A Learning Experience, Book 1

Great concept / Hated the prosletyzing

What would have made A Learning Experience, Book 1 better?

I wanted to love it I really did, the concept is awesome. But the endless prosletyzing was exhausting. Everytime I was getting into the story, I was pulled out of it about by the author talking about the MSM, the uslessness of the government, and the rapaciousness of lawyers. Topics I at least sympathize with him on, but MAKE IT INTEGRAL TO THE STORY. Just mentioning the character hated working in medicine because (insert political viewpoint here) is jarring.

Whew.

Sorry about that.

What was most disappointing about Christopher G. Nuttall’s story?

the preaching

85 of 101 people found this review helpful

Trying so hard to finish

well the whole idea of the story was awesome and I couldn't wait to dig in, then it became very clear very fast that Nuttell was instead of writing a great sci fi novel, he was writing his anti establishment, anti American,anti everything manifesto disguised in a sci-fi story. It just got worst and worst to the point that I could almost picture him just writing away with a pissed off look on his face & it completely took away from what could have been a really fun story. Also, the repetitive he said,she said,Steve said,she said,Steve said... geeze. I'm really dissapointed, I was really looking forward to this story. Do yourself a favor & skip to last chapter & the prologue literally sums up the book without Nuttall's personal gripes,hate & reasons why he lives on an island far from Western ideology. Overall I'm very dissapointed.

69 of 84 people found this review helpful

Mary Sue, we're so lucky we have you.

Luckily for the human race, Steve Protagonist is the one who encounters the aliens and is able to come up with a plan to save us all.

The main character at least does have a bit of an arc. The things that annoyed me the most about him in Chapter 1 are the self-revelations that change his way of thinking (a little) during a few of the Pivotal Conflicts at the end of the book.

Secondary characters change their personalities to fit the story, For example, the wife who is fierce and independent... except when suddenly she's not. The protagonist's children are also very convenient non-entities who disappear entirely for most of the book.

Events happen in far too short of a timeline to seem realistic. Spaceships and tech, sure. Unrealistic human interactions...? Nope.

Oh, well. It's a fun enough romp, I guess.

14 of 18 people found this review helpful

Lost Oppertunity

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Mr Nuttall is a powerful storyteller. The narrator has a strong alpha male delivery and I am normally a big fan.The storyline had the opportunity to be insightful on a wide range of current and relevant social, political and science issues. It passed on those opportunities.I would actually like to see this book(series?) researched and rewritten with some depth that would add credibility and dimension to the story. The characters must have real struggles and more complex emotions than are expressed. The science for what they are doing has a lot of interesting nuance, drama and history. The backdrop of a citizenry defined by a long series of wars in foreign lands would be compelling. Those intrigues combined with the exploration of the wide disparities in experience between rural and urban America would make this book award winning. That dichotomy of urban versus rural or the impacts of culture and politics in a dense population(like in space) or a dispersed population seems to particular relevant for this work of fiction.

Any additional comments?

If this book was a dinner it was boiled with no seasoning, herbs or spices... Since I like meat and potato I would eat it but be looking for the salt the whole time.

31 of 41 people found this review helpful

THE very beginning to Stocker's Empire's Corps

If you didn't get Nuttall's politics and opinions in The Empire's Corps, you can't miss it in this. Nuttal uses a 2x4 to get it into your head. By the end of the book, you will know where Col. Stalker (Stocker?)'s Empire came from. We sort of knew it anyway, but here's the tale to tell it.

You will learn how the usually exemplary Nuttall feels about politics and politicians, society, the military and U.S. actions in the Middle East, law and justice, and several other things. Even if you agree with him on every point, you will tire of the lectures.

Then there're the problematic literary aspects that detract from your reading enjoyment. Steve's death was absorbed, and they moved on. Later they name a ship after him, but that is about all the emotion invested there. There are some kids among the brothers, but we don't even remember their names, and they never figure into the story. Thank goodness there is tech to take care of them, since the parents are not around. The entire story took place in less than 2 months. Thank goodness the aliens are morons and could easily be overpowered by 3 of 'Murika's finest. And thank goodness the moronic aliens had neural interfacing headbands so our heroes could link to the computer system to run the ship and access all the tech that allows them to accomplish in 45 days what should have taken 10 years.

We who love this genre love references to all our other beloved works, but there are just too, too many references to Star Trek especially, but also Babylon 5, Harry Potter, Atlas Shrugged and more. Naming the moon base Heinlein should have been a grin for us, but it became just another eye roll.

This back story is so childish and amateurish that you'd think Nuttall had written it in high school after having read all the above literature. The only reason any of us will go on to the next volume is to get the history that led to the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire so we can get to the really good stuff in The Empire's Corps. And I guess we end up soundly defeating all the thousands of alien species mentioned in this book, since there are none by Ed Stocker's time.

10 of 13 people found this review helpful

Had to return it. Could not finish.

