29 Best History & Surveys Books
History & Surveys is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top History & Surveys audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 29 History & Surveys audiobooks below.
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The Practicing Stoic
- By: Ward Farnsworth
- Narrator: John Lescault
- Length: 9 hours 57 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.35(2550 ratings)
4.35(2550 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe great insights of the Stoics are spread over a wide range of ancient sources. This book brings them all together for the first time. It systematically presents what the various Stoic philosophers said on every important topic, accompanied by anThe great insights of the Stoics are spread over a wide range of ancient sources. This book brings them all together for the first time. It systematically presents what the various Stoic philosophers said on every important topic, accompanied by an eloquent commentary that is clear and concise. The result is a set of philosophy lessons for everyone–the most valuable wisdom of ages past made available for our times, and for all time.
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The Age of Reason Begins
- By: Will Durant
- Narrator: Grover Gardner
- Length: 34 hours 51 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.35(697 ratings)
4.35(697 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.95 USDThis seventh volume of Will and Ariel Durant’s renowned Story of Civilization chronicles the history of European civilization from 1558 to 1648. The Age of Reason Begins brings together a fascinating network of stories in the discussion of theThis seventh volume of Will and Ariel Durant’s renowned Story of Civilization chronicles the history of European civilization from 1558 to 1648.
The Age of Reason Begins brings together a fascinating network of stories in the discussion of the bumpy road toward the Enlightenment. This is the age of great monarchs and greater artists–on the one hand, Elizabeth I of England, Philip II of Spain, and Henry IV of France; on the other, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Montaigne, and Rembrandt. It also encompasses the heyday of Francis Bacon, Galileo, Giordano Bruno, and Descartes, the fathers of modern science and philosophy. But it is equally an age of extreme violence, a moment in which all Europe was embroiled in the horrible Thirty Years’ War–in some respects, the real first world war. This chapter in cultural history is one that can’t be missed.
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The Theater of War
- By: Bryan Doerries
- Narrator: Adam Driver
- Length: 5 hours 49 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.32(714 ratings)
4.32(714 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThis compassionate, personal, and illuminating work of nonfiction draws on the author’s celebrated work as a director of socially conscious theater to connect listeners with the power of an ancient artistic tradition. For years, Bryan DoerriesThis compassionate, personal, and illuminating work of nonfiction draws on the author’s celebrated work as a director of socially conscious theater to connect listeners with the power of an ancient artistic tradition.
For years, Bryan Doerries has been producing ancient tragedies for current and returned servicemen and women, addicts, tornado and hurricane victims, and a wide range of other at-risk people in society. Here, drawing on these extraordinary firsthand experiences, Doerries clearly and powerfully illustrates the redemptive and therapeutic potential of this classical, timeless art: how, for example, Ajax can help soldiers and their loved ones grapple with PTSD, or how Prometheus Bound provides insights into the modern penal system. Doerries is an original and magnanimous thinker, and The Theater of War–wholly unsentimental but intensely felt and emotionally engaging–is a humane, knowledgeable, and accessible book that will inspire and inform listeners, showing them that suffering and healing are both part of a timeless process.
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Autobiographical Reflections
- By: Eric Voegelin
- Narrator: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 4 hours 31 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
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4.28(71 ratings)
4.28(71 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0011.95 USDThis is an ideal introduction to the ideas of Eric Voegelin, a man whom many regard as the greatest thinker of our time. Here we encounter the stages in the development of his unique philosophy of consciousness; his key intellectual breakthroughs;This is an ideal introduction to the ideas of Eric Voegelin, a man whom many regard as the greatest thinker of our time. Here we encounter the stages in the development of his unique philosophy of consciousness; his key intellectual breakthroughs; his theory of history; and his diagnosis of the political ills of the modern age.
The book also provides a veritable catalog of the thinkers who formed the intellectual foundation of the twentieth century. Voegelin’s personal recollections of these men provide fresh insight into their thought as well, as he discusses their contributions to his own philosophical development and to the consciousness of the age. In the course of these reminiscences emerges a portrait of a man of wit, courage, affability, and principle.
