This Is the Author

S2 E06: Derek Thompson, Author of Hit Makers

February 07, 2017 14:07 - 12 minutes - 2.89 MB

"If I had two seconds to say what my book is about, I would say it's the tipping point for pop culture."

S2 E05: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author of We Should All Be Feminists

January 31, 2017 14:27 - 2 minutes - 725 KB

"This essay is actually a talk that I gave at a TED conference. I had been asked to speak and I wasn't sure I had anything worthwhile to talk about it. And then I remembered the one thing I feel very strongly about is feminism."

S2 E04: Graeme Wood, Author of The Way of the Strangers

January 17, 2017 14:34 - 4 minutes - 1.16 MB

"My book is about the Islamic State and the worldwide movement of supporters that it has inspired."

S2 E03: Sara Benincasa, Author of DC Trip

January 10, 2017 16:15 - 6 minutes - 1.65 MB

"My book is about a group of teens who go on what's a pretty typical trip for kids on the east coast to take during middle school or high school."

S2 E02: Mark Sundeen, Author of The Unsettlers

January 10, 2017 16:14 - 6 minutes - 1.65 MB

"My book is about people who wanted more than just the token attempt at making change in the world."

S2 E01: Dom Mazzetti, Author of The Swoly Bible

January 04, 2017 18:43 - 2 minutes - 591 KB

"The story behind my book, well, it's the story of evolution, which is the story behind every person."

S1 E93: Agapi Stassinopoulos, Author of Wake Up to the Joy of You

December 22, 2016 22:25 - 6 minutes - 1.55 MB

"My book is about learning what is not working for us and what is working for us, and starting to do the things that are really more beneficial to our lives."

S1 E92: James Hamblin, Author of If Our Bodies Could Talk

December 22, 2016 22:25 - 7 minutes - 1.75 MB

"My book is a general interest textbook of anatomy and physiology structured as an FAQ about human bodies."

S1 E91: Carrie Fisher, Author of The Princess Diarist

November 29, 2016 14:44 - 4 minutes - 4.46 MB

"My book is about, basically, experiences in and around and because of Star Wars."

S1 E90: David Hoffeld, Author of The Science of Selling

November 29, 2016 14:44 - 5 minutes - 1.29 MB

"I was inspired to write 'The Science of Selling' because I realized that many of the most common sales practices actually conflict with what behavioral science and neuroscience has proven regarding how our brains are wired to be influenced and construct buying decisions."

S1 E89: Lisa Napoli, Author of Ray and Joan

November 08, 2016 14:04 - 6 minutes - 1.51 MB

"I wrote Ray & Joan because I'm a longtime public radio reporter who was always curious about this woman Joan Kroc whose name is repeated on the air all the time because she gave a huge gift of $250 miliion that saved the network."

S1 E88: James Rickards, Author of Road to Ruin

November 08, 2016 14:04 - 8 minutes - 1.96 MB

"This book is about what it will be like to be IN the next financial crisis."

S1 E87: David Bianculli, Author of The Platinum Age of Television

November 08, 2016 14:04 - 3 minutes - 782 KB

"I've been a TV critic for over 40 years and this book is sort of everything I know put into one book."

S1 E86: Marina Abramovic, Author of Walk Through Walls

October 25, 2016 13:49 - 4 minutes - 1.17 MB

"I want this book to be inspirational for any generation, for artists or anyone else, who have to go through any hard life and time in order to achieve anything."

S1 E85: Michael Medved, Author of The American Miracle

October 25, 2016 13:49 - 11 minutes - 2.83 MB

"My book makes the case that the idea of a 'divine design' that has helped to mandate and determine the rise of the United States of America isn't just a matter of opinion, it's the truth, it's a fact."

S1 E84: Phil Collins, Author of Not Dead Yet

October 25, 2016 13:49 - 3 minutes - 809 KB

"My book, Not Dead Yet, is about my life--personal life and musical life."

S1 E83: Nick Offerman, Author of Good Clean Fun

October 18, 2016 00:22 - 6 minutes - 6.03 MB

"My book is about woodworking and my wood shop, and I wanted to record my audiobook because I've been told by a lot of my listeners that my reading put them to sleep so it makes a great gift for people with insomnia."

S1 E82: Alex Prud'homme, Author of The French Chef in America

October 11, 2016 13:44 - 6 minutes - 1.54 MB

"This book is about Julia Child's second career which takes place mostly in the 1970s, and is period most people don't know about Julia's life."

S1 E81: Tara Clancy, Author of The Clancys of Queens

October 11, 2016 13:44 - 6 minutes - 1.53 MB

"My book is about growing up in Queens. In a lot of ways it's a slice of life of what it's like to be a working class woman in Queens . . . and on the other hand it's got an interesting social strata hopping element to it."

S1 E80: Holiday Reinhorn, Author of Big Cats

October 04, 2016 14:16 - 4 minutes - 1.12 MB

"I wrote my book because it needed to be written, is I guess the way I would put it."

S1 E79: Joel Ben Izzy, Author of Dreidels on the Brain

October 04, 2016 14:16 - 8 minutes - 2.05 MB

"The book is about Hanukkah 1971 when I was twelve years old, living in the suburbs of the suburbs of LA, doing magic, praying for a miracle and waiting for it to snow."

S1 E78: Phoebe Robinson, Author of You Can't Touch My Hair

October 04, 2016 14:15 - 13 minutes - 3.31 MB

"In the publishing landscape there aren't a lot of essay collections by funny women of color so I felt like it was a good time to just kind of jump in there and shake things up a little bit."

S1 E77: Jane Alexander, Author of Wild Things, Wild Places

September 23, 2016 19:18 - 3 minutes - 938 KB

"My book is about my travels with field biologists in many parts of the world the past 35-40 years observing wildlife, particularly birds which are my passion, and the efforts in conservation and protecting species which are threatened everywhere."

