
Miracle and Wonder
Conversations with Paul Simon
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
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $24.96
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Malcolm Gladwell
-
Bruce Headlam
-
Paul Simon
About this listen
*For a more up-to-date version check out Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon (Special Edition)
What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar?
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before. Recorded over a series of 30 hours of conversation between Simon, Gladwell, and Gladwell’s oldest friend and co-writer, journalist and Broken Record podcast co-host Bruce Headlam, the conversation flows from Simon’s music, to his childhood in Queens, NY, to his frequent collaborators including Art Garfunkel and the nature of creativity itself. Gladwell and Headlam traveled from the mountains of Hawaii to Simon’s own backyard studio to record an artist they’ve idolized since childhood.
Woven throughout the audiobook is distinctive commentary about Simon’s songwriting alongside archival audio footage and never-before-heard live studio versions and original recordings of beloved hits including “The Boxer", “The Sound of Silence", and “Graceland”. Between conversations, Gladwell deploys his signature blend of historical research and social science in an attempt to understand how a boy from 1940s Queens conjured near-perfect songs over an incredible 65-year career. Along the way, he gathers reflections on Simon’s particular genius from the likes of Sting, Herbie Hancock, Renee Fleming, Jeff Tweedy, Aaron Lindsey, and Roseanne Cash.
The result is an intimate audio biography of one of America’s most popular songwriters. Brimming with music and conversation, Miracle and Wonder is a window into Simon’s legendary career, what it means to be alive as an artist, and how to create work that endures.
©2021 Pushkin Industries and Paul Simon (P)2021 Pushkin Industries and Paul SimonListeners also enjoyed...
-
So Many Steves
- Afternoons with Steve Martin
- By: Steve Martin, Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Steve Martin, Adam Gopnik
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steve Martin met his good friend Adam Gopnik three decades ago, and in that time, Gopnik has always marveled at Martin’s ability to flourish in a wide variety of artforms: magic, comedy, art collecting, writing, and music. In So Many Steves: Afternoons with Steve Martin, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik creates a new type of profile: a year’s worth of conversations with Martin where Gopnik pulls back the curtain on his friend’s illustrious career.
-
-
Perfection
- By M on 05-05-23
By: Steve Martin, and others
-
I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
-
-
Great content but don’t bother purchasing if you have heard the podcasts
- By katieKo on 10-23-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Miracle and Wonder (Special Edition)
- Conversations with Paul Simon
- By: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, Paul Simon
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author and podcast host, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar? Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before.
-
-
Repetitive, in need of editing
- By BK on 03-20-24
By: Malcolm Gladwell, and others
-
My Name Is Barbra
- By: Barbra Streisand
- Narrated by: Barbra Streisand
- Length: 48 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career.
-
-
BARBRA IS LIKE BUTTAH!
- By JoeGato57 on 11-08-23
By: Barbra Streisand
-
Paul Simon
- The Life
- By: Robert Hilburn
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through such hits as "The Sound of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Still Crazy After All These Years", and "Graceland", Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs for a half-century about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most honored and beloved songwriters in American pop music history. His music has gone beyond the sales charts into our cultural consciousness. He was the first songwriter awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
-
-
Missed opportunity
- By Mark L. Berry on 07-22-18
By: Robert Hilburn
-
What the Dog Saw
- And Other Adventures
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of The Bomber Mafia focuses on "minor geniuses" and idiosyncratic behavior to illuminate the ways all of us organize experience in this "delightful" (Bloomberg News) collection of writings from The New Yorker. What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?
-
-
Not Gladwell's best - and a recording problem
- By Rudi on 11-26-09
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
So Many Steves
- Afternoons with Steve Martin
- By: Steve Martin, Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Steve Martin, Adam Gopnik
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steve Martin met his good friend Adam Gopnik three decades ago, and in that time, Gopnik has always marveled at Martin’s ability to flourish in a wide variety of artforms: magic, comedy, art collecting, writing, and music. In So Many Steves: Afternoons with Steve Martin, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik creates a new type of profile: a year’s worth of conversations with Martin where Gopnik pulls back the curtain on his friend’s illustrious career.
