Once we memorized things—spellings, dates, the Periodical Table, poetry, and so on. Now technology remembers for us. While attending the U.S. Memory Championships, Joshua Foer is told that anyone can improve his or her memory, so he decides to throw himself into a participatory journalistic exercise. He spends the next year being coached by “mental athletes,” wearing blacked-out goggles and headphones while learning how to memorize a grocery list or a shuffled deck of cards in less than two minutes by attaching bizarre and lewd images to each item. Narrator Mike Chamberlain’s enthusiastic and engaging tone, with its occasional gee-whiz note, is a perfect match for Foer. Chamberlain doesn’t execute accents particularly well, but his genuineness and appreciation for Foer’s quirky task more than make up for these minor flaws with an entertaining experience.
Pub Date: March 3, 2011
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781101432464
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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