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The Elephant in the Room
- One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America
- Narrated by: Tommy Tomlinson
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the tradition of Roxane Gay’s Hunger, a searing, honest, and candid exploration of what it’s like to live as a fat man, from acclaimed journalist Tommy Tomlinson, who decided he had to change his life as he neared the age of 50 weighing in at 460 pounds.
When he was almost 50 years old, Tommy Tomlinson weighed an astonishing - and dangerous - 460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned - in fact, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to change.
He was only one of millions of Americans struggling with weight, body image, and a relationship with food that puts them at major risk. Intimate and insightful, The Elephant in the Room is Tomlinson’s chronicle of meeting those people, taking the first steps toward health, and trying to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a Fitbit and setting an exercise goal to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill, America’s “capital of food porn”, and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on an unforgettable journey of self-discovery that is a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the audiobook, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take - big and small - to lose weight by the end.
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More!
- By Evelyn on 02-11-07
By: Paula Poundstone
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Jelly Belly
- By: Robert Kimmel Smith
- Narrated by: Danny Gerard
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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It's tough for 11-year-old Ned to stop eating. At four-feet-eight inches tall he weighs one 109 pounds, and he keeps growing - wider. When his parents send him to a summer diet camp, he and his bunkmates can't quite give up their old habits. The joys of candy and doughnuts are so appealing that "cheating" adventures seems to be the only answer. The problem, of course, is how to lose weight and keep eating sweets.
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This Might Get a Little Heavy
- A Memoir
- By: Ralphie May, Nils Parker
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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There was a time when Ralphie May was one of the biggest stand-up comedians in the country, both by ticket sales and by tonnage. While some things changed - Ralphie lost half his body weight - others did not: He will be remembered as one of the most successful comics of his time. Completed just months before his untimely passing, in This Might Get a Little Heavy, Ralphie takes listeners on a behind-the-scenes tour of his life and career, one that winds across the country, over obstacles, beyond heartbreak, and through the golden age of stand-up.
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brilliant and tragic
- By Timothy Trujillo on 08-12-18
By: Ralphie May, and others
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May We Be Forgiven
- By: A. M. Homes
- Narrated by: Andy Paris
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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May We Be Forgiven, a darkly comic novel of 21st-century domestic life, stars Harold Silver, a historian who's always been jealous of his successful brother, George. But when the hot-tempered George is institutionalized for committing a violent act, Harold finds himself comforting his brother's wife and children. What follows is a scathing examination of a family so fractured it may never be whole again.
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Give this one a try!
- By JWB on 02-13-13
By: A. M. Homes
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What Doesn't Kill You
- By: Virginia DeBerry, Donna Grant
- Narrated by: Virginia DeBerry, Donna Grant
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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What Doesn't Kill You is the story of how Thomasina Hodges, a.k.a. Tee, loses her job and finds herself. Tee's evolution after her sudden and unexpected outplacement, is loosely based on the stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, relinquishing, readjusting, and reinvesting. For Tee, losing her job is like a death, but with time, and some bumps, bruises and a new attitude, she comes out on the other side, having reassessed what's important in her life.
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Excellent story
- By Doris Greene on 04-11-24
By: Virginia DeBerry, and others
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In the Water They Can't See You Cry
- A Memoir
- By: Amanda Beard, Rebecca Paley
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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At the tender age of 14, Amanda Beard walked onto the pool deck at the Atlanta Olympics carrying her teddy bear, Harold, and left with two silvers and a gold medal. She competed in three more Olympic games, winning a total of seven medals, and enjoyed a lucrative modeling career on the side. At one point, she was the most downloaded female athlete on the Internet. Yet despite her astonishing career and sex-symbol status, Amanda felt unworthy of all her success. Unaware that she was suffering from clinical depression, she hid the pain beneath a megawatt smile.
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I applaud Amanda - but her editor's were lame
- By Heather on 03-10-15
By: Amanda Beard, and others
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Housebroken
- Admissions of an Untidy Life
- By: Laurie Notaro
- Narrated by: Laurie Notaro
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Number-one New York Times best-selling author Laurie Notaro isn't exactly a domestic goddess - unless that means she fully embraces her genetic hoarding predisposition, sneaks peeks at her husband's daily journal, or has made a list of the people she wants on her Apocalypse Survival team (her husband's not on it). Notaro chronicles her chronic misfortune in the domestic arts, including cooking, cleaning, and putting on Spanx while sweaty (which should technically qualify as an Olympic sport).
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Wonderful
- By Carlie on 07-28-16
By: Laurie Notaro
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Goodbye, Vitamin
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Khong
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, 30-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town, and arrives at her parents' home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth's mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic.
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Hello Sweet Sweet Book
- By Syd Young on 08-06-17
By: Rachel Khong
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Andy Rooney
- 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit
- By: Andy Rooney
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Chairs. Neat people. Ugliness. War. Over six decades of intrepid reporting and elegant essays, Andy Rooney has proven a shrewd cultural analyst. Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit brings together the best of more than a half-century of work (including long-out-of-print pieces from his early years) in an unforgettable celebration of one of America’s funniest men. Like Mark Twain, Finley Peter Dunne (Mister Dooley) and Will Rogers, Andy Rooney is a classic chronicler of America, a writer for the ages.
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A good style
- By Denise L. Holtz on 11-04-16
By: Andy Rooney
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Hey Mom
- By: Louie Anderson
- Narrated by: Louie Anderson
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Louie Anderson has been channeling his beloved mom in his iconic stand-up comedy for decades - but she passed away before getting to see him reach new heights with his breakout role. Hey Mom is Louie's way of catching Ora Zella Anderson up on everything that has been going on in his life, including his continued struggles with food and family, but also how so much has changed for the better. He also has plenty of laugh-out-loud stories about his incredibly resilient mother and his 10 siblings, as well as observations on the absurdities of life.
