Ash HN: What is your must-read audiobook? | Hacker News Reader

Ash HN: What is your must-read audiobook?

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What is your must-read audiobook?

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A number of great selections from The Great Courses, including:

The Great Ideas of Philosophy [0]

Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It [1]

The History of the United States [2]

World War II: A Military and Social History [3]

There's also this new translation of The Odyssey [4], which I've just started but like so far.

[0] https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Great-Ideas-of-Philosophy-2nd...

[1] https://www.audible.com/pd/Great-Scientific-Ideas-That-Chang...

[2] https://www.audible.com/pd/The-History-of-the-United-States-...

[3] https://www.audible.com/pd/World-War-II-A-Military-and-Socia...

[4] https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Odyssey-Audiobook/B07GLN33S8?...

Dune is the book that got me sold on audiobooks https://www.audible.com/pd/Dune-Audiobook/B002V1OF70

Great book. Great casting for the audiobook. Scott Brick is great, but Simon Vance steals the show for me. Highly recommend this to anyone that wants to get into audiobooks.

For me, it was the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, narrated by excellent Victor Bevine https://www.audible.com/series?asin=B006K1Q0FC

Thank you, will add that to my list of books to listen to.

- Extreme Ownership, especially if you like military stories (although the book is about leadership). [0]

- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, a refreshing perspective on life values. [1]

[0] https://www.audible.com/pd/Extreme-Ownership-Audiobook/B015T...

[1] https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Subtle-Art-of-Not-Giving-a-F-...

My favorite audiobooks ever are the His Dark Materials trilogy, by far. A different actor reads each character's dialogue, and the casting is absolutely _perfect_.

The series is general is really special to me, and the audiobook is the best way to experience it.

Yanis Varoufakis "Adults in the Room" is a book I enjoyed on the plane, but would probably never read in print format. It describes all the back-room dealing going on during the Greece economic meltdown. It was very insightful to see how the PR presented by the EU and Germany was so different from their real goals (protecting the banks and the rich from any losses - even if all their populations had to pay on bad loans that were structured to fail.)

I usually listen to them but anyways (I had to, sorry!!) - I really enjoyed Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble. It's a very cynical take on the startup culture, which usually isn't something I'm into, but the author really did a good job at keeping it fun (he was one of the valleywag people) and has enough experience from the inside that there's actually plenty of subtle insights.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - a creative and compelling deviation from typical true crime storytelling.

The author and the narrator do a brilliant job at really transporting you into Savannah, Georgia (I'm not even a fan of the city, but I nevertheless was totally consumed by the fascinating characters, society, and atmosphere).

I only listen to fiction when it comes to audiobooks. That said, I really like Clive Barker stuff who I discovered relatively recently. In particular, I like "Books Of Blood" [0].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8x7Iee3m0A

American War by Omar El-Akkad, read by Dion Graham. Not many characters but a riveting story about a plausible second American Civil War.

The Power of the Dog and The Cartel by Don Winslow, read by Rob Porter. A must read just for the vast characters Porter plays, many of whom are Hispanic. An amazing feat that tells a riveting story.

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series - It's a BBC Radio Play, but was my first exposure to the story, and a fantastic one at that. I also really enjoyed the Star Wars radio drama.

> I know I'm late to the party, but I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series - It's a BBC Radio Play, but was my first exposure to the story,

Also, the world's first exposure. The BBC Radio Play preceded the books (the first two “phases” preceded the first two books, more specifically.)

Jurassic Park got me into audio books. Incredible book, fantastic narration by Scott Brick.

Gods in America is done really well. I also enjoyed listening to the Game of Thrones series on the way to and from work every morning for like 8 months. Gave me something to look forward to in the morning.

Shameless plug if you want to convert a ebook to an audiobook: https://auditus.cc

The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgeman.

Sold me on the format and is more like a 7 hour stand-up comedy special than a book per se. Also features Paul Rudd.

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, written and narrated by Carlo Rovelli

The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman.

Ray Dalio's principles, for 2018.

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