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I just finished The Game-Players of Titan by Philip K Dick. It's one of his more lucid and coherent stories (that's not saying much, natch) but the narrator puts it over the top, holy poo poo he does a great job not just with character voices but also with a general tone of "you're listening to some weird but oddly soothing drug-fueled mindfuck". Plus it's only like $7.
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Jun 19, 2016 19:24
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| # ? May 14, 2024 12:08 |
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There's a 2-for-1 Great Courses sale on Audible this week. I was wondering if anyone has the course on the Vikings by Kenneth W. Harl. I have his series on Alexander the Great but honestly found his delivery very dry and rushed with lots of "uhs" and "ums" thrown in. Just wondering if I'd be in for more of the same since it's a subject I'd like to learn more about, but I'd rather wait if his delivery didn't change much from the Alexander series. Any other recommendations for History Great Courses series are welcome. So far I've got The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World (my favorite series to date), History's Greatest Voyages, Food: A Cultural Culinary History, and the aforementioned Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire.
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Jun 20, 2016 16:53
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I've got most of Harl's stuff. I've even bought the Vikings one for my youngest brother, and for a friend of mine.   From what I understand, these are actual in-class lectures (you can occasionally hear laughter in some of them), so it doesn't surprise me if they're not "studio quality" in their delivery.
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Jun 20, 2016 17:06
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I found The Other Side of History to be a little light on content, but I prefer my history to get super in-depth. And, to be fair, a lot of the historical periods covered in that lecture are really short on sources, so the lecturer did a great job with the tools he had. I really enjoyed The Medieval World by Dorsey Armstrong. I found her voice and cadence super easy to listen to, although she focused a good deal on England and Western Europe, skipping a good deal of what was going on Italy, Eastern Europe, and the Arab world. The other series I'm about halfway done with, and really enjoying (despite some minor niggles on how the professor refers to things like using "Catholicism" for the early Christian church) is Philip Daileader's Middle Ages series - The Early Middle Ages, The High Middle Ages, and The Late Middle Ages. The Early Middle Ages especially is a great overview of the transition of the late Roman Empire into the early medieval period. It's the best I've read / heard on the period outside of Peter Heather's The Fall of the Roman Empire and The Restoration of Rome (which are not Great Courses).
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Jun 20, 2016 19:32
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They just added one called The Black Death by Dorsey Armstrong which is really good too if that interests you. I really like her lectures.
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Jun 20, 2016 19:36
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Happy Hedonist posted:They just added one called The Black Death by Dorsey Armstrong which is really good too if that interests you. I really like her lectures. Oh hell yes. Edit: does the sale apply to using your Audible credits? Because that would get me to sign back up. Peas and Rice fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Jun 20, 2016 |
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Jun 20, 2016 19:39
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Where is this sale because it's not showing up for me.
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Jun 22, 2016 19:23
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Peas and Rice posted:Oh hell yes. It's two courses for one credit. Edit: Looks like it ended; I can't find it anymore.
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Jun 22, 2016 19:47
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Ends tomorrow at midnight. Most of the time you can't see Audible deals unless you have at least one credit available.
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Jun 22, 2016 20:52
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Click on the brain: It only applies to the lectures in the promo, not all of them; and it doesn't work via Wishlist or the actual book webpages. You will need at least one credit to even view the list, as well.
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Jun 22, 2016 21:19
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I picked up Harl's Vikings lecture and another one about the Gilded Age. My next credit becomes available at midnight on the 24th - one minute after this sale ends  MeatwadIsGod fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Jun 23, 2016 |
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Jun 23, 2016 14:10
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MeatwadIsGod posted:The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World Wanted to chime in that this is pretty good, though yeah it's kinda light on facts and content and heavy on "imagine yourself as a medieval nun" (seriously the dude is obsessed with medieval nuns).
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Jul 9, 2016 02:10
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I was browsing around Audible and noticed one of my favorite history books, Venice: A New History, is on sale for $5.49. It's a fantastic overview of 1600 years of Venetian history, government, art, and culture.
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Jul 13, 2016 21:54
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Can anyone speak to the quality of the Burroughs stuff on Audible? I'd like to at least go back to Junky and Queer but I'm pretty picky about narrators. Also wondering about his Cowboy Trilogy since I never really read those very thoroughly.
