No.28003
I love audiobooks. Its my only hobby. I just spend all day listening to audiobooks at 1.7x speed. Reading with my eyes is too much of a chore. Audio is such a pleasure.
Its also forced me to expand my interests, as I can't just focus in on my aspie interests but have to take what I can get as far as audio releases.
No.28088
Odyssey Book 1, read by Ian McKellan
>>28003It's all about narrator quality for me.
No.28089
>>28088Not for me, unless the narrator is unusually bad; which is a major drawback for librivox
No.28090
>>28089I would put up with amateur narrators on Librivox if they would cover more obscure 19th century philosophical and political texts that commercial publishers are unlikely to narrate. But generally they just stick to the classics, which is a shame. Hopefully someone with the same interests with me, will take up the task.
These are 2 great books of historical atheism with good narrators:
https://librivox.org/the-essence-of-christianity-by-ludwig-feuerbach/https://librivox.org/good-sense-by-baron-paul-henri-thiry-dholbach/ No.28091
>>280031.7x speed is quite fast. How many books do you get through a day? Also, out of curiosity, do you like podcasts too?
No.28092
>>28091I'm not aware of many academic podcasts that suit my interests. I do occasionally listen to youtube lectures at 1.5 speed or 2x if hes a slow speaker.
No.28612
US Grant is one of the most interesting Presidents for me, as he presided over Reconstruction, the most dramatic transformation in US history, although he occupied a somewhat centrist position in the revolution.
This is an audiobook of the important speeches and documents from his Presidency. And as primary sources there is more immediacy
https://librivox.org/a-compilation-of-the-messages-and-papers-of-the-presidents-ulysses-s-grant-by-james-d-richardson/A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant
James D. RICHARDSON (1843 - 1914)
The Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents is an eleven-volume series of tomes comprising of proclamations, special messages, and inaugurations from several presidents throughout United States history. This work is from Volume seven part one: Ulysses S. Grant, March 4, 1869 to March 4, 1877 (Introduction by Jim Clevenger)
No.29656
Thanks for posting these, I've been looking for audiobooks on philosophy with a good narrator and these are great so far.
No.30648
My Confession, by Leo Tolstoy {Audio Book}The book is a brief autobiography story of the author's struggle with a mid-life existential crisis. It describes his search for the answer to the ultimate philosophical question: "If God does not exist, since death is inevitable, what is the meaning of life?." Without the answer to this, for him, life had become "impossible".
PDF here:
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/confessions-tolstoy.pdf No.30842
>>28003What do you do with your hands and eyes while you listen?
No.30843
>>30842Never really had any problems with my hands.
But being right next to my computer can be distracting, and I'll often get distracted and browse the internet while listening and have to pause. (I'm taking a break right now as I type)
Sometimes I pace around the room. Other times I'll just sit on my chair staring at a wall.
Interesting question. It does take some discipline to commit to listening to hours and hours.
I listen at close to double speed. So if I was listening from 9AM to 11PM it would be 14 hours a day, 28 hours a day of reading. Which would amount to about a 300 book read every single day. I devote almost that much time, but am not so disciplined. Sometimes with all the distractions I get almost nothing done.
No.30845
>>30843Do you often have to rewind? I wish I had your concentration ability. I always zone out and start thinking about other stuff when I'm reading or listening to audiobooks.
No.30847
>>30845I mostly stick to nonfiction so if I slightly zone off its not huge loss. But if I catch something interesting that I wasn't paying full attention to, I will rewind.
No.31514
Listened to 'Lies my history teacher told me' by so and so.
I get the feeling that it's a well known book, and given that it was released in 1994 it's 20 years old. But given that, it explains a lot about americans in general, notably why they're so ignorant of history. The history portrayed is of glorious white men swooping in and saving the savages from their own filth. But there's also the revelation that no-one remembered a goddamn thing, so it kinda balances itself out. Still, given how these politicised things work, what I bet is that the pendulum has swung towards white barbarians coming and destroying the noble indian. And still no-one remembers it, but the general theme of 'white destroyer' or 'white civilisation' remains and ruins entire generations.
So today we have one generation raised on white pride and the other on whites are destructive savages, and you can see this play out in elections.
Anyway, would recommend listening to it, especially as a non-american. I never got taught any american history so it's quite nice to get a decent account of the history. There's praise for academic history in this book for revealing what is as close to what happened as possible. The book tries to stay fairly neutral, politically, neither praising nor damning anything that happened, but just revealing what actually happened rather than what the cold-war propaganda factory wanted americans to think.
History happened, blame is pointless. Best to remember what happened so we can learn from it, rather than rewriting it and teaching garbage to children hoping it'll instil values. Garbage they don't even remember.
Anyway, would recommend, even if it feels outdated.
