Backstories That Matter

This week, Michele Cobb joins host Jo Reed to dig into audiobooks built on backstory, beginning with Expert Witness, where Gabra Zackman delivers Anne Wolbert Burgess’ account of trauma, justice, and the evolution of expert testimony with clarity and restraint. Next, they turn to A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever, a joyful, detail-packed oral history of the 1984 film Spinal Tap—an ensemble cast production led by Rob Reiner, where seemingly spontaneous commentary makes the audiobook the definitive way to experience the story. The episode closes with We Did OK, Kid, a reflective memoir in which Kenneth Branagh’s elegant narration frames Anthony Hopkins’s vulnerable reflections on craft, ambition, and a life shaped by performance. Together these audiobooks show how lived experience—whether in the courtroom, on a film set, or across a lifetime in acting—gains depth and resonance when shaped by a narrator who knows when to be restrained, playful, or quietly vulnerable.

Audiobooks Discussed:

Expert Witness: The Weight of Our Testimony When Justice Hangs in the Balance by Ann Wolbert Burgess with Steven Matthew Constantine, read by Gabra Zackman

A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap, written and read by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer 

We Did Ok, Kid: A Memoir by Sir Anthony Hopkins, read by Kenneth Branagh with the author

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