*** check-out the free download link at the end of the article
I’m a big Audible fan. Listening to books feeds my desire to know more, understand deeper and do better.
Have I always been a fan of audio books?
Nope.
No way.
A few years ago, I ignored audio books completely. I thoughts they were only a temporary trend that would, at some moment, fade away.
When someone explained their benefits and I finally started listening, something else happened.
I became very frustrated that I could not keep my attention directed toward the story I was listening to.
After a few frustrated attempts, I was smart enough to reach out to someone who was an avid Audible listener. I asked how could they listen to so many books?
Their secret was so simple: adjust the speed of the audio playback.
You think faster than you’re able to speak.
By adjusting the speed to exceed the normal speed of 1, you train your mind to stay focused on the audio message.
I follow this advice ever since. I listen to majority of non-fiction books at 1.5x to 2x speed and the fiction ones at 2.2x speed. The added benefit I appreciate is that I finish books faster. I recently started watching videos at 1.25x speed (that’s a story for another time!).
Back to my top 3 Audible books this year and why they’re fascinating:
1. Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World, by Mo Gawdat
This is a timely must read.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is on everyone’s mind, isn’t it?
Humans using AI are set to replace humans in repetitive jobs.
Mo Gawdat does a fantastic job to outline how humans can build the sustainable AI of the future. If you’re a fan of ethical AI development, you’ll love the approach outlined in this book.
2. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
This book on how humanity evolved has an impressive Goodreads average score of 4.37 out of 973,739 ratings. If you are not convinced by the data, know that this read is accessible, fun and easy to understand.
I had a few aha moments when listening to this book. Two of them stuck with me:
- the book explains in plain English language why Europeans ended up conquering the world
- the majority of our challenges as humans are old problems occurring in a modern social context.
3. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness, by Eric Jorgenson
“Wait, what? you’ve not yet read the almanack of Naval?” a dear friend asked me earlier this year, in half-shock and disbelief.
He was so convinced I’d read it that finding out I haven’t was hard to believe.
He whispered to me a book summary, as if he was sharing with me an ancient secret I’d been ignorant enough to overlook.
His reaction intrigued me.
So I downloaded the audio file on my phone and started listening to the book on the same day.
The almanack is a collection of principles about building wealth and attaining happiness.
I listened to the book three times. Each time, I heard different messages and understood the content at deeper levels. Naval’s perspective on wealth and happiness was not new to me. Still I found the simple, common sense examples worth pondering on, over and over again.
This is one of the few books I keep downloaded on my phone.
It is also my go-to listen whenever I need to hear a few words of reassuring wisdom or whenever I have 5 minutes to spare.
Naval Ravikant is well known American entrepreneur and investor. He founded AngelList and invested early in over 200 companies. As a podcaster, Naval shares his wisdom about the pursuit of health, wealth and happiness. You can download the book in pdf format here (it’s free).
Care to share your top 3 Audible books list? Would love some inspiration!
3 ideas from my Top 3 Audible books in 2023