No.31534
I'm listening to some Noble Prize winning fiction right now. Fiction isn't my thing. Maybe its the aspergers in me, but it takes a lot more mental energy for me to hold all the characters and relationships and networks together. If I lose concentration during fiction, I miss much more than nonfiction. Well I kind of look at novels as a work of sociology. A way of understanding humanity in his social circumstances. Taking a microscope and zooming in on the particularities of history. Instead of macrohistory of society the microhistory of individuals. And I just try to enjoy the language, like prose poetry.
No.31885
>>27999Nooooooooooooooo Hegel audiobook is down
No.40921
Audiobooks is basically my only hobby. I don't think my eyes could take any other media consumption hobby for ten hours a day.
I've probably read hundreds of books in the last ten years.
I kinda regret being so passive about it. Like I think I have fairly good memory retention. But like 900 days a massive book on the siege of Leningrad, I wasn't even sure if I had read it or not. Once I confirmed I did, my memory got jogged and I remembered he went into a lot of detail about the post-war purges in the Leningrad affair. So that's a good summary of how it jiggles in the back of my mind. It's still there but I have to juggle it out.
Idk maybe a brief review on goodreqds would have helped to jog my memory more with my most important take aways.
Well I have no future, I don't care about what the public thinks of me, and I always assume I'm going to suicide tommorow.
I mean I kinda wish I had a list of every book I read. But nothing matters in the end.
The best way the books are still with me, is that as it deepens my knowledge of a subject they become bricks to build on with the next book more deeply and high level
No.46258
>>37245I wish more humans would read audiobooks
No.49404
I find that because of the value I devrive from quality done audiobooks I am tempted to start paying for them.
Any of you guys ever used a payed/premium service or bought individual audiobooks?
No.49405
>>46258they sound bad though. im looking forward to the day my computer can perfectly read to me and i can change the voice to anything i want
No.49407
>>49405Very high quality robot audio will be more like human voice
No.49408
>>49407sure but the voice you can decide, i think that would be nice alternative to human voices. i cant say how many audiobooks files ive deleted simply for the voice sounding weird. some i could modify the pitch into something better but others were hopeless
No.50382
>>27994The Gulag Archipelago, narrated by David Frederick Case.
Perfect Oxford English that is so rare to hear nowadays.
No.50383
>>49404I have audible and have had it for a year or two. It is a lot cheaper and you can return an audiobook if you don't like it; I listened to an hour of a book and just clicked a button to say I didn't want it and got my credit back. You get 1 credit a month and you can buy any full priced audiobook for that credit even if its a new book. The credits stack up to 5 ( i think ) so you can have 5 months worth of credits at once. You can cancel any time where you will lose your un-used credits but keep access to any books you got - it's pretty liberal and the limitations aren't too bad . They also have 3-for-2 sales and stuff where you get 3 books for 2 credits from a specific list.
You have to watch out because some of the audible stuff is self-funded but the review system has a separate rating for reading quality and there are often reviews if a book is read poorly. That happens for some philosophy books where the reader has been paid but doesn't understand what he's narrating. Nearly all of them are a decent quality though.
The audible app is a bit shitty on my phone but if I remember correctly this software allows you to log in to your audible account and just auto download/convert books to usable MP3 files for any device -
https://openaudible.org/I think it's a good service and worth the money. If you check out the catalogue they are actually recording a lot of pretty niche books. If you have an amazon account you can probably find a 3 month free trial of audible somewhere, or 3 months for a few dollars.
No.50580
It is so easy to find the film for Interview with the Vampire but it seems damn near impossible to find the full audiobook version of it anymore.
I should have downloaded it when I had the chance.
No.50855
>>50792i was thinking of reading it. didnt realize it was so short. Its not my usual cup of tea, but its intriguing to read something so far back in the BCs
No.51276
>>51274Good book. I don't remember much from it but two ideas.1- it was just Jordan Peterson's buzzwords about working hard and 2- "just invest in real estate bruh. Stock exchange doesn't work, open a business and sell it when it becomes profitable"
No.51277
>>51276It literally says that working hard for money is a bad thing and not to get into real estate unless it is already what you are interested in and have a passion for.
Needless to say I think you missed the main points of the book.
>>51274Just because something is popular doesn't automatically make it bad.
No.51281
>>51277It’s self help so that makes it automatically trash, besides it’s about “making money” and selling a shitty ideology/mindset unlike the usual self-help trite, where they at least pretend to guide you into becoming a “better person” morally or whatever, so it’s even worse, but I’m sure it has been very profitable for the author and publisher, as is often the case with these complacently advertised and promoted advice books.
The “endorsements” are the icing on the shit-cake, so to speak. The trouble is not only that it’s massively popular, although that should raise red flags, but among whom it was so favorably received, and why.
