
The Age of Diagnosis
How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.80
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Suzanne O'Sullivan
About this listen
From a neurologist and the award-winning author of The Sleeping Beauties, a meticulous and compassionate exploration of how our culture of medical diagnosis can harm, rather than help, patients.
We live in an age of diagnosis. Conditions like ADHD and autism are on the rapid rise, while new categories like long Covid are being created. Medical terms are increasingly used to describe ordinary human experiences, and the advance of sophisticated genetic sequencing techniques means that even the healthiest of us may soon be screened for potential abnormalities. More people are labeled "sick" than ever before—but are these diagnoses improving their lives?
With scientific authority and compassionate storytelling, neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan argues that our obsession with diagnosis is harming more than helping. It is natural when we are suffering to want a clear label, understanding, and, of course, treatment. But our current approach to diagnosis too often pathologizes difference, increases our anxiety, and changes our experience of our bodies for the worse.
Through the moving stories of real people, O'Sullivan compares the impact of a medical label to the pain of not knowing. She explains the way the boundaries of a diagnosis can blur over time. Most importantly, she calls for us to find new and better vocabularies for suffering and to find ways to support people without medicalizing them.
©2025 Suzanne O'Sullivan (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Pronoun Trouble
- The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns.
-
-
another great offering
- By ktxexa. Dfgg on 04-12-25
By: John McWhorter
-
Blind Spots
- When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
- By: Marty Makary MD
- Narrated by: Marty Makary MD
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Blind Spots, Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping—but the truth is essential to our health.
-
-
Outstanding and arguably daring
- By Scott J. Jones MD on 10-08-24
By: Marty Makary MD
-
Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
-
-
Advice to the Democratic Party from Klein & Thompson
- By Betsy Fowler on 03-31-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
-
Of Boys and Men
- Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It
- By: Richard V. Reeves
- Narrated by: Richard V. Reeves
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The father of three sons, a journalist, and a Brookings Institution scholar, Richard V. Reeves has spent twenty-five years worrying about boys both at home and work. His new book, Of Boys and Men, tackles the complex and urgent crisis of boyhood and manhood. Reeves looks at the structural challenges that face boys and men and offers fresh and innovative solutions that turn the page on the corrosive narrative that plagues this issue. Of Boys and Men argues that helping the other half of society does not mean giving up on the ideal of gender equality.
-
-
Regretful of My Knee-jerk Reaction To This Title 😔
- By Hazel Winters on 10-13-22
-
Adaptable
- How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us
- By: Herman Pontzer PhD
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adaptable takes us on a tour of the human body. In each chapter, we learn how our bodies navigate an uncertain world: how we grow and mature; how our brains develop and learn; how our hearts, lungs, and digestive systems deliver oxygen and nutrients; how we manage toxins, temperature, and water balance; how we move and reproduce; how our immune system keeps invaders at bay; and how we age and decline. Along the way, we learn how to take care of our remarkable bodies, and that the universe of healthy lifestyles is vast (we don’t need the latest fad diet or cleanse!).
-
-
Surprisingly Engaging
- By user7720393 on 04-11-25
-
Dream Hoarders
- How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It
- By: Richard V. Reeves
- Narrated by: Richard V. Reeves
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Reeves shows, the growing separation between the upper middle class and everyone else can be seen in family structure, neighborhoods, attitudes, and lifestyle. Those at the top of the income ladder are becoming more effective at passing on their status to their children, reducing overall social mobility. The result is not just an economic divide but a fracturing of American society along class lines. Upper-middle-class children become upper-middle-class adults.
-
-
Kneecap your kids & destroy internships, 509 & etc
- By Marie on 02-06-20
-
Pronoun Trouble
- The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns.
-
-
another great offering
- By ktxexa. Dfgg on 04-12-25
By: John McWhorter
-
Blind Spots
- When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
- By: Marty Makary MD
- Narrated by: Marty Makary MD
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Blind Spots, Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping—but the truth is essential to our health.
-
-
Outstanding and arguably daring
- By Scott J. Jones MD on 10-08-24
By: Marty Makary MD
-
Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
-
-
Advice to the Democratic Party from Klein & Thompson
- By Betsy Fowler on 03-31-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
-
Of Boys and Men
- Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It
- By: Richard V. Reeves
- Narrated by: Richard V. Reeves
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The father of three sons, a journalist, and a Brookings Institution scholar, Richard V. Reeves has spent twenty-five years worrying about boys both at home and work. His new book, Of Boys and Men, tackles the complex and urgent crisis of boyhood and manhood. Reeves looks at the structural challenges that face boys and men and offers fresh and innovative solutions that turn the page on the corrosive narrative that plagues this issue. Of Boys and Men argues that helping the other half of society does not mean giving up on the ideal of gender equality.
