3.5 and rounding up.
As someone who studied a number of acting methods in my BFA program, I found this to be a nice combination of many that I personally found very helpful.

If you just breaking into the industry, this a very approachable guide to navigating scripts, productions, and auditions.

I am not a huge fan of audiobooks for texts like this because I like to annotate, so between that and the audio quality of this (the audio sounded very compressed and low volume), I would not recommend the audio version unless it's the only way you'll be able to read it.

***Thank you to ECW Press Audio for providing me with a copy of the audiobook for free via NetGalley for an unbiased review.

Having worked in the entertainment industry most of my adult life, I'm always interested in books by others in the profession, seeking to share their experiences and expertise. David Rotenberg gives his advice and shares his experiences here, and I'm sure many actors can benefit greatly from what he has to share.

I'll admit that the early part of the book, to me, wandered a bit. At times, it felt a bit too academic for my taste. The later part of the book, though, is chock-full of advice that could have a profound impact on someone's career. Even if you don't agree with everything, it's imperative to hear what people in the industry have to say, from varying approaches. Rotenberg strives to give actors the tools to present their best selves in auditions and in their work- whether it be film or stage.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good handbook for some acting methods, but I couldn't get over how unlikeable the author comes across through the text. One of the bizarre things he keeps mentioning is how it's an actor's duty to become present, and if they do it in a self-harmful way, that's nobody else's business. I think this "creatives that are also being self-destructive for better art" narrative is harmful to society and not based on any type of research or actual value. It basically reduces to, "look at all these people who were brilliant that were also on drugs" and that is a correlation, not causation. The author kept harping on this. I'm sorry, but I don't think it makes you a better teacher to be encouraging people to become present by any means necessary. A lot of naive or determined people will think this is the gospel. Acting is all well and good, but not at the expense of your well-being.

Other than that, I also just think most of the author's random asides were weird, offputting, or rude. That said, I did enjoy the actual analysis of how to apply acting methods. It's shorter than many other books on the subject, but not without value. It wouldn't be the first book I suggested on the subject, but anybody would be able to pick up a few tips from this book.

It's always fascinating to listen to an expert talk about a field that you have little to no adult experience in. This book is intended to be an advanced manual for actors; it has a simplified and very interesting set of techniques for being present, accessing emotions to get in the headspace of a character, and thinking about relationships ad motivations to give character interactions more life. It sounds like the end goals is to have a committed, naturalistic performance, but this isn't method acting (for reasons I don't have enough background on to really understand).

The author has a great voice and really knows his stuff, even when it sometimes fees a little kooky. But such is the power of his teaching that by the end of the book I was nodding my head and thinking it all made perfect sense!

There were also several anecdotes about the business of showbusiness, the differences between stage and TV/Film acting, and a very long section on casting and how to deal with casting agents when you may not match their stereotypes of the role (or match another stereotype of theirs too well).

I'm never going to try to act in LA (or even Vancouver of Atlanta)(or even community theater), but this was a really interesting look at what actors think about when then work on their craft and art.