
Second Life
Having a Child in the Digital Age
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Narrated by:
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Amanda Hess
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By:
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Amanda Hess
About this listen
As an internet culture critic for The New York Times, Amanda Hess had built a reputation among readers as a sharp observer of the seductions and manipulations of online life. But when Hess discovered she was pregnant with her first child, she found herself unexpectedly rattled by a digital identity crisis of her own.
In the summer of 2020, a routine ultrasound detected a mysterious abnormality in Hess’s baby. Without hesitation, she reached for her phone, looking for answers. But rather than allaying her anxieties, her search sucked her into the destabilizing morass of the internet, and she was vulnerable—more than ever—to conspiracy, myth, judgment, commerce, and obsession.
As Hess documents her escalating relationship with the digital world, she identifies how technologies act as portals to troubling ideologies, ethical conflicts, and existential questions, and she illuminates how the American traditions of eugenics, surveillance, and hyper-individualism are recycled through these shiny products for a new generation of parents and their children.
At once funny, heartbreaking, and surreal, Second Life is a journey that spans a network of fertility apps, prenatal genetic tests, gender reveal videos, rare disease Facebook groups, “freebirth” influencers, and hospital reality shows. Hess confronts technology’s distortions as they follow her through pregnancy and into her son’s early life. The result is a critical record of our digital age that reveals the unspoken ways our lives are being fractured and reconstituted by technology.©2025 Amanda Hess (P)2025 Random House Audio
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One of Time Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2025 • One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025
“Hess brings to her subject humility, curiosity, and a sly, self-aware wit. . . Sweeping and incisive. . . Fresh and complicated. . . A captivating, charged, and crucially provocative consideration of motherhood in modern America.”—Kirkus Reviews *starred review*
“[A] fierce and funny debut memoir. . . .An astute document of pregnancy and parenting in the internet era. . . .Incisive and refreshing.”—Publishers Weekly *starred review*
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Story
What do a barracks for British troops in the Falklands War, a floating jail off the Bronx, and temporary housing for VW factory workers in Germany have in common? The Balder Scapa: a single barge that served all three roles. Though the name would eventually change to Finnboda 12. And then to Safe Esperia. And later on, to the Bibby Resolution. And after that . . . in short, a vessel with so many names, and so many fates, that to keep it in our sights—as the protagonist of this fascinating economic parable—Ian Kumekawa has no choice but to call it, simply, the Vessel.
By: Ian Kumekawa
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Recharge
- Boosting Your Mental Battery, One Conversation at a Time
- By: David Ko
- Narrated by: Andy Barnett
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Recharge: Boosting Your Mental Battery One Conversation at a Time is a transformative guide to mental wellness by David Ko, CEO of Calm. Through revealing conversations with a diverse array of figures, including actor and comedian Randall Park, radio personality Delilah, rapper Macklemore, former Apple CEO John Sculley, and former NFL player Carl Nassib, this book delves into the profound effects of stress on our lives.
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Relevant to today's world
- By Amazon Customer on 06-25-25
By: David Ko
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Beasties
- By: Peter Lerangis
- Narrated by: Mark Sanderlin
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On a field trip to Central Park, Riley and his classmates accidentally encounter a supernatural artifact that looks a lot like, well, honestly … a piece of poop. But one of them gets too close, there’s a blinding flash, and suddenly the five friends are turned into various critters. Riley’s sister’s a hawk, the school bully’s a raccoon, and Riley? He’s transformed into everyone’s least favorite animal, a New York City rat. Their once-dull morning quickly turns into a fight for survival.
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Does what it says on the tin
- By New B. Gamer on 06-29-25
By: Peter Lerangis
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I Can't Even Think Straight
- By: Dean Atta
- Narrated by: Dean Atta
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Kai knows who he is to others: The good grandson, the reliable best friend, the romantic backup. But he doesn’t quite know who he is to himself. Kai wants to come out at school, but his best friend there, Matt, stays closeted for fear of getting kicked out by his conservative parents—and wants Kai to do the same. Kai unhappily agrees, but when a rumor goes around that Kai and Matt are dating, Matt starts acting differently anyway. Kai’s other best friend, Vass, is proudly nonbinary and thinks Matt is a negative influence—though maybe that’s just their crush on Kai talking.