-
-
Perfection
- By M on 05-05-23
By: Steve Martin, and others
-
I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
-
-
Great content but don’t bother purchasing if you have heard the podcasts
- By katieKo on 10-23-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Miracle and Wonder (Special Edition)
- Conversations with Paul Simon
- By: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, Paul Simon
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author and podcast host, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar? Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before.
-
-
Repetitive, in need of editing
- By BK on 03-20-24
By: Malcolm Gladwell, and others
-
My Name Is Barbra
- By: Barbra Streisand
- Narrated by: Barbra Streisand
- Length: 48 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career.
-
-
BARBRA IS LIKE BUTTAH!
- By JoeGato57 on 11-08-23
By: Barbra Streisand
-
Paul Simon
- The Life
- By: Robert Hilburn
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through such hits as "The Sound of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Still Crazy After All These Years", and "Graceland", Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs for a half-century about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most honored and beloved songwriters in American pop music history. His music has gone beyond the sales charts into our cultural consciousness. He was the first songwriter awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
-
-
Missed opportunity
- By Mark L. Berry on 07-22-18
By: Robert Hilburn
-
What the Dog Saw
- And Other Adventures
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of The Bomber Mafia focuses on "minor geniuses" and idiosyncratic behavior to illuminate the ways all of us organize experience in this "delightful" (Bloomberg News) collection of writings from The New Yorker. What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?
-
-
Not Gladwell's best - and a recording problem
- By Rudi on 11-26-09
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
David and Goliath
- Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Explore the power of the underdog in Malcolm Gladwell's dazzling examination of success, motivation, and the role of adversity in shaping our lives, from the best-selling author of The Bomber Mafia. Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won. Or should he have?
-
-
The Art of (Unconventional) War
- By Cynthia on 10-04-13
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Surrender
- 40 Songs, One Story
- By: Bono
- Narrated by: Bono
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Josh on 11-04-22
By: Bono
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Philosophy of Modern Song
- By: Bob Dylan
- Narrated by: Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. And while ostensibly about music, they are really meditations on the human condition.
-
-
Needs chapter headings
- By kaon on 12-22-22
By: Bob Dylan
-
The Tipping Point
- How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
-
-
My tipping point…for audio
- By Mod on 04-17-12
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Born to Run
- By: Bruce Springsteen
- Narrated by: Bruce Springsteen
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl's halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That's how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to this audio the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.
-
-
Me Springsteen's book moved me beyond words...
- By Ellen O'Brien on 12-12-16
-
A Natural Woman
- A Memoir
- By: Carole King
- Narrated by: Carole King
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Listen to the New York Times best-selling memoir that is "revealing, humble, and cool-aunt chatty" about the incredible life that inspired the hit Broadway musical Beautiful (Rolling Stone). Carole King takes us from her early beginnings in Brooklyn, to her remarkable success as one of the world's most acclaimed songwriting and performing talents of all time.
-
-
The Baby Boom Generation's Big Sister
- By Thomas A. Morgan on 04-17-12
By: Carole King
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
The Bomber Mafia
- A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times best sellers including Talking to Strangers and host of the podcast Revisionist History, uses original interviews, archival footage, and his trademark insight to weave together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in Central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard. As listeners hear these stories unfurl, Gladwell examines one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
-
-
Listen to the same story on his podcast for free
- By Dustin on 04-28-21
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Scattershot
- Life, Music, Elton, and Me
- By: Bernie Taupin
- Narrated by: John Lee, Bernie Taupin
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits, and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's Rocketman) and even John's own autobiography, Me. But Taupin, a private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now.
-
-
Not Boring, A Relaxing Listen
- By jipickin on 09-14-23
By: Bernie Taupin
-
Blink
- The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his landmark best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant, in the blink of an eye, that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept?
-
-
Interesting read with contradictory messages
- By Danny on 04-21-05
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
Interview: Malcolm Gladwell Elicits Anecdotes, Songs, and Creative Wisdom In 'Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon'
-
Miracle and Wonder
- Conversations with Paul Simon
- By: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, Paul Simon
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before. Recorded over a series of 30 hours of conversation between Simon, Gladwell, and Gladwell’s oldest friend and co-writer, journalist and Broken Record podcast co-host Bruce Headlam, the conversation flows from Simon’s music, to his childhood in Queens, NY, to his frequent collaborators including Art Garfunkel and the nature of creativity itself.
