Why is Daniel Quinn's Ishmael on audiobook abridged Does anyone know what parts were cut?

Answer 1

The abridged Ishmael audiobook has the distinction of being the only abridged version of a story that I've actually enjoyed MORE than the full-length original.

Most of the parts it left out were just redundant exchanges where the narrator was being especially dense, or lots of extra interjections of "That's true" or "I agree" etc etc. There was also a brief but distracting digression about Marxism that thankfully got left out, where it was poorly used as an example that confused more than it explained.

IMO, the only worthwhile thing that got cut out was a bit more detail on Ishmael's living conditions towards the end of the book, explaining the sudden change in his attitude a bit better than the audiobook did, but it wouldn't have been worth an extra cassette just to include. There were also a couple (literally two) maps included in the text, but the audio describes them well enough.

Honestly, if people have the choice between the reading book or the audio, I say go with the abridged audio.

Answer 2

Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael" is abridged on audiobook to shorten the overall listening time and make it more accessible to a wider audience. The specific parts that were cut may vary, but generally, abridged versions remove sections of text that are deemed less essential to the overall narrative to streamline the story without losing its core message.