It’s Teacher Appreciation Week (May 3-7)! Have you thanked your favorite educator? If not, get ready to drop this blog post and go forth! But before you do, check out this list of audiobooks—many written and narrated by educators across multiple disciplines—and give the star teacher in your life a gift that provides inspiration and shows support. After all, supporting educators isn’t a soft science. Teachers, we see you! You’re the glue holding the diorama of civic life together, and pillars of strength and creativity in tough times—and this past year was one of the toughest. Thank you for all you do!
A #1 international bestseller. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, in Humble Pi Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.
We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Random House’s copy chief Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. Beloved by authors and editors alike for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition, in Dreyer’s English he distills everything he has learned into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward.
You don’t have to know how to draw well, stretch a canvas, or mix a paint color. This book is for anyone who wants to make art, regardless of experience level. You Are an Artist brings together more than 50 assignments, ideas, and prompts gathered from some of the most innovative creators working today so that you can start your next project.
Listen to Sarah Urist Green talk about recording her audiobook on our podcast, This Is the Author.
One of the world’s top experts on education delivers an uplifting memoir on his own personal failures and successes as he sought to become a good learner and teacher. Wagner’s story sheds light on critical issues facing parents and educators today, and reminds us that trial and error, resilience, and respect for the individual, are at the very heart of all teaching and learning.
Listen to Tony Wagner talk about recording his audiobook on our podcast, This Is the Author.
Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive. Parenting, business, education, sports—this is an audiobook that covers it all in a way that will surprise you…and change your chess game.
Check out our Q & A with Will Damron, narrator of Range.
From one of the foremost authorities on education, “whistleblower extraordinaire” (The Wall Street Journal), former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, comes an impassioned, inspiring look at the ways in which parents, teachers, activists—citizens—are successfully fighting back to defeat the forces that are privatizing America’s public schools.
From the financial crisis to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, economist Heather McGhee found a common root problem in the American economy: racism. The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here: divided and self-destructing, materially rich but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to paint an irrefutable story of racism’s costs.
Listen to Heather McGhee talk about recording her audiobook on our podcast, This Is the Author.
In The War for Kindness, Jamil Zaki shares cutting-edge research, including experiments from his own lab, showing that empathy is not a fixed trait but rather a skill that can be strengthened through effort. He also tells the stories of people who embody this new perspective, fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances.
“In this masterpiece, Jamil Zaki weaves together the very latest science with stories that will stay in your heart forever.”—Angela Duckworth, author of Grit
Hear Jamil Zaki talk about recording his audiobook on our podcast, This Is the Author.
Improv instructor, narrator, and writer Jorjeana Marie presents the first book to harness the creative power of improvisation exercises to help both aspiring and seasoned authors defeat writer’s block and generate new ideas.
Listen to Jorjeana Marie talk about recording her audiobook on our podcast, This Is the Author.