Derek Perkins’s fluid articulation, like a gondola threading the canals, carries the listener unresistingly through the crowded spectacle of Venice’s centuries of glory. Strathern is a superb writer, and this is a fascinating history of Venice’s evolution as a major trading center from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, “from Marco Polo to Casanova,” a story that encapsulates Europe’s own evolution and its life-or-death struggle against the Islamic East. But somewhere deep into the Genoese wars (1256-1381), one can let loose the thread and enter a state in which that fine voice and the fluid succession of Italian names, battles, and politics papal and secular become pure delight.
Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2014
Duration: 13 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781452689470
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This fact-packed account of the apprenticeship and career of a master restorer is an unexpected listening pleasure.
Author and narrator Warrack’s modest subtitle barely suggests his audiobook’s range of interest. Equal parts autobiography, travelogue, and cabinet of curiosities, his rich personal history of monument restoration is also a treasure-trove of offbeat facts. How does Venice, built on a salt marsh, supply its fresh water? What’s the best method for removing pigeon excreta from the outside of a cathedral? Warrack’s rich narrative and unpretentious style are fully engaging and immersive. By the end, the listener knows exactly how to clean and repair Rome’s Tivoli Fountain—and longs fervently to have worked there alongside Warrack.
This fact-packed account of the apprenticeship and career of a master restorer is an unexpected listening pleasure.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 42 mins
DD ISBN: 9798318583803
Publisher: Tantor Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2026
Utterly fascinating.
Narrator Soneela Nankani ushers listeners around the globe and through time in this sweeping survey of how humans use information to understand, interpret, and control. Author Risam begins her exploration 43,000 years ago and ends it with tantalizing peeks into possible futures. Ranging back and forth both geographically and temporally, she examines data collection and its use (or misuse) in the 23rd-century B.C.E. Akkadian Empire, Han-era China, 14th-century C.E. Mali, and elsewhere. Given this mammoth scope, the account could easily lose listeners along the way, but Nankani’s understated delivery is its perfect vessel. Voice rising and falling naturally, with emotion applied sparingly and skillfully, Nankani allows listeners full access to the argument Risam builds from the data she has so meticulously researched.
Utterly fascinating.Pub Date: July 14, 2026
Duration: 13 hrs, 59 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063430358
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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