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    This Is Life: 10 Writers on Love, Fear, and Hope in the Age of Disasters
    This Is Life: 10 Writers on Love, Fear, and Hope in the Age of Disasters
    This Is Life: 10 Writers on Love, Fear, and Hope in the Age of Disasters
    Audiobook2 hours

    This Is Life: 10 Writers on Love, Fear, and Hope in the Age of Disasters

    Written by Garrett M. Graff, Kiese Laymon, Carmen Maria Machado and

    Narrated by Neal Ghant and Christy Clarke

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    About this audiobook

    It’s been a long, long couple of years. A global pandemic, an economic crisis, racial and political strife brought to the boiling point, the climate not far behind. As we nervously embark on yet another uncertain trip around the sun, we wonder: How’s everyone doing?

    Ten of America’s finest writers tell us in This Is Life. Drawing on their wisdom and lived experience, they share bold, occasionally comic, occasionally biting insights on the past two years and offer possible ways forward, both for the country and for us as individuals. They articulate the anxiety of these inarguably lousy times yet also remind us that there remain plenty of reasons to be hopeful despite it all.

    In this collection:

    • NPR’s Weekend Edition host Scott Simon on the hard-won lessons that will inform our lives going forward
    • National Book Award winner and MacArthur Fellow Jacqueline Woodson on savoring today to better cope with tomorrow’s perils
    • Climate activist Bill McKibben on a reimagined infrastructure that could finally save the planet
    • New York Times bestselling author and national security expert Garrett M. Graff on the precarious fate of American democracy
    • National Book Award finalist Carmen Maria Machado on the impulse to love harder in the face of calamity
    • Bethany McLean, bestselling author of The Smartest Guys in the Room, on where to go now that the free-market economy has failed us
    • Kiese Laymon, author of the bestselling memoir Heavy, on the poisonous influence of nonstop news
    • Former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens on the bridge-building power of sports
    • R. Eric Thomas, playwright and bestselling author of Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, on the thrill and anxiety of reconnecting with people in person
    • Bonnie Tsui, author of the 2020 bestseller Why We Swim, on how to find joy in the smallest of life’s moments

    Candid and empathetic, timely and timeless, This Is Life is a much-needed literary compass for navigating 2022 and beyond.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEverand Originals
    Release dateJan 19, 2022
    ISBN9781094439051
    Author

    Garrett M. Graff

    Garrett M. Graff is a journalist and historian who has spent more than a dozen years writing about politics, technology, and national security for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek. He is the former editor of Politico and Washingtonian magazines and is executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity & Technology Program. His books include The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller’s FBI, Raven Rock: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die, and The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, to be published in fall 2019 by Simon & Schuster.

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    Reviews for This Is Life

    4/5

    110 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Liked it, an interesting view of life and politics in America
    • 5/5
      Loved the book. Will read again. Well written and a great narrators!
    • 1/5
      It’s just fluff and propaganda. No real biting content at all.
    • 5/5
      The Covid 19 pandemic has significantly impacted our lives in many fronts - love, politics, health, jobs- and somehow gave us fresh perspectives on gamut of issues confronting us. This audiobook is a must listen.
    • 5/5
      A thoughtful, imploring collection by an impressive bunch of authors. The essay from Bonnie Tsui was my favorite.
    • 5/5
      This Insightful essay will give you a whole world of perspectives around many interesting subjects.
    • 5/5
      Each of the ten stories a jewel, a collection of personal essays I found a delight. While I am familiar with some of the writers, Chapter 12 closes the book with contributors bio’s whose works I’ve added to my ever-growing stack of books waiting to be read. Come on summer!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Good Collection of Quality Essays at very Right time!
      Authors have diligently ‘crafted’ and each is narrated in very eloquent manner ..One BIG ‘ anomaly ‘ is Authors Intro is
      At the end and it makes it hard to relate each Authors Essay
      vs His Past and Current and upcoming Books / work / achievements ; Not sure what could be the logic of NOT
      mentioning Intro of Each Author - respectively right at at the Beginning of Essay ??! But again each essay is worth of time and is very inspiring - Thanks !!!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This was a great listen. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very insightful.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is nice, good stuff ?,dis will stick forever
      In my head

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I love listening to Neal Ghant, he does an amazing job! If you don’t have Scribd, it is worth getting a free month just to listen to this original.

      Each author brought something different based on their experiences throughout the pandemic from the beginning to now being two years in. There is something in this book for everyone and I found myself empathizing with some of the authors and their stories or thinking more deeply about the topics they were discussing.

      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the variety of perspectives and the balance between daily routine and long-term changes.
    • 4/5
      It is important to hear the thoughts of writers when they muse about such topics. So many different perspective are released which may not even see the light of day. A Short listen, its perfect for giving yourself food for thought.

      1 person found this helpful