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The Socratic Method
- By: Ward Farnsworth
- Narrator: John Lescault
- Length: 7 hours 46 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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4.27(290 ratings)
4.27(290 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDA thinking person’s guide to a better life. Ward Farnsworth explains what the Socratic method is, how it works, and why it matters more than ever in our time. Easy to grasp yet challenging to master, the method will change the way you thinkA thinking person’s guide to a better life. Ward Farnsworth explains what the Socratic method is, how it works, and why it matters more than ever in our time. Easy to grasp yet challenging to master, the method will change the way you think about life’s big questions.
About 2,500 years ago, Plato wrote a set of dialogues that depict Socrates in conversation. The way Socrates asks questions, and the reasons why, amount to a whole way of thinking. This is the Socratic method–one of humanity’s great achievements. More than a technique, the method is an ethic of patience, inquiry, humility, and doubt. It is an aid to better thinking, and a remedy for bad habits of mind, whether in law, politics, the classroom, or tackling life’s big questions at the kitchen table.
Drawing on hundreds of quotations, this book explains what the Socratic method is and how to use it. Chapters include “Question and Answer,” “Ignorance,” and “Socrates and the Stoics.” Socratic philosophy is still startling after all these years because it is an approach to asking hard questions and chasing after them. It is a route to wisdom and a way of thinking about wisdom. With Farnsworth as your guide, the ideas of Socrates are easier to understand than ever and accessible to anyone.
As Farnsworth achieved with The Practicing Stoic and the Farnsworth’s Classical English series, ideas of old are made new and vital again. This book is for those coming to philosophy the way Socrates did–as the everyday activity of making sense out of life and how to live it–and for anyone who wants to know what he said about doing that better.
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The Emperor’s Handbook
- By: Marcus Aurelius
- Narrator: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 5 hours 40 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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4.26(622 ratings)
4.26(622 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDIn the tradition of The Art of Living and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations–a practical book of timeless advice from one of the most powerful individuals in history–available for the first time in a highly accessible translation,In the tradition of The Art of Living and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations–a practical book of timeless advice from one of the most powerful individuals in history–available for the first time in a highly accessible translation, including several unique features for contemporary readers and users of daily wisdom guides.
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Essayist Matthew Arnold described the man who wrote these words as “the most beautiful figure in history.” Possibly so, but he was certainly more than that. Marcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire at its height, yet he remained untainted by the incalculable wealth and absolute power that had corrupted many of his predecessors. Marcus knew the secret of how to live the good life amid trying and often catastrophic circumstances, of how to find happiness and peace when surrounded by misery and turmoil, and of how to choose the harder right over the easier wrong without apparent regard for self-interest.
The historian Michael Grant praises Marcus’s book as “the best ever written by a major ruler,” and Josiah Bunting, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, calls it “the essential book on character, leadership, duty.” Never intended for publication, the Meditations contains the practical and inspiring wisdom by which this remarkable emperor lived the life not of a saintly recluse, but of a general, administrator, legislator, spouse, parent, and judge besieged on all sides.
The Emperor’s Handbook offers a vivid and fresh translation of this important piece of ancient literature. It brings Marcus’s words to life and shows his wisdom to be as relevant today as it was in the second century. This book belongs on the desk and in the briefcase of every business executive, political leader, and military officer. It speaks to the soul of anyone who has ever exercised authority or faced adversity or believed in a better day. -
Meditations
- By: Marcus Aurelius
- Narrator: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 4 hours 32 minutes
- Publisher: Public Domain
- Publish date: August 19, 2016
- Language: English
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4.26(145541 ratings)
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4.26(145541 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.007.99 USDMarcus Aurelius was the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and during that time, he kept several collections of journals that contained personal notes, militaristic strategy, and ideas on Stoic philosophy. While unlikely that he ever intended toMarcus Aurelius was the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and during that time, he kept several collections of journals that contained personal notes, militaristic strategy, and ideas on Stoic philosophy. While unlikely that he ever intended to publicly publish these journals, there is no real official title, so most often Meditations is used because of his in depth writings on philosophy. These journals give an introspective look at how and why Marcus Aurelius operated as an emperor. This informative piece of history contains twelve sections that each chronicle different parts of Aurelius’ life, including his source of guidance, self-improvement tips, and his ideas on how to analyze yourself and adjust your attitude to become a better person or leader.
