The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for Astounding Memories in Developing Countries
Because Astounding Memories in Developing Countries was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.
Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.
This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.
Alice Heritage
I probably wouldn't have sampled this without the programme as it seems like a memoir and I don't normally read those. I won't buy and read it today because it seems to consist of various anecdotes. The book doesn't seem to have been professionally edited as I found the following errors: "a final questions" (should read "question"); "Although I didn't understand the international development field at the time. He showed me an alternative career path." (there should be a comma, not a period); "Tens of Millions of lives" (should read "millions"). I liked the theme of the intersection of travel, development and human experience. Aside from the editing, nothing necessarily needs to be improved from the point of view of those who read memoirs; these just aren't usually my cup of tea. I didn't see the OBC review, which didn't affect my decision.
First Ten review added on July 1, 2019, at 4:59 am by Alice Heritage.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
briellejee
Based on the cover and title, I think I would have sampled the book. Both aspects are intriguing and appealing, especially the cover. As for the first few pages, I think the introduction of the author's niece is touching. The first chapter was also interesting as it is based on South Yemen. I never read about the country before so I was learning a lot. However, the author lost me many times because of too many details of things I don't take interest in. There are instances that I felt that it was taking too long for the "story" to kick in. I was a bit interested in the woman kicking him towards the end of the sample; but rating it overall whether the first pages lured me in more, I would say no. The author failed to hold onto my attention and keep me in the loop. With that said, I will not be buying the book. Although, I think I have this review because I am not usually into memoirs. My preference of genres also affected my view on this. However, I do think that this is a great read for the right audience. I found no noticeable errors and the official OBC review was good and persuasive enough to tell me to sample this.
First Ten review added on July 1, 2019, at 2:50 am by briellejee.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mercelle
Judging by the cover, I wasn't going to read this book, but the OBC review urged me on when it mentioned that the author narrates his experience working on various construction projects around the world. When I read the first ten pages, I liked that the author pointed out that air travel was the most convenient way to visit Nishtun. Since I noticed no errors, I will conclude that the text underwent professional editing, but I won't read the rest of the book because it doesn't appeal to me. As it is, there's nothing I would change about the bit I read.
First Ten review added on July 1, 2019, at 2:21 am by Mercelle.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Gravy
There was an error in the introduction ("...a final questions*..." *shouldn't be pluralized), but I didn't notice any more errors. There was a review for this book, but my opinion would be the same, regardless. I am not a fan of this sort of book, the subject matter just doesn't appeal to me, and the sample did not change my mind. Perhaps if it read more like a traditional memoir, or travel journal. I do like the author's views. If I were to read this, his views and opinions would be why.
I really like the cover, it fits the subject well and is very eye catching. There's really nothing that I strongly dislike about this, it's just not my cup of tea, and because of that I won't be reading it. I would, however, likely recommend it.
First Ten review added on July 1, 2019, at 1:30 am by Gravy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
CrescentMoon
After reading the blurb, I don't think I would pick this book up. I like reading fiction novels and this is a non-fiction novel with different stories and accounts about developing countries doesn't really sound like my cup of tea. After reading the first ten pages, I saw a few errors. On the first page, second paragraph, "I would ask the analysts and consultants a final questions..." questions should not be plural, it should be singular. In the fourth paragraph, "Although I didn't understand the international development field at the time. He showed me an alternative career path." There should be a comma after time, not a period because those two are not complete sentences. I didn't find these errors too distracting but it should be better edited. I do think it's interesting how Nadia came into finding her career path. I like how she explained how she was in college but didn't feel fulfilled about her work and wasn't so optimistic about her future until her uncle had a huge influence on how she thinks and what she can do. I think her going into the international development field is a very interesting career path as it is one I don't know much about. I don't think I'll read the rest though because this genre just isn't for me.
