The book itself is academic and humorous. Yiddish is one of those wonderful languages that has words for all occasions and emotions as well as multi-tasking problems and the emotions that come when doing this feat. The book is worth the time to read. However, listening to any audio recording done by the author is worse than chalk screeching on a board or all the kvetching my mother did until I had her grandchildren. Wex reads in a monotone--with emphasis in a monotone (oy vey). This is difficult to do, but it is even more difficult to listen to. His emphasis includes elongating certain words so it is impossible to recognize the word in any language. Also, during the first few minutes of listening, the idea that the tape has been stretched comes to mind. This explains why the words are dragged out or sing songy until you remember that you're listening to a CD. I'm fairly certain Wex pronounces most of the Yiddish correctly depending on what neighborhood you're from in early 20th century Eastern Europe.
Rating: Book -- 5 out of 5 Mazel Tovs Audio of book -- Oy Gevalt the author owes me money for trying to listen to it

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