Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    206 Bones: A Novel
    206 Bones: A Novel
    206 Bones: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    206 Bones: A Novel

    Written by Kathy Reichs

    Narrated by Linda Emond

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs delivers another “outstanding” book (Publishers Weekly) in her “cleverly plotted” (The New York Times) Temperance Brennan series, the inspiration for the hit FOX television series Bones.

    There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. When Tempe finds herself regaining consciousness in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space—bound, hands to feet—Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...

    Tempe and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy—and the case. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third. Seamlessly weaving between Tempe’s present-tense terror as she’s held captive and her memory of the cases of these murdered women, Reichs reveals the incredible devastation that would occur if a forensic colleague sabotaged work in the lab. The chemistry between Tempe and Ryan intensifies as this complex, riveting tale unfolds, proving once again, that Reichs is the dominant talent in forensic mystery writing.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateAug 25, 2009
    ISBN9780743582483
    Author

    Kathy Reichs

    Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. Visit her at KathyReichs.com or follow her on Twitter @KathyReichs, Instagram @KathyReichs, or Facebook @KathyReichsBooks. 

    More audiobooks from Kathy Reichs

    Related to 206 Bones

    Related audiobooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Dark Tales

      Dec 2, 2021

      Dark Tales
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Places

      Aug 9, 2018

      It began like any normal pregame in the woods. Naked, alone, hungover, a sweaty sleeping bag in the back of a dusty pickup truck, miles from civilization. Predawn in a narrow Utah river bottom, canyon country, early July. A Thermos of lukewarm coffee

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Paper Wasp

      Jun 3, 2019

      The Paper Wasp
      13 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Sep 1, 2022

      1. Here there’s no rainy season.Sun scalds my forehead,yet the pool is empty. Beside it,a toppled table, its glass surface shattered.The asphalt is too hot for bare feet. 2. Far away: white hillocksand white dunes under a deepblue sky. Swirling winds

      5 min read

    • Article

      Where Night Stops

      Jan 15, 2018

      Where Night Stops
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Hot, Dusty Track

      Jul 12, 2023

      A Hot, Dusty Track
      4 min read

    • Article

      Then the Birds Began to Die

      Jul 22, 2021

      Then the Birds Began to Die
      8 min read

    • Article

      GhoST StoRies

      Apr 12, 2021

      GhoST StoRies
      8 min read

    • Article

      Chost Stories

      Apr 12, 2021

      Chost Stories
      8 min read

    • Article

      Prohibition

      Sep 10, 2021

      It had been ten days since my last fix. I knew what I was going to do was wrong, but unless you knew the yearning that your body exerts, the internal pull which strangles your very soul into submission, then you cannot judge me. Yes, it was wrong. Ye

      15 min read

    • Article

      Hey, Necromancer!

      Sep 18, 2018

      Hey, Necromancer!
      8 min read

    • Article

      Equinox

      May 18, 2022

      In this strange world, where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun, supernatural forces are at work – and they’re causing trouble… St Leonars prison was an appropriately imposing building. It rose out of the surrounding shacks and

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Final Truth

      Jan 21, 2020

      The Final Truth
      5 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Sep 1, 2022

      Are you ready? I nodded. She slid the needle inand the sick cat, who only a moment before had tried toleap to the floor closed his eyes and exhaled. Andthat’s it, she said a little too brightly, pulling the needle out.That’s it? I asked. That’s all t

      3 min read

    • Article

      When Life Bites

      Sep 14, 2020

      When Life Bites
      6 min read

    • Article

      Blursday Blues

      Oct 18, 2020

      Blursday Blues
      2 min read

    • Article

      It’s About Altares

      Aug 17, 2021

      It’s About Altares
      7 min read

    • Article

      Aughts

      Sep 11, 2017

      Aughts
      23 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for 206 Bones

