Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes

Michael Pollan is an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. Pollan’s 2021 book, This is Your Mind on Plants , features three essays about opium, caffeine and mescaline, with a covid-era introduction, highlighting Pollan’s increasing app...

Self-help references on social media seem to be more popular these days, especially as many of us seek to move forward from pandemic life to something new and not quite back to normal. Perhaps it’s that more of us are self-conscious as we venture out into public life, and maybe it’s also that the pandemic gave many of us time to think about our mental health. Today’s episode compares two very popu...

The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, New York City’s high murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost entirely forgotten. This is journalist Elon Green’s first book, and unlike some True Crime authors, Green doesn’t focus on salacio...

Suzanne Simard is a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences and teaches at the University of British Columbia. She was born in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia in 1960. Her family were loggers, so it seemed like a natural fit for her to join a commercial logging company as she started her career. Her job was to check on seedlings planted by the company, but she no...

The Anthropocene Reviewed started out as a podcast, where bestselling author John Green tried to make sense of some of the contradictions of human life – how we can be so compassionate, and yet so cruel. So persistent, yet so quick to despair. Green says that above all, he wanted to understand the contradiction of human power; how we are too powerful in our ability to shape the climate and biodive...

In today’s extended episode, I chat with Elena Iacono. Elena is a professional colleague of mine who helps empower people to support their well-being and mental health, including flexible resources and compassionate workplace practices. Elena has inspired me with her passion for exploring food and gardening. When her grandmother died in April 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, Elena lovin...

Do you struggle with saying no, or simply telling people what you need? Or, are you someone who secretly or not so secretly embraces JOMO, (the joy of missing out)? Nedra Glover Tawwab shares plainly and clearly what many people feel, but many can’t or won’t bring themselves to say. She shares specific, practical advice for any type of relationship, including parenting, romance, friendships, and w...

As many of us adjust to life after a pandemic, Lori Gottlieb’s memoir is a powerful reminder of how we relate to ourselves and others based on the stories we tell ourselves, versus our real-life interactions. Whether you’re interested or experienced in therapy or not, this audiobook contains so many relatable life stories that remind us of what it means to be human. Goodreads: https://www.goodread...

In today’s extended episode, I’m sitting down with Lucas Cantor, a podcaster, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and speaker. He has worked in NBC's music department for eight Olympic Games for which he won two Emmys in 2008 and 2012. He co-produced Lorde's cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World, found on the Hunger Games, Catching Fire Soundtrack. Lucas is also an avid reader. He host...

In his 15-hour audiobook published in April 2021, Keefe captures a family saga that spans the twentieth century and leads up to 2020. Members of the Sackler family founded Purdue Pharma, the infamous maker of OxyContin, a prescription drug that has fuelled an opioid epidemic across North America for the last twenty years. Patrick Radden Keefe’s investigative journalism about the Sackler family has...

In The Quick Fix, author and podcaster Jesse Singal argues that the trendy, TED-Talk-friendly psychological interventions so in vogue right now will never be enough to truly address social injustice and inequality. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53317475-the-quick-fix?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=7XFqZDGRlj&rank=2 Connect with Audiobook Reviews in 5: · Twitter: @j...

What Happened To You is the latest popular psychology book examining the relationship between trauma and behavioural patterns that many of us struggle to understand in ourselves and others. The title suggests we can better understand ourselves and others if we shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” Note: An ACE score is a tally of different types of abuse, neglect, a...

The Bomber Mafia is a fascinating exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war. The production was initially conceived of, from the beginning, as an audiobook. Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content...

Author Julia Galef is the co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality and host of Rationally Speaking, the official podcast of New York City Skeptics. She defines “scout mindset” as the motivation to see things as they are, not as you wish they were – and to be intellectually honest and curious about what's actually true. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42041926-the-scout-minds...

“ This is one of the most important books that will be published in 2021 . The Covid vaccine will soon free humanity from a biological pandemic, and this book, if widely read, could free humanity from an equally deadly scourge—high conflict.” — Jonathan Haidt , Social psychologist, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business, and author CThe Coddling of the Amer...

Dr Judson Brewer is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Brown University . As an addiction psychiatrist and internationally known expert in mindfulness training for treating addictions, Dr. Jud has developed and tested novel mindfulness programs for habit change, including both in-person and app-based treatments for smoking, emotional eating, and anxiety ( Eat Right Now , Unwinding Anxiety and Cr...

“This economist has a plan to fix capitalism. It's time we all listened.” – Wired Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP) . She received her BA from Tufts University and her MA and PhD in Economics from the Graduate Faculty...

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and a writer with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph. D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Merlin’s research r...

Tsedal Neeley (@tsedal) is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Her work focuses on how leaders can scale their organizations by developing and implementing global and digital strategies. She regularly advises top leaders who are embarking on virtual work and large-scale change that involves global expansion, digital transformation, and becoming...

Have you ever explored your ancestry? What did you discover? In her 2021 audiobook, The Year of Return: A Black Woman’s African Homecoming, Rachel Décoste shares her epic odyssey to Africa. Like most descendants of enslaved Africans, Décoste could not pinpoint her origins until technology evolved. Guided by a DNA test, she visited 5 countries in as many months – each country held a piece of her an...

What are the funny or interesting stories from your life? You know, the ones that get retold at every family or friends get together? In this extended episode, I sit down with Paul Gewuerz , the founder of Made to Order Audio , to chat about the art and possibilities of custom audiobooks.  Commission a one of a kind personalized audiobook to commemorate your story: use promo code JANNA at Mad...

Gates identifies the Five Grand Challenges of climate change as manufacturing (31%), electricity (27%), agriculture (19%), transportation (16%), and buildings (7%). Since there’s no single solution for any of these sectors, Gates proposes we speed up the cycle of innovation and attract a mix of private and public investment that is more risk tolerant than we’re used to seeing in order to reach net...

In the Tyranny of Merit, political philosopher Michael Sandel attacks what he calls “the rhetoric of rising” and ideas about meritocracy on both the political left and right in the United States. Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His writings—on justice, ethics, democracy, and markets--have been translated into 27 languages. His course “Justice” is the first Harvar...

The Glass Hotel is like a literary mosaic of tiny pieces taken from various times, locations, and perspectives. I found this initially disorienting, but when the bigger picture started to emerge, I was hooked.  Emily St. John Mandel was born and raised on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. She studied contemporary dance at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Mont...

Think Again is a 21st Century reboot of Enlightenment ideas, celebrating skepticism and science. Adam Grant’s balance of storytelling and statistics is fascinating, but what makes this listen fun is how Grant challenges us to explore our own tendencies and guides us in how to practice rethinking our beliefs. How often do you think again? Take the quiz: https://www.adamgrant.net/quizzes/think-again...