Audio Books - What are you listening to?

[IroningMan]

wst said:

It also has benefits of you not having to carry a discman around carefully trying to avoid it skipping like it's 2001, because you can pop it on your solid state pocket device of choice. The ethics of copying a CD that is borrowed are a whole extra kettle of fish, but from a practicality POV it's a godsend. You don't have to retain the copy indefinitely.

Absolutely - the massive practical benefits of downloads have been the major driver for the increase in the popularity of audio in the past six or eight years.

I was part of a project at my then employer to digitise audiobooks and sell them as downloads in 2001; it was slow and painful but we were on the case.

Sadly the business was then acquired by a large media organisation who felt that the future lay in selling more CDs through W H Smith - and the field was thus left to Audible...

[XM5ER]

Just finished "The Rise of Superman" by Steve Kotler. It was a really interesting and well written book, full of entertaining anecdotes about the world of extreme sportmen and women. The thrust of the book is about how these folks are using, and deliberately triggering flow states to enable them to learn and perform tricks hitherto considered to be impossible; like this https://youtu.be/WmJZE5AlxsE


Edited because punctuation is a thing.

Edited by XM5ER on Wednesday 11th October 15:29

[48Valves]

Just got to book 4 of Song of Ice and Fire and the reader has changed the accents for the characters. Which is bloody annoying

[a]

48Valves said:

Just got to book 4 of Song of Ice and Fire and the reader has changed the accents for the characters. Which is bloody annoying

and he keeps changing for the remainder. It's quite off putting at first, but you get used to it.

And it's going to get worse as it'll be a different narrator for future books...

[Taita]

Just started The Subtle Art of Not Giving a fk by Mark Manson.

Has me smirking and occasional giggles as I walk about.

[Smiler.]

The Spy & the Traitor, read by the author, Ben MacIntyre.

Both fascinating & riveting. Superb delivery from the narrator too.

11/10

[Lacrimosa]

I'm listening to anything from horror babble on youtube, highly recommended.

[Piginapoke]

Max Hastings Vietnam, 33 hours apparently. Good so far, never knew Ho Chi Min was once a chef in a London hotel!

[anonymous-user]

A few, I try and stick to author narrated, but really hooked.

Just finished west cork which is free on audible, and really interesting. Currently listening to mythos by stephen fry and pen and place.

Some books finished.

Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days - a bit rushed but interesting

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution
Neil deGrasse tyson - amazingly incite-full but can overwhelm a bit.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
Yuval Noah Harari - makes you think

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Claire North - good story

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
View title by parts
Phil Knight - insightful but bit too non critical

Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story
View title by parts
Arnold Schwarzenegger - egotistical brilliance smattered with preaching

Easily Distracted
Steve Coogan - good, but a bit shallow

Sapiens
View title by parts
View Series
Yuval Noah Harari -

I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan
Alan Partridge

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
View title by parts
William L. Shirer

Alan Partridge: Nomad
Alan Partridge

This Is Going to Hurt
By: Adam Kay

How Not to Be a Boy
By: Robert Webb

And on That Bombshell
By: Richard Porter

24 Hours in Ancient Rome
By: Philip Matyszak

The Secret Barrister
By: The Secret Barrister

Orange Is the New Black
By: Piper Kerman

Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge
By: Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber

Humble Pie
By: Gordon Ramsay

Edited by Thesprucegoose on Saturday 10th November 10:59

[Lacrimosa]

Thesprucegoose, didn't know Sapiens was released as audiobook, thank you.

[g7orge]

I like to listen to a lot of shows like Dads army and Yes Minister.

Good books I have listened to are;

Shantaram - narrated by Humphrey Bower
Jaws - narrated by Erik Steele (eye opening background story that I didn't notice in film...)
The Blackhouse - Peter May
Michael Palin full circle
Notes from a small Island - Bill Bryson
Them - adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson
The Martian
Round Ireland with a fridge - Tony Hawks

[badgerade]

Smiler. said:

The Spy & the Traitor, read by the author, Ben MacIntyre.

Both fascinating & riveting. Superb delivery from the narrator too.

11/10

Sometimes the author is not the best choice to read the book.. was trying to listen to "Battle Scars" by Jason Fox earlier, but it was awful. Thankfully Audible allows you to return books (There is a sample on this page https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Scars-Story-That-F...

