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Being Authentic
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Peter Bierma
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
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Publisher's summary
Our existence is fragile. The being we are today may not be the same tomorrow. I learned that in many intricate ways, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, so I do not take today for granted.
On the eve of Thanksgiving 2016, I received the diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. I have survived more than three years now. But I do not know what tomorrow will bring. I do not even know if tomorrow will come. Next to dying, I fear the spread of cancer to my brain and losing my ability to think, speak, or write. This loss would be devastating to me.
With my cancer, I have the advantage of knowing that my existence is finite. The fragility of our life and my awareness of my finitude made me want to be authentic. Therefore, I am writing this memoir to be authentic - we become our true selves when we author who we are. With writing my narrative, I have an opportunity to view it, reflect on it, and, if we wish, edit it.
Authenticity, in the end, is not a task that gets done, once and for all. Authenticity is a fragile experience of becoming. And we do it together. We become our real selves for a restless moment, and we can lose authenticity in an instant if we do not keep our sights on it.
I have encountered many individuals to whom I said, “You should write your story!” I thought as I am doing this same work that the best way to encourage others to write is for me to tell my own story. I do not aspire to set an example. If anything, I hope to attract a dialogue and spur reflection. With COVID-19, we are living a heightened awareness of our existence and consciousness. Now is the time to bring more of these reflections and dialogues. Now is the time to share more stories.
I am afraid of being forgotten. Death does frighten me. But more than dying, I am scared of having no one remember me or, even worse, to be recognized differently from who I was. At the same time, I have never thought that I was entitled to ask others not to forget me. Not to be forgotten is precisely what I want. I recognize we forget folks, and life goes on. To imagine or to aspire not to vanish from memories is a delusion. Still, that is what I aspire to. I tell my story, so those who wish to remember me can have it. I aim to make it possible for them to know me as who I am. I have lost many, and it has troubled me that we can forget.
We are losing thousands of people every day to this pandemic, and I do not want them to be forgotten. I hope we can keep their memory alive, and I worry about letting them die again if their stories are forgotten. Writing is my way of defying death as nothingness.
As I am writing Being Authentic, I have the other in my mind. I am writing for someone other than myself to find this. I am writing to every human. Is that a lofty goal? Yes. But what if I have no other chance to speak to my listeners after this?
Because of my fear of being forgotten, I have written to invite as many people as possible to know me. I also mean to tell as much as I could about myself. While doing that, I hoped to transcend my narrow focus on myself to leverage my curiosity and attempt to find matters about which others can be curious. But neither did I want to focus only on my error, nor this book is an attempt to redeem myself from my mistakes.
I did not omit the mistakes, and I have opened ample space to reflect on what was not consistent with who I thought I was. I leverage this space to relate to those who err every day. They are the brave among us who choose to continue to act. I, like these people, hope to continue doing something, and that means we will continue to err.
While I am writing for the other, I am simultaneously writing for myself. I am one of the listeners and will test the subject as it gets written. My criteria are stricter. I want to say, “This is my narrative."
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A guidebook for living a life without religion, combining sociological insight and personal inspiration. Over the last 25 years, "no religion" has become the fastest growing religion in the United States. Around the world, hundreds of millions of people have turned away from the traditional faiths of the past and embraced a secular - or nonreligious - life, generating societies vastly less religious than at any other time in human history.
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Anecdotal based approach for understanding
- By Gary on 12-30-14
By: Phil Zuckerman
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My Two Moms
- Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family
- By: Zach Wahls, Bruce Littlefield
- Narrated by: Kris Koscheski
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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On January 31, 2011, Zach Wahls addressed the Iowa House Judiciary Committee in a public forum regarding civil unions. The 19-year-old son of a same-sex couple, Wahls proudly proclaimed, "The sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character." Hours later, his speech was posted on YouTube, where it went viral, quickly receiving more than two million views. By the end of the week, everyone knew his name and wanted to hear more from the boy with two moms.
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You will not regret listening to this.
- By V. Brown on 06-07-12
By: Zach Wahls, and others
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Everyday Ubuntu
- Living Better Together, the African Way
- By: Mungi Ngomane
- Narrated by: Nontombi Naomi Tutu
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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Ubuntu is a Xhosa word originating from a South African philosophy that encapsulates all our aspirations about how to live life well, together. It is the belief in a universal human bond: I am only because you are. And it means that if you are able to see everyone as fully human, connected to you by their humanity, you will never be able to treat others as disposable or without worth. By embracing the philosophy of ubuntu and living it out in daily life it’s possible to overcome division and be stronger together in a world where the wise build bridges, not walls.
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Inspiring
- By Jack on 02-22-23
By: Mungi Ngomane
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Viral Justice
- How We Grow the World We Want
- By: Ruha Benjamin
- Narrated by: Ruha Benjamin
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
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Fantastic book!
- By Avie Kearney on 05-21-23
By: Ruha Benjamin
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To Repair the World
- Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation
- By: Paul Farmer, Bill Clinton - foreword, Jonathan Weigel - editor
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett, David Ledoux, Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Here, for the first time, is a collection of short speeches by the charismatic doctor and social activist Paul Farmer. One of the most passionate and influential voices for global health equity and social justice, Farmer encourages young people to tackle the greatest challenges of our times. Engaging, often humorous, and always inspiring, these speeches bring to light the brilliance and force of Farmer's vision in a single, accessible volume.
