I listened to an “electronic audio book summary” of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein today. I don’t know if the “Halloween” timing had anything to do with it, but it certainly wasn’t on purpose. I actually picked up the CD at a garage sale in a box of books (of which I bought all of them) – and didn’t know it was there until I got home.
I like music, but I love books on tape, talk radio, educational CD’s even more when I drive. I feel like I’m actually getting something done even though I’m just sitting there. So today I popped the CD in the drive and started listening.
What a glorious story it is. I marveled at the language and insight Mary Shelley used with Frankenstein. And it amazed me how much I really didn’t know about the story. Movies just don’t do books justice sometimes.
Did you know that Frankenstein lived on his own and learned to read and speak by spying on a family of 3 in a cabin in the woods? Did you know he had superhuman speed? Did you know he was yellow?
The most interesting part to me was Frankenstein’s description of the beginning of life. Of the moment where he could see, feel, hear, smell and taste all at once. He had to learn how to discern one sense from another. I remember one passage where he first learned that if he closed his eyes, the light would go away. What a wonderful mind Mary Shelley must have had.
In the end I listened to an abbreviated version of the story where the narrator left some passages unabridged. And even though it wasn’t the full story, I’m very glad to have listened to it and will certainly look for more classics to listen to. If you’re interested in listening to the entire unabridged book, you can download it here for free. (Librivox is a site that offers books in the public domain free).
Anyway, do you know how the book ends? (If you don’t and don’t want me to ruin it, skip to the next paragraph.) In the end the Frankenstein monster drifts away into the darkness on a boat after having shown remorse over the natural death of his maker, Victor. So you’re left wondering if Frankenstein was really real, or if it was a figment of Victor’s “crazed” psyche, and the drifting is just the passing on of his dead soul. Crazy thought provoking novel.
The best thing about these summaries is the ability to grasp books you may have never read in a short period of time. For me it took 35 minutes with this disk.
I do the same thing for executive / business books – but the service I use is on-line, is in either video, audio or print version and breaks the books down into meaningful parts in 4 minutes. The service is called Go Brevity and is fantastic. The executive business book summaries are more like: “these are the gems to take from this book and here are ways you can implement these brilliant ideas into your business”. It’s just awesome. Check out Go Brevity if you get a chance.
In the meantime, I’m finished with my Frankenstein book review/summary in CD format. I’ll mail it out next week to you if you’d like. Just contact me.
Happy Halloween!