-
-
Regretful of My Knee-jerk Reaction To This Title 😔
- By Hazel Winters on 10-13-22
-
Adaptable
- How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us
- By: Herman Pontzer PhD
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adaptable takes us on a tour of the human body. In each chapter, we learn how our bodies navigate an uncertain world: how we grow and mature; how our brains develop and learn; how our hearts, lungs, and digestive systems deliver oxygen and nutrients; how we manage toxins, temperature, and water balance; how we move and reproduce; how our immune system keeps invaders at bay; and how we age and decline. Along the way, we learn how to take care of our remarkable bodies, and that the universe of healthy lifestyles is vast (we don’t need the latest fad diet or cleanse!).
-
-
Surprisingly Engaging
- By user7720393 on 04-11-25
-
Dream Hoarders
- How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It
- By: Richard V. Reeves
- Narrated by: Richard V. Reeves
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Reeves shows, the growing separation between the upper middle class and everyone else can be seen in family structure, neighborhoods, attitudes, and lifestyle. Those at the top of the income ladder are becoming more effective at passing on their status to their children, reducing overall social mobility. The result is not just an economic divide but a fracturing of American society along class lines. Upper-middle-class children become upper-middle-class adults.
-
-
Kneecap your kids & destroy internships, 509 & etc
- By Marie on 02-06-20
-
The Sleeping Beauties
- And Other Stories of Mystery Illness
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children fall into a state that resembles sleep for months or years at a time. In Le Roy, a town in upstate New York, teenage girls develop involuntary twitches and seizures that spread like a contagion. In the US Embassy in Cuba, employees experience headaches and memory loss after hearing strange noises during the night. These are only a few of the many suspected culture-bound psychosomatic syndromes - specific sets of symptoms that exist in a particular culture or environment - that affect people throughout the world.
-
Unshrunk
- A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance
- By: Laura Delano
- Narrated by: Laura Delano
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At age fourteen, Laura Delano saw her first psychiatrist, who immediately diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and started her on a mood stabilizer and an antidepressant. At school, Delano was elected the class president and earned straight-As and a national squash ranking; at home, she unleashed all the rage and despair she felt, lashing out at her family and locking herself in her bedroom, obsessing over death.
-
-
A Rite of Passage For the Rest of Us
- By Metal Rabbit on 04-16-25
By: Laura Delano
-
Stuck
- How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity
- By: Yoni Appelbaum
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this illuminating debut, Yoni Appelbaum, historian and journalist for The Atlantic, shows us that this idea has been under attack since reformers first developed zoning laws to ghettoize Chinese Americans in nineteenth-century Modesto, California. The century of legal segregation that ensued—from the zoning laws enacted to force Jewish workers back into New York’s Lower East Side to the private-sector discrimination and racist public policy that trapped Black families in Flint, Michigan to Jane Jacobs’ efforts to protect her vision of the West Village.
-
-
land of opportunity
- By Anonymous User on 03-16-25
By: Yoni Appelbaum
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
On the Edge
- The Art of Risking Everything
- By: Nate Silver
- Narrated by: Nate Silver
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "The River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life. These professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century.
-
-
Fascinating report from a distant land
- By David Benjamin on 09-14-24
By: Nate Silver
-
How to Know a Person
- The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: David Brooks
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.” And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them?
-
-
A book he was ready to write
- By Adam Shields on 11-17-23
By: David Brooks
Critic reviews
“With grace, elegance, and compassion, The Age of Diagnosis slices through the confusion and the contradictions that have tied me in knots—both as a parent and as a clinician. Dr. O’Sullivan’s previous books made a big impression on me and influenced my clinical practice. This will do the same and more.”—Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People
“O’Sullivan explodes conventional wisdom about medical diagnoses. With clarity of prose and reasoning, The Age of Diagnosis should make all of us think about whether we are more or less healthy when we receive a diagnostic label.”—Elizabeth Loftus, distinguished professor, University of California, Irvine
“A brave and deeply empathetic book with a very important message.”—Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Sleeping Beauties
- And Other Stories of Mystery Illness
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children fall into a state that resembles sleep for months or years at a time. In Le Roy, a town in upstate New York, teenage girls develop involuntary twitches and seizures that spread like a contagion. In the US Embassy in Cuba, employees experience headaches and memory loss after hearing strange noises during the night. These are only a few of the many suspected culture-bound psychosomatic syndromes - specific sets of symptoms that exist in a particular culture or environment - that affect people throughout the world.
