Audiobook Reviews In Five Minutes

18/12/2023

Have you ever stopped to think about why, even though we're surrounded by amazing technology, it sometimes feels like we're not getting any wiser?🌐

Let's explore this together in the latest episode of Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes! 🎧 I'm diving into Tim Urban's thought-provoking book, 'What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies.' This might just might shift the way you see the world. How about a thought adventure? 🤔✨

Listen: https://www.jannastam.com/audiobook-reviews-in-five-minutes

29/09/2023

https://blog.feedspot.com/canada_nonfiction_podcasts/
We're delighted to share that Feedspot Blog Reader has named us in their top 5 Canada non-fiction podcast list! Thank you Feedspot!!

Best Canada Nonfiction Podcasts to Listen to ⋅ 1. Read Into This ⋅ 2. A WRITER'S LIFE ⋅ 3. Expectant ⋅ 4. Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes ⋅ 5. The Word Leader Podcast

05/09/2023

as an audiobook represents storytelling at its finest, combined with exceptional editing and production quality woven with intimate reinterpretations of some of U2’s most iconic and poignant songs, produced by and .

🎧Listen to this complete episode on all major podcast platforms. Apple podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/audiobook-reviews-in-five-minutes/id1500773777?i=1000626092169
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04/08/2023

For more than 15 years, Janna has provided strategic communications guidance and support to clients, including technology innovators, professional services, ...

30/04/2023

My latest is by Nedra Tawwab — one of my favourite Instagrammers and proof that Instagram can be a source of joy and inspiration (it just depends on who you follow!).

⚡️Drama Free takes a closer look at family relationships and provides clear guidance on how to maintain difficult relationships with family members rather than cutting them off.

⚡️"You survive when you don't repeat the cycle, but you thrive when you create a new legacy and trajectory. Conscious awareness and effort are what separate someone who thrives from someone who survives. You can consciously create a different life, and those who do are known as 'cyclebreakers.'”.

🎧Listen to this complete episode on all major podcast platforms
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06/04/2023

If you're looking to nourish your soul, learn how to flourish in life, and meet an incredible guide, be sure to tune in!

08/02/2023

My first of 2023!

Listen on any podcast platform, including Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/audiobook-reviews-in-five-minutes/id1500773777?i=1000598478871

The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness written and narrated by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz

Whether you want to get more out of your closest relationships with family or you’re seeking to make the most out of your workplace relationships, or you want to make new friends, the examples shown in the stories they share make this one of the most accessible research-based audiobooks that I’ve listened to in a while.

The authors also help dispel the popular idea that childhood trauma or tragedy guarantees an unhappy life. Using stories and data, they illustrate that while those factors make us vulnerable, they do not seal our fate.

02/11/2022

Access Ideas just published episode #11 featuring a conversation with Steph Gaudreau! The host of the Fuel Your Strength podcast has inspiring tips on building resilience and strength in your 40s+, why you might need to eat more to get the results you’re after, and avoiding the notorious

Listen via any major podcast platform: https://accessideas.captivate.fm/listen

03/01/2022

👉Coming soon: the Access Ideas podcast

Are you an ideas enthusiast or collector? Our new podcast, Access Ideas, expands on a few familiar areas of interest and explores questions you didn’t know you had, such as can Jane Austen novels serve as escapist fantasy, why is sleep science so controversial, and what drives our obsession with HBO’s Succession?

You can expect ad-free, entertaining and informative episodes on a variety of topics throughout 2022. Join me, your host Janna, for the first episodes of Access Ideas coming soon – you can access our episodes completely free on all major podcast streaming services.

24/12/2021

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe captures the Sackler family saga and the rise of Purdue Pharma, the infamous maker of OxyContin, a prescription drug that has fuelled an opioid epidemic across North America for the last twenty years.
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I predict this from will clean up major awards this year. Keefe may be one of the best author-narrators alive today – this was impossible to put down⁣⁣
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🎧Listen ://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/top-2021-reviews-empire-of-pain-the-secret-history-of-the-sackler-dynasty-by-patrick-radden-keefe
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14/12/2021

Another top title of 2021 and a great listen before your next challenging conversation/holiday gathering 😉

👉 “When we are baffled by the insanity of the “other side”—in our politics, at work, or at home—it’s because we aren’t seeing how the conflict itself has taken over. ⁣⁣
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High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
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🎧Listen @ podcast.jannastam.com⁣
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23/11/2021

