Audiobooks Like Will

Will Smith narrates his own memoir with a rawness that makes the 16-hour runtime feel like a conversation rather than a performance — the vulnerability is specific and unguarded in a way that only works when the subject and the narrator are the same person, and the passages about his family and his failures land without deflection. All ten recommendations are highly rated, and several are also author-narrated memoirs, drawn together by listeners who respond to that quality of direct, unmediated testimony.

10 audiobooks for fans of Will

  1. 1
    Shoe Dog cover

    Shoe Dog

    by Phil Knight

    Narrated by Norbert Leo Butz

    4.83 ABR Score (428.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.46 Goodreads (374.7K) ★ 4.86 Audible (53.5K)
    13h 21m listening time • Released 2016
  2. 2
    Know My Name cover

    Know My Name

    by Chanel Miller

    Narrated by Chanel Miller

    4.81 ABR Score (271.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.68 Goodreads (262.6K) ★ 4.82 Audible (9.3K)
    15h 24m listening time • Released 2019
  3. 3
    The Autobiography of Malcolm X cover

    The Autobiography of Malcolm X

    by Malcolm X, Alex Haley

    Narrated by Laurence Fishburne

    4.76 ABR Score (307.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.37 Goodreads (293.7K) ★ 4.9 Audible (13.5K)
    16h 52m listening time • Released 2020
  4. 4
    Nobody's Girl cover

    Nobody's Girl

    by Virginia Roberts Giuffre

    Narrated by Thérèse Plummer, Gabra Zackman

    4.73 ABR Score (78.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.55 Goodreads (70.8K) ★ 4.85 Audible (7.4K)
    13h 39m listening time • Released 2025

    The dual narration cuts between Giuffre's voice and Plummer's, creating an intimate testament that demands to be heard rather than read—a survivor's reckoning told with devastating clarity.

  5. 5
    A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II cover

    A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

    by Adam Makos, Larry Alexander

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    4.64 ABR Score (37.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.38 Goodreads (28.1K) ★ 4.85 Audible (9.8K)
    13h 22m listening time • Released 2013

    Robertson Dean's narration transforms this true WWII encounter into pure cinematic tension—two enemy pilots' humanity cuts through the chaos in ways that feel both intimate and epic.

  6. 6
    Open cover

    Open

    by Andre Agassi, J.R. Moehringer

    Narrated by Erik Davies

    4.55 ABR Score (157.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.32 Goodreads (149.2K) ★ 4.74 Audible (8.3K)
    18h 4m listening time • Released 2009
  7. 7
    Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 cover

    Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13

    by Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger, Fred Sanders

    Narrated by Fred Sanders

    4.53 ABR Score (11.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.4 Goodreads (10.5K) ★ 4.87 Audible (1.5K)
    16h 15m listening time • Released 2019
  8. 8
    Master of the Senate cover

    Master of the Senate

    The Years of Lyndon Johnson • Book 3

    by Robert A. Caro

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.52 ABR Score (25.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.43 Goodreads (24.3K) ★ 4.81 Audible (1.6K)
    18h 29m listening time • Released 2005

    Grover Gardner's steady, commanding voice transforms Caro's dense political narrative into riveting storytelling—18 hours that feel essential once you grasp how Johnson actually bended the Senate to his will.

  9. 9
    The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz cover

    The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

    by Erik Larson

    Narrated by John Lee, Erik Larson

    4.49 ABR Score (151.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (139.3K) ★ 4.66 Audible (12.3K)
    17h 49m listening time • Released 2020
  10. 10
    Becoming cover

    Becoming

    by Michelle Obama

    Narrated by Michelle Obama

    4.93 ABR Score (1.4M ratings)
    ★ 4.43 Goodreads (1.2M) ★ 4.89 Audible (183.2K)
    19h 3m listening time • Released 2018

    Michelle Obama reading her own story is the rare case where the narrator's voice becomes inseparable from the intimacy of the memoir—you're getting her reflections in her own cadence, which hits different over 19 hours.

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →