Essays audiobooks

See You on the Radio

By: Charles Osgood

Narrated by: Charles Osgood

Length: 3 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

Witty, wise, rueful commentaries from one of broadcasting's funniest, most stylish writers and newsmen.



"Charles Osgood is one of the best writers in America today, any form or medium," says Dan Rather, and Jim Lehrer concurs, "He is a special mind and voice in a business where his kind is rare—and cherished." No one writes quite the way he... Read more

The Dog Says How

By: Kevin Kling

Narrated by: Kevin Kling

Length: 3 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

A popular storyteller and National Public Radio commentator weaves scenes of childhood antics and adult absurdities into tales that provoke laughter—and elicit tears.

Kevin Kling is a master storyteller, as anyone knows who has seen him perform or heard him on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Drawing on his memories—an eventful... Read more

NPR Funniest Driveway Moments

By: NPR

Length: 2 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Selected from the National Public Radio archives, these stories by some of NPR's favorite commentators will keep listeners laughing.



A "driveway moment" is when you're so captivated by a story on NPR that you stay in your car to hear it to the end—even if you're sitting in your own driveway. Some are serious, some are touching, and some, like the... Read more

NPR Driveway Moments Baseball

By: NPR

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Stories from the National Public Radio archives honor America's national pastime.<



Stories so compelling you'll stay in your car to hear them through—even if you're sitting in your own driveway. Peabody-winning Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan presents tales about the big leagues and the little, the fans in the stands, the players, the... Read more

NPR Road Trips: Postcards from Around the Globe

By: NPR

Length: 1 hour 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Meet Colin Angus and Julie Wafael, who spent two years circumnavigating the globe using their hands and feet. Turn on the radio in Katmandu and hear music from the 70s. Learn how robot jockeys are solving a human rights problem in Dubai. (It has to do with camel races.) Get ready for carnival in Rio. And walk through old Beijing before it’s... Read more

Home on the Prairie

By: Garrison Keillor

Length: 4 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

The latest in a line of bestselling collections that began with News from Lake Wobegon, this set selects monologues from four years (1999-2002) of live radio programs. Some were broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theatre, the show's St. Paul home. Others were recorded on the road in Dublin, Pasadena, Grand Forks, and other exotic places. Read more

NPR Driveway Moments Dog Tales

By: NPR

Length: 2 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Dog lovers will delight in this audio celebration of the canine character. From our earliest encounters with Lassie, to the magical moments we share with our own imperfect but thoroughly lovable companions, dogs have become an integral part of our culture and beloved members of our family. NPR proudly presents these tales of unforgettable... Read more

NPR Driveway Moments All About Animals

By: NPR

Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

Abridged: No

What’s a “driveway moment”? It’s when you’re so captivated by a story you’re hearing on NPR that you stay in your car to hear it to the end—even if you’re sitting in your driveway with the motor running. For years, listeners have written to NPR to describe such moments. Now animal lovers especially will want to make sure their tanks are... Read more

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

By: NPR

Length: 2 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is NPR’s weekly hour-long quiz program. Each week on the radio listeners test their knowledge against a panel of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world: Adam Felber; Roy Blount, Jr.; Paula Poundstone; Mo Rocca; Roxanne Roberts; Charlie Pierce; and others.
 
This two-disk set features highlights from... Read more

The Earth Moved

By: Amy Stewart

Narrated by: Heather Henderson

Length: 6 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

They destroy plant diseases. They break down toxins. They plough the earth. They transform forests. They’ve survived two mass extinctions, including the one that wiped out the dinosaur. Not bad for a creature that’s deaf, blind, and spineless. Who knew that earthworms were one of our planet’s most important caretakers? Or that Charles Darwin... Read more

NPR More Funniest Driveway Moments

By: NPR

Length: 2 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Most NPR listeners have experienced at least one “driveway moment”: You’re so captivated by a story, interview, or essay you’re hearing on the radio that you sit in your driveway, motor running, to hear it all the way through. Even if the ice cream is melting in the trunk. 
 
The latest collection of this best-selling series features memorable... Read more

NPR Classic Driveway Moments

By: NPR

Length: 2 hours

Abridged: No

Presented together for the first time, here are the very first, and very best, definitive listener favorites that came to be known as Driveway Moments: the classic, spellbinding stories that keep getting better with repeated listening, selected from the National Public Radio archives. These tales were first heard on Morning Edition, All Things... Read more

NPR Laughter Therapy

By: NPR

Length: 2 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Looking for an alternative to the seriously reliable, soothing yet informative sound of NPR? Try NPR!

