Gray's brief audiobook shows Thomas Paine's part in two revolutions, the American and the French, but focuses on his attempt to build iron bridges of his own innovative design, especially one across the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. Tom Perkins gives a solid reading, well paced and adept at clearly rendering the sense of the text through his inflections and shaping of sentences. He gives quotations more volume and force than other text, which makes the people quoted seem overwrought, and at times his breathing is distractingly audible. Perkins elongates some vowel sounds that oddly interrupt this standard American accent. Still, his reading is basically intelligent and sturdy, conveying the text effectively.
Pub Date: April 25, 2016
Duration: 5 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781681680156
Publisher: HighBridge 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
Once again, Pollan makes the unknown make sense.
Pollan is a favorite with listeners, and rightly so. He may not possess a silken or practiced voice, and he’d be nobody’s first choice to narrate Proust, but few author-narrators are as engaging or as effectively bonded to their narrative. Pollan here explores one of the most fundamental of questions: What is consciousness? This leads him to other questions. Where exactly is consciousness located? What other species possess it? Pollan takes his listener on a journey through theories and research sites, each rendered with his signature economy and precision. Some sections may require relistening, but the difficulties lie in the subject matter, not the prose. That couldn’t be clearer or more illuminating.
Once again, Pollan makes the unknown make sense.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
Duration: 8 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217282159
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2026
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