What would have made A Learning Experience, Book 1 better?

This was just so mixed with political and government hate that it got ridiculous. It was just so over the top.

Has A Learning Experience, Book 1 turned you off from other books in this genre?

No. I actually like many of Nuttall books.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

It felt like he was in a race to finish. Not a presentation I could listen to for long.

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

I felt the under lying story was a decent concept.

18 of 24 people found this review helpful

Libertarians take over the universe

What did you like best about A Learning Experience, Book 1? What did you like least?

It was interesting to see a sci-fi story told from such an extreme libertarian point of view. Though I found many viewpoints grating ("ethnic" entitlement, women studies, health care), preposterous (collusion between environmentalist and oil producers), and condescending (gun rights, Edward Snowden, muslim countries is general), they weren't actually a big part of the story and the author seems to be socially liberal (gay marriage), and in spite of enormous moral blind spots, could actually hold balanced opinions on many issues.

So what happens if a bunch of ex-servicemen find all the technology to actually create their libertarian utopia? Certainly not a whole bunch of realistic stuff. Nevertheless, I wanted to know the end and, perversely, wanted to see if human reality would knock some sense into them.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I wish the author had delved a little deeper about the social and political issues that would be big problems in such a gun-totting libertarian society. Every one was a little too agreeable. There was one "right" point of view and anyone with "common sense" agreed with it. Unavoidable, I guess, otherwise the whole society would have collapsed half-way through the book.

There's also the fact that they get a machine that can almost instantly heal anything at apparently no cost, but then set-up a system that only rich people can afford, 'cause, you know, socialism is bad.

What about Christian Rummel’s performance did you like?

I liked his strong American accent. Completely appropriate for the characters.

18 of 25 people found this review helpful

Brain-Dead Libertarian Secessionist Claptrap

First, the narration is great; no problems there.

I've listened to many of Nuttall's military scifi books, and I have always enjoyed the tales of fragments of military units grasping for life amid the death throes of a huge galactic empire collapsing under its own weight. This one is not that sort of book, and I wish I'd read some of the other reviews first instead of just trusting in Nuttall's work.

Here, the otherwise good storytelling can't mask a fundamentally flawed story. Maybe the stories set in the more distant future make up for or render irrelevant poor assumptions about military knowledge and functions that this book, set in the present, means that my own knowledge of military training and capabilities keeps coming up. For example, some future combat engineers might be experts in space and naval architecture and working with unintelligible technologies to produce works in months that would take civilian engineers years just to design, but present-day combat engineers are high school educated technicians more skilled in breaking things than building them. But that's only a small piece of what's wrong, and is only bolstered by the ex machina -- I control it with my brain because technology and my shiny headband -- solutions to everything.

The main characters are all right-wing, secessionist sovereign citizens (look it up), who think their perusing of a few online constitutions prepares them to rewrite society in an afternoon. They are full of anger about how things are, while simultaneously demonstrating fundamental misunderstandings about both the facts and the history of their points of contention. Likewise, while complaining about wealth and corruption, they put "those who can pay" at the front of the line for cancer treatments and the like, while making everyone else wait. Oh, and not to forget the constant referrals to only allowing people those who agree with their laws and rules to live in their new nation, and then talking about how they haven't gotten around to getting even the most fundamental laws codified. However, they did build a city on the moon, complete with a carefully screened population, wide-ranging economy, and a school system, in just two months through heaps of jury-rigging and 'Merica-isms from a group of what amounts to Montanan hillbillies in a space ship.

I'm totally willing to ignore the storytelling conveniences, such as the super doctor/vet girlfriend who can't be older than 40, somehow is a master of both disciplines -- I guess she went to college when she was six -- but whose only medical practice is the family farm. Totally good with that (really). Likewise, the I know this world class so-and-so in every single field imaginable and can convince them over coffee to give us their products, conduct illegal trade in a dozen, and fix their product lines to make everything possible immediately. Likewise, totally good with that too (really).

Everything in the book is anti-government, anti-big business, anti-large city, anti-rules, anti-taxes, etc., all while using bribes, spies (nanodrones), lie detectors, arbitrary powers, and bullying willy-nilly. Every time there is just the briefest note of sanity from one of the main characters, it just stops cold. Another reviewer called it something like right-wing militia masturbation, which is about how it works out in the end.

In general, I recommend Nuttall's books, but not this one. Stick with the Empire's Corps series and similar.

19 of 27 people found this review helpful

Very disappointed...

Heavy handed, quasi libertarian rant with nanp plot. ArkRoyal, et al much better. NOT HEINLEIN.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Disapointed

Any additional comments?

I made it to the 3rd chapter before I had to shut it off. I was expecting something much more along the lines of Mr. Nuttall's previous writings - they were much more focused and mature than this one. Will pass this one on to my teenager and see what he thinks - might be more his speed.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful