Zeno Robinson has narrated 12 audiobooks on Listento.it by 12 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 147 ratings. The most-rated is The Signal and the Noise.
The Signal and the Noise
Summary
Updated for 2020 with a New Preface by Nate Silver "One of the more momentous books of the decade." (The New York Times Book Review) Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger - all by the time he was 30. He solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election. Silver is the founder and editor in chief of the website FiveThirtyEight. Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data. Most predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and uncertainty. Both experts and laypeople mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the future. In keeping with his own aim to seek truth from data, Silver visits the most successful forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball to global pandemics, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. He explains and evaluates how these forecasters think and what bonds they share. What lies behind their success? Are they good - or just lucky? What patterns have they unraveled? And are their forecasts really right? He explores unanticipated commonalities and exposes unexpected juxtapositions. And sometimes, it is not so much how good a prediction is in an absolute sense that matters but how good it is relative to the competition. In other cases, prediction is still a very rudimentary - and dangerous - science. Silver observes that the most accurate forecasters tend to have a superior command of probability, and they tend to be both humble and hardworking. They distinguish the predictable from the unpredictable, and they notice a thousand little details that lead them closer to the truth. Because of their appreciation of probability, they can distinguish the signal from the noise. With everything from the health of the global economy to our ability to fight terrorism dependent on the quality of our predictions, Nate Silver’s insights are an essential listen.
©2012 Nate Silver (P)2012 Penguin Audio
Black Buck
Summary
"Askaripour closes the deal on the first page of this mesmerizing novel, executing a high wire act full of verve and dark, comic energy.” (Colson Whitehead, author of The Nickel Boys) "A hilarious, gleaming satire as radiant as its author. Askaripour has announced himself as a major talent of the school of Ralph Ellison, Paul Beatty, Fran Ross, and Ishmael Reed. Full of quick pacing, frenetic energy, absurd - yet spot on - twists and turns, and some of the funniest similes I’ve ever read, this novel is both balm and bomb." (Nafissa Thompson-Spires, author of Heads of the Colored People) For fans of Sorry to Bother You and The Wolf of Wall Street - a crackling, satirical debut novel about a young man given a shot at stardom as the lone Black salesman at a mysterious, cult-like, and wildly successful start-up where nothing is as it seems. There’s nothing like a Black salesman on a mission. An unambitious 22-year-old, Darren lives in a Bed-Stuy brownstone with his mother, who wants nothing more than to see him live up to his potential as the valedictorian of Bronx Science. But Darren is content working at Starbucks in the lobby of a Midtown office building, hanging out with his girlfriend, Soraya, and eating his mother’s home-cooked meals. All that changes when a chance encounter with Rhett Daniels, the silver-tongued CEO of Sumwun, NYC’s hottest tech start-up, results in an exclusive invitation for Darren to join an elite sales team on the 36th floor. After enduring a “hell week” of training, Darren, the only Black person in the company, reimagines himself as “Buck”, a ruthless salesman unrecognizable to his friends and family. But when things turn tragic at home and Buck feels he’s hit rock bottom, he begins to hatch a plan to help young people of color infiltrate America’s sales force, setting off a chain of events that forever changes the game. Black Buck is a hilarious, razor-sharp skewering of America’s workforce; it is a propulsive, crackling debut that explores ambition and race, and makes way for a necessary new vision of the American dream.
©2021 Mateo Askaripour (P)2021 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.
The Sword and the Shield
Summary
This dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King upends longstanding preconceptions to transform our understanding of the 20th century's most iconic African American leaders. To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. represent contrasting ideals: self-defense vs. nonviolence, Black power vs. civil rights, the sword vs. the shield. The struggle for Black freedom is wrought with the same contrasts. While nonviolent direct action is remembered as an unassailable part of American democracy, the movement's militancy is either vilified or erased outright. In The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph upends these misconceptions and reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. This is a strikingly revisionist biography, not only of Malcolm and Martin, but also of the movement and era they came to define.
©2020 Peniel E. Joseph (P)2020 Basic Books
This Close to Okay
Summary
From the award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller" comes a cathartic novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers and the love that forms between them. On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home when she spots a man precariously standing on the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally, reluctantly, shares his first name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally-charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe and comfortable space for Emmett, although she doesn't confess that she works as a therapist. However, Emmett is not the only one who needs help - and he has secrets of his own. Alternating between Tallie and Emmett's perspectives as they inch closer to the truth of what brought Emmett to the bridge, This Close to Okay is an uplifting, powerful story of two strangers brought together by wild chance at the moment they need it the most.
