Hello /r/askhistorians!
First, let me say: I understand Africa is the second largest continent in the world, and assuming there is a single text for its history, especially across such a large time frame, is a bold naive request. Yes, I did go over the FAQs. Let me elaborate.
As so many students in the US public education system, I grew up learning practically nothing outside of euro-centric history. My knowledge of the expansive history of the African continent, and its countless empires/kingdoms/civilizations, is nil. In grade school I was told "yeah, Egypt was a thing". Next, we jumped to colonialism in high school, with not a thought to the thousands of intervening years, or the ten million square miles which were never even mentioned.
The FAQs of this sub are still sort of detailed, I don't really know where to begin. I'm not looking for specifics, aka "Why is Africa Less Developed?" or "Why is Ethiopia the Way it Is?". I know I should really start with some deep-dives on the internet/wikipedia, find some interesting points, then look for information on particular subjects. However, I'm an engineering student and free time is not my friend. What I do have are very long commutes, and I am a huge fan of audiobooks. I'm hoping to find an overview of sorts (from multiple sources if required) that hits some of the highlights/important points.
For instance, as part of my GE, I took a "History of the Americas" class. While by no means was is comprehensive, I at least have some inkling of an idea of what was going on pre-colonization. I've finished "Guns, Germs, and Steel", by Jared Diamond, which was good but not exactly what I was looking for.
Even if it is not a text on the entirety of Africa, any recommendations are greatly appreciated. I'd be interested in books overviewing important time periods, histories and growth of religions, etc. I see this as a major hole in my pool of knowledge, one that I am attempting to remedy (at least slightly).
Thanks in advance!
edit: didn't like using the same words over and over in a paragraph.
In terms of precolonial Africa, it's sometimes hard to get a good omnibus that treats it in itself and is still accessible. Some of the better efforts still bear the marks of their particular authors' theses or preferred methods. For example, when I teach the precolonial survey (a name I would like to change!) our terms are too short for me to go back before the rise of Islam. However, when I could, I used Chris Ehret's Civilizations of Africa: A History of 1800 (2002) which is now dated but highlights his effort to meld glottochronology--his "thing"--with the uneven archaeological coverage of the continent. Sometimes the results for eras prior to, say, 800CE are speculative, and sometimes they're brilliant (as in the interlacustrine region where so much invention and cross-pollination of ideas, language, culture, etc. happened). I've also used John Iliffe's Africans: The History of a Continent (1st and 2nd eds) for a one-semester survey, but his focus is on underpopulation (labor limitation instead of land limitation) and the kinds of independent and free agency that permits to people as well as the mechanisms that develop to try and hold societies and states together. Now, I tend to hew towards Gilbert and Reynolds Africa in World History for one-term introductions but Shillington's History of Africa 3rd ed for the actual surveys, because it's fairly comprehensive, not because it's brilliant or earth-shattering. It is, after all, a huge continent with many thousands of groups of people, and our efforts to treat it as one entity stem from the kinds of geographical thinking that emerged from colonialism--so naturally it's hard to use that same frame while trying to impart knowledge. That's also a challenge I issue to students: think about why instruction has to treat Africa south of the Sahara as a conceptual unit, why you think of it as one (or don't), and whether that has any real analytical value anymore
If you are OK with a rather dense read, Iliffe may give you the kind of thematic through-line you will find satisfying.
The stuff I would start with is probably not available on audiobook, alas. Iliffe is probably the best overview; I dislike Shillington's presentation intensely, but that's a matter of taste. And the best histories are all going to be regional, just because "Africa" isn't really a thing in the precolonial period. Jan Vansina's Paths in the Rainforest and Kingdoms of the Savannah are classics. Martin Hall's Farmers, Kings, and Traders for Southern Africa.
If you want stuff for your commute, I would poke around and try to find a precolonial African history MOOC, and start by listening to those lectures.