Fair warning, it can be a little bit addictive and also a little
expensive. I started with my local library and books on CD, I went
through most of those that interested me (and many that didn’t
really). Then someone gave me a gift certificate to audible.com and
I started paying for books and downloading them to my iPod which
plugs into my shop sound system. I have a membership at Audible that
gets me the books for about $11 (US) each, but I do also pay full
price sometimes. I seem to go through a couple books a week although
I do have a soft spot for epic fantasy (think, Lord of the Rings or
Wheel of Time) and some of those can be 40 hours long. It does add up
but then a guy could have worse habits!
If you can have a computer set up connected to the internet, try
listening to BBC Radio 4 – plays, comedy, the works. It’s radio like
it used to be on the CBC in Canada.
I spent 6 years teaching jewelry in the Prison in Belize which was
very interesting and rewarding. Anyway I installed a TV and video
player. Unlike USprisons there were no tv’s in the Belize prison so
all me students loved watching the video’s on jewelry making while
they were working and during breaks. We had a 72% success rate of my
students not coming back to prison. Twice that of any other program…
You can learn while working by listening as well as seeing.
I started with my local library and books on CD, I went through most
of those that interested me (and many that didn’t really). Then
someone gave me a gift certificate to audible.com and I started
paying for books and downloading them to my iPod which plugs into my
shop sound system.
Check with your local library for an audiobooks online access. I can
login to my library’s site, and go to the audiobooks program (they
use OneClickDigital, but there are others.) I can download any
selection from their searchable list and download it into my
computer or transfer it to my iPhone. It hassaved me a ton, although
I still purchase some, particularly titles not available online.
I drive an hour to go to work. The one thing that keeps me going is
waiting for the next chapter. Jeffery Deaver’s mysteries, and John
Grisham ‘The Broker’
I have been using audible.com as well (they give you one free one to
start, look for the offer); I seem to be drawn to memoirs & stories
relating to creatives.
“The Agony & Ecstasy” a biographical novel of Michelangelo
Buonarroti written by American author Irving Stone is a good one to
start with.
The one thing that keeps me going is waiting for the next chapter.
Jeffery Deaver’s mysteries, and John Grisham ‘The Broker’
Another good mystery writer to add to your list is John Sandford (my
personal favorite) particularly his Virgil Flowers series. Although
his Prey series with Lucas Davenport is great too, in fact Virgil
Flowers is an investigator who works for Lucas Davenport and he was
such a great character that the author created his own series for
him.