I’ve been ‘reading’ a bunch of audio books lately. Here’s a quick tally of books I have at least started:
Life/Philosophy:
12 Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson - This is what I’m on currently. Listened to a bit of Ch. 4 this morning.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People - In here he presents the idea that you should, within 48 hours of reading a chapter, talk to someone about what you’ve learned in that chapter. Because your mind rewrites it when you’re presenting it to someone, and if you know you’re going to present it to someone when you start reading, you’ll pay more attention. I intend to adopt this model for all books of this style, which is part of what prompted me to write this post and hopefully many more after it.
Wait, What? - James Ryan - “true wisdom comes from asking the right questions” is what one reviewer said. Given that, I suspect this was Tim Ferris recommendation, since he often says that asking good questions is paramount.
Sales/Business:
Sell or Be Sold - Grant Cardone
The 10x Rule - Grant Cardone
If you’re not First, you’re Last - Grant Cardone
Be Obsessed or Be Average - Grant Cardone
• Just a note here, all of these GC books are amazing. He reads them himself, adds more than is in the books, and gets fiery and animated in an infectious way. They’re exciting to listen to.
Never Split the Difference - Chris Voss - a book on negotiation by an FBI crisis negotiation
The 4 Hour Workweek - Tim Ferris
The Automatic Millionaire - David Bach - I actually listened to this one quite a while ago when I first got audible, but I’ll include it in this list anyway.
Architecture:
A Place of My Own - Michael Pollan - I actually got a physical copy of this from the local library, but after reading it for a while decided to go audio. I got this because in my effort to be a better photographer of architecture, I seek to understanding it more deeply.
Built - Roma Agrawal - This is really a book on engineering, but it’s super interesting. This one I’ve been reading a physical copy of, not audio. Which is important because of all Roma’s great engineering doodles.
Biography:
Steve Jobs - Walter Issacson - this was fantastic. Really helped to demystify the guy. We love to look at successful, iconic people and assume that they made everything happen straight by pulling it out of the void. This book helps show how one thing lead to another, and the invention of the iPad and iPhone made a lot more sense to me after having read it.
Here are a few I have in the Audio Library I haven’t read:
How to Win Friends & Influence People - Dale Carnegie
The Graveyard Book: Full Cast Production - I bought this by accident, wanting to get the Neil Gaiman read version at Tim Ferris’s suggestion. But I’ve heard this version is good, too. I’ve already read this, actually, as I read a physical copy some years ago. Great book.
Where should we begin - Esther Perel - Tony Robbins had this lady on his podcast a few times and she’s got a lot of interesting things to say on love, attraction, fidelity, and relationships.
You are a badass at Making Money - I listened to this before, but discovered that the physical book is much better since it’s filled with exercises, and those are easier to do when read. But I got the audio book again to listen to in the car. Haven’t gotten around to it yet, though.
The Three Body Problem - Liu Cixin - I’ve heard this was great. Obama liked it.
More Walter Issacson bios:
Einstein
Leonardo Da Vinci
The Innovators
• I don’t have Ben Franklin yet, but I hear that’s great, too.
• I should get Elon Musk’s bio, too. And Richard Branson. (not by Issacson)
So that’s what I’ve had in the queue or what’s coming up in the queue. I’ve also been listening to this 10 hour long youtube video of Alan Watts which is basically a visual audiobook. My brother, Dustin, sent me a picture of his version of the paperback, and I went hunting for it - Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life, and I could not locate an audiobook of it. But then I found this video, which is perfect, and probably better than audio since he gives lots of visual examples. I’m guessing that’s why there isn’t an audio book version.
I’ve been listening to audio books for a long time before subscribing to audible, too.
Previously I was making really heavy use of Overdrive/Libby to get audio books from the Brooklyn Library, which is totally fantastic, but newer/more popular books can take forever to come available because 30+ people might be in line ahead of you.
I could go through and list all the audio books I have read on that service, but I’ll stop here.
I’ve done a moderate to okay job of keeping track of my reading via Goodreads, which you can check out to get a further understanding of what I fill my mind with.