this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025
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Good audiobooks (lemmy.zip)
submitted 3 months ago by stoy@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I have recently got into audiobooks, with a focus on classic sci-fi, I just finnished Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clark (narrated by Peter Gamin), which is absolutely brilliant, highly recommended, and The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (narrated by Kelsey Grammer, free on Apple Books), also brilliant, very different from the 1960s film.

Anyway do you have any tips on classic sci-fi (1870s-1990s) that I should listen to?

I use Apple Books to buy the books, I am not really interested in audiobook streaming, I want to own my books, not rent access to them.

At the moment I have several books that I need to listen to, but I want to buy more now so I have them in my library.

I have the following books in my library:

  • Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clark - Narrated by Peter Gamin
  • The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells - Narrated by Alexandra Coles
  • The Time Machine - H. G. Wells - Narrated by Kelsey Grammer
  • The World Set Free - H. G. Wells - Narrated by Sebastian Blackwood
  • I, Robot - Isaac Asimov - Narrated by Scott Brick
  • Ignition, An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants - John Drury Clark - Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross

I am planning on getting 2001: A Space Oddesy and some even more Arthur C. Clark...

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[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Your list of audio books is very similar to how I started. I stumbled across a torrent with a bunch of Hugo winners, and those were included.

Some recommendations off the top of my head:

  • Project Hail Mary (Weir).
  • Snow Crash. (Stephenson).
  • Cryptonomicon (Stephenson. Not sci-fi, but I highly recommend it anyway).
  • The End of Eternity (Asimov. His only time travel book).

And of more recent date, the "Dungeon Crawler Carl" series as released by sound booth Theater is pretty much the gold standard in Audio book production. Seems pretty shallow at first, but the sci-fi element becomes more and more prevalent with time, and it weaves a pretty interesting story. On top of being hilarious. I cannot recommend this series enough.

In addition to those, Discworld makes for some great audio books as well.

[–] TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Project Hail Mary was my first thought when I read “audiobooks” and “sci-fi”. Not only is there an aspect to the story that lends itself particularly well to the audiobook format, but the narrator (Ray Porter) is so good I’ve sought out other books he’s narrated.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

I just completed the the book last week, it was great, I really liked the confusion at the start.

I found the ending a bit predictable, I don't want to say more to avoid spoilers.

[–] icerunner_origin@startrek.website 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Arthur C Clarke is an excellent author and the Rama series is one of my all-time favourites. I'd recommend anything by Philip K Dick, though honestly I think a good reference would be to pick works listed in the SF Masterworks collection, it's how I found many of my favourite SF novels.

If you fancy venturing into modern SF classics, my favourites are by Peter F Hamilton, Iain M Banks and William Gibson; though does Gibson count? He doesn't even have a middle initial 😄

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Rendezvous with Rama is one of my very favorite sci-fi books. It's incredibly atmospheric. While I liked the sequels co-(mostly)written by Stephen Baxter, they have much more focus on character drama and a quite different tone.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

I absolutely love that book now that I have experienced it!

Just fantastic!

[–] Badabinski@kbin.earth 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I love The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. The audiobook is narrated by Peter Kenny and he does such a good job with it.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

I bought it last week!