Audiobook Sample
Listen to the sample to experience the story.
Please wait while we verify your browser...
- Title: Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People
- Author: Bob Goff
- Narrator: Bob Goff
- Length: 05:57:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 17/04/2018
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Counseling & Inspirational
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
There’s a particular magic that happens when an author narrates their own work – a raw authenticity that no professional voice actor can replicate. Bob Goff’s “Everybody, Always” is one of those rare audiobooks where the narrator’s voice carries the same infectious joy and boundless love that permeates every page of the text. Listening to Goff’s warm, slightly raspy delivery feels like sitting across from a wise friend at a campfire, the kind who tells stories that make you laugh until your sides hurt and then quietly drops truth bombs that rearrange your heart.
I first encountered this audiobook while driving through the winding roads of rural Portugal, where crumbling stone walls and sun-drenched olive groves created the perfect backdrop for Goff’s lessons about loving without limits. There’s something about being in motion – whether physically traveling or emotionally journeying through a book – that opens us to transformation. As Goff shared his hilarious misadventures (like the time he accidentally became friends with a witch doctor) and profound insights about radical love, I found myself pulling over repeatedly to jot down notes, the kind that don’t just live on paper but seep into your way of being.
Goff’s central premise – that we’re called to love “everybody, always”, especially the difficult people – resonated deeply with my experiences meeting strangers in foreign lands. I remembered a tense bus ride in Morocco where a heated argument between passengers dissolved into shared laughter and mint tea, simply because someone chose kindness over pride. Goff’s stories have that same alchemical quality, turning what could be moral lessons into vibrant, three-dimensional encounters. His narration amplifies this effect – you can hear the smile when he talks about his wife Sweet Maria, the conspiratorial whisper when recounting a prank, the catch in his throat when describing loss.
The audiobook’s structure mirrors life’s messy beauty: chapters flow like conversations, weaving between personal anecdotes (skydiving mishaps, adopting children from war zones), biblical parables retold with fresh urgency, and practical challenges to love bigger. Goff’s background as a lawyer and nonprofit founder lends weight to his idealism – this isn’t naive optimism but hard-won conviction forged through representing oppressed communities and navigating bureaucracy with relentless hope.
What makes this audio experience exceptional is how Goff’s vocal performance embodies his message. Unlike polished narrators who maintain professional distance, his voice cracks with emotion during vulnerable moments, speeds up with childlike excitement during funny stories, and drops to a hush during profound revelations. It’s the audio equivalent of receiving a handwritten letter rather than a mass-printed email. The production quality enhances this intimacy – the recording has the warm, unfiltered quality of a live storytelling event, complete with occasional chair creaks and breath pauses that make you lean in closer.
Critics might argue some stories verge on eccentric (befriending Disneyland employees by sending them cake?), but that’s precisely Goff’s point: love should be delightfully unreasonable. The book’s spiritual framework is explicitly Christian, yet its lessons transcend religion – anyone yearning to replace fear with love will find nourishment here. Compared to Mark Manson’s “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*uck*, Goff offers a radical alternative: not indifference, but overwhelming compassion as life’s guiding principle.
For audiobook lovers, this is masterclass in author-narrator synergy. Goff’s timing – knowing exactly when to pause for impact, when to chuckle at his own foibles – turns listening into active participation. The 5-hour runtime flies by, yet the stories linger like favorite travel memories that surface at unexpected moments. I’ve returned to chapters like “Love Does Stuff” (about showing up tangibly for others) and “Aim for the Roses” (on extravagant generosity) multiple times, each hearing revealing new layers.
If your soul feels weary from division or your love feels conditional, let Goff’s words – and more importantly, his “voice” – remind you of a more audacious way to live. Keep your notebook handy; this is the kind of book that demands underlining, not just in text but in transformed action.
With open roads and even more open hearts,
Marcus Rivera