-
-
A lifelong companion who will never know my name
- By scsurfer on 11-16-21
You can call him “Pal”
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Miracle and Wonder (Special Edition)
- Conversations with Paul Simon
- By: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, Paul Simon
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author and podcast host, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar? Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before.
-
-
Repetitive, in need of editing
- By BK on 03-20-24
By: Malcolm Gladwell, and others
-
Paul Simon
- The Life
- By: Robert Hilburn
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through such hits as "The Sound of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Still Crazy After All These Years", and "Graceland", Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs for a half-century about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most honored and beloved songwriters in American pop music history. His music has gone beyond the sales charts into our cultural consciousness. He was the first songwriter awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
-
-
Missed opportunity
- By Mark L. Berry on 07-22-18
By: Robert Hilburn
-
I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
-
-
Great content but don’t bother purchasing if you have heard the podcasts
- By katieKo on 10-23-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Last Showman
- Words + Music, Vol. 41
- By: Usher, Gerrick Kennedy
- Narrated by: Usher
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past 30 years, Usher has exhilarated audiences with stadium-sized anthems, innovative choreography, and dazzling charm that has made him a once-in-a-generation superstar. The Last Showman is an introspective look into the past, present, and future of a beloved global R&B icon. Usher opens up about the inspirations, heartache, and growth that fueled the creation of his record-breaking magnum opus, Confessions, while revisiting some of its most iconic tracks.
-
-
love you Ursher
- By Amazon Customer on 02-06-25
By: Usher, and others
-
I Am Brian Wilson
- By: Brian Wilson, Ben Greenman - contributor
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a cofounding member of the Beach Boys in the 1960s, Wilson created some of the most groundbreaking and timeless popular music ever recorded. With intricate harmonies, symphonic structures, and wide-eyed lyrics that explored life's most transcendent joys and deepest sorrows, songs like "In My Room", "God Only Knows", and "Good Vibrations" forever expanded the possibilities of pop songwriting.
-
-
Surviving the Minor Keys in Life - Love Overcomes
- By Russell on 12-01-16
By: Brian Wilson, and others
-
Be My Baby
- A Memoir
- By: Ronnie Spector, Vince Waldron - contributor, Keith Richards - foreword
- Narrated by: Rosie Perez
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronnie Spector’s first collaboration with producer Phil Spector, “Be My Baby,” stunned the world and shot girl group the Ronettes to stardom. No one could sing as clearly, as emotively as Ronnie. But her voice was soon drowned out in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, and lost in Ronnie and Phil’s ensuing romance and marriage. Ronnie had to fight tooth and nail to wrest back control of her life, her music, and her legacy. And while she regained her footing, Ronnie found herself recording with Stevie Van Zandt, partying with David Bowie, and touring with Bruce Springsteen.
-
-
Be My Baby
- By Ray Robles on 06-08-22
By: Ronnie Spector, and others
-
Miracle and Wonder (Special Edition)
- Conversations with Paul Simon
- By: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, Paul Simon
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What happens when Paul Simon, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in music history, and Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling author and podcast host, sit down together, with a tape recorder and a guitar? Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before.
-
-
Repetitive, in need of editing
- By BK on 03-20-24
By: Malcolm Gladwell, and others
-
Paul Simon
- The Life
- By: Robert Hilburn
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through such hits as "The Sound of Silence", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Still Crazy After All These Years", and "Graceland", Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs for a half-century about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most honored and beloved songwriters in American pop music history. His music has gone beyond the sales charts into our cultural consciousness. He was the first songwriter awarded the Gershwin Prize by the Library of Congress and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
-
-
Missed opportunity
- By Mark L. Berry on 07-22-18
By: Robert Hilburn
-
I Hate the Ivy League
- Riffs and Rants on Elite Education
- By: Malcolm Gladwell
- Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malcolm Gladwell has long relished the opportunity to skewer the upper echelons of higher education, from the institution of U.S. News & World Report’s Best College rankings to the LSATs to the luxe Bowdoin College cafeteria. I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, upends the traditional thinking around how education should work and tries to get to the bottom of why we often reward the wrong people.