And seriously, out of all the books fiction or non-fiction you’d want to read/listen to, to pick something like that… look at the thread, you stick out like a sore thumb.
No.51282
>>51281So because it is a kind of book you personally dislike you feel the need to have a fit despite knowing nothing at all about the content of the book at all?
The only one that is sticking out in this thread is you with you aggressively coming after anything you think you personally might not like based on book genre and popularity.
I personally like the book and find it's information about financial literacy and Independence useful. Then again unlike you I actually gave it a listen before making up my mind.
If I didn't like it I also wouldn't feel the compulsive need to try and act like anyone who did doesn't belong on the site.
No.51289
>>51282It’s not about disliking. These books are objectively worthless. Maybe they’re a guilty pleasure of yours, but have the decency to keep it to yourself.
No.51290
Thread was high quality and civil for 4 years.
It was a good run, but apparently we can't have nice things on this site anymore.
What is even the point of trolling a slow thread like this?
No.51295
>>51289Fuck off with your trolly bullshit.
Just because a book is in a genre that triggers you doesn't give you the right to shit up a thread. You don't even have rational objections or constructive coments. Just
>Reeeeeeee>I don't like it therefore no one should post it No.51296
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Super long but I found it a overall interesting collection of ideas and ideals.
https://archive.org/details/AynRandAtlasShrugged_1957 No.51299
>>51298Wasn't it written by a ghost writer though
No.51300
>>51299I don't think you know what ghost writer means.
Schwartz has his name all over it and was given full credit for his part in writing it. It is just after a dispute over money/royalties he got pissed off and claimed that Trump had nothing to do with the book because he personally wanted more money. Even getting so butthurt as to asking for the book to be pulled from the shelves so that no one could make money from it rather then Trump see a dime from it.
It should also be noted that TDS and the fact that he is both a journalist and life long democrat might play a role in the timing of some of his complaints too.
Tony Schwartz was always credited and got 50% of the royalties for the book though. There was never in question that he actually wrote the bulk of it.
No.51328
>>51300I don't know the story, i just heard it was confirmed not to be a work of his hands
No.51329
>>51328No shit.
Does Trump strike you as the kind of dude to literally sit down and write out a whole novel himself?
Or does he seem like the kind of guy to dictate a bunch stuff then have someone he "made a deal with" polish it up into a finished product?
That said he never claimed otherwise and the person who wrote it was indeed credited and well compensated.
No.51348
Still can't find Interview with the Vampire audiobook without paying for it.
It seems the publishing house did a really good job of scrubbing links for the internet.
No.51350
>>51348You could always just read it.
No.51351
>>51350Do you realize this is a thread about audio books?
Are you confused, lost maybe?
No.51365
>>27994The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien, narrated by Sir Christopher Lee. Saruman himself.
He also narrated The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BefliMlEzZ8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
No.51366
>>51365fuck. Embedding didn't work properly. Still, its a great narration.
No.51370
>>51365His reading of the raven is probably my favorite of all poetry readings I have ever heard. His voice is perfect for the material and he reads it with a trained skill and level of experience that is probably unmatched.
No.51376
Stranger in a Strange Land
In the beginning of it was was pretty disinterested as it was rather lame sci-fi but the quality of voice acting got me to stick with it and I am glad I did. It really hit it's stride when it started to get into the more philosophical and spiritual elements. While I personally agreed with nothing when it came to philosophy or world view it was a marvelous journey made more interesting knowing about the cultural context when the book was written. Clearly of its time but game insight into some of the thoughs of the cultural zeitgeist that I never "groked fully" until now.
In a way it allowed me to understand from the inside out a perspective I brushed off before.
Anyway as just a story it ain't bad ether once it gets in the flow of things.
Links to part 1
https://youtu.be/9u1Kr_T5bOQAnd part 2
https://youtu.be/OuDiPOUFiTY No.51803
>>27994Is there a LibGen for audiobooks yet?
No.51808
>>51803Nothing as cohesive and focused.
At least not yet.
No.51817
>>51816
>95% of the book is about business/career stuff
>5% is about family matters in regard to maintaining existing family relationships
It is pretty clear you are the crab here.
Scurry back to /b/ crab.
No.51830
>>51808I wish wizards had the smarts to pull off creating something like this, instead we post threads of sex dolls instead of creating world class software as a group
No.52466
War World Z audio book is great. The movie with Bradd Pitt is trash though.
No.52951
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-we-are-bobA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43015.A_Long_Way_GoneAudible is a too expensive for me. a usually use audiobookbay to tor and libby mobile app to borrow.
No.52952
The Game - Neil Strauss
Before people REEEEE let me explain.
Saw some arguing in another thread about what PUA were/are like with no one really knowing their perspective. It was just all guesses, projection, and empty claims.