©2021 Leesa Cross-Smith (P)2021 Hachette Audio
Hi Five
Summary
One woman. Five personalities. Private investigator IQ is back to piece together a Newport Beach murder with an eyewitness who gives "people person" a whole new meaning. Christiana is the daughter of the biggest arms dealer on the West Coast, Angus Byrne. She's also the sole witness and number one suspect in the murder of her boyfriend, found dead in her Newport Beach boutique. Isaiah Quintabe is coerced into taking the case to prove her innocence. If he can't, Angus will harm the brilliant PI's new girlfriend, ending her career. The catch: Christiana has multiple personalities. Among them, a naïve, beautiful shopkeeper, an obnoxious drummer in a rock band, and a wanton seductress. Isaiah's dilemma: No one personality saw the entire incident. To find out what really happened the night of the murder, Isaiah must piece together clues from each of the personalities...before the cops close in on him.
©2020 Joe Ide (P)2020 Little, Brown & Company
Down to the Woods
Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Down to the Woods by M. J. Arlidge. There is a sickness in the forest. First, it was the wild horses. Now it's innocent men and women, hunted down and murdered by a faceless figure. Lost in the darkness, they try to flee, they try to hide. In desperation, they call out for help. But there is no-one to hear their cries here.... DI Helen Grace must face down a new nightmare. The arrow-ridden victims hang from the New Forest's ancient oaks, like pieces of strange fruit. Why are helpless holidaymakers being targeted in peak camping season? And what do their murders signify? Is a psychopath stalking the forest? Is there an occult element to the killings? Could the murders even be an offering to the forest itself? Helen must walk into the darkness to discover the truth behind her most challenging, most macabre case yet.
©2018 M. J. Arlidge (P)2018 Penguin Books Ltd
Ali Cross
Summary
James Patterson's blockbuster Alex Cross series has sold over 100 million copies - and now he's bringing those thrills to a new generation! Alex's son, Ali, is eager to follow in his father's footsteps as a detective, but when his best friend goes missing, what price will he have to pay to solve the mystery? Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, former detective and FBI agent Alex Cross. While solving some of the nation's most challenging crimes, his father always kept his head and did the right thing. Can Ali have the same strength and resolve? When Ali's best friend, Gabe, is reported missing, Ali is desperate to find him. At the same time, a string of burglaries targets his neighborhood - and even his own house. With his father on trial for a crime he didn't commit, it's up to Ali to search for clues and find his friend. But being a kid sleuth isn't easy - especially when your father warns you not to get involved! - and Ali soon learns that clues aren't always what they seem. Will his detective work lead to a break in Gabe's case or cause even more trouble for the Cross family?
©2019 James Patterson (P)2019 Jimmy Patterson
They Said This Day Would Never Come
Summary
The thrilling, unlikely story of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign, as told by the volunteers and staff who propelled the longshot candidate to the presidency In the year leading up to the Iowa caucuses, few thought a freshman senator named Barack Hussein Obama would be able to win the Democratic nomination - not to mention become the most popular leader in the world. But something was stirring. Hundreds of young people from all over the country began assembling first in Iowa. These "kids" became the foundation of one of the most improbable presidential campaigns of the modern era. Chris Liddell-Westefeld was one of those kids. He and thousands of other staff and volunteers dedicated every minute of their time, intelligence, and resources to help elect Barack Obama, as what started in the midwest spread nationwide. Drawn from more than 200 interviews with alumni including David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Alyssa Mastromonaco, Dan Pfeiffer, Valerie Jarrett, Josh Earnest, Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau, and President Obama himself, They Said This Day Would Never Come takes listeners deep inside the most inspirational presidential campaign in recent history. This audiobook is voiced by the following contributors: The Author, Chris Liddell-Westefeld, Ally Coll, Alyssa Mastromonaco, Anne Filipic, Annick Febrey, Ava Hinds Lawson, Barack Obama, Bess Evans, Brynne Craig, Carianna Suiter, Chelsea Kammerer, Chris Wyant, Cody Keenan, Dan Pfeiffer, David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Danielle Crutchfield, Dean Fluker, Elizabeth Wilkins, Emily Parcell, Esther Morales, Francis Iacobucci, Graham Wilson, Greg Degen, Howli Ledbetter, Jackie Bray, Jamal Pope, James Schuelke, Janice Rottenberg, Jason Waskey, Jeremy Bird, Joe Cupka, Joe Paulsen, Jon Carson, Jon Favreau, Josh Earnest, Kal Penn, Katherine Onyshko, Kristin Avery, Lauren Champaign, Lauren Kidwell, Maggie Thompson, MaryGrace Galston, Megan Simpson, Meghan Goldenstein, Michael Blake, Michael Halle, Mitch Stewart, Nicole Young, Patricia King, Paul Tewes, Paulette Aniskoff, Pete Rouse, Rachel Haltom-Irwin, Shannon Valley, Stephanie Speirs, Steve Dunwoody, Tom Zimmerman, Tommy Vietor, Tony Rediger, Tripp Wellde, Tyler Lechtenberg, Valerie Jarrett, Victoria McCullough, Yohannes Abraham
©2020 Chris Liddell-Westefeld (P)2020 PublicAffairs
This Is My Brain in Love
Summary
Told in dual narrative, This Is My Brain in Love is a stunning YA contemporary romance, exploring mental health, race and, ultimately, self-acceptance, for fans of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Emergency Contact. Jocelyn Wu has just three wishes for her junior year: to make it through without dying of boredom, to direct a short film with her BFF Priya Venkatram, and to get at least two months into the year without being compared to or confused with Peggy Chang, the only other Chinese girl in her grade. Will Domenici has two goals: to find a paying summer internship, and to prove he has what it takes to become an editor on his school paper. Then Jocelyn's father tells her their family restaurant may be going under, and all wishes are off. Because her dad has the marketing skills of a dumpling, it's up to Jocelyn and her unlikely new employee, Will, to bring A-Plus Chinese Garden into the 21st century (or, at least, to Facebook). What starts off as a rocky partnership soon grows into something more. But family prejudices and the uncertain future of A-Plus threaten to keep Will and Jocelyn apart. It will take everything they have and more, to save the family restaurant and their budding romance.