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The Cave and the Light
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrator: Arthur Herman
- Length: 25 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: November 29, 2013
- Language: English
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4.17(1106 ratings)
4.17(1106 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0034.99 USDPlato came from a wealthy, connected Athenian family and lived a comfortable upper-class lifestyle until he met an odd little man named Socrates, who showed him a new world of ideas and ideals. Socrates taught Plato that a man must use reason toPlato came from a wealthy, connected Athenian family and lived a comfortable upper-class lifestyle until he met an odd little man named Socrates, who showed him a new world of ideas and ideals. Socrates taught Plato that a man must use reason to attain wisdom, and that the life of a lover of wisdom, a philosopher, was the pinnacle of achievement. Plato dedicated himself to living that ideal and went on to create a school, his famed Academy, to teach others the path to enlightenment through contemplation. However, the same Academy that spread Plato’ s teachings also fostered his greatest rival. Born to a family of Greek physicians, Aristotle had learned early on the value of observation and hands-on experience. Rather than rely on pure contemplation, he insisted that the truest path to knowledge is through empirical discovery and exploration of the world around us. Aristotle, Plato’ s most brilliant pupil, thus settled on a philosophy very different from his instructor’ s and launched a rivalry with profound effects on Western culture. The two men disagreed on the fundamental purpose of the philosophy. For Plato, the image of the cave summed up man’ s destined path, emerging from the darkness of material existence to the light of a higher and more spiritual truth. Aristotle thought otherwise. Instead of rising above mundane reality, he insisted, the philosopher’ s job is to explain how the real world works, and how we can find our place in it. Aristotle set up a school in Athens to rival Plato’ s Academy: the Lyceum. The competition that ensued between the two schools, and between Plato and Aristotle, set the world on an intellectual adventure that lasted through the Middle Ages and Renaissance and that still continues today. From Martin Luther (who named Aristotle the third great enemy of true religion, after the devil and the Pope) to Karl Marx (whose utopian views rival Plato’ s), heroes and villains of history have been inspired and incensed by these two master philosophers– but never outside their influence. Accessible, riveting, and eloquently written, The Cave and the Light provides a stunning new perspective on the Western world, certain to open eyes and stir debate.
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Ecce Homo
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrator: Stephen Van Doren
- Length: 4 hours 13 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.17(14890 ratings)
4.17(14890 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0011.95 USDEcce Homo, which is Latin for “behold the man,” is an autobiography like no other. Deliberately provocative, Nietzsche subverts the conventions of the genre and pushes his philosophical positions to combative extremes, constructing aEcce Homo, which is Latin for “behold the man,” is an autobiography like no other. Deliberately provocative, Nietzsche subverts the conventions of the genre and pushes his philosophical positions to combative extremes, constructing a genius-hero whose life is a chronicle of incessant self-overcoming. Written in 1888, a few weeks before his descent into madness, the book passes under review all of Nietzsche’s previous works so that we, his “posthumous” readers, can finally understand him on his own terms. He reaches final reckonings with his many enemies, including Richard Wagner, German nationalism, “modern men” in general, and above all, Christianity, proclaiming himself the Antichrist. Ecce Homo is the summation of an extraordinary philosophical career, a last great testament to Nietzsche’s will.
A main purpose of the book was to offer Nietzsche’s own perspective on his work as a philosopher and human being. Ecce Homo also forcefully repudiates those interpretations of his previous works purporting to find support there for imperialism, anti-Semitism, militarism, and social Darwinism. Nietzsche strives to present a new image of the philosopher and of himself as a philosopher. He expounds upon his life as a child, his tastes as an individual, and his vision for humanity.
According to one of Nietzsche’s most prominent English translators, Walter Kaufmann, this book offers “Nietzsche’s own interpretation of his development, his works, and his significance.” Within this work, Nietzsche is self-consciously striving to present a new image of the philosopher and of himself. On these grounds, some consider Ecce Homo a literary work comparable in its artistry to Van Gogh’s paintings.
