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Audiobooks to help your RC
Pacifico
Alum Inactive ⭐
I know most people have a pretty hard time with RC and there are a host of issues going on. One issue that I think trips up a lot of people is familiarity. If you were an art history major who hates science, then that passage on chemistry is probably going to suck for you. The opposite is also true, as many of the writings on the humanities or law may be difficult for STEM experts. With all of the work everyone is putting in simply to go through the curriculum, learn the test, drill questions and do PTs, there isn't much time left to follow the common advice to read Science, Nature, The New Yorker, The Economist, etc. So what's an aspiring law student to do? One word: audiobooks. I searched the forum and couldn't find any mention of using them and so I thought I'd offer it as a possible solution for developing familiarity, and it won't even cost you a dime. A few months ago I got my first library card since I was a kid and started checking out a variety of audiobooks to listen to during my commute to work (~60-90 minutes roundtrip). While at first I grabbed whatever was new, or seemed to have an interesting premise, I eventually realized that I should use it to familiarize myself with areas I hadn't studied in a long time. I can't begin to say how much it has helped me on RC, as well as on a small handful of random LR questions that were a bit dense with scientific terminology. Simply passively listening to books on chemistry, cosmology, physics, etc. has helped me read scientific passages more easily, to the point that I now get somewhat excited when science passages come up whereas I used to slog through them. I find it is also much easier to read these passages once you have heard many of the words out loud rather than reading them on your own elsewhere and not knowing what they sound like for sure.
So in the interest of building this thread as a catalog of possible choices of audiobooks to go find at your local library, here are a few I have both enjoyed and found helpful so far:
The Disappearing Spoon And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (very entertaining book about chemistry through the lens of the periodic table, he's also written a couple other books I'm going to hunt down since I like his writing/reading style, they're called The Tale of The Dueling Neurosurgeons, and The Violinist's Thumb)
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (pretty heady physics and cosmology for casual listening but generally it's amazing)
The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking (a much more accessible and more recent work)
I haven't done this yet but I want to do it before the end of this month, if you go to this link you can download oral arguments from the Supreme Court and then put them on your phone or MP3 player or a CD and then listen which should help with some of those dense law passages we encounter: http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio.aspx
If anyone has any other audiobooks or other audio resources to suggest just post them here and I'll add them to this list so everyone can find a quick and consolidated list to help save time while passively learning new things. Good luck everyone and I hope this helps y'all in your prep!
So in the interest of building this thread as a catalog of possible choices of audiobooks to go find at your local library, here are a few I have both enjoyed and found helpful so far:
The Disappearing Spoon And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (very entertaining book about chemistry through the lens of the periodic table, he's also written a couple other books I'm going to hunt down since I like his writing/reading style, they're called The Tale of The Dueling Neurosurgeons, and The Violinist's Thumb)
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (pretty heady physics and cosmology for casual listening but generally it's amazing)
The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking (a much more accessible and more recent work)
I haven't done this yet but I want to do it before the end of this month, if you go to this link you can download oral arguments from the Supreme Court and then put them on your phone or MP3 player or a CD and then listen which should help with some of those dense law passages we encounter: http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio.aspx
If anyone has any other audiobooks or other audio resources to suggest just post them here and I'll add them to this list so everyone can find a quick and consolidated list to help save time while passively learning new things. Good luck everyone and I hope this helps y'all in your prep!
Comments
http://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/417/helpful-outside-resources-for-the-lsat
where JY gave suggestions of great audiobooks and other people also added their favorites. I have been listening to it since then and really helps me a lot in both LR and RC. Thank you @Pacifico for starting this thread, outside resources can be very valuable especially if you have more time to study for the LSAT.
Do you have any suggestions for Humanities/Social Sciences/Law?
http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates
Their arguments are just awesome. What's better is that you can listen to them through Soundcloud app on your smartphone, and they seem don't cost much of your data plan... Perfect listening materials for people who have long commute each day.
I'd definitely throw Sapiens on this list now.
Wow this is a brilliant idea... thank you thank you thank you. I have a 4 hour drive tomorrow and am dropping some things in my Audible cart right now.
I really like More Perfect (RadioLab's Supreme Court podcast). In terms of history, Hardcore History (while long) is really great––they're long, one person speaking (like reading a passage) and he uses a lot of quotes from historic figures as well. But it's also so entertaining and wonderful!
any suggestions for philosophy based podcast channels?
"The Partially Examined Life" is worth a look.
@solidsnake Thanks for the suggestion.Appreciate your help
This is such great advice. I would recommend listening to (and reading) 19th century novels. Many classic 19th century authors like Dickens and Dostoevsky write in the kind of way that encourages your eyes to glaze over from information overload. You can get to the end of the page (or 5 minutes of listening) and ask yourself "What did I just read?" The sentence structures employed in the 19th century can be long and complex which makes them perfect for RC training. Listening to the stories on my commute gives me great PAY ATTENTION training. Plus reading/listening to classic novels gives my mind a break from thinking about the LSAT and my job. I am partial to Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov. It is an incredible story and great reading training.