Nonfiction audiobooks

The Puzzler

By: A.J. Jacobs

Narrated by: A.J. Jacobs

Length: 9 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world.

What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their... Read more

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire

By: Alice Walker

Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis, Walker & Janina Edwards

Length: 22 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize­–winning author Alice Walker and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and women’s activist, and intellectual.

For the first time, the... Read more

Vagina Obscura

By: Rachel E. Gross

Narrated by: Siho Ellsmore

Length: 10 hours 50 minutes

Abridged: No

A scientific journey to the center of the new female body.

The Latin term for the female genitalia, pudendum, means “parts for which you should be ashamed.” Until 1651, ovaries were called female testicles. The fallopian tubes are named for a man. Named, claimed, and shamed: Welcome to the story of the female body, as penned by men.

Today, a new... Read more

Tell Me Everything

By: Erika Krouse

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

Length: 9 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

"Highly recommended on audio for listeners seeking true-crime with a focus on structural inequities, survivors, and artfully crafted narratives." -- Booklist

“The best story I’ve read in a long, long time." —Lacy Crawford, author of Notes on a Silencing

“Krouse’s vivid and original memoir is state of the art. Tell Me Everything is our new... Read more

The Bald Eagle

By: Jack E. Davis

Narrated by: Dan John Miller

Length: 15 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf, a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America.

The bald eagle is regal but fearless, a bird you’re not inclined to argue with. For centuries, Americans have celebrated it as “majestic” and “noble,” yet savaged the living bird behind their national symbol as a malicious... Read more

The Other Dr. Gilmer

By: Benjamin Gilmer

Narrated by: Benjamin Gilmer

Length: 9 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A “mesmerizing” (The New York Times Book Review) true story about a shocking crime and a mysterious illness that will forever change your notions of how we punish and how we heal—an expansion on one of the most popular This American Life episodes of all time

“A remarkable medical detective story–cum–memoir,... Read more

Scoundrel

By: Sarah Weinman

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

Length: 9 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

A Recommended Read from: The Los Angeles Times * Town and Country * The Seattle Times * Publishers Weekly * Lit Hub * Crime Reads * AlmaFrom the author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts, the astonishing story of a murderer who conned the people around him—including conservative thinker William F. Buckley—into helping set him... Read more

Go Back to Where You Came From

By: Wajahat Ali

Narrated by: Wajahat Ali

Length: 8 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but now an unaffordable place to live? Or
Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century... Read more

I Came All This Way to Meet You

By: Jami Attenberg

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 6 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Named a Best Book of the Year by: Time * New Yorker * Sunday Times (UK)From New York Times bestselling author Jami Attenberg comes a dazzling memoir about unlocking and embracing her creativity—and how it saved her life. In this brilliant, fierce, and funny memoir of transformation, Jami Attenberg—described as a “master of modern fiction”... Read more

Black Cowboys of the Old West

By: Tricia Martineau Wagner

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 4 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

The word cowboy conjures up vivid images of rugged men on saddled horses—men lassoing cattle, riding bulls, or brandishing guns in a shoot-out. White men, as Hollywood remembers them. What is woefully missing from these scenes is their counterparts: the black cowboys who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and rodeo riders. This book tells their... Read more

The How

By: Yrsa Daley-Ward

Narrated by: Yrsa Daley-Ward

Length: 2 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

From the acclaimed poet behind bone, an exploration of how we can meet our truest selves, the ones we've always been meant to become

Yrsa Daley-Ward's words have resonated with hundreds of thousands of readers--through her books of poetry and memoir, bone and The Terrible; through her writing for Beyoncé on Black Is King; and through her always... Read more

Hooked

By: Sutton Foster

Narrated by: Sutton Foster

Length: 7 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

From the 2-time Tony Award-winner and the star of TV’s Younger, funny and intimate stories and reflections about how crafting has kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love, and show business (and how it can help you, too).

Whether she’s playing an “age-defying” book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the... Read more

You Got Anything Stronger?