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Between Past and Future
- By: Hannah Arendt
- Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hours 58 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2017
- Language: English
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4.15(1052 ratings)
4.15(1052 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDHannah Arendt’s insightful observations of the modern world, based on a profound knowledge of the past, constitute an impassioned contribution to political philosophy. In Between Past and Future Arendt describes the perplexing crises modernHannah Arendt’s insightful observations of the modern world, based on a profound knowledge of the past, constitute an impassioned contribution to political philosophy. In Between Past and Future Arendt describes the perplexing crises modern society faces as a result of the loss of meaning of the traditional key words of politics: justice, reason, responsibility, virtue, and glory. Through a series of eight exercises, she shows how we can redistill the vital essence of these concepts and use them to regain a frame of reference for the future. To participate in these exercises is to associate, in action, with one of the most original and fruitful minds of the twentieth century.
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The Story of Philosophy
- By: Will Durant
- Narrator: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2010
- Language: English
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4.14(12634 ratings)
4.14(12634 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.95 USDThe product of eleven years of research, The Story of Philosophy is an endlessly inspiring and instructive chronicle of the world’s greatest thinkers, from Socrates to Santayana. Written with exacting and scrupulous scholarship, it wasThe product of eleven years of research, The Story of Philosophy is an endlessly inspiring and instructive chronicle of the world’s greatest thinkers, from Socrates to Santayana. Written with exacting and scrupulous scholarship, it was designed both to command the respect of educators and to capture the interest of the layman.
Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.
The Story of Philosophy is a key book for any listener who wishes to survey the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.
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Ideas Have Consequences, Expanded Edition
- By: Richard M. Weaver
- Narrator: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 7 hours 58 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2017
- Language: English
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4.14(102 ratings)
4.14(102 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDOriginally published in 1948, at the height of post-World War II optimism and confidence in collective security, Ideas Have Consequences uses “words hard as cannonballs” to present an unsparing diagnosis of the ills of the modern age.Originally published in 1948, at the height of post-World War II optimism and confidence in collective security, Ideas Have Consequences uses “words hard as cannonballs” to present an unsparing diagnosis of the ills of the modern age. Widely read and debated at the time of its first publication, the book is now seen as one of the foundational texts of the modern conservative movement.
In its pages, Richard M. Weaver argues that the decline of Western civilization resulted from the rising acceptance of relativism over absolute reality. In spite of increased knowledge, this retreat from the realist intellectual tradition has weakened the Western capacity to reason, with catastrophic consequences for social order and individual rights. But Weaver also offers a realistic remedy. These difficulties are the product not of necessity, but of intelligent choice. And, today, as decades ago, the remedy lies in the renewed acceptance of absolute reality and the recognition that ideas–like actions–have consequences.
This expanded edition of the classic work contains a foreword by New Criterion editor Roger Kimball that offers insight into the rich intellectual and historical contexts of Weaver and his work, and an afterword by Ted J. Smith III that relates the remarkable story of the book’s writing and publication.
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Return of the Primitive
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hours 9 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.13(656 ratings)
4.13(656 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDIn the 1960s and early ’70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism. While the New LeftIn the 1960s and early ’70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.
While the New Left achieved limited political success, it brought about vast cultural changes that remain with us to this day. The reason is that while its representatives faced some political opposition, they faced little-to-no fundamental intellectual opposition. Ayn Rand was the exception. In her essays from this period, anthologized in The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, she opposed the New Left as no one else did. The audience of the book, she wrote, is “all those who are concerned about college students and about the state of modern education” and who are seeking “a voice of reason to turn to.”
In her essays, Ayn Rand identified the essential evils of the New Left and their cause. Where most viewed the New Left and its violent college protests, its worship of untouched nature, and its orgiastic mob celebrations as some sort of inexplicable, youthful rebellion against the “establishment,” Ayn Rand identified that these “rebels” were in fact dutiful, consistent practitioners of the ideas taught to them by their teachers.
Return of the Primitive is an expanded edition of The New Left. It features the entire contents of the original edition authorized by Ayn Rand, plus two of her other essays, “Racism” and “Global Balkanization,” which are highly relevant to today’s campuses and world. Additionally, it features three essays written by Peter Schwartz after her death, analyzing some of the ideologies that the New Left helped spawn, such as multiculturalism and environmentalism.
For those who seek to understand the state of American culture today, Return of the Primitive is required reading.
