Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes
By Janna
Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes Mar 29, 2020
Bonus: Access Ideas podcast episode #1: What Drives Our Obsession with HBO’s Succession?
Subscribe to the Access Ideas podcast on all podcast streaming platforms. You can expect ad-free, entertaining and informative episodes on a variety of topics throughout 2022.
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What drives our fascination with the fictional Roy family? HBO's Succession follows the dysfunctional owners of Waystar RoyCo, a global media and entertainment conglomerate, who are fighting for control of the company amid uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox).
Succession's ringtone-worthy musical theme, stellar writing, and acting make it an obvious winner. This episode of Access Ideas takes a closer look at some details that take it from good to great TV territory, including Shakespearean themes, observational cinematography, and oh-so-subtle costume design.
Connect with Access Ideas:
- Rate and review us on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/access-ideas-3675816
- Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AccessIdeasPodcast
Audio production: The Podcast Distillery.co
Episode music: Kid Kodi by Skittle and These Times by The Pine Barrens from sessions.blue
Reference to Thomas Flight: The Succession Character You Never See (YouTube)
Coming soon: Access Ideas podcast begins January 18, 2022
Are you an ideas enthusiast or collector? Our new podcast, Access Ideas, expands on a few familiar areas of interest and explores questions you didn’t know you had, such as can Jane Austen novels serve as escapist fantasy, why is sleep science so controversial, and what drives our obsession with HBO’s Succession? You can expect ad-free, entertaining and informative episodes on a variety of topics throughout 2022. Join me, your host Janna, for the first episodes of Access Ideas starting January 19, 2022 – you can access our episodes completely free on all major podcast streaming services.
Trailer music credit: Kid Kodi by Skittle from sessions.blue
Top 2021 Reviews: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
My favourite audiobook of 2021! Oliver Burkeman is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking (2012) and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done (2011), a collection of columns for the Guardian newspaper.
Four Thousand Weeks is about making the most of our radically finite lives in a world of impossible demands, relentless distraction and political insanity (and 'productivity techniques' that mainly just make everyone feel busier).
“This is the most important book ever written about time management. Oliver Burkeman offers a searing indictment of productivity hacking and profound insights on how to make the best use of our scarcest, most precious resource. His writing will challenge you to rethink many of your beliefs about getting things done—and you’ll be wiser because of it” —ADAM GRANT, author of Think Again and host of WorkLife
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55717229-four-thousand-weeks
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· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was previously published in August 2021
Top 2021 Reviews: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
Looking for a gripping TRUE story that's impossible to put down? 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 a history, too; he first published his findings in a 2017 New Yorker article, The Family That Built an Empire of Pain.
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in June 2021
Top 2021 Reviews: High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
“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 American Mind
Amanda Ripley is an investigative journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. She’s spent her career trying to make sense of complicated human mysteries, from what happens to our brains in a disaster to how some countries manage to educate virtually all their kids to think for themselves. Her first book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why, was published in 15 countries and turned into a PBS documentary. Her next book, The Smartest Kids in the World—and How They Got That Way, was a New York Times bestseller. Amanda’s most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, published by Simon & Schuster in April 2021.
In her books and magazine writing, Amanda combines storytelling with data to help illuminate hard problems—and solutions. To do this, she usually follows people who have been through some kind of a transformation—including the survivors of hurricanes and plane crashes, American teenagers who have gone to high school in other countries and people who were bewitched by toxic conflicts and managed to break free. (from https://www.amandaripley.com/about-amanda)
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55713052-high-conflict
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Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in May 2021
Top 2021 Reviews: Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer
One of my top audiobook listens for 2021. 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 Craving to Quit).
Based on the success of these programs in the lab, he co-founded MindSciences, Inc. to create app-based digital therapeutic versions of these programs for a wider audience, working with individuals, corporations, and hospital systems to put effective, evidence-based behavior change guidance in the hands of people struggling with unwanted behaviors and “everyday addictions.”
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55628986-unwinding-anxiety
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in April 2021
Top 2021 Reviews: How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, by Bill Gates, read by Wil Wheaton
One of my top audiobook listens for 2021. 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 zero emissions by 2050.
