Almost half of my day is me sitting idle and listening to audiobooks. And I normally always stick to only audiobooks nowadays. It's an addiction.
How many of you read(listen) audiobooks?
What are your favorites?
I have been cranking through Rendezvous with Rama by Clarke. And it's great. Got done with Gone Girl a day back and that was glorious.
This week I'd load up a lot of non fictions like Spycraft(Robert Wallace) and Googled(Ken Auletta).
I really don't care much about the narrator as I listen to them on 1.8x or 2x speed. Do you guys fiddle around with the speed too? What do you use?
Give me your favorites! How does your audiobook library look like currently?
I have only listened to a couple of them. I really liked the most poorly-formatted one ever -- Henry Rollins reading his own book, "Get In The Van". It's his stories of joining and traveling with Black Flag from 1981 through 1986. The CDs were made with only one 76-minute track on each of two discs. I got this when I was in college and only had a boom box. I can't tell you how many times I accidentally held the shared rewind/prev-track button incorrectly and wound up back at: "Spring 1981. I was living in an apartment in Arlington, Virginia, which is right over the DC line." I must've heard that tale of him joining Black Flag hundreds of times.
Hahaha. This was the funniest thing I have read all day. This could become a show "Celebrity X reading Celebrity Y's autobiography" with snarky comment breaks by Matt Damon.
Given that audiobooks are books read aloud, we should be nominating based on awesome narrators, right? Stay is read by the author, who does a great job at what I think is an infrequent and underappreciated phenomenon. The New Jim Crow similarly has a great narrator. Legacy of Ashes has the perfect deep voice for the topics of the book. Here's a question for you / others: what librivox (Slash other free) audiobooks have narrators that made a book especially worth a listen?
Thanks for the suggestions! I have saved it and all of the others here. I totally agree on Legacy of Ashes. It's one of those books I bring down the speed to normal. Never used Librivox before. Except maybe once or twice randomly. But all in all I have never been impressed with it. When I am torrenting, I get all my audiobooks from a private tracker. Let me give librivox a shot and I will get back to you.
I'm not generally big on audiobooks, but recently I listened to About Orchids, a Chat. Written in 1893, packed with interesting anecdotes about the orchid trade. Check it out if you're looking for something off the beaten path.
See this comment: https://hubski.com/pub?id=196558 and this post https://hubski.com/pub?id=139171 Dark Tower my all time favorite. I also listened to David Grann's Lost City of Z and The Devil and Sherlock Holmes when I was living in New York and had an hour or two of walking every day. These were amazing stories, and much shorter than Dark Tower.
Books on Tape got me through many hours of entry-level workplace drudgery in the days before their name became an anachronism. I found Orwell a reliable diversion and also formed a permanent connection between the voice of Wolfram Kandinsky and the words of Hemingway. Oliver Sacks and Douglas Adams made recordings of their own work; Adams was especially entertaining. I accelerate podcasts (Econtalk has some great guests) but prefer consuming audiobooks at the intended speed. I find that comprehension and pleasure are compromised at high speed. It's like rushing through a good meal. When I listened to Jeremy Irons read Nabokov I sometimes backed up the recording to hear a passage again. Before dismissing the value of the narrator, consider listening to a pro.
"Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue" - By John McWhorter is fantastic "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth" by Margaret Atwood is also very good. It's actually a series of lectures. I've recommended these to other people (probably even on this site), but definitely enjoyable.
Nothing in particular. I'd love to see how your library looks like right now. Noticed that you are an avid reader. I have followed the other two threads on here and got a good list going. Your bl00's reviews are wonderful. And in fact got me downloading The Emperor of All Maladies last week. It's sitting idle but I'll eventually get to it. Sci-fi is my go to. But I'm trying to dive into the other leagues too. I went through your geo-political list last week. And realized I've read some of them. Still have a long list to go through over the next few weeks/months. Since my non fiction list is almost loaded up I'd like to see what you and the others are reading up on the fiction genre. The usual ones - East of Eden, Grapes of Wrath, Snow Crash, Anansi Boys, etc etc are all done and done. Really interested looking up at the newer ones worth reading(listening?) on the fiction front.
