Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
The New Good Life : Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less
John Robbins · 2010
🎙 Narrated by Paul Boehmer
65/100
👎 Skip It
Robbins earns the right to talk about living on less — his actual Madoff losses give the argument a credibility that purely theoretical frugality books cannot match — and he covers housing, diet, transportation, and civic life with real breadth. The progressive, at times self-righteous tone is a genuine barrier for readers who do not already share his worldview, and the financial specifics have dated since 2010; Paul Boehmer's clean, unobtrusive narration is a professional bright spot that keeps the listen moving.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: ideologically-weighted-tone. We still scored it 65; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
▶ Listen to a sample
🎙 Narration: good Paul Boehmer (Broadway credits, award-winning Moby Dick recording) delivers clean, unobtrusive narration well-suited to Robbins's discursive style. A reliable listen.
🎧 Listen free with an Audible trial ↗ Find it on Audible ↗📚 In print ↗📱 On Kindle ↗ affiliate links · support the site, never the verdict
As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety70
Substance / usefulness68
Craft & writing64
Originality52
Evidence & accuracy71
Hype vs delivers69
Age-fit72
👁 Human-eye gut-check66
Penny’s verdict65
Cross-pollinate