Me being me, I want to know the actual perspective even of people I fundamentally disagree with. To understand their actual position so as best to argue against it, and to know how they see the world.
This was one of the big books back when PUA was at it's height. Most of what I read about the subject were funny scam books and criticisms of PUA so I didn't know what to expect.
Going in blind and as far away from the target demographic as you can get I have to say the book is mind bending in how bizarre it is. At times it felt more like I was reading a urban fantasy book then "allegedly" a true story. Magic tricks, mind reading, "spells", special rules and jargon, escalating events to the point of absurdity. As simply a story it was pretty interesting. Not a instructional text or theory book. Just a tale of the journey of the writer into the inter world of PUA at it's high through to it's fall.
You would expect it to glorify the pick up artist but really it shows how they were/are mostly broken people who have major problems and end up feeling empty, lost, and in emotional pain even when their tricks get them what they think they want.
The celebrity cameo were crazy. I won't spoil all of them but when Tom Cruse shows up I about lost it with giggles. I will forever remember the phrase "what would Tom Cruse do" and how hard it made be laugh in context.
Overall it really wasn't what I was expecting, being more of a cautionary tell imo, that ended with the message that you sometimes have to go through a lot of bullshit to have the confidence to be yourself. Or something like that.
Also the reader adds a lot of flavor to the text with the accents and voices he uses. It is only 3 and a half hours on normal speed so if you ever wanted to know what the deal was with these people, or just want to listen to a unusual story then give it a shot I guess.
No.53272
>>53261
That's not a audiobook dude.
I don't think you understand what this thread is about.
No.54547
>>53171Oh, link/channel is gone.
Book was Fahrenheit 451, but unfortunately I don't remember who was the reader that did such a good job.
No.54558
Aldous Huxley - ISLAND
It reminds me a bit of stranger from a strange land only much better prose and the dark insights into the human condition felt more legitimate and it's alternatives to that darkness more grounded.
Unlike Brave New World it is Utopian in nature for the most part, but Huxley being who he is still makes sure the story isn't all gumdrops and rainbows.
Makes me want to check out his other work Doors of Perception, which I haven't gotten around to yet despite being relatively short compared to his other works.
Link to part two
https://youtu.be/Iad8ccXzfL0 No.55001
Listened to The Vampire Lestat.
So many words come to mind. It is a lush decedent sensuous and so many other such words. Oh how it invokes the senses so splendidly throughout. Lavishing detail and focus on the sensual feeling of each moment. Oh how good it feels to close one's eyes and feel the vivid scenes construction sensation by new sensation in the evocative language that Anne Rice makes such skill full use of.
It is a bit long but so very worth it. I have deeply enjoyed my time with this book and look forward to enjoying Anne Rice's other works.
Part 1
https://youtu.be/_kjNi8BrdSQ Part 2
https://youtu.be/sz0JymmnZdoPart 3
https://youtu.be/tjMzonj-oeY No.55002
>>54558Oh, I did get around to listening to doors of perception but I honestly found most of it pretty pompous and I was unimpressed with it.
It had some cultural significance for it's time but other then that I gained little of value from it.
No.55274
Found and finished interview with the vampire.
It is so much more depressing than the movie and of such a different tone from the vampire Lestat.
While not the most depressing book I have read/listened to, it feels almost personal in the gloom and grief throughout.
I quite like the book but at the same time it kinda put me in a foul mood.
Now only have Queen of the damned left. I know it's got to be better then the movie so I am looking forward to it.
No.55523
Listened to over two hours Thus Spoke Zarathustra and had to tap out.
I don't know anything about Nietzsche's personal life but it is very clear he is overcompensating though a idealized version of the perfect man. The problem being I think he is a deeply dysfunctional person who probably never actually had strong male role models in his life and was also likely domineered in his formative years by dysfunctional succubi. So his vision of his "superman" is warped.
The book also feels like a "militant" atheist writing their own version of a Bible as a big cope, with a similar abandonment of reason.
Do yourself a favor and read Ayn Rand's work if you want individualistic Supermen who go on absurdly long speeches.
Nietzsche confuses poison for medicine in the work Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
I can't recommend it.
No.55587
The Invisible Man
I found it mostly boring to be honest. I am a bit disappointed. It isn't badly written or anything, just mostly uninteresting to me. It picks up a bit near the end but by then I am already mentally checked out to the point of not really caring.
Would have been better if it was novella or short story length. Far too much boring fluff and unnecessary detail.
No.55908
Finally finished Queen of the Damned.
Great book though not my favorite of the vampire chronicles (which is The Vampire Lestat).
SOOOOOOOOO much better then the movie in every way. There is no comparison at all.
