I logged into my Audible account for the first time in ages and downloaded some things I'd been meaning to listen to. When I went to sync them with my Zune, my efforts came to a screeching hault. Apparently the Zune team forgot that people care about audio books. On some level this is no surprise, because they also forgot that people care about podcasts, but you would think the longest running downloadable audio store on the Internet (Audible) would have been given a bit more consideration. There is a workaround for this, which I documented with previous players lacking Audible support.
My Zune has been my primary player for several months, because I like the Zune Pass. I'm officially back in two portable player mode again, because my iPod now has my Audible content and my Zune has my Zune Pass subscription content. I'm seriously considering dumping the Zune and going back to the rip-a-CD method of song imports. The Zune team will likely tell me I'm not the target demographic for their player, which is stupid, because I'm in the demographic that spends money on downloadable content.
The Jared diet; oversized meal deals; drive-thru service; dollar menus. We can't escape fast food. Is a foot long sub really better for you than a burger and fries? That's a question Fast Food Nation won't answer, but it covers plenty of other territory with a highly divisive tone. 
If you've never read any of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books, you're missing out on a collection of clever, but slightly dark stories aimed at the kid in all of us. I had a great time reading this collection to my son and am certain my daughter will loving hear the stories when she's old enough. 
The Worst Case Scenario guides have reached the point of over exposure and yet the information remains irresistible. Taking super human survival to a whole new level, David Borgenicht, co-author of the Worst Case Scenario handbook, teams up with his brother Joe for The Action Hero's Handbook. Learn how to be a human lie detector, spy proof a hotel room, disarm a hostile gunman and other skills useful to the guy who feels more Bruce Campbell than Bruce Davison. While most of the material in the book is absurd for everyday life, you can't help but enjoy the scenario's laid out and the solutions presented. The audio book version is narrated by Gerald Doyle, a veteran of both Broadway and the Royal Court Theatre in London.
The Time Machine is one of those stories everyone should read or listen to at least once. Science of the fiction has become a less conceivable over time, but still leaves enough to the imagination to keep you enthralled. H.G. Wells' message of morality is timeless. Stories of the Unusual are exactly as the title suggests: a handful of short tales of strange circumstances, compelling characters and a fascinating examination of humanity through the pen of a master storyteller. Ralph Cosham brings each of these tales to life with the same craft he voiced other classics like 
The low budget effects and creepy realism of 
Now is not the time to start that fitness program! Instead, laugh along with humorist Dave Barry as he debunks, demotivates, and delights on the subject of fitness. Hear his inimitable views on exercise ("the best time would be the first thing after Easter, but not the one coming up"), weights ("big-time lifters have turned into 400-pound hairy sweaty shapeless grunting masses of tissue. And the men are even worse"), and much more.
Precociously intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and ambitious, Marya Hornbacher grew up in a comfortable middle-class American home. At the age of 5, she returned home from ballet class one day, put on an enormous sweater, curled up on her bed, and cried because she thought she was fat. By age 9, she was secretly bulimic, throwing up at home after school, while watching Brady Bunch reruns on television and munching Fritos. She added anorexia to her repertoire a few years later and took great pride in her ability to starve.
Gore Vidal, winner of the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, is one of the great figures in American writing. Now through Vidal's extraordinary literary talents, the three men most responsible for the shaping of America come to life as never before. Volumes have been written about George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, but no previous work captures the intimate and vital details the way Inventing a Nation does. Vidal's consummate skill takes you into the minds and private rooms of these great men, illuminating their opinions of one another and their concerns about crafting a workable democracy. Inventing a Nation is a remarkably vivid portrait of three American icons, men whose revolutionary ideas had a profound and lasting impact on the nation they helped create.
This American Life is my favorite radio program. It finds real people doing interesting things and tells their story in a compelling way within the confines of a one hour weekly broadcast. The producers build the story against a compelling infusion of music always perfectly suited for the events unfolding throughout the course of the hour and there's always a sense of identity that makes you care about the story being told, even if the point of view isn't something you identify with. Or in the words of the show's creators, "It's a weekly show. It's an hour. Its mission is to document everyday life in this country. We sometimes think of it as a documentary show for people who normally hate documentaries. A public radio show for people who don't necessarily care for public radio." I almost never remember to tune in when the show airs in Des Moines, because the timing doesn't fit my schedule, so having the option to subscribe is perfect, because it supports the show and I get it on demand.