Robin Miles’s narration is perfect for this absorbing memoir. The author was expelled from communist China as a teenager and navigated her way through the digital world of Silicon Valley to start a top 3D simulation company. Her gripping memoir swings between her often traumatic childhood experiences and the challenges of adapting to a Western, capitalist culture. It’s a compelling tapestry of dualities. Examples include child labor and reeducation camps in China as compared to the wide-open possibilities of the U.S. and the cultural divide between her intellectual birth parents and her nurturing peasant family. Every thread quietly affirms the author’s resilience, compassion, intelligence, and honor. Miles’s gravitas serves the author’s journey as subtle tonal shifts color this sweeping story of culture, character, and self-determination.
Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2012
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781101604984
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
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