First Ten review added on July 1, 2019, at 12:14 am by CrescentMoon.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Chelsy Scherba
I enjoyed the author’s description of the weird woman who sat by him on the plane. She acted aloof but continued to nudge and kick him, so I’m very curious to know what it was she wanted. Unfortunately, the sample ended before she spoke. The editing looks very professional overall, so I didn’t notice any errors . I was interested in reading the book because the review made the stories and the author’s compassionate personality intriguing to me. His travels to so many different countries is interesting as well. I will probably pass on the book at this time because I’m not really in the market for a memoir, but I will consider reading the rest in the future.
First Ten review added on July 1, 2019, at 12:10 am by Chelsy Scherba.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
srividyag1
The cover page is an eye-catching artwork. The title clearly says it's a non-fictional book. In the sample, the introduction is given by the author's niece. She has mentioned that the author has vast experience and a unique outlook of life. The author was a civil engineer who has helped various governments all over the world in engineering projects for 31 years. In the first chapter, he describes about the accolades he recieved during his professional life. I found some grammatical errors. For example, in the introduction, "a final questions" is written instead of "a final question". Similarly, in the first chapter, the first word of the quote "of all the stories..." should be capitalised. The OBC review was positive. I am not going to read this book since I'm not a big fan of non-fiction.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 10:25 pm by srividyag1.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
OliviaLouise
Based on the sample, this book sounded like an interesting travel memoir. I enjoyed some of the interesting facts the book contained; for example, the details about “qat,” a drug similar to cocaine or caffeine. One of the less enjoyable aspects of the book were the tediously long and detailed descriptions the book contained between these interesting facts. They made it harder to fovus on the book and quickly became dull. For this reason, I do not intend to read the rest of the book. Finally, I did find some punctuation errors in the book. The first of these was on the first page of the intro where the author lists several companies and uses an apostrophe to pluralize them (& Company’s).
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 10:24 pm by OliviaLouise.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Annelore Trujillo
I would not have sampled this book based on the genre, blurb, OBC review, cover, and title. I don’t usually read non-fiction, and this didn’t seem like one for me. After reading the first ten pages, I won’t be finishing this book. I didn’t really get into it. It talked a lot about the author’s past and why she went into her career field. I thought this part was difficult to get through. I did start to get into the story about the woman nudging her on the plane, but not enough to purchase the book. I also noticed errors that tell me the book isn’t professionally edited. For example, “a final questions” should be “a final question”.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 10:14 pm by Annelore Trujillo.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
danielleamy
I like the artwork on the cover, it's pretty. The title needs to be bigger to stand out more, as it is a little too small to read easily. After reading the Official review, I don't think this is for me. I don't usually enjoy memoirs of people/celebrities that I don't already know. I struggled to get through the sample, as it was a little dull, e.g. reading the paragraphs about the author's job with the Kuwait Fund dragged. I was not interested in the author's travels either. I did find the story at the end involving the female passenger quite funny, but I would not buy the book just for that story. This book just isn't suited to or aimed at me, so I am not the target audience. I did not find any issues with grammar or spelling, so this appears well-edited. I will not be reading the whole book, as nothing in particular stood out to me as interesting unfortunately.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 7:09 pm by danielleamy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Artizi
I don't believe I would have read this book before previewing the first 10 pages, as its title and book cover don't really appeal to me.
Upon reading the first 10 pages, I came to realize my appreciation was indeed accurate: This is not the kind of book I'd enjoy. It seems too intellectual and high-brow for my taste, even if it's impeccably written. It might be a great book, but it's not the right fit for me.
I didn't notice any typos: It seems to be professionally edited.
I loved the fact that the author seems to show incredible passion for the subject at hand and that it's well written, having a nice flow to it. I didn't enjoy the fact that it became boring to me almost immediately, but this is not the author's fault, but my own preferences.