What you can do to fight climate change: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/What-you-can-do-to-fight-climate-change
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in March 2021
Top 2021 Reviews: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, read by Carey Mulligan
“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 Mulligan, who brings Nora’s character to life in so many different contexts.
Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir, Reasons to Stay Alive, was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book, A Boy Called Christmas, was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library, which also won the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54744876-the-midnight-library
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in February 2021
Top 2021 Reviews: You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy
One of my top audiobook listens for 2021! 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 Kate Murphy is passionately determined to change that.
Picked by the Observer, Stylist, and Waterstones as a best non-fiction book for 2020 and nominated for a 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for nonfiction.
Kate Murphy is a Houston, Texas–based journalist who has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Agence France-Presse, and Texas Monthly. Her eclectic and widely shared pieces have explored an extraordinary range of topics including health, technology, science, design, art, aviation, business, finance, fashion, dining, travel, and real estate.
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in January 2021
Review of There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century by Fiona Hill
Fiona Hill is director of the Center on the United States and Europe, and senior fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. Growing up in England’s coal-mining country, Fiona Hill knew that she was in a forgotten place. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father told her to get out—to go to London, or Europe, or America. “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said.
Hill managed to go further than her father ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served on the National Security Council. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the US, she saw grim reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from systemic collapse. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and explains that only by expanding opportunity can we save our democracy.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59246374-there-is-nothing-for-you-here
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall & Douglas Abrams
Dr. Jane Goodall DBE is an ethologist and environmentalist. From infancy she was fascinated by animal behavior, and in 1957 at 23 years old, she met the famous paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey while she was visiting a friend in Kenya. Impressed by her passion for animals, he
offered her the chance to be the first person to study chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, in the wild. And so three years later Jane traveled from England to what is now Tanzania and, equipped with only a notebook, binoculars, and determination to succeed, ventured into the then unknown world of wild chimpanzees.
Jane Goodall’s research at Gombe National Park has given us an in-depth understanding of chimpanzee behavior. The research continues, but in 1986, realizing the threat to chimpanzees throughout Africa, Jane traveled to six study sites. She learned first-hand not only about the problems facing chimpanzees, but also about those facing so many Africans living in poverty. She realized that only by helping local communities find ways of making a living without destroying the environment could chimpanzees be saved. Since then Jane has traveled the world raising awareness and learning about the threats we all face today, especially climate change and loss of biodiversity. The author of many books for adults and children and featured in countless documentaries and articles, Jane has reached millions around the world with her lectures, podcasts and writings. She was appointed as a UN Messenger of Peace, is a Dame of the British Empire, and has received countless honors from around the world.
Douglas Abrams is the New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the first book in the Global Icons Series. Douglas is also the founder and president of Idea Architects, a literary agency and media development company helping visionaries to create a wiser, healthier, and more just world. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.
Bios copied from The Book of Hope PDF supplement (Audible)
The Jane Goodall Hopecast: https://janegoodall.ca/the-hopecast-jane-goodalls-podcast/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58603636-the-book-of-hope
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Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Repeat listen: Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
One of my top audiobook listens for 2021! 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-quiz/
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Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist and TED speaker who helps people find meaning and motivation at work. Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for 7 straight years. As an organizational psychologist, he is a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning, and live more generous and creative lives. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 under 40.
He is the author of 4 New York Times bestselling books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages: Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. His books have been named among the year’s best by Amazon, Apple, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal and praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard Branson, Bill and Melinda Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Kahneman, and Malala Yousafzai. (bio taken from https://www.adamgrant.net/about/biography/)
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56789923-think-again
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in February 2021
Classic literature as audiobook: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, read by Maggie Gyllenhaal
Can the audiobook format add something of value to classic literature? Leo Tolstoy's epic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature and famously begins with the line “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31188265-anna-karenina
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Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Repeat listen: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, written by Katherine May and read by Rebecca Lee
One of my top audiobook listens for 2021! 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 previously published The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic. Her fiction includes The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is also the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Observer and Aeon. She lives in Whitstable, UK with her husband, son, three cats and a dog.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56171009-wintering
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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This episode was first released in January 2021
Review of Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health, written and read by Professor David Nutt
Professor David Nutt is a neuropsychopharmacologist and researcher at Imperial College London. In 2009, he was infamously dismissed from his role as Chair of the United Kingdom’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The reason was his public stance that illicit drugs should be classified according to the actual evidence of the harm they cause. Most controversial of all was his claim that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than LSD, ecstasy or cannabis. So you might expect him to be a prohibitionist, but that’s not so. In fact, he owns a wine bar. But for the last 30 years, he’s also campaigned for better public health policy when it comes to alcohol.
