7 Nonfiction Audiobooks Perfect for Long Road Trips

Listening time: 14 hours, 36 minutes

​The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War​​​

Written and narrated by Malcolm Gladwell

This well-produced listen for World War II history buffs is a 2021 offering from Gladwell, the New Yorker writer known for his dives into pop-sociology and psychology with giant bestsellers like Blink and The Tipping Point. Here he packs every chapter with enthusiasm about his subject: the multinational group of characters involved in developing U.S. air power in the World War II era, including British physicist Frederick Lindemann and U.S. Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay — men who were obsessed with the potential of precision bombing as a way to crush American enemies with efficient force (a topic the author has also explored in his Revisionist History podcast). It was a pragmatic calculus that raised some serious ethical questions. Gladwell, who can sometimes go a little too deep into the details, weaves in archival recordings of the men involved, as well as the sounds of airplanes and bombs and dramatic background music, to help bring the history alive.

Listening time: 5 hours, 14 minutes​

This Is Your Mind on Plants​

Written and narrated by Michael Pollan

​For those expecting a book about a vegetable-based diet (Pollan is the Food Rules guy, after all!), his focus here may come as a surprise. This Is Your Mind on Plants (2021) is about three psychoactive substances found in the natural world: opium, caffeine and mescaline. The first is derived from an article he wrote 24 years ago for Harper’s, and includes his own attempts at growing poppies; the second is from a separate audiobook released in 2020 called Caffeine, where he goes cold turkey on coffee-drinking (it’s not pretty); and the last, which is new, involves his experimenting with peyote. Always an engaging narrator, Pollan dives deep into these subjects, offering cultural critiques and scientific insights that will make you think hard about why one plant is considered benign while another is criminalized. (Read AARP’s interview with Pollan for more.)

Listening time: 7 hours, 37 minutes​

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

Written and narrated by Michelle Zauner

Author Zauner, 32, the lead singer of the indie band Japanese Breakfast, has transformed her compelling 2018 essay in The New Yorker, “Crying in H-Mart,” into a best-selling 2021 memoir centered around her relationship with her late Korean mother, who’d prepare traditional dishes such as jjigae and gimbap for her family in rural Oregon, sometimes making do without access to the ingredients she needed. She communicated her love through food, which is why remembering the attention her mother lavished on her meals, Zauner sometimes breaks down crying at H Mart, a supermarket specializing in Asian food. The author, who also writes about challenges she faced growing up Korean American, describes the shock she felt at age 25 when her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and the lingering grief — sometimes manifesting as sudden waves of anger when seeing, for instance, an older Korean woman eating seafood noodles at a food court (“Why is she here slurping up spicy jjamppong noodles and my mom isn’t?”). It’s an engrossing personal story about a complicated bond. Don’t be surprised if it makes you cry.

Listening time: 7 hours, 23 minutes

Editor's note: This article was originally published on November 15, 2021. It has been updated to reflect new information.