New Reviews: Contemporary Culture

Chris Lintott, British astrophysicist and host of the BBC's "Sky at Night," delivers an engaging performance. He takes listeners through serendipitous discoveries by professional and amateur astronomers. The author's affable hosting style and ease with sharing scientific concepts lend themselves well to a production meant to induce wonder and curiosity. The array of... Read More

In this informative and entertaining audiobook, Erika Howsare uses deer as a way to explore humanity's fraught and constantly shifting relationship with the natural world. Her narration--even, measured, and relatively unobtrusive--suits the book well. Howsare's observations are so nuanced that a dramatic narration would detract from them. She shares fascinating stories,... Read More

NEW YORK TIMES columnist Frank Bruni narrates his persuasive examination of the outrage that currently dominates American discourse with a tone of authority underlying his overall conversational delivery. Bruni's astute observations have a mix of gravitas and wit that keeps this topic from feeling quite so oppressive. His personal and political beliefs collide when he awakens... Read More

Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the interdisciplinary Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, opens and closes this audio production. Her gentle voice is filled with playful curiosity as she sets the stage for Cassandra Campbell's engaging performance. Campbell guides listeners through explorations of the possibility of life on other planets, based on Earth's geological... Read More

Dr. Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid study and extraction mission, invites listeners to delve deeper into the project's early development and ultimate success. Lauretta creates a companionable experience as he conversationally discusses the trajectories of his personal and professional spheres. These include a sky-gazing youth in the Arizona... Read More

Jonathan Vigliotti's experience covering natural disasters for CBS News gives a journalistic feel to his audiobook about disasters' effects on small towns. He warns of more devastation in the future. As his recollections of the sights and smells of devastation in Hawaii take on the urgency of a news report, his descriptions of attempts to escape flames add dramatic emphasis. He... Read More

Aimee Nezhukumatathil's voice is warm and inviting as she performs her essay collection celebrating all things food. In each work, the author, who is Filipina and Malayali Indian, centers her thoughts on one of her favorite foods, giving listeners glimpses of her life. In one essay she connects shave ice with some of the beloved people she's shared it with. In another, she... Read More

Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning poet Mary Oliver has written 15 provocative and thoughtful works of prose on topics ranging from nature to understanding and defining poetry and the fascinating life of the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Narrator Kimberly Farr is earnest and heartfelt; she speaks with clarity and certainty. Her tone is playful; her pitch moves up... Read More

Stephan Watson presents the harrowing true-crime story that marred horse racing's Golden Age. In 1990, Alydar, a great racing stallion, was found in his stall with a broken hind leg. Author Kray, an animal lawyer, believes this injury was not accidental. Alydar's owners were in deep financial trouble, and he was insured for $46.1 million. After the horse recovered, he stumbled... Read More

Jacques Roy adeptly treads the line between measured and conversational in this excellent performance of Higginbotham's investigation of the 1986 CHALLENGER catastrophe. Roy maintains the listener's attention through detailed accounts of the science and engineering underlying the NASA space program while also bringing to life the people involved. We hear the cheerfulness of... Read More

Kirby Heyborne is a lively guide through this history of the world's tallest buildings and discussion of current developments in skyscraper design. Though arguments can be made for why living in them has some drawbacks, the author believes there is much to admire both visually and financially in their evolving role in urban landscapes. And the trend of mixing corporate offices... Read More

Christopher Douyard impressively recounts the meteoric rise and fall of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as told by veteran CHICAGO TRIBUNE reporter Gregory Royal Pratt--and everyday Chicagoans themselves. Listeners meet the Black, gay, extremely confident Lightfoot as she sweeps 70% of votes, based on her campaign promise of ending Chicago's reputation for corruption, racism, and... Read More

Will Cockrell interviews a plethora of Western and Sherpa guides and climbers to illustrate how the business of climbing Mt. Everest has changed. Pete Simonelli's performance is perfect. His voice is slightly gruff yet eminently likable, and he has just the right combination of enthusiasm and notes of wry amusement. Without trying on accents, Simonelli does an excellent job of... Read More

In this philosophical but accessible audiobook, social scientist Brian Klass explains how individual actions fit into the chaotic chain of events that determine what happens in the world. He narrates with pitch and phrasing variations that make these arresting ideas fun to hear. He says the random incidents that can cause world wars or lead to huge life changes are... Read More

