SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Happy Friday, dear audiophiles! To paraphrase Mary Oliver, what is it we plan to do with our one wild and precious Earth? That’s the question the U.N. will be tackling at next week’s climate summit, and in solidarity with a major journalism initiative this week we’re suggesting some worthy listens on this critical topic—including an aural dispatch from an Antarctic glacier. Have a green and happy weekend.

Essential stories of climate change.

This past week the Columbia Journalism Review launched Covering Climate Now, enlisting media outlets to run a week’s worth of dedicated coverage in the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Summit on Sept 23. To honor and support their efforts, we’re recommending you pick up either Bill McKibben’s 1989 classic The End of Nature (one of the earliest books to sound the alarm on the coming crisis) or David Wallace-Wells’s The Uninhabitable Earth, a newer survey that is both alarming and optimistic. And keep your eye out for The Big Melt, releasing next month, which takes you on the ground to the foot of the melting Thwaites Glacier.

An unexpected activist, a force of nature.

Without a doubt one of the buzziest names in the climate conversation is Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who arrived via emissions-free boat to participate in the New York climate summit and protests. Thunberg has gained global renown by organizing school strikes and pressuring politicians to take action, leading the charge with her distinct brand of unvarnished truth-telling. But what drives someone of her age to take such strides? In interviews, she’s indicated that activism was the only salve she could find for the distress and depression she felt about the climate crisis. That urgent internal need to help is a phenomenon that Larissa MacFarquhar addresses in Strangers Drowning, and while not everyone feels the same sort of calling, the world should be grateful for people like Thunberg. We certainly see a future entry in Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls!

One unbelievable story, told three ways.

While Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's new book She Said (which gives the inside scoop on their Harvey Weinstein reporting) makes headlines, we’ve been glued to the tube watching Unbelievable, which tackles the how rape is reported story from a different angle. The Netflix show was adapted with the help of authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, while the corresponding audiobook was created by the journalists who wrote the Pulitzer-winning article on the case. For a story that involves different perspectives and shifting narratives, it’s fitting to dive into these multiple formats—each one compelling, enraging, heart-breaking, and ultimately satisfying in its own way.

She’s our hero.

Mel Robbins rules the world! Since the publication of The 5 Second Rule in 2017, her wisdom and reach have continued to grow—sparking original projects here at Audible and making her a perennial fixture on our best sellers list. With this week’s launch of her own TV program, The Mel Robbins Show, and a brand-new Spanish translation of 5 Second, Mel is well on her way to becoming a household name. ¡Felicidades, Mel!

Memento mori.

With the recent passings of Cokie Roberts, Ric Ocasek, and our own Rick Lewis, we sadly realized that we've been facing writing a lot of tributes recently and have been reflecting on how we instinctively feel the need to share this type of news. It resonated with this listen we've been enjoying: Why Buddhism Is True. Via extensive study into Eastern theology, author Robert Wright traces these tendencies back to the hunter-gatherer days, when survival of the pack was essential. So perhaps our need to say so and so has died goes back to our primal needs to keep our brethren alive. Either way, may these beloved fellow humans rest in peace.

And speaking of resting in peace.

Italian scientists recently discovered that two skeletons, known as the Lovers of Modena, were not a man and a woman as previously assumed, but actually the remains of two men. The duo is believed to have died between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, and earned their nickname because they were buried holding hands. Sure, it's possible this was just a bromance for the ages, but we get the warm and fuzzies thinking that even thousands of years ago, in this ancient society, love won.

The more you know…

Till Next Week!
—the audible editors

Audiobooks in This Edition

The End of Nature Audiobook By Bill McKibben cover art
The Big Melt Audiobook By Jeff Goodell cover art
Strangers Drowning Audiobook By Larissa MacFarquhar cover art
She Said Audiobook By Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey cover art
The 5 Second Rule Audiobook By Mel Robbins cover art
The Uninhabitable Earth Audiobook By David Wallace-Wells cover art