Working Lives in Three Audiobooks

About this episode

Stephen Cummings joins Jo Reed to discuss three audiobooks that explore themes of ambition and labor.

Contributor Stephen Cummings joins host Jo Reed to talk about David Pogue’s Apple: The First 50 Years, which Pogue narrates with the confidence and curiosity of a longtime tech journalist, weaving in archival clips and company lore. They turn to Noam Scheiber’s Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, where André Santana’s restrained and intelligent narration underscores the frustrations of workers organizing at companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and Apple. Finally, Woody Brown’s Upward Bound employs a strong cast led by T. R. Knight to explore life inside an underfunded adult day program, giving its central character a vivid and deeply affecting inner voice. All three audiobooks look closely at ambition, labor, and the gap between how work is imagined and how it’s lived. Audiobooks Discussed: Apple: The First 50 Years written and read by David Pogue (Simon & Schuster Audio) Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class by Noam Scheiber, read by André Santana (Macmillan Audio) Upward Bound by Woody Brown, read by T.R. Knight, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Alex Edelman, Pete Holmes, Midori Francis, Carlos Miranda, Brandon Flynn, and Nikki M. James…

People in this episode

Host: Jo Reed

Guest: Stephen Cummings

Topics covered

• audiobooks
• labor
• ambition
• working class
• narration
• tech journalism

Keywords

• audiobooks
• David Pogue
• Noam Scheiber
• working class
• labor
• narration
• Apple
• Mutiny
• Upward Bound

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Simon & Schuster Audio, Macmillan Audio

Books & works: Apple: The First 50 Years, Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, Upward Bound

More episodes of Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

• Finding the Voice · June 11, 2026 · 25 min
• Navigating The Divorce by Freida McFadden · June 5, 2026 · 17 min
• Three Very Different Roads Through Fiction · June 4, 2026 · 21 min
• Still Here: Three Memoirs That Don’t Look Away · May 28, 2026 · 26 min
• Exploring Kathryn Stockett’s The Calamity Club · May 15, 2026 · 13 min
• Horror, Held Close · May 14, 2026 · 24 min