Help me choose 2 audible books!

[buckeye7983]

Hi all!

Just signed up for a 30 day free trial of Audible that comes with two free audiobooks to keep. What are your favorite audiobooks? Are there certain narrators that you especially enjoy? I enjoy both non-fiction and fiction. I know these are personal/subjective choices, but would be interested in other Bogleheads' favorites.

Thanks!

[walkabout]

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003KN3MDG/re ... vFbEWCPPYX

[jjunk]

I dont do a ton of audio books but the ones I always enjoy are those that are autobiographical in nature and read by the author. Comedians are particularly good at this IMO. For example, I really enjoyed both Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish's audiobooks. Adam Corolla's are also pretty funny. If you like non-fiction, Malcolm Gladwell reads a lot of his books, as does Neil deGrasse Tyson. If you want an interesting mix, check out the books by Nick Offerman. His books are a mix of autobiographical, comedy and non-fiction all in one.

[lazydavid]

My favorite of all time is “A Brief History of Seven Killings” by Marlon James. It’s a semi-fictionalized telling of the assassination attempt on Bob Marley, narrated mostly by native Jamaicans. I was so enthralled by both the story and the narration that I was actually disappointed when it was over.

“The Martian” is another great one that I read fairly early on. All of Daniel Suarez’ books, narrarated by Jeff Gurner, are fantastic, as are most of the Jack Reacher And Harry Bosch novels read by Dick Hill. Like my top pick, one of the things that Audible does fantastically well are full-cast narrations. Some of my favorites are the Aliens series, a couple of stories by Sebastian Fitzik (“The Child”, “Passenger 23”, and “Amok). If you’re a fan of Stephen King as I am, “The Outsider” and “The Institute” were both great, but don’t overlook his son Joe Hill’s work either.

From a non-fiction perspective, my overall favorite was “Midnight in Chernobyl” by Adam Higginbotham, with honorable mentions going to “American Pain” by John Temple, “Capital in the 21st Century” by Thomas Pickett, “Into the Raging Sea” by Rachael Slade, and Mark Manson’s two books, whose titles I can’t share on BH. “How to Tame a Fox and Build a Dog” was also really fun and interesting, and anything by Erik Larsson is always pretty great.

[rockstar]

Ready Player One

Sandman

[kelvan80]

Educated was very good and I listened to it on audible.

[Artful Dodger]

Big Audible fan here. My wife and I share the app and have 257 titles to date.

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books - I think there are eight so far

Educated (mentioned earlier) - Tara Westover

The three Lord of the Rings books (Tolkien) narrated by Rob Inglis are excellent

Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas - outstanding narration by John Lee - this is a long one - 47 hours, but is just excellent

Philip Pullman's - His Dark Materials - 3 books (Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)

Stieg Larson's Millennium trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etal) read by Simon Vance

Tale of Two Cities - Dickens

[Tal-]

Best non-fictions:

Naked Money.

Millionaire Next Door (I love all of his books, but they are largely redundant, and this is clearly the most popular one).

[rockylou]

The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates is very good. She is inspiring

[gonefishing01]

Listening to the Warren Buffet biography The Snowball right now on audible. Not the most riveting, but its 50+ hours long and has been entertaining me while i get my daily exercise. I do enjoy most biographies though.

[random_walker_77]

Emergency Medicine is a fascinating Great Courses class that will teach you about how doctors in the ER think about their patients. It's entertaining and informative -- if you enjoy medical shows, you'll probably like this one, and at least it's non-fiction.

Thinking like an economist. Entertaining overview of economic principles. It's an easy listen, and would be recommended for people who enjoy Planet Money. I enjoyed it, and my middle-school aged son also liked it.

[walkabout]

Emergency Medicine is a fascinating Great Courses class that will teach you about how doctors in the ER think about their patients. It's entertaining and informative -- if you enjoy medical shows, you'll probably like this one, and at least it's non-fiction.

