Truly Devious takes place at a boarding school because boarding schools always make good places for books. This rural Vermont school takes the "best", but has no strict admission standards. You just ask to get in, and they decide if you should get in. Attending are a budding novelist, an actor, an engineer and an artist. The protagonist feels a little out of place. Her skill is "solving mysteries". And she is drawn to the school for the unsolved kidnappings and murders from the 1930s. (And it also gets her away from her parents who are employed by a right-wing senator)The budding actor recruits her and the writer to help write a script for him about the murders. He knows that one of the long-closed tunnels from the incident is now opened. They go down there to film. However, things turn tragic as he dies. Now there is a new murder to solve. She finds a real mystery different, but still uses her skills. In the process she also finds a boy and is really caught with emotions there. (However, her sleuthing ends up causing problems.) She gradually comes of age as she solves the mystery. In the end, the book gives some potential answers, but lives more things untied. This is the first book in a series, rather than a fully standalone book.
A teenage girl lives with her family in Oregon. One day they go on a car trip in snowy conditions. Her parents die immediately. Her brother dies in the hospital. She is alive, but barely. If I Stay is narrated from the girls perspective. She "sees" what is going on. She can wander around in the hospital to see the people that are working there and those that come to visit. She gradually unfolds her history. She comes from an artistic family. Her dad was a punk drummer before becoming a school teacher. She, however, "rebelled" against punk and became an accomplished cellist. She managed to fall for a punk boyfriend. They seemed nothing alike. However, they shared a common love of music. The boyfriend went through great effort to be able to see her in the hospital. (He even involved a famous musician to try to district people.) Eventually, a friendly nurse showed up and let him in. He finally convinced her that it was worth it to keep on living. The book does a good job of providing the traditional coming of age love story from a very different angle.
The recording of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight included both a verse translation and a reading of the original version of the poem. In the original, bits and pieces are understandable, but it is only a little more understandable than Dutch to the native English speaker. The tail centers around Arthurian knights a duel and a quest with a lady.
Fangirl follows Cath, an introverted uber fan of Simon Snow (a Harry Potter-like fantasy series.) She is also one of the most popular fan-fiction authors, with a large following for her series. She grew up with her extroverted identical twin sister and bipolar father in Omaha, Nebraska. (Their mother left them when they were in elementary school.) The story follows her in her first year of college at University of Nebraska. She tries to avoid people, yet has a super outgoing roommate that forces the issue. Her roommates's hometown boyfriend, Levi hangs out there a lot and is super friendly towards Cath. Her twin sister Ren also goes to school there, but seems to spend most of her time partying. Cath is taking a writing class where she excels. She partners with Nick to do a lot of writing. She has almost all As. Then her world starts to turn upside down. Her writing teacher gave her an F on an assignment because she turned in a fan fiction story in the Simon Snow universe. She gradually does more stuff with Levi and helps read Outsiders to him. (He has a reading disability.) They kiss. Then she goes to a party and sees him kissing somebody else. Her father suffers from an episode and is hospitalized. Nick decides to turn their story in as his. She hardly talks to her sister. Even her mom tries to reappear in their life. She goes home and decides not to go back to school. However, she is convinced to go back and things end up happily ever after. (She talks to mom. Her sister is hospitalized for drinking, is forced to go sober. The novel then has a whirlwind end. Cath gets back together with Levi, re-ups for next year with her roommate, reconciles with her sister, shames Nick, and finishes her writing. It seems that the author just ran out of steam and tied everything up. The ending destroys the book. Cath's heartless rejection of Nick's proposed co-writing credit invalidates much of her growth. The hook-up with Levi was telegraphed from the first time they met, so it had to happen. However, it would be nice to see some more growth in his character. The book had potential, but did not quite deliver.
First the bad: Upheaval is an academic book pitched at a popular audience. The narrative can be very long and detailed for a popular book. (But at the same time lacking in details for an academic book.) The audiobook narration further emphasizes the dryness. The author from the outset states that it is not a comprehensive analysis, but just a focused view of case studies of modern upheaval in a few countries that he is familiar with.
John Gottman did an extensive study on couples and how their relationships succeed or fail. The majority of marriages fail. However there are a number of signs of success. One key is to have 5 times as many "good" interactions as bad. A bad sign is when even initial memories of the marriage are recalled negatively.