Not sure if I should keep going deeper into the chronicles or if I have already read/heard the best it has the offer and should just quit while I am ahead. At this point I feel quite satisfied with how everything has wrapped up and don't even feel the need to possibly spoil it if the other books aren't as good. I don't want to lose that "magic".
That and I am getting a little tired of vampires.
Anyway here are the links for the version I listened to.
Great narration, the VA does a impeccable job even if the overall audio quality isn't great.
part 1
https://youtu.be/1g988PCR_54part 2
https://youtu.be/CscnF-DLo7wpart 3
https://youtu.be/XAytHNz0zSQNot sure how long they will stay up on youtube but for now they are up to be enjoyed.
No.58688
The Coven of Vampires
A Coven of Vampires, featuring a collection of 13 classic vampire tales: What Dark God?, Back Row, The Strange Years, The Kiss of the Lamia, Recognition, The Thief Immortal, Necros, The Thing From the Blasted Heath, Uzzi, Haggopian, The Picknickers, Zack Phalanx is Vlad the Impaler, and The House of the Temple.
By: Brian Lumley
Narrated by: Joshua Saxon
Truly blood chilling tales that I deeply enjoyed.
There ain't no romance or brooding ansty drama here. Just hair raising horror.
The narrator is great too.
No.59138
On reflection of this thread.
While I didn't make it it seems that 90% of the post about audiobooks are mine.
Should I just let this thread die and stop posting so it doesn't turn into a one man blog?
No.59139
>>59138If you’re looking for an opinion, I prefer to read books, and also I’m about certain all the hikki neets here are more interested in video games and anime than dry literature.
No.59140
>>59138Well I started reading sun and steel because of your post so you're not just yelling into the void.
No.59143
Audioboy on Odysee has 520 books/collections that are all freely downloadable. His George Orwell collection is narrated by Steven Fry. This one I only started recently has been pretty engaging as well.
https://odysee.com/@audioboy:7/The-Parasitic-Mind:b No.59144
>>59138More people lurk forums than post on them.
No.59323
>>51803Audiobookbay seems to have a pretty decent collection
No.59577
>>51270I wasted my parent's money on this book and a bunch of other similar books from the same author, Thank God, I never went to his retarded sermons or conferencers or whatever where you literally spend thousands for a weekend. Just a typical scam artist, but far worse than the Tony Robbins types.
No.59585
>>59577They are free at the library and ultra cheap used.
Some of the stuff he says is pretty good but there is also a ton of bullshit you have to look out for to. Like his praising of MLM and door to door sellsmen.
If you read his stuff with a critical eye you can pick out the gold and gems from the shit and gain value from it. That said he fully deserves the hate he gets for being a fake finance guru.
No.59784
Finally got around to listening to the infamous, often banned, and influential book
The Turner Diaries
Read by the author himself.
Honestly it wasn't written as badly as I though it would be. While still not good in many ways the prose were competent throughout. It still suffered from all the problems that writings that put "the agenda" before telling a good story, it at least tries to tell a compelling action/adventure story. I will say I really didn't appreciate the somewhat random inclusion of relationship drama though.
Anyway, it was better written then most of the shit put out by the communist or anything Ayn Rand put out, even if I find the message obnoxious and the views of the author laughable.
Did appreciate the somewhat detailed bomb instructions and insurgency/guerrilla tactics. Made even more impressive given the time it was written, meaning that a lot of effort was expended in research and study to get that stuff right.
It also puts a lot of stuff from the so called "alt-right" and shitchan's /pol/ into context as well as explain the origin of certain memes.
Over all I give it a 3 out of 5. It wasn't painful to get through like similar political propaganda fiction, but it also had problems with verisimilitude IMO as I just couldn't find most things "believable" in the context of the story.
PS, the author sucks ass at naming things, which becomes a problem latter in the book. Listining to the fighting between The Order and The System was kind of dumb because of this shitty naming.
No.59788
>>59787have u listened to pigmalyon
No.59790
>>59788The play based on the greek legend of the guy who fell in love with a statue?
No.59792
>>59791No, I am not in the usual habit of listening to plays.
Why?
No.59801
Noticing that there are light novel audio books.
Might give a volume a listen during work and see if I like it.
No.59918
There's some great stuff ITT, but for those of us who prefer using invidious instances over yt editing the url gets old fast. Here's a script that decorates embeds with an invidious link.
Array.from (document.querySelectorAll ('a.file[href^="https://youtu.be/"]')).forEach (a => { a.parentNode.innerHTML += ' <a href="https://iteroni.com/watch?v=' + a.getAttribute ("href").replace (/^.+\/([^\/]+)$/, "$1") + '" target="_blank">invidious</a>'; })
Also a heads up that the site gives every lurker's IP address to google through the thumbnail img[src] which points directly to //img.youtube.com/ instead of a copy of the thumbnail on wizchan.
