How do the reviews work?

Books are placed into the tier which I considered them to be a part of (and listened to accordingly), not necessarily the genre they were intended to be, or published under. For example, I listened to Walden at the end of the day (when I was most tired), so I have placed it into the Religious Texts tier, even though it is not especially religious. I am aware my opinion of Walden may be tainted because I was exhausted when I listened to it. It may have gotten a higher rating if I had listened to it within other tiers.

Also present is a star rating reflecting my opinion of which audiobook content is most worthy of your time. A bad rating does not necessarily mean the audiobook is objectively bad. Rather, it is my singular opinion you should spend your precious time with more purposeful content. It’s also not a reflection of these audiobooks as physical books. I’m sure some would get better ratings had they been read and studied as physical books (The Divine Comedy and Ulysses, for instance).

★ One star means it was painful for me to listen to, and an absolute waste of your time. 
★★ Two stars means it is not worth your time. Often this rating is given if I deemed the book too long.
★★★ Three stars means you can do better. I didn’t regret listening to it, nor was it especially insightful.
★★★★ Four stars means it is worth your time, especially for those interested in the subject matter.
★★★★★ Five stars means I recommend everyone listen to it, regardless of interest in the subject matter.
 

The order of the books within the stars is determined by which book I listened to first. For example, under 5 star novels, I listened to The Martian before I listened to The Road, therefore The Martian is listed before The Road.

Eric’s brother and inspiration for listening to audiobooks in the first place, Max Travis, regularly contributes to this section. Eric initially listened to many of these books due to Max’s recommendations. All reviews are labelled with their author, but are ultimately assigned their star ratings by Eric (regardless of Max’s opinion).

If you enjoy Max’s writing, check out his excellent movie review blog at maxsminimoviemagazine.blogspot.com/