-
-
Great content but don’t bother purchasing if you have heard the podcasts
- By katieKo on 10-23-22
By: Malcolm Gladwell
-
The Last Showman
- Words + Music, Vol. 41
- By: Usher, Gerrick Kennedy
- Narrated by: Usher
- Length: 1 hr and 12 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past 30 years, Usher has exhilarated audiences with stadium-sized anthems, innovative choreography, and dazzling charm that has made him a once-in-a-generation superstar. The Last Showman is an introspective look into the past, present, and future of a beloved global R&B icon. Usher opens up about the inspirations, heartache, and growth that fueled the creation of his record-breaking magnum opus, Confessions, while revisiting some of its most iconic tracks.
-
-
love you Ursher
- By Amazon Customer on 02-06-25
By: Usher, and others
-
I Am Brian Wilson
- By: Brian Wilson, Ben Greenman - contributor
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a cofounding member of the Beach Boys in the 1960s, Wilson created some of the most groundbreaking and timeless popular music ever recorded. With intricate harmonies, symphonic structures, and wide-eyed lyrics that explored life's most transcendent joys and deepest sorrows, songs like "In My Room", "God Only Knows", and "Good Vibrations" forever expanded the possibilities of pop songwriting.
-
-
Surviving the Minor Keys in Life - Love Overcomes
- By Russell on 12-01-16
By: Brian Wilson, and others
-
Be My Baby
- A Memoir
- By: Ronnie Spector, Vince Waldron - contributor, Keith Richards - foreword
- Narrated by: Rosie Perez
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ronnie Spector’s first collaboration with producer Phil Spector, “Be My Baby,” stunned the world and shot girl group the Ronettes to stardom. No one could sing as clearly, as emotively as Ronnie. But her voice was soon drowned out in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, and lost in Ronnie and Phil’s ensuing romance and marriage. Ronnie had to fight tooth and nail to wrest back control of her life, her music, and her legacy. And while she regained her footing, Ronnie found herself recording with Stevie Van Zandt, partying with David Bowie, and touring with Bruce Springsteen.
-
-
Be My Baby
- By Ray Robles on 06-08-22
By: Ronnie Spector, and others
-
Rememberings
- By: Sinéad O'Connor
- Narrated by: Sinéad O'Connor
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, fearless activism, and of the enduring power of song.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Lora on 06-05-21
By: Sinéad O'Connor
-
Society's Child
- My Autobiography
- By: Janis Ian
- Narrated by: Janis Ian
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at the age of 15, when her soul-wrenching song "Society's Child" became a hit. But this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career. In Society's Child, Janis Ian provides a relentlessly honest account of the successes and failures - and the hopes and dreams - of an extraordinary life.
-
-
I know why this won the grammy
- By Pamela J on 02-24-13
By: Janis Ian
-
More Myself
- A Journey
- By: Alicia Keys, Michelle Burford
- Narrated by: Alicia Keys, America Ferrera, Bono, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the most celebrated musicians in the world, Alicia Keys has enraptured the globe with her heartfelt lyrics, extraordinary vocal range, and soul-stirring piano compositions. Yet away from the spotlight, Alicia has grappled with private heartache - over the challenging and complex relationship with her father, the people-pleasing nature that characterized her early career, the loss of privacy surrounding her romantic relationships, and the oppressive expectations of female perfection.
