Anonymous wrote:The Center Cannot Hold. By Elyn Sachs. Not epidemiology, but fascinating look into mental health and law.

Epidemiology;
Toms River
Poisoned by Jeff Benedict on Jack in the box
Coal county lawsuit—not sure if title

“The Center Cannot Hold” by Saks completely changed the way I think about mental health and treatment, patient rights/responsibilities and much more. I highly, highly recommend that book to anybody and everybody. Reading it helped me be a little bit better person.

Funnily I also read Poisoned (Jack in the Box) and Toms River. Both were well told and informative. I also tried the coal country lawsuit book but I did not finish and I can’t remember the title either, lol.

If you like longform journalism/ podcast-sized bites, Audm is excellent. It’s not free, but the content is high quality—excellent writing and reporting.

Another good podcast alternative is journalist’s collections. A lot of the best longform writers publish collections of their stories. “reporting” by -David remnick, and “Wild ones” by Jon mooallem for instance. Wild Ones was very good.

Anonymous wrote:I only listen to fiction, so no recommendations. However, I am a member of several libraries and dc has the smallest audio collection of all of them. Surrounding counties will offer reciprocity to dc residents, so I suggest you get more library cards to have better access. Also helps to be on more than one list of you are waiting for a popular book.

Agree with this. I am in Arlington, travel soccer parent, and have signed up with Loudoun and Fairfax due to reciprocity. I do more podcasts now, but for family road trips, it is great to have the other jurisdictions.

I really liked The Day the World Came to Town, the story of what happened when the planes inbound to the US had to land in Newfoundland on 9/11. It's what the musical Come From Away is based on.

Michael Lewis books. Moneyball, The Big Short, The Premonition

Anonymous wrote:The Center Cannot Hold. By Elyn Sachs. Not epidemiology, but fascinating look into mental health and law.

Epidemiology;
Toms River
Poisoned by Jeff Benedict on Jack in the box
Coal county lawsuit—not sure if title

OP swinging by to say I’m most of the way through Tom’s River and I’m loving it (the book not the subject matter/situation of course). Fascinating and well paced/organized. Thanks so much for the rec!

I love nonfiction audio, though Guns Germs and Steel is not really my thing. Here are a few not previously mentioned audio books that I thought were terrific:

The Only Plane in the Sky - history of 9/11. Absolutely gripping/compelling.

Invisible Child.

Diary of a Misfit.

Anything by Tracy Kidder - Rough Sleepers is the newest, Mountains Beyond Mountains is also excellent.

I enjoyed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as an audiobook.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

Would you be open to a collection of essays? Ann Patchett reads her own nonfiction audiobooks, and they are great, made even better by her narration. I have listened to These Precious Days and This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage.

OP here thanks for reviving my thread! My library hold list has been getting too short and I just expanded it again nicely!

You will LOVEcutting for stone.

The Center Cannot Hold. By Elyn Sachs. Not epidemiology, but fascinating look into mental health and law.

Epidemiology;
Toms River
Poisoned by Jeff Benedict on Jack in the box
Coal county lawsuit—not sure if title

Bumping this thread because someone started a new thread asking for audiobook recommendations.

OP back again -- I listened through Guns, Germs, Steel over the past few weeks and thought it was excellent! Just checked out Braiding Sweetgrass and still open to recs if anyone has more.

Thanks guys!