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The Voice of Reason
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 15 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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4.12(787 ratings)
4.12(787 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.95 USDIn the years between her first public lecture in 1961 and her last in 1981, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as different as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces are gatheredIn the years between her first public lecture in 1961 and her last in 1981, Ayn Rand spoke and wrote about topics as different as education, medicine, Vietnam, and the death of Marilyn Monroe. In The Voice of Reason, these pieces are gathered together in book form for the first time. Written in the last decades of Rand’s life, they reflect a life lived on principle, a probing mind, and a passionate intensity. With them are five essays by Leonard Peikoff, Rand’s longtime associate and literary executor. The work concludes with Peikoff’s epilogue, “My Thirty Years with Ayn Rand: An Intellectual Memoir”, which answers the question “What was Ayn Rand really like?” Important reading for all thinking individuals, this collection communicates not only Rand’s singular worldview, but also the penetrating cultural and political analysis to which it gives rise.
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A History of Western Philosophy
- By: Bertrand Russell
- Narrator: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 38 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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4.12(34004 ratings)
4.12(34004 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0039.99 USDHailed as “lucid and magisterial” by The Observer, this book is universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject of Western philosophy.Considered to be one of the most important philosophical works of all time, theHailed as “lucid and magisterial” by The Observer, this book is universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject of Western philosophy.
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Considered to be one of the most important philosophical works of all time, the History of Western Philosophy is a dazzlingly unique exploration of the ideologies of significant philosophers throughout the ages–from Plato and Aristotle through to Spinoza, Kant and the twentieth century. Written by a man who changed the history of philosophy himself, this is an account that has never been rivaled since its first publication over sixty years ago.
Since its first publication in 1945, Lord Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy is still unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace, and its wit. In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century.
Among the philosophers considered are: Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans, the Stoics, Plotinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Gregory the Great, John the Scot, Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Occam, Machiavelli, Erasmus, More, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, the Utilitarians, Marx, Bergson, James, Dewey, and lastly the philosophers with whom Lord Russell himself is most closely associated–Cantor, Frege, and Whitehead, coauthor with Russell of the monumental Principia Mathematica. -
First Principles
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrator: James Lurie
- Length: 11 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: November 10, 2020
- Language: English
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4.11(1727 ratings)
4.11(1727 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDNew York Times BestsellerEditors’ Choice —New York Times Book Review “Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in ourNew York Times Bestseller
Editors’ Choice —New York Times Book Review“Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country.” –James Mattis, General, U.S. Marines (ret.) & 26th Secretary of Defense
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author offers a revelatory new book about the founding fathers, examining their educations and, in particular, their devotion to the ancient Greek and Roman classics–and how that influence would shape their ideals and the new American nation.
On the morning after the 2016 presidential election, Thomas Ricks awoke with a few questions on his mind: What kind of nation did we now have? Is it what was designed or intended by the nation’s founders? Trying to get as close to the source as he could, Ricks decided to go back and read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking, and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works–among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. For though much attention has been paid the influence of English political philosophers, like John Locke, closer to their own era, the founders were far more immersed in the literature of the ancient world.
The first four American presidents came to their classical knowledge differently. Washington absorbed it mainly from the elite culture of his day; Adams from the laws and rhetoric of Rome; Jefferson immersed himself in classical philosophy, especially Epicureanism; and Madison, both a groundbreaking researcher and a deft politician, spent years studying the ancient world like a political scientist. Each of their experiences, and distinctive learning, played an essential role in the formation of the United States. In examining how and what they studied, looking at them in the unusual light of the classical world, Ricks is able to draw arresting and fresh portraits of men we thought we knew.
First Principles follows these four members of the Revolutionary generation from their youths to their adult lives, as they grappled with questions of independence, and forming and keeping a new nation. In doing so, Ricks interprets not only the effect of the ancient world on each man, and how that shaped our constitution and government, but offers startling new insights into these legendary leaders.
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A Handbook for New Stoics
- By: Massimo Pigliucci
- Narrator: Rupert Farley
- Length: 10 hours 44 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4.09(487 ratings)
4.09(487 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.92 USDA pragmatic philosophy more popular than ever–here are fifty-two ancient lessons to help you overcome adversity and find tranquility in the modern world. An ancient belief system made new, Stoicism teaches us how to accept the things we cannotA pragmatic philosophy more popular than ever–here are fifty-two ancient lessons to help you overcome adversity and find tranquility in the modern world.
