Audiobooks

I’ve heard you can get the equivalent of full time university education through just listening to audiobooks while driving throughout a year.

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I got into audiobooks over the course of the last few months and I’ve all ready listened fully through seven of them. I do have to drive a lot, so realizing just how much more productive those moments can be was eye opening. I initially made the mistake of trying to stream the audio while on my data the first day I tried it, but I now realize that was really ridiculous and I download them in totality while on my Wi-Fi before heading out. I also don’t feel quite so distracted driving with audiobooks as I do listening to certain hype songs, so in a way it’s safer.

When it comes to free audiobooks Livribooks was the first one that popped up for me on the Google play store, and that’s the one I’ve been using. It’s amazing just how many great books are out there in the public domain for consumption, and how many of them are fully recorded. Some of the books jump between people between chapters though, and the sound quality isn’t always consistent. But the quality of the actual knowledge is still there so long as you can understand the speakers.

This is seriously something I can’t believe I wasn’t all ready doing, and I don’t have any plans of stopping soon or ever. If anybody has any audiobook suggestions it would be much appreciated I’m mildly addicted right now.

46 thoughts on “Audiobooks”

    • It was something I initially didn’t really think I’d get into but I started to get into it while driving, and I’ve since realized just how much audio programming you can get through on a drive haha you could really listen to podcasts or anything else you feel is productive for that matter but it was just a real revelation to me how much you can get through in just a few months, thanks for the kind comment!!

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    • I prefer reading fiction but I do listen to some fiction audiobooks while at home doing other things when I can’t sit down and read. Most of the audiobooks I’ve been listening to while driving are self improvement audiobooks, but I really enjoyed listening to Descartes and his “Meditations on First Philosophy”as well as “The Power of Concentration” those are the two I’ve enjoyed the most so far =D

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      • Ooh, good to know, Oscar. Thank you! I also like to listen to self-improvement books. Mine are mostly on productivity, and leadership styles. I love it. It helps me to stay on track. Sometimes I don’t have as much time to sit and read, but listening to audio books makes me feel like I’m still accomplishing relevant steps to my goals. 🙂 Do you have any self-improvement faves? I like “The Secret”, anything from Napolean Hill, and some of the digital marketing books out there. 🙂

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      • I listen to self-improvement audio books, it is such a brilliant way to get your mind into the place you need it to be. I was going to say that in my last comment but I’m excited to see that someone has beaten me to it.

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      • I went through a tough time of depression once and I manage to push myself to listen to some encouraging audiobooks during the day. It really got me through some tough times and helped me to focus on more positive thinking. Sometimes when you’re like that you don’t want to be around anyone but you will find you don’t mind listening to music or an audiobook. Most of us can’t read books at work but some jobs you can actually get away with headphones while you are working. Lol.

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      • Apologies for the delayed reply that’s fantastic that audiobooks got you through that time!! And true there are some situations where you totally can haha thanks for the kind comments 🙂

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    • Hello. I saw mention of The Secret, the law of attraction where like attracts like. And yet I wasn’t having the best success with it. It appears it won’t work so well for some. Our subconscious mind is stronger than our conscious one apparently. For instance if your subconscious belief is a negative one by virtue of a belief (that may not even be true!) usually trying to consciously go against that subconscious does not work. But how fantastic when it does. 🙂

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      • Hi Sharon, I hear you–and yes our subconscious can be working against us. That’s why I not only work with the law of attraction, but also listen to subliminal messaging so that it filters down to my subconscious. it takes time, but I’ve noticed a difference! There’s a lot of them on you tube. 🙂

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  5. Hello again, Oscar. That’s great about Descartes. He’s such a subjectivist, talking of blindfolding himself and stopping his ears. But he did something original and uncommon in the 17th C. Rationalism was a new method to this extreme. I believed in logical proofs for a couple of years, but then I took a psychology course with information re: the nervous system and behavior… I hope you’re right about gaining a college education from audio books. My Christian sister is so resentful of my degree. I argue that the information is out there if she’s curious enough to learn. Yes, and for free. Her bible is a terrible myth to live by. Read the story of Babel Tower in Genesis. Knowledge is totally proscribed. How can anybody live like that? It must be genetic, for her granddad had been a missionary in Africa. Meaner than a junkyard dog… Anyway, people tend to tell themselves they “don’t have time” for learning. Yet with audio books, they have no excuse. More power to you and your post, dude.

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      • A good dictionary can be your best friend, too. Try visiting MW online and looking up “subjectivism,” “objectivism,” and “rationalism” and “empiricism.” Let no definition escape you. The Chambers Dictionary online is also excellent. And of course you’re welcome. I can’t change somebody’s flat tire, but I can turn them on to some great ideas. Thanks again for your boost on my blog that day. A few mornings ago I woke up and found 102 emails from an English blogger named Malaika. She’d viewed my whole blog in one morning! Also, Oscar, if you like Descartes, you might also enjoy Spinoza and Leibniz. Three empiricists include Locke, Berkeley (supposedly), and Hume. A nice compact overview of Western philosophy is _Sophie’s World_ by Jostein Gaarder. Very cleverly done and hopefully available as an audio book. Take care and happy exploring.

