We Got Your Ears Covered

Two “Always Available” Overdrive digital nonfiction audiobooks and one with plenty of copies!

For me, audiobooks fall into two categories: “Books I Meant to Read” and “Books to Listen to while Gripped by Insomnia.” Right now, that second category has taken prominence. I’m primarily a nonfiction book reader, so when I lie down for the night, I’m looking for something that informs and delights, while being just “cozy” enough to not make me freak out.

If you need a nighttime listen and can’t wait for your hold on that perfect title to come up, check out our Always Available downloadable audiobooks collection. We have over 150 titles to choose from and all are ready to download at a moment’s notice to fill that yawning void. Here’s a few nonfiction titles I’ve tried recently that have held my interest for just long enough to get me off to Slumberland, but are also engaging enough to listen to while up and about.

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman tops just about every list of books about World War I. It expertly portrays all the folly that lead to Europe once again tearing itself apart. You can choose to let the long sets of unfamiliar, ineffectual cabinet minister names pillage your senses or you can concentrate on the lessons Tuchman lays out which still apply to modern geopolitics.

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean begins with a tour of the Periodic Table (asleep yet!?) and spins off into a tour of how various elements and chemicals have left their mark in history. Plato, Shakespeare, and Einstein take turns leaping through the stories like so many sheep. Let the specific gravity drag you down to rest or listen while cooking and learn something about chemistry!

Grant by Ron Chernow is not one of the “Always Available” titles, but there are 25 copies so you should be able to grab one. I have always had a soft spot for our 18^th President. Lying in bed listening to how he constantly failed yet got right back into the fight, whether it be against the Confederates or the bottle, inspired me to keep trying to sleep. Chernow is a master storyteller, so I found myself constantly “rewinding” back to where I drifted off.

~posted by Daniel S.