An ancient belief system made new, Stoicism teaches us how to accept the things we cannot change and how to live a good life. It helps us improve our outlook, increase our well-being, and thrive in the face of adversity. But how does one live like a Stoic?
In A Handbook for New Stoics, renowned philosopher Massimo Pigliucci and practitioner Gregory Lopez guide listeners through fifty-two weekly lessons, each based on a common obstacle. Stressing out about a meeting at work? Try listing the things you can control and those you can’t. Epictetus writes: “In our power are thought, impulse, will to get, and will to avoid”–in other words, our own attitudes. Discover what you can control and quickly achieve peace of mind.
Featuring quotes from philosophers, analysis by the authors, and journaling activities, these lessons enable readers to reframe their perceptions and be happier.
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The Dream of Reason, New Edition
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrator: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 19 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4.08(1 ratings)
4.08(1 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.95 USDAlready a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. In The Dream of Reason, Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much ofAlready a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages.
In The Dream of Reason, Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers through the celebrated days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus and Bacon, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline. Indeed, as Gottlieb explains, its most revolutionary breakthroughs in the natural and social sciences have repeatedly been co-opted by other branches of knowledge, leading to the illusion that philosophers never make any progress.
From the physics of angels to Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, Gottlieb builds through example and anecdote a vivid portrait of the human drive for understanding. After finishing The Dream of Reason, listeners will be graced with a fresh appreciation of the philosophical quest, its entertaining and bizarre byways, and its influence on every aspect of life.
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The Faith
- By: Charles W. Colson
- Narrator: Charles W. Colson
- Length: 6 hours 36 minutes
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Publish date: February 19, 2008
- Language: English
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4.05(433 ratings)
4.05(433 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0021.99 USDRightly understood and rightly communicated, the Christian faith is one of great joy. It is an invitation to God’s kingdom, where tears are replaced by laughter and longing hearts find their purpose and their home. This is the heart of theRightly understood and rightly communicated, the Christian faith is one of great joy. It is an invitation to God’s kingdom, where tears are replaced by laughter and longing hearts find their purpose and their home.
This is the heart of the gospel: God’s search to reclaim us and love us as his own. But have we truly grasped this? Those of us who have disdained Christianity as a religion of bigotry–have we repudiated the genuine article or merely demonstrated our own prejudice and ignorance? Those of us who are Christians–have we deeply apprehended the mission of Jesus, and do our ways and character faithfully reflect his beauty? From the nature of God, to the human condition, to the work of Jesus, to God’s coming kingdom, and all that lies between, how well do we understand the foundational truths of Christianity and their implications?
The Faith is a book for our troubled times and for decades to come, for Christians and non-Christians alike. It is the most important book Chuck Colson and Harold Fickett have ever written: a thought-provoking, soul-searching, and powerful manifesto of the great, historical central truths of Christianity that have sustained believers through the centuries. Brought to immediacy with vivid, true stories, here is what Christianity is really about and why it is a religion of hope, redemption, and beauty.
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The Dream of Enlightenment
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrator: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 10 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
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4.05(855 ratings)
4.05(855 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe author of the classic The Dream of Reason vividly explains the rise of modern thought from Descartes to Rousseau. -
Beyond Good and Evil
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrator: Stephen Van Doren
- Length: 8 hours 10 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.02(72283 ratings)
4.02(72283 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDThis is one of the most important works written by Nietzsche and represents his attempt to sum up his philosophy. The great nineteenth-century philosopher refines his previously expressed ideal of the superman in this work, a fascinating examinationThis is one of the most important works written by Nietzsche and represents his attempt to sum up his philosophy. The great nineteenth-century philosopher refines his previously expressed ideal of the superman in this work, a fascinating examination of human values and morality. It takes up and expands on the ideas of his previous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but approaches it from a more critical, polemical stance. In nine parts, this book is designed to give listeners a comprehensive idea of Nietzsche’s thought and style.
In Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche attacks past philosophers for their alleged lack of critical sense and their blind acceptance of Christian premises in their consideration of morality. The work moves into the realm “beyond good and evil” in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality, which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique, in favor of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the contextual nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual.
