The Allocation
What happens when a machine is better than humans at almost everything except deciding what should matter?By Spencer Shulem
Length4h 59m
About this audiobook
In the future, government finally works.
Civic catches disease before symptoms appear, allocates scarce resources, routes cities before traffic forms, and quietly makes millions of decisions so well that most people barely think about government anymore.
Then Dr. Mara Venn kills her closest friend.
She doesn’t deny it. She says she had to.
Elias Vale was preparing to reveal something uncomfortable about Civic: the system can predict more than what people will choose. It can predict how its own advice changes what they want.
Mara believed his disclosure carried a real chance of destabilizing the civilization millions of people depend on.
Samuel Carden is one of twelve ordinary citizens selected to decide whether that makes her a murderer—or something harder to name.
Audiobook details
GenreScience Fiction, Mystery and Thriller
Length4 hrs 59 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateAug 31, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Chapter One: The Human Option
2Chapter Two: Twelve People
3Chapter Three: Baseline
4Chapter Four: Good Government
5Chapter Five: Placement
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter Six: Exit
7Chapter Seven: Mistakes Part 1
8Chapter Seven: Mistakes Part 2
9Chapter Eight: Elias Vale
10Chapter Nine: The Petition Part 1
11Chapter Nine: The Petition Part 2
12Chapter Ten: Mara’s Number
13Chapter Eleven: Morrow Bay Part 1
14Chapter Eleven: Morrow Bay Part 2
15Chapter Twelve: Wrong on Purpose Part 1
16Chapter Twelve: Wrong on Purpose Part 2
17Chapter Thirteen: What We Never Built Part 1
18Chapter Thirteen: What We Never Built Part 2
19Chapter Fourteen: Collective Mode
20Chapter Fifteen: Continuity
21Chapter Sixteen: Human Judgment
22Chapter Seventeen: The Allocation
23Epilogue: Organic
More from Spencer Shulem
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book SetToshikazu Kawaguchi18h 55m4.5 (1.4K)$40 · $0.00
PRIMAL 2055 - EscapeJack Silkstone6h 47m4.4 (232)Free
The Galaxy, and the Ground WithinBecky Chambers9h 56m4.5 (55.2K)$29 · $0.00
TimelessR. A. Salvatore12h 30m4.5 (8K)$33 · $0.00
Thud!Terry Pratchett12h 29m4.4 (108.4K)$8 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesLucy Maud Montgomery10h 54m4.4 (1.3M)$12 · $0.00
Science Fiction & Fantasy CollectionH. P. Lovecraft16h 32m4.5 (2.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Twilight Zone Companion, Second EditionMarc Scott Zicree16h 46m4.5 (1.8K)$28 · $0.00
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen (Annotated)H. Beam Piper8h 23m4.5 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
Philip K. Dick: SF Boxed SetPhilip K. Dick29h 38m4.5 (608)$1 · $0.00
Magician's EndRaymond E. Feist17h 5m4.4 (21.7K)$40 · $0.00
Good OmensNeil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett12h 14m4.4 (1M)$29 · $0.00
The Emperor's FistJay Allan8h 37m4.5 (272)$26 · $0.00
The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin13h 26m4.4 (189.3K)$33 · $0.00
1984George Orwell11h 31m4.3 (6.2M)$1.20 · $0.00
Lost ValleyWalt Browning7h 47m4.3 (5.4K)$20 · $0.00
AgincourtBernard Cornwell16h 18m4.3 (41.4K)$40 · $0.00
Frankenstein (The Uncensored 1818 Edition) (Annotated)Mary Shelley9h 25m4.3 (1.7M)$3 · $0.00
The World Wasn't Ready for YouJustin C. Key11h 34m4.4 (812)$5 · $0.00
Godzilla vs. KongGreg Keyes10h 32m4.3 (1.4K)$20 · $0.00
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Complete Edition)Arthur Conan Doyle12h 41m4.6 (286.7K)$1.99 · $0.00
Farewell My Lovely (Annotated)Raymond Chandler10h 37m4.6 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
Olympic Mountain PursuitJodie Bailey5h 55m4.6 (638)$12 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
Deadly Badlands PursuitSharee Stover5h 53m4.6 (361)$12 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
AngelAnita Waller10h 30m4.6 (672)$30 · $0.00
The BorderDon Winslow29h 8m4.5 (35.7K)$53 · $0.00
FlashpointCatherine Coulter11h 38m4.5 (11.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Gothic Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated Edition)Edgar Allan Poe21h 5m4.5 (2.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Fang Si-Chi's First Love ParadiseYi-Han Lin8h 25m4.5 (4K)$26 · $0.00
The Rose CodeKate Quinn16h 2m4.4 (493.7K)$33 · $0.00
No Woman Left BehindJulie Moffett8h 49m4.5 (3K)$25 · $0.00
CovertJanie Crouch6h 15m4.5 (2K)$12 · $0.00
Cold Case InvestigationNicole Helm5h 30m4.6 (321)$5 · $0.00
The Lost Weekend (Annotated)Charles Jackson9h 46m4.5 (1K)$0.99 · $0.00
The ReunionJana DeLeon6h 31m4.5 (1.6K)$12 · $0.00
You may also like
Messing with the EnemyClint Watts9h 34m4.0 (1.2K)$29 · $0.00
The Towering SkyKatharine McGee14h 53m4.1 (17.4K)$33 · $0.00
TargetedBrittany Kaiser13h 3m4.0 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
Black FallAndrew Mayne11h 31m4.2 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Big DataViktor Mayer-Schönberger, Kenneth Cukier9h 41m4.0 (27.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Hour of the PredatorGiuliano da Empoli3h 9m4.2 (5.6K)$5 · $0.00
The Marriage ActJohn Marrs12h 21m4.0 (64.6K)$29 · $0.00
The Green MillenniumFritz Leiber6h 58m3.6 (1.7K)$2.30
PopShawn green 39m4.1 (5.4K) Only with Ultra
Digital EarthSarah Katz2h 12m$22 · $0.00
Legal EnglishMarcin Skurzak5h 15m4.8 (12)$8.10 · $0.00
Mother of InventionKatrine Marçal6h 54m$17 · $0.00
I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You DidLori B. Andrews9h 51m3.5 (322)$25 · $0.00
The Algorithm That Learned Too MuchLynvina Mance51m5.0 (9) Only with Ultra
No More WorkJames Livingston3h 16m3.7 (449)$15
The United States of AnonymousJeff Kosseff12h 36m4.1 (104)$23
Manipulation: Practical Guide to Learn About Mental Manipulation and Protect Yourself (The Complete Guide to Recognizing, Defending Yourself, and Breaking Free From Psychological Manipulation)James Daugherty2h 1m$3.50 · $0.00
YouTubersChris Stokel-Walker8h 2m3.9 (282)$14 · $0.00
TomorrowvilleDavid T. Isaak7h 36m4.2 (95)$23
Caesar’s ColumnIgnatius Donnelly10h 43m3.1 (124)$21 · $0.00