No.59919
Of course this bug >>>/meta/60449 still exists despite the solution being provided since 08/24/21 so here's the script without code tags.
Array.from (document.querySelectorAll ('a.file[href^="
https://youtu.be/"]')).forEach (a => { a.parentNode.innerHTML += ' <a href="
https://iteroni.com/watch?v=' + a.getAttribute ("href").replace (/^.+\/([^\/]+)$/, "$1") + '" target="_blank">invidious</a>'; })
No.59920
>>59918>>59919Are you sure you are posting in the right thread?
I don't know what you are talking about and your post looks kinda broken.
No.59923
>>59920>Are you sure you are posting in the right thread?Yes, a tool to aid in accessing the audiobooks posted here, for those who would rather avoid the yt interface, belongs in the audiobook thread.
> I don't know what you are talking about< Many such cases. Sad!
> and your post looks kinda broken.As already stated in
>>59919 it's a bug in wizchan >>>/meta/60449 with the solution provided since 08/24/21.
No.59925
>>59923If you are just going to post gibberish and meme post you can fuck off.
No.60139
>>60136Glad you enjoyed it too, lol.
>>55531 No.60720
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMx-QwNxTnN0cPgb6TPdW5IkpZSiqB7mvWhile a little relivistic for my taste as a Objectivist, it is still a fantastic and suprisingly practical book. Though I got a laugh that the author is a literal non-meme cuck. Glad I didn't skip the relationship chapters as that gave me a good laugh and made the other boring bullshit worth wading through.
Anyway that aside the overall philophy of maximizing personal freedom through focusing on what is within ones control (yourself) while not letting all the bullshit other people try to put on you to control you, as well as the faulty thinking you can trap yourself with that messes up your freedom is at the very least pretty interesting.
I highly recommend the book for anyone even a little interested in liberty on the level of the individual. Especially if they prefer something practical and actionable rather then theory, utopian daydreaming, and naval gazing.
No.60721
>>60720I loved this book too. However, after a time I became disillusioned because…there's too much. There are too many 'traps.' It's like looking at a dashboard with a million blinking alarms, dials, and gauges.
>Glad I didn't skip the relationship chapters as that gave me a good laugh and made the other boring bullshit worth wading through. I took the relationship chapters as saying, "Don't." Which…is pretty good relationship advice. Especially for a wizard.
Speaking of which…are you a wizard?
No.60749
>>60721Are you asking my age?
Yeah I am 30+ but I ain't given the exact number to maintain some mystery.
Where you going with this?
No.60872
Notes from the Underground
I can sum it up as this:
Bitter crab in bucket failed normie whines the novel.
This book is highly overrated and I hated every minute of it.
Reminds me of the time I was forced to read catcher and the rye and everyone praised it but I found it insufferable.
Whine whine whine for hours.
Fuck this book and fuck who wrote it. What a pointless waste of time.
No.60883
>>60872I have read almost every novel by FD when I was 18-21 and I can barely remember any of them lol. My favourite is the one about his time in a Siberian prison camp… The whiny philosophical musings in the russian literature of that period is not my cup of tea.
No.63750
I finished the portal war saga and it is fantastic.
7 books, each around 7 hours long, with all of it reasonably interesting.
Don't want to give too much away but it's about a young mage who just wants to study magic in peace and goes through world changing means to achieve that goal.
The coolest thing is the author actually was the one to put up all of his audiobooks on YouTube for free. And they are all high quality and professionally done.
I will probably check out his other novels next week.
Dude's name is James E. Wisher. Seriously worth a look.
No.63776
I really have to find a reliable place to get modern free audiobooks other than YouTube and torrents.
Nether are actually reliable and most sites only offer public domain stuff.
I refuse to pay audible, especially not getting a subscription where I don't even own the books and the author only gets 25% of the cut for each book sell.
No.63976
>>63776Myanonymouse is a private torrent site, they have interviews a few days a week where they check you have read the rules. They have a lot of audiobooks if you want.
No.65429
>>63776I personally have a library card at my local library and then get audiobooks via the Libby app. Not ideal as I don't get to keep them, but it gets the job done.
No.65430
>>63776 You began this, but since I'm so sharing and caring, I'll share my scripts for dealing with audiobook, be it searching and downloading, or creating.
For files and plaintext from stdin, I use this script[1]. It's mostly commented. It expected voices [2,3] or the built-in kal16 in certain places (since the files are newer than what comes in my distribution's repository).
For searching audiobookbay I used [4] and for adding torrent therefrom [5].
Afterwards listen from whatever media player at whatever speed. Reading alongside from a pager or ebook reader, physical or digital, facilitates comprehension. I just like low voices.
I give y'all permission to use and or edit these. Save, shit expires in 30 days.