I did notice an Official OnlineBookClub review, but it didn't change my mind in the least.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 6:18 pm by Artizi.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Delaney35
This is not a book I would consider reading without this program; I have never been into memoirs. I think the cover is very interesting though. The colors and general aesthetic appealing and make me interested in at least looking at it. The first few pages of this book start with an introduction by the author on his life experience. It set up the author as a knowledgeable person who could be trusted. It also established a strong yet conversational tone, which is typically associated with memoir. I didn't notice any grammatical mistakes either. Overall, I will not be finishing this book. I am not overly interested in the subject matter and am not a fan of reading memoirs.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 3:59 pm by Delaney35.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Heidi M Simone
Without this program, I would not have sampled this book. Reading about people who travel isn't something I'm interested in. Therefore, the genre and blurb would not have piqued my interest. Also, the title and cover aren't very appealing to me. The positive OBC and customer ratings do not affect my opinion of the book. I didn't see any glaring errors while reading. I was beginning to be intrigued a little by the author's story when he said, "I still wonder whether I was fortunate, or if it was just my bad luck that the steward asked a female villager to occupy the aisle seat next to me." It made me curious as to why he thought this action would be a positive or negative decision. To find out it was a goat hidden underneath the woman's veil was somewhat funny to read. However, it was rather frustrating to find out that there were pages missing within the sample. For example, as I read about the author's experience at the airport, the story goes from page 18 to page 20. It makes it difficult to tell whether the book flows well when there are random pages missing. The same thing happened during the second story, "The Ambulance Ride," where the pages jump from 24 to 29. In general, I don't really anthologies/short stories. I prefer one continuous story. Due to this and the fact that I don't enjoy traveling stories, I do not plan on buying and reading the book.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 12:14 pm by Heidi M Simone.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Theresa Moffitt
I was not drawn to the cover of this book. I would not have picked it up based on thebcover alone. The title is very straightforward and tells what the book is about. I haven’t read a review of this book yet. The author describes how she became involved with infrastructure development in other countries. She was looking for something she could do for a living that she would be passionate about. When she was a senior in college and went on interviews she felt the jobs that were available didn’t create the kind of passion she was looking for. She recalled her uncle talking about his work in other counties and the passion he had for his work so she got internships in that field and pursued that type of work. I didn’t see any errors in the first ten pages, so I believe the book was professionally edited. I would like to read a review of this book to see how the story progresses. Based on the first ten pages, I will not finish reading this book. However, I may change my mind after reading a review.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 10:33 am by Theresa Moffitt.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Emy Katherine
I do not enjoy reading non-fiction books, so I would not have chosen to read the book without the First Ten program. Unfortunately, reading both the sample and the OBC review did not change my mind. In his work, "Astounding Memories in Developing Countries," Waddah Chehadeh shares his real-life experiences of working internationally as an engineering advisor; he mostly worked on infrastructure projects in developing countries. In all honesty, I admire his dedication to his work and am thoroughly impressed he visited 93 countries. Fans of the genre will surely appreciate the author's writing style; it is descriptive and pleasant to read. Also, the book seems to be properly edited; I did not find any typos or grammatical errors. Those who enjoy reading travel memoirs will enjoy this collection of adventure stories.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 6:39 am by Emy Katherine.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sonya Nicolaidis
The cover of this book is quite busy and the illustration obscure, but somehow it didn’t strike me as being inappropriate, and I was neither attracted or repelled by it. However, I think the title could do with a revamp, as it is wordy and awkward, and isn’t the sort of title that would jump out at a reader. It makes the book sound more like an academic writing, rather than a collection of anecdotes. Unlike the OBC reviewer, I didn’t see much awkwardness in the writing style, although I did get the idea English isn't the author’s first language. He writes well and conversationally, with very few mistakes. In fact the only mistakes I saw were in the foreword written by his niece, where she mentions “a final questions” which should read “question”. Also some missing quotation marks, and irregular paragraph spacing. However the book itself looked good and I enjoyed the sample. The story of the airplane journey was constructed well, and I enjoyed the tension that built through the telling of it. The reader can feel an imminent drama up ahead. The only criticism I have is that the opening paragraphs are a little dull and wordy and might put off a prospective reader. It would have been better to write about the plane drama first to capture his audience from the start. I enjoyed the sample, but won’t read it as I’m steering clear of memoirs for the time being and prefer other genres.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 5:08 am by Sonya Nicolaidis.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Lorraine De Vos
