Librivox

Lynne Kiesling

The attention has taken a turn for the literary here in KPLandia … perhaps it’s the upcoming PBS broadcasts of the ITV productions of all of Jane Austen’s novels. Here’s a great find for those of you who like to multi-task and listen to audio books (during exercise, knitting, driving, etc.): LibriVox.

LibriVox is a volunteer project in which volunteers read books that are in the public domain; you can download them as MP3s to listen to. How awesome is that? You can listen to Persuasion, if, like me, you love Jane Austen. Fancy some philosophy? How about David Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding? There’s also poetry: Walt Whitman, e e cummings (yes, I’m a pretentious pedant for doing it all lower case, so what?).

Or for you economists out there (and you NU folks taking my History of Economic Thought course this winter), how about Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics? Or John Stuart Mill (of his own free will, after half a pint of shandy … sorry, sorry!)?

Sadly, though, no Adam Smith. I’d just love it if someone with a lovely Scots brogue would volunteer to read Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments. Hmmmm, here’s a thought … David Tennant reading Adam Smith. I might never take my headphones off again …