Hatrack River Forum: Spend my Audible credits!

This is topic Spend my Audible credits! in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :

Takje. I've been so busy teaching over the last few months, that three audiobook credits have accumulated on my audible account, and I haven't been doing any research into my next selection.

The last book I got was "Blink," by Malcolm Gladwell, because I enjoyed his latest book "Outliers" (yes I am aware that quotation marks are not the correct format, but whatever).

Now I could go the dull boring route as I often do and pick up a music history or philosophy or Bio title, listen to 3 hours of it and then not pick it up again for 6 months... or I could get a really good fast read and enjoy it over the weekend. What do you think? Boring route, or risky new title route? I have three credits, so your suggestions will be considered. What have you really liked off of audible this year? Having three credits, I could also throw them all in on a big collection- which is something I might consider as well.

What I like: Long, long books. I know that's weird, but I like books that span 20-40 hours of listening. I like the shorter ones as well, but if a book can stay interesting for 20 hours, you know it's good, and you get more of a chance to really enjoy it.

Comedy. I need comedy in my life right now. I would also very much like a good recommendation on economics, I am interested in 20th century history, and of course I like music titles, but not anything too elementary, like "This is your Brain on Music." It's an ok book, but I stopped listening to it because it was too simplistic, even when it was talking about things I didn't know about (I knew I wasn't getting the whole story).

Modern history books are great too- and I am interested in books from parts of the world I don't know, which is why I liked Kalid Husseinni's books recently, and would read more like them.

Posted by Selran (Member # 9918) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
The last book I got was "Blink," by Malcolm Gladwell, because I enjoyed his latest book "Outliers"

Have you read his other book, Tipping Point?

Posted by Traceria (Member # 11820) on :

While not a 20-40 hour listen, it's certainly comedic in my opinion: Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain.

Posted by Herblay (Member # 11834) on :

Funniest Audio Books that I've heard lately:
How to Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way; Bruce Campbell
When Engulfed in Flames; David Sedaris

Best Fantasy / Adventure:
Sabriel; Garth Nix
The Golden Compass; Philip Pullman
The Graveyard Book; Neil Gaiman

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Selran:

quote:
Originally posted by Orincoro:
The last book I got was "Blink," by Malcolm Gladwell, because I enjoyed his latest book "Outliers"
Have you read his other book, Tipping Point?

If you like the other two, you should like Tipping Point as well.

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

Tipping point is a better book, actually. Ori, try READING TIYBOM, it is NOT basic or simple at all. I loved it, and I have a background in both classical music AND psychology. I found it to be a great read, and it did a really good job of explaing things at a reasobale level for both laypeople AND those wiht a background in it.

I found myself wondering what if's while reading it, something that rarely ever happens to me. I wondered IF I would have been one of the researchers he spoke to and worked with over the years. If I had continued studying what I was interested in rather than bailing out to enter the Army. No one I knew even KNEW of anyone seriously studying these things when I broached the subject, and it was before the internet made things easy to research. [Frown]

I don't regret a lot of things in my life, but reading that book made me wonder about a lot of things.

Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :

Comedy seems to be inversely related to length in audiobooks, but one long book that has some comedy to it but which is also educational and engaging is Bill Bryson's A Brief History of Nearly Everything at about 18 hours. For a long book that is great but which isn't a comedy at all, I suggest the The Company by Robert Littell at 41 hours(!).

Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :

I've never read it, but Karel Capek's R.U.R. is available as an audio book. might be a good way to know the culture of your host country [Smile]

Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :

I don't know what you already have, but I'm a fan of the Hitchhiker's guide series, and I believe they have all the books (and maybe even one of the radios shows) on audible.com.