As the state of the American workday and downtime changes with the further and further integration of technology into our lives, the written word has probably slipped further and further down the list of priorities and pastimes.
If you’re like so many people who have discovered that they can fill the time on lunch break, in traffic, or commuting with podcasts, you may also be aware of the enormous rate at which books are being turned into audiobooks and the increasing availability of them.
Audiobooks are a great way to continue your education long after you’ve left school, and much to our benefit as consumers, the quality of these products is increasing as publishers are beginning to release them RBA (read by author). This is always preferable, as a book RBA will always be more passionate and expressive than those read by professional narrators.
1: 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos (RBA) by Jordan B. Peterson.
An international bestseller, translated into almost 40 different languages, and featuring a 5-star average review across 45,000 reviewers, Peterson’s landmark book is the perfect piece to begin your audiobook collection. Half philosophy and psychology dissertation and half self-help book, 12 Rules has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to better their lives.
2: The New Right: A Journey To The Fringe Of American Politics (RBA) by Michael Malice.
If you like political commentaries, Michael Malice’s new book is a whopper. Read by the author, and including impressions of the various political and media profiles covered, Michael Malice creates an encyclopedia of the evolution of the American right-wing political spectrum and why everyone thinks they’ve become fascists. The New Right also contains not a small amount of humor, in a very Jon Stewart-esque presentation.
3: Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the words of the great comedian Bill Burr, “The guy’s been on fire for four decades”. He is referring of course to the incredible string of successes that has propelled Arnold to be one of the largest personalities to ever exist in American culture. Your jaw will drop listen to the story of his humble beginnings in a small cabin in Austria, void of electricity, to moving to the US, winning more body-building titles than anyone else, becoming a movie star, organizing the Kennedy family exercise programs at their summer retreats, and more. Arnold’s voice actually makes for a beautiful listen, as he narrates the first chapter, and if you’re interested in fitness, it’s right up there.
4: Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Narrated in a sensual low-fi tone by Michael Boatman, whose lovely accent sets the tone for an irresistible autobiography, Mandela’s book is a page-turner, and details one of the most incredible stories in human history. If forced to make a guess, there’s no reason why anyone would have imagined that apartheid in South Africa could end with anything other than massive bloodshed such as was seen in the American Civil War. Yet massive bloodshed wasn’t the fortune for South Africa, in large part down to the actions of an incredible man. Find out how.
5: Fool’s Errand: Time To End The War In Afghanistan (RBA) by Scott Horton
The Legendary anti-war radio host will give you the quickest and most concise sum of the great total of failures in the longest war in American history. With almost 2 decades of experience on the airwaves, Horton’s voice hums with an electrical starkness that parallels the futility of the conflict and captures his many feelings after years of reporting on it. If you’re interested in foreign policy, this is the first book to read, as it will leave you with about 50,000 questions after having just answered 40,000 and ensures you’ll be running back to the bookstore to find the next read.
6: Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker
The Nobel Prize-winning scientist and writer, Steven Pinker, outlines how we all have every reason to be thankful, as the technological innovations of the world’s elite are reaching the developing or poverty-stricken nations like never before. The book explains how 100,000 people are hooked up to the power grid every day before they had no access to electricity. There may never have been a book so filled with good news to ever be written, and we guarantee you’ll feel a little more relaxed about the difficulties and dangers which the 24-hour news cycle constantly thrust down our throats.
7: The Iliad by Homer
If you’re a fan of the classics and ancient literature, you probably don’t need a reminder of the Iliad’s beautiful writing. But in case you haven’t majored in theatre, hearing the words of the Iliad spoken by someone who does can really change the great work from one of history class doldrums to one of gripping drama. This particular version is read by Englishmen Anton Lesser, and the theatrical magnitude of his narration is worthy of the amphitheater at Delphi to be sure.
8: Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (RBA) by Sebastian Junger
One of the great paradoxes in modern life is modern life. In a world where there a more of us, we are more educated, and unlimited access to information and instantaneous communication lies in our pockets or on our wrists, the social fabric of our society has never been as fragile. Junger asks simple questions and burgeons them into large-scale issues that everyone in our society is responsible for solving. How many of your neighbors do you know? How many of your friends could you count on to protect you? Would you let your grandparents live with you? For most people in modern society, their answer would contradict evolutionary biology and evo. psychology. What is the person to person cost of modern civilization? Let Junger explain it to you, then go and introduce yourself to your neighbors.
9: The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (RBA) by Jonathan Haidt
“The generation now coming of age has been taught three Great Untruths: their feelings are always right; they should avoid pain and discomfort, and they should look for faults in others and not themselves. These three Great Untruths are part of a larger philosophy that sees young people as fragile creatures who must be protected and supervised by adults.” Jonothan Haidt, one of the most prominent modern intellectuals, along with co-author Greg Lukianoff produces one of the great reviews of modern society.