Nutt is on a mission to explain the most significant alcohol-related research findings from the last 50 years. What I enjoyed most about his pragmatic approach is that he explains the impact of ANY amount of alcohol consumption. This is about making informed decisions, not moral judgements. He clarifies the differences that various levels of alcohol consumption have on our mental health, sleep, hormones, fertility, and propensity toward addiction.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53023321-drink
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Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Projections: A Story of Human Emotions by Karl Deisseroth, read by Karl Deisseroth, Natalie Naudus, Karen Chilton
Karl Deisseroth has spent his life researching the human mind, both as a renowned clinical psychiatrist and as a researcher creating and developing the revolutionary field of optogenetics, which uses light to help decipher the brain’s workings. Projections is promoted as a work that combines his knowledge of the brain’s inner circuitry with a deep empathy for his patients in order to examine what mental illness reveals about the human mind and the origin of human feelings.
Huberman Lab podcast: Dr. Karl Deisseroth: Understanding & Healing the Mind | Episode 26 https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/huberman-lab/id1545953110?i=1000527090209
Mind & Matter podcast with Nick Jikomes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/karl-deisseroth-psychiatry-autism-depression-anxiety/id1546557228?i=1000534177882
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57958898-projections
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Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization by Edward Slingerland, read by Tom Parks
Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy Edward Slingerland makes a bold claim in his new book in that overall and over the course of history, alcohol has produced net positive benefits for both individuals and cultures, or our taste for it would have been eliminated by genetic or cultural evolution (given its heavy costs). We would not have civilization without intoxication, because alcohol provides the necessary lubrication to our complex social needs. In Slingerland’s words, “It is no accident that, in the brutal competition of cultural groups from which civilizations emerged, it is the drinkers, smokers and trippers who emerged triumphant”.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55643282-drunk
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Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Things I Learned from Falling by Claire Nelson
Things I learned from Falling is promoted as a memoir by Claire Nelson, who shares how she fell over 25 feet after wandering off the trail in a deserted corner of Joshua Tree Park. The fall shattered her pelvis, rendering her immobile. She lay in a canyon for the next four days, exposed to the relentless California sun. Her rescuers had not expected to find her alive.
What the publisher promotion does not say, is that Nelson didn’t tell anyone she was going hiking in the desert, and although she had her cell phone, she didn’t have a source of backup coverage. For me, the burning question was not how she survived, but why did she put herself into that predicament to begin with?
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56626489-things-i-learned-from-falling
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Dr. Anna Lembke
Anna Lembke is the medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine, program director for the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. She is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding research in mental illness, for excellence in teaching, and for clinical innovation in treatment. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries in prestigious outlets such as The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55723020-dopamine-nation
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir, Reasons to Stay Alive, was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book A Boy Called Christmaswas a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans, and the number one bestseller, The Midnight Library.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55825273-the-comfort-book
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· Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews
· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Oliver Burkeman is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking (2012) and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done (2011), a collection of columns for the Guardian newspaper.
Four Thousand Weeks is about making the most of our radically finite lives in a world of impossible demands, relentless distraction and political insanity (and 'productivity techniques' that mainly just make everyone feel busier).
