3 ms·

Ask HN: Audio Book Recommendations

6 points by xupybd 5y ago

I've run out of good audio books to listen to. Any recommendations from the HN community?

dp-hackernews 5y ago
This should keep you out of trouble for a while The Gulag Archipelago Audiobook by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zTwS1Xy0EM 2/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoJu1izRHU 3/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kF7PEqZFso 4/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MsWuC8qv_Q 5/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HeqUyjx60 6/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz8a03M11Bw 7/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjGvPu2H3b8 7.5/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4lvztF9MVQ
- kleer001 5y ago
  I found "a day in the life of ivan devisionvitch" sufficient. It was on sale at Audible a little while ago too.
- xupybd 5y ago
  Thank you! I found a version on Audible that I'll add to my library. https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Gulag-Archipelago-Audiobook/1473570344 https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Gulag-Archipelago-Audioboo...
  - dp-hackernews 5y ago
    You may want to "warm-up" with this one first... https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Ordinary-Men-Audiobook/006298148X https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Ordinary-Men-Audiobook/00629814...
dredmorbius 5y ago
As with other questions of book recommendations: - What are you reading and why? - Do you have an goals in reading, or is it merely entertainment / distraction? - In the latter case, the Cheshire Cat's advice to Alice is appropriate. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-VI.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-VI.html - I'd strongly recommend keeping a reading diary or log, which includes not just book read, but books recommended or suggested, either by others or your own past reading. This can include incidental mentions within books (occasional in fiction) or footnoted or bibliographic references (nonfiction). - Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book concludes with a list of 137 classics. Most of those should have public-domain audio versions. (His book itself is recommended reading, and an HN perennial.) - Podcasts are another alternative to audiobooks. There are podcasts of book reviews themselves. I'm more familiar with academic ones including the New Books Network, and reviews from the LSE, Yale University, Princeton University Press, etc. Author interviews can be amongst the best available, though production quality (notably for NBN) can vary greatly. - Long-running podcast series such as the History of Philosophy (now in Western, Indian, and African traditions, with a Chinese tradition forthcoming), or histories of Rome, Byzantium, or China, can also be illuminating. There are years-long back catalogs. - If you have a visual or reading disability, or live with someone who does, the US Library of Congress's BARD is exceptional, and free. - The Internet Archive, Open Library, and Libre Vox have numerous audio presentations available for download. - You can create a library of YouTube content through downloaders such as youbtube-dl, or by streaming directly via mpv. (Both work on numerous other audio/video sites as well.)
- xupybd 5y ago
  > What are you reading and why? Audiobooks are a special case for me. They help fill the time when I'm driving to work, mowing the lawn or doing dishes. If I consume my entertainment during these productive times, I find I'm less drawn to television and other mindless distractions. They also help me to be motivated to do tasks that I otherwise find dull. The better alternative is to find a friend to share these tasks with, but that is not always a practical option. While I do read for entertainment, I really enjoy non-fiction as long as it's light. If I want to explore a topic and truly learn something, I often need to find a text version. That said, I have found some great audiobooks that I have learnt from: -The Goal -Pragmatic Programmer -Designing Data-Intensive Applications -Thinking Fast and Slow -Ultralearning The best entertainment so far have been -Dune -The Expanse series -The Bobiverse series -The Expeditionary force series. I asked this question so broadly as I wanted to try something that I wouldn't usually go for. I have a heavy bias towards sci-fi and wouldn't mind exploring other genres. I love good non-fiction but have also found a lot of trash non-fiction out there that I regret wasting time on. I have a log of recommendations but not of books read. It sounds like a good idea. I'll add How to Read a Book to my list :)
  - dredmorbius 5y ago
    Simon Winchester is an excellent author, writes on interesting subjects (and makes them yet more interesting), and reads many of his own books in audio version. Recommended.
    - xupybd 5y ago
      Thanks I'll start with exactly. It looks like my kind of book. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Exactly-Audiobook/B07CQ31MTW&ved=2ahUKEwjstbHMxfHzAhX363MBHV5RDT4QFnoECAkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw34TPMRDzb87GRpcbQK29Zn https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
manx 5y ago
- Sapiens - Thinking in Systems
kleer001 5y ago
Without more parameters of your listening preferences there's no way of giving you accurate and valuable recommendations.
jotato 5y ago
The Murderbot Diaries is a recent series I enjoyed listening to. https://www.goodreads.com/series/191900-the-murderbot-diaries https://www.goodreads.com/series/191900-the-murderbot-diarie...
cityzen 5y ago
If you can stomach it, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror is a great audiobook. It is a pretty heavy listen but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

6 points by xupybd 5y ago

I've run out of good audio books to listen to. Any recommendations from the HN community?

