View Full Version : Anybody have any Audiobook recommendations?
I bring my Cell Phone on all my trips. To keep myself entertained, lately I've been reading books but since I've got my phone, I've been going Audiobook and will listen to 3hrs or so every night (about 1/3rd the book)
Assume that I have the ability to convert CDs into MP3s for my phone (I do...)
What Audiobooks would you recommend?
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Transforming the Mind by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Dirty Jokes and Beer by Drew Carey
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
I read the hardcover (among other hawking books) when I was 15 years old or so (when I was smart!) Blew my mind.
Would be interesting hearing it again now that I've got AP Calculus and AP Physics under my belt.
Pringles
11-16-2009, 12:29
People like Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and Into the Wild, which are available as audiobooks. I listened to Apsley Cherry Garrard's Worst Journey in the World (arctic trip), which was interesting but looooong. I listened to a book about George Mallory, called Paths of Glory, which I found interesting. I've even listened to A Walk in the Woods on audiobook. There're lots of interesting audiobooks out there. I enjoy setting up camp on the shore of Lake Superior (it's nearby), and then sitting on the beach watching the waves and listening to someone read to me... .
Beth
JokerJersey
11-16-2009, 14:12
If you're into fantasy, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series could keep you going for a LONG time. If you're interested, I have the entire series kicking around here somewhere on one of my portable hard drives and will try to figure out a way to get it to you.
JokerJersey
11-17-2009, 09:07
Check out www.audiobookvault.com (http://www.audiobookvault.com)
The format isn't the best for trying to find something, but they are all free to download. The topics range all over the place, so you're sure to find something you like, if you're patient enough to look.
mark schofield
11-17-2009, 09:13
http://www.archive.org/details/audio_bookspoetry
this is all free stuff. enough for the rest of your life.
here's another link for free stuff
http://podiobooks.com/index.php
keithclove
11-17-2009, 09:36
Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
Sleeps_With_Skunks
11-17-2009, 09:47
Bill Bryson "A walk in the woods" has a great giggle factor to listen to while hiking.
Anything by Janet Evanovich in the Stephanie plum series 10 hours a book and her stuff is both funny and a mystery. Most libraries have "digital" checkout now that you can download audiobooks directly to your computer or other media.
I download from my library directly to my ipod when I hike. the download is good for 4 days, but can stay on the computer or ipod indefininately.
lustreking
11-17-2009, 10:07
Check out www.audiobookvault.com (http://www.audiobookvault.com)
The format isn't the best for trying to find something, but they are all free to download. The topics range all over the place, so you're sure to find something you like, if you're patient enough to look.
If it's a concern to you, I'm pretty sure that these downloads aren't exactly legal.
Fiddleback
11-17-2009, 10:38
I'm not familiar with smartphones or how mp3's get stored on them, but...
In lieu of playing with audio books on CDs, take a look at audible.com . Again, I don't know about getting such files into a smartphone but just paging through audible's offerings is fun.
And if ya' can move mp3's into a smartphone you might want to take a look at the many podcasts or websites that provide free stories, some narrated some dramatized. These days I'm into SciFI and old time radio. All of the stuff has been (legally and ethically) free.
FB
dzierzak
11-17-2009, 12:04
Both are good audio book sources. Completely legal. :)
http://librivox.org/
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
ed
Though I'm not a big fiction fan, I do find John Grisham novels to be good time-passers while driving. Don't demand a lot of mental attention, but make the time pass. A little more cerebral are the historical biographys. I've enjoyed John Adams' and Ben Franklin's. Also "1776" was very interesting.
brianheard1069
11-17-2009, 14:46
libirvox.net
Skidsteer
11-17-2009, 20:22
Lord of the Rings trilogy,
The Bourne trilogy,
Atlas Shrugged,
Robot series by Asimov,
most of Heinlein's stuff,
The Rumpole series
This Sceptred Isle(BBC series on the history of Britain)
Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
ESV Listener's Bible by Max McClean
Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle series
Tai-Pan, Shogun, and Gai-Jin by James Clavell
Lonesome Dove
Complete Sherlock Holmes
Bob Lee Swagger series
That's a start. I drive a lot of miles for work and it would suck without audiobooks.
