having this re-read. It's very important material. It needs someone who can carry the author's voice.

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49 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Excellent meditation resource.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. This book teaches you how to become a better thinker.

What did you like best about this story?

The best part of this book was the directive to separate responses from thoughts.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration was good and it did match the pace of the story. Oddly, I kind of liked that it sounded like a monorail announcement.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Definitely.

Any additional comments?

I think it took too long to get started. I felt that the first six chapters were merely an advertisement for the benefits of meditation.

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12 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Good information marred by banal reading.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This is a professional reader with a beautiful sounding voice but utterly out of sync with the material he's presenting, making the content of the book sound banal and trivial. He would sound more at home on an ad selling washing powder or pharmaceuticals. A good reader must inhabit the content as though they were the author themselves otherwise, like in this audiobook, the content comes off as sounding non-believable, which is a shame because this is indeed worthy content. This is a book touching topics of a spiritual and emotional nature, deeply personal subjects but sadly none of this comes forth in the presentation.A appropriate reader must fit the tone of the book they're presenting. This book may have some depth, but who would know? It's not given a chance to shine. I suggest buying a copy of the paperback.

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11 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Worst narrator ever

I really can't rate the text itself, though I'm still interested enough to buy the print version, since I couldn't stand listening to this narration. I have never given up on an audible book due to the performance before--usually I grow accustomed to the reading style and it stops bothering me. I don't know whether this narrator usually sells cars or reads to 4 year olds, but I couldn't finish chapter 3 due to the sing-song, insincere style. Listen to the sample before you buy. ..

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10 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great if you like listening to robots.

What disappointed you about Search Inside Yourself?

I was really looking forward to this book after seeing the rave reviews on Amazon for the book. The biggest issue is that the book is narrated by someone that is so mechanical and droll that listening is unbearable. The guy literally sounds 'robotic' at times.When listening to a subject matter such as this, the tonality of voice is really important, the listener needs to feel comfortable with the narrater. I've only managed to get about half hour into this listen, I just can't stand it any more. I'm focussing far more on the narrators weird voice that I'm not hearing the content. Very disappointed.

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8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Increase Your Happiness

Typical of a Google engineer, the author Chade-Meng Tan breaks down happiness into its essential parts to create the "Search Inside Yourself" course at Google. As a benefit of working at Google, Meng was able to connect with notable people in developing the material for the course, including a Zen master, a scientist, and Daniel Goleman (author of "Emotional Intelligence"). So obviously the book is based on science and yet it is written in a light entertaining way. It is aimed at ordinary people who want to increase their happiness. The book provides simple, small steps to achieve that.

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6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great book - Obnoxious narration

Would you listen to Search Inside Yourself again? Why?

No, but I'd read it again. The narration was extremely annoying.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nick Sullivan?

The author! Or a comedian.

Any additional comments?

This was a great book, but instead of making me feel more compassionate, the narration was so annoying that it made me angry. I ended up just reading the kindle version. Chade-meng Tan himself is a really good presenter if you listen to him in talks.

Aside from the narration, the book describes some simple ways you can make your life better while applying to people who don't necessarily want to attach spiritual meaning to their emotional intelligence exercises.

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4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Wide perspective - practical - heartfelt intention

Chade-Meng Tan writes from the heart, uses different research resources and puts this two components to practical day to day reality.

For me the Narrator's style does not match the Author's style, which makes the listening kind of odd, but nothing unbearable.

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4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Don't let the narrator keep you away

Disney Monorail voice for nerdy Chinese guy's take on sciency meditation and emotional intelligence. The content is very good. Lots of practical exercises explained by theory. Underneath the Disney, there's a smart, earnest engineer explaining how meditation has practical benefits for your life. Take a chance on this.

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3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

I loved reading this book hard copy

Yet, the audiobook was painful to parse. The narrator made it bland and cheesy (whereas the book itself is brilliant and easy to read).

If you like the content, I’d suggest purchasing the actual book. It’s great.

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2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile