Poet Maggie Smith's newest audiobook expands her purview to offer all kinds of artists helpful advice about what she sees as the 10 essential elements of creativity: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Her light, sweet-sounding voice often assumes a poet's studied rhythmic cadence as she narrates with beautifully clear enunciation. The result is a listenable experience that, perhaps inadvertently, highlights her professional background. Yet the pace feels right for a book chock full of ideas. As befits the author of the poem "Good Bones," which went viral in 2016, her advice is both kind and tough-minded. What's most important, she emphasizes, is that "we have to love making things more than we love having made them."
Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 6 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797193335
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Dan Harris traces his experience finding a quieter, more peaceful mind, and life, through the unlikely pursuit of meditation. Deeply skeptical, he’s ultimately convinced by the scientific research showing meditation’s benefits. Harris says the voice in his head, the “inner narrator” he seeks to quiet, is a “total pill”—a voice that “comes braying in, heckling us all day with an air horn.” Unfortunately, his own narration has a way of grating on the ear, especially when he’s describing meditation with a cynical, yet-to-be converted eye or taking a competitive approach to mindfulness. Eventually, the ear adjusts and listeners can absorb interesting glimpses into Harris’s life as a broadcaster and his journey with meditation. However, some still may prefer to read the book to themselves.
Pub Date: 2014
Duration: 7 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9780062331892
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While a brief introduction to this audiobook is voiced by Dick Van Dyke himself, the balance is assigned to his friend Tom Bergeron. He does a remarkable, impeccable, and simply wonderful job, narrating with a rhythm and tonality similar to Van Dyke's. One might believe one is listening to the 100-year-old actor himself. In addition to talking about his life, Van Dyke also quite candidly describes living with the health and mobility issues that have touched him in his most recent years. Throughout the presentation, anecdotes and vignettes thoughtfully portray the pivotal influences on the man and his sensibilities. The novel approach of presenting the ever optimistic Van Dyke's "rules for living" works effectively.
Pub Date: 2025
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668652992
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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