Listen @ https://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/top-2021-reviews-youre-not-listening-what-youre-missing-and-why-it-matters-by-kate-murphy
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You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy includes timeless insights about why listening matters now more than ever
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🎧Listen @ podcast.jannastam.com ⁣
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09/11/2021

“Russia is America’s Ghost of Christmas Future, a harbinger of things to come if we can’t adjust course and heal our political polarization.” ― Fiona Hill, There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century ⁣⁣
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Growing up in England’s coal-mining country, Fiona Hill knew that she was in a forgotten place. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father told her to get out—to go to London, or Europe, or America. “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said. ⁣⁣
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Fortunately for us, did just that, and her memoir is a fascinating listen. With the support of mentors and some luck, Hill gained upward mobility from her childhood roots. She studied Russian and history in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews and eventually found her way to Moscow and Harvard, all preparing her to serve several presidential administrations in Russian & European policy. She served as a key witness in the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, but that’s hardly the most interesting thing about her! ⁣⁣
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🎧Listen @ https://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/review-of-there-is-nothing-for-you-here-finding-opportunity-in-the-twenty-first-century-by-fiona-hill
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04/11/2021

🎧Listen to this review on the Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes podcast: https://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/review-of-the-book-of-hope-a-survival-guide-for-trying-times-by-jane-goodall-douglas-abrams

👉Over 20 years ago, Jane Goodall published Reason for Hope, a memoir that explored her deepest convictions formed through her experiences as a naturalist and researcher of chimpanzee behaviour. Since then, Goodall has grown even more famous for her environmental advocacy and global programs. The Book of Hope audiobook was released in October 2021 and features a 67 page PDF that includes many photos and additional context for listeners. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget to look at this material until after listening to the audiobook. There’s a lot of photos and research reference material that build on and illustrate the audiobook content.

The Book of Hope is intended to answer the questions Jane hears most from her vast audiences of all ages. She’s often asked, “What reason is there to hope” or “how do we remain hopeful” despite our trying times? I want to emphasize that for Goodall, these questions are not only focused on environmentalism or climate change; she’s also alluding to political upheaval and the Covid pandemic.

Goodall and Abrams begin by defining the word hope for their audience, since it’s sometimes seen pejoratively as a lack of action or even naïve denialism. For Goodall, hope is most simply defined as a trait necessary to human survival. Part of this is based on research that hope for the future drives behaviours in the present, since the choices we make directly impact our quality and length of life. For Goodall, though, hope is also fundamental to what she calls the Indomitable Human Spirit. This certainly seems evident in her personality, and it’s what makes her such a pleasure to listen to.

Semantics aside, Goodall is remarkably open to HOW her audience acts on hope, so long as they don’t lose it altogether. This is part of Goodall’s charm. She’s had to facilitate cooperation from some very powerful and opposing groups of people over the course of her career – animal rights activists and pharmaceutical and oil executives, to name just a few. She’s not intent on prescribing a specific remedy or course of action so much as persuading us to use whatever skills we have to contribute to a better planet for all living creatures. Goodall is devoted to repairing the “disconnect between our clever brain and our compassionate heart”. In doing so, she wisely resists the false dichotomy of humans vs nature that some environmentalists fall prey to. This also enables Goodall’s message to reach a wider audience. She’s always appealing to our better instincts or the better angels of our nature, and THIS is the key to her nearly universal appeal and influence. She has a knack for reminding us of our best selves and what we might achieve if we focus on using our strengths in our community, no matter how small the impact might seem at first.

Goodall’s inclusiveness and her capacity for wonder make her a hit with young audiences, too, She doesn’t lead with facts and figures, although many are provided in the reference notes. The simple, clear language used throughout make this very easy to understand. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to teens and young adults. And although Goodall’s life experiences provide a framework for the conversation, she always returns to how listeners can take ideas and insights and apply these to wherever they happen to be.

Co-author Douglas Abrams serves as a friendly interviewer throughout this audiobook, and he narrates his half of the conversation throughout. Considering the audio was recorded during the confines imposed by the pandemic, it’s exceptional quality that I think you’ll enjoy.

Goodall admits that she’s become busier than ever since the pandemic grounded her from her frequent travels, and I couldn’t help but feel inspired by the photograph of her speaking on Zoom in her bedroom of her family home in England. Her laptop is perched atop an impromptu desk, like so many of us have done during the pandemic.