S1 E76: Christine Negroni, Author of Crash Detectives

September 23, 2016 19:17 - 6 minutes - 1.64 MB

"My book is about aviation mysteries. It begins with Malaysia 370 and goes back though time and talks about other mysterious aviation disasters."

S1 E75: Mara Wilson, Author of Where Am I Now?

September 20, 2016 13:28 - 10 minutes - 2.4 MB

"My book is about my childhood. It's a memoir of my childhood and adolescence, told through stories."

S1 E74: Lisa Sugar, Author ofPower Your Happy

September 20, 2016 13:28 - 2 minutes - 589 KB

"My book is about helping people create their dream life and to be happy every day."

S1 E73: Gavin Edwards, Author of The Tao of Bill Murray

September 20, 2016 13:27 - 4 minutes - 1.06 MB

"My book, The Tao of Bill Murray, is about Bill Murray and all the crazy adventures and antics he gets into in public."

S1 E72: Carol Burnett, Author of In Such Good Company-Interview with Audiobook Producer, Aaron Blank

September 13, 2016 16:51 - 6 minutes - 1.57 MB

Penguin Random House Producer Aaron Blank interviews Carol Burnett about her iconic show, and her upcoming book about it, In Such Good Company.

S1 E71: Carol Burnett, Author of In Such Good Company

September 13, 2016 16:43 - 2 minutes - 661 KB

"I decided to write this book because I had been asked by a lot of other writers if they could do a history of our show, and I thought, you know, I should really write the history of this show because I'm the one who lived it."

S1 E70: Jill Kargman, Author of Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave

September 13, 2016 16:25 - 2 minutes - 678 KB

"My book is about ephemeral nature of life and how we all have to seize the day and live life like we know it's going to end but not in that cheesy YOLO way."

S1 E69: Cathy O'Neil, Author of Weapons of Math Destruction

September 13, 2016 16:24 - 3 minutes - 944 KB

"My book is about the dark side of big data."

S1 E68: Brian Wong, Author of The Cheat Code

September 08, 2016 14:19 - 4 minutes - 1020 KB

"The Cheat Code is about ways that entrepreneurs and the creative class these tricks and tips to their lives to get ahead faster."

S1 E67: Barbara Schoichet, Author of Don't Think Twice

September 08, 2016 14:17 - 4 minutes - 1.04 MB

"Don't Think Twice is about when I suffered three great losses over a six month period."

S1 E66: Tom Rinaldi, Author of Red Bandanna

August 26, 2016 16:59 - 7 minutes - 1.75 MB

"My book is a 9/11 story, but it's also the story of a family, the Crowther family."

S1 E65: Ken Baker, Author of The Late Bloomer

August 26, 2016 16:55 - 9 minutes - 2.15 MB

"My book is about a young man whose body is at war with itself and the enemy was unknown to him."

S1 E64: Ann Coulter, Author of In Trump We Trust

August 23, 2016 17:11 - 10 minutes - 2.63 MB

"My book is about the political phenomenon Donald Trump shaking up the world, destroying the most evil people in it, to wit, Washington Republicans."

S1 E63: Matt Santoro, Author of Mind=Blown

August 15, 2016 14:57 - 3 minutes - 849 KB

"My book is a combination of my own life story as well as my series 50 Amazing Facts from my You Tube channel."

S1 E62: David Neilsen, Author of Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom

August 15, 2016 14:55 - 10 minutes - 2.6 MB

"My book Dr. Fell and the Playground of Doom is a horrifying chilling children's comedy fantasy adventure . . ."

S1 E61: Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Author of Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

August 09, 2016 17:43 - 7 minutes - 1.74 MB

"My book is about what it means to be human, alive, bewildered, connected on this planet with all the other confused happy sad humans."

S1 E60: Terri Sjodin, Author of Scrappy

August 02, 2016 14:47 - 6 minutes - 1.45 MB

"My book Scrappy looks at how engaging in scrappy efforts can help change or improve circumstances in your life."

S1 E59: Nadja Spiegelman, Author of I'm Supposed to Protect Your from All This

August 01, 2016 13:39 - 3 minutes - 741 KB

"My book is about my mother and grandmother and their adolescence and the different memories we all hold of the same years."

S1 E58: Adrianna Mather, Author of How to Hang a Witch

July 25, 2016 19:31 - 6 minutes - 1.54 MB

"How to Hang a Witch is about Samantha Mather, who moves to Salem three hundred years after her ancestor hanged witches there."

S1 E57: Julie Barton, Author of Dog Medicine

July 18, 2016 14:51 - 8 minutes - 4.79 MB

"My book is about my twenty-second year and the first time I had a major depressive breakdown and how nothing helped until I adopted a beautiful red golden retriever puppy that I named Bunker Hill."

S1 E56: Jane Green, Author of Jane Green

July 18, 2016 14:49 - 6 minutes - 3.81 MB

"My book Falling is really drawn from the extraordinary story of me moving into a tiny little beach cottage in Westport, Connecticut, and falling completely in love with my landlord, who is now my husband."

S1 E55: Heather Havrilesky, Author of How to Be a Person in the World

July 12, 2016 16:43 - 9 minutes - 2.35 MB

"My book How to Be A Person in the World is about the problems of modern life that we all face."

S1 E54: Alex Cuadros, Author of Brazillionaires

July 12, 2016 16:42 - 4 minutes - 1.18 MB

For readers of Michael Lewis comes an engrossing tale of a country’s spectacular rise and fall, intertwined with the story of Brazil’s wealthiest citizen, Eike Batista—a universal story of hubris and tragedy that uncovers the deeper meaning of this era of billionaires.

This Is the Author

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