Listen free for 30 days
-
The Machine Stops [Classic Tales Edition]
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 1 hr and 23 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £1.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Time Machine
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culture - now weak and childishly afraid of the dark. But they have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity - the sinister Morlocks.
-
-
great
- By Lon on 21-10-19
-
The Dawn of Language
- The Story of How We Came to Talk
- By: Sverker Johansson, Frank Perry - translator
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on evidence from many fields, including archaeology, anthropology, neurology and linguistics, Sverker Johansson weaves these disparate threads together to show how our human ancestors evolved into language users. The Dawn of Language provides a fascinating survey of how grammar came into being and the differences or similarities between languages spoken around the world, before exploring how language eventually emerged in the very remote human past.
-
-
Fascinating.
- By Shoppa on 21-04-22
-
Human Compatible
- AI and the Problem of Control
- By: Stuart Russell
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world's pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last. In this groundbreaking book on the biggest question facing humanity, Stuart Russell explains why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to his own species, and lays out how we can change course before it's too late. There is no one better placed to assess the promise and perils of the dominant technology of the future than Russell, who has spent decades at the forefront of AI research.
-
-
Disaster.
- By Mike on 14-01-21
-
A Passage to India
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Aziz is a young Muslim physician in the British Indian town of Chandrapore. One evening he comes across an English woman, Mrs. Moore, in the courtyard of a local mosque; she and her younger travelling companion Adela are disappointed by claustrophobic British colonial culture and wish to see something of the 'real' India. But when Aziz kindly offers to take them on a tour of the Marabar caves with his close friend Cyril Fielding, the trip results in a shocking accusation....
-
-
Wonderful masterpiece
- By L. McCulloch on 27-04-17
-
A Room With a View
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucy Honeychurch, accompanied by her vigilant guardian, Charlotte Bartlett, makes her first foray into the world, touring Italy and discovering a country very different to the English countryside she was brought up in.
-
-
Absolutely Delightful!
- By fliss on 12-10-11
-
The War on the West
- How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, international best-selling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is a history of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it? It’s become, he explains, perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech.
-
-
In the land of the blind …
- By theantlion on 01-05-22
-
The Time Machine
- By: H. G. Wells
- Narrated by: John Banks
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culture - now weak and childishly afraid of the dark. But they have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity - the sinister Morlocks.
-
-
great
- By Lon on 21-10-19
-
The Dawn of Language
- The Story of How We Came to Talk
- By: Sverker Johansson, Frank Perry - translator
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on evidence from many fields, including archaeology, anthropology, neurology and linguistics, Sverker Johansson weaves these disparate threads together to show how our human ancestors evolved into language users. The Dawn of Language provides a fascinating survey of how grammar came into being and the differences or similarities between languages spoken around the world, before exploring how language eventually emerged in the very remote human past.
-
-
Fascinating.
- By Shoppa on 21-04-22
-
Human Compatible
- AI and the Problem of Control
- By: Stuart Russell
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Creating superior intelligence would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, according to the world's pre-eminent AI expert, it could also be the last. In this groundbreaking book on the biggest question facing humanity, Stuart Russell explains why he has come to consider his own discipline an existential threat to his own species, and lays out how we can change course before it's too late. There is no one better placed to assess the promise and perils of the dominant technology of the future than Russell, who has spent decades at the forefront of AI research.
-
-
Disaster.
- By Mike on 14-01-21
-
A Passage to India
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Aziz is a young Muslim physician in the British Indian town of Chandrapore. One evening he comes across an English woman, Mrs. Moore, in the courtyard of a local mosque; she and her younger travelling companion Adela are disappointed by claustrophobic British colonial culture and wish to see something of the 'real' India. But when Aziz kindly offers to take them on a tour of the Marabar caves with his close friend Cyril Fielding, the trip results in a shocking accusation....
-
-
Wonderful masterpiece
- By L. McCulloch on 27-04-17
-
A Room With a View
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucy Honeychurch, accompanied by her vigilant guardian, Charlotte Bartlett, makes her first foray into the world, touring Italy and discovering a country very different to the English countryside she was brought up in.
