I, Claudius & Claudius The God - Robert Graves

[giofranchi]

[amazonsearch]I, Claudius[/amazonsearch]

 

[amazonsearch]Claudius The God[/amazonsearch]

 

Not only the biography of a great man and one of the best pieces of historic literature, but also as fine and compelling and ironic an account of human nature as you are likely to come across ever.

Cannot recommend them both highly enough!

 

Cheers,

 

Gio

 

[rkbabang]

+1,  I'll 2nd these recommendations.  I read these a long time ago and loved them. 

 

If you like this period, have a listen to the "Death Throes of the Republic" part of the Hardcore History audiobook length podcasts from Dan Carlin.  They are episodes  34-39 here http://dancarlin.com/dccart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&sort=0&page=2 it looks like he charges for his old episodes.  I've been listening to him for years, so I originally got them for free as all his latest episodes are available for free here: http://www.dancarlin.com//disp.php/hharchive.  If you use itunes search for Hardcore History I'm not sure how far back in the archive you can get there for free.  Highly recommended.  His earlier episodes on the Punic Wars are excellent as well.  All his stuff is excellent.

 

 

[Aberhound]

Both are excellent. I just ordered Marcus Aurelias Meditations translated by Hay after I read a review complementing Hay's clean and clear writing style. I look forward to the simple pleasure of reading an excellent book during summer break.

 

Thanks rk for the mention of the podcast. I enjoyed the Norman Centuries podcasts by Lars Brownworth  also on ITunes which you might try.

 

[rkbabang]

I enjoyed the Norman Centuries podcasts by Lars Brownworth  also on ITunes which you might try.

 

Thanks I'll check it out.  I have a half hour commute each way and I listen to either audiobooks or podcasts every day at 2x speed (2 hours/day of content).  So I'm always looking for something else to listen to.

 

[Liberty]

I enjoyed the Norman Centuries podcasts by Lars Brownworth  also on ITunes which you might try.

 

Thanks I'll check it out.  I have a half hour commute each way and I listen to either audiobooks or podcasts every day at 2x speed (2 hours/day of content).  So I'm always looking for something else to listen to.

 

Marco Arment just released a new podcast player app (iOS only) that you might enjoy. There's 2 features that are killer: Voice Boost, which is basic compression and EQ that makes voices much easier to hear, especially in noisy environments like a car (reduces dynamic range so that you don't have parts that are too soft and other parts that blow out your eardrums).

 

But most importantly, there's something he calls Smart Speed. It's very low-level audio manipulation that basically removes most of the silences between words and sentences. It still sounds pretty natural - you don't get artifacts of just speeding up - and depending on who's speaking, you can often go to 1.10x-1.20x just by removing those silences.

 

And it's adds up on top of regular speed increases, so if you were to use smart speed + 2x, your actual speed might be 2.4x or something like that (I don't listen that fast, so I don't know how that'd work out, but if you're used to it, you might like it). There's a helpful dynamic counter that tells you the speedup in real-time.

 

There's also cool smart playlist stuff with priorities and such... And it's a 1.0 that just came out, so it should keep getting better (feature set is not mature yet).

 

I recommend it: https://overcast.fm

 

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get used to 2x? That sounds way too fast to me right now. Update: thinking about it, I realize there's probably a big difference between listening to an audiobook with a very deliberate and slow narrator at 2x and a fast-pace 3-people conversational podcast at 2x. Do you vary speed by type of material?

[rkbabang]

Liberty, thanks for the tips.  I use an iPod Nano right now, so I can't try the ios app, but maybe I'll switch to a iPod touch eventually and I'll try it.  I always try 2X first and if I can follow it I keep it there, if not I'll switch it back to 1X.  I'd say I keep it on 2X 90% of the time, there is very rarely anything I can't follow at that speed.  I've lived in New England my whole life and we talk kind of fast compared to the rest of the country so maybe this is the reason.  I don't know.

 

[Liberty]

Liberty, thanks for the tips.  I use an iPod Nano right now, so I can't try the ios app, but maybe I'll switch to a iPod touch eventually and I'll try it.  I always try 2X first and if I can follow it I keep it there, if not I'll switch it back to 1X.  I'd say I keep it on 2X 90% of the time, there is very rarely anything I can't follow at that speed.  I've lived in New England my whole life and we talk kind of fast compared to the rest of the country so maybe this is the reason.  I don't know.

 

Does the Nano offer speed granularity between 1 and 2x or are those the only two choices? I guess if that's all you have, it's motivation to learn to get used to it.

 

I haven't tried the nano for podcasts, but the iOS podcast apps I've seen - including the official Apple one - allow you to pick anything you want between 0.9x and over 2x, so that's another thing that might make your experience better.

[rkbabang]

Liberty, thanks for the tips.  I use an iPod Nano right now, so I can't try the ios app, but maybe I'll switch to a iPod touch eventually and I'll try it.  I always try 2X first and if I can follow it I keep it there, if not I'll switch it back to 1X.  I'd say I keep it on 2X 90% of the time, there is very rarely anything I can't follow at that speed.  I've lived in New England my whole life and we talk kind of fast compared to the rest of the country so maybe this is the reason.  I don't know.

 

Does the Nano offer speed granularity between 1 and 2x or are those the only two choices? I guess if that's all you have, it's motivation to learn to get used to it.

 

I haven't tried the nano for podcasts, but the iOS podcast apps I've seen - including the official Apple one - allow you to pick anything you want between 0.9x and over 2x, so that's another thing that might make your experience better.

 

The Nano offers 0.5X, 1X, and 2X (there might be faster, but I've never tried faster than 2x).  So yes, if 2X doesn't work I need to go back to 1X.  It would be nice to have more granularity.