Of the four “late-period” writings of Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil most closely resembles the aphoristic style of his middle period. In it he exposes the deficiencies of those usually called “philosophers” and identifies the qualities of the “new philosophers”: imagination, self-assertion, danger, originality, and the “creation of values.” Religion and the master and slave moralities feature prominently as Nietzsche re-evaluates deeply-held humanistic beliefs, portraying even domination, appropriation, and injury to the weak as not universally objectionable.
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Ayn Rand Answers
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrator: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hours 0 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.02(50 ratings)
4.02(50 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDAfter the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, Ayn Rand turned to nonfiction writing and occasional lecturing. Her aim was to bring her philosophy to a wider audience and to apply it to current cultural and political issues. The taped lectures andAfter the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, Ayn Rand turned to nonfiction writing and occasional lecturing. Her aim was to bring her philosophy to a wider audience and to apply it to current cultural and political issues. The taped lectures and the question-and-answer sessions that followed added not only an eloquent new dimension to Ayn Rand’s ideas and beliefs but also a fresh and spontaneous insight into Ayn Rand herself. Ayn Rand Answers is a collection of those enlightening Q&As.
Topics covered include ethics, Ernest Hemingway, modern art, Vietnam, Libertarians, Jane Fonda, religious conservatives, Hollywood communists, atheism, Don Quixote, abortion, gun control, love and marriage, Ronald Reagan, pollution, the Middle East, racism and feminism, crime and punishment, capitalism, prostitution, homosexuality, reason and rationality, literature, drug use, freedom of the press, Richard Nixon, New Left militants, HUAC, chess, comedy, suicide, masculinity, Mark Twain, improper questions, and more.
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The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrator: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hours 4 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.01(17048 ratings)
4.01(17048 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0013.95 USDAlain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: he has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world’s most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged aAlain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: he has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world’s most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
From the frustration of misplacing your keys to the sadness of losing a loved one, the writings of Seneca can offer consolation. For the agony of not having enough money, Epicurus has a solution that everyone can afford. If your life is beset by difficulty after difficulty, wise advice may be found in the words of Nietzsche. The Consolations of Philosophy is smart, lucid, and pleasing, a rare sort of book that wonderfully fulfills the promise of its title.
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A Book Forged in Hell
- By: Steven Nadler
- Narrator: John Lescault
- Length: 9 hours 17 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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4.01(547 ratings)
4.01(547 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe story of one of the most important–and incendiary–books in Western history When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book everThe story of one of the most important–and incendiary–books in Western history
When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published–“godless,” “full of abominations,” “a book forged in hell … by the devil himself.” Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout Europe. Yet Spinoza’s book has contributed as much as the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine’s Common Sense to modern liberal, secular, and democratic thinking.
In A Book Forged in Hell, Steven Nadler tells the fascinating story of this extraordinary book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired.
It is not hard to see why Spinoza’s Treatise was so important or so controversial or why the uproar it caused is one of the most significant events in European intellectual history. In the book, Spinoza became the first to argue that the Bible is not literally the word of God but rather a work of human literature; that true religion has nothing to do with theology, liturgical ceremonies, or sectarian dogma; and that religious authorities should have no role in governing a modern state. He also denied the reality of miracles and divine providence, reinterpreted the nature of prophecy, and made an eloquent plea for toleration and democracy.
A vivid story of incendiary ideas and vicious backlash, A Book Forged in Hell will interest anyone who is curious about the origin of some of our most cherished modern beliefs.
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Aristotle’s Children
- By: Richard E. Rubenstein
- Narrator: Richard E. Rubenstein
- Length: 13 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: January 15, 2008
- Language: English
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3.99(790 ratings)
3.99(790 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDEurope was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread likeEurope was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread like wildfire across Europe, offering the scientific view that the natural world, including the soul of man, was a proper subject of study. The rediscovery of these ancient ideas sparked riots and heresy trials, caused major upheavals in the Catholic Church, and also set the stage for today’s rift between reason and religion. In Aristotle’s Children, Richard Rubenstein transports us back in history, rendering the controversies of the Middle Ages lively and accessible-and allowing us to understand the philosophical ideas that are fundamental to modern thought.