    4/5

    645 ratings52 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I read this at work. The author knows her subject but i felt that there was not enough action and too much nondescript stuff to get through. Overall a bit too slow for my taste.
    • 4/5
      Loved the narrator. She did a great job of reading a book with technical terms. She has a wonderful voice. Of course, I love the author begin with!
    • 3/5
      With her 12th Bones book, Kathy Reichs decided to mix it up a little bit. Instead of saving Tempe's inevitable abduction for the very end, she opens the book with it and then takes us back to the beginning of the case so we could see how Tempe ended up in peril.Nice try, Reichs, but the real way to mix it up would be to stop having your heroine get kidnapped at all. Its ridiculousness is right up there with how many times Chloe and Lois have each been knocked out on Smallville. I'd make a drinking game out of it, except I don't want people dying of alcohol poisoning.And that really sums up my feelings about this series at this point. It takes a really skilled writer to keep things fresh after a dozen books. Jim Butcher has that skill (Jim Butcher has mad skills). Kathy Reichs, not so much. Sometimes she spins a really intriguing mystery, and sometimes she just spins. It's been a few books since I felt really invested in the homicide Tempe and Detective Ryan investigated. I'm hoping it's just a matter of personal taste rather than Reichs burning out.
    • 2/5
      At 20 pages in, I was already annoyed by the author's habit of taking paragraphs of description, slapping quotation marks around it, and calling it dialogue. And yet, I carried on to the bitter end. Which I saw coming a mile away.This isn't one of Tempe's greatest hits. The crimes are unremarkable (for the genre, anyway) and the twists are... less than twisty. Plus the Brennan-Ryan romance is back in its tedious "will they (again) or won't they (again)" mode.My biggest beef is that Reichs is clearly using the novel as a megaphone with which to complain about uncertified experts practicing forensics. And while I agree that I'd much rather have a board certified forensic anthropologist examining my dry & dessicated corpse, I really don't need Reichs to take a sledgehammer and beat that opinion into my skull.
    • 3/5
      As a fan of the television show Bones, I've always wanted to read one of the Bones books. However, it took nearly 40-50 pages of my reading (not comprehending, just looking at words and arguing with my brain) to realize that the book isn't the show. I kept wondering where Booth and Angela was. It also confused me about Katy and Tempe being a divorcee. Then, I remembered that the books weren't about Bones, the TV, but about Tempe taking a stab at a writing career. Unfortunately it had already ruined my thinking progress. Maybe I should have started reading from book one, instead of this one further into the character. Maybe then, it would have made more sense to me.
    • 3/5
      I enjoy the author's writing style. And the first books in the series were great. The last few were too predictable and not all that interesting; but they were still an okay read. I was surprised that I actually really enjoyed this latest one. I knew what, where, who and why really early on; but it didn't matter too much. It was more in the style of the original stories. I will continue to read her books because they are educational as well as a fairly good mystery; but there are others who tell a more interesting tale.
    • 2/5
      2.5 stars. Interesting story, but Reichs was a little heavy handed on the medical explanations.
    • 4/5
      Just what the doctor ordered. Intrigue, murder, and a disgruntled coworker to boot! I enjoyed this very much, including the nostalgia factor. Definitely didn't blow me away though. Was a touch formulaic.
    • 5/5
      I have to hand it to Ms. Reichs...keeping a character fresh and interesting after 12 books is a real accomplishment! There are a plethora of CSI/anthropology/coroner/pathologist characters in the literary world, but Temperance Brennan remains one of my favorite. She has life difficulties, but still has a decent life. She has friends, families (she is close to her ex-husbands family in Chicago as well as her own in NC), and on again, off again lovers. She has a cat named Birdie. She is smart, tough, and conscientious--everything you want in a person who is trying to discover the who, what, and hows of murder.

    • 3/5
      I purchased this book simply because the television show ‘Bones’ is based on and inspired by Kathy Reichs. Early in the book I wished I had not wasted my money for several reasons which I will not detail here. However, at the two thirds mark I have found, that like fungus, it has grown on me. Instead of a one star rating it is now heading for a two or three star rating. The story line has improved and although I still keep thinking of Television's Bones and Booth at times, I find increasingly that I want to read the next chapter.

