AB 05 | GREAT Book Recommendations | Chat with Mark Des Cotes

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Welcome back to the Audiobooks.com Podcast! In this installment of the podcast, Addy and Brian discuss some exciting developments happening in the book world, then jump into reviews of audiobooks they’ve recently listened to. Whether it was intentional, or a happy accident, they both review an audiobook that have a theme of understanding other people.

In The News

Back in the beginning of July, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team won the World Cup for the first time in 16 years. It was an extremely exciting time for the United States and for soccer fans in general. The U.S. has a talented squad and was able to secure a win for the USA against Japan, which was the first World Cup rematch in the history of the women’s competition, as the USA faced Japan, and lost, in the 2012 World Cup final.

A major component to that successful drive was Carli Lloyd, the starting midfielder for the U.S. Women’s National Team. Not only did Carli Lloyd record a hat trick (three goals) in the first 16 minutes during the World Cup final, she was involved in five very important goals that catapulted the USA from the last game in the knockout stage into the quarterfinals against China, and then semifinals against Germany.

After Carli Lloyd scored her third goal in the 16th minute of play in 2015 Women’s World Cup final, one of the commentators said, “That’s not a fluke, that’s not luck. That’s Carli Lloyd.” But who is Carli Lloyd? The 33-year-old from New Jersey has become a household name after more than 200 appearances in international games for the United States over the last ten years. Her journey to that success is about to be explored. Lloyd recently signed a book deal to scratch out a memoir about her life and career. Lloyd has an incredible story to tell about commitment, about dedication, and about realizing that not everything in life can be solved by natural talent and ability. The memoir is certain to be inspiring!

In other news, the author of Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, released a follow-up book to his first success this summer entitled Armada. Like his first book, this one is also narrated by Will Wheaton. Cline has already signed a huge deal for a third book, but in the meantime, Steven Spielberg will direct the film version of Ready Player One, due for release in December of 2017.

The Art Of War

Brian listened to The Art of War by Sun Tzu and narrated by Michael Scott. This book often gets a lot of attention in popular media, almost as a book of proverbs for businessmen and strategists. The book was written over 2,000 years ago and originally in Chinese, so Brian fought his way through the old-style language and funny narration to give us an idea of whether or not we should spend a credit on this book.

The lessons from the book seem to have value in certain contexts, business and military strategy being among the most frequently cited. Reading the book simply for pleasure is not out of the question, particularly if you enjoy reading about strategy and understanding opponents, but it seems like much of the book’s value comes out of reading it in context. Having in mind a situation to apply its lessons to, such as a desire to understand one’s role as a leader or to improve one’s ability to understand and analyze a business opponent, could prove to be very valuable when choosing this audiobook.

The Five Love Languages

Also in the theme of understanding others is the book Addy recently listened to: The Five Love Languages written and narrated by Gary Chapman. Addy says Chapman has a great southern accent, but really flies through the book. She recommends that if you choose to listen to this book that you also buy a hard copy to reference and highlight.

The conversation Addy and Brian have about this book is very interesting. The title of the book was constructed in such a way that may initially turn people off to its material. Love languages? Why would I want to read about that? Addy has many reasons for you to take a chance on this book that go beyond its promise to reveal the secret to love that lasts. The topic of conversation in this book centers around understanding how to love others and how others can love you; to realize that there are many ways to show love and realize that even though we might prefer to be loved through, for example, physical touch (i.e. hugs, hand holding, or simply proximity), someone else may prefer to be shown love through words of affirmation. Addy and Brian give some examples of how these love languages apply to them, as well as discuss misnomers surrounding the topic’s approach to relational conversation.

Have you listened to a book recently ...