This is a must for Beatles fans, which is just about everybody. Twenty-nine famous and somewhat famous authors opine about their favorite Beatles song. Some of the song choices are obvious, like "She's Leaving Home" and "Yesterday"; others are unusual, like "Helter Skelter." (Really, Chuck Klosterman?) The audiobook is performed by an ensemble of narrators who voice the opinions of the writers so perfectly that it's easy to forget they're not the writers themselves. My favorite entry is Gerald Early's entry on "I'm A Loser." He grew up in my hometown of Philadelphia, rocked to the same radio station, WIBG, and loved the Beatles as much as I did. Be warned, the audiobook will force you to replay your Beatles collection with new insights and appreciation.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2017
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781501940507
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Narrator Lisa Flanagan has a wonderful vocal personality--lithe with a broad palette of pitch patterns and a range of believable emotional tones. Her friendly voice works well with this lighthearted overview of how dramatically the Internet has changed the world in the past 30 years. Though being digitally connected has improved life in many ways, the author says we've lost many of the interpersonal experiences that used to sustain us. We have less privacy, don't need all those reference books, and have largely forgotten how to have vocal conversations with other people. The audiobook is entertaining nostalgia for anyone who feels incompetent navigating the World Wide Web, and a soothing reminder that those of us who miss the simplicity of the pre-Internet era are not alone.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593418055
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Craig Brown tickled our ear with 99 GLIMPSES OF PRINCESS MARGARET, a brisk, irreverent assembly of tiny chapters that ran a satisfactory 12+ hours. For the Beatles, he adds 51 more glimpses and another eight hours, with a proportionally diluted effect. Brown himself, Kate Robbins, and Mark McGann share the narration, which is interesting, insightful, well performed, and packed with some new and a lot of old information. All of it is shaped by Brown's propensity for "easing sense into nonsense." The self-mocking Beatles are harder to deflate than a pretentious princess, but Brown's accounts of touring Beatles sites in Liverpool and his histories of Beatles contemporaries swept up--and aside--by their spectacular rise will amaze and beguile listeners.
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
Duration: 20 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250770127
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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