[1]
https://termbin.com/ogo9 [2]
https://www.festvox.org/flite/packed/flite-2.1/voices/cmu_us_fem.flitevox[3]
https://www.festvox.org/flite/packed/flite-2.1/voices/cmu_us_slt.flitevox[4]
https://termbin.com/4j5o[5]
https://termbin.com/s32d No.66370
Listened to a rather long one (3 parts) over the past 3 days.
Wizards First Rule (The Sword of Truth series) by Terry Goodkind
The naration of the version on youtube is pretty good, and it being up for years means it's unlikely to be randomly taken down. That said as a mini review of the book…I am conflict.
It's very derivative, to the point of near plagiarism at parts, has a lot of conveniences and the magic system is honestly pretty shit in it just does whatever it needs to for the plot to happen.
As for the good, I did mildly enjoy the writing style/prose and characterization. The plot beats, while predictable, were intresting, and the attention to detail made it easy to visualize exactly what was happening at any given time thus allowing me to lose myself in certain scenes.
All that said the book committed the cardinal sin of springing weird fetish shit out of nowhere for a solid 5th of the book once I was already too invested to leave.
Like ultra hardcore bdsm bullshit involving a "beautiful" succubi in a full tight leather outfit in the fantasy equivalent to a dominatrix cult spend pages and pages, chapters and chapters, sexually suggestively torturing the MC for like a month straight, breaking them in to falling in love with the torturer
Then because of him accidenting into magic bullshit he just nopes out of all that trauma and suffers literally no lasting effect of that torture besides a few bad dreams and dramatically increased pain tolerance. Whole part just made me feel dirty, as I wasn't expecting it and it doesn't tonally fit with the rest of the book.
Really, all the romance in the book felt weird and I didn't appreciate it, and I am not just saying that because I am a aromantic wizard. I can appreciate well written romance in fantasy stories, and even tolerate mediocre poorly developed love interest type plots if it raises the stakes, but in this book shit just made me uncomfortable. Not like physiological horror book uncomfortable, but more like I felt like the author has issues that they probably should see someone about rather than work through them in published book form.
Anyway, I don't think I will keep going in the series, as I heard this was the peak of the Sword of Truth books, and if this one is the peak then I remain unimpressed. I might consider going on if the books weren't obnoxiously long for no good reason.
Anyway, links if you want them.
part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tufLvmjU3ZU&list=LL&index=4&pp=gAQBiAQBpart 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-DbCi039qs&list=LL&index=2&pp=gAQBiAQBpart 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtLoR2CK-cQ&list=LL&index=1&pp=gAQBiAQB No.66371
>>51296Anyone ever read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand? I found a copy of it in a box by the side of the road along with A Clockwork Orange.
No.66384
>>66371It's on my to read/listen to list, but no I haven't yet gotten around to it.
No.66385
>>66371I listened to Ayn's Anthem on cassette tape and We the Living on mp3. While I don't agree with her ideas, I'm so desperate for any kind of utopian escapism from our current society, that even the darkest dystopias relax me as something different.
i'll take the devil i dont know, over the 1 i do.
No.66416
>>66415If I ever wrote a novel, I imagine it would be in her style, of just having characters as stand-ins for philosophical ideals, and their monologues being prose essays shoved into their mouths
No.66421
>>66416The funny thing is I really don't mind the monologs.
I mean I am sure they are much for fustrating when reading, but in audiobook form they are probably my favorate parts of her books.
It's just that Rand's writing of basically everything else is fan fic level, only with a better editor so less grammar mistakes and typos.
Basically she is a better esayist than a story teller, but she tries anyway with no respect for the craft.
She cares more about getting the point across than crafting a well made story and it shows in all of her fictional work that I have seen so far.
That said I still haven't gotten around to The Fountainhead, which many claim is her best fictional work.
No.66423
>>66421That reminds me even the great Plato, his early dialogues are heated debates of the historic Socrates with a lot of back and forth. By the time you get to the Laws and Timeous, it's just a long essay with the interlocuter saying I agree.
No.66459
I tried to get through The Witching Hour (first book of the Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy) by Anne Rice.
While I liked most of her vampire books I couldn't even make it past the 3rd chapter of The Witching Hour. It is frustratingly boring, meandering, and felt the need to give the birth to death life story of basically every plot relevant character even though it has very little to do with the current plot and just drags everything to a painfully dull crawl where nothing of consequence happens for hours.
Hated it.
Do not recommend. Boring to the extreme.
No.66629
An audiobook biography of Hotwheels and the history of Wizardchan is coming out soon!
https://www.audible.com/pd/Black-Pill-Audiobook/B0CLGW7P6C?
No.66631
>>66630
a female from cnn who is obsessed with in cels, white supremacists and its links to chan culture. She looks like a disabled subhuman so your typical cnn journalist.