Thinking like an economist. Entertaining overview of economic principles. It's an easy listen, and would be recommended for people who enjoy Planet Money. I enjoyed it, and my middle-school aged son also liked it.

Both excellent choices! All of the Medical School For Everyone Great Courses are top notch. Thinking Like an Economist is tremendous.

[Texanbybirth]

Audible is great, and they send out good deals all the time - especially if you cancel. Someone mentioned LotR, but with only two free titles I’d go with The Hobbit and something else. Unless, of course, you want to wait a month and get a credit for cheap.

(Our city’s library has Hoopla, so a lot of the Great Courses are free for us. You might check that before you spend a credit on any of those.)

[whodidntante]

Here are some audiobooks that I recently finished and enjoyed.

Lifespan by David Sinclair. Varies between a call to action on longevity research and full on Harvard science nerd stuff.
Tom Morello at Minetta Lane Theatre. Part concert, part story-time. This ain't Harvard science nerd stuff but I enjoyed it.
The Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey. You too can put butter in your coffee.

And oh, I guess some finance stuff too.
The Quants by Scott Patterson
The New Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
Trend Following by Michael Covel

The main thing is to pick a topic you enjoy listening about.

[Eowyn]

My favorite is Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, read by the author

Stephen King audiobooks are also great, especially for long road trips.

[mega317]

Narrator: I have enjoyed Scott Brick. I don't know if it's actually him or I just happen to like the books. I listened to the Great Influenza and Dead Wake.

[hyperon]

Hi OP,

Love Audible! Though I've actually had to put my account on pause as I do much less listening now that I'm not driving 8 hours or so a week. One credit a month (Gold Plan) doesn't seem like much until a pandemic hits.

Big sci-fi fan here, so if you don't like sci-fi, skip the first list:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - seconded from above, hope you liked the 80s! I like Will Wheaton as the narrator.
Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez - seconded from above
The Martian by Andy Weir - seconded from above as well, much better than the movie
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton - First and best books of the Commonwealth Saga, and big fan of the narrator John Lee
Almost Any Neal Stephenson (I'd skip the new one, Fall: Or Dodge in Hell) - Perhaps Anathem and Snow Crash are my favorite
The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor - 3 books, silly fun sci-fi and solid narration

Economics, Investing, Self-Dev etc.:

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkeil - Sure this is low hanging fruit, but I really enjoy the narrator here as well.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - Classic
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey - again, low hanging fruit, but great stuff.
Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins - If you're looking for a raw story; profanity abounds...

[prairieman]

Big Audible fan here. My wife and I share the app and have 257 titles to date.

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books - I think there are eight so far

Educated (mentioned earlier) - Tara Westover

The three Lord of the Rings books (Tolkien) narrated by Rob Inglis are excellent

Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas - outstanding narration by John Lee - this is a long one - 47 hours, but is just excellent

Philip Pullman's - His Dark Materials - 3 books (Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)

Stieg Larson's Millennium trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etal) read by Simon Vance

Tale of Two Cities - Dickens

We also loved The Count of Monte Cristo - except it was the 52 hr Bill Homewood performance which was absolutely outstanding.

[anon3838]

I see some of my favorites have already been mentioned here.

I also enjoyed:
The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

[hyperon]

Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas - outstanding narration by John Lee - this is a long one - 47 hours, but is just excellent

I don't know about the OP, but this just landed on my wishlist. Thanks for that! 47 hours of John Lee reading the Count of Monte Cristo sounds like an excellent plan for the winter.

[shelanman]

Man, totally depends on what you're in to.

If you want nonfiction, think about the world books, I can recommend:

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

Or, for something nonfiction but lighter, I'm currently reading Humble Pi, by Matt Parker

I read the print version, rather than the audiobook, but Col. Chris Hadfield's An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth is quite good if you have even a passing interest in biography.