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    • I didn’t research much of the philosophers. I did take a Myers-Briggs personality test given by human resources depts though. I flunked their test and didn’t get hired. I am not an aggressive salesman type person. Or something. I do more favor Jung’s collective unconscious and archetypes ideas even if the Myers-Briggs are using his ideas to create that test. And I too wonder about early Biblical references. This is going a bit out there and there are other researchers who disagree, but Zechariah Sitchin had some very different ideas about the Tower of Babel. I wonder…

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      • I used to enjoy Jung’s essays — until I realized what a racist he was. He asserted that Freud’s theories would only be true for Jewish people, as Freud was a Jew. Yikes. Yes, I’ve heard of Sitchin, but he did sound a bit weird. Jehovah had siblings and they all came from another planet, etc. To each their own. I took a Myers-Briggs online. The result? INTJ… The difficult thing about some philosophy is the logical proofs, with premises and conclusions. Jung may appeal to you more because he is strictly intuitive. Have you read any Emerson? “Nature” is a good address Have a good day.

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      • I hadn’t thought of foreign language learning on one’s own. Considering my four years of Espanol in high school, I see I was very lucky. What part of the US do you hail from, Oscar? This might be a good time to get politically active and canvass for educational reform. I had a friend from Harrisburg, OR. His high school had no foreign language program, being out in the “sticks.” He dropped out of the UO music school at 19yo and ended up at Relco Roof and Floor making and designing trusses. Did he have an equal opportunity? Heck no. Here was this clever guy with no advantages. It wasn’t fair at all… Anyway, I wish you luck. You have the hardware for going where you want to go. Please use me as a resource. Do you have a community college near you? Being honest, a foreign language takes tons of exposure and participation, and yes, homework. It’s a major commitment that takes at least two years of hard work. Community colleges are great things because the tuition is actually reasonable. Don’t give up, Man. There are also open university online courses. Still, I advocate a face experience for languages. Better go now. I’m only here to help. Rob

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      • Yeah, many high schools have removed the language requirement. It’s sad. Also, they now assign only books the kids want or agree to read. Later of course, everyone pays the price.

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  8. Jeez, I hadn’t known that. Dumb republicans. Just where are our values anymore? Thanks for raising my 50yo consciousness. Oscar must be much younger. No, that’s very unjust. Guess I’ll be the one out canvassing… I have my own blog here, in case you’re interested. Simply click on my avatar to visit. Meanwhile, I’ll try visiting yours.

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  9. Thanks for the like, Oscar. I thought Bush was a big disgrace. I meant what I said about using me for a resource. Not that I know everything, tho. In our country, the focus seems to be on what sells, like math. In universities, science professors make much more than history profs. Meanwhile, in Spain (for example), profs in every discipline make the same amount. ? Growing up here, we’d almost never know that language arts exists. But the fact is that people like you and me still exist. So please just indulge yourself the next time you’re in a bookstore. Have you ever read _The Stranger_ by Albert Camus? Or _Nausea_ by Jean-Paul Sartre? How about _The Sound and the Fury_ by William Faulkner? I highly recommend all of these. If they are available as free downloads, then by all means listen. Iris Murdoch’s _Under the Net_ had me in stitches. It was the last hilarious book I read… I could really use a beer right now, or even a deli sausage. Even without money, I still have food stamps. My own blog is floundering again, so if you have a spare moment…? Thanks. And a comment would be much appreciated. Have a happy day.

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  10. Have to admit I’ve had the reverse experience with audiobooks: I can’t drive to them at all. I used to listen to stories on Radio 4 (UK resident here) but I’ve been driving for 17 years and have never managed that station while trying to pay attention to the road because once a story’s in my head that’s all I can think about. Strange though, I drive to music all the time yet that doesn’t happen. Same with running: I can’t run to a story. In fact, I’ve come to decide I really don’t like fiction audiobooks so much at all in recent years, because I don’t want someone else’s voice reading to me – I like reading actual books because it always sounds like my own. Yet I like non-fiction audiobooks and often use them to help me get to sleep (doesn’t always work but they do clear my head of my own stories and that’s half of what keeps me awake.) I recommend anything by Bill Bryson (the ones where he narrates his own books himself) and I really want to try Richard Dawkins as well.

    I’ve heard the saying that you can go through the equivalent of university with Audiobooks but here’s the problem I have with that idea: they can give you the knowledge but not necessarily show you how to do anything with it. I did languages at university and audiobooks were great for keeping my ear in, but they weren’t the same as having a conversation with a native speaker (IE having to manipulate the language myself.) Similarly, I like science audiobooks yet I know I couldn’t set up a lab or sit any exam where I had to recognise the same thing in a different context. Still, I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone because there’s nothing as good as an education whatever form you find it in.

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  11. I love getting to use Audiobooks- it has been one of my favorite discoveries. If you enjoyed Westworld, give That Hideous Strength (CS Lewis) a spin. The show reminded me of the book in its approach to the ideas presented.

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