Listening to and living through

I listen to a lot of audiobooks.

I listen to audiobooks when doing household chores, driving, exercising, and going to sleep at night.

There have been days and weeks when I have heard the voices of audiobook narrators more than any flesh-and-blood person, including friends and family.

It’s not just any old audiobook, though. I don’t listen to mysteries. I don’t listen to thrillers. Or books about witches or warlocks or hobbits. I won’t invest my time listening to something that didn’t happen. If someone told me tomorrow that, actually, King Lear and Henry VII are documentaries, then I’ll finally get on that Shakespeare train.

It’s nonfiction all day, every day for me. Science. Self-development. Politics. History. Biography.

My mantelpiece at home. Almost every one of these are biographies.

I’m going to attempt a bit of self-flattery here. I’ve read in numerous places that a sign of intelligence is curiosity. Well, if that’s true, then I should be in Mensa.

I want to know.

I want to know the difference between a symphony, an orchestra, and a philharmonic (How to Listen to and Understand Great Music). How did the New York Yankees become a baseball dynasty in the 90s (Chumps to Champs)? In what ways do feelings of inadequacy develop in childhood and impact us through our lives (Understanding and Treating…