Anyone who finishes this audiobook about land use and isn't outraged just wasn't listening closely. When land is treated as a commodity rather than as a historical asset, society and, ultimately, the planet suffer. The author looks at the history and contemporary impact of land-use practices and policies. Golden Voice Bahni Turpin offers a solid, clear narration. She captures... Read More

Andrea Gallo's skillful narration, especially her natural cadence, brings to life the two intertwined narratives of this audiobook on robotics. Her warm presentation personalizes the author's story, which ranges from watching "Lost in Space" as a child in Romania to becoming the director of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Gallo's delivery illuminates the author's... Read More

Questlove is an established musician, musicologist, DJ, and narrator of his latest audiobook. Here, he recounts the fifty-year history of hip-hop with exuberant joy. The result is a fascinating journey from the coastal cities in the early 1970s, where historians believe hip-hop started, to the current state of the art. From the nature of sampling, lyrics, and how music made the... Read More

Prolific American historian and artist Nell Irvin Painter performs a lifetime of her works, gathered together in one collection for the first time. Painter's explorations of race, politics, and the shaping of American identity are covered in these essays, which include figures such as Carrie Buck, who became a symbol of the right to bodily autonomy; journalist/abolitionist... Read More

M.R. O'Connor recalls her surprise when first hearing about controlled burns while visiting Australia, although there isn't much surprise in her voice as she narrates. The Brooklyn journalist got firsthand experience with the prescribed fires that help revitalize forests, joining crews around the U.S. Her narration is a bit rough, and listeners might get bogged down in the... Read More

A sweeping work of nonfiction voiced by six talented narrators, this audiobook tells the stories of immigrants who were detained while trying to enter the U.S. With authentic-sounding voices and accents, the narrators convey real stories of individuals and families and the impact detention in America had on them as they sought new lives. Voicing the accounts of a Central... Read More

Bestselling novelist and memoirist Ann Leary performs her new collection of essays about her life after she decides to stop being a people pleaser. From uncomfortable experiences with neighbors who keep their dogs off-leash to trying to be extra kind to fans of her husband, entertainer Denis Leary, Ann Leary shares her thoughts on aging and moving away from her desire to keep... Read More

With a sincere, somber, and unhurried delivery, theologian Brian McLaren focuses on the climate crisis facing the world, warning that "complacency is a poor survival strategy." Each chapter begins with reflections from a variety of people: scientists, poets, philosophers, religious leaders, and literary figures. Speaking directly to listeners, McLaren ends each chapter with... Read More

Bill Weir is a polished and convincing narrator with a fine voice and a professional delivery honed from his career as a television journalist. As an enthusiastic storyteller, his work with ABC and CNN has taken him around the globe. In this audiobook, he looks for solutions to global warming, water scarcity, and food issues with side excursions into why people live so long on... Read More

Journalist Zoë Schlanger gives a clear, engaging, and enthusiastic narration of her fascinating audiobook all about the controversial topic of plant intelligence. Schlanger's own sense of wonder comes through clearly as she visits botanists around the world--sometimes going into the field with them--and reports on the results of their research on plants and the amazing things... Read More

Hanne Rickert and Amin El Gamal paint a vivid and haunting portrait of life in Gaza in this collection of short stories. Their voices, rich with emotion and nuance, invite listeners to empathize with the struggles and triumphs of the people who call Gaza home. Together, Rickert and El Gamal weave a tapestry of resilience, heartache, and hope in the face of adversity. From... Read More

In this compendium of essays and conversations, Maggie Nelson reflects on the art and artists who have shaped, inspired, and changed her. Senn Annis's narration is a mixed bag. Her rhythmic cadence is sometimes a bit stilted. She uses the same inflection for most sentences, and it gives her performance a feeling of recitation, rather than liveliness. She's at her best when... Read More

Christopher Costa calmly and articulately narrates the daily struggles in the coming-of-age stories of three Puerto Rican boys--Ryan, Giancarlos, and Emmanuel--who live in Kensington, Philadelphia, a poverty-stricken neighborhood dominated by the drug trade. Each boy has different challenges that create barriers to his goal of earning a high school diploma. The author details... Read More

Five excellent voice pros--three women and two men--join the famed soprano Renée Fleming to perform this fascinating deep dive into the power of music. The six voices alternatively narrate whole chapters, each of them sounding in perfect harmony with their subject matter and the positive energy of the people working in this field. Artists, therapists, educators, and music... Read More

