Social Science audiobooks

Scatter, Adapt, and Remember

By: Annalee Newitz

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

In its 4.5 billion–year history, life on Earth has been almost erased at least half a dozen times: shattered by asteroid impacts, entombed in ice, smothered by methane, and torn apart by unfathomably powerful megavolcanoes. And we know that another global disaster is eventually headed our way. Can we survive it? How?

As a species, Homo... Read more

The Divide

By: Matt Taibbi

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 13 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST, NPR, AND KIRKUS REVIEWS

A scathing portrait of an urgent new American crisis
 
Over the last two decades, America has been falling deeper and deeper into a statistical mystery:
 
Poverty goes up. Crime goes down. The prison population doubles.
Fraud by the... Read more

Five Days at Memorial

By: Sheri Fink

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 17 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The award-winning book that inspired an Apple Original series from Apple TV+ • A landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina—and the suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice—from a Pulitzer Prize–winning physician and reporter

“An amazing tale, as... Read more

Superheroes!

By: Laurence Maslon & Michael Kantor

Narrated by: Laurence Maslon

Length: 10 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, the Avengers, the X-Men, Watchmen, and more: the companion volume to the PBS documentary series of the same name that tells the story of the superhero in American popular culture.
 
Together again for the first time, here come the greatest comic book superheroes ever assembled between two... Read more

Jim Henson

By: Brian Jay Jones

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 21 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • For the first time ever—a comprehensive biography of one of the twentieth century’s most innovative creative artists: the incomparable, irreplaceable Jim Henson

He was a gentle dreamer whose genial bearded visage was recognized around the world, but most people got to know him only through the iconic characters born... Read more

Keep It Pithy

By: Bill O'Reilly

Narrated by: Bill O'Reilly & Dan Woren

Length: 2 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

From the bestselling author of Killing Lincoln and host of Fox News' top show The O'Reilly Factor, the best of Bill O’Reilly’s provocative writing—reflecting his ideas, wisdom, and core values

Bill O’Reilly is one of the most recognized and talked-about journalists of our time. With an unparalleled track record as an author and with the #1-rated... Read more

Promises Kept

By: Dr. Joe Brewster, Michele Stephenson & Hilary B...

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin & Dominic Hoffman

Length: 12 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

As seen on PBS’s POV

An unprecedented guide to helping black boys achieve success at every stage of their lives—at home, at school, and in the world
 
Regardless of how wealthy or poor their parents are, all black boys must confront and surmount the “achievement gap”: a divide that shows up not only in our sons’ test scores, but in their social... Read more

The Revolution Was Televised

By: Alan Sepinwall

Narrated by: Joe Ochman

Length: 11 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

A mob boss in therapy. An experimental, violent prison unit. The death of an American city, as seen through a complex police investigation. A lawless frontier town trying to talk its way into the United States. A corrupt cop who rules his precinct like a warlord. The survivors of a plane crash trying to make sense of their disturbing new island... Read more

Buck

By: MK Asante

Narrated by: MK Asante & Adenrele Ojo

Length: 5 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

A rebellious boy’s journey through the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family—this is the riveting story of a generation told through one dazzlingly poetic new voice.
 
MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation’s dance company and a father who would soon become a revered... Read more

The Underground Girls of Kabul

By: Jenny Nordberg

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 10 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

An investigative journalist uncovers a hidden custom in Afghanistan that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl.
 
“An astonishingly clear picture of this resourceful, if imperfect, solution to the problem of girlhood in a society where women have few rights and overwhelming restrictions.”—The Boston Globe

In... Read more

Cubed

By: Nikil Saval

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 12 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

You mean this place we go to five days a week has a history? Cubed reveals the unexplored yet surprising story of the places where most of the world's work—our work—gets done. From "Bartleby the Scrivener" to The Office, from the steno pool to the open-plan cubicle farm, Cubed is a fascinating, often funny, and sometimes disturbing anatomy of... Read more

Ten Billion

By: Stephen Emmott

Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley

Length: 1 hour 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Deforestation. Desertification. Species extinction. Global warming. Growing threats to food and water. The driving issues of our times are the result of one huge problem: Us.
 