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I love Louie even more now
- By Candace on 05-02-18
By: Louie Anderson
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If I am Missing or Dead
- A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation
- By: Janine Latus
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In April 2002, Janine Latus' youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. "Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved", it read, "but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...."
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All About Janine
- By Ellen on 07-02-07
By: Janine Latus
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Labor Day
- By: Joyce Maynard
- Narrated by: Wilson Bethel
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In a manner evoking Ian McEwan's Atonement and Nick Hornby's About a Boy, acclaimed author Joyce Maynard weaves a beautiful, poignant tale of love, sex, adolescence, and devastating treachery as seen through the eyes of a young teenage boy - and the man he later becomes - looking back at an unexpected encounter that begins one single, long, hot, life-altering weekend.
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Good story but anti clamatic
- By Nana on 11-25-13
By: Joyce Maynard
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Be a Man
- The Ultimate Guide
- By: The Be a Man Guy
- Narrated by: The Be a Man Guy, John Fiore
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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On Tik Tok, Instagram, and his podcast, The Be a Man Guy discusses what it takes to be a man. Now, this funny and insightful book showcases all new stories, vignettes, anecdotes, and pearls of wisdom.
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I didn't find much lasting value.
- By I Ate Your Pug For Lunch and It was Tasty on 07-07-23
By: The Be a Man Guy
What listeners say about The Elephant in the Room
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- sbroyles45
- 01-24-19
Tommy Tomlinson at his best
I’ve been a fan of his writing for a long time . . . I even got a chance to meet and know him . . . and he is one of the most honest, transparent and compelling authors that I know. Well I’m sure that the written book is phenomenal, it’s hard to imagine that it compares to hearing his story in his own voice. He takes you from childhood to adult life, skillfully pulling back layers of his own life to reveal both an inner child and a voice that want to be heard. It’s both revealing and inspiring. I highly recommend and will go get the written book as well.
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2 people found this helpful
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- DonnaF.
- 03-11-24
A Look Inside the Mind
At times I felt Tommy was too hard on himself and too focused on regrets. He has lived and has an incredible life. But I kept listening knowing I wanted to find what he learned - and I am glad I did! Excellent story & so glad he read it himself. Came to me at a time in my life when I needed to hear it. Very grateful for him, his honesty, and for this book.
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- Debbie
- 03-22-19
Raw, honest, engaging, endearing
Tommy Tomlinson really puts himself out there in this book. All that he has forever been embarrassed and ashamed to share, all he has hidden (or tried to), all he has denied (or lied about) is now wide open, shared with the world -- in a way that is so relatable. No easy task when trying to share what its like to be overweight to those who are not -- and who simplify the reality to why you just can't/won't eat less and move more.
Tommy does this in a way that is so endearing. He does not portray himself as a victim -- but he digs deep for the evolution of how he got to this point, blaming no one but himself.
I was in awe of how much just about every memory he has, every move he makes -- good and bad -- are so intertwined with either his weight or with food.
And I do not understand the readers/listeners who struggle with his voice -- I loved his voice.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amol
- 01-05-23
Inspirational
Brutally and beautifully honest - must read for anyone looking to make their New Years resolutions a reality
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- Jonathan McGinnis
- 05-16-24
One of the most honest books I’ve listened to
One can find parallels, overweight or not, in the authors story. A completely honest look at one’s life, a rarity in these days. Cannot recommend enough!!!
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- colprubin
- 02-17-19
An intimate look at obesity
This book is an intimate look at obesity. The author admits that he really has it all -- wonderful parents and friends, a fascinating job and a loving wife. Yet he cannot restrain himself from overeating. He tells his life story with great humor and candor, blaming absolutely no one but himself for overeating. His voice, which is hoarse from a throat operation he had many years ago, is initially hard to understand but adds to the experience of the book. It's a good, albeit not super deeper read, and will make me look at all obese people a little differently.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Linda S.
- 05-02-19
Such a Great Audiobook
Don't be discouraged by the sample of Tommy's raspy voice as it is easy to listen to and just right for his story. This is an honest account of Tommy's struggles with diets and the many negatives of weighing 460 lbs. But this time, he tried something different after failing so many times. There are stories about his family, his love of fast food, his career, his food favorites, and his beloved dog Fred. This is a book we can all relate to as we all have addictions, complete with bad choices and regrets. Thank you Tommy for writing such a honest, heartfelt book.
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- Rissa Recharged
- 02-01-24
Read it in 3 days!
We chose this book for our Bariatric Book Club and I literally listened to it in 3 days! Great story of will and determination!
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- Indyquaz
- 01-29-19
Worth a Listen
If you listen to samples before chosing audiobooks, you may resist this one because of the voice. It is worth getting past that. Read by the author, the story explains the voice, and it seems right that he reads it himself. He is an excellent writer and storyteller, and this is an honest and open account of his life as a food addicted "fat man" (his term). If you know someone like that, you'll know them better, and judge them less often, after this.
Because you'll come to like the author so much, you may be troubled that he never once mentions a fresh vegitable or fruit. He seems to only recognize his love of what we now call junk food and his need to resist it, without ever discovering the pleasure of better foods that can supplant the harmful ones. He still seems to think of "diet" as what you don't eat, instead of what you do. Still, you root for him throughout and will want to read more of his writing when you are through.
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6 people found this helpful
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- C. Cipriano
- 05-14-19
Listened Twice!!
I enjoyed the book so much I listened to it twice!! I can relate to his struggle even know I am only about 55 pounds overweight. The second time through I marked sections to go back and study and I will!!
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