When appropriate, audiobooks are a great alternative to reading. Consuming a book in this way may also serve as a type of screening process. Books may be consumed again through reading with intent to analyze its content.
The following documents the states I’m at with various audiobooks. I include formal audio programs here too. This listening was started sometime in early 2016 but really kicked into gear that summer.
I routinely return here to complete entries and their summaries.
Legend:
📢 The Happiness Hypothesis. Jonathan Haidt. 2007.
The Talent Code. Dan Coyle. 2009.
Tribes. Seth Godin. 2008.
Ego is the Enemy. Ryan Holiday. 2016. 👍
Willpower. Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney. 2001. 👍
Total: 7
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart. Gordon Livington. 2008. 👍
How To Talk to Anyone. Leil Lowndes. 2003.
The Little Book of Talent. Daniel Coyle. 2012.
Thinking, Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahneman. 2011.
Drive. Daniel H. Pink. 2009.
Peak. Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool. 2016. 👍
The Obstacle Is the Way. Ryan Holiday. 2014. 👍
Total: 12
Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want. Nicholas Epley. People aren’t thinking about me afterall! A bit informal as I would have preferred more concrete references to studies.
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. William Irvine. The beginning is heavy on the history, but I enjoy that sort of thing. The practical stuff eventually come into focused. A thorough introduction on applied stoicism.
The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life. Thomas M. Sterner 2012. I listened to this twice as well. I really liked this one. 👍
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. Pema Chodron. 2007. I listened to this twice. 👍
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Angela Duckworth. 2016. Enjoyed this book. A little long but the insights are very important.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Mark Manson. 2016. This was a short but powerful book that reminded me of some things I’ve seem to forgotten lately. Funny too. The conclusion reminded me of my last close-encounter with death, so that hit particularly hard.
Getting to Yes. Roger Fisher & William Ury. 2011. 👍 ✏️
The Last Lecture. Randy Pausch. 2008. This was a nice book. Recommended.
Antifragile. Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 2012. The author rambles at times, and he clearly does not like academics, but the concept of something being antifragile is profound and worth learning and meditating on.
The Goal. Eliyahu Goldratt. A great didactic story regarding the Socratic method and the Theory of Constraints. Since this audiobook used actors it was especially entertaining. 👍
Freakonomics. Steven Levitt. As the authors mention, there is no unifying theme in this book, other than compounding evidence that data is capable of providing deep insight into anything, and that this insight many times demonstrates what we assume and rationalize and reason to be correct is absolutely wrong. Eye-opening. 👍
Outliers. Malcom Gladwell. Great book that argues that people with tremendous success have unique opportunities to work really hard, and that this combination was made possible by a community. The quadrant created by the work and opportunity variables is important to understand. How often have you made the most of a special opportunity? Did you even realize it as such? This book shun some light on my childhood and implicitly answers the question of why mentorship has been hard to come by. It does not necessarily answer how to shape your circumstances but it does support the fact that this is key. Recommended. 👍
Total: 43
The Effective Executive. Peter Drucker. 2006. I feel I need to relisten to this book at a later time. Several suggestions are counter-intuitive. (Relistened in 2017 Q1).
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. John C. Maxwell. 1998. This book was excellent. It should probably be the first book you acquire on leadership as it introduces various concepts that other books tend to select from and go deeper on. I’ll definitely be looking into Maxwell’s body of work. 👍 ✏️
Deep Work. Cal Newport. 2016. Cal does not like social media! I agree with him, and had already banned active social media before listening to his book. It started off slowly (and a bit pretentiously – the narrator didn’t help) but the book definitely improves. I did not need convincing about the importance of deep work, but he supports why it is essential for one to get anywhere meaningful.
A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra). Barbara Oakley. 2014-07-31. Applications on how to learn. Emphasis on STEM but applicable to all knowledge. Every student should read/listen to this book. 🔥 👍 ✏️
Genome. Matt Ridley. 1999. 👍
Get the Edge. Tony Robbins. 2000.
MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom. Tony Robbins. 2014. 🔥 👍 ✏️
Work Rules!. Laszlo Bock. 2015.
The War of Art. Steven Pressfield. 2002. 👍 🔥
The Art of Learning. Josh Waitzkin. 2014-04-01. Great autobiography but not what I thought I was going to get.
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. John Medina. 2014-04-22. 👍 ✏️
The 4-Hour Body. Tim Ferris. 2010.