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Jul 14, 2016 00:44
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I signed up for audible because there is a bunch of books I own on kindle that I wanted to sync with my audiobooks. I was wondering about what people here prefer in terms of listening to their audiobooks on their android platforms: is it better to listen to them within the kindle app or the audible app? From trying within the kindle app the sync was much faster and precise (actually pointing out the word it stopped on), but for whatever reason it also seemed to take a lot more space on my phone and the controls seemed a little bit harder to manage while driving (smaller icons, more steps to open them, etc.)
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Aug 1, 2016 00:02
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precision posted:Can anyone speak to the quality of the Burroughs stuff on Audible? I'd like to at least go back to Junky and Queer but I'm pretty picky about narrators. Also wondering about his Cowboy Trilogy since I never really read those very thoroughly. I haven't listened to them, but usually if the narrator is obnoxious or bad you can tell from the sample that audible provides. also if you haven't used your refunds yet its easy enough to return the books within like a year, though if you have used your refunds you might have to talk to somebody at audible. joepinetree posted:I signed up for audible because there is a bunch of books I own on kindle that I wanted to sync with my audiobooks. I was wondering about what people here prefer in terms of listening to their audiobooks on their android platforms: is it better to listen to them within the kindle app or the audible app? From trying within the kindle app the sync was much faster and precise (actually pointing out the word it stopped on), but for whatever reason it also seemed to take a lot more space on my phone and the controls seemed a little bit harder to manage while driving (smaller icons, more steps to open them, etc.) I also haven't used the kindle app since I almost exclusively listen to books or read them on paper, but I keep an audible widget on my android home screen and the buttons are kinda small but if i hit play it will load up and start playing the book I left off and I have been very happy with the ease of use with the audible app. buttons are easy to see and far enough apart that I don't fat finger things.
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Aug 1, 2016 00:24
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precision posted:Can anyone speak to the quality of the Burroughs stuff on Audible? I'd like to at least go back to Junky and Queer but I'm pretty picky about narrators. Also wondering about his Cowboy Trilogy since I never really read those very thoroughly. I can't speak to the stuff on Audible, but Ubuweb has a free copy of Junky that's narrated by Burroughs himself. His manner of speech is a little odd, but imo, quite enjoyable. Here's the link: http://ubu.com/sound/burroughs_junky.html.
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Aug 1, 2016 02:08
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joepinetree posted:I signed up for audible because there is a bunch of books I own on kindle that I wanted to sync with my audiobooks. I was wondering about what people here prefer in terms of listening to their audiobooks on their android platforms: is it better to listen to them within the kindle app or the audible app? From trying within the kindle app the sync was much faster and precise (actually pointing out the word it stopped on), but for whatever reason it also seemed to take a lot more space on my phone and the controls seemed a little bit harder to manage while driving (smaller icons, more steps to open them, etc.) The Kindle app might be downloading them at the highest quality. You can select from high or standard in the Audible app.
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Aug 1, 2016 02:55
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java posted:I can't speak to the stuff on Audible, but Ubuweb has a free copy of Junky that's narrated by Burroughs himself. His manner of speech is a little odd, but imo, quite enjoyable. Here's the link: http://ubu.com/sound/burroughs_junky.html. Oh my god, thank you. This is amazing.
