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Title: Quarterly Essay 61

Subtitle: Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession & Renewal

Author: George Megalogenis

Narrator: George Megalogenis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-14-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Australia is in transition. Saying it is easy. The panic kicks in when we are compelled to describe what the future might look like. There is no complacent middle to aim at. We will either catch the next wave of prosperity, or finally succumb to the Great Recession.

In this urgent essay, George Megalogenis argues that Australia risks becoming globalisations next and most unnecessary victim. The next shock, whenever it comes, will find us with our economic guard down, and a political system that has shredded its authority. Megalogenis outlines the challenge for Malcolm Turnbull and his government. Our tax system is unfair and we have failed to invest in infrastructure and education.

Both sides of politics are clinging defensively to an old model because it tells them a reassuring story of Australian success. But that model has been exhausted by capitalisms extended crisis and the end of the mining boom. Trusting to the market has left us with gridlocked cities, growing inequality and a corporate sector that feels no obligation to pay tax. It is time to redraw the line between market and state. Balancing Act is a passionate look at the politics of change and renewal, and a bold call for active government.

It took World War II to provide the energy and focus for the reconstruction that laid the foundation for modern Australia.Will it take another crisis to prompt a new reconstruction? George Megalogenis has thirty years experience in the media, including over a decade in the federal parliamentary press gallery. His book The Australian Moment won the 2013 Prime Ministers Literary Award for non-fiction and the 2012 Walkley Award for non-fiction, and formed the basis for the ABC documentary series Making Australia Great.

His most recent book is Australias Second Chance and he is also author of Faultlines, The Longest Decade and a previous best-selling Quarterly Essay, Trivial Pursuit: Leadership and the End of the Reform Era.

Members Reviews:

Excellent insights from Melgalogenis

I move every voter should clue up to insights in this book, hold a gun on every elected offical's head, "stop doing politics and start doing service delivery!"

I'm Australian

loved it. truthful.believable.worts an all.clearly id's woeful tax decisions by conservatives. confirms my passion to help others in hiding.

Excellent essay

Would you consider the audio edition of Quarterly Essay 61 to be better than the print version?

Would be about the same.

What other book might you compare Quarterly Essay 61 to, and why?

Like all the Quarterly essays this is a good succinct analysis of an aspect of Australian society.

What does George Megalogenis bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you had only read the book?

Yes it was great hearing it read by the author.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

everything was great.

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Title: Summary: Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Author: Ant Hive Media

Narrator: Stan Jenson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-07-16

Publisher: Ant Hive Media

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Being Mortal by writer Atul Gawande focuses on several critical issues that include death, aging, mortality, and critical and terminal illness. This summary offers you as a listener the opportunity to enjoy great writing when you might not have the time to listen to the original book.

Members Reviews:

Useful either way or both

Good if you don't have time or want to read the personal stories behind the recommendations. Personally, I enjoyed reading the book and then reviewing the Summary later. Will recommend it to my book club.

Medical Wisdom illuminates common sense!

Gawande sheds light on how end of life decisions and care could be more humane and compassionate. He places responsibility on the medical profession as well as our shared culture. Well worth reading!

Disappointed

Original book five star. Executive summary horrible translation. Bad English, sentence structure etc. Used for employee meeting and apologized to them at beginning for it.

Important for all ages to read as we are all living longer. Many sensitive issues to face.

A whole lot to think about. Well written. I want to read more of her books

So many more reflections.

Four Stars

worked good

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Title: Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty | Summary and Analysis

Author: Summary Station

Narrator: Scott Larson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-12-16

Publisher: Summary Station

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Learn About the History of Nations in a Fraction of the Time It Takes to Read the Actual Book!

Acemoglu's theory and explanation of the differences in global prosperity are as enlightening as they are entertaining. He manages to make the puzzling concept dead simple to understand because the book, rather than a lengthy lecture explaining the theory, is a series of examples supporting it. After the first chapter, you will fundamentally understand the concept and theory behind this book, and each subsequent chapter will support the theory in fascinating ways.

Take the opening example for instance: comparing a city, Nogales, that was literally cut in half by the US-Mexico border. So many history books and experts like to chalk up the world's current state to fate, such as in differences in climate or geographical location. Yet here is a shining example of how none of those things matter. At one point, this was just one city, and now it has become two cities so different, you'd think their shared name and location were some sort of joke.

Here Is a Preview of What You'll Learn:

Members Reviews:

Decent summary, still somewhat interesting

-Bought this of course to see if the actual book was worth listening to

& i think it is.

