Download Most Popular Audiobooks in Nonfiction, Social Sciences

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Title: The Quiet Revolution

Subtitle: An Active Faith That Transforms Lives and Communities

Author: Jay F. Hein

Narrator: Fred Stella

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-03-14

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

American citizens have always been the backbone of ambitious solutions to the world's most pressing problems. The 21st century has seen an unprecedented rise in generosity and a steep decline in global poverty. In The Quiet Revolution, listeners are invited inside the White House to see how presidents have aided in this success by rallying Americans to serve their nation by volunteering in their local communities and around the world.

President George W. Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative was a catalyst for many of these dramatic social improvements. Yet, the big story is not what happened in Washington, D.C., but rather what takes place in countless communities across the nation. There is not a social problem in America that is not being addressed by a faith-based or community group every day.

The Quiet Revolution is about championing the unsung work of ordinary volunteers spurred by faith and simple goodwill to roll up their sleeves in order to care for their neighbors in need.

Members Reviews:

An Investment in America and a Must Read

Nothing seems to generate a more visceral response than faith and politics bubbling in the same cauldron; yet, whether we like it or not, they will always be inextricably linked for both are fueled by the human spirit. Jay Hein confidently reminds us of the principles upon which our country was founded and the importance of civic engagement and religious freedom to the fabric of our society. This is not a book about politics even though politics shapes everything we do, nor is it a book about faith or the lack thereof. Hein has done an exceptional job of distilling the most salient points around the genesis of President G. W. Bushâs Faith-Based and Community Initiative, and its significance in laying the groundwork for effective and far-reaching efforts that thrive still today all across America.

Regardless of your political persuasion or your personal biases for or against empowering institutions of faith to partner with government, you owe it to yourself as a citizen to read this book. Our countryâs ills are too significant and the resulting consequences too great to allow the debate to consume more time and energy than the very solutions we seek for those in need.

Five Stars

Exactly as described.

The Silent Majority

In light of today's news, I don't know how much longer the revolution will remain quiet, but Christianity definitely transforms lives and provides people with the purpose they seek.

Faith Based Initiative looked at from the inside

This look into the White House and the Faith Based Initiative that President George Bush started is a very interesting read. It gives background to what the initiative was wanting to accomplish and how it went about it. As someone who spent twenty five years working with the poor in South Central Los Angeles I came to see their poverty and plight up close. The issues of poverty, single parent homes, illegal immigration and violence were main themes daily in our lives.

The faith based initiative was to designed to give help to the non-profits and religious institutions so that they could provide better care for the poor and take the place of government programs that had become burdensome and ineffective.

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Title: Something like the Gods

Subtitle: A Cultural History of the Athlete from Achilles to LeBron

Author: Stephen Amidon

Narrator: Ron Butler

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 04-21-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

A lively, literary exploration of one of the Wests most iconic cultural figures - the athlete.

Why is the athlete so important to us? Few public figures can dominate the public imagination with such power and authority. Even in our cynical times, when celebrities can be debunked at the speed of light, many still look to athletes as models for our moral and emotional lives. An aging fastballer goes for a few last wins in his final season, and he becomes an exemplar for our daily struggles against time.

A top golfer cheats on his wife, and his behavior sparks a symposium on marital fidelity more wideranging than if the lapse had come from a politician or religious leader.

Drawing from art, literature, politics, and history, Something like the Gods explores the powerful grip the athlete has always held on the Western imagination. Amidon examines the archetype of the competitor as it evolved from antiquity to the present day, from athlete-warriors such as Achilles and Ulysses to global media icons like Ali, Jordan, and Tiger Woods.

Above all, Something like the Gods is a lyrical study that will appeal to anyone who has ever imagined themselves in the spikes, boots, or sneakers of our greatest athletesor wondered why people do.

Members Reviews:

Fascinating History

This is a "popular history", that is, history from a lay perspective rather than an overly academic one. It's very easy to follow, and if you grew up in British or American culture, there will be several references that you'll know even if you don't follow the sport in question.

Many histories that tell the stories from a "Western" perspective (which Amidon does take pains to point out is actually relevant here) run the risk of focusing solely on white males only; not only does Amidon make certain not to do this, an entire chapter is devoted to the effects of athleticism on race relations (entitled "Shirts and Skins").

The narration is serviceable, but the pronunciation of several non-English words (classical Greek characters, French names and phrases, etc.) was so far off the versions I've heard, it unfortunately took me out of the narrative a few times. I'll be extremely embarrassed if he got them right and I've always gotten them wrong.

You don't have to be a sports fanatic to enjoy this book; you just have to acknowledge that athleticism is a part of the culture you live in.