In fiction, I read mostly science fiction and fantasy, and can recommend Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson (anything, by Brandon Sanderson, really), Sufficiently Advanced Magic, by Andrew Rowe, Zero G, by Dan Wells, and Spellslinger, by Sebastien de Castell.

Michael Kramer and Kate Redding are the best narrators, but Nick Podehl is good too (though some of what he reads is mediocre), as is Stefan Rudnicki.

Give us a hint of what you like, and maybe I can tailor my recommendations to you.

[CardinalRule]

I recently listened to (and loved) the book Countdown 45 (The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World) by Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss, and expertly narrated by Mr. Wallace. It's nonfiction, but as one of the reviews says, it "reads like a tense thriller." Very informative and exciting. https://www.audible.com/pd/Countdown-19 ... 1797105450

Some of my favorite narrators on Audible are Scott Brick and the well-known actors Dylan Baker and Will Patton.

[MostlyABogleHead]

Some non-fiction favourites of mine
1. Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
2. The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
3. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I found books by Bill Bryson to be excellent and very audible friendly.

[market timer]

A few I've enjoyed recently:

Lolita, by Nabokov (read by Jeremy Irons)
American Kingpin, by Bilton, about the Silk Road website (Amazon.com of drugs)
Disrupted, by Lyons, about an old guy who joins a tech company
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, by Wilson, about a WW2 vet who returns home and leads a pretty typical life

[CardinalRule]

3. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I found books by Bill Bryson to be excellent and very audible friendly.

That is one of my favorites too. Agree on Bill Bryson, and I also liked One Summer: America, 1927 in audiobook form.

[buckeye7983]

Thanks everyone for some great choices!

Here are my favorites that I have already listened to:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Why-We-Sleep ... 5XCEXNQ60Y
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Cave-and ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-the-Scot ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Hour-Bet ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/American-Kin ... 1179SQ6VT4

Any other suggestions? Thanks again!

[FeesR-BullNotBullish]

I recommend contemporary books for your Audible trial because classics are free on Librivox or a podcasting app. The quality varies based on the volunteer readers, many of whom are practicing English or re-living their high school drama days. On balance though, I appreciate the readers' efforts and enjoy this form of entertainment.

[Taylor Larimore]

buckeye7983:

Amazon has the audible for The Bogleheads' Guide to The Three-Fund Portfolio. This is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide ... 8&qid=&sr=

Best wishes.
Taylor

Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom: “It is the power of words and books—explaining and dramatizing great ideas and articulating high ideals—that is the greatest weapon in the missionary’s arsenal.”

[leehamster]

Thanks everyone for some great choices!

Here are my favorites that I have already listened to:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Why-We-Sleep ... 5XCEXNQ60Y
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Cave-and ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-the-Scot ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Hour-Bet ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/American-Kin ... 1179SQ6VT4

Any other suggestions? Thanks again!

Why We Sleep is great.

Let me suggest this one. Maybe categorize it as personal growth? https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/ov ... all/368627

[Caduceus]

I liked the biography of Warren Buffett - The SnowBall.

[BionicBillWalsh]

Narrator: I have enjoyed Scott Brick. I don't know if it's actually him or I just happen to like the books. I listened to the Great Influenza and Dead Wake.

I just finished “Foundation” by Asimov narrated by Brick. I did not like his narration one bit.

[buckeye7983]

Thanks everyone for some great choices!

Here are my favorites that I have already listened to:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Why-We-Sleep ... 5XCEXNQ60Y
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Cave-and ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/How-the-Scot ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Hour-Bet ... 1179SQ6VT4
https://www.audible.com/pd/American-Kin ... 1179SQ6VT4

Any other suggestions? Thanks again!

Why We Sleep is great.

Let me suggest this one. Maybe categorize it as personal growth? https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/ov ... all/368627

leehamster-

That suggestion is almost worth the price I am paying for these audiobooks!

[boglegirl]

...
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
...

The Dutch House was amazing on audio. I then read the book and I could hear Tom Hanks' voice in my head!