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I can’t resist the temptation to ask given this thread is on HN (a community I love) and Audible is a passion... for those who love Audible and Audio books, wou
by lefstathiou 7y ago
I can’t resist the temptation to ask given this thread is on HN (a community I love) and Audible is a passion... for those who love Audible and Audio books, would you mind sharing 2-3 you particularly enjoyed? I’m always hunting for new ones. Here are some I would recommend:
Management
1. Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People
2. Getting to Yes
Great book on negotiation in life and business
3. The Hard Thing About Hard Things
On management
4. Influence
The psychology of persuasion
Non-Fiction Recommendations
1. River of Doubt
True story of Teddy Roosevelt's exploration of a previously unchartered region of the Amazon River where he and his team almost perished.
2. Endurance
True story of Sir Ernest Shackelton's journey to be the first to reach the south pole. Arguably one of the greatest survival stories of all time.
3. The Disappearing Spoon
Story behind the periodic table, the elements, the people who discovered them and the context under which they were discovered. Learn a lot about day to day things you don't put much thought into.
4. Business Adventures
Bill Gates was interviewed and asked what his favorite business book is - this was it (out of print for 40 years until 5 months ago). It's a collection of about a dozen 1-1.5 hour true business case studies (20th century). A lot of them were seminal events in corporate America (for example, the event that resulted in modern day insider trading laws, the creation of the income tax, etc). You'll enjoy this if you like business books.
5. Creativity Inc
by the cofounder of Pixar. Good story.
6. Alchemy of Air
Story of the investors of the Haber-Bauche process to convert nitrogen in the air to ammonia (the key component of artificial fertilizer, gas and gunpowder). Arguably the greatest discovery of the 20th century if you take into account the fact without this process, Earth's arable land mass can only sustain 2bn people. It also has resulted in hundreds of millions of deaths by allowing wars to wage on indefinitely
7. A Short History of Nearly Everything
A fast pace, well written science book by Bill Bryson that covers what we know about the creation of the world thus far. You'll enjoy it.
8. The Boys in the Boat
Very inspiring story about the men's 1936 olympic gold metal rowing team
9. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Very inspiring story by the creator of Nike. One of the best memoirs I've ever read.
10. Lessons of History by Will Durant
Short and extremely thought provoking. Stylistically tough to get into but once you do it is quite good.
11. Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
The first half of this is better than the second but overall a very enlightening book about the impact of the Mongols, broadly considered to be Barbarians but in actuality far ahead of their time (first to broadly use printed currency, a postal system, a judicial system, military engineers, etc).
Fiction / Fantasy Recommendations
1. The Martian
Awesome story and as realistic as fiction can get. Was a great listen.
2. Theft of Swords
great story about two lovable characters. It is part of a trilogy
3. Red Rising
Part of a trilogy, great listen but worth caveating it is an extreme hunger games like story that is quite violent
4. Name of the Wind
Epic fantasy adventure, one of the highest rated books on Good Reads. Absolutely worth it but at 30 hours may be a large commitment as a first book
5. The Way of Kings
This book gave me heart palpitations... again, a large commitment but I can't drop it from the list
6. Lies of Loch Lomura
A very fun adventure story; reader's voice takes a moment to get used to but once you do it is very fun and endearing
7. Mistborn
Great story in a unique world
- max76 7y agoScience Fiction: The Bobiverse Triligoy [We are Legion (We are Bob)] is a hilarious story about a character not unlike the average Hacker News reader that finds himself in the enviable position of having his consciousness uploaded into a Von Neumann probe (self replicating space exploring robot). It has a good humor, the same attention to details The Martian has, nerdy pop culture references, and several moments of philosophical musings. Ray Porter does fantastic narration.
- SXX 7y agoFantasy: Looking at your list with so many historical books in them you should absolutely try Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's require tremendous commitment, but it's deliver way more than even most of non-fiction books do including great characters writing and on lot's of wisdom. Best of both worlds.
- crummy 7y agoThe story of the Endurance on its own is edge-of-your-seat stuff, but the audiobook is absolutely top notch. The story is woven perfectly and the narration is perfect. It's probably the best audiobook I've listened to.