If you’re interested in this topic, you can also listen to Jane Goodall’s “Hopecast” series on major podcast platforms: https://janegoodall.ca/the-hopecast-jane-goodalls-podcast/

That said, The Book of Hope is a marvellous audiobook and a great gift in any format! I HOPE you enjoy it as much as I did!

20/10/2021

🤔Can the audiobook format add something of value to classic literature? Leo Tolstoy's epic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature and famously begins with the line “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This 2016 Audible production uses a 1901 translation by Constance Garnett, which is worth noting because actress and narrator Maggie Gyllenhaal makes it sound remarkably fresh. According to a 2016 interview with Mark Kennedy, Gyllenhaal prepared for each recording session by reading other translated sections of “Anna Karenina” the night before, trying to stay 50-100 pages ahead so she could anticipate what came next in the recording studio.

Although I enjoy period costume more than the average person, after listening to this audiobook, I don’t believe it’s possible for any film version to match the emotional subtlety and psychological elements of this book. After all, challenges us with the question, “Is it really possible to tell someone else what one feels?” There’s so much going on inside these characters. Their inner lives dominate the storytelling, especially when it comes to the character of , who is widely understood to be a representation of Tolstoy himself. ⁣⁣
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🎧Listen @ https://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/classic-literature-as-audiobook-anna-karenina-by-leo-tolstoy-read-by-maggie-gyllenhaal
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08/10/2021

After listening to Edward Slingerland’s audiobook, Drunk, and reviewing that a couple weeks ago, I was curious to learn more about the latest research on alcohol and health. David Nutt is on a mission to explain the most significant alcohol-related research findings from the last 50 years. What I enjoyed most about his pragmatic approach is that he explains the impact of ANY amount of alcohol consumption. This is about making informed decisions, not moral judgements. He clarifies the differences that various levels of alcohol consumption have on our mental health, sleep, hormones, fertility, and propensity toward addiction.

Although drinking in the United Kingdom has gone down slightly since 2010, overall consumption is double that of the 1960s, and Britons get drunk an average of 50 times a year. Nutt illustrates how alcohol costs the UK health service, police forces, and economy at least £30 to £50 billion due to alcohol related health conditions, drunk driving (or drink driving as they say in the UK), violence, property damage, various mishaps, and lost productivity. At the same time, mixed messages about alcohol have left many believing that moderate drinking offers us health benefits. Yet one estimate Nutt shares is that if everyone were to drink within recommended guidelines, the drinks industry in the UK would lose £13 billion.

Nutt reiterates in several ways how safe drinking guidelines are not a reason to drink, and he’s campaigned for years for governments to update their policies regarding alcohol pricing and recommendations to reduce its many harms. In the last 10 years Nutt has become famous for his quest to invent a synthetic compound called Alcarelle, a non-harmful alternative to alcohol that supposedly gives you the positive effects, like feeling chatty, relaxed and sociable – without the negatives, like becoming argumentative, forgetful and hungover. Alcarelle is still in development, but in the meantime, he’s developed a non-alcoholic botanical spirit called Sentia, which is available in the UK.

Nutt repeatedly emphasizes that the cultural social default is to drink too much, so you need to understand your motivations to drink if you want to cut back on your drinking. Understanding the type of drinker you are is essential to creating a strategy to cut back. Categories include those who drink to feel social and celebrate, or to fit in with other drinkers, or to enhance an experience, or drinking to forget worries and cope with stress. Personal health strategies he explores start with understanding how much you drink by measuring accurately, followed by a long list of habits to help manage your intake.

An extended podcast review of this audiobook is available on Audiobook Reviews in Five Minutes on Apple, Anchor, Breaker, Google, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, and Spotify: https://podcast.jannastam.com/episode/review-of-drink-the-new-science-of-alcohol-and-your-health-written-and-read-by-professor-david-nutt

01/10/2021

How is the language we use shaped by our unconscious mind? Karl Deisseroth has spent his life researching the human mind, both as a renowned clinical psychiatrist and as a researcher creating and developing the revolutionary field of optogenetics, which uses light to help decipher the brain’s workings. Projections is promoted as a work that combines his knowledge of the brain’s inner circuitry with a deep empathy for his patients in order to examine what mental illness reveals about the human mind and the origin of human feelings.
There’s something surprisingly reassuring to me that a research scientist who uses tiny fibre-optic cables to fire lasers into the brains of mice is also capable of using the English language so empathically and expertly to follow the course of a particular emotion.
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