      If ‘206 Bones’ is on your reading list do not give up in the early chapters.
    • 4/5
      Temperance wakes up and finds herself shut into a totally dark, cold, silent space - a tomb? As she tries to find a way out she remembers the events of the days leading up to her predicament.She remembers studying bones and being called on mistakes she made - missing discoloration on a child's tooth which would indicate antibiotics and finger bones she was sure she saw but are now missing and are crucial to the identification of the body. Her prodigious talents help her solve the mystery and survive until help arrives to rescue her.Reichs' style of writing has short sentences and terse language. The narrator made good use of a French accent when speaking for the Montreal natives of the story.
    • 3/5
      I am a Kathy Reichs fan vrs. a Pat Cornwell. Reichs stories have a more plausible plot and an easier read. I am grossed out by Cornwall every so often. This book was a fast satisfying read.
    • 4/5
      Temperance Brennan and Detective Andrew Ryan, former lovers and co-workers in the present, are escorting the remains of a Chicago woman who died in Quebec back to Chicago. For Dr. Brennan it is a chance to also visit with her ex-husband's family but Ryan is supposed to fly home after the handoff. However, someone has called the survivors to tell them that Tempe screwed up the cause of death. Tempe and Ryan spend hours detailing the work that went into their investigation and finding that death was accidental. That delay puts them smack in the middle of a Midwest storm and Ryan also has to stay over. Brennan's family feeds him and gives him a place to stay and take him into their capacious heart. Brennan gets caught up solving a mystery about a lost nephew which entails many hours in the Cook County Coroner's office. Then both Brennan and Ryan get calls that there is a case in Quebec demanding their expertise. That case involves the skeletal remains of an old woman and soon another older woman's body is also found. Is there a killer targeting old women who live alone? Brennan counted 206 bones recovered from the first case but several finger bones which could help with the identity are missing when she goes to look for them. While she goes on Christmas holidays the new hire at the lab goes back out to the burial site and finds the missing bones. That doesn't look too good for Dr. Brennan and when she misses a crucial bit of evidence with some other bones she starts to doubt herself. She even wonders if the Chicago woman really did die of accidental causes.Interwoven with this plot are chapters with Tempe finding herself in an underground cell with her hands and feet tied. We know that there must be some connection to the lab cases but Brennan can't remember anything from the recent past.Either I am getting better at solving clues or Dr. Reichs is making them easier because I figured out most of the plot twists before they were revealed. That didn't make the read any less enjoyable for me (witness the almost missed bus stop). In fact I was quite proud of myself.
    • 4/5
      Another installment in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. A quick read, includes a fair amount of banter between Brennan and Ryan, and focuses on cut-throat lab politics in addition to unsolved murder and mayhem.Of particular interest was the focus on the difference between good and bad science within the realm of criminal justice, especially the importance of accreditation within various specialties.
    • 4/5
      Temperence Brennan is back again as a forensic anthropologist investigating several cases involving the deaths of elderly women who were murdered in seemingly unrelated circumstances. At the same time, Tempe finds herself the victim of attacks both in her home and in her professional career, as it appears that someone is trying to sabotage her work. This "Bones" book opens differently than the others as Tempe finds herself buried alive and begins to have flashbacks about the events that preceded her situation. As usual, her detective/ex-boyfriend Andrew Ryan provides notable comic relief to offset the gruesome murder scenerios. Their chemistry is particuarly electric in this story, much like the Mulder & Scully of yore. I enjoyed this intellectual thriller which was quick paced and a fun summer read.
    • 5/5
      Read this in 2011 after finding 3 of Reichs books at a thrift and buying then reading out of sequence I relized I had to read them all in order! I just love Kathy Reichs books! I have never read so many books in so little time all 13 in 5 months time. I know that is nothing for some people but for me its amazing.
    • 5/5