By: Gabrielle Union

Narrated by: Gabrielle Union

Length: 8 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

“Funny, tender, and so good.” —Mindy Kaling, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Why Not Me?Remember when we hit it off so well that we decided We’re Going to Need More Wine? Well, this time you and I are going to turn to our friend the bartender and ask, You Got Anything Stronger? I promise to continue to make you laugh, but with this... Read more

Black Nerd Problems

By: William Evans & Omar Holmon

Narrated by: William Evans & Omar Holmon

Length: 7 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

The creators of the popular website Black Nerd Problems bring their witty and unflinching insight to this engaging collection of pop culture essays—on everything from Mario Kart to issues of representation—that “will fill you with joy and give you hope for the future of geek culture” (Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

When... Read more

Into the Forest

By: Rebecca Frankel

Narrated by: Natalie Pela

Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

This program features a bonus chapter of the author's preliminary research interviews with the sisters featured in the book.

"An uplifting tale, suffused with a karmic righteousness that is, at times, exhilarating." —Wall Street Journal

Rebecca Frankel's Into the Forest is a gripping story of love, escape, and survival, from wartime Poland to a... Read more

Slonim Woods 9

By: Daniel Barban Levin

Narrated by: Jay Myers

Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

An “extraordinary” (Nylon) firsthand account of the creation of a modern cult and the costs paid by its young victims: a group of college roommates
 
“Intense . . . [a tale] of hard-won survival, and creating a life after the unimaginable.”—Salon

The inspiration for the Hulu docuseries Stolen Youth, directed by Zach Heinzerling and co-produced by... Read more

Misfits

By: Michaela Coel

Narrated by: Michaela Coel

Length: 1 hour 35 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by the author

"Coel's background as an actor helps her shine in this intimate portrayal of an admirable person who, one senses, is just getting started." - AudioFile Magazine

From the brilliant mind of Michaela Coel, creator and star of I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum and a Royal Society of Literature fellow, comes a... Read more

Everything I Have Is Yours

By: Eleanor Henderson

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

Length: 12 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

"Vacker's insightful presentation introduces listeners to this debilitating disease and its effects on marriage and family." - AudioFile Magazine

From New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Henderson comes a turbulent love story meets harrowing medical mystery: the true story of the author’s twenty-year marriage defined by her husband’s... Read more

Below the Edge of Darkness

By: Edith Widder, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Allyson Ryan

Length: 11 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

A pioneering marine biologist takes us down into the deep ocean to understand bioluminescence—the language of light that helps life communicate in the darkness—and what it tells us about the future of life on Earth in this “thrilling blend of hard science and high adventure” (The New York Times Book Review). 

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE... Read more

Seek You

By: Kristen Radtke

Narrated by: Kristen Radtke

Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

Abridged: No

From the acclaimed author of Imagine Wanting Only This—a timely and moving meditation on isolation and longing, both as individuals and as a society. • One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021

There is a silent epidemic in America: loneliness. Shameful to talk about and often misunderstood, loneliness is everywhere, from the most major of... Read more

The Woman They Could Not Silence

By: Kate Moore

Narrated by: Kate Moore

Length: 14 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

From the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Radium Girls comes another dark and dramatic but ultimately uplifting tale of a forgotten woman whose inspirational journey sparked lasting change for women’s rights and exposed injustices that still resonate today.1860: As the clash between the states rolls... Read more

When the Stars Begin to Fall

By: Theodore R. Johnson

Narrated by: Theodore R. Johnson

Length: 9 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

A bold, thought-provoking pathway to the national solidarity that could, finally, address the ills of racism in America

“Racism is an existential threat to America,” Theodore R. Johnson declares at the start of his profound and exhilarating book. It is a refutation of the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution that all men and women are... Read more

The 2000s Made Me Gay

By: Grace Perry

Narrated by: Grace Perry

Length: 8 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by the author.

From The Onion and Reductress contributor, this collection of essays is a hilarious nostalgic trip through beloved 2000s media, interweaving cultural criticism and personal narrative to examine how a very straight decade forged a very queer woman.

"Honest, funny, smart, and illuminating.” —Anna Drezen, co-head... Read more

Running Out

By: Lucas Bessire

Narrated by: John Chancer

Length: 6 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Finalist for the National Book Award This audiobook narrated by John Chancer recounts an intimate reckoning with aquifer depletion in America's heartland The Ogallala aquifer has nourished life on the American Great Plains for millennia. But less than a century of unsustainable irrigation farming has taxed much of the aquifer beyond repair.... Read more