Open

I’ve listened to my fair share of tech origin stories, but *Open* hooked me from the first chapter because Canion refuses to sugarcoat the chaos. The audiobook shines when Boehmer delivers the line, “We had 60 days to build a computer that didn’t exist,” in a voice that sounds equal parts exhausted and exhilarated—exactly how I imagine the team felt. The production is polished but not slick, with subtle sound effects (think keyboard clacks and phone rings) that ground the narrative in the era without overdoing it. That said, the middle third drags when Canion gets bogged down in hardware minutiae; I found myself wishing Boehmer had more room to inject his vocal range to keep it lively. Where the book truly excels is in its human moments: the camaraderie, the panic, and the sheer dumb luck that turned a $1,000 bet into a billion-dollar empire. If you’re looking for a rags-to-riches tech fable, this isn’t it—it’s messier, funnier, and far more compelling. Boehmer’s performance sells it, making even the most arcane tech talk feel like high-stakes drama.