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Regardless of what you ultimately think of the author's analysis, Gladwell is a masterful storyteller, weaving together interesting anecdotes from such diverse sources as plane crash research to hillbilly feuds to standardized math tests. That Gladwell narrates the audio book himself adds greatly to the listening experience. Critics will complain that his thesis is obvious (that opportunity, cultural inheritence and hard work play key roles in success), or that his examples are selective and ignore in turn outliers that don't illustrate his points -- or, somewhat inconsistently, both. But Gladwell's books are successful because he examines phenomena and topics of importance in an accessible and entertaining way. No one should mistake Malcolm Gladwell for a big thinker like, say, Stephen J. Gould, but Gladwell would be the first one to tell you that he's no outlier. Don't accept everything the author says as truth revealed, but do listen to this book -- it's one of the best non-fiction offerings available through Audible.

If you want a well researched and tightly written survey of the important topic of innovation, and how we can foster more of it, then you'll want to listen to this book.

The author is a credible science writer, and here as in his previous books he compiles an interesting collection of stories, research results, and theories of prominent thinkers. We learn that perhaps the most important thing Steve Jobs did at Pixar was the design of the team's workspace (including the location of the bathrooms!), and that cities tend to be innovation clusters because of their density and happenstance connections rather than anything deliberate. Anyone interested in what the future will look like in terms of innovation (and especially innovative groups) will want to check this book out. Thumbs up.

My only complaint is that the author, like Malcolm Gladwell, may at times commit success bias (assuming that whatever successful people or companies do is causational, ignoring all the people or companies that did the same things but did not succeed). Also, the audio recording by the author is a testament to the value of a professional reader. The author reads in a virtual monotone, and whatever his accent is soon becomes annoying (he pronounces patents as "paddens", and shouldn't as "shoont", etc.). The author should listen to how much better a professional narrator sounds.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the intersection of neuroscience and music.

The author does a good job of weaving in interesting summaries of the current state of the science of things like language acquisition and musical talent vs. practice.

The author is a good narrator, which is not always the case.

This book delivers a number of ah-ha moments, such as debunking the myth of 10,000 hours.

This audio book not terribly long, and some will probably complain that it's not technical enough, but it makes for a thoroughly enjoyable tour through the science of musicality. The author is good humored, and tells entertaining stories about his visit to music camp (for kids because he is such a lousy guitarist). If you've ever wondered whether music is somehow innate in humans, this book does a good job of walking you through the answers from a neuroscientist.

This is a fascinating book that makes for great listening. One measure of a good book is how much I tell others about it. After listening to Wrangham's book about the effect of cooking on human development, I find myself mentioning it to all my friends and acquaintences (my family is probably sick of hearing about raw food diets, and the unappreciated effects of cooking on food and culture). In addition to those interested in early human development, this book also renders useful information about the dangers of today's hyper-processed foods (mostly obesity). Highly recommended. Great content and good narrator.

I listened to this book with the expectation that it would be an interesting examination of the fragility of our modern electronic infrastructure, a spellbinding post-apocalyptic science fiction story, or hopefully both. Unfortunately, this book is neither. First, the author merely posits that an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) generated by unnamed terrorists disables every single machine in the US. There is more information in the short Wikipedia article on EMP than in this book. And second, rather than a good science fiction read, the book is instead a long diatribe against all the things that apparently bug the author. When was the last time you heard someone rail against "hippies"? Everyone in the book who matters is ex-military (the only ones with the guts to shoot looters), and the phrase "I can't believe we've come to this" is repeated ad nauseam. The fact that the hero of the book, coincidentally like the author in real life, is a history professor at a small North Carolina college, makes the reader wonder whether this is really a fantasy for the author -- particularly after the hero becomes the undisputed military ruler and savior of the town in the wars against marauding cannibals. The new audio release on Audible of "Earth Abides" by George Stewart is a truly great post-apocalypse story that has withstood the test of time. With "One Second After", however, this book is the real disaster. The author's Web site says he has already sold the movie rights... God save us indeed.

Fascinating subject matter and meticulous research, but Audible listeners who make it through the 18 hours of this book deserve some kind of a medal. The author may be a distinguished historian, but I don't think there is a simple declarative sentence in the entire book. Though perhaps not intended for general audiences, the endless litany of facts, dates, names, and erudite references in this book soon numbs the mind. And I was listening to this book while traveling in Andalucian Spain to the actual places described (God knows somewhere...) in the text! Contrast this form of writing with, say, that of David McCullough (author of many delightful histories such as "1776" and "John Adams"), and I can only wish for what might have been with this book.

Don't be dissuaded from listening to this book, however, as the information is important to understanding the relationship of Islam to the West. Just be prepared for something that reads more like a graduate level history text than a page-turner.

Retold by the survivor most responsible for the group's rescue, this excellent book not only provides a spellbinding rendition of one of the great survival stories of all time, but also provides a unique view into the feelings and thoughts of the people who were there, and a perspective from three decades later on what it means to have survived. This is one audio book you will not want turn off or even pause. The epilogue spoken by the author himself, together with an interview by the publisher, provides added interest. I've listened to maybe 40 different Audible books, and none more enjoyable or thought provoking than this one. Highest recommendation.