Bell Labs was the incubator for the scientific innovations that shaped one of today's vital components of daily life—worldwide telephone service. AT&T gave birth to Bell Labs in the 1920s. In his narration, Chris Sorensen is clearly enamored with the work environment that nurtured so many creative concepts and inventions. However, Gertner's book deals more with the ingenious collaborations of the people involved than with the details of technical triumphs. Nonetheless, Sorensen's pacing lags between sentences: He pauses as though the listener is expected to contemplate complex formulas and leaps of cognition. But there’s no need to ponder those pioneers' fully lucid scientific experiments or their accomplishments and treacheries. As a result, the listener—itching to know what's coming next—becomes becomes impatient for Sorensen to get on with it.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2012
Duration: 17 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
The readers can't compensate for the unbearably pompous prose style of this extended parable about corporate politics and strategy.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Golden Voice narrator Cassandra Campbell explores Mattel's dark side in this unauthorized history that exposes spying, copyright infringement, and the true origins of Barbie. Hitt's investigative reporting asserts that Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler, was often ruthless. Handler claimed that the inspiration for Barbie came from her daughter, but Barbie was a near-identical copy of a German doll that was created four years prior to Barbie's debut. Hitt argues that while Handler faced sexism herself, she chose corporate profit over supporting women and minorities. Campbell invokes emotion where appropriate, as when she uses a barbed tone for Handler's remarks about people she hated and a flat voice to capture her matter-of-fact, uncaring attitude. Campbell's pace and tone let the writing shine.
Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2025
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781797193847
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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