For me, I think this is a read and not a listen to book.  This book was a co winner of the Nebula Award in 1966 for the best Sci-Fi book.  It’s co winner was Flowers for Algernon.  I can see what Babel-17 isn’t as talked about as Algbernon.  It’s harder to follow and understand.  At first Babel-17 is an unbreakable code that is a worry to the government.  But then we find out it’s not a code but a language.  One lady not only can decipher it, she lives it.  She has to code switch between languages.  This language is deadly.  It also causes jumps in the story, and other strange things.  The parts that I can remember were really interesting.  Especially when they start talking about an alien race in part 3 that does not have the word or idea of “I”. Everything is “we” and “They”  . This book is part space travel, war ships, and even a bit Hunger games.  There are elements that will remind readers of Altered Carbon, (especially when they are looking for dead workers in the morgue, to help run the ship (they are given a type of second life since there are some jobs on a spaceship that can only be done by someone dead)).  Confused yet?  Yeah, so was I.  There were many parts I listened to more than once.  Overall I did enjoy this book, but I won't remember it next week.  For me this is a book I need to read, because it is going to take a bit of studying to grasp the full picture.