-
This Is Body Grief
- Making Peace with the Loss That Comes with Living in a Body
- By: Jayne Mattingly
- Narrated by: Jayne Mattingly
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Is Body Grief, disability advocate and recovery expert Jayne Mattingly lays out a groundbreaking approach to mourning and accepting one’s ever-changing body. Like all grief, she says, Body Grief cannot be overcome but felt in all its complexity. Dismantling the narrative that your body is “against you,” she presents new ways to cope with your body's fluctuating abilities with self-compassion and grace.
-
-
Healing in more ways than one
- By Ashton M on 04-28-25
By: Jayne Mattingly
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
The Social Genome
- The New Science of Nature and Nurture
- By: Dalton Conley
- Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sociogenomics brings together advances in molecular genetics and traditional social and behavioral science. The key tool is the polygenic index, which allows us to analyze DNA to measure a child's genetic potential. Today, we can estimate a child's adult height, how far they will go in school, and their weight as an adult—all from a cheek swab, finger prick, or vial of saliva. Dalton Conley and other researchers are using this new science to shed light on the ways in which genes shape our world, influencing how each person both creates and responds to the environment around them.
By: Dalton Conley
-
Memory Lane
- The Perfectly Imperfect Ways We Remember
- By: Gillian Murphy, Ciara Greene
- Narrated by: Emily Schwing
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We tend to think of our memories as impressions of the past that remain fully intact, preserved somewhere inside our brains. In fact, we construct and reconstruct our memories every time we attempt to recall them. Memory Lane introduces listeners to the cutting-edge science of human memory, revealing how our recollections of the past are constantly adapting and changing, and why a faulty memory isn't always a bad thing.
By: Gillian Murphy, and others
-
The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto
- A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto
- By: Benjamin Wallace
- Narrated by: Benjamin Wallace
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In October 2008, someone going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto posted a white paper outlining “a peer-to-peer electronic cash system” called Bitcoin to an arcane listserv populated by Cypherpunks. No one in the community had heard of Nakamoto, and just as people were starting to wonder who he was, he vanished. As the years passed, and the scope of Nakamoto’s achievement became clear, the truth of his identity grew into the greatest unsolved mystery of our time. The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto traces Benjamin Wallace’s attempt to unmask the figure behind the currency and the world it wrought.
-
-
Interesting read, even for a non-geek
- By A reader on 04-23-25
By: Benjamin Wallace
-
The Sleeping Beauties
- And Other Stories of Mystery Illness
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children fall into a state that resembles sleep for months or years at a time. In Le Roy, a town in upstate New York, teenage girls develop involuntary twitches and seizures that spread like a contagion. In the US Embassy in Cuba, employees experience headaches and memory loss after hearing strange noises during the night. These are only a few of the many suspected culture-bound psychosomatic syndromes - specific sets of symptoms that exist in a particular culture or environment - that affect people throughout the world.
-
This Is Body Grief
- Making Peace with the Loss That Comes with Living in a Body
- By: Jayne Mattingly
- Narrated by: Jayne Mattingly
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Is Body Grief, disability advocate and recovery expert Jayne Mattingly lays out a groundbreaking approach to mourning and accepting one’s ever-changing body. Like all grief, she says, Body Grief cannot be overcome but felt in all its complexity. Dismantling the narrative that your body is “against you,” she presents new ways to cope with your body's fluctuating abilities with self-compassion and grace.
-
-
Healing in more ways than one
- By Ashton M on 04-28-25
By: Jayne Mattingly
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
The Social Genome
- The New Science of Nature and Nurture
- By: Dalton Conley
- Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sociogenomics brings together advances in molecular genetics and traditional social and behavioral science. The key tool is the polygenic index, which allows us to analyze DNA to measure a child's genetic potential. Today, we can estimate a child's adult height, how far they will go in school, and their weight as an adult—all from a cheek swab, finger prick, or vial of saliva. Dalton Conley and other researchers are using this new science to shed light on the ways in which genes shape our world, influencing how each person both creates and responds to the environment around them.