      Brennan awakes in a cramped, dark space, bound at the hands and feet and completely alone. As she reconstructs the events preceding her predicament, Tempe assembles a case of sabotage and murder that runs from Montreal to Chicago.
    • 4/5
      Great read with interesting story lines.
    • 3/5
      Easy read, was not overly impressed with this book, I almost guessed the ending, which is never a good thing. Good to read on a Sunday, but not much of a story line, nice descriptive details and a vague outline of background characters, but felt this book would have made a much better short story.
    • 4/5
      Temperance Brennan once again is on the trail of a killer. This book opens with her in a very dark,dank place and she doesn't remember how she got there. The story then goes back to the beginning when she and former lover now partner, Andrew Ryan transports a body from Montreal to Chicago. Suddenly she is accused of erroneous autopsy results and more bodies start to pile up. As Tempe unearths herself she also finds the criminal.Ms. Reichs deftly weaves a tangled web which only Tempe can solve with exact science. For fans this is one of the best books in the series and for those only used to the TV star in "Bones",you will find a different forensic anthropologist but one equally as charming.
    • 5/5
      Temperance Brennan undersøger Rose Jurmain's død. Rose er fundet død formentlig af kulde på travetur i koldt vejr, men først fundet efter et par år, så der er kun skeletdele. Hun og politimanden Andrew Ryan har haft slået op, fordi han ville give det en chance med sin ekskæreste Lily og datteren Lutetia, men det gik ikke, så han vil gerne genoptage forholdet, men Tempe er ikke så sikker. Hun har også en forsigtig forbindelse til både eks-manden Pete og en stille tilbeder, Charlie Hunt.I Chigaco vil tilfældet at både Tempe og Ryan havner ved hendes eks-svigerfamilie. En bekendt af familien hr Tot beder om hjælp til at finde en forsvunden sønnesøn Lassie og Tempe finder ham som et fejlanbragt skelet blandt byens uidentificerede og det lykkes senere politiet at finde de to, der har slået ham ihjel.Tempe bliver beskyldt for sjust på basis af en anonym telefonsamtale til Edward Allen Jurmain. Hun vil have mere at vide, men han dør forinden (81 år gammel og ved dårligt helbred, så formentlig ikke et mistænkeligt dødsfald).Alt det foregående sker i bogens fortid. I nutiden ligger Tempe bundet og begravet et mørkt og koldt sted, men dog i live.Tilbage i fortiden bliver Tempe i Montreal involveret i opgravningen af liget af en gammel kone kun klædt i undertøj, formentlig Christelle Villejoin, 83 år.Hendes chef i Montreal La Manche er på sygeorlov efter en tredobbelt bypass - han er kun 58 år.Det ser ud til at være en seriemorder, der går efter ældre damer. Marelyn Kaiser, Anne-Isabelle Villejoin, Christelle Villejoin og Rose Jurmain. Nogle opskyllede knogler måske fra en familie der døde i et flystyrt kræver også Tempes opmærksomhed.Et kryb med mange navne hentet fra ølmærker, Bud Keith, Red O'Keefe, Sam Caffrey, Alex Carling og Sam Adamski indrømmer at have slået de tre ihjel, men ikke Jurmain.Et andet kryb Marie Andréa Briel - alias Miranda Learer - og hendes mand, Sebastian Raines, saboterer Tempes undersøgelser og snyder og bedrager. Og faktisk har de fået Joe fra laboratoriet med på den galej og det er lige ved at koste Tempe livet.Til sidst redder Ryan heldigvis Tempe fra den sikre død og de ender med at finde sammen igen.Bogen slutter med lidt reklame for certificeringer af retsantropologer, så et fjortendages kursus for arkæologer ikke kvalificerer til jobbet.Ganske underholdende krimi.
    • 5/5
      Excellent thriller, even more interesting than the previous ones. Two different time spans: before and after the abduction, the abduction itself is blank. Tempe struggling to survive, to recollect her memories and making her brain and body function again, the importance of a job well done and the qualification for a forensic pathologist, whose report can have heavy consequences in other people's life. In spite of the hidden purpose to underline the need of a qualication in this profession I dare say this is the best book ever written by the author.. until the next one. Spider Bones, I am looking forward to reading you
    • 5/5
