The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over by Jack Schafer, PhD and Marvin Karlins, PhD

Reader: George Newbern

Short Review: A beginner’s course in verbal and non-verbal communication with others to instill trust and likability, with some entertaining and unbelievable personal stories.

Smarter Branding Without Breaking the Bank by Brenda Bence

Reader: Brenda Bence

Short Review: Speaking to “solo-preneurs” and SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), this book gives clear direction on how to market and brand your company for no-cost or low-cost.

The Freelancer’s Survival Guide by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Reader: Julie Eickhoff

Short Review: The ultimate guide to anyone considering going into a freelance business or already working as a freelancer. Filled with useful examples, good advice as well as commiseration.

Master the Brand Called YOU by Brenda Bence

Reader: Brenda Bence

Short Review: Master the Brand Called You; The proven leadership branding system to help you earn more, do more, and be more at work is a step by step look at how to use proven marketing techniques to further your own business persona and career. A clear, understandable method to reflect on how you can improve your skills and project your most needed qualities at work.

Would YOU Want to Work for YOU? by Brenda Bence

Reader: Brenda Bence

Short Review: Would YOU Want to Work for YOU? How to build an executive leadership brand that inspires loyalty and drives employee performance is an audiobook that is short in length but big in information. Bence covers 15 behaviour sets to better lead others. You’ll want more than one listen and a notepad to jot notes and diagrams.

The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer

Reader: Amanda Palmer

Short Review: Intense and personal treatise on art, music, creativity, community, connection, love, loss, and asking for (and accepting) help from others. Amanda’s style of reading is intimate and confessional.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

Reader: Simon Winchester

Short Review: A fascinating story about two of the men who dedicated their lives to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary: one a Scottish Philologist, and one an institutionalized American doctor.

Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

Reader: Ellen DeGeneres

Short Review: Light and airy visit with the popular comedienne. Nothing too deep here, but it is fun to listen to Ellen share her upbeat cheerful thoughts and get a taste for her life beyond the public eye. Be prepared for some outright silliness.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Reader: David Sedaris

Short review: One of Sedaris’ best books of essays and stories, read tenderly and hilariously and scathingly by the author. Several pieces are live performances, and many of them are downright great.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Reader: David Sedaris

Short Review: Sedaris’ funny, self-deprecating, heart-breaking stories about moving to France with his partner Hugh, learning French, his family, and his own flaws and experiences. The author reads his own work in his distinctive voice, never flinching as he excoriates himself either in front of a live audience or alone in a studio. Sedaris is an amazing, brave writer and reader. I’ve listened to this particular book three or four times, and I know I’ll keep returning to it.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Read by: Jon Krakauer

Short Review: An author-narrated memoir of one of the most tragic seasons on Mt. Everest.