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The Nicomachean Ethics
- By: Aristotle
- Narrator: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hours 45 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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3.98(33116 ratings)
3.98(33116 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDNamed for Aristotle’s son, Nicomachus, who was the first to edit this work, The Nicomachean Ethics plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. In the ten books of this work, Aristotle explains the good life for man: the life ofNamed for Aristotle’s son, Nicomachus, who was the first to edit this work, The Nicomachean Ethics plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. In the ten books of this work, Aristotle explains the good life for man: the life of happiness.
For Aristotle, happiness exists when the soul is in accordance with virtue. Virtue exists in a deliberate choice of actions that take a middle course between excess and deficiency; this is the famous doctrine of the “golden mean.” Courage, for example, is the mean between cowardice and rashness. Justice is the mean between a man’s getting more or less than his due. The supreme happiness, according to Aristotle, is to be found in a life of philosophical contemplation or, at least, in a virtuous life of political activity and public munificence.
A student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the Great, Aristotle is one of the towering figures in Western thought.
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The Quest for Character
- By: Massimo Pigliucci
- Narrator: Alan Carlson
- Length: 7 hours 52 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: September 27, 2022
- Language: English
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3.97(24 ratings)
3.97(24 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDWhat Socrates’s greatest failure reveals about an ancient question: Can we teach our leaders to be better people? Is good character something that can be taught? In 430 BCE, Socrates set out to teach the vain, power-seeking Athenian statesmanWhat Socrates’s greatest failure reveals about an ancient question: Can we teach our leaders to be better people?
Is good character something that can be taught? In 430 BCE, Socrates set out to teach the vain, power-seeking Athenian statesman Alcibiades how to be a good person–and failed spectacularly. Alcibiades went on to beguile his city into a hopeless war with Syracuse, and all of Athens paid the price.
In The Quest for Character, philosophy professor Massimo Pigliucci tells this famous story and asks what we can learn from it. He blends ancient sources with modern interpretations to give a full picture of the philosophy and cultivation of character, virtue, and personal excellence–what the Greeks called arete. At heart, The Quest for Character isn’t simply about what makes a good leader. Drawing on Socrates as well as his followers among the Stoics, this book gives us lessons perhaps even more crucial: how we can each lead an excellent life.
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The Sensational Past
- By: Carolyn Purnell
- Narrator: Carolyn Purnell
- Length: 7 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: July 28, 2017
- Language: English
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3.96(111 ratings)
3.96(111 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDSight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch-as they were celebrated during the Enlightenment and as they are perceived today. Blindfolding children from birth? Playing a piano made of live cats? Using tobacco to cure drowning? WearingSight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch-as they were celebrated during the Enlightenment and as they are perceived today. Blindfolding children from birth? Playing a piano made of live cats? Using tobacco to cure drowning? Wearing “flea”-colored clothes? These actions may seem odd to us, but in the eighteenth century, they made perfect sense. As often as we use our senses, we rarely stop to think about their place in history. But perception is not dependent on the body alone. Carolyn Purnell persuasively shows that, while our bodies may not change dramatically, the way we think about the senses and put them to use has been rather different over the ages. Journeying through the past three hundred years, Purnell explores how people used their senses in ways that might shock us now. And perhaps more surprisingly, she shows how many of our own ways of life are a legacy of this earlier time. Author bio: Carolyn Purnell received her PhD from the University of Chicago. She is a history instructor, an interior design writer, and a lover of bizarre facts. This is her first book.
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The Republic
- By: Plato
- Narrator: Pat Bottino
- Length: 12 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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3.96(167007 ratings)
3.96(167007 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDIn this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, Plato sought to answer some of the world’s most formidable questions: What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish between right and wrong? How should human virtues beIn this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, Plato sought to answer some of the world’s most formidable questions: What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish between right and wrong? How should human virtues be translated into a just society? Perhaps the greatest single treatise written on political philosophy, The Republic has strongly influenced Western thought concerning questions of justice, rule, obedience, and the good life.
This work is also undoubtedly the best introduction to Plato’s philosophy in general. Not only does it contain his ideas on the state and man but also his famous theory of forms, his theory of knowledge, and his views on the role of music and poetry in society.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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