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Engineering books on tape (CD)
2

Engineering books on tape (CD)

Engineering books on tape (CD)

(OP)
I have a pretty dreadful commute that pretty much renders spotify, pandora, and my personal music collection boring. i also find books on tape (fiction) rather boring in the car.

I have seen that funny commercial where the guys go on a long road trip and all they have is a "learn Spanish" tape and by the end of the trip they are yelling fluent Spanish at one another. This brings me to wonder and I do not mind admitting I am nerd enough to want to learn something "engineering" on CD that i could pop in the car and hopefully learn or refresh my engineering skills that i am not currently practices.

Am i the only one who would want a thermodynamics book on CD in the car?

has anyone ever run into something like this? I might also enjoy non-fiction engineering books. A family member got the Lockeed Martin Skunkworks book which sounded interesting to me.

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

I do a lot of traveling and alot of that is driving. And I got a lot of audiobooks - not a one of them is technical. The closest to technical is "A Short History of Everything" I'm definitely on the fiction side. My key to the boredom issue is to always get the unabridged, buy good authors. Here is an example:
Game of Thrones (all so far - waiting on the next)
Jack Aubrey/Steven Maturin (all 20)
Harry Potter (all)
Century trilogy (waiting on the third one)
Asimov (all the robot stuff up through the last of the Foundation Series - about 14 books)

And a whole bunch more including a batch of what I would call pulp (These get boring quick)

I suspect over the last four years I'm between 15 - 20 books/year.

I'll pick an author and get their stuff (in the order written) until I either get bored or finish the author. And yes some did get boring - just didn't buy any more. And audiobooks are expensive - generally more than buying paper. I just decided it was part of doing business.

I don't tend to buy disks - mostly downloads. Took me a while to figure out iTunes is a poor deal compared to Downpour - but I did.

So why fiction? Cause I don't have to pay attention. When the traffic or road conditions dictate - I focus on the driving. After it goes back to normal - I hit the rewind and go back to where I remember.

You didn't ask, for the airplanes, I got a nook. I like mostly history on this. One has to pay attention to read these. These are a lot cheaper than paper. I put on noise canceling earbuds, set the IPAD to low level elevator music - and I can pay attention to the book

It takes me a paper and pen to read a technical paper - I damn near can't get it just reading. I doubt I could do it driving.

And, my wife just got me a copy of Rosetta Stone Spanish. I haven't loaded it yet, but I understand it is mostly computer interactive. Still, I will load what ever I can on the iPOD.

I'm not trying to convince you to forget the technical - just suggesting maybe some types of fiction will work better and maybe fiction is easier to listen while driving. And, of course, there is always Spanish.

ice

Harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

Lots of material is available.

I have a long commute, too. Things I've listened to in the car (just off the top of my head):

The Feynman Lectures on Physics
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
How to Think About Science - from a CBC radio program "Ideas"

You can go to Amazon and search specifically for "Audio books", then narrow the search to science, and many of the titles are technological in nature.
They seem to have a Kindle-specific audio-book thing now.

I am currently reading "Alan Turing, the Enigma", in paperback, which you can order from Amazon as audiobook. I'd strongly reccommend this one, just prepare yourself for dark psychology alongside the techincal genius.

Out of curiosity, I scanned a few pages of their catalog: I've read the paper version of "the Design of Everyday Things" and I've seen the movie based on "The Rocket Boys", so it's not all drivel for the layman. There's also Gene Kranz's book "Failure is Not an Option" which I think I'll pick up now.

STF

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

I posted posted this link in Pat's Pub, but I don't think you are a member. The link is to a list of sites for free ebooks.

http://www.iheartintelligence.com/2014/08/31/free-...

Your question made me check, and yes you can download free audio books from Project Gutenberg and probably others.

Personally, I would not listen to technical books while driving due to the distractions from driving or from listening. True learning is not a passive experience. I don't think I would care for technical audio books even if not driving. Some sentences require far more contemplation than others, and audio books are one speed.

I'm trying out Tarzan of the Apes.

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

While I usually stick to non-fiction audio books in the car, I have downloaded some video lectures from various sources & stripped the audio from them for listening to in the car. Then when I sit down for dedicated learning I watch the same video & focus - kind of like prep reading sections of the text book back in Uni.

Check out the MIT video lecture series, NPTEL online courses (east-indian courses, good for theory but not code-specific learning), PDH, ext...

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

Langless28,

Audio tape and CD pretty much stop working when you need to do equations. If you can find a recording of J.E. Gordon's books about structural engineering, you will have an enjoyable and educational experience. You won't be able to look at the pictures. :(

--
JHG

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

Talk to the people at your local school for the blind -- A long time ago my father in law got me to read for the Hadley School for the Blind -- as they had trouble getting people who could read technical books -- these books are were not great productions but after 50 years they may be better -- just a thought as you can't say no if you don't know about it.

A.R. "Andy" Nelson
Engineering Consultant
anelson@arnengineering.com

RE: Engineering books on tape (CD)

I would check with your local library and see what types of audiobook apps they offer. I use Hoopla and Overdrive through my library which lets me stream audio books in the car through my phone. I listen to mostly non-fiction books and there are a variety of subjects available.

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