Hmm. Well, according to my phone, I need to crank through: Currency Wars by James Rickards. Ain't gonna happen. I made it a third of the way through this after Mauldin & Tepper's Code Red and Rickards is ridiculous. Basically a screed about why we should return to the gold standard. Average is Over by Tyler Cowen. I think Ryan Holiday recommended this one. I've made it as far as "This is Audible." Debt: the First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. This is one that comes up a lot in financial literature. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Because classics. Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle. Have read it 3 times as a novel; it was cheap. The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs. Because Sachs. It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. Gets mentioned a lot by bleeding-heart 'wingers about totalitarianism. Might as well. Love in the Time of Cholera by Marquez. See: Oscar Wilde. Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney. Because it was $5 and I've read enough of these that you can start to piece together what they aren't telling you by what other people aren't saying in other books. Dirty Wars by Jeremy Scahill. His analysis of Blackwater was pretty damn good, and I have that on the authority of a good buddy of mine whose cousin's body was dragged through the streets of Fallujah and whose aunt was interviewed extensively as a consequence. Definitely read The Martian. Don't go into it expecting too much. It's a long-form story problem turned into narrative, which has its limits... but Earth Abides is, too, and I would say Earth Abides is one of the best sci fi novels ever written. It's certainly the hands-down best post-apocalyptic novel ever written. I haven't recommended it up til now because I've read it six times but never listened to it. If you haven't delved into the hundreds-of-hours nightmare that is George RR Martin, you should. Roy Dotrice narrates all but one book (he was on stage in London for Feast for Crows) and they're incredibly good. Slow at times... and you'll hit a point in Clash of Kings where you never want to read again... but you'll be glad you did. I found the Millennium Trilogy to be deeply engaging. They're pop, to be sure, but they're fun. Have not listened to, but deeply enjoyed reading, much of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. There's some great writing there; not sure how it translates into audio. Probably pretty damn well. Robert Charles Wilson's Spin is really, really good. The next book is mediocre. The last book is terrible. Read the first book and enjoy the mystery.Nothing in particular. I'd love to see how your library looks like right now.
Sci-fi is my go to. But I'm trying to dive into the other leagues too.
I bought this the other day, cracked it open this morning. And by page 19, after touching briefly on The Great Recession and bailout of 2009 and predicting something even more disastrous in the not too distant future, it made me think of this All of this to erratically ask, do you think it still wise to invest heavily in retirement as a 23 year old? I feel that when I'm putting money away to invest, I'm not only worrying about the quality of the investments I'm making, I'm making existential considerations of future financial systems that, typically, past investors aren't even making. Or is it hubris to think that my generation is the first to have to deal with questions like "will anything even be around in 40 years?"Debt: the First 5,000 Years by David Graeber. This is one that comes up a lot in financial literature.
By the time you get to the end of that book, you'll discover that one of Graeber's arguments is that capitalism cannot be considered by its participants unless they have a sense that the world will end soon. 'Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist.' - Kenneth Boulding Here's how I look at it: I may never retire. I may never get to retire. That doesn't mean I can't invest. It's all about understanding the rules and how to get the most out of them.
Got most of them on my drive now. Exactly what I was looking for. This list should become a sticky for Hubski haha. I am starting with The Martian over the weekend. Excited. I think the Ken Auletta which I am reading currently would take up a lot of time to get done with. I have had to pause and fire up Google quite a lot through this one. What's your views on Googled by Ken Auletta, which I believe you have completed.
See Also: https://hubski.com/pub?id=194409 (There are probably audiobooks of many of these)
I think it was a useful book that was a bit too long. There were some good points made - primarily that Google is a company for, of and by engineers which explains most of its successes and also its tone-deaf social mis-steps. It wasn't particularly insightful, though. insomniasexx recommended Brad Stone's The Everything Store and I found it to be a much more insightful, much more compelling exploration of Amazon than Auletta's take on Google. I'll say this: Audible on Android is much more intelligible at 2X than Audible on iPhone is at 1.5x. On the iPhone I generally did 1.25x. On Android I generally do 2x and if it's a real grind 3X. I did the 2nd half of the Auletta book at 3X. Edited to add: I realized 2 hours into "Average is Over" that I've attempted that book once before and it made so little impression on me that it took 2 hours before I recognized any of it. It's mostly "the future sucks for the middle class, eat it" without any solutions or insight.
Sorry for my late replies. I am hardly getting time to sit on my desktop — I don't hubski from my phone as it's a pain in the ass. I wonder if Android has a decent app for hubski at all. Anyway... I totally agree on your views about Googled. I personally felt he dragged a bit 3/4th into the book. I hardly remember what went on towards the end of the book. But all in all it's quite insightful. I'll go ahead and get The Everything Store in my drive tonight. Gotta stack em like pancakes! Off topic: I have been a lurker and only recently made this account on hubski to discuss books. And I love this community. A lot. I have been on Reddit since its inception. In fact I was addicted till like 4 years back for a period of year or two. Most of the site has gone to shit. /r/foodforthought and /r/truereddit are the only places worth going to, IMHO. There are some other good subreddits but most of /r/all is shit. All this means, hubski is the place to be on. I hope hubski doesn't turn out like how Reddit did. I doubt I'd have had a decent and insightful discussion on audiobooks on reddit at all. Hubski didn't disappoint. Kleinbl00 and the rest of you on this thread are awesome. Please keep this place going strong. I'll too. Still trying to figure out setting up my hubski feed. And I have to get going with the tags too! saved, saved, saved and saved!
kleinbl00, you are a prolific audio-booker. Any favorites for that format?
Uhm... According to Audible, I've paid for 259 audiobooks. There was maybe 6 months when I wasn't downloading, but that's 2 per month since August 2007. Not gonna lie. I've torrented more. But hey. That's more than $1500 worth of my money going to authors and publishers via Amazon. And that doesn't include the $4.95 sales. So I guess what I"m saying is asking me for "audiobooks" is kind of like asking me for "books." There are a lot. Gimme a genre or a length or an interest or something 'cuz, well, the scope is in need of narrowing.
