Help me spend down my audible credits on cosy non-fiction

January 7, 2025 12:11 PM

I have paused my Audible account for Amazon reasons and want to spend my FIVE Audible credits before canceling. Difficulty level: non-fiction and non-depressing.

I'd love to listen to stuff to take my mind off the current state of the world, so prefer to stay away from politics/current events, history (makes me thing about current events), and any sad stuff in general. What is a nice cosy listen for 2025? Anything you listen to that puts you in a good mood?

posted by M. to Society & Culture (14 answers total)

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
posted by Winnie the Proust at 12:22 PM on January 7 [4 favorites]

Ayoade On Top.

...mind, I'm an Ayoade fanboy. He may not be for everyone, perhaps peruse one of his Big Fat Quiz appearances or something to see if he's up your alley. I also think Travel Man is on Prime TV, and the Roku Channel, if that's easier to find.
posted by aramaic at 12:28 PM on January 7 [3 favorites]

I think someone on here recommended this to me and I loved, loved, loved it: Mary Rodgers' memoir "Shy" as read by Christine Baranski. Presupposes some interest in American theater, musical theater but mostly it was just like hanging out with someone interesting and witty with lots of stories.
posted by less-of-course at 12:33 PM on January 7 [2 favorites]

The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
posted by Lemkin at 12:34 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything -- a really charming and interesting history of science!
posted by capnsue at 1:15 PM on January 7 [7 favorites]

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:16 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon biography by Malcom Gladwell. I've recommended it to 5 people and gifted it to 2. All loved it. It's one of those audiobooks that is more than just a person reading some text.
posted by Jungo at 2:45 PM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson. It's a tour through just about every piece of equipment and utensil ever found in a kitchen, starting with the oldest and moving to some of the newest.

The Secret Lives of Color by Kasia St Clair. All about dyes and where we get colors.

Both of these are on Audible, I listened to them rather than read them.
posted by Hactar at 2:57 PM on January 7 [7 favorites]

I really enjoyed Shy, but just be aware there are some decidedly non-cozy bits in there:

[Click for spoiler]

Rodgers’ parents were neglectful and emotionally abusive to her; her husband was physically abusive to her; one of her children dies at the age of four.

posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:19 PM on January 7

I have not personally read or heard Parker Posey's You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir, but I have been meaning to ever since reading enthusiastic recommendations here in AskMe: both Capt. Renault and late afternoon dreaming hotel loved it.

Maybe someone else in this thread can confirm whether there's anything depressing in it?
posted by kristi at 7:36 PM on January 7

1. rick rubin’s the creative act. i’m about halfway through, but it is a lovely nf book of advice and perspective. audiobook is read by the author and he has a wonderful voice. chapters are demarcated with the resonant sound of a meditation bowl!

2. elizabeth gilbert’s big magic is another nf about creativity, but specifically writing as vocation. i found it funny and exciting. lots of great zingers. read by the author.

3. not sure if it’s “cosy”, but it’s funny af and i think not stressful: aparna nancherla’s unreliable narrator: me, myself, and imposter syndrome. likewise read by the author.

4. generally i find cal newport pretty insufferable, but i really enjoyed slow productivity. interesting discussion of how people who made really great accomplishments (generally academic) got things done; promotes humane working practices.
posted by tamarack at 10:23 PM on January 7

Response by poster: Thank you so much for your suggestions!

Please keep them coming, I'd especially love some more sciency ones (not necessarily memoirs).
posted by M. at 10:37 PM on January 7

Best answer: M., all of the sciency ones I can think of tend to have negative aspects (Rust, one of my favorites, has a chapter about the lining of metal cans and how toxic it may be) and I also have a tendency to move towards historical medical ones (the history of smallpox is anything but cozy), but here are a bunch more from my audible library (my account is in the US (despite me moving to the UK, I'm keeping it based there), and based on your spelling you're not, so some of these may not be available). I cannot guarantee coziness, but to the best of my memory, these are all pretty good.

Rust by Jonathan Waldman
The Secret Lives of Bats by Merlin Tuttle (memoir about all his time doing observations and articles on bats and his work on conserving them)
Secondhand by Adam Minter (about the secondhand markets all over the world)
A World on the Wing by Scott Weidensaul
The Age of Wood by Roland Ennos
The Golden Thread by Kasia St. Clair
Tides by Jonathan White
Ten Drugs by Thomas Hager
Nine Pints by Rose George (about blood)- Rose George is great, not sure how cozy I'd call her books, but she's one of my favorite authors
Three Stones Make a Wall by Eric Cline
The Most Perfect Thing by Tim Birkhead (about eggs)
The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson
Feathers by Thor Hanson
The Science of Cheese by Michael Tunick
Failure Is Not an Option by Gene Kranz (mission controller on Apollo 13) - memoir, but still rather sciency
Paper by Mark Kurlansky
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
Salt by Mark Kurlansky
posted by Hactar at 3:50 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]

Two favorites of mine, in no way depressing, are David Attenborough's memoir (read by the author!) Life on Air, and Ed Yong's wonderful An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden World Around Us.
posted by metonym at 12:58 PM on January 8