Christopher Hurt has an appealing, mildly flinty vocal quality that would sound at home presenting any type of scientific or investigative writing. With his relaxed and kindly delivery providing space for curiosity and engagement, he conveys a reassuring gentleness that softens the facts and abstractions in this neuroscience book. The author (with a cowriter) summarizes research that shows that the brain is best understood as two broad systems that are each connected to many specific brain areas and work in different proportions in different people. To oversimplify, the Top Brain is the system concerned with spatial perception, navigation, and acting, while the Bottom Brain involves perceiving and analyzing information, especially sensory data. Fascinating research snippets and Hurt's excellent reading make this technical book fascinating.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
Duration: 5 hrs, 45 mins
Publisher: Audible, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Dr. Plotkin is an ethnobotanist who recounts his experiences searching for new medications in the Amazon rain forest. He makes an impassioned plea for the world to stop destroying this irreplaceable resource. Since the author reads his own work, we can rely on the pronunciation of some unusual botanical terms; however, his voice (presumably not trained for performance) lacks the enthusiasm and fascination the words suggest. Furthermore, with no chapter references and few pauses between sections, transitions, such as the change of location from Ecuador to Massachusetts, are awkward.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Haskell’s insights and sensibility are perfectly conveyed by Campbell’s acute narration.
Narrator Cassandra Campbell assumes the voice of biologist Haskell, author of The Song of Trees (2017), for an illuminating first-person tour of one of nature’s most common sights: flowers. Campbell provides momentum to a narrative that, though richly informative, could easily have become rambling and slack. “We live on a floral planet,” Haskell says, and he goes on to explain how that fact is key to our existence. Flowering plants first appeared 200 million years ago, and they enabled humans to evolve—and to survive. The narrative is loosely organized into eight illustrative categories, covering magnolias, orchids, grasses, roses, teas, and more.
Haskell’s insights and sensibility are perfectly conveyed by Campbell’s acute narration.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
Duration: 11 hrs, 5 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217281794
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2026
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