More than just an iconic actor tooting his own horn, the book is thoughtful and drifting, like a reflective journey through the desert. But there’s also some real substance here. Yes, it’s wonderful to hear Mathew McConaughey read his own work and it’s practically meta. It tracks various wild critters through a family of essays and reveals the world as a wild and beautiful place we can always learn from and be floored by. This book by naturalist Helen MacDonald is refreshing in its glimpse of nature. It further showcases the former Supreme Court justice as an unbelievably driven, sharp-as-a-tack legal mind. This memoir is a combo of RGB’s own writing along with officially sanctioned content from her biographers. Regardless of your political views, the nation lost a genuine heroine in Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier this year. This book has essentially become a guide to doing better in 2020, a must-read (or must-listen-to) for all. The author and essayist is responsible for some of the most informed and biting stories about race and life in America out there. If you don’t follow Ibram Kendi’s incredible and ongoing body of work, you should.

Better still, there’s a second installment planned for the future. It’s honest and deals in Oval Office goings-on but also touches on the importance of family and Obama’s own quite interesting childhood. This book from former President Barack Obama is settling and, well, presidential during a rather tumultuous time. Here are the ten best audio books to sink your ears into: A Promised Land

And the kid in us all simply adores being told a tale. Other times, it’s just nice to hear a familiar voice (Mathew McConaughey, for example). Sometimes you need a helping hand from a good narrator when reading something dense (Jonathan Franzen comes to mind, or the brilliant American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis). Plus, listening to a book can allow you to appreciate a different side of it, a certain cadence, choice word, or other literary tool you might otherwise miss if it was you gobbling up the words. Yet, we love to multitask and that’s where the hands-free audio book truly plays a part. Traditional reading is a wonderful thing and is always deeply encouraged.

Best sci fi books on audible