By: Dalton Conley
-
Memory Lane
- The Perfectly Imperfect Ways We Remember
- By: Gillian Murphy, Ciara Greene
- Narrated by: Emily Schwing
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We tend to think of our memories as impressions of the past that remain fully intact, preserved somewhere inside our brains. In fact, we construct and reconstruct our memories every time we attempt to recall them. Memory Lane introduces listeners to the cutting-edge science of human memory, revealing how our recollections of the past are constantly adapting and changing, and why a faulty memory isn't always a bad thing.
By: Gillian Murphy, and others
-
The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto
- A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto
- By: Benjamin Wallace
- Narrated by: Benjamin Wallace
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In October 2008, someone going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto posted a white paper outlining “a peer-to-peer electronic cash system” called Bitcoin to an arcane listserv populated by Cypherpunks. No one in the community had heard of Nakamoto, and just as people were starting to wonder who he was, he vanished. As the years passed, and the scope of Nakamoto’s achievement became clear, the truth of his identity grew into the greatest unsolved mystery of our time. The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto traces Benjamin Wallace’s attempt to unmask the figure behind the currency and the world it wrought.
-
-
Interesting read, even for a non-geek
- By A reader on 04-23-25
By: Benjamin Wallace
-
Let Only Red Flowers Bloom
- Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China
- By: Emily Feng
- Narrated by: Emily Feng
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rise of China and its great power competition with the U.S. will be one of the defining issues of our generation. But to understand modern China, one has to understand the people who live there–and the way the Chinese state is trying to control them along lines of identity and free expression. In vivid, cinematic detail, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom tells the stories of nearly two dozen people who are pushing back.
By: Emily Feng
-
The Narrative Brain
- The Stories Our Neurons Tell
- By: Fritz Alwin Breithaupt PhD
- Narrated by: Brian Wiggins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As humans, we think in stories—stories that allow us to feel and share emotions. In order for this phenomenon to work, our brains and the ways in which we tell stories must be attuned to each other. But how exactly does this happen? Tapping into the essence of thinking in stories, Fritz Breithaupt draws on the latest scientific research, including a retelling study (comparable to the telephone game) with more than 12,000 participants, and experiments in which ChatGPT functions as storyteller.
-
Funny Because It's True
- How The Onion Created Modern American News Satire
- By: Christine Wenc
- Narrated by: Christine Wenc
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1988, a band of University of Wisconsin–Madison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other than “You Are Dumb.” Just wanting to make a few bucks, they wound up becoming the bedrock of modern satire over the course of twenty years, changing the way we consume both our comedy and our news. The Onion served as a hilarious and brutally perceptive satire of the absurdity and horrors of late twentieth-century American life and grew into a global phenomenon.
-
-
Her lack of knowledge.
- By Anonymous User on 04-20-25
By: Christine Wenc
-
Conflict Resilience
- Negotiating Disagreement Without Giving Up or Giving In
- By: Robert Bordone, Joel Salinas
- Narrated by: Chris Brinkley
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two former Harvard faculty—one an internationally-recognized negotiator and conflict management expert from Harvard Law, the other a leading behavioral neurologist and cutting-edge scientist from Harvard Med—join forces to introduce conflict resilience: the radical act of sitting in and growing from conflict to break the bad habits that sabotage our politics, workplaces, and most important relationships.
By: Robert Bordone, and others
-
Firstborn
- A Memoir
- By: Lauren Christensen
- Narrated by: Lauren Christensen
- Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lauren Christensen is a thirtysomething editor in New York City when she meets her future husband, Gabe, a writer with whom she falls in love right away. Her beloved grandfather is dying, but the young couple is bringing new life into the family: Lauren and Gabe joyfully discover she is pregnant with their daughter, Simone. As Lauren faces the prospect of becoming a parent, she learns to let go of the fear of abandonment and need for control, but just weeks after their wedding, they learn that their worst nightmare has come true: Simone is dying in the womb.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Ashley M. on 03-28-25
-
The Good Death
- A Guide for Supporting Your Loved One Through the End of Life
- By: Suzanne B. O’Brien RN
- Narrated by: Suzanne B. O’Brien RN
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For most of us, there is no harder life experience than caring for a loved one who is dying. Suzanne O'Brien realized this earlier than most during her her time working as a nurse in hospice care, often offered as a comforting alternative to a sterile hospital environment. But Suzanne saw the real financial and staffing limitation that came with hospice, and, realizing this option didn't provide all the answers, wanted to take it a step further, providing her patients and their families with the tools to approach the death of a loved one with grace, dignity, knowledge, and compassion.
