June 2025 Earphones Award Winners

This authoritative guide to end-of-life care covers every imaginable issue that older people face as they move closer to death from illness or old age. It was written by a plain-speaking physician whose experiences with patients and his own parents make him skeptical about the value of heroic medical procedures to prolong life. A long-standing part of Western medicine, such... Read More

In this colorful history of how shipping practices across the globe have impacted worldwide commerce, the author examines the travels and various uses of a particular Swedish-built shipping barge. Weaving together details about the challenges of global commerce faced by governments and cultures, these stories show how container shipping supercharged international trade and how... Read More

Steven Weber superbly delivers Peter Swanson's intriguing mystery. The audiobook's structure goes backwards from 2023 to 1982--telling a story that's like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Ultimately, the puzzle's picture is dark and mind-boggling, but all the pieces fit. Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for 25 years. Wendy is a published poet, Thom, a university English... Read More

Master storyteller David Timson appears to be having lots of fun delivering this British Golden Age Mystery. His performance captures each nuance of the novel's gallows humor. Dr. Edmund Bickleigh, a philanderer whom women find appealing, states that he must murder his shrewish wife, Julia. Bickleigh meticulously plans Julia's demise in hopes of marrying his latest wealthy... Read More

The topic of this audiobook--the evolution of language--requires a wide range of skills. Actor Emma Spurgin-Hussey's rich, expressive voice demonstrates the linguistic relationships and shifts. Her performance is adept in every syllable and accent. Why do so many of today's languages share a common Eurasian root? Linguists and archaeologists find answers in similarities and... Read More

A full cast gives a wonderfully vibrant performance of Jason Reynolds's powerful story about found family and music. Nile Bullock heads up the ensemble as 18-year-old Stuyvesant (Stuy), an avid drummer. When he moves out because of his mom's new boyfriend, he meets Dunks, a genius on the guitar, and then Alexis (bass) and Keith (trumpet), all of whom love music just as much as... Read More

Elizabeth Wiley narrates this extensive biography based on new research on the French artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) as if it were a wondrous adventure tale. Gauguin began as a Post-Impressionist and Symbolist but is best known for his unique paintings of Tahitian women and his tumultuous friendship with Van Gogh. Discovering art in his early 30s, he freed himself from his... Read More