I had occasion to drive from Sandy to Springville today, about an hour on the freeway. I had intended to find some great new book or talk to download onto my iPod for the journey, but my morning got away from me and I ran out of time. As I got into my little Toyota Tacoma and got ready to drive, I browsed through the selections on my iPod to see if there was anything interesting that I hadn’t listened to for a while. I wasn’t in the mood for music and wasn’t really mentally engaged enough for serious doctrinal stuff.

As I browsed I found that I had downloaded several short (25-30 minutes) biographies that we have available on LDSAudio.com from the World Classics section (see “World Classics” tab on the LDSAudio.com homepage — it is nearly obscured by the graphic of the temple). I had downloaded biographies of the great Scottish microbiologist Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, and also of Rembrandt, DaVinci, Van Gogh and Picasso. The four artists I had downloaded to help my wife prepare for some art classes she was teaching. I have no idea why I had downloaded Fleming. These are all from a series of biographies that we carry on LDSAudio.com called, The World’s 100 Greatest People. It can be purchased as a big bundle with all 100 biographies, or in 5 smaller bundles (To see who is included in each bundle go to: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5), or each biography can be purchased separately.

I was so pleased to find these little gems! I had listened to some of these a couple of years ago when we first put them on LDSAudio, but had forgotten that I had them. They are really terrific. The quality of the production is excellent all the way around. The content is interesting, the stories are entertaining, the narrators are professional and pleasant to listen to.

On the way to Springville I listened to the biography of Fleming (of whom I knew virtually nothing). I learned of the “happy accident” of his discovery of penicillin when an errant dust particle flew into a petri dish he had not cleaned out. To his credit, he watched over time to see how the mold that was growing began to interact with the foreign object, took careful notes, experimented, and eventually found a way to harness the power of the mold to kill infection — ultimately, of course, paving the way to save millions of lives. Next was the fascinating and inspiring life of Leonardo da Vinci. I couldn’t wait to get back in the truck and head home so I could listen to the story of Rembrandt, and then Picasso.

When I got home I went straight to LDSAudio.com to see what else was available. In addition to the 100 Greatest People, there is a series entitled The World’s 100 Greatest Books, also available as a total bundle, or in volumes or separately. My wife had also downloaded two of these titles; To Kill a Mockingbird and Last of the Mohicans. She used these as sort of audio Cliff Notes when we went on a long road trip to California so she could get a jump start on some books they were reading in her book club. She also downloaded the entire audio book of Last of the Mohicans, knowing it would be easier to listen to her iPod in the car rather than read. The final bundle is The World’s 50 Greatest Composers. These have short bios and then samples of the composers great works.

I loved listening to these short biographies. I learned a lot, was entertained, and didn’t feel I had wasted an hour of my time while I was driving. How many times do we wish we had more productive learning time? I do all the time. This was one way to remedy that. I am actually looking forward to the next time I need to be on the freeway for an hour! Now to get some of these onto the kids’ iPods . . .