“This is the most important book ever written about time management. Oliver Burkeman offers a searing indictment of productivity hacking and profound insights on how to make the best use of our scarcest, most precious resource. His writing will challenge you to rethink many of your beliefs about getting things done—and you’ll be wiser because of it” —ADAM GRANT, author of Think Again and host of WorkLife
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55717229-four-thousand-weeks
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
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 appreciation for plants during pandemic life. If you’re a fan of Pollan’s writing like I am, you’ll notice that This is Your Mind on Plants feels familiar; it’s a bit like the approach Pollan took in his 2001 book, The Botany of Desire, which links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58026061-this-is-your-mind-on-plants
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Critique and Compare: How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera vs. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. van der Kolk
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 popular audiobooks published this year, linked through Goodreads, below:
How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self by Nicole LePera, Courtney Patterson (narrator)
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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*Apologies for the mispronunciation of Dr. LePera's name in this episode!
Review of Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green, read by David Pittu
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 salacious sensationalism and the killer’s notoriety. Instead, he focuses much more on the victims of crime, especially their personalities and lives. I’ve done the same in my review and left out the name of the killer, which is easily found on Google. While some people might find that annoying, I found it makes Green’s audiobook a more interesting, memorable listen and importantly, it puts the focus back on the victims instead of lending notoriety to a killer.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57603864-last-call
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard
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 noticed these were often yellowed and failed to thrive. Simard had a strong hunch that the clear-cutting practices that isolated plant species were to blame for this, but she needed proof. She learned how to design and conduct experiments, and this part of her story was especially well explained for those of us unfamiliar with how experiments are designed for academic review. Simard’s excitement about her work feels almost contagious in her reading, so I was quickly swept up in her story.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54976983-finding-the-mother-tree
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green
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 biodiversity, for example, and yet not powerful enough to save those we love from suffering.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58089186-the-anthropocene-reviewed
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· Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews
· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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A conversation with Elena Iacono: What insights can we bring to our post-pandemic lives?
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 lovingly replicated her Nonna’s cherished recipes in a cookbook, which she used to raise more than $60,000 for Food Banks Canada, roughly the equivalent of 200,000 meals.
Elena and I share a love of non-fiction, especially evidence-based work about well-being and managing mental health. Our conversation includes highlights of our favourite recent books, our reflections on leaving the pandemic with new insights about what it means to care for ourselves, and the power of curiosity and our environment to lift our spirits.
Follow Elena on Instagram @ epiacono
Sign up for Elena’s newsletter: https://www.elenaiacono.com/
Elena recommends:
· Mental Health Commission of Canada (resource hub)
· Canadian Mental Health Association
· The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature by Sue Stuart-Smith
· Second Nature: A Gardener's Education by Michael Pollan
Books we mention during this podcast:
· The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
· Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer
· Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life by Francesca Gino
· The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone
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· Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews
· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab
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 workplaces. Boundaries are not merely saying “no” to others or ourselves. Boundaries include a number of behaviours that Tawwab outlines very clearly, including communication, but also how we handle time, money, and even hygiene.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55782639-set-boundaries-find-peace
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· Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews
· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone – A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb, read by Brittany Pressley
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.goodreads.com/book/show/44801538-maybe-you-should-talk-to-someone
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· Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews
· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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A conversation with Lucas Cantor, host of the Book Society podcast
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 hosts his own show, the Book Society podcast, which features weekly conversations with fascinating guests from diverse backgrounds.
Lucas and I are both passionate about great storytelling and history. Our conversation today includes friendly disagreements about Malcolm Gladwell’s Bomber Mafia, frequent references to Middlemarch by George Eliot, and the dynamics and design of audiobooks and podcasting. Lucas also mentions a few words about his June 11th podcast conversation with Water Rights lawyer and journalist, Zach Smith.
Subscribe to the Book Society podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-society/id1565589623
Contact Lucas Cantor: https://www.lucascantormusic.com/
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· Anchor: https://anchor.fm/audiobookreviews
· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Music credit: "Sneaky Snitch" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Review of Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
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 a history, too; he first published his findings in a 2017 New Yorker article, The Family That Built an Empire of Pain.
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills by Jesse Singal
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.
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· Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing written and read by Oprah Winfrey, Bruce D. Perry
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, and other hallmarks of a rough childhood. According to the Adverse Childhood Experiences study, the rougher your childhood, the higher your score is likely to be and the higher your risk for later health problems. Take the ACE test: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57638518-what-happened-to-you
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- Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes website: https://podcast.jannastam.com/
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jannastam
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell
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 company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56668328-the-bomber-mafia
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't by Julia Galef
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.