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Title: Mirror, Mirror

Subtitle: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love

Author: Simon Blackburn

Narrator: Simon Vance

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-16-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Everyone deplores narcissism, especially in others. The vain are by turns annoying or absurd, offending us whether they are blissfully oblivious or proudly aware of their behavior. But are narcissism and vanity really as bad as they seem? Can we avoid them even if we try? In Mirror, Mirror, Simon Blackburn, the author of such best-selling philosophy books as Think, Being Good, and Lust, says that narcissism, vanity, pride, and self-esteem are more complex than they first appear and have innumerable good and bad forms. Drawing on philosophy, psychology, literature, history, and popular culture, Blackburn offers an enlightening and entertaining exploration of self-love, from the myth of Narcissus and the Christian story of the Fall to todays self-esteem industry.

A sparkling mixture of learning, humor, and style, Mirror, Mirror examines what great thinkers have said about self-lovefrom Aristotle, Cicero, and Erasmus to Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, and Iris Murdoch. It considers todays me-related obsessions, such as the selfie, plastic surgery, and cosmetic enhancements, and reflects on connected phenomena such as the fatal commodification of social life and the tragic overconfidence of George W. Bush and Tony Blair. Ultimately, Mirror, Mirror shows why self-regard is a necessary and healthy part of life. But it also suggests that we have lost the ability to distinguishlet alone strike a balancebetween good and bad forms of self-concern.

Members Reviews:

this perceptive account of various forms of self love is illuminating

Written in a clear and direct style, this perceptive account of various forms of self love and related ideas is illuminating and often penetrating. If you are looking for an entry to contemporary philosophy, this is a as good a place as any to begin your investigation.

Too much talk, too little content

First, my disclaimer - I am skeptical of the value of book reviews of this sort, as they tend to say more about me than about the book. That out of the way, I found this volume to be largely unreadable. I was intrigued after hearing the author on NPR, and gave a serious effort at reading his book. For my taste, he is far too wordy, and much of what he says is fairly obvious. After enduring the first couple of chapters., and trying to skip around reading ahead, I had to admit that this one wasn't worth my time.

An unhappy combination of pompously verbose and shallow.

Superb philosophy

An outstanding work of accessible philosophy.

Blackburn is one of the best philosophers in the Anglophone world.

A brilliant book.

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Title: Eating Right in America

Subtitle: The Cultural Politics of Food and Health

Author: Charlotte Biltekoff

Narrator: Caroline Miller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-20-14

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Eating Right in America is a powerful critique of dietary reform in the United States from the late nineteenth-century emergence of nutritional science through the contemporary alternative food movement and campaign against obesity. Charlotte Biltekoff analyzes the discourses of dietary reform, including the writings of reformers, as well as the materials they created to bring their messages to the public. She shows that while the primary aim may be to improve health, the process of teaching people to eat right in the U.S. inevitably involves shaping certain kinds of subjects and citizens, and shoring up the identity and social boundaries of the ever-threatened American middle class. Without discounting the pleasures of food or the value of wellness, Biltekoff advocates a critical reappraisal of our obsession with diet as a proxy for health. Based on her understanding of the history of dietary reform, she argues that talk about eating right in America too often obscures structural and environmental stresses and constraints, while naturalizing the dubious redefinition of health as an individual responsibility and imperative.

The book is published by Duke University Press

Critic Reviews:

Biltekoffraises important questions about the national dialogue on eating right. Biltekoff effectively forges connections between this extreme and the current craze for organic food and the obesity epidemic. The author shows, carefully and explicitly, that even the most virtuous approaches to healthful eating are based, sometimes unconsciously, in shaming and class and racial biases. (

Publishers Weekly)

Eating Right in America is a must-read for anyone interested in modern dietary reform. I say that as a scholar who has studied the subject for more than twenty-five years. This concise, well-researched, and provocative book is an instructor's dream, and it is certainly a book that every student and practitioner of nutrition, dietetics, and food science should read and ponder. (Warren Belasco, author of

Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food)

Members Reviews:

I read this for a class but it was actually ...

I read this for a class but it was actually really interesting and worth reading if you want to know more about how our diets have been shaped by corporate interests.

Interesting if this is something on your radar

One must be forgiven for recollecting stereotypes, but when you contrast the marketing text for this book to the popular imagery of the United States, you must wonder if they refer to the same country.

"(The book) chronicles the dietary reform movements that have shaped ideas about good nutrition and public health in the United States for more than a century." With the high take up of pre-processed food and takeaway outlets, it feels harder to accept that things have got better, instead of getting worse. With greater economic freedom and choice thanks to automation and industrialisation, have we made a step or two backwards? Yet the book does identify a possible reason for why things seem to be the way they are.

This is an academically-focussed book which is still quite accessible and possibly of benefit to those with an interest in food, social society and similar "disciplines." It won't make you a better cook but it might help improve your understanding of many issues.

