Essays audiobooks

Black Folk Could Fly

By: Randall Kenan

Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smith

Length: 8 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

A personal, social, and intellectual self-portrait of the beloved and enormously influential late Randall Kenan, a master of both fiction and nonfiction.



Virtuosic in his use of literary forms, nurtured and unbounded by his identities as a Black man, a gay man, an intellectual, and a Southerner, Randall Kenan was known for his groundbreaking... Read more

Survival of the Richest

By: Douglas Rushkoff

Narrated by: Douglas Rushkoff

Length: 6 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

The tech elite have a plan to survive the apocalypse: They want to leave us all behind.

Five mysterious billionaires summoned theorist Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk.

The topic? How to survive the “Event”: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of... Read more

Blanca Varela: una retórica del horror y la vanidad

By: Martín Horna Romero

Narrated by: Antonio Monroy

Length: 8 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

El género pictórico vanitas o vanidades era un recurso simbólico usado durante el Barroco europeo para considerar como vano o contingente todo logro humano que no tuviese a la divinidad cristiana como fin último. De esta manera, se desestabilizaron rasgos venerados por la sociedad occidental como la belleza, la riqueza, el reconocimiento, el... Read more

Raising Wild

By: Michael P. Branch

Narrated by: David Marantz

Length: 8 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

Combining natural history, humor, and personal narrative, Raising Wild is an intimate exploration of Nevada’s Great Basin Desert, the wild and extreme land of high desert caliche and juniper, of pronghorn antelope and mountain lions, where wildfires and snowstorms threaten in equal measure.Michael Branch “earned his whiskers” in the Great Basin... Read more

COVIDOLOGY

By: Paul Iarrobino, Jamison Green, Brenda Culhane, ...

Narrated by: Jason Zenobia

Length: 3 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Paul Iarrobino was compelled to create this new body of work based on his personal experiences navigating the pandemic. Witnessing and learning from others fueled the energy around creating a collection of stories and poems to give meaning to changed lives in a topsy-turvy world.Fifteen literary gems are inside for you to explore how COVID has... Read more

I Never Met a Rattlesnake I Didn't Like

By: David Carpenter

Narrated by: David Carpenter

Length: 7 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

David Carpenter’s collection of essays explores a city boy’s love of the wild, a passion that has enriched his life from boyhood. At 80, this irrepressible Saskatchewan raconteur examines his intense fascination with predators large and small, and his awe in the face of the variety of creatures that may be out to get us—or who are out to get one... Read more

We Are the Middle of Forever

By: Dahr Jamail & Stan Rushworth

Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Length: 13 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

A powerful, intimate collection of conversations with Indigenous Americans on the climate crisis and the Earth’s futureAlthough for a great many people, the human impact on the Earth—countless species becoming extinct, pandemics claiming millions of lives, and climate crisis causing worldwide social and environmental upheaval—was not apparent... Read more

She's Nice Though

By: Mia Mercado

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

Length: 6 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

AN NPR BOOK-OF-THE-DAY • A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STAFF PICK • A NYLON MUST-READ • A FORTUNE NEW BOOK TO READ IN AUGUST“And, at the center of it all, am I actually nice or am I just performing a role I think I’m expected to play?” Mia Mercado is a razor-sharp cultural critic and essayist known for her witty and hilarious dissections of the... Read more

Escape into Meaning

By: Evan Puschak

Narrated by: Evan Puschak

Length: 7 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Producer, editor, and writer behind the highly addictive, informative, and popular YouTube channel The Nerdwriter, Evan Puschak presents “a brilliant, wide-ranging essay collection that explores meaning and how we make it with the thoughtfulness and open-hearted generosity that have long been hallmarks of Puschak’s writing” (John Green, New York... Read more

Dispatches from the Gilded Age

By: Julia Reed

Narrated by: Carol Monda

Length: 11 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

Dispatches from the Gilded Age is a collection of essays by Julia Reed, one of America’s greatest chroniclers.In the middle of the night on March eleventh, 1980, the phone rang in Julia Reed’s Georgetown dorm. It was her boss at Newsweek, where she was an intern. He told her to get in her car and drive to her alma mater, the Madeira School. Her... Read more

Desert Oracle

By: Ken Layne

Narrated by: Ken Layne

Length: 6 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by the author, Ken Layne, host of the Desert Oracle radio show. It includes an exclusive first listen to a story from Desert Oracle: Volume 2.

The cult-y field guide to the strange and intriguing secrets of the Mojave—its myths and legends, outcasts and oddballs, flora, fauna, and UFOs—becomes the definitive, oracular book of... Read more

Walking in My Joy

By: Jenifer Lewis

Narrated by: Jenifer Lewis

Length: 7 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

A new offering from the author of the hugely successful Mother of Black Hollywood.Walking in My Joy is a collection of electric stories by the one and only, super hilarious Jenifer Lewis. Her commentary on what’s happening in the world today, told through her outrageous real-life adventures, will have you laughing out loud, while her insightful... Read more

El poder y la república

By: Porfirio Muñoz Ledo

Narrated by: Carlos Álvarez

Length: 11 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

“La transformación que experimenta el país desde 2018 ha consolidado la libertad de expresión. Su mayor ganancia es el debate público sobre los grandes temas nacionales; su saldo negativo es la proliferación ilimitada de la injuria, la descalificación y los frutos podridos de la discriminación y el odio.” -Porfirio Muñoz Ledo Desde Morena,... Read more

The End of Solitude

By: William Deresiewicz

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 12 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

What is the Internet doing to us? What is college for? What are the myths and metaphors we live by? What is the purpose of art, and what can we learn from the past?