No.66634
>>66629I ain't paying money to listen to propaganda.
Audible can suck a dill pickle and choke on it.
No.67253
Some of Cioran's books are now on Audible, although strangely not Heights of Despair
No.67295
>>67288I was hopeful when some stuff started coming out with AI voice but the reality of it has set in.
99.9% of it is lazy low quality junk that the uploaded didn't bother to do even basic audio editing of.
Pretty clear VA and other such people still will have job security for the foreseeable future.
Sort of like how AI art is hyped to the moon but without skillful editing 99.9% of it is garbage.
Could be a game changer for the skillful few willing to put the work in to polish the stuff generated, thus saving time and money allowing solo and small team to metaphorically punch way above their weight. But ai mainly attracts the incompetent, the lazy, and the scammers/hustlers who just want a quick buck without providing any value to anyone.
I now don't even bother to deal with ai generated content. It sucks. Partly because the tech ain't ready for prime time yet and partially because most who use it suck.
What a fucking let down.
No.67296
>>67295https://www.businessinsider.com/publish-books-amazon-kindle-reviews-2019-2I listened ton an entire AI read audiobook by this Ukraine company without realizing it was fake, they even made a fake Linkedin for a narrator. on another book it was more obvious and i did more digging.
idk if AI readers can sometimes pass "the turing test" on me, we're getting there.
No.67727
I've listened to lots of podcasts and audiobooks. Complete waste of time. You just don't retain that information very well when you're multitasking, and if you aren't then why not just read to begin with and use all of your brain?
No.67728
>>67727>he multitasks while he "listens" to audiobooks>meaning he really doesn't listen because he isn't paying attention>he doesn't even take notes>he thinks it's a complete waste of time >he isn't learning his 4th language and then using audiobooks for input learninglol
No.67729
>>67727>You just don't retain that information very wellPure projection.
I still remember audiobooks I listened too nearly a decade ago.
If it's good stuff then I will remember it regardless of format. If it's mediocre then it will fade from my mind rather quickly.
Don't blame the format, ether blame yourself for not paying attention or blame the content for not being memorable.
No.67730
>>67729I admit, my memory retention is terrible. But despite having bits and pieces of the audiobooks I've heard over the years while driving, I wouldn't say I have strong mastery of any particular one. There is lots of evidence suggesting multitasking is very bad for information encoding
No.67731
>>67730Then don't multi task.
That doesn't mean you should shit on audiobooks as a format because you personally have a problem of shitty retention and instability to pay attention. That is a problem with you and your behavor. Not a problem with audiobooks.
No.67732
>>67731lol. Don't make a thread if you don't want to hear my thoughts on the subject. Books are better, you retain much more and are using more of your brain in the process of encoding
No.67737
>>67732So you are basically admitting to just being a shit stir who has no actual interest in the subject and just here to troll.
Good to know, you can fuck off now.
No.67740
>>67733Wouldn't by that logic mean that listening to the information in the form of oral recitation be the optimal method?
Which is why college puts a premium on lectures as the bedrock to their pedagogical method.
No.67741
>>67740the optimal method is probably reading the books aloud yourself
No.67742
>>67741You assert that but there isn't real world evidence of that, which is why learning institutions aren't structured around such a practice.
Instead from the lowest to the highest it's build around lectures or in other words listening to a instructor.
No.67744
>>67742I'm not
>>67741 but I don't think he may answer to such idiocy. trolling enough about the cuckery of sheeple compulsory "education"
>learning institutions taken seriously as referenceThis is the type of mental failure when you people disregard conspirationist as "theorists" instead of giving them a serious look.
No.67746
>>67744>bad faith and non-argumentsWhat was even the point of this post other then to make yourself look bad?
No.68183
>>68181Book two really is trying my nerves. Somehow the AI voice has gotten significantly worse or the editing of it has gotten lazy. Ether way it's now a drag to listen through.
The story meanders. The themes trite and preditable. The borderline retarded social comentary and virtue signaling is lazy and clumbsy, and I dislike all of the new charcters. Also India sucks as the new setting but it seems that the bulk of the last 3 books of the series are taking place in it. It doesn't have the same gothic horror vibes at all. Instead the whole thing feels more genearic modern fantasy trying to follow trends in mainstream publishing. Which is to say, follow the DEI agenda rather than craft a decent story or stick to the more interesting setting.
Worst yet, basically all of the charicture progress of the people from the last book has been frozen because too much time was spent fleshing out 2 of the new characters. Mind you not all of the new characters, just two of them. Both being kinda shit and I am a bit disappointed nether died. I mean one was wounded but this being now a basic bitch fantasy book, that means basically nothing.
Worst yet, I can already pretty much predict where the story is going and I don't like it.
So disappointing.