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Title: Lean Healthcare

Author: Ade Asefeso, MCIPS, MBA

Narrator: Mark La Roi

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-14

Publisher: Ade Asefeso MCIPS MBA

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

I am encouraged to see healthcare leaders looking beyond the ways they have always done things in the past to implement innovative solutions to curb the industry's skyrocketing costs, poor quality, nursing shortages and employee dissatisfaction; all symptoms of deeper problems inherent in the system itself.

Today's forward looking healthcare providers have realized the financial and moral imperatives for improving quality and safety and eliminating waste as strategies for responding to their pressing challenges. Lean Healthcare (adapted from the Toyota Production System) is not just for manufacturing or another short-term fix; it's a way to transform an entire organization into a safe and high-quality, high-performing healthcare delivery system.

If implemented properly, it can be the "how to" for managing change and creating continuous improvement.

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Title: IMMIGRATION

Subtitle: "United States Citizenship for Immigrants"

Author: Byron Goines

Narrator: Byron Goines

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-02-14

Publisher: Byron Goines

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

All comprehensive immigration reform advocates should have this audiobook in their library. This audiobook can be utilized as an effective training tool for debate with opponents of comprehensive immigration reform. Byron Goines addresses the topic of undocumented immigrants and comprehensive immigration reform. Comprehensive immigration reform is a necessity and should be addressed by Congress immediately. Find out why undocumented immigrants should be given a path to citizenship. Find out how comprehensive immigration reform will benefit the United States of America. This audiobook is a must-listen for those searching for historical facts pertaining to immigration as related to comprehensive immigration reform that addresses undocumented immigrants.

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Title: The New American High School

Author: Ted Sizer, Nancy Faust Sizer (introduction), Deborah Meier (foreward)

Narrator: Noah Michael Levine

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-25-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

The late Theodore Sizer's vision for a truly democratic public high school system. Our current high schools are ill-designed and inefficient. We have inherited a program of studies that in its overall structure has not changed in over a century. The question is, "What's next?" Theodore Sizer, the founder of The Coalition of Essential Schools, was a passionate advocate for the American school system. In this, his last audiobook, he offers a vision of what a future secondary education might look like. In an audiobook that tells the story of his own odyssey, Sizer gives shape to a much-needed agenda for improving our high schools. Includes a vision for the future of our High Schools from one of America's greatest leaders of educational reform. Written by Theodore Sizer founder of The Coalition of Essential Schools and author of landmark book Horace's Compromise. This final audiobook from the late Theodore Sizer reveals the man and his vision for our secondary education system.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Sizer's work is inspirational.

Great book on American Education

The implementation of education needs to change, Ted Sizer brings about an interesting take on where we need to go.

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Title: The Citizen Lobbyist

Subtitle: A How-to Manual for Making Your Voice Heard in Government

Author: Amanda Knief

Narrator: Amanda Knief

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-06-13

Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

More citizen involvement is needed in our government processes to ensure the voices of the people are heard over the money of paid lobbyists, unions, and coalitions, both in Washington, DC, and in state capitals across the country. Too often our public officials seem removed from the people who hired them to be their representatives and fail to work on their behalf.

The Citizen Lobbyist is a handbook for anyone who wants to learn about how to be active in local, state, and federal government and have a voice in creating public policy. It gives a step-by-step plan on how to lobby elected officials about whatever issues you care about, offers information on how to plan a lobbying meeting for individuals and groups, and provides sample lobbying scenarios and resources to assist with finding legislative information and history. The Citizen Lobbyist is your go-to reference for being a grassroots activist and citizen lobbyist.

Members Reviews:

Great guidebook for lobbying, advocacy, and engaging both decision-makers and policy-makers.

Great guide and resource. The book is relatively short/condensed so there's not a lot of fluff, but good, clear recommendations and actionable strategy. I am not involved in traditional lobbying. Instead, I work with communities working organizations and regulators in the transportation sector. While this may be lobbying in the purist sense, most of my clients need help with knowing how to effectively engage industry personnel, local government, etc., not necessarily elected officials, especially not at the federal level. Still this book offers a lot of insights into how to effectively advocate and engage which is exactly what I needed. Would highly recommend.

Perfect for any activist to get started in petitioning your government!

Amanda writes a wonderful book on how to get started making your voice heard in government. The US and State governments operate best when citizens make their voices heard, and this how-to manual is a great start in doing that. This is a must read!

Intro to lobbying

Good intro to lobbying book. I would recommend to anyone that doesn't know squat about talking to elected officials. Basics are easily explained and actionable.

Effective material!

Excellent resource material. Well written and extremely useful guide to lobby your public officials. I recommend this one!

valuable info simply expressed

This book was recommended to me by John Shook, and it helped me understand quite a bit about political activism, much of which I did not know before. Very helpful, and it uses plain language to demystify the subject. As someone who has spent some considerable time trying to figure a lot of this out, I'm glad this book came along and filled in some gaps.

