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Books on tape might be extremely dead technology, but iPods and eBook readers like the Amazon Kindle have reanimated the medium and turned audiobooks into the commuter's wonder drug. When the book is read well, you'll find yourself sitting mesmerized in your parking space just listening, instead of heading into work. Check out our list of eleven classic scifi audiobooks, and listen up.
- Minority Report and Other Stories, by Phillip K. Dick: Keir Dullea (who played Dave in 2001) reads these short stories from Dick's library. "Minority Report" is, of course, a lot better (and different) than the movie was, but the standout here is "Second Variety," which details artificially intelligent robots that have learned how to disguise themselves as humans in order to be more deadly. This came out years before Terminator and Battlestar Galactica, and is worth the price alone. Collection also includes "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" which became Total Recall, and "Paycheck," which became a terrible Ben Affleck movie of the same name.
- The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King: King's science fiction meets sorcery Dark Tower series has been coming out in dribbles for decades, and the last volume finally came out in 2004. I found that the best way to catch up with these was by chucking them onto my iPod while I was stuck in the car in Los Angeles all morning and evening. Some of the seven books in the series are expertly read by Frank Muller, who has narrated a huge share of King's novels. Tragically, he had a motorcycle accident several years ago, and has been unable to resume his narration work as a result. George Guidall picked up the reins and does an equally impressive job.
- Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card: In 2002 a 20th anniversary edition of Card's novel about the extensive training of young boy by the military to be the savior of all mankind was issued with a full cast production reading the story, and a bonus epilogue tacked on by Card. The project was extremely successful, and they also released the sequel Ender's Shadow with the same cast members. If you've never picked this book up, this is a great way to get into it.
- Neuromancer, by William Gibson: Gibson himself reads this audiobook version of his classic novel, and U2 provided a track for the book, with the group Black Rain contributing music and sound effects throughout the reading. It's moody and atmospheric, great for listening to while the rain is hammering down outside. Sometimes it can (oddly) be a mixed bag when the author reads their own work, but Gibson does a fantastic job.
- The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson: Jennifer Wiltsie not only reads both the abridged and unabridged versions of this book about a nanotechnology-built learning "illustrated primer," but she also provides different voices and accents for all the characters. Not many readers can pull this off without being distracting, and she does a great job with this, particularly with the Primer and the young Nell character.
- Idlewild, by Nick Sagan: This book by Nick Sagan, the son of Carl, is read by a cast of characters and features a superb robotic female monotone as the voice of one of the A.I. taskmaster programs in this story about a virtual reality school for rich kids. It owes a lot to The Matrix, but the ending opens up a whole new world where the sequel Edenborn takes place. Immersive narration takes you deep inside the VR world in the novel.
- A Scanner Darkly, by Phillip K. Dick: Paul Giamatti does an excellent job of reading this novel and capturing the frenetic apathy that the world of Substance D brings on. I listened to this not long before the animated film came out, and I vastly prefer the audiobook version. Giamatti's range as an actor shows off even when you can't see his face.
- Transmission, by Hari Kunzru: Kunzru reads his own novel about a hacker from India who thinks he's found paradise in the United States, until he realizes he'll never escape his slave labor job as a database engineer for a temp firm. He unleashes a powerful computer virus that infects your computer with a dancing video of a Bollywood starlet so he can appear to step in and save the day with a "cure," but it doesn't go as planned. A great listen, and a wonderful read.
- Dune, by Frank Herbert: Clocking in at 21 hours long, this unabridged version of Herbert's classic novel about desert planets and space-folding spice drugs is read by a full cast and will require a serious time commitment. However, you'll get more satisfaction out of listening to this than you will watching the movie or the miniseries again. Perfect if you decide to drive across the continent, or through a desert somewhere.
- Idoru, by William Gibson: I didn't want to have two Gibson novels on this list, but Idoru was the first science fiction book I ever listened to, and it got me through my first year in Los Angeles. I have probably listened to this thing at least ten times, and it never gets old. Actor Jay O. Sanders does a superb reading job, providing different voices for all of the characters, and captures this book perfectly. Plus, it's a great starting point for Gibson if you missed out on the whole Neuromancer cycle.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams: This series has appeared in multiple formats: read by the author, read by the full cast, read by Simon Jones (who played Arthur in the TV and radio versions), read by Martin Freeman (who played Arthur in the movie version), the BBC Radio versions, and even a Live in Concert version, featuring Douglas Adams giving live readings from his works in front of an audience. With multiple readers and multiple books, there is a ton to choose from here. In my opinion, the Douglas Adams and Simon Jones (and full cast version, including Simon Jones) editions are the best. Sorry, Martin. Technically, this gives this list a lot more than 11 books, but who's counting?
Comments
I really like audio books. In my opinion, the best are the ones read by one person who does not go overboard with voice characterizations. Unabridged only, please.
I REALLY like audiobooks but cant even begin to understand why it costs 20-50$ per audiobook when the book in paperback is 8-15$.
Im all for making a profit but a 200+% profit seems a bit extreme to say the least.
Dune is an excellent audiobook especially if you're scared of trying out the book...which I must say is a great read even after a dozen times.
eMusic.com has a DRM free audiobook section.
As it happens, my wife and I will be driving across country in a few months, relocating to the West Coast. May need to pick up a few of these. Great stuff!
Audiobooks kick ass.
I do the beach walk and catch up on literature. I got through I, Robot a few weeks ago and loved it. Then I watched the movie. Don't even get me started...
@adragontattoo: Audio books are expensive because you have to pay somebody (sometimes somebody famous) to sit in a recording studio and read an entire book out loud. There's probably some costs for the production and studio time too.