-
-
Absolutely Delightful!
- By fliss on 12-10-11
-
The War on the West
- How to Prevail in the Age of Unreason
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, international best-selling author Douglas Murray asks: if the history of humankind is a history of slavery, conquest, prejudice, genocide and exploitation, why are only Western nations taking the blame for it? It’s become, he explains, perfectly acceptable to celebrate the contributions of non-Western cultures, but discussing their flaws and crimes is called hate speech. What’s more it has become acceptable to discuss the flaws and crimes of Western culture, but celebrating their contributions is also called hate speech.
-
-
In the land of the blind …
- By theantlion on 01-05-22
-
AI 2041
- Ten Visions for Our Future
- By: Kai-Fu Lee, Chen Qiufan
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin, James Chen, Soneela Nankani, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this provocative, utterly original work of 'scientific fiction', Kai-Fu Lee, the former president of Google China and best-selling author of AI Superpowers, joins forces with celebrated novelist Chen Qiufan to imagine our world in 2041 and how it will be shaped by AI. In 10 gripping short stories, set 20 years in the future, they introduce listeners to an array of eye-opening 2041 settings.
-
-
long but very eye opening
- By David Wylie on 06-01-22
-
Cat's Cradle
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Tony Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cat's Cradle is Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a little person as the protagonist; a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer; and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny.
-
-
Laughter and Despair
- By Eugene on 16-12-12
-
Men at Arms
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guy Crouchback, determined to get into the war, takes a commission in the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. His spirits high, he sees all the trimmings but none of the action. And his first campaign, an abortive affair on the West African coastline, ends with an escapade which seriously blots his Halberdier copybook. Men at Arms is the first book in Waugh’s brilliant trilogy, Sword of Honour, which chronicles the fortunes of Guy Crouchback.
-
-
An old favourite well narrated
- By Mary Carnegie on 18-04-16
-
How High We Go in the Dark
- By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Narrated by: Jason Culp, Stephanie Komure, Micky Shiloah, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad moving and ever inventive ways. From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead, this story follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world.
-
-
High Praise for this Darkest of Tales
- By Audiobooks Nest Reviews on 21-02-22
-
The Children of Men
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 2021. No child has been born for 25 years. The human race faces extinction. Under the despotic rule of Xan Lyppiat, the Warden of England, the old are despairing and the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere. That is until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters. Suddenly his life is changed irrevocably as he faces agonising choices which could affect the future of mankind.
-
-
This book explores a very interesting idea
- By Ariel on 18-07-18
-
Ubik
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business - deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in "half-life," a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter's face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time.
-
-
Very enjoyable
- By Mr. J. Forsyth on 19-12-16
-
King Solomon's Mines
- By: H. Rider Haggard
- Narrated by: Toby Stephens
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On board a ship bound for Natal, adventurer Allan Quatermain meets Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good. His new friends have set out to find Sir Henry's younger brother, who vanished while seeking King Solomon's legendary diamond mines in the African interior. By strange chance, Quatermain has a map to the mines, drawn in blood, and agrees to join the others on their perilous journey.
-
-
Dated but still influential
- By Dr Caterpillar on 19-04-15
-
Viral
- The Search for the Origin of Covid-19
- By: Alina Chan, Matt Ridley
- Narrated by: Gavin Osborn
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Genetic engineering expert Dr Alina Chan and renowned science writer Matt Ridley examine the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, using their formidable skills to scrutinise arguments and rigorously analyse the sprawling data. Viral is a fascinating account that takes in pangolins, horseshoe bats, internet sleuths and misleading scientific papers. It details the evidence and investigates hypotheses for the virus origin, chief among them a potential laboratory leak or a natural spillover.
-
-
VITAL... A Must Read
- By Mark on 17-01-22
-
Fahrenheit 451
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
-
-
Fantastic story, worth getting into...
