Essays audiobooks

The Cloud Forest

By: Peter Matthiessen

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 9 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

For twenty thousand miles, Peter Matthiessen crisscrossed the South American wilderness, traveling from the Amazonian rain forests to Machu Picchu high in the Andes, down to the edge of the world at Tierra del Fuego and back. In the course of his journey, he followed the trails of old explorers; encountered river bandits, wild tribesmen, and the... Read more

The Tree Where Man Was Born

By: Peter Matthiessen

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Length: 9 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

In this classic volume, Peter Matthiessen exquisitely combines nature and travel writing to bring East Africa to vivid life. He skillfully and magically portrays the sights, scenes, and people he observed firsthand in several trips over the course of a dozen years: the daily lives of herdsmen and hunter-gatherers; the drama of the predator... Read more

Intellectuals and Society

By: Thomas Sowell

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 11 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: No

This title offers a withering and clear-eyed critique about—but not for—intellectuals that explores their impact on public opinion, policy, and society at large.The thesis ofIntellectuals and Societystates that the influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by... Read more

Making Rounds with Oscar

By: David Dosa

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 6 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

An otherwise ordinary cat—he’d sooner give you his back or a sideways glance than curl up on your lap—Oscar has the uncanny ability to predict when people are about to die. Adopted by staff members at Steere House nursing home when he was a kitten, the three-year-old tabby has presided over the deaths of more than twenty-five nursing home... Read more

Scent of the Missing

By: Susannah Charleson

Narrated by: Susannah Charleson

Length: 10 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson clipped a photo from the newspaper: an exhausted canine handler, face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. A dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, Susannah was so moved by the image that she decided to volunteer with a local canine team and soon discovered... Read more

The Lost Dogs

By: Jim Gorant

Narrated by: Richard Powers

Length: 10 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

This is an inspiring story of survival and our powerful bond with man’s best friend in the aftermath of the nation’s most notorious case of animal cruelty.Animal lovers and sports fans were shocked when the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick’s brutal dogfighting operation. But what became of the dozens of dogs who survived? As acclaimed... Read more

To Save America

By: Newt Gingrich

Narrated by: Newt Gingrich & Callista Gingrich

Length: 9 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

In his blockbuster book To Save America, former Speaker of the House and bestselling author Newt Gingrich issues a dire warning for America. Gingrich argues that the big-spending, big-government programs and bureaucracies of the secular socialist Left are the greatest threat to our nation’s survival since the Civil War. By spending more than we... Read more

The Bullpen Gospels

By: Dirk Hayhurst

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 10 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

From the humble heights of a Class-A pitcher's mound to the deflating lows of sleeping on his gun-toting grandmother's air mattress, veteran reliever Dirk Hayhurst steps out of the bullpen to deliver the best pitch of his career—a raw and unflinching account of his life in the minor leagues. Whether training tarantulas to protect his room from... Read more

Exploration Fawcett

By: P. H. Fawcett

Narrated by: Robin Sachs

Length: 15 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

The mystic and legendary British explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett disappeared in the unknown and unexplored territory of Brazil’s Mato Grosso in 1925. For ten years he had wandered the forests and death-filled rivers in search of a fabled lost city. Finally, convinced that he had discovered the location, he set out for the last time with... Read more

Life on the Mississippi

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 13 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

The Mississippi River, known as “America’s river,” and Mark Twain are practically synonymous in American culture. The popularity of Twain’s steamboat and steamboat pilot on the ever-changing Mississippi has endured for over a century.A brilliant amalgam of remembrance and reportage, by turns satiric, celebratory, nostalgic, and melancholy, Life... Read more

Cardboard Gods

By: Josh Wilker

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Cardboard Gods is the memoir of Josh Wilker, a brilliant writer who has marked the stages of his life through the baseball cards he collected as a child. It also captures the experience of growing up obsessed with baseball cards and explores what it means to be a fan of the game. Along the way, as we get to know Josh, his family, and his... Read more

Disaster Preparedness

By: Heather Havrilesky

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 7 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

This is a stunningly perceptive, hilarious memoir of the transformative humiliation of childhood—and adulthood—from a truly original, already beloved voice.When Heather Havrilesky was a kid in the seventies, it seemed there were only disaster movies. Burning towers, devouring earthquakes, careening airliners, alien pod invasions. To be prepared,... Read more