-Narration is decent, and not in a monotone voice which is good

-Decent enough summary, even though i didn't get all the points..because i think the summary book is a bit too short, it did interest me enough to get the actual book and listen to the points more cloesly

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Title: Grunge, Nerds, and Gastropubs: A Mass Culture Odyssey

Author: Kevin Craft

Narrator: Matt Patterson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-05-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Ever wonder why glum rock à la Nirvana became popular in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, or why gastropubs that serve organic kumquat have replaced all-American chain restaurants like Applebees as the trendiest dining establishments? Can the tennis rivalry between John McEnroe and Björn Borg shed light on the type of sadness inherent to success? And whats the connection between the music of the bands Weezer and the Presidents of the United States of America? (Hint: It has to do with the difference between pretending to be nerdy and actually being nerdy.)

Members Reviews:

Ok for a plane ride.

Having spent my high school and college days in the 90's I was very intrigued by this book, but was not overly impressed with the overall book. It is definitely not one of those books that leaves you wanting to continue reading the next chapter and disappointed that you do not have enough time. It did help pass time on several legs of a couple hour flight, and is small enough it does not take much time to read.

Two Stars

Gave up early on, definitely not general interest.

Great read!

Anyone who strolls through a mall, eats at a chain restaurant, and wonders how we got from grunge to fast fashion--that would be anyone--will enjoy this fascinating cultural history of the past twenty years.

Grunge and Fukuyama

Interesting and often provocative. Never much into pop music so I have to assume Craft's views are sound. What it did do is lead me to digging out Fukuyama.

you must first read your dictionary......

a bit on the rambling,big wordy side

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Title: Modern Families

Subtitle: Stories of Extraordinary Journeys to Kinship

Author: Joshua Gamson

Narrator: James Patrick Cronin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 02-02-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

The kinds of families we see today are different than they were even a decade ago, some fantastically so, as paths to parenthood have been rejiggered by technology, activism, and law.

In Modern Families, Joshua Gamson brings us extraordinary family creation tales - his own included - that illuminate this changing world of contemporary kinship. We meet a child with two mothers, made with one mother's egg and the sperm of a man none of them has ever met and carried by the other mother; another born to a man and a woman in Ethiopia, delivered by his natural grandmother to an orphanage after both his parents died in close succession, and then to the arms of his mother, who is raising him solo. We hear the story of a girl with two dads, conceived with one father's sperm and eggs donated by a friend and carried to term in the womb of another close friend who becomes their surrogate; and of two girls, one born in Nepal and the other in India, legally adopted by a woman who is co-parenting them with her girlfriend and a gay male couple.

These are not your grandparents' creation stories. These tales are deeply personal but also unavoidably political. Combining personal memoir and ethnographic storytelling, Modern Families tells a variety of unconventional family-creation tales - adoption and assisted reproduction, gay and straight parents, coupled and single, and multi-parent families - set against the social, legal, and economic contexts in which they were made. In these stories, family creation was painstaking and sometimes difficult. Often, parts of biological reproduction took place in a different body than that of the parents raising the child; sometimes, the model of kinship was made up virtually from scratch, often in tension with legally and socially sanctioned versions of family.

Becoming parents involved jumping tremendous hurdles - social conventions, legal and medical institutions - with heightened intention and inventiveness, within and across multiple inequities and privileges. It's a bumpy and potholed landscape, as institutional change lags behind the creativity of everyday living, as breaches of family norms remain controversial, and as inequalities haunt the most intensely loving acts. Yet each of these families, however they came to be, shares the same universal joys that all families share. Mapping the large, complex terrain of the modern kinship, Modern Families presents a personal, intimate account of social change from the inside out.

Members Reviews:

Extraordinary book; Cannot recommend more highly

Josh Gamson is a tremendous storyteller. In telling the stories of these much-desired children, Gamson writes of the intense love and intentionality that goes into family-making, together with the challenges of navigating racial, gender, and national hierarchies, such as the ones that come with surrogacy or international adoption. Grief, loss, and exploitation are not to be hidden or made invisible; Gamson addresses them head-on, just as so many parents do, too. This is a book of love, creativity, inventiveness, and it's grounded in the real world.

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Title: Lit Up

Subtitle: One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-Four Books That Can Change Lives.

Author: David Denby

Narrator: Christopher Price, David Denby

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-02-16

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

It's no secret that millions of American teenagers, caught up in social media, television, movies, and games, don't read seriously - they associate sustained reading with duty or work, not with pleasure. This indifference has become a grievous loss to our standing as a great nation - and a personal loss, too, for millions of teenagers who may turn into adults with limited understanding of themselves and the world.

