Sorry, I don’t know if any of them are in audio book form or not. (I think audio books are great. Years ago, I used audio books as a “different” — and eye resting — way to catch up on a lot of the classics that I had never had gotten around to reading.)

But for someone like yourself, who apparently has never actually read Jacobs (but has only heard about her), I’d like to emphasize that she’s a JOY to read — probably one of the most “readable” writers of non-fiction there is. And, in particular, her books on economics are miles and miles ahead of most other books on economics in terms of readability. (I can easily see people reading her just for the fun of it.)

By the way, I first read “Death and Life of Great American Cities” when I was sixteen years old — at a time when I was still, to a certain extent, judging books by the number of pages that they had — and was somewhat daunted by the book’s length (which seemed perhaps especially formidable in its original hardcover edition). (The only reason I went ahead, I think, was because I had read an excerpt of the book in “Readers Digest” and it was so enjoyable.) As it turned out, the book was a real page turner, and I raced through it, and wound up reading it twice in a month’s time (to better be able to write about it for a freshman English “book review”). (There are only a few chapters, here and there, that were a bit slow going — not because they were poorly written, but because at that time in my life I wasn’t particularly interested in that part of the topic. But I do strongly suggest that people read “Death and Life” all the way through — particularly the seemingly often overlooked last chapter — as I think people will otherwise be missing and/or misunderstanding some very important aspects of her work.

I’m a great admirer of Jane Jacobs, having read all seven of her major works, and I think you will find useful material in all seven of them actually. I’d particularly like to recommend, though, “The Nature of Economies” (2000) as an adjunct to (or, maybe, even as a “preface” to) “The Economy of Cities.” Although, it was written many years after “The Economy of Cities” (1969) (and, in fact, I read it many years after I read “The Economy of Cities”), it seems to me that it might nicely serve as a helpful (and entertaining) “intoduction” to the earlier book — giving the reader a better overall idea of what Jacobs was “really” trying to get at when she wrote the earlier (and longer, more detailed and comprehensive) book.

Also it seeems to me that “Systems of Survival,” written just before “The Nature of Economies” and with the same cast of characters (both books are something like novellas — although they are more formally called “dialogues”), has some significant things to say about market urbanism too.

But whatever other Jacobs books you read, and whatever the order, I do think it is important to read more than just “Death and Life of Great American Cities” in order to get a true picture of what Jane Jacobs was really getting at in her first, and most famous book — and so few of her admirers seem to do this. (If someone is going to read just one additional book, though, I agree that, “The Economy of Cities,” probably should be it.)