I'm a nonbinary 🏳️⚧️ trans 🌈 queer 🧠 disabled 🕍 Jewish 🌹 socialist 🏴🚩 anti-fascist 🌃 urbanist on unceded Ohlone land in Berkeley, CA.
I enjoy reading fiction and I put in the effort to read non-fiction to expand my horizons and improve my abilities. Science fiction is where I'm most comfortable, but I can dive into almost any story depicting smart but flawed people trying to manage complex and uncertain situations.
I cannot recommend Voice Dream enough. Not every book has an audio edition — especially obscure material and non-fiction. Having a robot in my phone which can read me any PDF or ePub is magical. Custom voices and pronunciation, fully offline reading, it's really the best. voicedream.com
When someone has gone to the effort of recording an audiobook, I prefer to buy them from Libro.fm. They're a social purpose corporation, care about DEI, and let you support your local book store when you shop there. Most importantly, all your audiobooks can be downloaded as DRM-free mp3 files so you can archive them on your own, and use any audiobook player you like. libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm299420
My current audiobook app of choice is BookPlayer (apps.apple.com/us/app/bookplayer/id1138219998) which works great, and has a ton of flexibility and convenience. I'm thinking of migrating my book library to Plex and switching to Prologue (https://prologue.audio), but like any tech migration, who knows how long that'll take if there's no forcing function.
🍵 While I read, I like to enjoy limitless (green) tea, and (lukewarm) coffee in moderation. 🥟 Dumplings and soup are my favorite food groups, which makes xiao long bao humanity's greatest achievement besides audiobooks. ☔ As well as lying in bed on a rainy day, reading with a warm mug in my hand, I also like to listen to books while sailing, hiking, camping, or really any other activity which lets me look at trees or find a cool bird or pretty flower. 🏕
Find me at @tomlowenthal@mastodon.social or tomlowenthal.com