Can teenagers be turned on to serious reading? What kind of teachers can do it, and what books? To find out, Denby sat in on a 10th-grade English class in a demanding New York public school for an entire academic year and made frequent visits to a troubled inner-city public school in New Haven and to a respected public school in Westchester County. He read all the stories, poems, plays, and novels that the kids were reading and creates an impassioned portrait of charismatic teachers at work, classroom dramas large and small, and fresh and inspiring encounters with the books themselves, including The Scarlet Letter, Brave New World, 1984, Slaughterhouse-Five, Notes from Underground, Long Way Gone, and many more.

Lit Up is a dramatic narrative that traces awkward and baffled beginnings but also exciting breakthroughs and the emergence of pleasure in reading. In a sea of bad news about education and the fate of the book, Denby reaffirms the power of great teachers and the importance and inspiration of great books.

Members Reviews:

A book on the importance of passionate teachers.

l enjoyed the content. It had a good message for students and parents. The writing was not stellar, but the book read more like a report on the power of passionate teachers.

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Title: Firewall: The Propagandist's Guide to Self-Defense

Author: Jack Nolan

Narrator: Jack Nolan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-05-16

Publisher: Jack Nolan

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

The freedom we cherish is illusory if our minds are shackled! Advertisers and political machines bombard us with propaganda every day. Follow a trained military propagandist behind the scenes. This PSYOP officer turned Hollywood actor will show you how Washington and Madison Avenue craft propaganda ordnance, how these weapons are launched and targeted, and the impact they have on our daily lives and our nations' policies.

Meet the dark grand master of propaganda, and share the intimate musings of one of the most nefarious manipulators of history. Arm and equip yourself against even the most insidious attack upon your free will. Just as you protect your iPhone or computer with a firewall program, you will learn how to mount a military-grade defense of your mind, your opinions, and your judgment. You will see art, cinema and television, and our culture in a frightening new light, for you will see with the eyes of a propagandist.

No longer will you have to worry about missed deadlines, appointments, or tripping over a stray shoe on your way in the door after a long day. This book will give you everything you need to make sure your down time is just that - enjoyable, quality family time.

Members Reviews:

Unusually direct, honest and useful

Firewall opens you up to seeing hidden agendas and how they are pushed everywhere you look. It is as if the book sets you free from a prison you never knew you were in.

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Title: The Forgotten Village

Subtitle: Life in a Mexican Village

Author: John Steinbeck

Narrator: Jonathan Davis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-22-15

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

The novelist who wrote The Grapes of Wrath and the director who produced Crisis and Lights Out in Europe combined their superb talents to tell the story of the coming of modern medicine to the natives of Mexico. There have been several notable examples of this pen-camera method of narration, but The Forgotten Village is unique among them in that the text was written before a single picture was shot. The book and the movie from which it was made have thus a continuity and a dramatic growth not to be found in the so-called "documentary" films.

The camera crew that, headed by Kline and with Steinbeck's script at hand, recorded this narrative of birth and death, of witch doctors and vaccines, of the old Mexico and the new, spent nine months off the trails of Mexico. They traveled thousands of miles to find just the village they needed; they borrowed children from the government school, took men from the fields, their wives from the markets, an old medicine woman from her hut by the side of the trail. The motion picture they made (for release in 1941) is 8,000 feet long. From this wealth of pictures, 136 photographs were selected for their intrinsic beauty and for the graceful harmony with which they accompany Steinbeck's text.

This new script-photograph technique of narration conveys its ideas with unexcelled brilliance and immediacy. In the hands of such master storytellers as Steinbeck and Kline, it makes the listener catch his breath.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Quality is exceptional and is a superb addition to our library.

kids book

Its too simple and expensive. I was expecting a noble or a short story. I would recommend it as a childrens book. It generalizes mexican people.

Prophetic prose that speaks to the child in all of US

Each page includes a more than half page black and white photo of rural Mexican life at the time,

with a sentence or two by Steinbeck riffing on the photo. Telling a story. Kids can follow it, sure,

but its valuable also to see another facet of the life and history of our neighbors to the south,

who have been projected on and demonized greatly since this book came out. Its a timecapsule

of sorts also, of a life disappearing with "globalization", when village life was the norm, was creative,

was sustainable, was human, was soulful. Perhaps Steinbeck was telling a simple story with photos

for a wider audience, knowing also that a picture's worth a thousand words, so maybe he was

acknowledging that there is laziness north of the border as well, folks who arent going to wade through

his Grapes of Wrath, and other descriptions of the shadow side of human life, north and south of the

so-called border. So, the words here are a jumping off point, where each reader can write the story on

through their own intuition and feeling into the photos, which will evoke univeral themes that we can't afford

to lose on either side of the man made story called "the Border"...