©2020 I. W. Gregorio (P)2020 Little, Brown Young Readers
Conversations in Black
Summary
An award-winning journalist envisions the future of leadership, excellence, and prosperity in Black America with this "urgent and pathbreaking" work (Marc Lamont Hill). Hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and inspiring, Conversations in Black offers sage wisdom for navigating race in a radically divisive America, and, with help from his mighty team of Black intelligentsia, veteran journalist Ed Gordon creates hope and a timeless new narrative on what the future of Black leadership should look like and how we can get there. In Conversations in Black, Gordon brings together some of the most prominent voices in Black America today, including Stacey Abrams, Harry Belafonte, Charlamagne tha God, Michael Eric Dyson, Alicia Garza, Jemele Hill, Iyanla VanZant, Eric Holder, Killer Mike, Angela Rye, Al Sharpton, TI, and Maxine Waters, and so many more to answer questions about vital topics affecting our nation today, such as: Will the Black vote control the 2020 election? Do Black lives really matter? After Obama's presidency, are Black people better off? Are stereotypical images of people of color changing in Hollywood? How is "Black Girl Magic" changing the face of black America? Bombarded with media, music, and social media messages that enforce stereotypes of people of color, Gordon sets out to dispel what Black power and Black excellence really look like today and offers a way forward in a new age of Black prosperity and pride.
©2020 Ed Gordon (P)2020 Hachette Books
A Shot in the Moonlight
Summary
The sensational true story of George Dinning, a freed slave, who in 1899 joined forces with a Confederate war hero in search of justice in the Jim Crow South. “Taut and tense. Inspiring and terrifying in its timelessness.” (Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad) After moonrise on the cold night of January 21, 1897, a mob of 25 White men gathered in a patch of woods near Big Road in Southwestern Simpson County, Kentucky. Half carried rifles and shotguns, and a few tucked pistols in their pants. Their target was George Dinning, a freed slave who'd farmed peacefully in the area for 14 years and who had been wrongfully accused of stealing livestock from a neighboring farm. When the mob began firing through the doors and windows of Dinning's home, he fired back in self-defense, shooting and killing the son of a wealthy Kentucky family. So began one of the strangest legal episodes in American history - one that ended with Dinning becoming the first Black man in America to win damages after a wrongful murder conviction. Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ben Montgomery resurrects this dramatic but largely forgotten story and the unusual convergence of characters - among them a Confederate war hero-turned-lawyer named Bennett H. Young, Kentucky Governor William O'Connell Bradley, and George Dinning himself - that allowed this unlikely story of justice to unfold in a time and place where justice was all too rare. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2010 Ben Montgomery (P)2021 Little, Brown & Company
Smoke
Summary
After double-crossing gang leaders on both sides of the city, IQ has become LA's most hunted man in this thrilling crime novel from an "electrifying" talent (Time). Isaiah Quintabe is no longer IQ, the genius of East Long Beach; instead, he’s a man on the road and on the run, hiding in a small Northern California town when his room is broken into by a desperate young man on the trail of the state’s most prolific serial killer. His old partner, Juanell Dodson, must go straight or lose his wife and child. His devil’s bargain? An internship at an LA advertising agency, where it turns out the rules of the street have simply been dressed in business casual, but where the aging company’s fortunes may well rest on their ability to attract a younger demographic. Dodson - ”the hustler’s hustler” - just may be the right man for the job.
©2021 Joe Ide (P)2021 Hachette Audio