Bensen, Clara. No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering. Blackstone. ISBN 9781504662185. Reader TBA.
When Clara Bensen arranged to meet Jeff Wilson on the steps of the Texas State Capitol after just a few email exchanges, it felt like something big was going to happen. Clara, a sensitive and reclusive personality, was immediately drawn to Jeff’s freewheeling, push-the-envelope nature. Within a few days of knowing one another, they embarked on a 21-day travel adventure from Istanbul to London with zero luggage, zero reservations, and zero plans. They wanted to test a simple question: what happens when you welcome the unknown instead of attempting to control it? Along the way, Clara ruminates on the challenges of traveling unencumbered, while realizing that when it comes to falling in love, you can never really leave your baggage behind.
Bryson, Bill. The Road to Little Dribbling. Books on Tape. ISBN 9780147526892. Read by Nathan Osgood.
In 1995 Bryson got into his car and took a weeks-long farewell motoring trip about England before moving his family back to the United States. The book about that trip, Notes from a Small Island, is one of the most acute and affectionate portrayals of England in all its glorious eccentricity ever written. Two decades later, he set out again to rediscover that country, and the result is The Road to Little Dribbling.
Cowan, Geoffrey. Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary. HighBridge. ISBN 9781681680002. Reader TBA.
Between February 24, 1912, when Roosevelt came out of political retirement to challenge William Howard Taft for the Republican Party’s nomination for president, and June 23 of that year, Roosevelt and his supporters created and benefited from 13 new presidential primaries, the first in the nation’s history. Stressing the importance of primaries, Roosevelt’s campaign theme became “the right of the people to rule.” Cowan explains that although Roosevelt won about 70 percent of the delegates selected by public vote, it was not enough to overcome the power of party bosses and entrenched interests. He walked out of the convention to create the Bull Moose Party but then shocked many of his strongest supporters by excluding all black delegates from the Deep South.
Donvan, John & Caren Zucker. In a Different Key: The Story of Autism. Books on Tape. ISBN 9780553397437. Read by Kaleo Griffith.
Donvan and Zucker tell the extraordinary story of an often misunderstood condition, and of the civil rights battles waged by the families of those who have it. Unfolding over decades, it is a beautifully rendered history of ordinary people determined to secure a place in the world for those with autism—by liberating children from dank institutions, campaigning for their right to go to school, challenging expert opinion on what it means to have autism, and persuading society to accept those who are different.This is also a story of fierce controversies—from the question of whether there is truly an autism “epidemic,” and whether vaccines played a part in it; to scandals involving “facilitated communication,” one of many treatments that have proved to be blind alleys; to stark disagreements about whether scientists should pursue a cure for autism.
Grant, Adam. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. Books on Tape. ISBN 9780147524423. Reader TBA.
Grant addresses the challenge of improving the world from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can fight groupthink to build cultures that welcome dissent.
Janken, Kenneth Robert. The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s. Blackstone. ISBN 9781504664035. Read by Ron Butler.
In February 1971 racial tension surrounding school desegregation in Wilmington, NC, culminated in four days of violence and skirmishes between white vigilantes and black residents. Despite glaring irregularities in the subsequent trial, ten young people were convicted of arson and conspiracy and then sentenced to a total of 282 years in prison. They became known internationally as the Wilmington Ten. A powerful movement arose within North Carolina and beyond to demand their freedom, and after several witnesses admitted to perjury, a federal appeals court, also citing prosecutorial misconduct, overturned the convictions in 1980. Janken tells the dramatic story of the Ten, connecting their story to a larger arc of Black Power and the transformation of post–civil rights–era political organizing. Grounded in extensive interviews, newly declassified government documents, and archival research, this book examines the events of 1971 and the subsequent movement for justice.
Kalanithi, Paul. When Breath Becomes Air. Books on Tape. ISBN 9780399566189. Read by Sunil Malhotra & Cassandra Campbell.
At the age of 36, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. This work chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.
Kennedy. Pagan. Inventology: How We Dream Up Things That Change the World. Tantor. ISBN 9781515950318. Read by Randye Kaye.
A father cleans up after his toddler and imagines a cup that won’t spill. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and has an idea. A doctor figures out how to deliver patients to the operating room before they die. By studying inventions like these—the sippy cup, the cell phone, and an ingenious hospital bed—we can learn how people imagine their way around “impossible” problems to discover groundbreaking answers. Kennedy reports on how these methods can be adapted to the 21st century, as millions of people deploy tools like crowdfunding, big data, and 3D printing to find hidden opportunities. Inventology uses the stories of inventors and surprising research to reveal the steps that produce innovation, making the argument that recent advances in technology and communication make it more possible than ever to transform ideas into reality.