-
-
Title should be Safe Version of Myself
- By Mel on 04-05-20
By: Alicia Keys, and others
-
Face It
- A Memoir
- By: Debbie Harry
- Narrated by: Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Musician, actor, activist, and the iconic face of New York City cool, Debbie Harry is the front woman of Blondie, a band that forged a new sound that brought together the worlds of rock, punk, disco, reggae, and hip-hop to create some of the most beloved pop songs of all time. As a muse, she collaborated with some of the boldest artists of the past four decades. The scope of Debbie Harry’s impact on our culture has been matched only by her reticence to reveal her rich inner life - until now.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Jessica Eastman on 12-23-19
By: Debbie Harry
-
My Love Story
- By: Tina Turner
- Narrated by: Heather Alicia Simms, Tina Turner - introduction
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From her early years in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her rise to fame alongside Ike Turner to her phenomenal success in the 1980s and beyond, Tina candidly examines her personal history, from her darkest hours to her happiest moments and everything in between. My Love Story is an explosive and inspiring story of a woman who dared to break any barriers put in her way. Emphatically showcasing Tina’s signature blend of strength, energy, heart, and soul, this is a gorgeously wrought memoir as enthralling and moving as any of her greatest hits.
-
-
Great story but...
- By Amazing Customer on 10-28-18
By: Tina Turner
-
Summer of '85
- By: Chris Morrow, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Kevin Hart
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the summer of 1985 in Philadelphia, when the city was rocked—in almost every sense of the word—by two unprecedented events: Mayor W. Wilson Goode’s May 13 decision to bomb the headquarters of MOVE, a controversial Philadelphia-based radical communal organization, and the July 13 Live Aid concert, where international rock royalty convened in Philly to raise money for victims of the Ethiopian famine. Separated by just two months and eight miles, these events would showcase both the best and the worst of the so-called City of Brotherly Love.
-
-
Misleading title and poor execution
- By Scott on 10-28-22
By: Chris Morrow, and others
-
My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire
- By: Maurice White, Herb Powell
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The late Grammy-winning founder of the legendary pop/R&B/soul/funk/disco group tells his story and charts the rise of his legendary band in this sincere memoir that captures the heart and soul of an artist whose groundbreaking sound continues to influence music today. With a foreword by David Foster.
-
-
Maurice--Earth, Wind and Fire
- By Linda Ealey on 02-28-17
By: Maurice White, and others
-
What a Fool Believes
- A Memoir
- By: Michael McDonald, Paul Reiser
- Narrated by: Michael McDonald, Paul Reiser
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Paul Reiser.
-
-
Those eyes! 😍
- By Linda Lehman on 06-26-24
By: Michael McDonald, and others
-
Miles
- The Autobiography
- By: Miles Davis
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles Davis was one of the most important and influential musicians in the world. Here, Miles speaks out about his extraordinary life. Miles: The Autobiography, like Miles himself, holds nothing back. For the first time Miles talks about his five-year silence. He speaks frankly and openly about his drug problem and how he overcame it. He condemns the racism he encountered in the music business and in American society generally. And he discusses the women in his life.
-
-
A man untroubled by his own contradictions
- By Barry on 12-07-12
By: Miles Davis
-
Homeward Bound
- The Life of Paul Simon
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To have been alive during the last 60 years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon. The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957, just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era. As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel, his work helped define the youth movement of the '60s. On his own in the '70s, Simon made radio-dominating hits. He kicked off the '80s by reuniting with Garfunkel to perform for half a million New Yorkers in Central Park. Five years later Simon's album Graceland sold millions. And it doesn't stop there.
-
-
Now I Know
- By KellysHero718 on 11-01-16
-
So Many Steves
- Afternoons with Steve Martin
- By: Steve Martin, Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Steve Martin, Adam Gopnik
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steve Martin met his good friend Adam Gopnik three decades ago, and in that time, Gopnik has always marveled at Martin’s ability to flourish in a wide variety of artforms: magic, comedy, art collecting, writing, and music. In So Many Steves: Afternoons with Steve Martin, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik creates a new type of profile: a year’s worth of conversations with Martin where Gopnik pulls back the curtain on his friend’s illustrious career.
-
-
Perfection
- By M on 05-05-23
By: Steve Martin, and others
-
Broken Horses
- A Memoir
- By: Brandi Carlile
- Narrated by: Brandi Carlile
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brandi Carlile was born into a musically gifted, impoverished family on the outskirts of Seattle and grew up in a constant state of change, moving from house to house, trailer to trailer, 14 times in as many years. Though imperfect in every way, her dysfunctional childhood was as beautiful as it was strange, and as nurturing as it was difficult. At the age of five, Brandi contracted bacterial meningitis, which almost took her life, leaving an indelible mark on her formative years and altering her journey into young adulthood.
