Books, Music, Podcasts

Good Listens

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Always listening to audiobooks and podcasts while going on walks or crafting, I wanted to share some interesting recent listens.

GOOD LISTENS

I constantly listen to audiobooks and podcasts and wanted to share my recent favorites.

Audiobooks

I am fortunate to have a wonderful public library system and use the free Overdrive app to download audiobooks to my phone. Check out my older posts under the category “Audiobook Recommendations” if you would like to see my previous recommendations. Here are my recent favorites:

  • H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald – I understand why this book has received all sorts of accolades. An introverted female British historian loses her beloved father and deals with her grief through training a Goshawk. The author reads the audiobook (I always love this) and weaves the story of her journey through her grief with the history of falconry, the experience of training a hawk, and the story of T.H. White – a falconer who wrote The Once and Future King and The Sword In the Stone (King Arthur/Camelot stories). It was an amazing listen – engaging, interesting, and profound in its beautiful exploration of loss, grief and recovery.
  • Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner – this book by the same duo of Economists who wrote Freakanomics was highly entertaining and eye opening. It was read by one of the authors  Stephen J. Dubner. It was a “Malcolm Gladwell” type of book blending sociology, economics and psychology. Economics is not as boring as it sounds when discussed by these authors!

Podcasts

Ah, the magic of free podcasts! I usually download them from iTunes; and for some podcasts you can listen for free on various websites such as NPR.org. Here are my current favorite podcasts:

  • TED Radio Hour – This podcast is more than listening to a TED Talk. Each week an engaging topic is presented and discussed by weaving together snippets from related TED talks and interviews with TED talk presenters, experts, and everyday people’s perspectives. Very engaging podcast that always ends too quickly! I never tire of watching TED talks or listening to this podcast featuring excerpts.
  • The Moth Podcast – Incredible podcast featuring live storytelling. When I listen to The Moth Radio Hour while walking, sometimes I stop and pause to reflect, laugh out loud, or wipe away a tear. Powerful and engaging story telling. Thanks to my friend Pam for introducing me many years ago to “The Moth”.
  • The Minimalists Podcast – I love these guys. My friend in Austria introduced me to their website/blog theminimalists.com and I have been hooked! You may realize from my earlier posts that I am working on scaling back my life and focusing on experiences over things. I am very inspired by these two young thirty something guys who realized at an early age that living a meaningful life with less stuff is one of the keys to happiness. A lot of the stuff they discuss I already know but I enjoy the reinforcement.

Postscript

In addition to podcasts, I am current listening to TWO audiobooks at once (I put them both on hold from the library and they both became available at the same time for a 21 day lending period):

  • SuperBetter by Jane McGonigal
  • Good Gut by Justin Sonnenburg

I am enjoying both of them so far and just alternate my listenings!

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

3 thoughts on “Good Listens”

  1. Think Like a Freak sounds interesting, but I’d never make it listening to non-fiction. I tried once. I’d lose the line of argument too easily and was always going back. Fiction I can enjoy listening to.

    I was just listening to Freakanomics (spell check wanted to change it to Reaganomics) last night on NPR — a fascinating study celebrating failure.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I used to feel the same about non fiction and then strangely I got hooked. I get irritated sometimes when I listen to fiction! (But I did enjoy listening to The Martian by Andy Weir last year).

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