So Good They Can’t Ignore You. Cal Newport. 2012-09-18. 👍 🔥
Communicate what you Think. Earl Nightingale. 👍
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen R. Covey. 2004.✏️
Super Rich. Russel Simmons. 2010. Narrated by Black Ice, whose voice expresses conviction well. The topics in this book by “Uncle Rush” may surprise you: spirituality, meditation, veganism, etc. I liked it and encouraged me to take up mediation again.
The Essence of Success. Earl Nightingale. 1989. Essentially the best of Earl Nightingale with volumes grouped together by topic spanning his entire collection of recordings. It’s great to hear the changes in his voice and personality as he got older. 👍
Good to Great. Jim Collins. July 13, 2010.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Robert Kiyosaki. 1997.
The Lean Startup. Eric Ries. 2011-09. Anyone starting a business should read this book. 👍 ✏️
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. Simon Sinek. 2014-01-07. Fantastic book that unexpectedly touched upon my interests in neurochemistry. 👍
Rework. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. 2010-03. Short and to the point which is part of their philosophy. 👍
The 4-Hour Workweek (Expanded and Updated). Timothy Ferris. 2009-12. Not so much a wake-up call as a hard-hitting reminder. Thanks Tim. 🔥 ✏️
How to Win Friends and Influence People. Dale Carnegie. 1937. Classic that deserves study and continued practice. I enjoyed this narrator. 👍 ✏️
Soft Skills. John Sonmez. 2014-12. The title is misleading but in a surprisingly good way. This is not a professional inter-personal relationship help book - it’s a condensed career and lifestyle how-to. Extremely practical with many suggestions that I know work from personal experience. Vast majority of book is applicable to everyone, not just software developers. Fans of Tim Ferris may enjoy this. 👍 ✏️
How To Lie With Statistics. Darrell Huff. 1954.
Grow Rich Now! Napolean Hill. This was a recording of one of his seminars.
Who Moved My Cheese?. Spencer Johnson. 1998-09-08. Short but important didactic story regarding change. 👍
In Defense of Food. Michael Pollan. 2009-04-28. 👍
On Negotiating. Mark H. McCormack. 1997-05. ✏️
How Champions Think. Bob Rotella. 2016-05. 👍
The One Minute Networker. Bryan Thayer. 2005-11-01. Enthusiastic narrator. Enjoyable. 👍
The One Minute Manager. Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson. 2015-05-05.
As a Man Thinketh (Earl Nightingale Edit). Originally by James Allen. This recording introduced me to both James Allen and Earl Nightingale. Listening to this was a life-altering event. I have re-listened to it dozens of times and continue to do so every few weeks. I give it my absolute highest recommendation. Also see As a Man Thinketh (1903). 👍👍👍 🔥🔥🔥
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Clayton M. Christensen. 2011-10-04.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Patrick Lencioni. 2002-04. 👍
The Hard Thing About Hard Things. Ben Horowitz. 2014-03-04. 👍
How Google Works. Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg. 2014-09-23.
High Output Management. Andrew S. Grove. 1983. This is an audio program based on the book. 👍
Mastery. Robert Greene. 2013-10-29. Despite the popularity of The 48 Laws of Power I consider this to be his best work. It encouraged me to begin a rigorous self-apprenticeship, of which these audiobooks are a part of. I only wish I heard something like this 20 years ago. 👍 ✏️
The 33 Strategies of War. Robert Greene. 2007-12-14. ✏️
The Art of Seduction. Robert Greene. 2004-04-01. ✏️
The 48 Laws of Power. Robert Greene. 2000-09-01. 👍 ✏️
Build to Last. Jim Collins. Authors comment that Good to Great should be read/heard first. I started this book but feel I may not truly appreciate it yet.
Psycho-Cybernetics. Maxwell Maltz.
It’s Not Just Who You Know. Tommy Spaulding. 2010.
Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To. Sian Beilock. 2011.
Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most. Hendrie Weisinger & J.P. Pawliw-Fry. 2015.
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever. Michael Bungay Stanier. 2016.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Simon Sinek. 2010.
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win. Jocko Willink & Leif Babin. 2015.
The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure. Grant Cardone. 2011.
The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Anything. Daniel Coyle.
The Tao of Seneca. Was not “feeling” narrator. Perhaps better to be read.