# Taking a camping roadtrip. Suggest a good audiobook. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282 "2013-09-20T03:46:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/1 "2013-09-20T03:46:13Z")
Next week I’m going camping in the northern reaches of California. I will be spending a good amount of the time driving to and from the campsites and other locations. I don’t mind, because I love to drive. But a good audiobook makes it all the better. I have a couple of old favorites that put me in the right mood for a camping roadtrip, like “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson. But I want to give those a rest and try something new, but within the same ballpark. Here are some general guideline for the type of books I’m looking for: Nonfiction (esp. history or science) Roadtrip or travelogue related No need to appeal to kids/family (I’m a single middle-aged male) Can you suggest a good audiobook for me? Thanks all in advance. ---
**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/2 "2013-09-20T03:53:26Z")
I liked Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip. Companion book to a Ken Burns film. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/3 "2013-09-20T04:01:59Z")
Not an audiobook per se, but you might enjoy[NPR’s Road Trips Collection](http://shop.npr.org/featured/npr-road-trips-collection). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/4 "2013-09-20T08:51:33Z")
How about musical history? One of my favorite[podcasts](http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/folkways_collection.aspx)is Canadian Public Radio’s Smithsonian’s Folkways Collection. Fascinating information on the history of folk music recordings in the latter half of the 20th Century by Moses Asche and Folkways Records. They play the whole piece they are discussing instead of just a few bars. [Open Culture](http://www.openculture.com/audio_books_non-fiction) has a bunch of goodies for free. [Emusic.com](http://Emusic.com) is a subscriber service, they have an audiobook division, though you get a monthly single credit [unless you upgrade to 2, and the credits did not used to carry over but they changed recently] I got 30 or so audiobooks ranging from Plutarch to Suetonius to fiction by Lois Bujold and Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/5 "2013-09-20T17:20:44Z")
Check out the “Stuff you missed in History Class” podcasts. They run between about 10 minutes and 30 minutes each. For driving, I like the short format. If I miss something, it’s no big deal. I can either go back and listen to it again, or skip it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/6 "2013-09-20T19:34:19Z")
I like the Teaching Company’s [Great Courses](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/) series. You can often borrow them from a library. For history, I’d specifically recommend: Before 1776: Life in the American Colonies - Robert Allison Fall and Rise of China - Richard Baum History of Ancient Rome - Garrett Fagan Long 19th Century: European History from 1789 to 1917 - Robert Weiner ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/7 "2013-09-20T19:34:38Z")
Two excellent history podcasts: > **[The History of Rome](https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/)** > > A weekly podcast tracing the history of the Roman Empire, beginning with Aeneas's arrival in Italy > and ending with the exile of Romulus Augustulus, > last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Now complete! [http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/](http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/8 "2013-09-20T20:24:07Z")
Edward Abbey. I recommend _Desert Solitaire_, _The Journey Home_, _Down the River_ and _Beyond the Wall_. His best is _The Monkey Wrench Gang_, but that is fiction and outside the OP’s parameters. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/9 "2013-09-20T20:57:40Z")
Here are some possibilities that spring to mind: A few years ago I listened to and enjoyed an audio book/program about the Lewis & Clark expedition—I _think_ it was this one: [Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery](http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-Clark-Journey-Corps-Discovery/dp/B007BF4OP4/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379710134&sr=1-2&keywords=lewis+and+clark) by Ken Burns [The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey](http://www.amazon.com/River-Doubt-Theodore-Roosevelts-Darkest/dp/B000BUMW3C/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1379709932) is about an expedition that was a lot more dangerous and difficult than your camping trip will be (I hope!). I found it interesting, but almost gave up on it until I got a chance to listen on a device that allowed me to play it at double speed; YMMV. For something more lighthearted (!?), there’s Sarah Vowell’s [Assassination Vacation](http://www.amazon.com/Assassination-Vacation/dp/B00097DWXQ/ref=tmm_aud_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1379710119&sr=1-1). Definitely history, maybe a bit of a road trip (though no camping). ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/10 "2013-09-20T22:23:56Z")
Have you listened to Bill Bryson’s other books? “In a Sunburned Country” is a straight up travelogue of Australia. Laugh out loud funny in places, especially when he’s talking about horrible ways to die there (poisonous animals, jellyfish, crocs, dehydration in the Outback, etc). “At Home” is also excellent. Anything by Sarah Vowell, read by her. “Assassination Vacation” is kind of a travel book. While talking about the history of the Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley assassinations, she visits various sites related to them and their killers. “Wordy Shipmates” and “Unfamiliar Fishes” are sort of a diptych of colonial history. The first covers the Puritans in New England (mostly Boston) in the 17th century. The second is a history of Hawaii in the 18th and 19th centuries, with much focus on the New-England-educated Protestant missionaries that formed the core of the American takeover of the islands and their resources. ETA: Missed **Thudlow Boink** ’s recommendation of “Assassination Vacation” above. Credit where it’s due. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-a-camping-roadtrip-suggest-a-good-audiobook/669282/11 "2013-09-21T00:07:06Z")
Not an audio book, but the BBC production of Lord of the Rings is ~13 hours. They have music, sound effects, and different voice actors (Ian Holm, Bilbo in the LOTR movies is Frodo in the radio drama) Brian