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Resist the Impoverishment of Aspiration
- By Susie on 05-14-13
By: Paul Farmer, and others
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I Wish My Teacher Knew
- How One Question Can Change Everything for Our Kids
- By: Kyle Schwartz
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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One day, third-grade teacher Kyle Schwartz asked her students to fill in the blank in this sentence: "I wish my teacher knew _____." The results astounded her. Some answers were humorous; others were heartbreaking; all were profoundly moving and enlightening. The results opened her eyes to the need for educators to understand the unique realities their students face in order to create an open, safe, and supportive place in the classroom. When Schwartz shared her experience online, #IWishMyTeacherKnew became an immediate worldwide viral phenomenon.
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Not worth the time
- By James M George on 06-29-20
By: Kyle Schwartz
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The Myth of the American Dream
- Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety and Power
- By: D.L. Mayfield
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Affluence, autonomy, safety, and power. These are the central values of the American dream. But are they actually compatible with Jesus' command to love our neighbor as ourselves? In essays grouped around these four values, D. L. Mayfield asks us to pay attention to the ways they shape our own choices, and the ways those choices affect our neighbors. Where did these values come from? How have they failed those on the edges of our society? And how can we disentangle ourselves from our culture's headlong pursuit of these values and live faithful lives of service to God and our neighbors?
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Sooooo good. Powerful
- By D. Frazier on 08-19-21
By: D.L. Mayfield
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The Gift of Adversity
- The Unexpected Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections
- By: Norman E. Rosenthal M.D.
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The noted research psychiatrist explores how life's disappointments and difficulties provide us with the lessons we need to become better, bigger, and more resilient human beings. Adversity is an irreducible fact of life. Although we can and should learn from all experiences, both positive and negative best-selling author Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal believes that adversity is by far the best teacher most of us will ever encounter.
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Book ruined by the narrator
- By David C. on 12-07-22
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Sit Down to Rise Up
- By: Shelly Tygielski
- Narrated by: Shelly Tygielski
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The practice of mindfulness is most often touted for its profound mind, body, and spirit benefits. Shelly Tygielski here shows that mindfulness can also be a powerful tool for spurring transformative collective action. In a winning combination of memoir, manifesto, and how-to, Tygielski shares her evolution from a Jerusalem-born child of traditional Sephardic Orthodox parents to a middle-class American suburban youth who questioned her faith to a young executive in corporate America.
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Relevant and Motivating
- By Shelly G on 07-01-22
By: Shelly Tygielski
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Things No One Else Can Teach Us
- Turning Losses into Lessons
- By: Humble the Poet
- Narrated by: Humble the Poet
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Every one of us endures setbacks, disappointments, and failures that can incapacitate us. But we don’t have to let them. Instead, we can use these events as opportunities for growth. In Things No One Else Can Teach Us, Humble the Poet flips the conventional script for happiness and success, showing us how our most painful experiences can be our greatest teachers.
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HTP’S STORY AND LESSONS LEARNED
- By jaga on 11-04-19
By: Humble the Poet
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The Story You Need to Tell
- Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss
- By: Sandra Marinella, Christina Baldwin - foreword
- Narrated by: Allison Reilly
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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A practical and inspiring guide to transformational personal storytelling, The Story You Need to Tell is the product of Sandra Marinella’s pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, her years of teaching writing, and her research into its profound healing properties. Riveting true stories illustrate Marinella’s methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal. She also shares her own experience of using journaling and expressive writing to navigate challenges including breast cancer and postpartum depression.
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Get a physical copy
- By Aileen Hadaway on 01-23-20
By: Sandra Marinella, and others
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How to Be Black
- By: Baratunde Thurston
- Narrated by: Baratunde Thurston
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Beyond memoir, this guidebook offers practical advice on everything from "How to Be the Black Friend" to "How to Be the (Next) Black President" to "How to Celebrate Black History Month". This is a humorous, intelligent, and audacious guide that challenges and satirizes the so-called experts, purists, and racists who purport to speak for all Black people. With honest storytelling and biting wit, Baratunde plots a path not just to blackness, but one open to anyone interested in simply "how to be".
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Funny yet insightful!
- By Theodore on 02-15-12
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Autism in Heels
- The Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum
- By: Jennifer Cook O'Toole
- Narrated by: Jennifer O'Toole
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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This intimate memoir reveals the woman inside one of autism’s most prominent figures, Jennifer O'Toole. At the age of 35, Jennifer was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and for the first time in her life, things made sense. Now, she exposes the constant struggle between carefully crafted persona and authentic existence, editing the autism script with wit, candor, passion, and power. Her journey is one of reverse-self-discovery not only as an Aspie but - more importantly - as a thoroughly modern woman.
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Somewhat relatable but not really.
- By M Bond on 02-26-23
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Raising a Strong Daughter in a Toxic Culture
- 11 Steps to Keep Her Happy, Healthy, and Safe
- By: Meg Meeker
- Narrated by: Lisbeth Carol Keen
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn about the essential, complementary roles that mothers and fathers play; the dangers of social media - and how to help your daughter navigate them; what every daughter needs to know about God; how to launch your daughter into successful womanhood; and more.
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Should had read the details instead of the title.
- By Ms. Burke on 11-15-20
By: Meg Meeker