When I was working at the box factory, I had a half hour commute every morning and every afternoon. I used this time to listen to audiobooks, going through about two per month.
Apparently, last winter I signed up for a one-year account at Audible. (I don’t remember doing this!) Since I haven’t been driving to work, I haven’t been listening to audiobooks, but now I have 18 credits that expire in ten days! I could use some recommendations.
I’ve listened to about 100 audiobooks over the past five years. My favorites include the Aubrey-Maturin novels, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Cloud Atlas, and The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. I tend to like classics (Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Willa Cather) and motivational books (Dale Carnegie, etc.). I’m open to anything, really, as long as it’s good in audio format.
Help me keep my book credits — and the $229.50 I don’t remember spending — from going to waste! (And, yes, I’ll cancel the auto-renewal as soon as I download these books…)
P.S. Yes, obviously this is off-topic…
This article is about Odds and Ends
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I recommend “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coehlo.
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Based on what you’ve said you like, I will second recommendations for almost anything by Terry Pratchett, and I also strongly recommend Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, beginning with His Majesty’s Dragon. It combines Napoleonic warfare with dragons in a way that is, surprisingly, plausible, and the dragons are fully-recognized characters with their own problems.
Imagine the Napoleonic wars with an Air Corps!
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Check and see if they have a Pillars of the Earth by Kenneth Follett audiobook! It’s a modern classic and by far the best book I’ve read.
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One of my favorites that I listened to is Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. Read by the author in a delightfully lyrical voice. A charming story.
Also An Ordinary Man: an autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, an excellently written story of how Mr. Rusesabagina, the hotel manager of the Hotel Diplomat and Hotel Milles Collines, owned by the Belgian company Sabena, saved 1200 lives during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Better than the movie, though equally tragic. If the reader wasn’t Don Cheadle, it was a man with a wonderful accent.
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I started listening to Audio Books about 4 years ago when I wanted to listen to read the Harry Potter novels. The Jim Dale versions were fantastic.
Some of the best “audio books” I listen to are actually seminars. Best one I have ever heard:
JIM ROHN’S WEEKEND EVENT 2004
Full 3 day seminar on productivity, goals, and personal development.
Some other great ones I also listened recently to:
THE AUTOMATIC MILLIONAIRE by David Bach
GOALS by Zig Ziglar
GETTING THINGS DONE FAST by David Allen
RICH DAD POOR DAD and CASH FLOW QUADRANT by Robert Kiyosaki
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Predictably Irrational is good, if you like Freakonomics, you’ll find it interesting. And it’s probably a must if you write a PF blog. Also, I liked Mean Genes.
I have to echo others and say that David Sedaris and Bill Bryson (everything by each) are MUSTS, as hearing the humorous reading by the authors is something you can’t miss. If you’ve only read the print versions of the books by these authors, you have to hear the audiobooks. have to. run don’t walk. Some of the Bryson stuff isn’t on audible, and I had to do some hunting. And a couple of his older books weren’t done in audio unfortunately.
I really liked all the Chuck Klosterman books, too. Hilarious. As was Microthrills by Wendy Spero.
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, Wayne Dyer (interpretation of the Tao)
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Edwin Lefevre
iWoz, Steve Wozniak
Nothing’s Sacred, Lewis Black
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
Full Circle, Michael Palin
Fawlty Towers (radio versions!)
The Meaning of Life, and The Art of Happiness, Dalai Lama
Kiss Me Like a Stranger, Gene Wilder
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, Alan Alda
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out & Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman, R. Feynman
Hughes, Richard Hack (fascinating Howard Hughes bio)
Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot, R Restak
On Writing, Stephen King
Audible member since march 2000, sorry for long list.
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I also listen to audiobooks on my commute. I really enjoyed:
Mornings on Horseback, by D. McCullough (Teddy Roosevelt’s early life)
In Cold Blood, by T. Capote — it was riveting!
The Wal-Mart Effect
And the Earth’s Children series by Jean Auel: Clan of the Cave Bear, Plains of Passage, The Mammoth Hunters, etc.
Also, I have enjoyed everything I’ve listened to that was read by Edward Hermann.
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Good to Great and Mavericks at Work (and no the latter is not about Sarah Palin)
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JD.
I love Audible and have been a member for years. You can pay about 9 bucks to have the credits extended so you won’t lose them.
Here’s what I have purchased with my credits and enjoyed thoroughly! I love to listen to these books over and over again!
The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch
The Walmart Effect-(you’ll love this)
Blink, by malcom Gladwell
Anything by Seth Godin
Warren Buffet Speaks
Success through a positive Mental Attitude, Napolean Hill
The Go-Giver-bob Burg, (awesome!)
Learning Spanish Like Crazy
The Fountainhead by Ayne Rand
Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough (about TR Roosevelt!)
4 Hour work week, timothy ferris
The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
The Richest Man in Babylon-George Clason
Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl.
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I listen to a lot of audiobooks, but I’m picky about the readers. My two favorites are:
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, read by Michael Emerson
This book is one of my all-time favorites and I’ve read it more than once, but I still got a lot out of the audiobook that I had missed in reading. Michael Emerson does a fantastic job with this.
Sahara by Michael Palin, read by the author
Michael Palin made a TV series about the Sahara, then wrote this book about the experience. This was everything an audiobook should be: fascinating subject, well written, well read.
I agree with everybody else who said you can’t go wrong with This American Life.
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The audio archives at mises.org provide for many excellent (free too!) hours of listening, including full audio books. Geared toward Austrian Economics, I think it would be particularly suited to many readers of this blog.
Happy listening!
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We have been listening to audiobooks for about 25 years now, my daughter and I. Both of us agree that the reader is critical to our enjoyment of the book.
I have to recommend ‘Old Man’s War’ and ‘The Ghost Brigades’ by John Scalzi.
‘God is My Broker’ and ‘No Way to Treat a First Lady’ by Christopher Moore
I, Robot – read by Scott Brick.
Favorite Readers – Scott Brick, George Guidall aka Alexander Adams, & Fisher Stevens.
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Heh! I primarily review books – of all sorts – on my blog. As far as audiobooks?
Freakonomics
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I like Terry Pratchett on Audio but not to read – I think it is the narrator.
If you want a romantic fantasy that is really awesome : Poison Study.
World War Z is AWESOME
Hatred’s Kingdom (about Saudi Arabia)
What Went Wrong (The fall of the Turkish Empire with resonance for today.)
Islam : A Short History
The Frog Princess (great young adult read for the whole family)
Religious Literacy
How Doctors Think
American Theocracy
The Saudis
The Great Influenza (How medicine became what it is today.)
Beyond Belief
Sleeping with the Devil
Understanding Islam
UFOs, JFK, and Elvis (Richard Belzer’s ingenious conspiracy comedy.)
Um… I’m sort of a promiscuous reader.
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‘Time Machine’, ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’, ‘War of the Worlds’, ‘Cosmic Computer’ and ‘Moby Dick’. All available from Audio Pod (www.audiopod.ca) with the absolutely best audio book delivery system I have ever seen. A simple ‘drag and drop’ interface with fully automated bookmarks. Also, anything read by Karen Savage or Roy Trumbull is great. I could, and do, listen to them for hours. Rachel (4 years old) really loves Beatrix Potter; Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, only illustrated audiobook versions, of course, also available from Audio Pod.
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