By: Dean Atta
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Ollie in Between
- By: Jess Callans
- Narrated by: Vico Ortiz
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Puberty, AKA the ultimate biological predator, is driving a wedge between soon-to-be 13 year old Ollie Thompson and their lifelong friends. Too much of a girl for their neighborhood hockey team, but not girly enough for their boy-crazed BFF, Ollie doesn’t know where they fit. And their usual ability to camouflage? Woefully disrupted.
By: Jess Callans
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Strangers in the Land
- Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
- By: Michael Luo
- Narrated by: Eric Yang
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1889, while upholding Chinese exclusion, Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field characterized them as “strangers in the land.” Only in 1965 did America’s gates swing open to people like Luo’s parents, immigrants from Taiwan. Today there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States and yet the “stranger” label, Luo writes, remains. Drawing on archives from across the country and written with a New Yorker writer’s style and sweep, Strangers in the Land is revelatory and unforgettable, an essential American story.
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Thank you for this important history
- By cindy on 06-22-25
By: Michael Luo
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Return to Sender
- A Novel
- By: Vera Brosgol
- Narrated by: Michelle H. Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After everything they’ve been through, Oliver and his mom finally have a place to call home. But Oliver’s fresh start feels more like a dead-end at his fancy new private school, where kids fly in on helicopters, wear the latest and most expensive sneakers, and go on luxury vacations. Oliver is only there because his mom’s the school custodian. Oliver wishes his life could be easier. And then one day, after slipping a wish into a mysterious mail slot, it suddenly comes true.
By: Vera Brosgol
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The Incandescent
- By: Emily Tesh
- Narrated by: Zara Ramm
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Walden is good at her job—no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from—is herself.
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My favorite book of the year
- By lsrygl on 05-15-25
By: Emily Tesh
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A Hero's Guide to Summer Vacation
- By: Pablo Cartaya
- Narrated by: Pablo Cartaya
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Gonzalo Alberto Sánchez García has never considered himself the hero of his own story. He’s an observer, quietly snapshotting landscapes and drawing the creatures he imagines emerging from them. Forced to spend the summer with his estranged grandfather, Alberto William García—the very famous reclusive author—Gonzalo didn’t expect to learn that heroes and monsters are not only the stuff of fantasy.
By: Pablo Cartaya
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H Is for Hawk
- By: Helen Macdonald
- Narrated by: Helen Macdonald
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Helen MacDonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer captivated by hawks since childhood, she'd never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators: the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral anger mirrored her own.
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Mabel The Hawk--The Fire That Burned The Hurts Away
- By Sara on 04-09-15
By: Helen Macdonald
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I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You
- By: Miranda Hart
- Narrated by: Miranda Hart
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Hello to you, I am with news. I have a new book: I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You. I know – what an intriguing title! Basically, I have had an unexpectedly difficult decade – there have been surprising joys but also deep revelations and challenging lows. I shall be honest about those, because what I discovered in the difficult times were my, what I call, treasures.
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Well, thanks a lot, Miranda…
- By amiebojamie on 10-27-24
By: Miranda Hart
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How to Think About AI
- A Guide for the Perplexed
- By: Richard Susskind
- Narrated by: Richard Susskind
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In How To Think About AI, Richard Susskind draws on his experience of working on AI since the early 1980s. For Susskind, balancing the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence is the defining challenge of our age. He explores the history of AI and possible scenarios for its future. His views on AI are not always conventional. He positions ChatGPT and generative AI as no more than the latest chapter in the ongoing story of AI and claims we are still at the foothills of developments.
By: Richard Susskind
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The World of Nancy Kwan
- A Memoir by Hollywood's Asian Superstar
- By: Nancy Kwan, Deborah Davis - contributor, Kevin Kwan - foreword
- Narrated by: Nancy Kwan, Kevin Kwan
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Never allowing show business to change her, Kwan persevered in an industry where everything was stacked against her, breaking through barriers and becoming a beacon of hope to generations of Asians who aspired to be seen. The World of Nancy Kwan is a multi-faceted personal history of an iconic actress whose triumphant rise and resilience illuminates the broader history of Hollywood and how the only way forward is to stay true to oneself.
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Fascinating woman, actor and mom
- By Madame Nicole Silverman on 06-05-25
By: Nancy Kwan, and others
Important documentation of one woman's honesty
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Every mother should read this book
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