This should keep you out of trouble for a while The Gulag Archipelago Audiobook by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zTwS1Xy0EM 2/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSoJu1izRHU 3/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kF7PEqZFso 4/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MsWuC8qv_Q 5/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6HeqUyjx60 6/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz8a03M11Bw 7/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjGvPu2H3b8 7.5/7.5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4lvztF9MVQ

kleer001 5y ago
I found "a day in the life of ivan devisionvitch" sufficient. It was on sale at Audible a little while ago too.
xupybd 5y ago
Thank you! I found a version on Audible that I'll add to my library. https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Gulag-Archipelago-Audiobook/1473570344 https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Gulag-Archipelago-Audioboo...
- dp-hackernews 5y ago
  You may want to "warm-up" with this one first... https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Ordinary-Men-Audiobook/006298148X https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Ordinary-Men-Audiobook/00629814...

dredmorbius 5y ago

As with other questions of book recommendations: - What are you reading and why? - Do you have an goals in reading, or is it merely entertainment / distraction? - In the latter case, the Cheshire Cat's advice to Alice is appropriate. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-VI.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-VI.html - I'd strongly recommend keeping a reading diary or log, which includes not just book read, but books recommended or suggested, either by others or your own past reading. This can include incidental mentions within books (occasional in fiction) or footnoted or bibliographic references (nonfiction). - Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book concludes with a list of 137 classics. Most of those should have public-domain audio versions. (His book itself is recommended reading, and an HN perennial.) - Podcasts are another alternative to audiobooks. There are podcasts of book reviews themselves. I'm more familiar with academic ones including the New Books Network, and reviews from the LSE, Yale University, Princeton University Press, etc. Author interviews can be amongst the best available, though production quality (notably for NBN) can vary greatly. - Long-running podcast series such as the History of Philosophy (now in Western, Indian, and African traditions, with a Chinese tradition forthcoming), or histories of Rome, Byzantium, or China, can also be illuminating. There are years-long back catalogs. - If you have a visual or reading disability, or live with someone who does, the US Library of Congress's BARD is exceptional, and free. - The Internet Archive, Open Library, and Libre Vox have numerous audio presentations available for download. - You can create a library of YouTube content through downloaders such as youbtube-dl, or by streaming directly via mpv. (Both work on numerous other audio/video sites as well.)

xupybd 5y ago
> What are you reading and why? Audiobooks are a special case for me. They help fill the time when I'm driving to work, mowing the lawn or doing dishes. If I consume my entertainment during these productive times, I find I'm less drawn to television and other mindless distractions. They also help me to be motivated to do tasks that I otherwise find dull. The better alternative is to find a friend to share these tasks with, but that is not always a practical option. While I do read for entertainment, I really enjoy non-fiction as long as it's light. If I want to explore a topic and truly learn something, I often need to find a text version. That said, I have found some great audiobooks that I have learnt from: -The Goal -Pragmatic Programmer -Designing Data-Intensive Applications -Thinking Fast and Slow -Ultralearning The best entertainment so far have been -Dune -The Expanse series -The Bobiverse series -The Expeditionary force series. I asked this question so broadly as I wanted to try something that I wouldn't usually go for. I have a heavy bias towards sci-fi and wouldn't mind exploring other genres. I love good non-fiction but have also found a lot of trash non-fiction out there that I regret wasting time on. I have a log of recommendations but not of books read. It sounds like a good idea. I'll add How to Read a Book to my list :)
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  Simon Winchester is an excellent author, writes on interesting subjects (and makes them yet more interesting), and reads many of his own books in audio version. Recommended.
  - xupybd 5y ago
    Thanks I'll start with exactly. It looks like my kind of book. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Exactly-Audiobook/B07CQ31MTW&ved=2ahUKEwjstbHMxfHzAhX363MBHV5RDT4QFnoECAkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw34TPMRDzb87GRpcbQK29Zn https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...

manx 5y ago

- Sapiens - Thinking in Systems

kleer001 5y ago

Without more parameters of your listening preferences there's no way of giving you accurate and valuable recommendations.

jotato 5y ago

The Murderbot Diaries is a recent series I enjoyed listening to. https://www.goodreads.com/series/191900-the-murderbot-diaries https://www.goodreads.com/series/191900-the-murderbot-diarie...

cityzen 5y ago

If you can stomach it, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror is a great audiobook. It is a pretty heavy listen but I enjoyed it quite a bit.