The Sound Sleuth

The Sound Sleuth

NPR's Podcast Start Up Guide

From NPR comes the definitive guide to podcasting—featuring step-by-step advice on how to find a unique topic, tell the best stories, and engage the most listeners, as well as the secrets that will take your pod to the next level. Whoever you are, whatever you love, there’s a podcast audience waiting for you, and in today’s booming audio storytelling landscape, it’s never been easier to share your voice with the world. But while the barrier to entry for podcast production is relatively low (just the cost of a mic and a laptop), the learning curve is steep—and quality matters. That’s where NPR comes in. In NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide, Glen Weldon draws on NPR’s extensive educational materials and army of talent—from recognizable hosts, such as Guy Raz (How I Built This), Gene Demby (Code Switch), Linda Holmes (Pop Culture Happy Hour), and Yowei Shaw (Invisibilia), to indispensable behind-the-scenes players, such as producers, engineers, and editors—to guide aspiring podcasters through the conception, creation, and launch of a podcast. Part master class, part candid informational interview with the best in the business, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to make their dream of starting a podcast a reality.

City Safari

When a child walks down a city block, they might see a natural wasteland. A sea of gray with no signs of life. A solitary, sickly, over-pruned tree confined to a square of dirt penned in by concrete. However, what a child might not see are the precarious but sturdy squirrel nests above their heads at the tops of gnarled and crooked trees. The perches of raptors on the tallest buildings. Rookeries for pigeon chicks nestled on parking garage ceiling beams. The white drippings under a tree cavity that give away an owl tucked inside. Or the crevice in a rock wall leading to the cozy nook of a family of rodents. In fact, most cities are teeming with nature if you know where and how to look. City Safari will teach middle grade readers just that. It will equip children with the perfect tool for visualizing their city’s natural side—revealing a world of urban wildlife hidden in plain sight. Part natural history guide, part training manual, and part hands-on fieldwork guide, City Safari will take readers on a quest through the wilds of their city, leaving them with lifelong naturalist skills.