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WIRED’s April 13, 2022 roundup selected 20 audiobooks across fiction and nonfiction, from science and memoir to crime, fantasy, and literary novels. It is a dated editorial selection—not a current ranking or a guarantee that every edition remains available—so use the notes below to choose by subject, narrator, and audio format.
How to choose from WIRED’s 2022 audiobook recommendations
The list offers several ways into a listen: a subject you want to explore, an author reading their own work, an actor or specialist narrator, or a production built around multiple voices. Most entries are conventional audiobooks; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Neverwhere also have adaptation formats distinct from straight narration. The descriptions that follow reflect WIRED’s account of the titles and editions in its 2022 roundup.
Nonfiction: science, history, memoir, and humor
The Emperor of All Maladies — Siddhartha Mukherjee
Mukherjee’s history of cancer brings together patients, families, researchers, and medical discovery. WIRED highlighted the author’s perspective as an oncologist. It linked the audiobook through Audible and Google Play; those links do not establish present-day availability.
Tremors in the Blood — Amit Katwala
This true-crime and science-history account connects two murders—one in San Francisco in 1922 and another in Chicago in 1935—with the development of the polygraph. WIRED identifies Matt Reeves as narrator.
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How to Be a Woman — Caitlin Moran
Moran’s autobiographical comic nonfiction considers womanhood through personal experience and everyday subjects. WIRED’s recommendation emphasizes hearing Moran read her own book.
Calypso — David Sedaris
These essays turn family life and everyday absurdity into material for Sedaris’s deadpan humor. WIRED points to the value of hearing the author’s own voice.
I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story — Anthony Daniels
Daniels recounts performing as C-3PO and working on Star Wars. WIRED presents it as a personal, behind-the-scenes memoir.
The Body — Bill Bryson
Bryson’s popular science tour of the human body covers topics including genetics and the immune system. WIRED praised his narration, making this a fit for listeners who enjoy an explanatory book delivered by its author.
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This Is Going to Hurt — Adam Kay
Kay’s diary of working in the UK’s National Health Service is presented in audio with additional diary entries. WIRED reported in 2022 that the print book had sold more than a million copies; that figure is the roundup’s report, not independently established sales data here.
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold — Stephen Fry
Fry retells Greek myths with selected events and dialogue intended to make the stories approachable. WIRED names Fry as both author and narrator.
Fiction with shifting voices, casts, and settings
Cloud Atlas — David Mitchell
This formally complex novel links six characters across centuries. WIRED highlights six different narrators, whose changing voices reflect the book’s shifts in time and style.
The Hunting Party — Lucy Foley
Foley’s murder mystery traps a group of friends and staff at a remote Scottish lodge. Its movement among characters is well suited, in WIRED’s description, to individual voice actors.
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The End of the Affair — Graham Greene
Set during the Blitz, Greene’s novel follows jealousy and an affair; Colin Firth narrates the audiobook WIRED describes. The article also connects the story to Greene’s relationship with Catherine Walston, a biographical point attributed here to WIRED’s account.
La Belle Sauvage — Philip Pullman
WIRED’s heading refers to the “La Belle Sauvage Series,” while its description focuses on The Book of Dust, the first volume in Pullman’s follow-up trilogy. The story features Malcolm Polstead and the young Lyra, with Michael Sheen named as narrator. Check the exact title and edition when searching for a recording.
Rivers of London series — Ben Aaronovitch
This contemporary fantasy follows police officer Peter Grant in London. WIRED singles out Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s narration and notes the jazz setting of Moon Over Soho.
Lincoln in the Bardo — George Saunders
Saunders’s novel centers on Abraham Lincoln grieving his son and is told through a large ensemble. WIRED named Susan Sarandon and Ben Stiller among the performers and reported a cast of 166 members in its 2022 article.
Rank #4
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Solo: A James Bond Novel — William Boyd
Boyd’s story places an aging James Bond undercover in a fictional African nation in 1969. WIRED identifies Dominic West as narrator.
The Handmaid’s Tale — Margaret Atwood
Atwood’s dystopian novel is narrated by Elisabeth Moss, whom WIRED identified with the television adaptation.
A Legacy of Spies — John le Carré
WIRED describes this spy novel as both prequel and sequel to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Tom Hollander narrates the edition featured in the roundup.
Dune — Frank Herbert
Herbert’s science-fiction novel is set on Arrakis, where a valuable substance shapes the conflict and the wider universe. WIRED’s 2022 article said its readers had voted Dune the best science-fiction novel of all time in 2012. It also described an 18-book universe spanning 34,000 years; those franchise figures are WIRED’s claims, and the article did not cite their underlying sources. WIRED linked Audible and Google Play, including an Audible link on Amazon.co.uk; check the regional listing for the correct audiobook edition.
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When the audio is an adaptation, not just a reading
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams
WIRED discusses BBC radio adaptations of the six-book series, with a full cast, music, and sound effects. It separately mentions audiobook narrations by Stephen Fry and Martin Freeman. These are different ways to experience Adams’s work, so check which format a listing offers.
Neverwhere — Neil Gaiman
Gaiman’s urban fantasy descends into London Below. WIRED identifies two audio approaches: a version read by Gaiman and a full-cast audio drama. A narrated audiobook and a dramatized production are not interchangeable editions.
What this list can—and cannot—tell you
WIRED’s roundup documents the recommendations and audio descriptions it published on April 13, 2022. It does not establish which recordings are currently in a retailer’s catalog, their price or regional availability, or which is objectively best. For a purchase or library search, verify the title, narrator, format, and territory on the listing itself. The original article is available at WIRED’s 20 audiobook recommendations.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