- By Mr on 27-02-17
-
The Power Law
- Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption
- By: Sebastian Mallaby
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is no exaggeration to say that venture capital has been central to the greatest legal creation of wealth anywhere and has enabled much of the world we live in, yet we know surprisingly little about this strange tribe of financiers. In The Power Law, Sebastian Mallaby turns his unprecedented access to the industry's central players into a riveting, character-driven account of venture capital and the world it has made.
-
-
Must read for everyone in tech!
- By Jiri on 05-02-22
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Woefully miscast.
- By D. Payne on 12-06-18
-
The Swimming Pool Library
- By: Alan Hollinghurst
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.
-
-
fascinating book with many twists
- By Waggy From Derby on 27-06-20
Summary
The earth's surface is no longer habitable. All humanity is sequestered beneath the ground, couched in isolation and contentment. The Machine provides the needs of humanity. Mankind becomes subservient drones to the life-supporting Machine. But what happens when the Machine stops?
What listeners say about The Machine Stops [Classic Tales Edition]
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- W o o d r u f f
- 19-05-20
Timeless and thought provoking
I heard about this book for the first time on a radio programme about AI, recently. It is intriguing and an enjoyable listen, short enough to finish in one sitting on a sunny day in the garden.
unbelievable that it was written a century ago, but still relevant.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 19-04-20
The Machine Stops
Not only the machine has stopped but so has the excitement and the trills.
Firstly the book is far to short.
The fact that it's classified a classic can only be due to it's slightly revolutionary theme.
But it lacks excitement. What struggle and conquest is brief in description, thereby limiting much of the drama. I'm not one for padding out a sequence of events just to add milage to a story but to reduce it to its minimum is to delete the possibility of suspense there as I said limiting the drama.
Sorry to say it but this story was a great idea but needs seriously expanding. more action more drama more excitement and some sex or romance. In fact a lot more of everything.
Not what I would cal a classic in any way shape or form.
My advice is to leave this one on the shelf and find something more fulfilling. Maybe this author wrote something longer more exciting with more drama?
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elayne Donaldson
- 11-08-19
a tale for today
how prophetic, amazing how the author saw into our future so accurately. highly recomended to anyone who thinks technology should advance without strict regulation.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Germaine
- 02-10-18
Riveting!
Loved this story as scarily perceptive considering it was written more than a hundred years ago. Thoroughly recommend.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joe Hatton
- 28-06-22
Splendid
Spiffing delivery. Delivery makes for a gripping listening experience of a perfectly succinct novella/short story.
Ever-increasing in relevance, poignant.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- PMC
- 17-05-22
So relevant even more today
Fantastic allegory of life today! Amazingly prescient . Read at school for GCE so that tells you how long ago it was!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Big E
- 18-12-21
Makes you think
Strange how almost acurate this tale is. Well worth a listen,. Thought provoking allegory for modern times
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- H. Metz
- 13-05-19
Classic
Definitely an underrated/under-appreciated classic.
As it was written a looong time ago, it does take a bit of transfer to apply it to today’s situation - if you wanted to, you could take that as an excuse to discount the message. But astonishingly, it’s not too far from today, and goes further, just a few steps, from where the films Surrogates and maybe in clownish way, Ready Player One, took us.
The reading is very subdued, which I began to appreciated more and more, as I realized it suited the story best.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anthony Hall
- 27-07-18
A timeless work of art
This was just stunning. The reading was perfect, full of emotion. Everyone on earth should hear this story. It is heartbreaking. As the truth often can be. Can’t believe this was written in 1910
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Andy
- 07-09-21
Written in 1910 but so eerily relevant
Unique take on a cautionary tale about technology and the role of technology in our comfort as a species. What happens when we as a human race decide to create a machine to "take care of" every need, every desire, every whim...? What happens when humanity decides to let their great machine take care of everything? What happens when we as a species forgets what it's like to live as a human being, upon the Earth, as a part of the natural world? What happens when we're so far removed from our place in creation that the technology we've created for our comfort becomes our own downfall?
This should be required reading for every one.
Short, engaging, not too dated in terms of language compared to other literature that I've read from the same era.