Welcome to Assistive Media
Expanding the world of reading
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Founded in 1996, Assistive Media is an online audio reading accessibility service for people with visual or perceptual impairments.
Mission statement Our purpose is to heighten educational, cultural, and quality-of-living standards through the pure enjoyment of reading via the good and useful work of not-for-profit service. --David Erdody, Founder |
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Current online offerings
Assistive Media produces spoken-word recordings of back issue “long-form” articles from mainstream periodicals. We offer our online service with no ads, membership sign-on requirements or disability status verifications. Assistive Media thanks the copyright holders for us charitably providing their works openly accessible and free-of-charge.
Just click any title-link to download and begin listening.
Just click any title-link to download and begin listening.
BEETHOVEN'S EMPIRE OF THE MIND
A review of Beethoven’s Conversation Books, Volume 1: Nos. 1 and 2
By Lewis Lockwood
Copyright © 2020 The New York Review of Books
Read by David Erdody
19 minutes
DUBIOUS DIAGNOSIS
A war on "prediabetes" has created millions of new patients and a tempting opportunity for pharma. But how real is the condition?
By Charles Pillar
Copyright © 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Read by David Erdody
34 minutes
THE CHILDREN OF STRANGERS
Sue and Hector Badeau adopted twenty children who needed a home
—but there were always more.
By Larissa MacFarquhuar
Copyright © 2015 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
64 minutes
WHAT WE THINK ABOUT WHEN WE RUN
By Kathryn Schulz
Copyright © 2015 The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
19 minutes
WRONG ANSWER
In an era of high-stakes testing, a struggling school made a shocking choice
By Rachel Aviv
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
62 minutes
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
How an industrial designer became Apple’s greatest product.
By Ian Parker
Copyright © 2015 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
109 minutes
GOOD GREENS
Vegetarian cookbooks for carnivores.
By Jane Kramer
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
30 minutes
PIXEL AND DIMED:
ON (NOT) GETTING BY IN THE GIG ECONOMY
For one month the author became the "micro entrepreneur" touted by companies like TaskRabbit, Postmates and Airbnb.
by Sarah Kessler
Copyright © 2014 Fast Company
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
60 minutes
PRINT THYSELF
How 3-D printing is revolutionizing medicine.
By Jerome Groopman
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
29 minutes
HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW
Reading The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks’s latest book, is like standing in that ray of sunlight: it questions perception.
by Sue Halpern
Copyright © 2011 The New York Review of Books
Read by Teri Clark Linden
22 minutes
WHO IS PETER PAN?
One character most frequently altered by writers, dramatists, and filmmakers is James Barrie’s Peter Pan. As a result he and his adventures have become immensely famous.
by Alison Lurie
Copyright © 2012 The New York Review of Books
Read by Teri Clark Linden
31 minutes
WHY WE'RE IN A NEW GILDED AGE
Thomas Piketty, professor at the Paris School of Economics, isn’t a household name, although that may change with the English-language publication of his magnificent, sweeping meditation on inequality, Capital in the Twenty First Century.
by Paul Krugman
Copyright © 2014 The New York Review of Books
Read by David Erdody
28 minutes
THE LIE FACTORY
How politics became a business.
by Jill Lepore
Copyright © 2012 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
50 minutes
HOW TO ESCAPE THE COMMUNITY-COLLEGE TRAP
More than half of community-colleges students never earn a degree. Here’s how to fix that.
By Ann Hulbert
Copyright © 2014 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
25 minutes
AUTO CORRECT
Has the self-driving car at last arrived?
by Burkhard Bilger
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
66 minutes
NO TIME
How did we get so busy?
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
25 minutes
UP ALL NIGHT
The science of sleeplessness.
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
23 minutes
BIOLOGY’S BRAVE NEW WORLD
The Promise and Perils of the Synbio Revolution.
by Laurie Garrett
Copyright © 2013 the Council on Foreign Relations
Read by David Erdody
46 minutes
WHAT’S INSIDE AMERICA’S BANKS?
Some four years after the 2008 financial crisis, public trust in banks is as low as ever.
By Frank Partnoy and Jesse Eisinger
Copyright © 2013 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by David Erdody
75 minutes
THE TRANSITION
Lyndon Johnson and the events in Dallas.
by Robert A. Caro
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
92 minutes
TO HELL WITH ALL THAT
One woman’s decision to go back to work.
By Caitlin Flanagan
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Kaili Vernoff
31 minutes
THE T-CELL ARMY
Can the body’s immune response help treat cancer?
by Jerome Groopman
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
30 minutes
THE COMMANDMENTS
The Constitution and its worshippers.
by Jill Lepore
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
45 minutes
SOCIAL ANIMAL
How the new sciences of human nature can help make sense of a life.
by David Brooks
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by Johnny Heller
35 minutes
PERSONAL BEST
Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you?
by Atul Gawande
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
48 minutes
THE FLORINTINE
The man who taught rulers how to rule.
by Claudia Roth Pierpont
Copyright © 2008 by The New Yorker
Read by Kaili Vernoff
39 mintues
LAPTOP U
Has the future of college moved online?
by Nathan Heller
Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
60 minutes
HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU
Should we worry about the rise of the drone?
by Nick Paumgarten
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
39 minutes
THE SURE THING
How entrepreneurs really succeed.