-
-
I have almost 2000 audible books and ...
- By M. Lynn on 04-22-21
By: Brandi Carlile
What listeners say about Miracle and Wonder
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ellen Randall
- 12-20-21
Paul Simon is fantastic!
Malcolm Gladwell not so much. He does not seem insightful or smart to me at all. I found him very annoying. But Paul Simon made it worth it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David Johnson
- 02-05-22
A great audio book.
Was a wonderful story of Paul Simon with a chance to hear how songs developed. What made this book special was listening to the music. Not only Paul’s music but where he got his ideas from other artists.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A great listen . . . with a bit too much Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam's "Musical Biography" of Paul Simon is an amazing accomplishment. If, like me, you are a lifelong fan of Simon's, you'll learn a lot about where his inspiration comes from and how he follows his ear to create sounds that resonate and move people. The authors asked the right questions and then assembled the resulting audio in ways that creates, not really an audiobook, but an audio documentary, including music from Simon solo and with Garfunkel, and commentary from the likes of Sting and Rosanne Cash.
I do have one quibble. Gladwell sets out to "solve the mystery" of Paul Simon's genius. In this typical fashion, this is a riddle he tracks down and seeks evidence to understand. His point is that Simon is an experimenter and tinkerer, more like Cezanne than Picasso, and that his constant seeking is what accounts for his incredibly longevity in producing amazing music. The thing is . . . I don't care so much about WHY Simon is a genius, and if you listen to Simon himself, he's not really all that interested either. He just follows the sound. But we have to listen to Gladwell prattle on about this, and that prattling is the least interesting part of this amazing accomplishment.
You do have to wonder if there is a message here about Gladwell and the longevity of his own genius, which has a little less shine on it based on his last two books. Gladwell wants us to know that he's so consistently creative, just as Simon is, that now he can pioneer a new art form, the musical audiobook that has no print book behind it.
So go ahead and listen to this one and enjoy it -- it brought me to tears in several places, including the resonance of Simon's "American Tune," which is as relevant as ever in this fraught moment in America. You don't need to be driven to solve Paul Simon as Gladwell is. Forget the purported destination. You can just enjoy the ride.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chattanooga DJ Randy Black
- 12-16-21
Fantastic use of sound
This is one of the best Audible books. The author and Paul Simon discuss the writing of several songs while playing portions that demonstrate the creative processes. I hope it becomes a rubric for future audio books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Harrison
- 12-10-21
Amazing insights into a beautiful soul
“Miracle and Wonder” is a powerful telling of the life and music of Paul Simon. It is perfectly presented.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jay
- 11-29-21
Excellent!
Malcolm Gladwell knocks it out again! Definitely saw Paul Simon in a way I've never thought of before. Really glad he agreed to do this audiobook.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul M. Sully
- 12-11-21
Paul Simon fan’s delight
I have grown up with Paul Simon’s tunes and lyrics… and read nearly all Malcolm Gladwell’s books…what a beautiful and well crafted production… the medium is perfect. It is helpful the voices are pleasant and melodic and the writing is so good. I appreciated Gladwell’s asides to insert some theories about why and what might be signified by this or that. It is not a biography but it is certainly biographical… as my generation’s poet, in addition to learning more about Paul Simon, I believe I learned more about myself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephen Werk
- 01-15-22
Extraordinary book
This is an extraordinary audio book. Paul is very open and detailed about how many of his songs were created and what inspired his lyrics and music. One of the best books I’ve listened to in years.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel Siegel, J
- 01-02-22
A wondrous ride into the life and art of Paul Simon
A wonderful auditory journey into the nature of musical creation and the inspiration of the non-conscious sense and deliberate intentions beneath some of Simon’s captivating masterpieces. Gladwell and Headlam took their boyhood friendship and the mutual impact of this musical innovator and have themselves offered us a life affirming deep dive into what drives us all. Fabulous. Thank you to the three individuals who’ve joined here to enrich our lives.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- joyce pines
- 01-01-22
Truly a genius
I have always enjoyed Paul Simon’s music but this deepened my appreciation of his definite genius.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!