I would have chosen to sample this book based on the cover and the author’s credentials. After reading the first ten pages I am intrigued. The sample ends on a cliffhanger and I’m dying to find out why the passenger is seemingly angry. The world is not a small place and the cultural diversity can be vast. I imagine the stories in this book will cover a large variety of situations. The book does appear to be professionally edited, as I did not notice any errors. The official OnlineBookClub review was very comprehensive and pointed out that there was not a lot of depth to the supporting characters, but I think this could possibly be due to the fact that a lot of these people were just part of temporary moments in the author’s life. I look forward to adding this book to my reading list.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 4:38 am by Lorraine De Vos.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Dolor
Without the First Ten program, I probably won't be reading this book because lately, I had been into series of memoirs. I think there could have been a better cover photo than this book has. The cover is catchy and thought-provoking at the same time. The first ten pages was set in 1979. The author handled a sub-consultancy job for a Swedish consulting company supervising the construction of the Nishtun Fishing Port in South Yemen. The author described the situation of the place. At that time, the only legal party in the country was the radical Marxist “Yemeni Socialist Party”. Chewing Qat was a predominantly male cultural practice that was still very much alive. The story did not take off. The official OBC reviewer was too honest about the "too flat character development". Here are the minor errors I noticed:
*lacking necessary commas (,)*
In 1979 I handled a sub-consultancy job for a Swedish consulting company supervising the construction of the Nishtun Fishing Port in South Yemen.
Ironically, their liberalism did not extend beyond the boundaries of the main cities, leaving the villages and the remote areas of the country under the jurisdiction of local, tribal and religious traditions.
I suggest making the first ten pages a gripping read. I will bypass reading this book. Astounding Memories in Developing Countries by Waddah Chehadeh is a #Memoir about the author's #Adventures in 93 different countries. It is a collection of stories the author has gathered in his travels.
#Travel #Essays #MiddleEast
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 4:22 am by Dolor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
ritah
Based on the title and genre, I wouldn't have sampled the book because I don't usually go for books in this genre and category. I read the official review and sampled Astounding Memories in Developing Countries. I liked how much the author inspired his niece, Nadia, on the career path she chose. From what I know, a lot of students don't get good advice/ inspiration and thus get confused and overwhelmed by the career choices often getting into jobs they're not happy with. I did not find any errors in the pages I read. However, I can't commit to reading the rest of the book because I feel that the content isn't for me.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 3:51 am by ritah.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Cristina Chifane
I'm not an ordinary reader of travelogues, but I was drawn to the artistic cover of this book even without the first ten program. The author's real-life stories about his trips to different countries of the world must be truly insightful. The 8 customer reviews praising the book seem to think so, considering the 4 and 5 stars they give it. Setting up infrastructure projects in developing countries must be both exciting and rewarding. In terms of editing, I noticed the use of a period instead of a comma in the sample: "Although I didn't understand the international development field at the time (.) He showed me an alternative career path." (16% of Sample) Otherwise, I found the first story, "Tempted During a Flight", extremely interesting since it is set in Yemen, a country I've never visited and I don't know anything about. I'd like to read more and discover how the incident during the airplane flight finished. Although the OBC reviewer warns potential readers of the lack of character development, I still think the stories are an opportunity to expand our horizons about other cultures and traditions.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 2:53 am by Cristina Chifane.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Hiruni Bhagya 81
While the book title indicated what sort of book this is, the generic cover didn't make it interesting. Though the OBC review endorsed the greatness of this book, my lack of interest in memoirs made me hesitant in wanting to read it. But, the sample helped me to reach a decision. Knowing the author's enthusiasm for his works inspired his niece to follow in his footsteps made this book even more interesting and this made me realize that I want to learn more about the experiences of the author.
What I like most about this book is that you get the perspective of someone who experienced a lot and traveled to numerous countries. I don't know whether my concern will be valid for the whole book since most of the sample consisted of the introduction and the foreword with a few pages of the first chapter. But, part of the introduction and most of the foreword contained too much technical details. Also, I found problems with spacing. In addition to double spacing, sometimes even bigger spaces were there in the sample. Other than my personal dislike of memoirs, there wasn't any reason for me to not to read this book prior to sampling it and after sampling it, I figured my interest in the book far outweigh my dislike of memoirs. So, I can safely conclude that this is a book I wouldn't mind reading.