By Malcolm Gladwell
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
34 minutes
FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY
A Conceptual Framework for Liberation
by Gene Sharp
Copyright © 1993 The Albert Einstein Institution
Read by David Erdody
155 minutes
NETWORK INSECURITY
Are we losing the battle against cyber crime?
by John Seabrook
(strong language advisory)
Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
40 minutes
BUZZKILL
(strong language advisory)
Washington State discovers that it’s not so easy to create a legal marijuana economy.
by Patrick Radden Keefe
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
61 minutes
THE DOCTOR WHO MADE A REVOLUTION
By the time Dr. Sara Josephine Baker retired from the New York City Health Department in 1923, she was famous across the nation for saving the lives of 90,000 inner-city children.
By Helen Epstein
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker Review of Books
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
25 minutes
THE TOUCH-SCREEN GENERATION
Young children—even toddlers—are spending more and more time with digital technology. What will it mean for their development?
By Hanna Rosin
Copyright © 2013 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by Teri Clark Linden
50 minutes
AMERICA’S COACH
Vince Lombardi and America’s game.
by Adam Gopnick
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by Scott Chapin
25 minutes
THE APOSTATE
PART 1 PART 2 PART 3
(strong language advisory)
Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology.
by Lawrence Wright
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
162 minutes
HIS HIGHNESS
George Washington scales new heights.
by Jill Lepore
Copyright © 2010 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
MIND VS. MACHINE
In the race to build computers that can think like humans, the proving ground is the Turing
Test.
By Brian Christian
Copyright © 2011 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by David Erdody
58 minutes
THE TRUTH WEARS OFF
Is there something wrong with the scientific method?
by Jonah Lehrer
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Raymond Todd
33 minutes
THE CLIMATE FIXERS
Is there a technological solution to global warming?
by Michael Specter
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
37 minutes
MAN OF MYSTERY
Why do people love Stieg Larsson’s novels?
by Joan Acocella
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
28 minutes
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
Alzheimer’s researchers seek a new approach.
by Jerome Groopman
Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
32 minutes
NO SECRETS
Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency.
By Raffi Khatchadourian
(strong language advisory)
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
63 minutes
THE END OF MEN
For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point?
By Hanna Rosin
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by Teri Clark Linden
62 minutes
DIRTY COAL, CLEAN FUTURE
To environmentalists, “clean coal” is an insulting oxymoron. The good news is that new technologies are making this possible.
By James Fallows
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by David Erdody
55 minutes
COAL TRAIN
Disassembling the planet for Powder River coal
by John McPhee
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
110 minutes
A review of Beethoven’s Conversation Books, Volume 1: Nos. 1 and 2
By Lewis Lockwood
Copyright © 2020 The New York Review of Books
Read by David Erdody
19 minutes
DUBIOUS DIAGNOSIS
A war on "prediabetes" has created millions of new patients and a tempting opportunity for pharma. But how real is the condition?
By Charles Pillar
Copyright © 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Read by David Erdody
34 minutes
THE CHILDREN OF STRANGERS
Sue and Hector Badeau adopted twenty children who needed a home
—but there were always more.
By Larissa MacFarquhuar
Copyright © 2015 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
64 minutes
WHAT WE THINK ABOUT WHEN WE RUN
By Kathryn Schulz
Copyright © 2015 The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
19 minutes
WRONG ANSWER
In an era of high-stakes testing, a struggling school made a shocking choice
By Rachel Aviv
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
62 minutes
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
How an industrial designer became Apple’s greatest product.
By Ian Parker
Copyright © 2015 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
109 minutes
GOOD GREENS
Vegetarian cookbooks for carnivores.
By Jane Kramer
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
30 minutes
PIXEL AND DIMED:
ON (NOT) GETTING BY IN THE GIG ECONOMY
For one month the author became the "micro entrepreneur" touted by companies like TaskRabbit, Postmates and Airbnb.
by Sarah Kessler
Copyright © 2014 Fast Company
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
60 minutes
PRINT THYSELF
How 3-D printing is revolutionizing medicine.
By Jerome Groopman
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
29 minutes
HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE KNOW
Reading The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks’s latest book, is like standing in that ray of sunlight: it questions perception.
by Sue Halpern
Copyright © 2011 The New York Review of Books
Read by Teri Clark Linden
22 minutes
WHO IS PETER PAN?
One character most frequently altered by writers, dramatists, and filmmakers is James Barrie’s Peter Pan. As a result he and his adventures have become immensely famous.
by Alison Lurie
Copyright © 2012 The New York Review of Books
Read by Teri Clark Linden
31 minutes
WHY WE'RE IN A NEW GILDED AGE
Thomas Piketty, professor at the Paris School of Economics, isn’t a household name, although that may change with the English-language publication of his magnificent, sweeping meditation on inequality, Capital in the Twenty First Century.
by Paul Krugman
Copyright © 2014 The New York Review of Books
Read by David Erdody
28 minutes
THE LIE FACTORY
How politics became a business.
by Jill Lepore
Copyright © 2012 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
50 minutes
HOW TO ESCAPE THE COMMUNITY-COLLEGE TRAP
More than half of community-colleges students never earn a degree. Here’s how to fix that.