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
“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 American Mind
Amanda Ripley is an investigative journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. She’s spent her career trying to make sense of complicated human mysteries, from what happens to our brains in a disaster to how some countries manage to educate virtually all their kids to think for themselves. Her first book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—and Why, was published in 15 countries and turned into a PBS documentary. Her next book, The Smartest Kids in the World—and How They Got That Way, was a New York Times bestseller. Amanda’s most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, published by Simon & Schuster in April 2021.
In her books and magazine writing, Amanda combines storytelling with data to help illuminate hard problems—and solutions. To do this, she usually follows people who have been through some kind of a transformation—including the survivors of hurricanes and plane crashes, American teenagers who have gone to high school in other countries and people who were bewitched by toxic conflicts and managed to break free. (from https://www.amandaripley.com/about-amanda)
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55713052-high-conflict
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer
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 Craving to Quit).
Based on the success of these programs in the lab, he co-founded MindSciences, Inc. to create app-based digital therapeutic versions of these programs for a wider audience, working with individuals, corporations, and hospital systems to put effective, evidence-based behavior change guidance in the hands of people struggling with unwanted behaviors and “everyday addictions.”
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55628986-unwinding-anxiety
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism by Mariana Mazzucato, read by Lexie McDougal
“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 of the New School for Social Research. Her previous posts include the RM Phillips Professorial Chair at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University. She is a selected fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and of the Italian National Science Academy (Lincei).
She is winner of international prizes including the 2020 John von Neumann Award, the 2019 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values, and the 2018 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. She was named as one of the ‘3 most important thinkers about innovation’ by The New Republic, one of the 50 most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company, and one of the 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism by WIRED.
She is the author of three highly-acclaimed books: The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths (2013), The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018) and the newly released, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021). (bio taken from https://marianamazzucato.com/about)
Kara Swisher’s March 15, 2021 podcast conversation with Mariana Mazzucato on Sway: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-mariana-mazzucato.html
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52745048-mission-economy
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
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 ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion. Entangled Life is his first book. (from merlinsheldrake.com)
Watch Oyster mushrooms consume Merlin Sheldrake’s book: https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/videos
** Sunday Times bestseller ** BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week ** British Book Awards Shortlist ** Rathbones Folio Prize Longlist ** Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist ** Richard Jeffries Society Literary Prize Shortlist ** André Simon Award Longlist ** The Times audiobook of the year in the category of 'authors voicing their own work' **
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53813848-entangled-life
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere by Tsedal Neeley, read by Marisha Tapera
Neeley’s award-winning book, The Language of Global Success: How a Common Tongue Transforms Multinational Organizations, chronicles the behind-the-scenes globalization process of a company over the course of five years. She has also published extensively in leading scholarly and practitioner-oriented outlets such as Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Management Science, Journal of International Business, Strategic Management Journal and Harvard Business Review, and her work has been widely covered in media outlets such as BBC, CNN, Financial Times, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. Her HBS case, Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, is one of the most used cases worldwide on the subject of virtual work. (from tsedal.com)
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/56925006-remote-work-revolution
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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A conversation with Rachel Décoste, author of a Year of Return: a Black Woman’s African Homecoming
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 ancestry. In her own voice, Décoste recounts her journey with vivid imagery and humour – her pan-African trek is peppered with unexpected twists and delightful discoveries.
Buy The Year of Return: A Black Woman’s African Homecoming audiobook: http://www.yearofreturnbook.com/
Rachel Décoste is a writer, educator and social policy expert from Ottawa, Canada. She has been a community activist since her youth, working with organizations including the Children's Aid Society, S.O.S. Montfort Hospital, the Famous 5 Foundation, and the Black Canadian Scholarship Fund. Her commitment includes international activities: she has traveled abroad to provide aid in South and Central Americas and West Africa.