Keys, Sheila McCauley. Our Auntie Rosa: The Family of Rosa Parks Remembers Her Life and Lessons. Ideal on Dreamscape. ISBN 9781520001074. Read by Robin Eller.
The family of Rosa Parks share their remembrances of the woman who was not only the mother of the civil rights movement, but a nurturing mother figure to them as well. Her brave act on a bus in Montgomery, AL, on December 1, 1955, was just one moment in a life lived with great humility and decency. After her husband and brother died, Rosa’s nieces and nephews became her only family and the closest that she would ever experience to having biological sons and daughters. In this book, they share with readers what she shared with them about her experiences growing up in a racist South, her deep dedication to truth and justice, and the personal values she held closest to her heart.
Miller, Kelsey. Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life. Blackstone. ISBN 9781478910244. Reader TBA.
At 29, Miller had tried crash diets, healthy diets, and nutritionist-prescribed “eating plans.” She’d been fighting her un-thin body since early childhood, and after a lifetime of failure, finally realized that no diet could transform her body or her life. With the help of an Intuitive Eating coach and fitness professionals, she learned how to eat based on her body’s instincts and exercise sustainably, without obsessing over calories burned. But, with each step toward a healthy future, she had to contend with the painful truths of her past.
Pope Francis. The Name of God Is Mercy. Books on Tape. ISBN 9780735209749. Reader TBA.
Drawing on his own experience as a priest for this book, Pope Francis discusses mercy, a subject of central importance in his teaching and testimony, and sums up other ideas—reconciliation, the closeness of God—that comprise the heart of his papacy. Written in conversation with Vatican expert and La Stampa journalist Andrea Tornielli, the book is directed at listeners inside and outside of the Catholic Church who are seeking meaning in life, a road to peace and reconciliation, or the healing of physical or spiritual wounds.
Reid, Michael. Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power. Tantor. ISBN 9781494518202. Read by Michael Healy.
According to Reid, Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country and its seventh largest economy, faces important challenges before it becomes a nation of substantial global significance. After decades of military rule, the fourth most populous democracy enjoyed effective reformist leadership that tamed inflation, opened the country up to trade, and addressed poverty and other social issues, enabling Brazil to become more of an essential participant in global affairs. But as it prepares to host the 2016 Olympics, the country has been rocked by mass protest. This volume considers the nation’s still abundant problems—an inefficient state, widespread corruption, dysfunctional politics, and violent crime in its cities—alongside its achievements to provide a fully rounded portrait of a vibrant nation about to take a commanding position on the world stage.
Sakamoto, Pamela Rotner. Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds. Tantor. ISBN 9781494569457. Read by Emily Woo Zeller.
After their father’s death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother’s ancestral home. Eager to go back to his own land—America—Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Despite being sent to an internment camp, Harry dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army. As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the United States detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.
Secor, Laura. Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran. Books on Tape. ISBN 9780399566875. Reader TBA.
In 1979, seemingly overnight, Iran became the first revolutionary theocracy in modern times. Since then, the country has been largely a black box to the West, a sinister presence looming over the horizon. But inside Iran, a breathtaking drama has unfolded since then, as religious thinkers, political operatives, poets, journalists, and activists have imagined and reimagined what Iran should be. With more than a decade of experience reporting on, researching, and writing about Iran, Secor explores this unprecedented history as a story of individuals caught up in the slipstream of their time, seizing and wielding ideas powerful enough to shift its course as they wrestle with their country’s apparatus of violent repression as well as its rich and often tragic history.
Seeger, Pete. The Storm King Volume 2. Hachette Audio. ISBN 9781478964612. Read by the author.
The second volume of stories and songs from the late Seeger.
Wariner, Ruth. The Sound of Gravel. Macmillan Audio. ISBN 9781427268143. Reader TBA.
Wariner was the 39th of her father’s 41 children in a polygamist Doomsday cult. When she was only a few months old, Ruth’s father—the man who had been the founding prophet of the community—was brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power. Ruth’s mother remarried, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant, and gave birth to six more children. In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings were carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collected welfare and her stepfather worked a variety of odd jobs. Ruth came to love the time she spent in California and Texas, but as she entered adolescence, her stepfather began molesting her. Try as she might, Ruth could not persuade her mother or church elders to question her stepfather. Finally, and only after devastating tragedy, Ruth found an opportunity to escape.
Webb, Caroline. How To Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life. Books on Tape. ISBN 9781101924846. Read by the author.
Webb, an economist and former partner at consulting firm McKinsey, shows listeners how to use recent findings from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience to transform their approach to everyday working life. The book is arranged around seven practices that are central to having a good day: setting the right priorities, making productive use of time, having effective conversations, doing one’s very best work, achieving great personal impact, being resilient to setbacks, and sustaining one’s energy. Throughout, Webb teaches listeners how to be at their best even under pressure, and how to handle common challenges such as co-worker conflicts and difficult deadlines.