By Ann Hulbert
Copyright © 2014 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
25 minutes
AUTO CORRECT
Has the self-driving car at last arrived?
by Burkhard Bilger
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
66 minutes
NO TIME
How did we get so busy?
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Copyright © 2014 The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
25 minutes
UP ALL NIGHT
The science of sleeplessness.
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
23 minutes
BIOLOGY’S BRAVE NEW WORLD
The Promise and Perils of the Synbio Revolution.
by Laurie Garrett
Copyright © 2013 the Council on Foreign Relations
Read by David Erdody
46 minutes
WHAT’S INSIDE AMERICA’S BANKS?
Some four years after the 2008 financial crisis, public trust in banks is as low as ever.
By Frank Partnoy and Jesse Eisinger
Copyright © 2013 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by David Erdody
75 minutes
THE TRANSITION
Lyndon Johnson and the events in Dallas.
by Robert A. Caro
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
92 minutes
TO HELL WITH ALL THAT
One woman’s decision to go back to work.
By Caitlin Flanagan
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Kaili Vernoff
31 minutes
THE T-CELL ARMY
Can the body’s immune response help treat cancer?
by Jerome Groopman
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
30 minutes
THE COMMANDMENTS
The Constitution and its worshippers.
by Jill Lepore
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
45 minutes
SOCIAL ANIMAL
How the new sciences of human nature can help make sense of a life.
by David Brooks
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by Johnny Heller
35 minutes
PERSONAL BEST
Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you?
by Atul Gawande
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
48 minutes
THE FLORINTINE
The man who taught rulers how to rule.
by Claudia Roth Pierpont
Copyright © 2008 by The New Yorker
Read by Kaili Vernoff
39 mintues
LAPTOP U
Has the future of college moved online?
by Nathan Heller
Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
60 minutes
HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU
Should we worry about the rise of the drone?
by Nick Paumgarten
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
39 minutes
THE SURE THING
How entrepreneurs really succeed.
By Malcolm Gladwell
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
34 minutes
FROM DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY
A Conceptual Framework for Liberation
by Gene Sharp
Copyright © 1993 The Albert Einstein Institution
Read by David Erdody
155 minutes
NETWORK INSECURITY
Are we losing the battle against cyber crime?
by John Seabrook
(strong language advisory)
Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
40 minutes
BUZZKILL
(strong language advisory)
Washington State discovers that it’s not so easy to create a legal marijuana economy.
by Patrick Radden Keefe
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
61 minutes
THE DOCTOR WHO MADE A REVOLUTION
By the time Dr. Sara Josephine Baker retired from the New York City Health Department in 1923, she was famous across the nation for saving the lives of 90,000 inner-city children.
By Helen Epstein
Copyright © 2013 The New Yorker Review of Books
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
25 minutes
THE TOUCH-SCREEN GENERATION
Young children—even toddlers—are spending more and more time with digital technology. What will it mean for their development?
By Hanna Rosin
Copyright © 2013 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by Teri Clark Linden
50 minutes
AMERICA’S COACH
Vince Lombardi and America’s game.
by Adam Gopnick
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by Scott Chapin
25 minutes
THE APOSTATE
PART 1 PART 2 PART 3
(strong language advisory)
Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology.
by Lawrence Wright
Copyright © 2011 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
162 minutes
HIS HIGHNESS
George Washington scales new heights.
by Jill Lepore
Copyright © 2010 The New Yorker
Read by Teri Clark Linden
MIND VS. MACHINE
In the race to build computers that can think like humans, the proving ground is the Turing
Test.
By Brian Christian
Copyright © 2011 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by David Erdody
58 minutes
THE TRUTH WEARS OFF
Is there something wrong with the scientific method?
by Jonah Lehrer
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Raymond Todd
33 minutes
THE CLIMATE FIXERS
Is there a technological solution to global warming?
by Michael Specter
Copyright © 2012 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
37 minutes
MAN OF MYSTERY
Why do people love Stieg Larsson’s novels?
by Joan Acocella
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by Jo Anna Perrin
28 minutes
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
Alzheimer’s researchers seek a new approach.
by Jerome Groopman
Copyright © 2013 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
32 minutes
NO SECRETS
Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency.
By Raffi Khatchadourian
(strong language advisory)
Copyright © 2010 by The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
63 minutes
THE END OF MEN
For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point?
By Hanna Rosin
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by Teri Clark Linden
62 minutes
DIRTY COAL, CLEAN FUTURE
To environmentalists, “clean coal” is an insulting oxymoron. The good news is that new technologies are making this possible.
By James Fallows
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly
Read by David Erdody
55 minutes
COAL TRAIN
Disassembling the planet for Powder River coal
by John McPhee
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker
Read by David Erdody
110 minutes