Podcasts and Audiobook Listen-a-Likes

Do you love listening to podcasts, but need something to fill the time between episodes?  Below, we've provided some audio book "listen-a-likes" for a few popular podcasts.  All audio books are available digitally on either My Media Mall or Hoopla.


And if you're looking for a new podcast fix, check out Glenview Library's very own podcast: Well Read!

Podcast: Invisibilia

Invisibilia is about the invisible forces that control human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. Co-hosted by Hanna Rosin, Alix Spiegel, and Lulu Miller, Invisibilia interweaves narrative storytelling with scientific research that will ultimately make you see your own life differently.

Listen-a-likes:
-Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely, read by Simon Jones (available on My Media Mall)
In a series of illuminating, often surprising experiments, MIT behavioral economist Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking research, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities.

-Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World by Norneena Hertz, read by the author (available on Hoopla)
This game-changing book empowers readers to become confident, independent, wise decision-makers- savvy to how our emotions, moods, and habits can trip us up.

-Think Like A Freak by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, read by Stephen J. Dubner (available on My Media Mall) 
The authors of the seminal economics book, Freakonomics, take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally—to think, that is, like a Freak.  Levitt and Dubner offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor lifehacks or major global reforms.  Stephen J Dubner also hosts another popular podcast, Freakonomics Radio.


Podcast: The Longest Shortest Time

The Longest Shortest Time feature stories about the surprises and absurdities of raising other humans--and being raised by them.  This podcast takes a thoughtful, offbeat, and funny look at everything involved in parenting

Listen-a-likes:
-The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids by Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Sandahl, read by Kim Mai Guest (available on My Media Mall)
What makes Denmark the happiest country in the world--and what are the secrets of Danish parents for raising happy, confident, successful kids, year after year? This upbeat and practical guide brings together the insights of a licensed psychotherapist and a mom -- a Dane and an American married to a Dane, respectively -- on the habits of the happiest families on earth.

-The Sh!t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby's First Year by Dawn Dais, read by Meredith Mitchell (available on Hoopla)
In The Sh!t No One Tells You, Dais reveals what it's really like to be a new parent and provides helpful insights, humor, and hope for those who feel overwhelmed by the exhausting trials they're suddenly facing. Dais offers real advice from real moms-along with hilarious anecdotes, clever tips, and the genuine encouragement every mom needs in order to survive the first year of parenthood.

-How to Not Hate Your Husband After Kids by Jancee Dunn, read by the author (available on Hoopla)
After Jancee Dunn had her baby, she found that she was doing virtually all the household chores, even though she and her husband worked equal hours. She asked herself: How did I become the "expert" at changing a diaper? Many expectant parents spend weeks researching the best crib or safest car seat, but spend little if any time thinking about the titanic impact the baby will have on their marriage-and the way their marriage will affect their child.  How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids tackles the last taboo subject of parenthood: the startling, white-hot fury that new (and not-so-new) mothers often have for their mates.


Podcast: Serial

Serial is a true crime podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial unfolds one story - a true story - over the course of a whole season. The show follows the plot and characters wherever they lead, through many surprising twists and turns.

Listen-a-likes:

-People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo—and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry, read by Simon Vance (available on My Media Mall)
Chronicles the disappearance, massive search, long investigation, and the even longer murder trial behind the gruesome murder case of Lucie Blackman in Japan.

-The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston, read by Dennis Boutsikaris (available on My Media Mall)
New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston teams up with Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to present a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy. The Monster of Florence is a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, and suicide--and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi are caught in a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta.

-The Most Dangerous Animal of All: Searching for My Father...and Finding the Zodiac Killer by Gary L. Stewart, read by the author (available on My Media Mall)
Gary L. Stewart set out to find his biological father, but that led him to a horrifying realization that his father may be the elusive Zodiac serial killer. It’s not just a hunch, though: During his hunt, Stewart turns up clues — including forensic evidence — that could conclusively point to his father as the notorious Zodiac Killer. It’s a sensational story that crafts a compelling case and a disconcerting portrait of a murder.


Podcast: Welcome to Nightvale

Welcome to Night Vale is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.

Listen-a-likes:

-Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard, read by Ari Fliakos (available on Hoopla)
Daniel Carter used to be a homicide detective, but his last case--the hunt for a serial killer--went wrong in strange ways and soured the job for him. Now he's a private investigator trying to live a quiet life. Strangeness, however, has not finished with him.

-Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, read by Todd McLaren and Abby Craden (available on Hoopla)
A collection of stories in which characters must confront sudden change (the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens) while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the title story, a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection. Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty and constant change, and also by beauty and wonder.

-Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories by China Miéville, read by Nicholas Guy Smith (available on My Media Mall)
London awakes one morning to find itself besieged by a sky full of floating icebergs. Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse's bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?  Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection—many published here for the first time.