"I listen to audiobooks obsessively—while I’m exercising, while I’m driving, while I’m walking the dog. In the olden days—back when listening to Audible required a special device they would send you—I would treat each recording like gold, hoarding it for those moments when I most needed a narrative pick-me-up. Nowadays, I can listen as easily as I can read, which feels like magic. These are some audiobooks I’ve particularly enjoyed—I hope you do as well." —Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators
Add Charles's list to your Library Collections.
I listen to a lot of sci-fi while I run—some of it cheesy. But when you find a series (in this case, the Bobiverse) that is clever, and novel, and fun, it’s like discovering a Christmas present. It is wonderful when you’re trying to ignore the pain in your feet on mile 12.
Neil Gaiman might be the most creative writer alive—and listening to him reading his own books is such a treat. Neverwhere brings you into London’s Underside, where death, but also surprise, are always possible. This is a great book to listen to while driving.
I write about AI for The New Yorker magazine, and so I’m always on the lookout for a great novel about AI. Most aren’t great. Or if they are good, they really aren’t about AI. Void Star is different—it's literature with a strong story, but it also tries to explain what AI is like. Mason is a computer scientist and a gifted writer, and this book is a treat.
David Mitchell is a wonder—his books are poetic and beautiful, but also plot-driven and fascinating. If you haven’t experienced him, let me strongly recommend you download a book today—Bone Clocks is wonderful, as is Ghostwritten. Cloud Atlas—his tour de force—can take a while to get into, but it is astounding.
I figured I should include at least one nonfiction recommendation, and that’s easy: Michael Lewis, perhaps the most talented nonfiction writer of our generation. His books are incredibly smart, and incredibly entertaining—and listening to him read his own work, with his soft New Orleans drawl, is like paradise.
About Charles
Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist and the author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards. He writes for The New Yorker and other publications, was previously a senior editor at The New York Times, and occasionally hosts the podcast How To!