Related: As a kid I had a tape collection of Tolkein reading his own favorite portions of his works. It included pieces from the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and even Farmer Giles, and was the best example of an author reading his own work that I have encountered. His version of Gollum is phenomenal.
I discovered audiobooks last year and love them. I put them on my mp3 player and listen while doing yardwork or going for a walk.
Some libraries offer audiobooks that can be checked out as downloads... although the ones at my library are only available as wma files due to DRM.
I'm very surprised no one has mentioned Escape Pod yet. They're into their third year, and the readings are always very professional and well done. An awesome free weekly short-story fix. Check them out at www.escapepod.org. I highly recommend the "Union Dues" series of short fiction.
'A Wrinkle in Time' by the late Madeleine L'Engle (and read by her as well) was a recent pleasant surprise.
Another series that i enjoyed was the Altered carbon / Takashi Kovachs series by Richard K. Morgan. Great bit of post-cyberpunk fiction, and the Reader does an excellent job. Actually Morgan's book Thirteen also has an excelent Audio version to go with it.
So does anyone know where to get Idoru? It's not to be found at Audible, SimplyAudio, iTunes, or my library.
Other scifi/fantasy audiobooks I've enjoyed (from audible.com unless otherwise noted):
-Several works by Octavia Butler
-Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (from what I've heard, it's easier to get through in audio form than on paper)
-John Crowley, Aegypt (read by the author, wonderfully quirky)
-Most everything by Neil Gaiman (Lenny Bruce narrates Anansi Boys and does a great job; Gaiman narrates everything that's relatively short, and also does a great job)
-Nalo Hopkinson, Brown Girl in the Ring
-Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
-Ursula K. Le Guin, lots of stuff. A Wizard of Earthsea narrated by Harlan Ellison has to be heard to be believed.
-Fritz Leiber, The Wanderer, classic 1960s SF
-Walter Mosley, 47. Won the Carl Brandon Society award). Also superbly narrated.
-Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials trilogy. The author is one of the narrators.
Also, a company called Audiovox has been releasing a lot of short works, including several by Charlie Stross and award-winning "Schrodinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger.
And I second Syncpulse's recommendation of the Takeshi Kovacs series and Thirteen. Although I didn't listen to the third Kovacs book on audio, because it had a different narrator than the first two, and he was awful.
I spend huge amounts of time on the road, & Audio books have become a lifesaver. Over the past year I've found 3 gems...
If you wish to listen to an awesome reading of a great sci-fi story, I can't recommend the audio book version of Ian Bank's "The Algebraist" enough. Fantastic narration!
Same goes for Niel Gaiman's "American Gods" and "Anansi Boys" Mad narrative skillz.
That said, I found Gibson's narration of Neuromancer painfully hard to listen to. I know we are supposed to bow in the presence of the master, but the nasal drone kept me sleepy at the wheel, and the mispronunciation of technical terms drove me nuts.
@ ANOTHERFLUKE Oh yea! Escape pod rocks!
There's a great BBC full-cast radio play of Neuromancer out there. It's hard to find both parts but it crops up now and again. HIGHLY recomended!
Also there *was* an audiobook of virtual light read by peter weller on tape but that seems to have been replaced by another version. Pattern Recognition worked well on tape also and is available on iTunes.
"Second Variety" was filmed as well: Screamers
OK for a B-scifi.
@Lars: Although Screamers is just a reinterpretation of the story. I enjoyed the short version a lot better!
Not to be overly sensitive, but if you were having trouble finding a token woman writer for your list, many of multiple Hugo/Nebula-winner Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books are available on audio as well--on Audible, iTunes, and on CD. Connie Willis has some stuff, too, but it's harder to find in digital formats.
Good point, the narration on the Vorkosigan stories is excellent as well.
For a short one, I've always liked Harlan Ellison's reading of "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktock Man
My favorite audiobooks by far are Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Pullman himself narrates the story, with a full cast of voice actors for the dialogue. The woman reading Lyra is amazingly good.
@adragontattoo: I don't have any hard evidence of this, but it's probalby safe to assume that the cost of the audiobook also includes some sort of royalty payment to the person reading the book.
@adragontattoo: I think the audio books are costing you so much because you are using the wrong store. Try checking out Audible's competition: eMule - which is like the Internet library, free and with no DRM seems better to me. Although eMule doesn't advertise.
@bob_jesus: The Nueromancer radio play was great. BBC Radio also did a reading of Burning Chrome, another favorite Gibson story of mine.
The primary and secondary phases of the HHGTG are a lot of fun to listen to.
I completely agree--Jennifer Wiltsie's reading of The Diamond Age makes the book come alive. I've got to say though that Jonathan Davis also does an absolutely wonderful job reading Snow Crash, and if you liked Diamond Age, this is another sure thing.
And I know it's not SciFi, but... THE best audio production of a book/series I've come across so far is for Phillip Pulman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. The three books-starting with The Golden Compass-are read by an award winning, full group of stage actors that do an absolutely *incredible* job with each of the characters (it's also narrated by Phillip Pulman). Note: like so many other movie adaptations out there the film doesn't do the novel justice, so even if you didn't really like the movie pick up the book, or at least the audio version!
I can't stop myself: Also highly recommended is Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, read by William Hope and Laurel Lefkow. Just beautifully done.
Campbell's Scott's reading of Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" is fabulous. It's a favorite book of mine, and Scott's reading is as well-crafted as the book.
Since I started commuting to Boston, I've been checking audiobooks out of the library by the bushel. It's a pain to import them to iTunes but I've listened to dozens of very well done (currently listening to Peter Riegert reading Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union") recordings this way without spending a dime.
I have to admit I've never tried an audio book.
-but you folks are expanding my mind so that I might have to give at least one a try. :)
There are audio books for download, some quite reasonably priced at fictionwise.com
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