John Gottman had made extensive study of what makes marriages succeed and fail. This book focuses on one of the key "stress points" of a marriage - the birth of a child. Children throw a knot in even a well-calibrated marriage. They provide joy but also stress. (3 AM feedings and diaper changes are never easy.) They also alter mom's hormones and dynamics in a relationship. this book was appropriately written with his wife who is also a psychologist. (Perhaps they will have a follow up written with their child?) 
Next details some of the drastic societal changes caused by the internet. It was written 18 years ago, and thus provides an interesting insight into where we thought things were going. Amazon would continue on its path to dominate retail. Ebay is still around, but it was Craigslist that played a bigger role in sucking the gas out of local newspapers. The financial markets recovered from the dot com bubble, only to hit the housing bubble and now are on their way to the next bubble. Many old school careers have died away. However, there is almost a greater clinging to "credentialism". Lawyers are still needed to perform legal activities, even if most of it can be done by a computer or somebody in India. Doctors still need to prescribe medicine, even if the diagnoses can be found on the internet. However, people are taking much more of this into their own hands.
I've thought of Stan Lee as the person always willing to take credit for other people's work. This book doesn't dispel that. However, it does show that the business side really is what matters. They were the ones that have made a killing. There have been many people that have contributed to the various characters in the marvel universe. Very few received anything more than small payments for their work. However, they helped contribute to the overall value of the product. The value would have been less if each character had an individual owner. Also, without the correct moves on the business side, the value would have disappeared. (The many poor moves made by the business nearly did evaporate the value.)
Descendants of Sherlock Holmes and Watson meet at an easy coast boarding school and become involved with a murder mystery. James Watson narrates and comes across as a normal teenager. Charlotte Holmes is pure fiction. Watson admits to fantasizing about her, and this helps justify the narrative. However, as a young teenager, she is just too good and deductions - and too worldly. (She is a drug addict, can seamlessly pose as anybody, runs a poker club and has been raped while high.) The story was engaging with a nice growth arc with the main characters, even if their lives seemed a little too vulgarly mature. The parental relationships, on the other hand, were a little on the odd side.
Easy access to sugar was once limited to the upper class. However, with new world sugar plantations and alternative sugar sources (such as sugar beets), it has become well used by all classes of people. This has lead to multiple public health issues. The author begins with the story of his World War II upbringing. Despite rationing, sugar was a regular part of everyday life. Many people would have their teeth removed at a young age. It was cheaper to have fake teeth then to maintain them in face of abundant sugar consumption.
As long as people are independently making decisions, the average results of a group of people are likely to be better than the results of any one person. Each person brings their own little bit of knowledge that helps get the answer closer to what it should be. However, if people share knowledge, before deciding, they are likely to negatively impact their decision making. The knowledge can taint an individual decision. This can also lead to people engaging in groupthink. Sometimes the best behavior is to follow the crowd that has wisely decided. (If everyone is carrying umbrellas, it may be wise to carry one also.) However, if this gets carried too far out, their may not be anybody making the decision, and we thus get a random herd.
The Red and the Black feels like it should be an interesting psychological exploration of a man's life in early 19th century France. Alas, the narration of audiobook just makes it seem boring. It is if they decided it was a book of European Literature, so they had to give it a snooty narration. The novel explores the life of a man who is willing to do what it takes to advance in the way he sees fit. Being French, there is of course a great deal of time spent conquesting women. There is also working through the intellectuals and the church to advance his position. Eventually he is convicted for killing somebody. Only she survived... But he is guillotined.
Coach is Michael Lewis's tribute to a Louisiana Sports coach. The coach was tough on his players. He wanted to help them become great men, rather than simply help them simply check a box off for their college application. Today, parents are most likely to fight against these tough lessons. They pay a lot for the education, and just expect their kids to sail through without having to work hard. ALas, this deprives them of some of the most important life lessons they can learn from a tough coach.
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman were both born in Israel and later studied psychology there. Beyond that, they seemed to have little in common. Kahneman lived in France during World War II and had experiences running from Nazis. He tended to be more to himself, while Tversky seemed to know everything and be more social. Once they met, they found they had a great meeting of the minds and were able to achieve more together. They wrote a number of influential papers in their time together. They gradually drifted apart as Tversky received more public recognition. However, he died of cancer, and it was Kahneman that later received the Nobel prize.
