Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Non-fiction audio book recommendations

DS10 is enjoying the audio book for "A Short History of Nearly Everything," and pointed out it's the first non-fiction audio I've set him up with. I know I can share more podcasts with him, but am curious what other audio books a library might carry that are age appropriate but at a middle to high school level comprehension. He's itching for deeper than what they read in elementary school for science and history, in particular.

"What if" is fascinating and funny, science and mathy, though much of the "what ifs" don't end well for mankind. But usually in a funny way unless DS is very fearful. The reader (Wil Wheaton I think) is a big part of why it's a good listen.

I hear Wesley the Owl, and Grayson, are good reads. They are on our list but haven't gotten there yet.

We also enjoy NPR's "Driveway Moments" and "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" for lighter fare.

Thank you, NotherBen. I will look those up! I suppose the best thing would be to pre-read such things myself to know when themes might get a little mature for a younger kid.

It's not an audiobook, and you have to use IE but the Feynman Physics lectures are here:

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/index.html

Had to chuckle, IE, I haven't used that in years. No idea what that alert about installing a Silverlight extension would do on my Mac, so I'll have to look into it.

Primarily, I am looking for audio for offline listening, to use on a portable device, or audio CDs. :-)

My DD11 is a history buff and has recently gotten very into biographies. There should be a wide variety available in all forms. She is reading the "Who Was" series (nice font, big print so quite accessible despite her dyslexia) but you should be able to find a variety of biographies in audio form too. Just last night she finished Elvis Presley and before that it was Queen Elizabeth I, Albert Einstein and Alfred Hitchcock. There is also a "What Was" series and she just started reading about Pompeii. We load books onto her phone through our local public library (using Overdrive) so she can listen on the bus to school and also take out books on CD that we all listen to in the car but those have mostly been fiction.

You might be able to find Feynman's memoirs "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" in audio book. While maybe not what you had in mind, I found them fascinating as a young teen. But watch out, your youngster may turn into a safecracker.

"Tuva or Bust" was also interesting, if a bit disappointing.