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 2:11 am by Hiruni Bhagya 81.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
Kelyn
Had I not been a member of this program it is unlikely that the cover, title, author, genre or reviews would have spurred me to pick up this book. The author is unknown to me and the cover is just confusing. The title gives the distinct hint that it is a travel guide, a genre in which I have little to no interest. Reading the sample simply cemented in my mind the decision not to continue on to read the book. Although the author has added his experiences to the book, making it more detailed and interesting than your typical travel guide, it is, in essence, still in that genre. Although the book seemed professionally edited, I did find two errors. One of these was: pg. 1 - "...would ask the analysts and consultants a final questions..." should be "question"
First Ten review added on June 30, 2019, at 12:34 am by Kelyn.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Catherine Hsu
If I had not read the sample, I would not have read the book. I think the cover could be better and more relevant to the content. The title could also be clearer visually. After reading the sample, I have not changed my mind. My main reason is because the book was riddled with grammatical errors, which means that more professional editing is definitely needed. For example, the book used the phrase "a final questions" and there was also a sentence fragment: "Although I didn't understand the international development field at the time." The errors made the book really difficult to get through. I did not read an official review but that did not affect my decision.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 11:58 pm by Catherine Hsu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
va2016
The cover and the title are indicative of the theme of the book. There is only one Amazon customer review. The Amazon summary of the book clearly describes the contents of the book. As I am not interested in travel essays, I would have skipped sampling the book if not for the First Ten program. As I sampled through the book, I found the narration describing the author's research on choosing the career direction, and eventually starting working on assignments. As I am not interested in career and travel related essays, I am not going to read this book in full. I found the sample professionally edited. I found one mechanical error - "final question" spelled as "final questions" in the introduction. What I liked about the book is its writing style. I didn't find anything that can be improved in the book. Although I found one OBC review of the book, my decision to not to read the book in full is based on my own sampling.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 11:13 pm by va2016.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
LV2R
The abstract book cover and the long title were both OK, but I was not sure if I wanted to read the book or not. The Amazon Blurb stated that the author described 12 incidents of his traveling to different countries on infrastructure projects. Some of the stories are sad, funny, stressful, and bizarre. The sample gave the background of the author as setting up infrastructure projects (dams, bridges, airports, schools, etc.) in developing countries. I best like the example he gave of helping with the Maldives’ international airport, and it held up well during the 2004 tsunami and helped the island’s tourist travel, as well as transporting people and goods. This showed that the projects were not only built well but also the importance of having human resources for sustainable change. The book may be edited well, but the first two statements were not actually sentences on 32%: “31 years. Hundreds of memorable incidents experienced.” I think that it would be best to not start a sentence with a number unless it is spelled out. The OBC reviewer thought that the author was a good storyteller and that he was positive, encouraging, and pleasant to people he met in traveling and in working in developed countries. I do not want to read this book because I think that there should be way more than just 12 stories from having traveled to 93 countries in 31 years. It seems that if the book is going to focus on only a dozen stories of people that the characters would be more developed as the OBC reviewer noticed was missing.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 10:52 pm by LV2R.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Stephanie Elizabeth
Had I not sampled the first ten pages of this book I would not have picked it up to read because the topic didn't interest me. After reading the first ten pages I will not continue reading because I couldn't connect to the experiences of one man visiting developing countries.
