When there is an infinite number of free audiobooks out there to be listened to, why should we start with classic audiobooks? The most important reason is that they stand the test by time, convert lasting values, and help you approach the major problems in life. So why not spend our precious time on a classic one which can have a profound influence on your life? For this reason, we highly recommend these top 11 free classic audiobooks to you, from ancient stories to the Bible, literary masterpieces to philosophy, classic biographies to personal development. One thing we can guarantee you is that your life will have a huge transformation after understanding the truth conveyed by these ancient books.
1. What Makes a Book Classic?
A classic audiobook is a masterpiece of lasting or timeless value/influence on literature or human beings. Classic literature is an expression of life, truth, and beauty. As a classic, works must meet some common high standards for quality, appeal, longevity, and influence. There are some common factors that make an audiobook classic:
1. Educational: having a profound influence on people’s lives, which teaches a moral or value and is not purely written for entertainment.
2. Stand the test of time and continue to get better over time: the values that it teaches have lasting recognition.
3. Wide appeal: readers of all kinds can relate and resonate with a classic because it usually covers universal themes of life, addresses universal human concerns, and speaks to you.
4. Reveal the truth: only truth matters and lasts.
2. Top Free Classic Audiobooks
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1. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables, which contain chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, work, freedom, pain, teaching, friendship, time, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death. The Prophet is one of the most translated books in history.
The author has a gift for poetically describing what children are like, what lovers are like, what marriage should be like, how you should treat your enemies and your friends, how you should work with money, what can you think of every time you have to kill something to eat it. It reads like a modern-day poetic religious tome. It’s a beautiful book, which worth reading. And I would recommend the Prophet to anybody, whether you’re religious or not.
You can download the audio version for The Prophet here.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice has consistently been considered one of the most-loved books among the reading public. And as a fan of Pride and Prejudice, I am so impressed with the opening line of the novel: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, marriage, and education during the Regency era in England. The language is beautiful and the plot of the story is well woven. If you are interested in English literature, you can start with Pride and Prejudice.
You can download the audio version for Pride and Prejudice here.
3. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Meditations is absolutely life-changing for me. It's the personal diary of the Emperor of Rome. Here's a guy who was probably the most powerful human being on Earth at the time he lived. He’s writing a diary to himself, never expecting it to be published. The work has proved an inexhaustible source of wisdom and one of the most important Stoic texts of all time. When you open this book, you realize he had all the same issues and all the same mental struggles, he was trying to be a better person. Right there, you figure out external success and power don't improve your internal state, you still have to work on it.
You can download the audio version for Meditations here.
4. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
What makes a good children's book? Well, there’s no book like The Little Prince that can be as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike. It is also one of the best-selling and most translated books ever published. It is a short, fiction book as well as a philosophical book that will make you reflect on yourself. Due to the success and popularity of this book, the Little Prince has been adapted to film, television, radio plays, live stage, and opera. The story follows a young prince who visits various planets in space and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss.
You can download the audio version for The Little Prince here.
5. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Adam Smith is still one of the most influential economists of all time. His magnum opus - The Wealth of Nations took him some ten years to produce after seventeen years studies, as well as an observation of conversation among economists of the time. It is a fundamental work in classical economics, which offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth and influences economists and governments for the next century.
If you want a good book about economy for a beginner, you should start with The Wealth of Nations. It’s easy to understand and a great starting point in laying a solid foundation on economics. Understanding the basic economic principles will help you understand the world around you a little better.
You can download the audio version for The Wealth of Nations here.
6. The Bible
The Bible is one of the top 10 books that have a profound influence on human beings. It is the most important story in the history of the world that you can devote yourself to. Besides, the influence of The Bible on literature, history, entertainment, and culture is unparalleled.
The Bible is widely considered to be the best-selling book of all time. It is a storehouse of wonderful stories for children and grownups, a treasury of insight as to who we are, and a guide for living life to the full. By understanding God's Words, it would change your life forever. For example, you will not cling to worldly things, like money, fame, success, etc. It is like having a compass in your hand that you would never miss the direction of your life.
You can download the audio version for The Bible here.
7. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species, in which he writes of his theories of evolution by natural selection, is one of the most important and influential books of scientific study ever written. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in this magnificent book. Although Charles Darwin was a naturalist, geologist, and biologist, this book was written for non-specialist readers. That’s why it is perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of scientific imagination.
Almost everything about humans and human civilization is explained better by evolution than anything else. So I would recommend that those who never read the source material on the theory of evolution make The Origin of Species a priority.
You can download the audio version for The Origin of Species here.
8. How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the best selling self-help books written by Dale Carnegie. The core principles of this book are about fundamental techniques in handling people, rules for making your home life happier, and ways to make people like you, etc. Dale Carnegie’s rock-solid, time-tested advice has helped countless people achieve their goals in their business and personal lives. When you are stuck in life or crave to earn more, How to Win Friends and Influence People is such a useful guide that can help you through these everyday problems and make success look easier
You can download the audio version for How To Win Friends and Influence People here.
9. The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
The Tao Te Ching is a short text of around 5,000 Chinese characters in 81 brief chapters or sections. It is one of the world's oldest and most treasured and translated works of literature that its influence has spread widely outside East Asia. And the best English edition of Tao Te Ching was translated by Stephen Mitchell. The text emphasizes the virtues of naturalness (ziran) and non-action (wuwei). Written around 2,500 years ago by Lao Tzu, his timeless wisdom and transformative message remain every bit as relevant today.
Many artists have used The Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration to bring them back into the harmonious flow of the natural.
You can download the audio version for The Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell here.
10. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a memoir of one of the founding fathers of the United States - Benjamin Franklin. It has become one of the most famous and influential autobiographies that have ever been written. It chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became America’s best writer, inventor, politician, scientist, diplomat, humorist, business strategist, and more.
Undoubtedly, in the versatility of his genius and achievements, Benjamin Franklin is one of the most influential people in American history as well as the greatest of a self-made man ever. If you are interested in reading biographies, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin should be your best choice.
You can download the audio version for The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin here.
11. Moral Letters to Lucilius by Seneca
Moral Letters to Lucilius is the most important audiobook I've ever listened to. It is a collection of 124 letters that were written by Seneca. The letters often begin with an observation of daily life before proceeding to an issue or principle that is abstracted from it. The result is a handbook of philosophical meditations. The letters focus on many traditional themes of Stoic philosophy such as the contempt of death, the stout-heartedness of the sage, and virtue as the supreme good. Like the great religious books, it gave a very deep, very philosophical, but very true answer to how to approach the major problems in life.
You can download the audio version for Moral Letters to Lucilius here.
Bonus Tipsif you have audiobooks purchased from Audible, you can use Epubor Audible Converter to convert your Audible books to MP3 in order to back them up to your computer.
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