      Is Tempe Brennan losing her mind? Or is there something more sinister going on? Is she really responsible for things disappearing and the anthropological mistakes she is making? In this novel, someone is trying to discredit and possibly oust Tempe, and is doing a moderately good job of it in the beginning but that soon escalates. Kathy Reichs has a writing style that builds the tension throughout, and drives you on to discover what you will find at the end. No disappointment there!She is accused of mishandling an autopsy by an unknown tipster. With the body exhumation she just attended she counted and bagged 206 bones, in other words all bones accounted for. But strangely when she comes to complete reconstruction of the body, and looks for the most accurate marker she knew could give a positive ID, she finds she is now down to 203 bones. Tempe is then accused of mishandling evidence; she requests that she be allowed back to the site to see if they really had been left behind, but is turned down. When the newest member of the team is allowed to recheck the exhumation site, she remarkably 'discovers' the bones. Missed diagnoses are brought to light by the oh-so-helpful young Dr. Briel, who has insinuated herself into almost everyone's work. Tempe must find out how she could have made an error worthy of a warning that "someone's out to get you". She is also beginning to doubt herself.Cases are suddenly piling up of suspected murders of elderly women, but each died in a different manner, in a different location, and over a period of years. Is there a link or not? Throw in a few old bones dredged from a lake just to bring a little more excitement into the mix and you have a number of mysteries to gnaw on.. ID'ing most will be an almost fruitless job, but Tempe is sure she is up to the task. Teaming up with her detective partner Ryan, they both link up with colleagues and associates in Chicago and other areas over the elderly deaths trying to find a common denominator other than that they are all elderly, but when they arrive in Chicago, Tempe finds herself already in hot water. With all the red herrings, sidetracks, and downright dirty tricks in this book, you just know you are going to enjoy going along for the ride. Who of the many possibilities is out to get Tempe, and just how far will he or she go? In the version of "206 Bones" I'm reviewing, there is an essay with facts and explanations of some of the things Temperance talks about which I found to be very interesting as well. I appreciated learning (in an aside), a bit more about the 1990 "Oka Crisis" that we in the west didn't hear about on the news at the time. The interaction with Tempe's family and Ryan were pure entertainment. Another great forensic mystery by a person who knows what she's talking about, Kathy Reichs.
    • 5/5
      I have loved this series from the very start, even though some of the forensic schtuff 'got into the weeds' in the beginning and I had to do some skimming...yes, I admit it....but the story and characters have always been superbly strong and wonderfully written, so I didn't give up on the books even when I kept asking, "What was that middle part again?". Reichs has eased up on the uber-in the weeds speak, but still imparts the action in the morgue or forensic anthropology lab and moves the story along. This one had me wanting to first hug Tempe and then smack the person who was throwing fire her way and causing the public and the people in charge to doubt her abilities after all that she's done. She even started doubting herself and that just pissed me off. No one does that to Tempe, dammit! I liked the back and forth in time, from her captivity and trying to figure out what has happened to her to be in this predicament, to the going back a few months to tell the story. I can sometimes get lost when the author does this to the story, but not this time. It's handled really well and almost necessary to tell the tale. This is five not in the weeds beans.....
    • 4/5
      Tempe's in deep trouble (surprise). Coming to in a dank, dark place, she tries to reconstruct how she landed in this predicament. Succeeding chapters fill in the backstory, intermittently bringing the reader back to the heroine in her current pickle. The technique did ramp up the tension, as with each chapter the reader wonders, is *now* when the bad guy(s) nab her?As usual Tempe juggles several cases of dead people and her usual yes/no/I really shouldn't feelings toward hero-hunk Andrew Ryan, a detective. Blessedly, the romantic ditherings take up less space than in previous editions of the bones saga, and the chapters in which Tempe visits her sort-of-ex-in-laws near Chicago are excellent. I laughed out loud while listening to the audioversion as Ryan and Pete's brother-in-law joked around.The plot generally kept up a nice steady speed, though Kathy Reichs does a bit too much repetition of vics' names and circumstances. Most readers really can keep up without continual reminders. And she stepped into character (i.e. Tempe's) way too much to make for a readable/believable conclusion. Having Tempe natter on to Ryan about the importance of board certification of anthropologists blahblahblah and ethics blahblahblah when it (a) seems like preaching to the choir, (b) is something he must already be aware of, having spent oodles of time with Tempe, and (c) is totally anticlimactic, lets down the faithful reader. Better that Reichs contain the lecture to the essay that follows the book. Speaking of which, I found it odd in her mentioning of the Innocence Project that the Northwestern U. alum neglected to say it was NU J-school prof David Protess who originated the effort to reexamine old cases based on new DNA evidence.