-
-
Excellent introduction for anyone seeking to cultivate comfort with the concept of death
- By Tia Walters on 04-02-25
-
Lights On
- How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe
- By: Annaka Harris
- Narrated by: Annaka Harris
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is consciousness a fundamental building block of the universe, like gravity? Can humans develop new senses through neuroscience? And can artificial intelligence ever truly replicate the subjective experience of being conscious? Join Annaka Harris as she calls on distinguished experts in science and philosophy to find answers to today’s most perplexing questions about our minds and the universe at large.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Amazon Customer on 04-01-25
By: Annaka Harris
-
The Road to Freedom
- Economics and the Good Society
- By: Joseph E. Stiglitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Road to Freedom, Nobel prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz dissects America's current economic system and the political ideology that created it, laying bare their twinned failure. Free and unfettered markets have exploited consumers, workers, and the environment alike. These movements now pose a real threat to true economic and political freedom.
-
-
Send neoliberalism into the abyss where it belongs
- By marwalk on 08-16-24
-
How to Feed the World
- The History and Future of Food
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food. In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today.
-
-
Full of good info, but not for audiobook format
- By O. Espinoza on 03-28-25
By: Vaclav Smil
-
In My Remaining Years
- By: Jean Grae
- Narrated by: Jean Grae
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In My Remaining Years, by creative juggernaut Jean Grae, debunks the myth that coming-of-age narratives should be reserved for the kids, providing a much-needed rallying cry for those of us still trying to figure it out in our forties. These laugh-out-loud essays cover everything from aging gracefully, what happens when you look for community and almost start a cult, befriending childhood demons, gender fluidity in middle age, the cost of being too fabulous, and the various gymnastics we do to avoid becoming our parents, taking us from her childhood in 1980s NYC to present-day Baltimore.
-
-
Her amazing voice and storytelling ability
- By Roxanne Shante on 03-20-25
By: Jean Grae
-
Hunchback
- A Novel
- By: Saou Ichikawa
- Narrated by: Polly Barton, Yuriri Naka
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka spends her days in her room in a care home outside Tokyo, relying on an electric wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to breathe. But if Shaka’s physical life is limited, her quick, mischievous mind has no boundaries: She takes e-learning courses on her iPad, publishes explicit fantasies on websites, and anonymously troll-tweets to see if anyone is paying attention (“In another life, I’d like to work as a high-class prostitute”). One day, she tweets into the void an offer of an enormous sum of money for a sperm donor.
-
-
Blooming from the Mud
- By The Rasher on 04-01-25
By: Saou Ichikawa
-
Living with Borrowed Dust
- Reflections on Life, Love, and Other Grievances
- By: James Hollis PhD
- Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world seemingly set up for distraction, life can often feel like it’s dividing you not only from others but also from yourself. Yet even within the cacophony of life, deep down you can intuit your own soul, that part of you that knows you better than you know yourself, and that offers direction and moments of solace, even amid uncertainty. This disconnect from your inner source of guidance leads to self-doubt, but in Living With Borrowed Dust, Hollis provides a reminder that you carry within what you’re so anxiously looking for from a crazed world.
-
-
Poignant
- By WjB on 03-19-25
By: James Hollis PhD
What listeners say about The Age of Diagnosis
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A. Cruz
- 03-31-25
Interesting though ableist
As a family medicine physician with a chronic medical conditions I was very curious when I saw this book at a local bookstore. Though I absolutely agree there is over diagnosis rampant in the medical field, I was disappointed in the ableist mindset view of a young person having a chronic medical condition/s. I received my first chronic condition diagnosis when I was in late elementary school with symptoms going on since I was 4 years old. I never felt my diagnosis held me back beyond contact sports. I appreciate the push for autonomy and giving patients “permission to say no” when it comes to testing. This book will absolutely impact questions I will bring up with patients in my practice, but hope the author’s perspective will grow because my chronic medical conditions aren’t just in my head.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Booklubber
- 03-27-25
Diagnosed to Death
One of the questions that goes unanswered here is why our most educated communities of physicians and scientists literally just aren’t doing the math. Is it that they don’t know how or they don’t care? If the math is too demanding just the common sense in this book would go a long way to mitigating the disaster that has turned most of us into chronic healthcare consumers if not disability recipients. The book is chock full of evidence, data and anecdotes I did not need because I am surrounded by examples in my own circles. As AI comes on the scene to screen for and find even smaller (likely benign) anomalies O'Sullivan's well timed concerns should be amplified. The healthiest prescription for everyone would be to please, read this book and buy some for your doctors.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!