Walking Wisdom

By: Gotham Chopra & Deepak Chopra

Narrated by: Gotham Chopra

Length: 6 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

As far back as he can remember, every day of his life someone has asked Gotham Chopra what it was like to have Deepak Chopra as a father. They wanted to know if Gotham is a master practitioner of the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, whether he is in Perfect Health, if he meditates all day—in short, if he lives the perfect spiritual life. The... Read more

The Innocents Abroad

By: Mark Twain

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 18 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

In June 1867, Mark Twain set out for Europe and the Holy Land on the paddle steamer Quaker City. His enduring, no-nonsense guide for the first-time traveler also served as an antidote to the insufferably romantic travel books of the period.“Who could read the programme for the excursion without longing to make one of the party?”So Mark Twain... Read more

Idiot America

By: Charles P. Pierce

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 9 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

The culture wars are over and the idiots have won. This is a veteran journalist's caustically funny, righteously angry lament about the glorification of ignorance in the United States.The three Great Premises of Idiot America:– Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units. – Anything can be true if someone... Read more

Socrates in the City

By: Eric Metaxas

Narrated by: Eric Metaxas & the contributing authors

Length: 14 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

Following the extraordinary success of the New York Times bestseller Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas’ latest book offers inspirational and intellectually rigorous thoughts about the great questions surrounding us all today.The Greek philosopher Socrates famously said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Taking this as a starting point, Eric... Read more

To Jerusalem and Back

By: Saul Bellow

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Length: 7 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

This extraordinary book is the result of Saul Bellow’s sojourn in Israel in 1975. A personal record of his stay—his experiences and impressions—as well as a meditation, it crackles with wit and controversy on America’s relationship with this embattled country.Using quick sketches and vignettes, Bellow captures the personal opinions, passions,... Read more

No Buddy Left Behind

By: Terri Crisp

Narrated by: Nicole Vilencia

Length: 8 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

Includes bonus photographs!The love of a dog or cat helps heal soldiers’ emotional trauma. One very special woman and program reunites them after the war.“I have sacrificed a lot to serve my country. All that I ask is to be allowed to bring home the incredible dog that wandered into my life here in Iraq and prevented me from becoming terribly... Read more

The Thomas Sowell Reader

By: Thomas Sowell

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 14 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of half a century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell’s letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines. The topics range from late-talking children to... Read more

The Indispensable Milton Friedman

By: Lanny Ebenstein

Narrated by: Traber Burns

Length: 8 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

Milton Friedman is one of the most famous economists in history. His writings and theories on everything from capitalism and freedom to deregulation and welfare have inspired movements, influenced government policies, and changed the course of America’s economic history. Now, acclaimed Friedman biographer Lanny Ebenstein brings together twenty... Read more

Ender’s World

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Orson Scott Card, Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de...

Length: 7 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is a classic of science fiction. Though it began its life as a short story, it was later expanded into a Hugo and Nebula Award–winning novel, served as a springboard for a much larger universe of stories, and finally, has been made into a feature film.In Ender's World over a dozen writers of science fiction,... Read more

Paris, Paris

By: David Downie

Narrated by: Max Winter

Length: 9 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Swapping his native San Francisco for the City of Light, travel writer David Downie arrived in Paris in 1986 on a one-way ticket, his head full of romantic notions. Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an unheated, seventh-floor walk-up garret near the Champs-├ëlys├®es to the old Montmartre haunts of the... Read more

C. S. Lewis

By: C. S. Lewis

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 38 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

This is an extensive collection of short essays and other pieces by C. S. Lewis that have been brought together in one volume for the first time. As well as his many books, letters, and poems, Lewis also wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but... Read more

That’s Not Funny, That’s Sick

By: Ellin Stein

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

Length: 15 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: No

The untold story behind a revolution in American comedyLabor Day, 1969. Two recent college graduates move to New York to edit a new magazine called the National Lampoon. Over the next decade, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, along with a loose amalgamation of fellow satirists such as Michael O'Donoghue and P. J. O'Rourke, popularized a smart,... Read more