The book was well edited, and I didn't find any errors. My favorite part was the woman who kept tapping him on the plane. I found it interesting how she was obviously flirting with him. I think the book could be improved by giving some more history on the main character. Why did he choose this path? What is his family like? This book had an official OnlineBookClub review.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 9:41 pm by Stephanie Elizabeth.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
lavellan
I probably would have read Astounding Memories in Developing Countries even if it had not been a part of The First Time program. The Book of the Day review was positive and left me interested in the book. The book did not seem like it was professionally edited, and I noticed errors while reading. For example, "question" should be singular in the following phrase: "...ask the analysts and consultants a final questions..." I enjoyed the author's stance on development. I agree that we need to invest in human capital as well as large-scale industrial projects. I found the author's style to be a bit boring. He focused too much on details like time lengths. As a result, I will not buy the book today.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 9:08 pm by lavellan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Verna Coy
Had I not sampled the first ten pages of this book through this program, I would not have picked it up. The cover of the book, although colorful, is out of focus and abstract, which lends the same out-of-focus quality to its first impression. I do not intend to buy or read the whole book. The first ten pages did not appeal to me as a reader, and they didn’t change the first impression I had from the cover of the book. The sample was too short to get much of a feel for the book, but based on what I read, it did not seem professionally edited. I spotted errors that made the work seem sloppy. Pg 2-Sentence in the introduction to the book has misspelled a word-“On my interview rounds, I would ask the analysts and consultants a final questions [should be spelled ‘question’] - how satisfied are you with your job at the end of the day?” Pg 3- Flow of sentences- This sentence feels like a sentence fragment or incomplete sentence.-“Although I didn’t understand the international development field at the time.” What I liked most about what I read was the descriptions of various people the author witnessed at airports. I know that travel memoirs like this book are usually interesting to read. This book could be improved by having it gone over by a professional proofreader. I did read the Official Online Book Club review, and I found it to be an insightful, well-written review. It did affect my view of the authors work on this book somewhat; it caused me to give special consideration toward the flow of the story and the author’s connection with readers.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 8:13 pm by Verna Coy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
lisalynn
The first seven pages of "Astounding Memories in Developing Countries" consist of an Introduction and a Foreword. That leaves only three pages of "story" to evaluate for the First Ten. Those three pages start a narrative which promises to be interesting and eventful—the author is propositioned on an airplane. I love the cover of this book. It's a watercolor mix that reveals a more intricate image the longer it's viewed. I really like the line in the blurb that says, "Genuine education is the foundation of civilizations." Although not technically incorrect, the opening sentence of the blurb is a quote with the ending period of the sentence outside the quotation marks. This same phrase is punctuated with the period inside the quotation marks on page five. The writing style is friendly and easy to read. I'm interested and want to read the rest. No OnlineBookClub review influenced me.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 8:02 pm by lisalynn.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
AA1495
Had I not sampled the book, I would not have read it. I do not usually read memoirs. From the title, I knew exactly what to expect from the book. However, I did not understand the cover (specially the yellow patches). Having read the sample, I liked how elaborate the introduction was. I liked reading about the author in the foreword. Further, I found the language used simple and the content unique. The first chapter about the author's flight was interesting and amusing. At the end of the sample, I was very curious about why the person sitting next to him was angry at him. In terms of editing and formatting, I found a few minor errors such as inconsistent spacing between paragraphs (in the introduction section, at times, there was no spacing between paragraphs and at times, there was a gap of two lines). While I will not be buying the book today, I might buy it in the future.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 7:58 pm by AA1495.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Jsovermyer
The cover and title, Astounding Memories in Developing Countries, both need improvement. They don't interest me. This memoir tells of the author traveling and working in many different countries. His writing shows that he cares and admires all of the people he has met, rich or poor. The best part of the sample was a quote in the Foreward from the author which was “of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.” This is a very true statement. I didn't understand the first story about the author on a plane sitting next to a woman covered from head to toe. Why was the woman angry with him? It wasn't explained. The official review rated this book highly. I found missing commas in the first sentence. It has "In 1979 I handled a sub-consultancy job for a Swedish consulting company supervising the construction of the Nishtun Fishing Port in South Yemen." It should be written as, "In 1979, I handled a sub-consultancy job for a Swedish consulting company, supervising the construction of the Nishtun Fishing Port in South Yemen." I didn't find the story interesting and so will not be finishing this book.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 7:44 pm by Jsovermyer.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mary WhiteFace