Humanimal looks at humans from an "animal" perspective. How is it that humans came to dominate the world? Use of tools helped, but many other animals have tools. The ability to pass on knowledge from generation to generation ends up being a main factor. He spends a good chunk of time looking at corollary behaviors in other animals. He cautions that people should not justify a human behavior simply because a similar behavior exists in nature. Animals may appear to rape and murder, but without a communicable thought process, there is no way to directly compare. He also spends time looking at sexual behaviors. There are a number of different reproductive mechanisms out there. There are also many instances of animals (including humans) engaging in sexual activity that will not produce offspring. Why is that so? There are some conclusions to that and the question of how homosexuality propagates. He dubunks many explanations, and cautiously presents his preferred explanations. (For example, homosexuals tend to come from larger families.) There are some areas that he decides are not worth touching, and just condemns them out of hand. There are some interesting bits, but it is overall an easily forgettable book.
Malala lived in Pakistan and values education for everyone - especially girls. Her grandfather was a religious figure, while her father was an educator. Her hometown became infiltrated by the Taliban, who spread talk that appealed to the un-educated with faux-traditional religious values. She had became a spokesperson for the rights of all people for education, and thus became a target for the fundamentalists (even after the Taliban control had been supposedly removed.) One day they shot her. She received some of the top medical care in Pakistan. However, the conditions in the ICU afterwards were not great. Luckily, there were some British doctors present, and she was sent off to England to recover.
This is a super brief overview of the history of Argentina and Chile. One thing I didn't realize is that there was an attempt at a "United States of Argentina" with countries such as Paraguay and Uraguay. However, the confederation broke down, leading to the states as they are today. The two far south countries have had their ups and downs with military rule coming in a little too frequently. The English had helped agitate for Argentina's separation from Spain. However, Argentina responded by their independence. Chile has a narrow area of fertility where most people live. However, there are also wealthy mining areas. Earthquakes are a common occurrence. This overview tended to focus a lot on politics. It would be nice to go in into a more detailed history.
I can oftne gauge by the narrator of an audibook whether or not I will enjoy it. When I heard the upper-class British lady voice, I knew I would be in for an uphill battle. I was expecting some nice stream of conscious introspection. However, what I got was a early 20th century Jane Austen. Mrs Dalloway is is throwing a party. She has a former flame visit her. She reminisces about one of her old girl friends. Yada yada yada. I was exploring the mind of somebody that I was not interested in exploring. Oh well.
The "Element" is the thing that you are both passionate about and can do well. Ideally, you should devote your time and energy being gainfully employed in the field of your element. However, often times, the element cannot immediately pay the bills. Many examples are given of highly successful creative types that struggled in the wrong fields before finding their calling and succeeding greatly. However, the story was also given of the car salesman that was an accomplished surfing photographer. 
On Writing begins as Stephen King's autobiography. He discusses what he remembers about his childhood. He had somewhat of a rough upbringing. He enjoyed writing, and managed to accumulate a large number of rejection notices. He did not find much pleasure in school. However, he did find it a good place to sell some of his early writings. Alas, the school administration was not too fond of this. He somehow managed to get into college and even get a teaching degree (and meet his wife.) His first big break came from Carrie. He originally threw it in the trash can. His wife found it, and made him finish it. He received an advance for it, and then made the big bucks when the paperback rights were purchased. However, all was not easy going. He alcohol and drug use. He does not have kind words to say about substance abuse. He does not think it helps the craft, merely that creative people find themselves succumbing to it. He had supporters that intervened in his life to help him break the habit and become sober. Things seemed to go well for him until an inattentive driver hit him on a Maine country road. He describes his experience there and trials of making it "back to life" after the collision. 
Big Business is often derided as one of the sources of problems in American society. Small business tends to be more greatly respected. However, big business provides higher paying jobs, more diversity, and generally more benefit to society. Even large CEO pay packages are not out of line when compared to the increased responsibilities of CEOs. The size of large businesses is usually a result of the will of the people. Companies like Google produce something that people want and grow to produce more of it. Amazon sells things at low prices, generating more happy customers and more sales. Government regulation also contributes to sizes of companies. Cell phone carriers need to be large to cover the country and purchase spectrum from the government. Companies in highly regulated industries need to be large in order to justify the expenses of the regulation. It is the regulation that creates the monopoly. Companies that manage to create monopolies on their own without benefiting consumers are extremely rare.
When he died, Cornelius Vanderbilt net worth was more than 10% of the total money in circulation in the United States. He made the money himself through a serious of business ventures primarily in transportation. He lived relatively modestly, despite his significant wealth. (His descendants would use their inheritance to build great mansions.) He did not set out to build great monuments to himself. He did provide money to endow the university that now bears his name. However, he never set foot there, and didn't even ask for his name. (He thought the northern wealth should help support the south after the civil war.)