I am in the mood to listen to nonfiction audio books.
Do you have any recommendations?
Posted by Dasa (Member # 8968) on :
Freakonomics, Blink though you might have probably read the text versions.
Most of the stuff by TTC http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp is *very* good but highly expensive as well. Your local library might have it though.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Who is Blink by? I have found several different books with that title.
Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :
Blink is by Malcolm Gladwell, I believe.
Other, wonderful non-fiction include Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis and Abraham by Bruce Feiler.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
You might try looking at podcasts. There's some really, really great material out there from all sorts of sources, including NPR and the BBC.
Here's a link to a list of all of the "best of" lists of 2006. There's a large number of best books of 2006, including lists of nonficton books.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Porter, if you don't know already check out Recorded Books. Lots of cool stuff there. A Brief History of Time is a favorite of my family's.
Posted by Mig (Member # 9284) on :
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great scientific history of how man figurered out every thing from the atom to the beginning of the universe.
Issac's Storm by Erik Larson is about the hurricane that devistated Galveston Texas in 1900 leading to about 10,000 dead. Interesting history about meterology, how hurricanes form, how deadly they can be, and the prediction of hurricanes.
Before or after you check out Blink by Gladwell you should try his The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.
As with any audio book, make sure you don't pick up an abridged version of the book.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great scientific history of how man figurered out every thing from the atom to the beginning of the universe.
That is excellent. I loved it.
quote:As with any audio book, make sure you don't pick up an abridged version of the book.
No kidding.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I'm looking for specific books to listen to. I'm not going to buy them, but the local library here is pretty good. I found Blink which I am enjoying very much.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
Um, it depends whether you consider it fiction or not, but the bible. Also Art of War.. and... umm... yeah.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I'm looking for things along the lines of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, The Botany of Desire, Blink, The Omnivore's Dilemma, A Brief History of Time, 1491, Coepetition, etc..
Hmm.. Maybe I should start looking for biographies. I've read very few, but I've liked what I've read.
Posted by SoaPiNuReYe (Member # 9144) on :
Autobiographies I find much more interesting on audio, because since the text was written by the person who's life it's about, there is more expression and voice in the audio reading.
Posted by orlox (Member # 2392) on :
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
Can anyone reasonably explain WHY they would market abridged books so heavily? I hold them the highest disdain, as do most of you, and I can't understand why they are more widely available than unabridged versions... so much so that the unabridged copies are specifically labeled (when it should be the other way round!). Who buys them and why? And more importantly, how do the abridgers sleep at night?
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