A Black songwriting pioneer and Nashville insider, now a professor at Vanderbilt, is a tireless researcher into how Black musicians in the 1920s and '30s shaped the beginnings of what we now call country music. She says these men had no standing with that period's music gatekeepers and received no recognition, but they clearly influenced Jimmy Rogers, the Carter Family, and... Read More

Listeners will find much to learn in this audiobook. Just when dire reports--fire, flood, calving icebergs--are enough to alarm anyone, this audiobook from ecological engineer Galle arrives with a refreshingly positive and heretical assertion that nature and technology can be allied. Narrating convincingly in a youthful tone that suits the author's optimism, Eileen Stevens... Read More

Many people have paid a high price for whistleblowing over the years. Skilled narrator Stephen Graybill's assured tone and steady delivery miraculously enliven this work by University of Minnesota ethicist Carl Elliott. Six stories reference the moral struggle that whistleblowers face, especially in the healthcare and educational arena. Elliott fought for an external... Read More

Tanya Eby gives a clear delivery in a precise style. She is an intelligent narrator who skillfully paces this heady appraisal of the famed English author George Orwell. These days the term "Orwellian" seems to be equally availed by the right, left, and center, all of whom appropriate his two most famous novels, ANIMAL FARM and 1984. This tightly argued, biographically based... Read More

NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE editor Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy offer a thorough account of how animals have been treated in America from the 1860s to the present day. In a fresh, young voice, narrator Tanis Parenteau delivers the authors' meticulous research on the care of animals, animal activists, and the controversies surrounding animal welfare. Parenteau's tone is... Read More

Cary Hite narrates in a deep, resonant voice, giving this high school basketball story the gravitas it deserves. Author McCallum reveals some of the racial intolerance behind Indiana's rich tradition of high school basketball. He goes all the way back to 1954, when Milan High School and its all-white team won the state's high school basketball championship, a story first... Read More

Anne Curzan's knowledgeable, engaging, and laugh-out-loud funny reflection on grammar usage is for all of us who cringe when a friend comments on seeing "less trees" in the park instead of "fewer trees," and winces when a daughter says "for my sister and I" instead of "and me." Narrating with contagious enthusiasm and attentive pacing, the author, an English professor and... Read More

Astrophysicist and data scientist Roberto Trotta and narrator George Weightman form the perfect team for guiding listeners on this wondrous journey through humanity's age-old relationship with the stars and night sky. The audiobook combines Trotta's lyrical prose and thoughtful scholarship with Weightman's engaging performance. Discussions of humanity's scientific understanding... Read More

Alexandra Cohier has the right tone, tempo, and style for this polemical and highly informed audiobook. She can sound like she's reporting on a real-life scene or immersed in a sci-fi setting. Her narrative approach works well with this provocative work by journalist/science fiction novelist Newitz, who challenges preconceived notions about messages and messaging. The subject... Read More

Nell Greenfieldboyce is an NPR science reporter, so it's no surprise that she has clarity of both argument and speech in her performance of her personal essays. Topics range from the miniscule--fleas, cosmic dust--to the life changing--her difficulty in getting pregnant and her husband's polycystic kidney disease. But all are filled with wit and self-deprecating humor. When her... Read More

This audiobook pays tribute to two of the wealthiest and most generous entrepreneurs in the U.S., Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. The long friendship between Warren and Bill, as they're called here, offers little drama and narrative tension, and narrator George Newbern effectively keeps the tone light, buddy-to-buddy. He chronicles how each man made his fortune, but the focus is... Read More

Judith Butler's voice adds gravity to their examination of the rising anti-gender-expression rhetoric. A renowned philosopher and pioneering queer theorist, Butler narrates her work for the first time here. The subject comes at a polarizing time, and Butler's patient yet sober tone seems to acknowledge this. They speak candidly on the rhetoric of the trans-exclusionary radical... Read More

Author A.J. Jacobs narrates his newest pop-culture examination of history with energy and enthusiasm. Setting out to understand what it means to live by the Constitution, Jacobs blends serious reflection and interviews with constitutional law experts with personal experiments. He uses a quill pen on cotton rag paper to write opinions that he hands out in Times Square (the right... Read More