I don't have a genre per se, but can we play a bit of a random association/see what comes from the ether? What audiobook made a long drive just completely melt away? Like holy shit, we're in Rhode Island already!? Is there one that comes to mind? Because I have a 16 hour drive to Michigan coming up soon. Alone. And I'm looking for a way to make that shorter. Also, are we all assuming that Audible is the best? Are there any alternatives? Checking the price, hmm, 15 a month for a free book. Maybz.
You can librivox, you can torrent, you can get them from the library, you can do lotsa stuff. I do Audible because it's convenient. Books that go really quickly and take a long time: - Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - Th1rt33n by Richard K Morgan - Anything by Michael Lewis (anything) - Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (I'll bet anything by Ken Follett) - The Martian by Andy Weir - Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (SKIP THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY I MEAN IT) - Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely - Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi - Worm by Mark Bowden - The Millenium Trilogy by Steig Larsson That'll get you started.
These are gems. Ship Breaker is one of my recent favs. But couldn't be a fan of the zombie one.
Big fan of Ken Follet.
Guess I have to start The Martian ASAP as I have heard a lot of good things. Recently got done with Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. I'm new to the topic and it was just enough for me to go research a bit more. Amazing book. I expected to see On Aggression on that list too. And... I can see you talk about librivox. I personally hate that site. Specifically their library. It has never lead me to the ones I want ever. Maybe I'd learn to love it some time soon. I'm not losing hope on librivox but it's just not my cup of tea. Speaking of torrents, are you talking about private or public. Just wondering, which private trackers(good for audiobooks) should I look for while we are talking audiobooks? Already know of Myanonamouse.
I did Windup Girl, Ship Breaker and Drowned Cities. Windup Girl was enough to make me rave. Drowned Cities was enough to make me stop. I read On Aggression 15 years ago. I haven't revisited it as an audiobook. It was certainly formative, especially as I was breeding cichlids (well, Angel Fish) at the time. I've never used it. yakov mentioned it and he seems clever. Me? I mostly use Audible or I crack stuff down to M4As and play them in iTunes. Or I did before Android. I'll have to figure something out but hey - you saw my backlog. I only do private. What.cd currently returns 11,000 hits for audiobooks; another private tracker whose name I'm not allowed to mention lists a thousand more. You probably know more than I do; when you're committing to spending $240/year on audiobooks and you don't have a commute, you don't really need to go much deeper.Ship Breaker is one of my recent favs. But couldn't be a fan of the zombie one
I expected to see On Aggression on that list too.
I can see you talk about librivox. I personally hate that site. Specifically their library.
Speaking of torrents, are you talking about private or public.
Oops, I have no opinion on librivox one way or another. I found a book through Podcast Addict and librivox was just where it was hosted.yakov mentioned [librivox]
Man, I'm not a fan of the narrator for Windup Girl / the sprawl trilogy. I got less than a chapter in before deciding that I didn't want to be put to sleep by a monotone voice again. You're not the first person I've heard to recommend the book, either :( Text-to-speech really needs to get to the point that you can point an arbitrary computer voice at a any book and get an awesome audio out...I did Windup Girl, Ship Breaker and Drowned Cities. Windup Girl was enough to make me rave. Drowned Cities was enough to make me stop.
I read Windup Girl. Ship breaker I did audio and you're right, he sucks. There are worse, though. I strongly disagree about text-to-speech. A decent narrator is a thing of beauty. Roy Dotrice's reading of Game of Thrones is sublime, and the Hunger Games are read by Carolyn McCormick, who I'm sure has smaller hair these days: Text to speech will never get there. The last financial book I listened to had a narrator who didn't know how to pronounce "arbitrage." If humans can't even pull it off, robots will always be infuriating. And I own a professional text-to-speech engine. The handwork necessary to make things passable is pure drudgery.
It'd be nice to have an awesome narrator for any book, not just the lucky ones. One can dream though... And hey, there are some phenomenal vocaloids out there in the world of music: I have no depth to my knowledge of how much twiddling it takes to produce even those 8 minutes, though.
I'll bet Vocaloid is less of a pain in the ass when you know Japanese. Yamaha had the Vocaloid team at NAMM. Not last year, but the year before. They were... otaku. They also showed how you could construct a song in like no time at all... in that same way that Avid demonstrates you can make a rap track in Pro Tools that if you haven't done it 8 times a day for 5 months would actually take you two afternoons. As it is even the Japanese, who have pushed a couple Vocaloid tracks to the top of the charts, still use voice actors for game and movie talent. Vocaloid is a thing but it's not going to replace human speech any time soon.
If I may hijack this post...I've recently begun listening and reading more books. Got one spare credit on Audible and a roadtrip coming up tomorrow. Do you have a good non-fiction recommendation for me? Preferably a book that is challenging in ideas (I'd use the word 'mind-blowing' but popsci has abused it too much). Note: my history knowledge is limited.