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Rating: 
Summary: Bypass the Audio, Buy the Book!
Review: Pema Chodron is a wonderful, down-to-earth Buddhist nun, who lovingly challenges us to become present and compassionate warriors. She is one of my best, most treasured teachers.
I like to pop a tape or CD in and listen while I sit or drive, so I got the CD version of Pema Chodron's "Comfortable With Uncertainty." I assumed it would be Pema reading her work, but the reader is actually Tami Simon. Unfortunately, the reader has a self-consciously "soothing" vocal presentation, and she misses many opportunities to be present in the words she reads. My advice to you road warriors, is to get off the highway, and hunker down to savor Pema's written words. They're jewels.
5 stars for the book, 3 stars for the audio.
Rating: 
Summary: Audio edition disappointing
Review: Five stars for the content, two stars for the "performance". The reader of this Sounds True audio edition is also the founder of Sounds True. She is senstitive to the material but her delivery is overly soft and gentle and so I had trouble keeping my attention on what she was saying. I've listened to other Pema Chodron tapes in her own voice. Pema is a wonderful speaker, very direct, humourous, warm but not "soft". Like the previous reviewer, I recommend buying the book over the audio edition.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful tool for self growth and discovery
Review: Five stars for the content, two stars for the "performance". The reader of this Sounds True audio edition is also the founder of Sounds True. She is senstitive to the material but her delivery is overly soft and gentle and so I had trouble keeping my attention on what she was saying. I've listened to other Pema Chodron tapes in her own voice. Pema is a wonderful speaker, very direct, humourous, warm but not "soft". Like the previous reviewer, I recommend buying the book over the audio edition.
Rating:
Summary: Audio edition disappointing
Review: Five stars for the content, two stars for the "performance". The reader of this Sounds True audio edition is also the founder of Sounds True. She is senstitive to the material but her delivery is overly soft and gentle and so I had trouble keeping my attention on what she was saying. I've listened to other Pema Chodron tapes in her own voice. Pema is a wonderful speaker, very direct, humourous, warm but not "soft". Like the previous reviewer, I recommend buying the book over the audio edition.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful tool for self growth and discovery
Review: I write this review because I think the other reviews herein did not do justice to this exquiste gem of Buddhist teaching. Ms Chodorn is eloquent and articulate in her delivery of helpful insights into the human condition and gentle and simple in her understanding of what may restore balance. The book can be read piecemeal or from beginning to end. The glossary offers edification on Buddhist Sanskrit meanings, which I found helpful, since I am a beginner to Buddhism and not a student of Sanskrit. This book offers a path of healing and wholeness. To see it without this meaning is to miss the point. I have recommended it to many people, beginners and scholars of Buddhism alike. Without exception the book was well received. Buy the book -- forget the audiobook. This is one book you will want to hold and leaf through the pages. I would give it much more than a five star rating were it possible.
Rating:
Summary: Daily meditations for compassionate warriors.
Review: Pema Chodron is a Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, her teacher. In her previous book, THE PLACES THAT SCARE YOU (2001), she wrote that compassionate "warriors-in-training need someone to guide them, a master warrior, a teacher, a spiritual friend, someone who knows the territory well and can help them find their way" (p. 113). For many of us, Chodron is that "someone."COMFORTABLE WITH UNCERTAINTY is a compilation of 108 excerpts from Chodron's previous books that may be read as a collection of short, daily meditations for compassionate warriors-in-training. These teachings will stick with you, and they will resonate throughout the day. Readers expecting to find something new here may be disappointed. But for others, this book will offer an excellent introduction to Pema Chodron. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Daily meditations for compassionate warriors.
Review: Pema Chodron is a Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, her teacher. In her previous book, THE PLACES THAT SCARE YOU (2001), she wrote that compassionate "warriors-in-training need someone to guide them, a master warrior, a teacher, a spiritual friend, someone who knows the territory well and can help them find their way" (p. 113). For many of us, Chodron is that "someone." COMFORTABLE WITH UNCERTAINTY is a compilation of 108 excerpts from Chodron's previous books that may be read as a collection of short, daily meditations for compassionate warriors-in-training. These teachings will stick with you, and they will resonate throughout the day. Readers expecting to find something new here may be disappointed. But for others, this book will offer an excellent introduction to Pema Chodron. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Buy the Book!
Review: Pema Chodron is a wonderful, down-to-earth Buddhist nun, who soothingly challenges us to become present and compassionate warriors. She is my best, most treasured teacher.
I like to pop a tape or CD in and listen while I sit or drive, so I got the CD version of Pema Chodron's "Comfortable With Uncertainty." That was unfortunate. The reader, who is not Pema, has a self-consciously "soothing" vocal presentation, and she misses many opportunities to be present in the words she reads. So, my advice to you road warriors, is to get off the highway, and hunker down to savor Pema's written words. They're jewels.
Rating:
Summary: Good content, bad reader
Review: Pema Chodron is one of my favorite Buddhist authors. She has a way of articulating subtle ideas that really resonates with me. I bought this book and enjoyed it, although much of the content was familiar from her previous books. I picked up the cassette version of the book to listen to while driving, and I didn't make it halfway through the first side of the first tape. The reader's overly emotive, breathy narration is grating. I thought I'd get used to it and focus more on the text, but it didn't happen. This is the same reader who did the audio version of "The Places That Scare You," which was equally unlistenable. It is a shame that the publisher, who coincidentally is also the reader, can't recognize the great gulf between her work and the author's. Can you say "ego"?
Rating:
Summary: Buddhism simplified
Review: This older audio book is inspired by the Buddhist tradition of the 108-day retreat, and offers insight on how to act from an awakened heart and other traditional Buddhist principles. Also included are ideas about ways that people stay stuck by always seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, how they are always trying to create security zones, and other limiting beliefs. The soothing voice of Tami Simon helps to make this audio book a success. I ended up buying the book version after istening to the tapes.
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