An Essay on the Principle of Population

By: Thomas Malthus

Narrated by: Annette Grayson

Malthus predicted a grim future with geometrical population growth, versus food production that increases only arithmetically. He claimed that this would result in famine and starvation unless births were controlled. It is called the Malthusian catastrophe, in which humans would disregard the limits of natural resources and the world would be plagued by famine and disease.

Public Domain (P)2018 Museum Audiobooks

Excellent narration of this classic work

As far as I understand, this is the first edition (1798) of the Essay, which Malthus later expanded and made more nuanced, but that makes this version all the more readable. Annette Grayson's narration, rich with intonation and conviction, was also instrumental to make this very easy to follow as an audio book. I tried Gareth Armstrong's narration from Audible Studios, I just could not comfortably listen despite Armstrong's seeming proficiency as a narrator; it was just too stilted.