about the third week the sights got all the same (there are only so
many shops and near car crashes on can see) so I went looking for an
escape. If I could I would work on my Chinese, but it is still going
to be a few months of Rosetta Stone before I am even remotely
comfortable trying. So I, like most the American in the program, have
chosen to retreat to the sound space of my MP3 player. The following
are some links to audio books and audio tracks that I thought people
might take some interest in.
The first, and preferred, track on this bus-ride-playlist is "This
American Life." TAL is an hour long radio program which gets me door
to door most days and I love it. If you've never heard it, or heard me
extol its virtues, then it's time you take a listen. Produced by WBEZ
Chicago and Public Radio International "each week we choose a theme,
and bring you three or four stories on that theme" You can download
each weeks episode and purchase past episodes. TAL currently owns over
3 gigs on my MP3 player and comes up as the most listened to album.
Then there are the audio books and the main point of this email. I've
recently come across two wonderful lists of books. Between work and
daily life it may be hard to get extra-circular reading in, and I find
audio books are wonderful. Of course they are no exception for the
real thing, but when you spend 2 hours on a bus and reading a book
makes you car sick or you spend hours driving to work, an audio book
is your friend. Even better is the fact that books in the public
domain, as all of the classics now are, are easily accessible and
free. On today's listening list: a reading of Herman Hesse's
"Siddhartha." Below I've compiled a list of links to share for audio
books. I will warn that people contribute these readings which means
some of them are not as nice as others, but there are usually who have
read it.
http://librivox.org/ (I've known about librivox for over 3 years now
and have multiple books from them some are hit others are miss)
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1 (you can also get e-texts
and occasionally I will take part in the "Edit a Page a Day" program)
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Literature (this is a
link to the free Audio Literature but you can also buy an account and
find other subjects)
http://www.loudlit.org/ (smaller collection of public domain works)
http://www.thoughtaudio.com/ (you can buy a pass or spend a a bit
downloading the segments)
http://www.alexwilson.com/telltale/spokenalexandria.php (some free some buy)
http://storynory.com/ (for the kids or teaching!)
http://www.podiobooks.com (audiobooks via a Creative Commons Licensing
so newer, more independent work)
---pay for it--- sites that you buy the book (who dose that any more? :P:P)
http://www.audible.com
http://www.amazon.com
and always iTunes.
etc...
----list---
http://onlinedegreeprograms.org/blog/2009/100-free-audio-books-you-should-have-read-by-now/
The third choice is to listen to music, but that is so early 2000.
Anyway, doing well in China. Kids are good. This week I worked on
pronunciation differences between "P," "B," and "D." "Please play
polite police." Rather cold this week and we had snow Monday which is
rather unusual or so I am told. Have a good weekend.
--
Iain C. Culp
~~~~
"Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."
Jean-Paul Sartre
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