Some of the stories were great, but a lot of them are trying to ...
922720
I had to buy this for a class. Some of the stories were great, but a lot of them are trying to hard. The characters act in totally unrealistic ways in order for the author to make a point. I was rolling my eyes at the ending of several of these stories.
3123952
A few wonderful stories make the collection worthwhile. Sometimes the whimsy of the story really worked - as in the first, which was really about storytelling. Other times the absurd just seemed absurd without any real point.
709504
Mostly Great Stories But Finished With Several Articles That Were Far More Technical Than I Need..All In All Still Worth The Read
4246282
Some of the stories left me wanting more; others, not so much. It's not the worst I've ever read, just not one I would recommend.
4051281
This is a collection of stories by different authors so the plot, pace, character development, style and pretty much everything else varies incredibly. I'm giving it 3 stars because while there are some stories that are very well developed and written, some are less so, and/or have flat characters, inconsistent flow or stunted narrative. One thing in common, the Orion Arm universe figures prominently and all stories are quite consistent in referring to the key devices/themes of the Universe. Therein, however, lies the trap and downfall of some authors - some navigate the references integrating them well into the story, while not overwhelming the reader, while others rather clumsily insist to repeating and highlighting the key themes, reinforcing endlessly the basic plots about trans-human/trans-sentient AIs and reaffirming that the story is part of the Orion Arm universe project (I get it: basic human sentience can't even imagine the sentience of AIs....I don't need to read this exact reference repeated on average every page and a half....). It is a problem with any collaborative writing project, but an editor could go far to polish this and/or have a stronger filter when selecting stories.
582501
It's definitely not a fast read. It gets repetitive, but some of the stories are funny.
24781
Some editing choices here which I wouldn't have agreed with, but the stories are a great collection.
1082162
It is kinda hard to rate  a book when there are 25 stories, there were a couple that were slow and boaring
2145682
This is a book of many short stories as researched by the author and obtained through numerous sources.  Though I recognized two of the stories as being legitimate news stories in recent years, the bulk of the stories seem to be near fabrication, padded with hyperbole or downright not believable.  Reading through them, one may find the actions of the animals believable to a certain point, but the actions of the humans involved showed downright stupidity and ridiculousness, the backstories not feasible to the sensible person, bringing the validity of every story into doubt.  I made it through 1/4 of the book before I put it away for good.  I really enjoy good animal stories but saying this is a book of 'true' stories is quite the stretch.
4360559
Being a collection of short stories, this book is difficult to rate. Many of the stories were outstanding, but some were just not my cup of tea. Like any book, I think it deserves a read to get the parts you like. The author's first person writing style and frequent use of Southern drawls was intriguing as well. Good job.
447955
The characters in these stories are really hard to relate to or feel sympathy for. All the stories seem to be about wealthy, pampered, entitled society snobs, or people who aspire to that status. It's kind of interesting for the first few stories, but just gets old after awhile. I ended up putting it down.
2684581
It has been a couple weeks since I finished this book, and figured I would put in some reviews today.  Some of the stories in the book are great, while others leave a little bit to be desired.  All in all a great collection of stories.  I would give it a 3.5 if available but did not think I would push it to a 4 on this one.
1400315
Many people would disagree with my calling this formulaic book great, but it takes a lot of talent to produce a series of books that are entertaining and fresh quality stories,
563255
This is a lovely little book, but I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in the stories within it. Some of them were ridiculous, and I couldn't figure out what kind of wisdom I was supposed to gain from it. Some of them I'd heard within sermons as "attention grabbers" or jokes. Most of them were completely new to me, though.

The stories are short, and the pictures are nice, so this is a decent book to keep around when you just want to read something quick. You'll get a good story in some cases, and a look of confused disgust left on your face for others.
933916
some stories were hard to put down, some were disturbing, worth the time.
161473
McDougall tries to tell several interesting stories at once.  There's the WWII story, natural motion story, the diet story, the scholar stories and a few others for good measure. Any one of these could be interesting on their own, but rather than progressing the story arc you are instead introduced to a new character and need to learn their background every few pages.  British spies, Nazi generals, Greek freedom fighters, Historians, academics, French athletic instructors, Brazilian athletic instructors, world class triathletes.  It quickly spirals out of control.  No skirt straightening and braid pulling, but there's so many people you can't keep it all straight.  Some of it was page turning and much of it was informative so I'll give it 3 stars.  I don't regret reading it but it certainly didn't live up to Born to Run standards.
1434673
i had to have it for school, some of the stories are really good.