Without the first ten pages, I would not have wanted to sample a book written about life in developing countries. I have a lot of respect for the author who dedicated his life to assuring that the help that was given to developing countries also helped the individual people living in them, yet I am not drawn to reading his memoirs. Reading the first ten pages did not change my mind. I was a little curious about why the woman next to him on the plane was poking and kicking him, even so my curiosity wasn't enough to entice me to continue reading more than the sample. The book seemed to be professionally edited. I have no suggestions for improvements. There was an OnlineBookClub review which did not influence my decision. I will not be reading this book.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 7:37 pm by Mary WhiteFace.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
sarahmarlowe randomeducator
I love the print on the cover. It looks like an abstract painting of angelic people. And, while the title is easily read, the font isn't very attractive. It looks academic or scientific. I probably wouldn't have picked the book up. The sample was a nice read. I loved that the author's niece says that her uncle loved his job. That in itself is exciting. The author's foreword also makes the idea of these short stories of memories intriguing. The book was well edited. I found no errors. I won't be reading the book, simply because it is not a genre I'm interested in. I haven't read an OBC review of this book.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 6:40 pm by sarahmarlowe randomeducator.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Mbrooks2518
This book has a great message. I like the tone in the book; the author obviously cares about other people and is passionate about helping people in developing countries. However, I don't usually read memoirs. After also reading the official review, this book does not capture my interest enough to buy this book. I did not notice any editing errors.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 6:38 pm by Mbrooks2518.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Kajori Sheryl Paul
'Astounding Memories in Developing Countries' is a book written by Waddah Chehadeh. The title, blurb, and cover did a good job at convincing me to give this book a try.
The first ten pages leads me to believe that it is the story of the author who had spend years travelling the world as an engineering advisor for the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. I like the honest tone of the book. I found some errors. For example, the author had written, “..A final questions..” instead of “..A final question..” Hence, I do not think that it is professionally edited. I will give this book a skip as I am not in the mind-frame to read a book of this genre as of now.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 5:57 pm by Kajori Sheryl Paul.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
HRichards
I normally wouldn't have picked this book up because the summary didn't really appeal to me. Having read the sample I won't be continuing on with the book because I found it rather boring. The sample deals with the author talking about how they got started in international development. He talks about flying to south Yemen and sitting with a woman who seems to want his attention and he can't figure out why. The writing is pretty good and I didn't notice any grammar errors. Those who like nonfiction about other countries should like this book. I wasn't that interested in the story. I have not read any other reviews of this book.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 5:12 pm by HRichards.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Sarah_Khan
I would not have picked up this book without the first ten program because I mostly just read fiction. I like the cover and title. The first few pages seem to be well-edited. I found the beginning a little boring with all the technical talk, but by the end of the free sample I was definitely intrigued by the lady who is seated next to the author on the plane. Unfortunately, I still do not think that this book is interesting enough to make me want to buy it. I did not read any OBC review.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 5:12 pm by Sarah_Khan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Juliana_Isabella
I probably wouldn't have chosen this book since it's nonfiction, but I was intrigued by the reviewer's description of the author's travels. The thing that really won me over, though, was his niece's introduction. I knew that if she could be that inspired by his story, I could be too. Because of this and the lack of grammatical errors, I plan to finish the book.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 4:48 pm by Juliana_Isabella.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!
CataclysmicKnight
The cover of this book is really plain and rather vague, so I probably would've skipped over it if it wasn't the book of the day.
I liked in the introduction where the author's niece asked people during interviews how they liked their job, and how that helped her decide to seek out the career she eventually chose. That was an interesting way to start the book off, although it, like what I've read of the rest of the book so far, felt too long. Things felt like they were drawn out as if to fill space, but regardless of circumstances, I found it hard to stay focused. A lot of what was written just didn't interest me, such as "The flight lasted almost an hour, during which the male steward offered me a small cheese sandwich and a lukewarm drink. I took a couple of bites of the sandwich but did not touch the drink." This was written about a flight the author took in 1979. That story did start getting a little interesting at the end of the sample, but it took too long to set it up.
