I was doing the audio book and stopped about halfway through. It was a very well layed out and explained narrative of the history of the Renaissance in Italy but the audio book format is just not good for a book this dense. There was too much information for me to keep track between all the various families and political factions and assists. When I have the time to read it I'll go back to it but I need the ability to flip back a chapter or two easily for a refresher on who various people are.

Overall if you are interested in Renaissance history, politics, or art I would recommend the book but not the audio book. It got into a lot of detail on all the mid level players in a way I haven't seen previously and does a good job of tying together the way politics influenced art and the daily life of artists and vice versa.