As the population continues to grow, our problems will increase. And this means that every way we look at it, a planet of ten billion people is likely to be a... Read more

Losing Our Way

By: Bob Herbert

Narrated by: Bob Herbert

Length: 10 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

From longtime New York Times columnist Bob Herbert comes a wrenching portrayal of ordinary Americans struggling for survival in a nation that has lost its way

In his eighteen years as an opinion columnist for The New York Times, Herbert championed the working poor and the middle class. After filing his last column in 2011, he set off on a journey... Read more

Facing the Wave

By: Gretel Ehrlich

Narrated by: Sumalee Montano

Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

**Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)**
**Kansas City Star Best Books of the Year (2013)**

A passionate student of Japanese poetry, theater, and art for much of her life, Gretel Ehrlich felt compelled to return to the earthquake-and-tsunami-devastated Tohoku coast to bear witness, listen to survivors, and experience their terror and exhilaration... Read more

The Sweet Spot

By: Christine Carter, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Christine Carter, Ph.D.

Length: 9 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Learn how to achieve more by doing less! Live in that zone you’ve glimpsed but can’t seem to hold on to—the sweet spot where you have the greatest strength, but also the greatest ease.

Not long ago, Christine Carter, a happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and a speaker, writer, and mother, found herself exasperated by... Read more

Headstrong

By: Rachel Swaby

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 7 hours

Abridged: No

Fifty-two inspiring and insightful profiles of history’s brightest female scientists.

“Rachel Swaby’s no-nonsense and needed Headstrong dynamically profiles historically overlooked female visionaries in science, technology, engineering, and math.”—Elle

In 2013, the New York Times published an obituary for Yvonne Brill. It began: “She made a mean... Read more

Do the KIND Thing

By: Daniel Lubetzky

Narrated by: Daniel Lubetzky

Length: 7 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

For the socially conscious, the intellectually curious, or the creative soul comes an inspiring, New York Times bestselling handbook for success in business, life, and the all-important task of building a more compassionate world—by the visionary founder and CEO of KIND Healthy Snacks.
 
When Daniel Lubetzky started KIND Healthy Snacks in 2004,... Read more

The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy

By: Sam Maggs

Narrated by: Holly Conrad & Jessica Almasy

Length: 5 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

Fanfic, cosplay, cons, books, memes, podcasts, vlogs, OTPs and RPGs and MMOs and more—it’s never been a better time to be a girl geek. The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy is the ultimate handbook for ladies living the nerdy life, a fun and feminist take on the often male-dominated world of geekdom. With an unabashed love for all the in(ternet)s... Read more

United

By: Cory Booker

Narrated by: Cory Booker

Length: 9 hours

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • United States Senator Cory Booker makes the case that the virtues of empathy, responsibility, and action must guide our nation toward a brighter future.

Raised in northern New Jersey, Cory Booker went to Stanford University on a football scholarship, accepted a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, then studied at... Read more

Preachers of Hate

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 13 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Like no book before it, Preachers of Hate uncovers an ancient hatred that threatens the life and livelihood of every American. The “new” anti-Semitism targets not only Jews, but Americans specifically and the West in general. It targets our values, our lifestyle, and our freedoms. It is the single most important issue we face when trying to make... Read more

The Progress Paradox

By: Gregg Easterbrook

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

Length: 11 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook draws upon three decades of wide-ranging research and thinking to make the persuasive assertion that almost all aspects of Western life have vastly improved in the past century--and yet today, most men and women feel less happy than in previous generations. Why this is so and what we should do about it... Read more

Why Men Don't Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes

By: Barbara Pease & Allan Pease

Narrated by: Lee Adams & Stephen Hoye

Length: 8 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

Do you know the top seven things men do that drive women nuts? Or the real reason women cry more than men do? What are men really looking for in a woman—both at first sight and for the long-term? These are only the starting points for Barbara and Allan Pease as they discuss the very real—and often very funny—differences between the sexes.

Why... Read more

Loud and Clear

By: Anna Quindlen

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Length: 8 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winner Anna Quindlen offers wisdom, opinions, insights, and reflections about current events and modern life in this provocative and inspiring book.

“A tour de force for our time, [Loud and Clear] is equally as compelling as a look at public events as it is a reflection on being a woman and on... Read more

Brothers in Arms

By: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Anthony Walton

Narrated by: Richard Allen

Length: 9 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A powerful wartime saga recounting the extraordinary story of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first all-black armored unit to see combat in World War II.
 
“More than a combat story . . . it’s also the story of how black soldiers had to fight (literally and figuratively) for the right to fight the Germans.”—USA Today 
 
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar first... Read more