In 2008, Décoste worked on then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign and again in 2012. Décoste lived and worked in Washington, DC, where she honed her socioeconomic policy credentials while managing a national bipartisan tech education initiative on behalf of the United States Congress. She was named to the Top 100 Accomplished Black Canadian women in 2018. Décoste has lectured on diversity and inclusion at several top universities in the USA and Canada. She also offers anti-Black racism workshops for North American corporations and firms. (from racheldecoste.com)
Podcast audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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A conversation with Paul Gewuerz, founder of Made to Order Audio: give the gift of a custom audiobook and commemorate your story
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 Made to Order Audio for $30 off your custom audiobook orders until May 15, 2021
Made to Order Audiobooks: How it Works
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, by Bill Gates, read by Wil Wheaton
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 zero emissions by 2050.
What you can do to fight climate change: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/What-you-can-do-to-fight-climate-change
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel
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 Harvard course to be made freely available online and on television. It has been viewed by tens of millions of people around the world, including in China, where Sandel was named the “most influential foreign figure of the year.” (China Newsweek).
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50364458-the-tyranny-of-merit
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, read by Dylan Moore
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 Montreal before relocating to New York.
She is the author of five novels, including The Glass Hotel (spring 2020) and Station Eleven (2014.) Station Eleven was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, won the Morning News Tournament of Books, and has been translated into 34 languages.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49119123-the-glass-hotel
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
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-quiz/
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Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist and TED speaker who helps people find meaning and motivation at work. Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for 7 straight years. As an organizational psychologist, he is a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning, and live more generous and creative lives. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 under 40.
He is the author of 4 New York Times bestselling books that have sold millions of copies and been translated into 35 languages: Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. His books have been named among the year’s best by Amazon, Apple, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal and praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard Branson, Bill and Melinda Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Kahneman, and Malala Yousafzai. (bio taken from https://www.adamgrant.net/about/biography/)
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56789923-think-again
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, written by Jonathan Haidt, read by Ryan Vincent Anderson
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 received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, and taught for 16 years in the department of psychology at the University of Virginia.
Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures––including the cultures of American progressive, conservatives, and libertarians. Haidt is the author of three books: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom; The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; and The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (co-authored with Greg Lukianoff). The last two books each became New York Times bestsellers.
At NYU-Stern, he is applying his research on moral psychology to business ethics, asking how companies can structure and run themselves in ways that will be resistant to ethical failures (see EthicalSystems.org). He is also the co-founder of HeterodoxAcademy.org, a collaboration among nearly 2500 professors who are working to increase viewpoint diversity and freedom of inquiry in universities. From https://jonathanhaidt.com/bio/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24853310-the-happiness-hypothesis
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, read by Carey Mulligan
“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 Mulligan, who brings Nora’s character to life in so many different contexts.
Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir, Reasons to Stay Alive, was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book, A Boy Called Christmas, was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library, which also won the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54744876-the-midnight-library
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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Review of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times written by Katherine May and read by Rebecca Lee
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 previously published The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic. Her fiction includes The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is also the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Observer and Aeon. She lives in Whitstable, UK with her husband, son, three cats and a dog.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56171009-wintering
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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A conversation with author Tom James: Does parenting make people better, less selfish members of society?
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 on social media, changing ideals of childhood development, and more.
Your Children Are Boring is a Sauce Materials publication available on Audible and Amazon in the UK, US, Canada and Europe.
Tom James grew up in Essex, his parents were working class Londoners and after leaving school at 16 he worked in London. In 1990, during the first Gulf War he found himself sat on a beach in Tel Aviv (having been asked to leave the kibbutz he was staying at for 'not working'). He read a tatty copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson and had an epiphany.
He decided he would change the course of his life, and attempt to be a writer. He trained as a journalist in the 90s and has spent the last 15 or so years working in a variety of roles in London. However, writing took a back seat.
More recently though, he had a series of creative forays including writing, producing and presenting a successful comedy podcast I Am Idiot, involved in a surprisingly successful comedy cookery book called Fifty Shades of Gravy: The Cookbook, and outings of prose on Medium and PublicHouse Magazine.
Tom lives in leafy Hertfordshire with two cats, and is somehow a godfather to two of his friends' children.
Audio production by Graham Stephenson
Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions
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