Prepare to be surprised by this collection of interviews with some of the funniest personalities on the planet, and by the memorable, unbelievable news that delights NPR listeners on the 1st of April each year. 

Interviews include: Charlie... Read more

Artful

By: Ali Smith

Narrated by: Ali Smith

Length: 4 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In 2012, Ali Smith delivered the Weidenfeld lectures on European comparative literature at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. Those lectures, presented here, took the shape of discursive stories that refused to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form. Thus, Artful is narrated by a character who is haunted—literally—by a former lover, the... Read more

The Longest Road

By: Philip Caputo

Narrated by: Pete Larkin

Length: 11 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

September 1996 found Philip Caputo on Barter Island, a wind-scoured rock in the Beaufort Sea populated by two hundred Inupiat and a handful of whites. As he gazed upon an American flag above the only school for a hundred and fifty miles, he marveled that the children in that school pledged allegiance to the same flag as the children of Cuban... Read more

Amazing Gracie

By: Mark Beckloff & Dan Dye

Narrated by: Henry Leyva

Length: 5 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

It was love at first sight. Amid the frenzied barking and prancing of a house full of Great Danes, one pup was shivering in the corner. Gracie. But when Dan Dye reached her, she struggled to her feet like a clumsy foal, raised her forehead to his, and announced, as clearly as if she had actually spoken the words, You know I'm the one. Now get me... Read more

Lake Wobegon Family Reunion

By: Garrison Keillor

Length: 4 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

Garrison Keillor has been delighting audiences for four decades now with heartfelt, moving, and downright hilarious tales from the shores of Lake Wobegon. Here, for the first time ever, News from Lake Wobegon monologues from the entire history of “the little town on the edge of the prairie” are presented in one collection. From early fan... Read more

Lost and Found Sound and Beyond

By: Jay Allison & The Kitchen Sisters

Length: 2 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

The second volume of the LOST & FOUND SOUND collection explores how recorded sound has shaped and captured the history of the last 100 years. Drawing from the archives and attics of the nation, this historic and intimate collection of radio documentaries presents a compelling array of sonic pioneers and legends, eccentric collectors, and... Read more

NPR Laughter Therapy: Funny for a Living

By: NPR

Length: 3 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

This extended session of Laughter Therapy explores the history of all things funny, presenting a cornucopia of comedy from the pioneers of vaudeville and the silent film era, to the wildly creative innovators that transformed television in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, to the modern practitioners that continue to bend the boundaries of comedy... Read more

Meet Me in Atlantis

By: Mark Adams

Narrated by: Andrew Garman

Length: 10 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

The New York Times bestselling author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu sets out to uncover the truth behind the legendary lost city of Atlantis. A few years ago, Mark Adams made a strange discovery: Everything we know about the lost city of Atlantis comes from the work of one man, the Greek philosopher Plato. Then he made a second, stranger... Read more

Turn Right at Machu Picchu

By: Mark Adams

Narrated by: Andrew Garman

Length: 10 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

What happens when an unadventurous adventure writer tries to re-create the original expedition to Machu Picchu? In 1911, Hiram Bingham III climbed into the Andes Mountains of Peru and "discovered" Machu Picchu. While history has recast Bingham as a villain who stole both priceless artifacts and credit for finding the great archeological site,... Read more

The Father of All Things

By: Tom Bissell

Narrated by: Kerin McCue

Length: 16 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

In his fourth book, journalist and fiction writer Bissell (Chasing the Sea) revisits the much-trodden territory of the Vietnam War to offer a fresh perspective: that of the adult children of the war's veterans. On assignment for GQ magazine, Bissell and his ex-Marine father, John, retrace the elder Bissell's tour of duty through a now mostly... Read more

The World According to Bob

By: James Bowen

Narrated by: Kristopher Milnes

Length: 6 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Cat lovers around the world embraced the New York Times bestselling heartwarming true story of James Bowen and A Street Cat Named Bob. Now, the busker and his feline friend are back in The World According to Bob: The Further Adventures of One Man and His Streetwise Cat—a touching and true sequel about one man and the cat that changed his life.

As... Read more

A Cat Abroad

By: Peter Gethers

Narrated by: David Laundra

Length: 7 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

From the incomporable Peter Gethers comes true-life adventure featuring the author and his Scottish Fold feline, Norton-seasoned world-traveler and renowned ice-cream critic. Whether it is the trademark flattened ears of his breed or the personality quirks individual to Norton, this cat has an uncanny knack for attracting celebrity attention.... Read more