I did find a single error - "a final questions" should use "question" - but it was very minor and didn't bother me at all. It was also in an introduction written by the author's niece, not the author himself. However, I just really wasn't enjoying my time with this book, so I don't see buying a copy to finish it.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 4:38 pm by CataclysmicKnight.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Scerakor
From the cover, blurb, and review of this book, I wouldn’t have read it. Some memoirs can be good, but basically a work/travel memoir doesn't interest me. After reading the first ten pages I didn’t change my mind and therefore will not be buying and reading the rest of this book. I liked how the author describes where he started and what was important to him. I particularly appreciated the realization that the most successful projects were those that had a human capital component as well as that of infrastructure. That being said, I'm just not interested enough in the subject matter behind the author's life to pay for this one. I didn’t see anything specific that I would have wanted to change within the sample that I read, but it did seem well written and edited. The official review did not affect my decision at all.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 3:01 pm by Scerakor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Laura Ungureanu
The cover is so gorgeous that I couldn't help myself but check this book out. The author tells some of his memories from traveling around the world and working in engineering. It was very inspiring to read about Nadia Roumani searching for a job that makes people happy when they are asked about how it is. Although the author's path is interesting, I'm not curious about his domain of work. For this reason, and because memoirs are not my thing, I won't continue reading this book. I didn't notice any errors.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 2:32 pm by Laura Ungureanu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
unamilagra
Before reading this book, I may have picked it up thinking it was a travelogue. After reading the first ten pages though, which included the Introduction and beginning of the foreword, I was put off the book. I found the content to be very dry, and I have no personal interest in engineering or international development. I do not plan to continue reading this book. I didn't notice any errors in the section I read.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 2:21 pm by unamilagra.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
gali
I wouldn't have sampled the book on my own, as I don't read memoirs. I didn't change my mind after sampling the book. The book contains a collection of stories the author gathered in his travels during his years as an engineering adviser to the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development. While a firsthand account of the author's experiences around the world sounds impressive, it isn't something that interests me. I love the saying at the beginning of the sample: “Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport". I am impressed that the author visited 93 countries! I also liked the partial story about the angry veiled woman, but not enough to buy the book. I noticed a few minor instances of misplaced/missing errors and grammatical errors. Examples: "On my interview rounds I would ask the analysts and consultants a final questions…" (Should be "a final question"); "I returned to Syria where I practiced civil engineering with a contracting firm, and established my consolatory office." (No need of a comma before and). I won't buy and read the book, as it isn't my cup of tea. The official review further turned me off the book by mentioning the lack of character development and unpolished style of writing.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 1:26 pm by gali.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
cpru68
Readers are introduced to the author of this book by a niece who was greatly touched and influence by her Uncle Waddah’s stories. The book covers his experiences while working as an engineering advisor to the Kuwait Fund for economic development from where he retired in July of 2014.
I thought the opening story was a bit short leaving me hanging as to why a lady was kicking him on a plane, but I think this will draw readers in, but I am not interested in reading any further. I don’t prefer books with a heavy emphasis on foreign countries. I thought this seemed to be edited professionally as I did not find any errors in the first ten pages.
I appreciate the opportunity to have read the sample pages of this, and I probably wouldn’t have found this one without the online book. I will send it out on my social media for others to look into.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 12:38 pm by cpru68.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
gen_g
I have not come across reviews of this book; it also seems professionally edited. I like how the author included a short introduction written by his niece, by telling the reader about her Uncle Waddah (the author), who was the major inspiration behind her career today. For her, Uncle Waddah is a very enthusiastic and sincere person who is genuinely interested in his job, which was what she was most interested in during her hunt for jobs back when she was younger. I currently have no suggestions for improvement. However, I will not be purchasing the book today as I am currently not in the market for inspirational/non-fiction books.
First Ten review added on June 29, 2019, at 12:35 pm by gen_g.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No
Total ~ 11%
Astounding Memories in Developing Countries earned a score of 11%.
In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 11% plan to read the whole book.
IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.
Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.
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