Epidemiologist Rivers offers a compelling reminder of how important it is to study epidemics and other threats to public health. Though government funding is minimal and rises and falls with politics, the work of public health scientists, practitioners, and policymakers has repeatedly saved millions of people from diseases and other threats to health. The author's conversational writing is served well by narrator Jaime Lamchick's comfortable connection with this material. Her flawless interpretations and appealing tone are easy to hear, modulating just enough to signal a change in the intensity of the subject matter. She never lets her outsized dramatic skills upstage the content. For anyone doubting the importance of funding the WHO and the CDC, this is an essential audiobook, narrated with conviction.
Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
Duration: 7 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780593916544
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Dr. Plotkin is an ethnobotanist who recounts his experiences searching for new medications in the Amazon rain forest. He makes an impassioned plea for the world to stop destroying this irreplaceable resource. Since the author reads his own work, we can rely on the pronunciation of some unusual botanical terms; however, his voice (presumably not trained for performance) lacks the enthusiasm and fascination the words suggest. Furthermore, with no chapter references and few pauses between sections, transitions, such as the change of location from Ecuador to Massachusetts, are awkward.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Haskell’s insights and sensibility are perfectly conveyed by Campbell’s acute narration.
Narrator Cassandra Campbell assumes the voice of biologist Haskell, author of The Song of Trees (2017), for an illuminating first-person tour of one of nature’s most common sights: flowers. Campbell provides momentum to a narrative that, though richly informative, could easily have become rambling and slack. “We live on a floral planet,” Haskell says, and he goes on to explain how that fact is key to our existence. Flowering plants first appeared 200 million years ago, and they enabled humans to evolve—and to survive. The narrative is loosely organized into eight illustrative categories, covering magnolias, orchids, grasses, roses, teas, and more.
Haskell’s insights and sensibility are perfectly conveyed by Campbell’s acute narration.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 5 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217281794
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: yesterday
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
