Lydia Mackay's bread and butter is providing voices for anime characters; her work as an audiobook narrator is rare, but it goes straight to the heart in this performance. This compelling story of the ongoing efforts to build a viable artificial heart combines first-rate journalism with a pitch-perfect voice. Swartz is a marvelous reporter and storyteller who must have built a deep rapport with her subjects. Her research is vast and rigorous, and it's recounted through the personal lives of the engineers and doctors who have designed, built, and implanted these devices, as well as the patients who have received them. Mackay's narration is equally warm, and she breathes life into the compelling characters and their very human struggles.
Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9780525635352
Publisher: Random House 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
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