New Reviews: Contemporary Culture

Deepa Samuel reads crisply and does well with the various languages in this globe-spanning audiobook. Her carefully articulated style makes this history/memoir with travel stories vivid. The author, a Muslim Indian woman now living in Brooklyn, brings a unique point of view to this "irreverent history of travel." As a woman of color, she has experienced what she describes as... Read More

Rosemary Benson's clear, melodic narration aids the listener in following the myriad threads that Emily Monosson weaves in this fascinating audiobook on fungi. Some fungi are good. But there is also a parade of horribles--such as the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which is decimating bat populations; rusts that have already pushed some chestnut trees into extinction;... Read More

Journalist Kara Swisher specializes in reporting on the Internet. Here she narrates her memoir with urgency and focus, providing a you-are-there history of Silicon Valley. With more than a decade of podcasting experience, Swisher has developed a well-honed, rapid-fire delivery; an aura of journalistic integrity; and a firsthand knowledge of tech history. Anecdotes abound on... Read More

Pete Cross presents this deeply reported and thoroughly researched audiobook with the seriousness it merits. His well-paced narration captures the author's passion for migrants and thorough critique of the governments, corporations, and media that demonize them. He maintains a journalistic tone as the text traverses the globe, sharing the stories of those who have experienced... Read More

Robert Downey, Jr., teamed up with prolific climate change author Thomas Kostigen to write and narrate a fun yet impactful audio guide to choosing food habits that will cool the planet. The passionate duo seek to popularize a new climate-friendly food category--cool food--to represent the best edible options for producers and consumers. Downey, Jr., is an absolute riot to... Read More

Mark Kurlansky brings an authoritative narration to his latest food history endeavor. In the first part, Kurlansky explores the history and science of the onion, delivering his insights with the matter-of-fact demeanor of a seasoned professor. In the second part, Kurlansky reveals his passion for historical recipes, which is evident in his brighter narration. The recipes are... Read More

Malcolm Hillgartner epitomizes a fine nonfiction narrator. He lets these often disturbing stories of road ecology (annals of roadkills) reveal themselves in an understated way. A master of pace and cadence, his tone works with the dramatic statistics provided: About one million wild animals perish daily from cars, 40 million miles of roads ring the planet, and the fires in... Read More

Tania De Rozario performs her essay collection, which revolves around her experience growing up as a fat mixed-race queer girl in Singapore. When she was a child, school administrators required her to eat smaller meals and exercise more. After her mother learned of De Rozario's sexuality, she called church leaders to exorcise her. De Rozario narrates each of her essays with... Read More

After listening to this probing audiobook, listeners will never look at a dust bunny the same way again. Narrator Naomi Frederick's spot-on performance makes listening to the environmental history of our planet's dust absolutely engaging. The author, a geographer, writer, and researcher, creatively combines travel writing with history and science to argue that environmental... Read More

Noah James Butler guides listeners through what scientists know about life's origins and what remains a puzzle with excitement and a well-placed sense of awe. He narrates clearly at a steady pace, allowing those who may be unfamiliar with medical terminology time to absorb researcher Ben Stanger's findings. This pairs well with Stanger's accessible, energetic writing style. The... Read More

Journalist Bianca Bosker narrates her witty audiobook about the art world with pizzazz. She has a pleasing sound, paces the sometimes frantic-sounding proceedings well, and comes across as an authentic seeker. Performing in a comic style, she enhances the audiobook's ironic undertone, which suggests that many in the art world see journalists as "the enemy." In this work she... Read More

Tavia Gilbert, who has narrated works by this author twice before, clearly gets her informed and impassioned voice and neatly emulates her literary style. Gilbert's even tone captures the seriousness of this ambitious endeavor. Kakutani offers listeners a version of cultural history that entwines two phenomena--radical disruptions in media and the arts and the rise of the... Read More

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are celebrated in this moving, inspirational audiobook. Karen Chilton, Adam Lazarre-White, and original contributors, including author Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, narrate passages about what brought individual students to HBCUs and how their lives were changed. The result is a seamless listening experience. Contributors... Read More

Jeffrey Toobin gives a thorough, detailed, yet quickly moving account of Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh's life, beliefs, actions, and death--and how his credo lives on in current right-wing extremism. Like his text, Toobin's narration is brisk, clear, and free of adornment. His guy-next-door manner keeps the material approachable and the focus on the story. No emotional... Read More

Narrator Lyssa Browne guides listeners through this audiobook on the history and myths that surround the concept of the housewife in the U.S. From the idealized idea of the 1950s housewife to the contemporary woman who is expected to do it all with no help, this audiobook explores how expectations of women have changed and what can be done to create a more egalitarian society.... Read More

This timely audiobook on migration translates extremely well to audio due to its straightforward organization and clear summaries of statistical material. Matthew Spencer's measured pacing and professorial tone are well suited to represent the author, a Dutch sociologist who is director of Oxford University's International Migration Institute. The audiobook begins with precise... Read More

British narrator Graham Mack brings listeners into the ocean with François Sarano, who once accompanied Jacques Cousteau on the CALYPSO. Sarano wants to bring humans closer to sharks, if only metaphorically. Mack sternly catalogs the current dire threats to sharks, such as the market for their fins. Switching gears, he makes swimming with sharks seem like a normal, even... Read More

Jacques Roy's warm, even performance makes for an inviting listen. We may think we know when an animal is in play mode, but how do we understand the deeper mysteries of animal behavior? Listeners will appreciate this audiobook's deep dive into thoughtful research on concepts we may assume we understand. What, exactly, is animal play? What constitutes fun for a monkey or a seal?... Read More

