Top 3 Favourite Non-Fiction Audiobooks I loved in 2020

Aditya Darekar
4 min readJul 28, 2021

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After a lot of debate (in my head) about how audiobooks don’t serve my purpose as much as a paperback or a kindle ebook, I decided to give them a final try. I noticed my attention-span does not back-stab my productivity when I am listening to a fictional audiobook.

However, I decided to give non-fiction audiobooks a try and not all of them stuck with me but the ones that did became my instant favourite and I am totally going to blast my recommendations to you, if you wish to keep reading. For those who don’t, here’s my list for a quick view (and a quick exit):

  1. Storyworthy
  2. The Courage to Be Disliked : How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness
  3. The Ride of a Lifetime

Storyworthy

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come…” ~Steve Jobs

Storyworthy is my #1 favourite and the best non-fiction audiobook I listened to in 2020. The reason why I would recommend this book is quite simple: narrating stories is such an integral part of our lives that we don’t even realise how and when. We rant about our day to friends and family, we present powerpoint presentations to tell a story of our work in school/college/office, we even have conversations in our head in anticipation of some event or situation. The real troubling question would be: when do we not tell stories? So why not learn how to do it properly so that even our audience (friends, families and colleague) feel more interested in listening to us.

I was seriously impressed as I went from one chapter to the next: each tip/advice from the author is so well augmented with a anecdotal story from the author himself. I don’t think Mathew Dicks could have done a better job and his work clearly stands our from all other non-fiction and self-help books that aim at polishing soft-skills like speaking and narrating stories.

Buy “Storyworthy” from Amazon.

The Courage to Be Disliked : How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness

“A healthy feeling of inferiority is not something that comes from comparing oneself to others; it comes from one’s comparison with one’s ideal self.”

If Storyworthy was didactic, The Courage To Be Disliked is life-changing in every form. Me and some of my friends can testify. The book is all on philosophy but don’t walk away just now… because this is were it get’s interesting. The book is entirely in a conversation mode: a conversation between a teacher and a student and aims to educate the audience just as the student learns bit-by-bit. Its incremental and over the chapter you will find yourself more indulged and asking the same questions the student (youth) asks the teacher.

It’s okay not understand the various phycological classes and theories referred. At the end, its just the advice you pick up and act upon that really matters. The conversation mode makes this fit for listening rather than reading and so I would really ask you to muster the courage and buy this audiobook right away. I am gonna re-listen to this one right away.

Buy “The Courage to be Disliked” from Amazon.

The Ride of a Lifetime

“Life is an adventure. If you don’t choose the adventurous path, you are not living.”

The Ride of a Lifetime is an autobiography of the CEO of Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger. Many a times, we go unaware of the amazing story some leaders have. Call me an ignorant fool but I hadn’t heard of Bob Iger before I listened to this audiobook and that’s why I was really amazed to hear Bob’s story of growing up, to becoming the president of ABC Television and then to finally lead a company adored by millions across the globe, Walt Disney itself.

Some of his early childhood anecdotes where Bob worked as a summer janitor, removing gum from bottom of desks in school not only inform and inspire us but also teach us not be overbearing.

If you do get your hands on this book or ears on the audiobook, don’t forget to highlight/bookmark the ten principles of true leadership.

Buy “The Ride of a Lifetime” from Amazon.

These were my top 3 audiobooks that I loved from 2020. How many did you find interesting? Got any recommendations for me? I would love to hear it from you in the comments below

~Aditya Darekar

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Aditya Darekar
Aditya Darekar

Written by Aditya Darekar

23 | IT Graduate | Tech Enthusiast | I love to write about Apple Tech and how I use it for leading a healthier, happier and productive life ⌚️💻📱