These are the questions that William Deresiewicz has been pursuing over the course of his award-winning career. In "The Disadvantages of an Elite Education," his viral piece from... Read more

A Place in the World

By: Frances Mayes

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 7 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A lyrical and evocative collection of personal stories from the author of Under the Tuscan Sun, in which the queen of wanderlust reflects on the comforts of home.

“Personal, warm, and lovely . . . a charming read. The book feels like a warm conversation with your most thoughtful, curious friend.”—Garden &... Read more

My Family and Other Enemies - Life and travels in Croatia's hinterland (Unabridged)

By: Mary Novakovich

Narrated by: Mary Novakovich

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

My Family and Other Enemies is part travelogue, part memoir that dives into the hinterland of Croatia. Mary Novakovich explores her ongoing relationship with the region of Lika in central Croatia, where her parents were born. 'Lika is little known to most travellers - apart from Plitvice Lakes National Park and the birthplace of Nikola Tesla'... Read more

First Ladies of Running

By: Amby Burfoot

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 11 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

Today, millions of women and girls around the world enjoy running and entering races. It wasn't always so:



● In 1961, when Julia Chase edged to the start of a Connecticut 5-miler, officials tried to push her off the road.



● At the 1966 Boston Marathon, Roberta Gibb hid behind a forsythia bush, worried that police might arrest her.



● The next year... Read more

Deshiyathayude Uthkanda - Enthanu Bharatheyatha

By: Shashi Tharoor

Narrated by: P K Vinod

Length: 17 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

ഇന്ത്യയിൽ നാമിന്നു കാണുന്ന പ്രധാന പോരാട്ടം മതത്തിലൂന്നിയ ദേശീയതയും സാംസ്‌കാരികതയിൽ ഊന്നിയ ദേശീയതയും തമ്മിലുള്ളതാണ്. ഇന്ത്യ എന്ന രാജ്യത്തിന്റെ നെടുംതൂണുകളായ ബഹുസ്വരതയും മതേതരത്വവും അട്ടിമറികളുടെ ഭീഷണിയിൽപ്പെട്ടുഴലുന്നു. ഭരണഘടനയെ ചവിട്ടടിയിലാക്കിയും ഐതിഹ്യങ്ങളെ ചരിത്രമാക്കിയും ന്യൂനപക്ഷങ്ങളെ ഭയാശങ്കരാക്കിയും മതാധിഷ്ഠിത ദേശീയത അതിന്റെ കരിനിഴൽ... Read more

Frühstück mit Elefanten

By: Gesa Neitzel

Narrated by: Gesa Neitzel

Length: 8 hours 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Gesa Neitzel wagt sich von Berlin in den Busch. Ihr Ziel: die Ausbildung zur Safari-Rangerin in Afrika. Das bedeutet fast ein Jahr in einfachen Zeltlagern. Ohne Internet, ohne Badezimmer, ohne Türen ? dafür aber mit Zebras, Erdferkeln und Skorpionen. Die Ausbildungsinhalte bestehen aus Fährtenlesen, Überlebenstraining, Schießübungen. Wie schlägt... Read more

Z, la ciudad perdida

By: David Grann

Narrated by: Javier Méndez

Length: 11 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

David Grann reconstruye en esta fascinante novela la misteriosa historia del explorador Percy Fawcett, desaparecido durante la última expedición en busca de El Dorado. Durante siglos, los europeos situaron la legendaria ciudad de El Dorado en la selva más grande y densa del mundo: la del Amazonas. La obsesión por encontrar ese paraíso dejó la... Read more

Reading the Water

By: Mark Hume

Narrated by: Jim Denison

Length: 8 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

“A father shares the joys of fly-fishing with his daughters in this eloquent memoir…[Mark] Hume vividly conveys the sensory details of their adventures and the stunning surroundings…A heartfelt, beautifully written celebration of the wonders of nature and comfort of family.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Fishing was Mark Hume’s passion since he... Read more

This Is One Way to Dance

By: Sejal Shah

Narrated by: Priya Ayyar

Length: 4 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

A powerful meditation on identity and belonging, Sejal Shah explores the tension of being both invisible and hyper-visible in a country that struggles with race. The daughter of immigrants from Indian and Kenya, Shah wrestles with her experiences growing up in—and returning to—western New York, an area of stark racial and socioeconomic... Read more

Koshersoul

By: Michael W. Twitty

Narrated by: Michael W. Twitty

Length: 9 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

The James Beard award-winning author of the acclaimed The Cooking Gene explores the cultural crossroads of Jewish and African diaspora cuisine and issues of memory, identity, and food.In Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the... Read more

Bambi Ate My Yen and Other Itchy Feet Travel Tales

By: Sam Letchworth

Narrated by: Sam Letchworth

Length: 54 minutes

Abridged: No

Have you ever wondered where horse milk vodka comes from? Or how to fight off a mob of Malaysian monkeys? Is it bad luck to wash cow poop off of your shoe? Travel vicariously with Sam across the Orient to find the funny but true answers.Sam savors every local culture he encounters much like Conan O’Brian and the late Anthony Bourdain—embracing... Read more