Well Researched but Awkwardly Read

It seems today that so much history is only properly dealt with in books. Documentaries tell part of the story and can do it well, often adding compelling imagery and dramatic reconstruction into the mix. However, I have found that it's the written form of historical events that also tells us what people were thinking.

The Battle of Surigao Strait was part of the greater Layte Gulf naval series of battles that saw the final destruction of the Japanese navy as a viable fighting force. I had known next to nothing about the specifics of the battle, other than several U.S battleships, some of which were veterans of Pearl Harbour, reaped a terrible toll on the hapless Japanese ships.

This book provides the details of the disposition at all vital points of the battle of both forces. However, the reader will have to try keeping a mental picture of the positions of various ships in order to make sense of how the battle developed and where everyone was in relation to each other. It's possible the text version of this book does have some accompanying diagrams to aid in this, I don't know. Thus, readers will need to hold focus to maintain the mental map of the participants.

I can't fault the book for its detail and the research done to compile it. However, my biggest critique of the audio version is the poor production quality and choice of narrator. The reader's voice is fine. It's the obvious trouble he has with the Japanese names that sees him hesitate over some of the easier ones while oddly managed to have the more difficult names roll off his tongue. Layte seems to be read as if it's two separate words and it seems that the narrator has difficulty with this given the clumsily inserted edits that are used several times in the early stages of the book whenever he has to say "Layte Gulf."

As mentioned, production quality here is not good, though adequate. One can hear the inserted edits made easily and, certainly in the early stages, the narrator's voice has a trace of an echo or reverb to it as if he was reading in a large room and his microphone wasn't close enough to him. Further, those with acute hearing may also notice background rumbles and bumps, as if traffic or some other nearby sounds intruded. Worse still, there was a segment where the sounds of children could be heard, as if the narrator was reading in a room in his home. As mentioned, the reading of this book is adequate but could've been far more polished.

All in all, an interesting read for naval enthusiasts like me who want to know more of the details of the battle as well as events leading up to it and immediately after.

A well researched book let down somewhat by sub par production standards.

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