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Title: Through Animals' Eyes, Again

Subtitle: Stories of Wildlife Rescue

Author: Lynn Marie Cuny

Narrator: Erin L. Jones

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-05-13

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

From the author of Through Animals' Eyes comes more true stories from the rare perspective of someone who not only cares for the animals she treats, but also has never wanted nor tried to tame or change them.

Lynn Cuny founded Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation (WRR) in 1977 in her backyard in San Antonio. It has since grown to 187 acres and now rescues more than 7,000 animals annually and maintains an emergency hotline 365 days a year. Native animals are released back into the wild, and those non-native or severely injured animals that cannot be released become permanent Sanctuary residents.

Through her stories, Lynn hopes to dispel the belief that animals do not reason, have emotions, or show compassion for each other. Lynn's stories cover the humorous and the tragic, the surprising and the inevitable. The animals she describes range from the orphaned baby Rhesus monkey who found a new mother in an old monkey rescued from a lab, to the brave red-tailed hawk who was illegally shot, but healed to soar again. The stories will touch your heart and help you see "through animals' eyes."

Critic Reviews:

These true accounts, as amazing as some of them are with their unlikely bondings (a porcupine and a rabbit, a duck and a cat) will captivate, fascinate, educate, and often move you deeply. It's an inspiring read for animal advocates and a must-read for those who have not been exposed to the beautiful experiences of the animal-animal bond. (Loretta Swit, actress)

Members Reviews:

Wonderful book, highly recommended.

I live too far away to ever visit Lynn Cuny's rescue facilities, but I've dontated for years. Lynn's newsletters to her donors are delightful, fascinating, and often deeply moving, just like the tales in this book. All I can say is that I'm honored to share the same planet as Lynn Cuny.

Five Stars

Great book!

great stories!

Love reading about all the animals Lynn Cuny has encountered through all the years she has spent rescuing these animals. Very well written!

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Title: All the Time in the World

Subtitle: A Book of Hours

Author: Jessica Kerwin Jenkins

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-29-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

A follow-up to her popular Encyclopedia of the Exquisite, Jenkins' new book offers a string of historical anecdotes structured around the hours of the day, celebrating the unusual, fantastic, and beautiful ways people have spent time throughout theages.

All the Time in theWorld proffers a miscellany of customs, traditions, and pleasures people have pursued throughout the ages. An antidote to the contemporary cult of "getting things done," the book takes its cue from the medieval books of hours, which prescribed certain readings and contemplations for various parts of the day and year. Full of witty bons mots, interesting etymologies, and arresting anecdotes, the book encompasses an array of cultures and eras, including ancient Greece, Renaissance Florence, 1930s Shanghai, and the Hollywood Hills of thelate 1960s, and drifts through the worlds of fashion, beauty, art, food, andtravel. Focusing on the glamorous, eccentric, unusual, and sublime, subjectscovered include the daylong ceremony of laying a royal Elizabethan tablecloth; the radicalization of sartorial chic in 1890s Paris; Nostradamus' belief in the aphrodisiac power of jam (and the book of recipes he published the same year as his predictions); the sensuous practice of sniffing incense in fifteenth century Japan; the American fascination with flaming desserts; the short-livedartistic discipline of "lumia," or visual music; the Ottoman Empire's seventeenth-century ban on coffee; the magnetic atmosphere that fueled Parisian high life in the 1920s; Henriette d'Angeville's fearless ascent of Mont Blanc, armed with thirteen guides, twenty-four roast chickens, and eighteen bottles ofwine; the elaborate treasure hunts concocted by London's Bright Young Things; and the musical revolution known as bebop.

Entertaining, unexpected, and charming, All the Time in the Worlddigs up the forgotten treasures of the past and inspires a passion for good living in the present.

Members Reviews:

A Garden of Historical Delights

The subtitle for this book is "a book of hours." Indeed, that is probably the closest label available, as the book is formatted into a sort of super Day Runner, with each timeslot having a brief essay on a person or event that took place at that hour. Alternatively, you can think of it as a collection of "On this day in history" articles, except it would be "on this HOUR in history." I prefer to consider it a historical smorgasbord of fascinating occurrences.

There are just under 100 brief essays on various topics, most attached to a particular time such as Noon or 7:30pm. Interspersed are twelve seasonal can't-be-tied-to-a-specific-time pieces, labeled with the name of a month.

As I said, MOST of the articles focus on a single event, such as 11am (when Oscar Wilde, having just arrived in the US, "takes" New York) or 1:50am ("Last Call at La Rotonde"). Some offer brief narratives outlining the development of an item (such as 7:30am's essay on looking glasses) or a concept (11:45am's essay on sun worshippers).