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Every day I have about 30-45 minutes to drive to work, and another 30-45 minutes to drive home. That means an hour or more of drive time every day. I’ve had a Spotify account for a long time, but after a while the playlists got boring and stale. I tried podcasts for a bit but beyond a few episodes of Hardcore History (Thanks John for the tip!) , I couldn’t find much I liked.
Late in 2018 I setup an Audible account. Started with the usual free trial and converted after a while. So far I’ve finished the following books:
I’ve heard about Audible for years, constantly peddled via Youtube starts and other Podcasts. I never really thought it was worth it, but having used it for a few months I finally get it. It’s a delicate balance: Finding books interesting enough that you don’t go to sleep, but not so interesting that you wind up sitting in the parking lot waiting for a good place to stop, and not so complex that the few seconds of highway-hypnosis zone-out doesn’t completely trash it. (I wouldn’t recommend doing Lord of the Rings via Audible, for example).
So self-help and management books have so far been a great match (as evidenced from the list above). The new “Audible Originals” program is great too, since I only get 1 free book a month. With the Original’s program, they pick 5 or 6 items every month and you can get 2 of them for free (that’s how I got The Last Days of August and Victorian Secrets).
What’s fascinating is I find something magic happens in your brain afterwards. For example, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” is the story of a new CEO stepping into a floundering company, and the various interactions with the C-suite team she inherits. The entire book is read by Charles Stransky. However, looking back on it I have memories of distinct voices for each character. I’m honestly not sure how it happened, but the same way you wind up with mental images and mannerisms for characters in your own imagination when you read, the exact same thing happens here.
So In short, I recommend it. It’s a great way to pass otherwise unusable time, and broaden your perspective at the same time with some good reading. If you know of any other books I should put on my wishlist, post them in the comments below!