Just giving "The Spy and the Traitor" a go and it's good so far, so thanks for the recommendation!

[Jonnny]

This Is Going To Hurt - Adam Kay

Brilliant, funny and quite sad in parts.

Elon Musk - Ashlee Vance

Enjoyed this one, quite like Elon and had some interesting bits about Tesla etc.

Alex Ferguson

Even if you're not a Manchester United fan, a great book and a great man.

The Secret Race - Tyler Hamilton

Lance Armstrongs team mate, and goes into crazy detail about the whole doping thing.

The World of Cycling According to G - Geriant Thomas

Another great sports man, and interesting to hear what they go through as youths to make it. ("Bradley Wiggins - My Time" Is also brilliant to hear this side of the sport too)

Soldier Spy - Tom Marcus

Fictional but great to listen to and I couldn't stop listening, just a "spy/terrorist" book, enjoyed it.

Really like listening to Audio Books in the car on the way to work, hour each day so get through books reasonably quickly.

[Redchaz]

I used to drive over night from Hampshire to Wengen in Switzerland (overnight to avoid my 3 children in the back driving me insane !) and I loved listened to the early audio book version of The Forsyte Saga with Dirk Bogarde, Sir Michael Hordern, Diana Quick amongst others.
I think the journey took around 12 hours door to door which was roughly the length of the audio book, perfect !!

[Smiler.]

badgerade said:

Smiler. said:

The Spy & the Traitor, read by the author, Ben MacIntyre.

Both fascinating & riveting. Superb delivery from the narrator too.

11/10

Sometimes the author is not the best choice to read the book.. was trying to listen to "Battle Scars" by Jason Fox earlier, but it was awful. Thankfully Audible allows you to return books (There is a sample on this page https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Scars-Story-That-F...

Just giving "The Spy and the Traitor" a go and it's good so far, so thanks for the recommendation!

How did you get on with it?


Another one which I found really interesting was The Spies of Winter: The GCHQ Codebreakers Who Fought the Cold War by Sinclair McKay.

I was prompted to listen to that after listening to Transcription by Kate Atkinson.


I'm currently listening to The Dark Web by Geoff White & Bernard P. Achampong. It's an Audible freebie.

[Jonnny]

Smiler. said:

badgerade said:

Smiler. said:

The Spy & the Traitor, read by the author, Ben MacIntyre.

Both fascinating & riveting. Superb delivery from the narrator too.

11/10

Sometimes the author is not the best choice to read the book.. was trying to listen to "Battle Scars" by Jason Fox earlier, but it was awful. Thankfully Audible allows you to return books (There is a sample on this page https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Scars-Story-That-F...

Just giving "The Spy and the Traitor" a go and it's good so far, so thanks for the recommendation!

How did you get on with it?


Another one which I found really interesting was The Spies of Winter: The GCHQ Codebreakers Who Fought the Cold War by Sinclair McKay.

I was prompted to listen to that after listening to Transcription by Kate Atkinson.


I'm currently listening to The Dark Web by Geoff White & Bernard P. Achampong. It's an Audible freebie.

I'm struggling a bit with The Spy and the Traitor's Narrator.. We'll, I'm 4hrs in of 13 so I'm going to the end but have heard better narrators I think.

[Smiler.]

Jonnny said:

I'm struggling a bit with The Spy and the Traitor's Narrator.. We'll, I'm 4hrs in of 13 so I'm going to the end but have heard better narrators I think.

I think he's great.

He's also done a couple of programmes on BBC TV about his previous books, so I knew what to expect.

[8Ace]

Got my audible membership half price in a sale, so it's £3.99 per month. Listened to lots of Ken Follett books (Kingsbridge and Century Triliogy) - some of these are c. 40 hours long so it's a ridiculously cheap way to add interest to my commute.

If you own the Kindle edition of the book, then the audiobook is usually a lot cheaper through Audible (if you run out of credits)

[crofty1984]

I just finished 44 hours of The innocent Mage/The Awakened Mage. Bit of a disappointment really. Feels like the author Karen Miller could have binned off a lot of the filler and just written just one really good book. Then again, I only have it on in the background, so it's not like it stopped me doing abything else.
It was fine, but by the end I was fed up of half the main characters. There are some really good bits though, so it's got it's good points. Probably won't read any of her other stuff.

[okenemem]

the alchemist