Cynthia Farrell brings an excellent ear for language to her narration of this wide-ranging and absorbing audiobook. Her Spanish is flawless, and her sense of story adds impact. Author Marie Arana shows how members of our fastest growing minority have added to our literature, theater, music, politics, and sports. Based on thorough research, including hundreds of interviews, the... Read More

Emily Raboteau reads with purpose, a clear voice, and a conversational tone that works well for the personal essays in this satisfying audiobook. Her delivery style adjusts to the varied subjects: a sense of wonder at identifying birds, exasperation at dealing with New York City real estate, and empathy for a water-starved Palestinian family. She has a gift for languages; in... Read More

Natalie Duke perfectly delivers the tone of Slade's concise deep dive into how America came to reject domestic manufacturing and the long-term damage that resulted. Listeners may be familiar with how union membership has bottomed out, the ripple effects of so-called free-trade agreements, and the explosive growth of online shopping. Slade's audiobook brings this damaging... Read More

The cofounder of ROLLING STONE magazine, Jann Wenner, has released these original recordings of his interviews with superstar artists Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Jerry Garcia, and Pete Townsend. The audiobook is a mixed bag, hampered at times by decades-old recordings. The interviews range from amazing statements by John Lennon to indecipherable... Read More

At the beginning of Abrahm Lustgarten's futuristic look at climate change, narrator Patrick Lawlor depicts the fear in the voice of a woman who wants to leave California because of its worsening wildfires. Lustgarten predicts that a wave of migration will soon affect the U.S., with Americans moving north to beat the heat and Latin Americans heading away from an even hotter... Read More

Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris and a full cast deliver a must-listen performance of Norris's riveting examination of race in America. Based on 12 years of submissions to Norris's Race Card Project--six words about race from over half-a-million people--the audiobook shifts between Norris's clear, warm, thoughtful commentary and participants' contributions, all... Read More

The best poets get that way because they have given a great deal of thought to questions such as: "What is poetry?" "How does it get that way?" Mary Oliver was one of those best poets, and in this audio version of her classic work about how to write and read poetry she offers some answers, both detailed and expansive, to John Ciardi's classic question: "How does a poem mean?"... Read More

This audiobook is a paean to birds. It's almost poetry, and author Jack Gedney's lyrical style is exactly suited to listening, perhaps even more so than reading. The text is peppered with images like this, referring to Golden-crowned Sparrows: "Their crowns shine in the fading afternoon light." Narrator Jonathan Todd Ross captures the author's style; Ross's smooth voice and... Read More

For any nature lover, this audiobook is nearly irresistible. Bjorgaas, a biologist, takes a close look at the ways insects, birds, mammals, trees, and plants adapt to life in the more densely populated human environs. The anecdotes are vividly written and fascinating, albeit somewhat awkwardly organized. Mary Helen Gallucci is an earnest narrator who does a fine job with pace,... Read More

Jason De León is a strong narrator of his own work, an eye-opening examination of human smugglers. Many of those he writes about are driven by poverty to join this dangerous trade in Honduras and Mexico. Both they and their customers try to avoid multiple risks, including arrest and violence, on their treks. De León, who spent time with his subjects over almost seven years, has... Read More

Avery Kidd Waddell delivers a commanding narration. He confidently conveys the scope of this new edition of one of the most influential audiobooks on the history of race, which dismantles the myth of a post-racial society. Kendi's work investigates the histories of six historical figures, including Thomas Jefferson, W.E.B Du Bois, and Angela Davis. Their actions, writings, and... Read More

Eli Grober narrates his collection of dystopian satires with deadpan self-assurance. It's the ideal voice for the 100 essays--none longer than eight minutes--with titles such as "'I'm Only Joking,' I Say As I Kill You" and "How I Saved Enough To Buy a House With My Parents' Money." One of Grober's more sincere readings can be heard in "The Telescope We Sent to Deep Space Wants... Read More

Sasha LaPointe, a poet and performer, delivers her edgy essays with a pleasing voice and a sure sense of the significance of her message. She reads in a word-loving style with the tempo of one who appreciates the meanings her words convey. A Coast Salish woman, she was raised on a reservation in the Pacific Northwest, knows the stresses of growing up a Native girl, and... Read More

Books come from trees, but the trees themselves can tell us stories of their own if we know how to listen. Fittingly, I listened to part of this audiobook while sitting next to a campfire. Kaleo Griffith's narration is almost perfect for such a fireside chat. His straightforward yet conversational tone exactly matches the feel of the work. Author Daniel Lewis profiles a dozen... Read More

Dr. Joy Buolamwini carefully narrates this hybrid memoir detailing her groundbreaking research on AI software discrimination. Labeling the phenomenon she uncovered as "the coded gaze," she explains how predominantly white male computer programmers have subconsciously established bias in algorithmic decision making. As an activist, Buolamwini warns that some systems claim they... Read More

Narrator Harry Lloyd's affable narration echoes physicist Carlo Rovelli's casual writing style. Their conversational approach to the concept of white holes allows a variety of listeners to engage with complex physics regardless of how much knowledge they start with. Simply put, white holes cannot be entered but allow information to escape; they are the opposite of black holes,... Read More

Ray Porter's straightforward presentation highlights Schaller and Waldman's observations on why white voters in rural America have been won over by candidates whose political actions oppose the voters' best interests. The authors detail ways that our system gives an inordinate advantage to these rural voters, who are vastly smaller in number than their urban counterparts.... Read More

Paige McKinney offers a lively delivery of Shannon Reed's musings on her lifelong love of books. Listeners will quickly note that what's offered is an accounting of why the author reads--for her amusement, edification, and comfort. Listeners will likely find common ground, and those who share Reed's sense of humor will be amused. Sometimes Reed's background as a humor writer... Read More