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Aug 1, 2016 15:12
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Been listening to a bunch of... meta/self-aware/alt-superhero fiction since I re-upped this year. The Super Villainy Saga Author: C.T. Phipps Narrator: Jeffrey Kafer (Origins of a D-List Supervillain series, Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney) What people will do for marriage and love also plays a strong recurring role. Still ongoing. First-person narrative. Includes a bit of everything in comic tropes; time travel, moonbases, science, magic, zombies, gods, mind wipes, etc. 4/5 for the series Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain Book 1 Author: Richard Roberts Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller (anime and videogames) Coming of age story about a teenage girl acquiring a Mad Genius™ superpower, and the "supervillain" trouble she and her (eventually superpowered) friends get into, while trying to avoid being outed/discovered by their parents. The superhero/villain "communities" are things, with marriage and kids and all the things that come with an established supers setting. No pop culture references, and it's pretty down to earth, all things considered. First-person narrative. Haven't listened to the second one yet. 5/5 Mutant future sci-fi: Hard Luck Hank series Author: Steven Campbell Narrator: Liam Owen Hank, a centuries old mutant inhabitant of Belvaille, a spacestation city of crooks on the edge of nowhere. Has the power of near indestructibility- but without super strength to back it up. His best skill is arbitration between all the gangs, thugs, businessmen, government of the station. He works for just about anybody, but never takes sides, and is known for being fair. First-person narrative. Book 1: 4/5 Book 2: 3/5
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Aug 1, 2016 20:39
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java posted:I can't speak to the stuff on Audible, but Ubuweb has a free copy of Junky that's narrated by Burroughs himself. His manner of speech is a little odd, but imo, quite enjoyable. Here's the link: http://ubu.com/sound/burroughs_junky.html. One quick question about this: Can anyone identify the bit of music used in the intro? It sounds very much like A Silver Mt. Zion
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Aug 2, 2016 00:15
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precision posted:One quick question about this: Can anyone identify the bit of music used in the intro? It sounds very much like A Silver Mt. Zion Sorry, no idea :/ But for anyone who is interested in avant-garde authors, essayists, musicians or artists, Ubuweb has a lot of material there. Usually interviews or lecture recordings, but sometimes the authors (such as Susan Sontag) reading their own work. http://www.ubu.com/sound/
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Aug 2, 2016 01:35
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Mister Macys posted:Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain Book 1 Second one is good so far (I'm approximately 1/4 of the way through). First one was better, but it's still great. Primarily focused on The Inscrutable Machine, with very little of the other characters. I'd give it about a 4/5 so far.
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Aug 2, 2016 17:48
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Just finished Killing Floor by Lee Child. What a long, boring, unlikely mess. Apparently they don't get any better?
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Aug 11, 2016 22:21
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ElGroucho posted:Just finished Killing Floor by Lee Child. What a long, boring, unlikely mess. Apparently they don't get any better? Killing Floor is one of the better Jack Reachers, and they're all somewhat similar in the way they read. If you didn't like that one, you aren't going to like any of the others.
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Aug 12, 2016 13:31
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I'm tits deep in the latest wow novel by William King, Illidan it's narrated by Graeme Malcolm whom I'd never heard of before. It starts out rocking the stuff from Warcraft 3 - including some rare glimpses of poo poo going down with Kael'thas and Vashj - and gives a lot of context to the poo poo that's coming, so it's good if you like WoW poo poo, but Malcom reading it is especially phenomenal. (mod edit after complaints that nobody knew what the spoiler was about) Somebody fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Aug 20, 2016 |
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Aug 16, 2016 06:21
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peramene posted:I'm tits deep in the latest wow novel by William King, Illidan - it's narrated by Graeme Malcolm whom I'd never heard of before. That's really cool my man
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Aug 17, 2016 02:16
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ElGroucho posted:Just finished Killing Floor by Lee Child. What a long, boring, unlikely mess. Apparently they don't get any better? Get the Travis McGee novels instead. They were the influence for Jack Reacher but they're less ridiculous and a lot more world weary and cynical.
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Aug 17, 2016 21:00
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DrVenkman posted:Get the Travis McGee novels instead. They were the influence for Jack Reacher but they're less ridiculous and a lot more world weary and cynical. Will do, thanks!
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Aug 18, 2016 00:46
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Senerio posted:Second one is good so far (I'm approximately 1/4 of the way through). First one was better, but it's still great. Primarily focused on The Inscrutable Machine, with very little of the other characters. I'd give it about a 4/5 so far. Got my credits, and just started it. TIM™ just finished the first job of the book, and met the supervillians' boogeyman of the series, Morningdove. The third book is out on the 23rd.
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Aug 21, 2016 21:20
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I know with some podcast apps, there's an option to cut out a lot of the pauses in speech and decrease the playtime without speeding up the spoken words. Does the Audible app have a way to do this, or is there an audiobook app which allows this? All I can see with the Audible app is a way to increase the speed of everything, including the spoken words, which I tried but don't really like (it also didn't decrease the playtime at all  )I'm currently listening to Bad Astronomy, which is a great book, but the narrator is a pretty slow speaker with a lot of pauses between sentences, and I'm getting frustrated at times wanting him to just get on with it. Enfys fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 21:36
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Enfys posted:I know with some podcast apps, there's an option to cut out a lot of the pauses in speech and decrease the playtime without speeding up the spoken words. Try very small (0.05x) increments? It used to annoy me too but now I do 1.40-1.60x speed and going back to 1x makes me wonder how I ever put up with it. Also it doesn't decrease playtime but if you look closely the seconds skip depending on your speed.
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Aug 22, 2016 01:04
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I've been listening to Harl's history of Alexander the Great from the Great Courses series and it's really good except that he sometimes pronounces "allies" as "all-EYES" and it's really distracting. Especially because he does it inconsistently.
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Aug 23, 2016 16:43
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Well, he does teach in New Orleans. Bound to pick up some weird habits.  Personally, people who pronounce clique as 'click' and not 'cleek'  bug me.
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Aug 23, 2016 16:50
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Peas and Rice posted:I've been listening to Harl's history of Alexander the Great from the Great Courses series and it's really good except that he sometimes pronounces "allies" as "all-EYES" and it's really distracting. Especially because he does it inconsistently. Far more distracting to me were moments when individual words were clearly edited in later, something that is fortunately absent from his Vikings lectures (so far).
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Aug 23, 2016 16:53
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Been listening to Allen Steele's Coyote series and am up to book 3 currently, it's got excellent narration with multiple people being used for different characters' narrative voice, which is a nice touch. Coyote is a sci-fi series that was originally a stand-alone novel about space colonization and exploration on an alien world however, it's often narrated from the perspective of the kids who came along. There's some hilarious political stuff in the beginning which pokes fun of hardcore libertarians but the politics aren't really focused on - except insofar as the entire story is kind of a fictional retelling of the colonization of north america and its subsequent growing pains and eventual revolution, over the course of multiple books though. As I mentioned the first was written as a stand-alone though, so I'm not going to be all "you gotta get through the first two books before it gets good, man," because it's good right out of the gate, despite the slow start and overt politics thrown at you right away. The politics of the bad guys change every book, in any case, so everybody can be equally offended eventually.
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Aug 23, 2016 17:29
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internet inc posted:Try very small (0.05x) increments? It used to annoy me too but now I do 1.40-1.60x speed and going back to 1x makes me wonder how I ever put up with it. I do the same. 2x is just a bit too quick to me because it visibly sounded like a sped-up voice, but 1.40x is just about right.
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Aug 23, 2016 17:32
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MeatwadIsGod posted:Far more distracting to me were moments when individual words were clearly edited in later, something that is fortunately absent from his Vikings lectures (so far). Is THAT what's happening? I thought he was leaning into the mic or something. Oh well. He's not quite as good a reader as Philip Daileader but his knowledge and presentation is outstanding.
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Aug 23, 2016 18:26
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Dr. Sleep by Stephen King narrated by actor Will Patton. It's the sequel to The Shining. I'm just about finished and absolutely love it. The story is great, expanding the small scope from the original to a bigger, more terrifying world filled with ghosts and supernatural predators that feed on children with "the shining." Will Patton has a rough, but calming voice that's perfect for the subject matter. I highly recommend it if you like this type of theme.
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Aug 26, 2016 19:06
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| # ? May 14, 2024 12:08 |
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Signed up for Audible today and have listened to 2 hours of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. I read a few pages after finding it on display of a Barnes and Noble I was wondering around in earlier today. Still on the fence about whether audiobooks are for me, and this is my first plunge. I listened to a big chunk while setting up, cooking, and eating dinner, and I know I won't retain every meticulous detail, but I don't retain 100% of stuff when I read a physical book anyway, and I definitely got through way more book listening to it than actually reading. Time will tell, I suppose. An Audible question for this thread, and my apologies if it's been brought up: how come Amazon offers me dirt-cheap prices to upgrade my already-purchased Kindle books to add Whispersync voice technology or whatever, but Audible requires that I buy the Kindle book at full price after already using my credit on the audio version? Shouldn't there be a discount both ways? Why pay $15/month for Audible and then buy a Kindle book for ~$15 to get both when I can just buy a Kindle book for ~$15 and then upgrade to add voice for like ~$5?
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Aug 28, 2016 03:12
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