Thousands of people are in a Toronto Public Library queue waiting to borrow one audiobook
It’s giving Ticketmaster
They say patience is a virtue, and 2,042 Torontonians are actively embracing that on the wait list for the audiobook version of A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Originally published in 2003, the award-winning title traces the universe from the Big Bang to civilization.
A Reddit user posted a screenshot of their position in the Toronto Public Library’s queue, where they were 69th in line after having waited nearly six years. Another user chimed in to say they were holding steady at 612th in line, having requested the audiobook in 2021.
The book has been applauded for using easily understandable language to describe complex areas of science and history, making it more appealing than a stack of textbooks.
You may be wondering why over 2,000 people must wait for their moment to listen to a sound file, which is really just vibrations in the ether, molecules vibing against other molecules, the kind of thing Bryson might include in his highly sought-after and explanatory book. The answer seems to be licensing agreements between publishers and the library system. (The Reddit user’s screenshot shows just one copy available.)
Related: All Toronto Public Library branches will soon be open seven days a week
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