Toolshed
11-17-2009, 22:11
A Perfect Storm
Contact
Try listening to Into Thin Air or Born to Run.
Daydream Believer
11-20-2009, 23:14
Oh, I love audiobooks. My Ipod is full of them! Good source of downloads and reasonable membership is Audible.com. You can DVD's from recordedbooks.com.
If you love medical or forensic mysteries, anything by Kathy Reichs is great.
Diane Gabaldon's Outlander books are fantastic for historical romance...set in Scotland and then the NC mountains later on. Not just for women either...my husband has really enjoyed listening to them also. There are 7 of them now about 30-40 hours long...very good stuff.
Sci Fi...Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven...kind of an end of the world survivalist book when a comet hits the earth...it was quite well done.
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver...set in the Southern Appalachian mountains...very good for us nature lovers.
Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth set in Medieval England...and a sequel World Without End. Both were very good.
One Second After...another Sci fi survivalist type of book that will scare your socks off as it's way too close to possible. Basically a terrorist EMP attack on the US leaving us without power, coms, or transportation...anarchy follows, etc...
Anything written & read by Neil Gaiman. The Graveyard Book and Stardust (quite different from the movie!) were my 2 personal favorites.
don't know if it's on audiobook or not but Anatoli Boukreev's account of the 1995 disaster on Everest is a worthwhile read if you enjoyed krakauer's. "The Climb"
agreed w/ skids on the LOTR and Bourne trilogy
greg burke
11-21-2009, 20:55
ahhh the green mile,..
Peak2Peak
11-21-2009, 21:41
Clive Cussler's Oregon Series or NUMA Series.
Rain Man
11-21-2009, 22:57
Last one I listened to was "The Life of Pi." Not bad.
Rain:sunMan
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Clive Cussler's Oregon Series or NUMA Series.
Ten out of 5 stars for these great entertainment reading or listening IMHO. :D
henrygale
02-03-2011, 08:35
The Stand by Stephen King - Amazing story, even more fun for survival enthusiast
Under The Dome by Stephen King
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
It's so hard to suggest a book to others --- too often something I love is something the other won't want to finish or vice versa.
I think it might matter what sort of trip you're using the book on, and if you're hiking solo. On a long hike if I've been alone for quite a while, the good intentions to listen to serious literature or non-fiction tend to go out the window and I crave mind candy that will help the miles melt away on the more green tunnelish stretches.
In that regards, what comes to mind is Terry Pratchett books in audio format. Comedy fantasy.
"A Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan is unabridged.
He reads much of the text himself; for those of you who miss his voice, cadence, and enthusiasm.:sun
berninbush
02-03-2011, 12:57
Both are good audio book sources. Completely legal. :)
http://librivox.org/
I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but I will second this one. :) Librivox is legal because it's recording public domain books (pre-1923) read entirely by volunteers. If you listen to "Greenmantle" by John Buchan, or "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens, you will hear my voice on a few of the chapters. :) It's a fantastic audio book source if you like classics.
Not sure if this link is the best place to get this (I haven't tried it out) but John Lithgow's reading of a Monkey's Paw is something to marvel at. Its just a short story (1/2 Hour) and is part of NPR's selected shorts series.
In the same episode he recites a long poem from memory (The one Horse Chaise) which is equally brilliant in its own way, and another reader gives a darn good rendition of Jaberwuaki.
Knowing Jaberwaki by heart might come in handy if you end up conversing with certain Trail personalities by the way. This recording could be a good one be a good place to learn it from.
http://www.podfeed.net/episode/Tales+in+Verse+and+a+Chiller./2020671
YMMV an that.
The Counselor
02-03-2011, 21:46
One Man's Wilderness
The Journals of Lewis & Clark
The War that Made America (re: the French and Indian War)
In Cold Blood
hikerboy57
02-03-2011, 21:53
I read Lord of the Rings just before I first stepped on the AT in 1976 and it was easy for me to picture myself as frodo, taking the ring to katahdin. Lonesome Dove was one of the best novels I ever read.
Some great recommendations here. I too love audibooks- my iPod has about 300 on it. They have given me an immense number of really pleasurable hours. I use www.audible.com (http://www.audible.com)
Some recs
Stephen King's Dark Tower Series- not his usual fare
Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth and the sequel- quite compelling tale of Tom Builder a medeval stone mason.
Black Boy by Richard Wright- a harrowing autobiography of growing up black in the early 20th century South
The Aubrey Series by Patrick O'Brian- A masterful series about the adventures of Jack Aubrey during the Napoleonic wars.
Streets of Laredo, Lonesome Dove, Commanche Moon by Larry MacMurtry-great western series.
Anything by Cormac McCarthy- one of America's great writers.
The Corrections By Jonathan Frentzen- hard to explain- just a great book about an American family.
The Odyssey by Homer What could be more appropriate for a through hiker?
The Modern Scholar Series- this is a series of lectures by distinguished professors on all manner of subjects in the humanities and science. I especially recommend Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans by Tim Shutt adn Shakespeare by Harold bloom.
Carl Hiaasen's stuff is always a fun, light listen about odd characters and shenanigans in his native Florida.
The Spenser series by Robert B. Parker is also a nice listen if you like detective stories.
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Patton offers a great look at why cultures have deveoped as they have.
Justinian's Flea by Will Rosen tells the story of the first European Plague.
There are many excellent podcasts availabel for free as well in the iTunes store. I highly recommend "Skeptoid" by Brian Dunning and series in which he debunks a lot of pseudo scince and cultural myths.
I'll stop now. Did I mention I love books?
Rocketman
02-03-2011, 22:50
"The Da Vinci Code"
I put it on while a non-book fan friend and I were going to Texas, and after a little while he asked is this was fiction or true. I told him fiction.
He greatly enjoyed all nearly 9 hours of it. It was a great reading. The reader had a natural french accent and was able to create several distinct voices for the characters. He said it was ten times better than the movie, and he actually understood the plot now.
I enjoyed the whole thing myself. Had never read it and hadn't seen the movie.
People like Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and Into the Wild, which are available as audiobooks.
BethI never have listened to "Into the Wild", but I do have and have listened to "Into Thin Air" which I thought was pretty good.
Diatribe
02-05-2011, 00:43
I bring my Cell Phone on all my trips. To keep myself entertained, lately I've been reading books but since I've got my phone, I've been going Audiobook and will listen to 3hrs or so every night (about 1/3rd the book)
Assume that I have the ability to convert CDs into MP3s for my phone (I do...)
What Audiobooks would you recommend?
Though I am not recommending an audiobook, and everyone has made so many great suggestions, I must share my two cents on MP3/ipod stuff for the trail.
NPR has this great show called 'This American Life'. For those of you who dont know the show, it's an hour long radio program about stories based upon a theme. They're great, and contain some very entertaining, visual, gripping, & powerful stories told so very well. Being an hour long, it always changes pace, and listening to them is addictive, as you never know what the next program's stories will tell.
...and I think some of you will want to check it out.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Ive also got some audiobooks on my ipod, but nothing beats the physical tactility of a good old paperback like Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
;)
http://www.amazon.com/National-Parks-Americas-Best-Idea/dp/B002OFDGQO/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1297200946&sr=8-12
don't know if it's on audiobook or not but Anatoli Boukreev's account of the 1995 disaster on Everest is a worthwhile read if you enjoyed krakauer's. "The Climb"Actually it was 1996 when this tragedy occured:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster Having read both "Into Thin Air" by John Krakauer and "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt I would have to say that both were excellent, however I actually believe "The Climb" to be the better of the two in my opinion. Like yourself, I don't know wether or not "The Climb" is on audiobook, but I know "Into Thin Air" is because I have it.