    • 5/5
      Whoa, followed closely by wow.To start with the bad, it was a little preachy, but, I sorta guessed that it might be when I saw it was dedicated to the various American boards of sciences that certify the scientists who analyze our forensic info. I don't disagree that they're wicked important, they're great and awesome too. And it didn't totally distract from the story, it wasn't focused preaching, it just seemed to run through the whole story, as a sort of secondary theme.Other than that I th ought it was a great book. I always think it's a positive sign when, as a reader, you want to knock the antagonistic characters over the head with a baseball bat (even those who aren't the 'bad guy' or 'bad gal' and are just annoying. And that happened more than once in this novel.What's the most interesting thing about this book and Kathy Reichs' more recent Temperance Brennan books is how much the Temperance Brennan of the TV show "Bones" and the Temperance Brennan of the books are getting closer and closer in characterization. I'm not sure if it's on purpose, or not, or what, but it is an interesting phenomenon for someone (me) who likes both the books and the TV show for both their differences and their similarities. And it will be interesting to see if it keeps happening in the next novel (Spider Bones).
    • 4/5
      206 Bones offers its readers a double-layered plot with a different feel than other entries in this series because this time this time the secondary threat comes from within, and has a cold feel that comes from the pettiness of the treachery. In this book, we are introduced to more of Brennan's family, who are all the more interesting for being her soon-to-be-ex husband's relations who endearingly refuse to relinquish their binds with Brennan for a little thing such as an impending divorce.The admirable endurance of those bonds serves to highlight the later betrayals with which Brennan must contend as she helps to track a serial killer who preys on older women. Reich's temporal switch-backs heighten the suspense, and I confess to being happy that Brennan and Ryan seem to be back together at the end.
    • 4/5
      I have read all of Kathy Reichs' books and always find them a quick engaging read. I'm a sucker for the science, which Reichs does particularly well, and I like the colourful setting of Montreal. Temperance Brennan is a strong professional woman who has a tendency towards the melodramatic and, at times, the dialogue is too clever for its own good.
    • 4/5
      Another excellent book in the Temperance Brennan series. This time, Temp is the target of a hate campaign intended to oust her from her beloved post in the north. There has been a series of murders of elderly women in the area which Temp and Ryan attempt to solve. There is also the recovery of 4 poorly preserved skeletons which challenges her efforts to identify them. Is Temp losing her touch or is there someone trying to ruin her reputation as a forensic anthropologist? She finds herself in a very dangerous situation as she tries to find the answers to her questions.There are side-issues with her nutty neighbour and things seem to be looking up with Andrew Ryan. All in all a good read.
    • 3/5
      My first Reichs read. Being as claustrophobic as I am, I had a hard time with the subject matter (NO SPOILERS). I also felt that she was trying to politicize her obvious bias about the professional credentials required for various forensic experts. I'll read another one before passing judgment on the series.Basically, Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, is working various cases in Montreal and in North Carolina. (I gather our heroine bi-locates). When bad calls appear in her examinations and reports, she sets out to discover who or what may be sabotaging her good name. There is a love (on again, off again?) interest with a detective named Ryan, a wonderful cat and a snarky neighbor. The lineup is good, the plot was well developed, and without the campaigning it would have been an enjoyable read.