Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt is a 2006 psychology book written for a non-academic audience, with insights that remain relevant today. Haidt takes 10 classic great ideas from Eastern and Western philosophy and applies these to modern life, while adding context from contemporary psychology. Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He re...

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever…” Ultimately, stories have emotional power over us, and great stories stay with us for a lifetime. Haig’s charming style made this listen impossible to put down. And, although it covers some heavy subject matter, The Midnight Library is an easy listen beautifully narrated by British actress Carey Mulliga...

All of us have experienced unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a breakup, or a job loss. These experiences can be deeply lonely and confusing. I’m reviewing this book because I’m thinking of all the people I know living through what may feel like one of the most difficult winters of our lifetimes. Katherine May is a New York Times bestselling author; she prev...

In this extended episode, I sit down with author Tom James to chat about his hilarious and thought-provoking book, Your Children Are Boring: How Modern Parents Ruin Everything , which delves into society's obsession with children and parenting and the potential consequences of this. Our conversation touches on how modern parenthood aligns to identity politics, the pitfalls of performing parenthood...

One Goodreads reviewer gave this book three stars out of five, criticizing it as a “Love Letter to Listening” (but lacking tips of how to listen better). This same rationale is exactly why I’m giving this title five out of five stars. The fact is, most of us know perfectly well what listening skills are, but we’re not practicing good listening habits because we don’t value listening enough, author...

Have you ever felt conflicted about the phrase “follow your passion”, or hesitated to try something new because you were already invested in another endeavour? Range offers a fresh take on what success looks like. David Epstein is the author of the #1 New York Times best seller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, and of the bestseller The Sports Gene. He has master's degrees in...

This extended episode is also available as an article on medium.com and shares insights taken from some of the audiobooks about listening I've reviewed on my podcast .  Want to add lasting value at work and in personal relationships? In our attention economy , being a good listener helps you stand out for the right reasons. If we want to build rapport, trust, and collaborative productivity af...

Do you feel overwhelmed by data and news about climate change? A Life on Our Planet offers some powerful reasons for optimism.  Sir David Attenborough is an English broadcaster and natural historian. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural history documentary series forming the Life collection that together constitute a c...

What does it mean to be American – and is it possible for Americans to unite in a common cause unrelated to war or terrorism?  Barack Obama's unwavering vision of American Exceptionalism is not new; it’s been a feature of his rhetoric since he entered politics, but it’s significant that he doesn’t overtly define what it is NOT. This open-ended approach undoubtedly helped win him votes, but th...

The November 2018 fire that levelled the towns of Paradise and Concow was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world that year. Named the Camp Fire, after its place of origin on Camp Creek Road, the fire was ignited by a faulty electric transmission line, and claimed 85 lives, and displaced more than 50,000 people, lead...

Which habits are keeping you from being a great communicator? Julian Treasure is the chair of the Sound Agency, a firm that advises worldwide businesses – offices, retailers, airports – on how to design sound in their physical spaces and communication. How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening , based on his TED Talk , offers practical exercises to improve communication skills a...

Modern marriage and politics have nothing over the royal court of King Henry VIII. The Wolf Hall Trilogy includes Wolf Hall, Bring up the Bodies (both read by Simon Vance) and The Mirror & the Light , read by Joseph Kloska. These titles represent more than 15 years of extensive research and superb writing by English writer Dame Hilary Mary Mantel. The trilogy covers the rise and fall of Thomas...

“The effort to try to feel happy is often precisely the thing that makes us miserable.” ― Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking is a witty, fascinating, and counterintuitive listen / read that turns decades of self-help advice on its head and forces us to rethink completely our attitudes toward failure, uncertainty, and death. Oliver Burkeman in The...

What if you already have absolutely everything you need to feel satisfied (and even joyful!) about your life? Stoic philosophy is based on the idea that satisfaction in life, also described as tranquility, rests on our ability to accept and ultimately embrace life as it is, no matter who or where we are. As William B Irvine sums it up, "to be satisfied with little is not a failing, it is a blessin...

While forgery and deception are intrinsically linked to the human condition, the information age in which we live is increasingly moving toward what author and broadcaster Nina Schick describes as the infocalypse, a point in the not-too-distant-future when it will become impossible to tell what is real and what is fake in the media we consume. Over the last decade, Nina has cultivated her expertis...

Heroes is the second book in Stephen Fry’s Greek Mythology trilogy; the first book, Mythos , which I also reviewed, focuses on gods and other immortals in Greek mythology, while Heroes focuses on mortals with exceptional abilities, although most have direct connection to the gods, including Perseus, Heracles, Bellerophon, Orpheus, Jason, Atalanta, Oedipus, and Theseus. About the author: Stephen Jo...

Have you ever ordered something you enjoyed so much at a restaurant that you tried making it yourself at home? Well, I have, and although I never quite succeeded in replicating David Chang’s Ginger Scallion noodles from Momofuku Noodle Bar, I’m glad I can share highlights from his autobiography in this review. David Chang is an American restaurateur, author, and television personality. He is the f...

Don’t let the young adult (YA) fiction marketing fool you, this autobiographical story is unforgettable (and much appreciated!) by those with some life experience. Daniel, the author and narrator, flees from Iran as a small child, detours through a refugee camp in Italy, then winds up in middle school in Oklahoma, where he puts on his best impression of legendary storyteller Scheherazade in the tr...

“Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question” – Yuval Noah Harari What is the right thing to do when confronting a completely unprecedented situation? How should we act when we’re flooded by enormous amounts of information, and there is absolutely no way we can absorb and analyze it all?  21 Lessons is Harari’s attempt to make sense of humanity’...

Would you like to have more productive conversations with people who think differently than you or strongly disagree with you? Hint: it’s unlikely to happen online. While many fear that conversations about politics, religion, and values are a futile endeavour these days, this audiobook may encourage you to persevere in your attempts to connect with others who hold what might seem to be intractable...

“You don’t have to choose between being scientific and being compassionate.” -- Robert M. Sapolsky  Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Stanford's School of Medicine. He is also a research associate at the Institute of Primate Research operated by the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi and a recip...

Has public conversation about racism stalled because we’re limited by the language we use? In Caste , Isabel Wilkerson sets out to reframe how we think about and discuss systemic and structural racism. “Of all the books I’ve chosen for book club over the decades, there isn’t another that is more essential a read than this one." – Oprah Winfrey, Oprah's Book Club pick Isabel Wilkerson is an America...

Healthcare professional, musician, and actor Michael Bafuma sought new creative outlets during the Covid-19 shutdown, so he decided to try his hand at audiobook recording through ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange platform). In this extended interview episode, Mike reveals how he got started, his favourite performance aspects of narration, audiobook titles he recommends, and how recording an audiobo...

This episode goes out to all the listeners who asked me to review fiction on the Audiobook Reviews in 5 Podcast! Tana French is one of my favourite living fiction writers; her mastery of psychological suspense has me hooked (in this episode I reveal the only fiction audiobook title I’ve listened to THREE times, because it’s THAT good). The voice actors who narrate Tana French audiobook titles make...

Have the events of 2020 made you redefine or question the concept of work-life balance? According to David Whyte, the concept of striving to find balance between our personal and work lives is a case of misapplying and misunderstanding how we relate to the world and to ourselves. David Whyte is an English poet known for his work and speaking engagements in the business world focused on exploring t...