I agree, it is disappointing. When it comes to origin of language questions we are left with very little empirical evidence. All we can do is pull together the data that can be assembled and try to construct theories that are most in line with these data. IMO it will always be an incomplete project. EDIT: It's also a really fun recording to listen to!I understand that a great deal of research and cross-referencing is done, but I can't help but wonder how close these reconstructions really are and it bums me out that we can never know empirically.
I agree. My main gripe with the reading is that it doesn't sound like a native speaker (obviously) but I wonder if it might have been better to get a speaker of a language with similar tones/syllables to do it. Lithuanian perhaps. This sound like someone with a really strong British accent reading something in French, if that makes sense. EDIT - I see others making the same point in the SoundCloud comments.It's also a really fun recording to listen to!