MAY 2014
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
by Jonathan Lowe
ESSENTIALISM
by Greg McKeown is a motivational book that encourages
listeners to step back and take a look at how they're
living with unnecessary stress due to trying to do too
much of the wrong thing. It's read by the author
for Random House Audio. McKeown holds a MBA
from Stanford, is author of Multipliers, and has spoken
to companies from Apple to Google and Symantec. At 6
hours unabridged, this business book concerns empowering
oneself and one's company to reclaim control over the
myriad of choices we all face every day. Recommended
for anyone who feels overwhelmed with time management
issues, or has difficulty saying NO to endless demands
made by frivolous agencies and social media advertisers.
It's about saying YES to those things which can help
one make the most progress in the specific area where
one is most likely to succeed.
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Author
Thalma Lobel holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Tel Aviv
University, did post doc training at Harvard, and has
done gender related studies of child development and
adult behaviors. Her book SENSATION: THE NEW
SCIENCE OF PHYSICAL INTELLIGENCE is similar
to what Dan Ariely loves to write about: why we act
as we do. A reason why formerly titled "blacks"
insisted on the phrase "African-American"
is explained. Because how much of what we perceive related
to color is subconsciously decided. Black, she says,
is associated with evil and aggression. White, with
purity and goodness. This has nothing to do with human
beings, but rather is the result of subconscious reactions
to color in the environment, and word associations.
Red, for example, is associated with dominance, so wearing
a red tie subtly displays power and authority more than
a blue tie. (A red car will also get you a speeding
ticket more often.) Why was the title Fifty Shades
of Grey a hit? Could that have to do with "thrilling"
surrender to "the dark side" little by little?
Why does a resume submitted on heavy paper impress employers
more than a thin paper? Why does a light, airy and open
room make one feel cheerful, while a cold, dark room
is depressing? Why do kids feel "left out"
in classrooms ten degrees cooler than warm ones? Advertisers
do studies like these to determine how to fool you into
buying more of their products. It comes down to typeface,
color, spacing, and scents. Read by Joyce Bean
for Brilliance Audio, this audiobook amplifies the findings
done in Brandwashed with more in-depth research to discover
what makes us tick, and how not to be fooled by the
shady manipulations of our sensations and cultural influences. |
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WORST.
PERSON. EVER. Yes, that's the title, with periods.
It's British/American culture clash fiction by Douglas
Coupland, with an offbeat and wild bent, and not without
the rat-a-tat of four letter words (being, after all,
about an unredeemable human slug…but an adorable
one.) The protagonist is named Raymond Gunt, and he
sees nothing wrong with himself at all (kinda like many
banking CEOs involved in the bailout and bonus circus,
or gangster rappers whose revenge against them includes
becoming just like them.) Gunt gets involved in a survivor
type reality show on a small island named Kiribati in
the Pacific (which is reminiscent of my own novel Fame
Island, about a survivor reality show staged in
the Caribbean), but there the similarity ends. This
book is more like Carl Hiaasen on steroids. It's also
a little like the excellent first person novel Pocket
Kings by Ted Heller. Kiribati actually exists,
(as Palm Island in my story really exists), and was
site for a Marine assault in Nov. 1943. Gunt has a problem
with the U.S. Military machine. The comedy comes from
the contrast between how people see him and how he sees
himself. It's not always a pleasant read, but it is
experimental and not micro-targeted genre fiction, and
for that I salute the effort.
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I
recently asked a couple of narrators to tell me about
one fav recent title they've done, and why they like it.
Narrator Susan Denaker: "I recently
had the great privilege to record two books on spiritual
healing written by a former physicist from NASA, Barbara
Ann Brennan. The first was HANDS OF LIGHT
and the second, LIGHT EMERGING, both
written with a perfect balance of scientific analytical
sensibilities…including a beautifully concise history
of theoretical physics…and yet a clear sense of
Spirit guiding the authors voice to explain why love is
the glue that holds it all together. Informative, uplifting
and life changing. Getting paid to record it was an honor."
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Narrator
Johnny Heller: "I recorded YOU MIGHT
BE A ZOMBIE AND OTHER BAD NEWS for Tantor Audio.
