(Part 2) Top products from r/audible

Alien: Out of the Shadows (Full Cast Dramatization) takes place between Alien and Aliens, and reads like really well-done fan fiction. Laurel Lefkow sounds exactly like Sigourney. It's got some contrivances, but it's fun. (4.5 hours)

Bird Box by Josh Malerman, narrated by Cassandra Campbell is a literary post-apocalyptic horror story about a young mother trying to survive in a world where something outside will make you suicidal and homicidal if you see it. The characters spend half the story blindfolded. You won't get much in the way of monsters. In fact explanation and resolution are pretty thin, but it's very strong on tension. Cassandra Campbell's narration is one of the best I've ever heard. It's a little bit reminiscent of the recent film "A Quiet Place," and Bird Box has been made into a film being released this December. (9 hours)

The Dinosaur Four by Geoff Jones (me), narrated by Nick Podehl, is a B-movie adventure about ten everyday strangers in a cafe that gets sent back in time. There are lots of dinosaur attacks and one of the survivors is just as dangerous as the dinosaurs. (8 hours)

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, narrated by Robertson Dean is technically about vampires, but it's honestly the granddaddy of the modern zombie genre. It's a little dated (1954), but still a great read. (5.25 hours)

It by Stephen King, narrated by by Steven Webber is probably his best monster story, and one of his best books all around... but its a little longer than your road trip. (45 hours)

The Mist by Stephen King is one of my favorites, about a small group of people trapped in a supermarket when a monster-filled mist rolls int town. There's an unabridged reading at Audible narrated by Will Patton (5.25 hours) and a terrific full-cast recording you'll have to find elsewhere (1.5 hours).

Pines by Blake Crouch, narrated by Paul Michael Garcia is about a secret service agent investigating a small town where everything seems too good to be true. It feels like a mixture of The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, and Twin Peaks. The sci-fi and monster elements slowly appear in the first book but are a big part of the second and third. It's fast, fun read. (8.5 hours)

You by Caroline Kepnes, narrated by Santino Fontana doesn't have any supernatural monsters, but it's about a creepy-as-fuck stalker in New York City. The book is written from his point of view in such a way that you (may) actually end up sympathizing with him. Fontana's narration is fantastic. (11 hours)

​

(Honestly, out of all of these, Pines feels like the one I would recommend most for your trip!)

​

Best,

Geoff Jones

Author of The Dinosaur Four

Narrated by Nick Podehl

​

I've a few recommendations here, both about writing and about langauge as a whole

• Cuneiform by Irving Finkel as a (very) short but nice introduction to Cuneiform. I enjoyed it a lot, especially since I couldn't seem to find other popularized introductions to the subject.
  
• Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler. This is a behemoth, a world history in the context of languages. I love the book, although it can be a bit information heavy at times. The focus is on langauges, but comes with lots of nice examples of writing as well. (I found this book through The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker, which is tries to describe language from a neurological PoV, an amazing book)
  
• Breaking the Maya Code by Michael Coe, one of the players in the breaking of the Maya script. I didn't know a thing about mayan language or script before reading this, and albeit being too detailed on who-did-what, the mayan script is beautiful and this books documents this wonderfully.
  
• The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox. The theme is similar as the one above, but this is focused on the decipherment of Linear B, where both script and language was unknown. Very recommended, especially in the methodology on how to catalogue large number of correlations between script pairs in the time before SQL...
  
  I'm following this thread closely... :)

The only book of these that I've read was The Divine Comedy. I have not listened to the audiobook but I don't think it'll be as a good as a physical copy. So I suggest not to buy it. To really appreciate this book you'll want something with an excellent forward that puts the book into context and that will have footnotes along the way. Otherwise you'll miss out on all the history that shaped the story. There's too many political and religious figures from Dante's time that without a small bit of historical knowledge it might not be as interesting. I just don't see how an audiobook would do this without interrupting the story to give the reader background information.

The Divine Comedy is broken into three parts that follows a mans journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. My recommendation would be to just grab just the first part called Inferno. It's by far the more interesting part and practically shaped the modern images of hell.

Check out this translation:
The Inferno https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385496982/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_VoKxwbWZ5Q61S

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Long-Haul-Audiobook/B071252V5W

​

This is the only book that seemed in the neighborhood on Audible.

​

I looked in a big library catalog and found this one, which was published in 79 and might have some interesting stuff:

​

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Haul-Truckers-Truck-Trucking/dp/0878700552

​

You may have stumbled on an untold story, which if true would be pretty awesome. You should write it!

I really enjoyed Nathaniel Philbrick’s Sea of Glory. The audiobook was narrated by Scott Brick and I thought he did a great job. Sea of Glory

The book is an epic fantasy mystery with a great deal of action and suspense.

Here's the link to it on amazon so you have a better idea.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520147457

They definitely exist, in fact I think there are two different narrations however I can't seem to find any digital copies. Here is a link to the CD version on Amazon. Hope that helps.

Hmmm.... Let me think about it. Specifically related to religion?

I'm sure if this is exactly what you have in mind, but I have enjoyed both these books:

https://www.amazon.com/Short-Stories-Jesus-Enigmatic-Controversial/dp/0061561037

https://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Gospel-Tales-Jewish-Mystic/dp/0062011308

I recently finished an oddball of an audiobook:

KIZUMONOGATARI

That one is not quite a full-cast, since different characters have same narrator. And it has background music and even some ambient sounds (so not quite a dramatization/drama).

Story wise its quite a convoluted tale of an adaptation from the japanese visual novel, but thats only a prequel to a bigger series BAKEMONOGATARI (that was published/written first, because why not) and gathered quite a cult following over there. (trying to write a synopsis broke my brain, if anyone can do any better, be my guest) ...its a prequel

...Needless to say, i'm eagerly awaiting a sequel!

The version they are giving away is crap. Also it is paired with the Grover Gardner recording.

Not free, the following version is better and is paired to a better recording by Dick Hill.

https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Tom-Sawyer-Mark-Twain-ebook/dp/B000FBJF8W?ie=UTF8&ref_=ml_wfs_2

In this case, I'd say it is worth the paid version than the free.

I liked Log of a cowboy written by a real turn of the century cowboy about a cattle drive. It helped me understand the LD story and action.

It would be interesting to hear how this differs and/or what changed from the previous release beyond a change in narrators and perhaps breaking it up into multiple parts?

Just to give you a heads up, this book is crazy biased.

If your looking for a straight up Liberal biased book that doesn't even consider political ideals outside of his own beliefs then Krugman is what you want.

If your looking to actually learn about politics, their ideals, and be informed on our government then I recommend:

What you should know about American Politics, but don't https://www.amazon.com/What-Should-Know-About-Politics/dp/1611452996

or

American Politics Today https://www.amazon.com/American-Politics-Today-Essentials-Fourth/dp/0393906191

My Lost Family is by Danny Ben-Moshe, who charges that any criticism of Israeli state policies is anti-semitic.

Fyi.

ETA Mr. Ben-Moshe is an editor of this book, which espoused the idea mentioned. Also, Mr. Ben-Moshe's more extreme writings in the Jerusalem Post have disappeared from search results.

As for why getting a free (to us) book should matter, others have helpfully answered the question.

https://www.amazon.com/Asshole-Rule-Civilized-Workplace-Surviving/dp/0446698202

Machine Learning by Hugh Howey

Right now, I think I’d say “The Power of the Dog” by Don Winslow. The Power of the Dog https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400096936/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Rv5xCbE4D5YQ8

The Kindle version is on sale for $2.99 in the US, plus $7.49 to add the Audible version, so only $10.48 for the combo (cheaper than Audible as a standalone).