Brave Genius
A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize
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Narrated by:
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Byron Wagner
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By:
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Sean B. Carroll
About this listen
The never-before-told account of the intersection of some of the most insightful minds of the 20th century, and a fascinating look at how war, resistance, and friendship can catalyze genius.
In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.
Drawing upon a wealth of previously unpublished and unknown material gathered over several years of research, Brave Genius tells the story of how each man endured the most terrible episode of the 20th century and then blossomed into extraordinarily creative and engaged individuals. It is a story of the transformation of ordinary lives into exceptional lives by extraordinary events - of courage in the face of overwhelming adversity, the flowering of creative genius, deep friendship, and of profound concern for and insight into the human condition.
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History from a Personal Perspective
- By Jeanette Finan on 02-22-13
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Last Hope Island
- Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Kimberly Farr
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times best-selling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days.
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Not What I Expected--More What I Needed to Know
- By DanD on 06-25-17
By: Lynne Olson
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Becoming Hitler
- The Making of a Nazi
- By: Thomas Weber
- Narrated by: Alex Hyde-White
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In Becoming Hitler, award-winning historian Thomas Weber examines Adolf Hitler's time in Munich between 1918 and 1926, the years when Hitler shed his awkward, feckless persona and transformed himself into a savvy opportunistic political operator who saw himself as Germany's messiah. The story of Hitler's transformation is one of a fateful match between man and city. After opportunistically fluctuating between the ideas of the left and the right, Hitler emerged as an astonishingly flexible leader of Munich's right-wing movement.
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talented malevolence c a dash of amazing luck
- By emilio squillante on 11-05-18
By: Thomas Weber
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The Nazis
- A Warning from History
- By: Laurence Rees
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Following the success of Rees's best-selling Auschwitz, this substantially revised and updated edition of The Nazis - A Warning from History tells the powerfully gripping story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich. During a 16-year period, acclaimed author and documentary-maker Laurence Rees met and interviewed a large number of former Nazis, and his unique insights into the Nazi psyche and World War II received enormous praise.
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HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY
- By Bowen Florsheim on 09-14-21
By: Laurence Rees
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Churchill: A Life, Part 2 (1918-1965)
- By: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Churchill: A Life follows Winston Churchill from his earliest days to his moments of triumph. Here, the drama and excitement of his story are ever-present. Martin Gilbert gives us a vivid portrait, using Churchill's most personal letters and the recollections of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies, to go behind the scenes of some of the stormiest and most fascinating political events of our time.
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Sir Martin Gilbert At His Best, Perfected By Christian Rodska
- By History For History’s Sake on 09-15-16
By: Martin Gilbert
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Lenin on the Train
- By: Catherine Merridale
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In April 1917, as Tsar Nicholas II's abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution, Vladimir Lenin, was far away, exiled in Zurich. To lead the revolt, Lenin needed to return to Petrograd immediately. But to get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help from the deadliest of Russia's adversaries and betraying his homeland.
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Deteriorates into Unhinged Lenin-Bashing
- By Ike Nahem on 03-18-19
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Iron Curtain
- The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 26 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union to its surprise and delight found itself in control of a huge swath of territory in Eastern Europe. Stalin and his secret police set out to convert a dozen radically different countries to Communism, a completely new political and moral system. In Iron Curtain, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Applebaum describes how the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe were created and what daily life was like once they were complete.
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Important story, imperfectly executed
- By jackifus on 12-08-12
By: Anne Applebaum
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An Impeccable Spy
- Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent
- By: Owen Matthews
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard Sorge was a man with two homelands. Born of a German father and a Russian mother in Baku in 1895, he moved in a world of shifting alliances and infinite possibility. A member of the angry and deluded generation who found new, radical faiths after their experiences on the battlefields of the First World War, Sorge became a fanatical communist - and the Soviet Union’s most formidable spy.
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Lots of Politics
- By Cynthia on 04-24-20
By: Owen Matthews
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There Was a Country
- A Personal History of Biafra
- By: Chinua Achebe
- Narrated by: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than 40 years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events.
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The Audible Edition Is a Disaster
- By Olu on 11-28-12
By: Chinua Achebe
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A Savage War of Peace
- Algeria 1954-1962
- By: Alistair Horne
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 29 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It caused the fall of six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict, and as many European settlers were driven into exile. From the perspective of half a century, it looks less like the last colonial war than the first postmodern one.
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Excellent history of France's Viet Nam
- By David on 04-10-16
By: Alistair Horne
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Hitler
- Downfall: 1939-1945
- By: Volker Ullrich, Jefferson Chase - translator
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 29 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 comes a riveting account of the dictator's final years, when he got the war he wanted but his leadership led to catastrophe for his nation, the world, and himself. Volker Ullrich offers fascinating new insight into Hitler's character and personality, vividly portraying the insecurity, obsession with minutiae, and narcissistic penchant for gambling that led Hitler to overrule his subordinates and then blame them for his failures.
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Had to return because of narration
- By Thomas C on 03-26-21
By: Volker Ullrich, and others
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1941: The Year Germany Lost the War
- By: Andrew Nagorski
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling historian Andrew Nagorski takes a fresh look at the decisive year 1941, when Hitler’s miscalculations and policy of terror propelled Churchill, FDR, and Stalin into a powerful new alliance that defeated Nazi Germany.
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Interesting but problematic
- By Thor Olson on 06-14-19
By: Andrew Nagorski
What listeners say about Brave Genius
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tom
- 04-26-24
An amazing Nexus of two Powerful Lives and Minds
Far from beginning as an analysis of the bonding of two great intellects, Carroll starts by providing a highly detailed chronology of France’s entry into and years under Hitler’s domination in WW II. While confusing to the Reader initially, it becomes very clear very soon. For both Camus and Monod these years were crucial to the formation of their Lives and Worldviews.
Their roles in The Resistance, while superficially disparate, aligned perfectly with their subsequent respective creative Lives, their Writings and Philosophies. While I knew almost nothing about Jacques Monod before reading Brave Genius, I was fascinated by how much his career and Life mirrored that of Camus and how his approach to the Scientific Quest was influenced by L’Etrangere and Sisyphus.
Since I have been a fervent follower of Camus since High School, this book also inspired me to read some additional of his essays and speeches that displayed even more of the breadth and depth of his Atheism and Existentialism. I would recommend other readers read this book and other works by these two geniuses. They would provide excellent role models and sources for others searching for answers to Life’s Big Questions. Four stars. ****
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- Thomas F. Lennon
- 07-04-22
Fascinating book but a difficult listen
I don’t fault the narrator, so much as the publisher. If you’ve got a book about 2 French intellectuals, hire a narrator who has a little bit of knowledge of how French ounds. This narrator mispronounced familiar words and names Camus, De Gaulle, the Sorbonne, etc and it made it hard. Not his fault that he speaks no French. He was miscast and given no support in the audio booth.
The main character, Jacques Monod, was an astonishing human being, a brilliant and brave man, and a great character for a book. It was very exciting to learn about him. The philosopher Camus plays a support role, and the author of the book struggles a little bit trying to give them equal weight. Sean Carroll is a science writer and I felt he was more insightful about the scientist than the philosopher,but in the end you do feel that the parallel between the two Frenchmen is very much justified. I was very glad I read this book.
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1 person found this helpful