It's from Cracked.com. It's pretty funny. First,
it has pretty much nothing to do with zombies. I'm reasonably
certain that they titled it that because Zombie stuff
is pretty hot right now and it will sell the book better!
They pretty much admit as much. While there is a short
bit on zombies in the book, they might just as easily
have called it: Lesbian Vampire Werewolf Zombie Babes.
It's mostly a long collection of lists. Very much like
the Cracked website. It revels in taking cherished memories
and tales and trashing them with gusto. I found myself
frequently running out of the booth to share the most
disgusting bits with Jo Anna Perrin who began to view
my gleeful visits with great dismay. things like "the
5 most terrifying bugs in the world" or "the
4 most badass Presidents" or "6 Terrifying things
they don't tell you about childbirth." |
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Kevin
Roose had a tough go at writing YOUNG MONEY,
a compendium of various insider accounts of recruits
to Wall Street in the aftermath of 2008. This is because
his previous book exposed the inner workings of Jerry
Falwell's college (The Unlikely Disciple),
and so stock and bond traders could see him coming a
mile away. The focus here, then, is on unrecognizable
mere recruits who agreed to be interviewed anonymously---young
guns who hadn't yet made many "kills." The
only thing Roose infiltrates is a Kappa Beta Phi dinner,
where billionaire Warren Stephens donned a Confederate
flag cap to sing "Dixie" in a sick skit about
that giddy time when grandma was broken so the rich
could get richer. Mostly it's a story of wannabes working
long hours, wistfully sniffing out the big bucks with
a longing for that day when they themselves can cash
in with the same bonuses that the fat cat big boys do.
It all makes for a insightful peek into how the American
Dream has devolved into greed, even among many college
students, fewer and fewer of whom seem to maintain the
requisite ideals needed to change the system (which
Washington refuses to, in its insular vote-and-kickback-obsessed
deadlock.)
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Meanwhile,
on 60 Minutes, there was a story about computer trading,
chronicled in FLASH BOYS (read
by Dylan Baker), wherein trades are made in
microseconds on fiber optic lines before the individual
investor (or even Wall Street brokers) can snatch gains
from volatile markets. With everyone in the financial
sector seeking faster and faster bucks, and Hollywood
lionizing those who succeed, where does that leave the
middle class? "Moving to trailer parks," according
to Bloomberg News. Which is why some of the same MBAs
profiled in YOUNG MONEY are leaving
Wall Street for fewer hours (and less work:) to buy
up and manage low income housing, "which will be
in high demand as more people lose their jobs and/or
their homes in the coming years." Read
by Nicholas Tecosky, primarily for libraries
as a stand alone audio player, YOUNG MONEY
should not be confused with gold-toothed Lil' Wayne,
whose record label bears the same name. |
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Finally,
Nick Vujicic in STAND STRONG says bullying
is a worldwide epidemic, and that he was the perfect target
for bullies because he was born without limbs. I'm not
sure if that's true for high school, but certainly for
younger bullies, who take pride in amplifying their parents
and peer's prejudices. (It would take one sick high school
sociopath to pick on a guy with no arms and legs, as being
seen doing so in public wouldn't make you very "cool.")
With the subtitle "You Can Overcome Bullying,"
this audiobook is narrated by Vujicic
himself, who does an outstanding job conveying the confidence
he's learned since growing up. It's an inspiration for
the victims of bullying everywhere. His major point is
that you, as a victim, are not to blame. Bullying is about
the bully's own problems, hate, and fear. They pick on
perceived inferiors because of neglect or abuse from their
own father or sibling or rival, and/or because it makes
them seem superior by contrast. The comparisons which
all grade school kids insist on making a sport is because
their very self worth is determined by pecking order.
Any deviation from the "norm" is considered
a flaw in immature eyes, and that flaw must be pointed
out and ridiculed. (Sadly, this attitude is often carried
over into adult culture.) Aimed at a younger audience,
the book encourages listeners to establish strong values,
and reveals how to create a safety zone around oneself
while controlling one's responses. It shows how knowing
and being yourself is the best defense, instead of reacting
in ways that increase the bully's power. Cyber bullies
are covered as well, all in a simple, down to Earth shared
understanding sense. Vujicic is an evangelist and motivational
speaker, leading a nonprofit organization (and book) called
Life Without Limbs. He reads the book for Random
House Audio. |
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