Audiobooks

Alex and I work in two different towns over an hour apart.  Because of this we found a good middle ground in a smaller town about halfway between our two work destinations and that has allowed us to fairly evenly split commute time.  But what we do with that commute time has been a very rewarding hour each day listening to audiobooks. 

Audiobooks are great for a variety of reasons.  Obviously they fill the time that we commute every day.  There is always radio for that.  The real value of audiobooks comes from the fact that it gives Alex and I so much to talk about.  While our interests vary widely, that variety means we don’t listen to the same books.  Hence, it is always interesting hearing what the other has to say.  I, Arthur, tend to be more politically and philospically minded and hence my reading tastes have included the autobiography of Bill Clinton, a lecture series on the relationship between science and religion, and Hot, Flat, and Crowded, a book about the damage environmental apathy will have on us in the future if we don’t amend our ways. 

While Arthur is just discovering the beauty of audiobooks, Alex has listened to hundreds of the the past few years.  While driving Alex has a tendency to get drowsy and listening to audiobooks has helped her fight this and stay in engage on the road.  She is more for adventure in her choice of material.  She listens to a lot of non-fiction as well as a few select fiction series.  Just over the past few months she has  listened a book about climbing the tallest mountains in the Himilayas, a detective series in Botswana, a story of a young lady who gets fired from being a lawyer and learns to become a maid (this included a great British accent by the narrator and English words such as lue and lift), a con man galavanting around the world, accounts of the Civil War along the Mississippi River, and the story of a homeless African American boy making it as an NFL football player.  Even though Alex is driving the same stretch of interstate each day she is being transport around the globe, through different time periods, and seeing the world through the eyes of a variety of people. 

Needless to say conversations are never boring around the dinner table in the evenings.  Arthur is always interested in hearing about what Alex is hearing about, and while Alex maybe sometimes is not quite as enthused about hearing the world of politics and irreducible complexity she nods politely.  The only difficulty is deciding what to listen to when we travel together!  In this particular instance we circumvented this obstacle by blogging in the car instead. And at least today in this manner Omnia Vincit Amor.