Journalist Stephen Kurczy took himself to Green Bank, West Virginia--"the quietest town in America " and home to the Green Bank Observatory. Narrator Roger Wayne ably explains that the Observatory requires locals to limit their use of electronic equipment, including wi-fi, microwaves, and cell phones, to avoid interference with their radio telescopes' ability to pick up signals from space. As he seeks insights into those who have eschewed personal technology, Kurczy discovers most people have work-arounds. But along with those reasonable folks, he also encounters a motley cast of characters--those who claim to be afflicted by "electromagnetic hypersensitivity," followers of the racist National Alliance, medical quacks, and recluses--all of whom have come to town for their own purposes. The listener learns that "quiet" doesn't always translate into "peaceful."
Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
Duration: 9 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780062945525
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kozol’s shocking exposé of inequities in the funding of our public schools contrasts white suburban schools with those serving black and Hispanic populations. Interviews with students, teachers, and school administrators add eloquent testimony to Kozol’s disturbing presentation of facts. Narration by Jack Winston is clear and brisk, but the pace is unrelenting, with little pause for transition between scenes or chapters. Winston’s cool, detached voice contrasts with Kozol’s impasssioned and outraged message. The sheer repetition and magnitude of Kozol’s damning evidence is numbing; the narration gives no relief. Powerful medicine, most easily taken in small doses. Music signalling tape changes is jarringly inappropriate.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 8 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This highly informative history of prehistory tells a new story of how Homo sapiens settled down and started civilizing.
This is historian and popular podcaster Wyman’s second audiobook, after The Verge (2021), which spanned the years 1490-1530 during the European Renaissance. Here his focus is 10,000 years earlier, at the end of the Ice Age, and the spread of what could now be called humans. The story of how, all over the globe, they gave up the migratory life, settled, and started building is wonderfully, richly told in this outstanding history. Wyman doesn’t have the smoothest or most melodic of voices, but he easily wins over the ear and the imagination with his solid research and his adept storytelling.
This highly informative history of prehistory tells a new story of how Homo sapiens settled down and started civilizing.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
Duration: 14 hrs, 55 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063256514
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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