Steinbeck the Great

In my humble opinion, John Steinbeck was one of the greatest writers who ever lived. However, The Forgotten Village: Life in a Mexican Village is merely a simple little story. It is not bad reading, and was apparently made into a movie, though I've never seen it.

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Title: Chapter 2 - The Police and the Protests

Author: The Washington Post, Wesley Lowery

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-25-15

Publisher: Diversion Books

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post comes a meticulously detailed, insightful report on the killing that brought the nation's attention to a city coming apart at the seams.

Three minutes in middle America shook a nation to its foundation. To many, it shone a spotlight on the frequently violent, often deadly interactions between young men of color and police departments. It highlighted the racial disparity in policing techniques, in response to crime, and in how race relations are perceived in an America where many incorrectly pride the country on being "post-racial."

Renowned journalist Wesley Lowery has pulled together a vast and troubling panorama of reportage on the Ferguson slaying, and the aftermath--the marches, the clashes, and the slow, painful process of building trust between a devastated community and a police department tasked with serving and protecting it.

Challenging and necessary, Ferguson engages America in a frank and necessary dialogue about race relations, about legacies of bigotry that continue to this day, and about a path forward as one nation, equal under the law.

Contributors include: Joel Achenbach, Mark Berman, Lindsey Bever, Jeremy Borden, Amy Brittain, DeNeen L. Brown, Philip Bump, Jessica Contrera, Jahi Chikwendiu, Niraj Chokshi, Robert Costa, Alice Crites, David A. Fahrenthold, Darryl Fears, Marc Fisher, J. Freedom du Lac, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Chico Harlan, Dana Hedgpeth, Peter Hermann, Scott Higham, Peter Holley, Sari Horwitz, Greg Jaffe, Sarah Kaplan, Kimbriell Kelly, Kimberly Kindy, Sarah Larimer, Carol D. Leonnig, Jerry Markon, Michael E. Miller, David Montgomery, Brian Murphy, David Nakamura, Abby Phillip, Steven Rich, Manuel Roig-Franzia, Robert Samuels, Sandhya Somashekhar, John Sullivan, Julie Tate, Krissah Thompson, Neely Tucker.

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Title: The Mindful Parent

Subtitle: Strategies from Peaceful Cultures to Raise Compassionate, Competent Kids

Author: Charlotte Peterson

Narrator: Elisa Carlson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-17-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Over the last four decades, American hospitals have seen a steady increase in children suffering from psychological disorders, peer violence, and suicide attempts. To figure out why this is happening and how to put an end to it, child psychologist Dr. Charlotte Peterson has been spending six months every five years living in indigenous villages and observing their parenting practices. What she's found is that the people of peaceful cultures, particularly the Tibetan, Bhutanese, and Balinese people, know something we Westerners, despite our modernity, don't, and their children are happier, healthier, and more balanced because of it.

What Dr. Peterson has found is that the children in these cultures are raised with a high degree of cherishing and empathy. Attachments are promoted by intensive nurturing of infants and gentle, clear limit-setting with toddlers that teaches self-control and builds self-esteem. The result, as Dr. Peterson has found after visiting these places again and again, is children who are trusting, enjoyable, and kind, - not "spoiled", as we might imagine.

The Mindful Parent brings together Dr. Peterson's village interviews, observations, research, and over 35 years of work as a psychologist to teach modern parents how to raise healthier, more well-balanced, and kinder children. It includes creative ideas from parents who are currently adopting these practices and balancing other aspects of their personal, career, and financial responsibilities to assure their children get the support they need to thrive.

Members Reviews:

Great focus, lacking insight

Peterson is writing a book with a crucial underlying premise, that mindfulness and emotional self-awareness is foundational to healthy parenting. Unfortunately, while Terrassa are great ideas in this book, I'm distracted away from them by her clear bias towards Tibetan culture. In the same way I'd be strongly turned off by a book written with a clear ethnocentric bias towards US or Western culture, she idealizes these cultures, advocating sweeping claims of superiority. Very disappointing to me, as a therapist who is also a Buddhist practicioner I was eager to learn more from her on the topic. I'd recommend Parenting from the inside out, by Dan swivel over this book