Post: #1

I've been a subscriber of Audible for a couple of months and I'm interested in your recommendations for quality audiobooks..

Cheers

Post: #2

I enjoyed :

Non-fiction - The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley

"A counterblast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, and proves, however much we like to think to the contrary, that things are getting better.
Over 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than 6 billion, 99 per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained and better protected against disease than their Stone Age ancestors. The availability of almost everything a person could want or need has been going erratically upwards for 10,000 years and has rapidly accelerated over the last 200 years: calories; vitamins; clean water; machines; privacy; the means to travel faster than we can run, and the ability to communicate over longer distances than we can shout.
Yet, bizarrely, however much things improve from the way they were before, people still cling to the belief that the future will be nothing but disastrous. In this original, optimistic book, Matt Ridley puts forward his surprisingly simple answer to how humans progress, arguing that we progress when we trade and we only really trade productively when we trust each other. The Rational Optimist will do for economics what Genome did for genomics and will show that the answer to our problems, imagined or real, is to keep on doing what we've been doing for 10,000 years -- to keep on changing."


Fiction - The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Post: #3

Thanks for the recommendation..

any others guys?

Post: #4

I enjoyed the following audiobooks:

"Nothing to Envy: The Ordinary Lives of North Koreans" by Barbara Demrick

"Inside Scientology" by Janet Reitman

"Think and Grow Rich" by Naploean Hill

"Last Words" by George Carlin

"Escape From Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey From North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

Post: #5

Thanks farmageddon, a few NK books in there?

I happen to be in SK now, what influenced you to get these books? Were/are you in Korea?

Post: #6

Audible books that I've listen to in the past 18 months that I've really liked:
Private Empire by Steve Coll (about Exxon)
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
Game Change by John Heilemann (I'm a political junkie, and it's about the 2008 elections. I raced through this book. Spellbinding for me; but not really interesting if you are not into U.S. politics).
The Cold War by John Gaddis (if you're a history buff, you'll love it).
Not Taco Bell Material by Adam Carolla (comedy book that I would listen to in order to warm up before going out).

Post: #7

I like the Anthony Bourdain books narrated by him. He's a good narrator and the stories are great there.

Post: #8

Quote:Thanks farmageddon, a few NK books in there?

I happen to be in SK now, what influenced you to get these books? Were/are you in Korea?

I've just always been interested in totalitarian governments. My favorite book of all time is "The Gulag Archipelago" by Solzhenitsyn. I've read about 5-7 books about North Korea, but those are the only audiobooks. Never been to Korea but I will go one day.

Quote:I like the Anthony Bourdain books narrated by him. He's a good narrator and the stories are great there.

Kitchen Confidential is an amazing book. I listened to that one on audiobook, as well. KC should be required reading for anyone considering entering the culinary field.

Post: #9

I'm sure it's probably a given but a book you should seriously consider is "The Art of War."

It covers all your bases for how to create strategic plans of action whenever you have a goal in mind you want to achieve. Now the goal of yours may or may not be the genocide of opposing armies; but all in all it's an interesting take on psychological manipulation, strategic action and timing your goals. Cool stuff!

Post: #10

I have a ~30 minute commute (1 hr round trip) so I churn through audiobooks like crazy. I used to HATE my commute until I found audiobooks, now I look forward to the drive itself. I think I've been through ~50 books at this point.

Just my preference as a guy who really likes reading on paper, here's what I've learned:

-Don't listen to non-fiction you want to learn and self-improve from (e.g 48 Laws of Power) via audiobook. You're better off reading it, thinking about it, and taking notes actively.

-Do listen to entertaining non-fiction (e.g. Kitchen Confidential) is fair game since you'll probably just take a few entertaining stories from it.

-Don't listen to high quality fiction (Joyce, Faulkner, Orwell, etc) via audiobook. Prose like this is meant to be read, not listened to.

-Do listen to entertaining fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, any non-classics fiction) via audiobook. I'm not saying this fiction isn't good, I'm just saying since I have an hour to kill in the car every day, I'd rather spend that time listening to George RR Martin books over Orwell. I'll read Orwell at home.

-Get an Audible membership. It WILL save you money. Mine's $14.95/month and I use my membership on the most expensive audiobook I plan to buy that month (some can be upwards of $40-50).

-Plug in every time you take a trip of 10+ minutes if you're alone. Any time less than that isn't worth it.

-Use the "rewind 30 seconds button" when you're coming back to an audiobook. Always helps to jog your memory.

-Make sure you read reviews before you buy the audiobook if you're not buying through Audible. Audible is awesome and lets you return it if you don't like it. However, if you're buying from somewhere else and the narrator's voice just doesn't jive with you.

Post: #11

The Art of Learning is fantastic

Post: #12

Plutocrats was a game changer for me. That's what made me more serious about emerging economies and my russian.