
Curious
The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Sean Runnette
-
By:
-
Ian Leslie
About this listen
A fun yet provocative look at the importance of staying curious in an increasingly indifferent world
Everyone is born curious. But only some retain the habits of exploring, learning, and discovering as they grow older. Those who do so tend to be smarter, more creative, and more successful. But at the very moment when the rewards of curiosity have never been higher, it is misunderstood and undervalued, and increasingly monopolized by the cognitive elite. A "curiosity divide" is opening up.
In Curious, Ian Leslie makes a passionate case for the cultivation of our "desire to know." Drawing on fascinating research from psychology, economics, education, and business, Leslie looks at what feeds curiosity and what starves it, and finds surprising answers. Curiosity is a mental muscle that atrophies without regular exercise and a habit that parents, schools, and workplaces need to nurture.
Filled with inspiring stories, case studies, and practical advice, Curious will change the way you think about your own mental life, and that of those around you.
©2014 Basic Books (P)2021 Basic BooksCritic reviews
"Leslie...writes convincingly...about the human need and desire to learn deeply and develop expertise." (Wall Street Journal)
"Leslie delineates the various types of curiosity and what might be lost as we lean on search engines and offload our memories to cloud storage. He's at his best when considering how socioeconomic conditions impede curiosity." (New York Times Book Review)
"A refreshingly commonsensical voice in the ongoing argument over how to best mold human minds." (Scientific American Mind)
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Seek
- How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World
- By: Scott Shigeoka
- Narrated by: Scott Shigeoka
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you've felt alienated and alone in recent years, you're in good company. Whether it's a rift in your family, polarization at your workplace or just a sense that society isn't as connected as it once was, many of us feel painful chasms in our connections. Internationally-recognized curiosity expert and bridge builder Scott Shigeoka knows that there’s only one cure: Deep Curiosity.
-
-
Curiosity has its limits
- By Brian T. Yamabe on 06-07-24
By: Scott Shigeoka
-
Purposeful Curiosity
- The Power of Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time
- By: Constantine Andriopoulos PhD
- Narrated by: Michael Chance
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have a love affair with people who plunge into new experiences and push limits. We admire those who imagine the unimaginable, solve enduring mysteries, who turn the impossible into possible, and help us evolve. In Purposeful Curiosity, Dr. Constantine Andriopoulos lifts the veil on how accomplished individuals channel their curiosity to a particular purpose—toward advancing science and human understanding, discovering new lands and opportunities or reaching a significant goal.
-
Awe
- The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
- By: Dacher Keltner
- Narrated by: Dacher Keltner
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion.
-
-
Love the idea more than the product
- By Jackie on 04-23-23
By: Dacher Keltner
-
Cracking the Curiosity Code
- The Key to Unlocking Human Potential
- By: Diane Hamilton PhD
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dr. Diane Hamilton’s provocative new book, she uncovers what could foreseeably be the next movement to enhance human performance, a critical and direct link to improving motivation and communication-based issues that challenge organizations. Drawing on decades of research and incorporating interviews from some of the top leaders of our time, Hamilton examines the factors that influence curiosity including fear, assumptions, technology, and environment (FATE). Her ground-breaking research provides an action plan to transform individuals and organizations.
-
-
The Key to Everything
- By RDreeke on 07-08-22
-
John & Paul
- A Love Story in Songs
- By: Ian Leslie
- Narrated by: Chris Addison
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Beatles shook the world to its core in the 1960’s and, to this day, new generations continue to fall in love with their songs and their story. At the heart of this phenomenon lies the dynamic between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Few other musical partnerships have been rooted in such a deep, intense and complicated personal relationship.
-
-
Stunned
- By BellevueMike on 04-16-25
By: Ian Leslie
-
Fascinate, Revised and Updated
- How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist
- By: Sally Hogshead
- Narrated by: Sally Hogshead
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A newly revised and updated edition of the influential guide that explores one of the most powerful ways to attract attention and influence behavior - fascination - and how businesses, products, and ideas can become irresistible to consumers. In an oversaturated culture defined by limited time and focus, how do we draw attention to our messages, our ideas, and our products when we have only seconds to compete?
-
-
Motivational, but lacks substance!
- By Melanie Iannaggi on 09-15-17
By: Sally Hogshead
-
Seek
- How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World
- By: Scott Shigeoka
- Narrated by: Scott Shigeoka
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you've felt alienated and alone in recent years, you're in good company. Whether it's a rift in your family, polarization at your workplace or just a sense that society isn't as connected as it once was, many of us feel painful chasms in our connections. Internationally-recognized curiosity expert and bridge builder Scott Shigeoka knows that there’s only one cure: Deep Curiosity.
-
-
Curiosity has its limits
- By Brian T. Yamabe on 06-07-24
By: Scott Shigeoka
-
Purposeful Curiosity
- The Power of Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time
- By: Constantine Andriopoulos PhD
- Narrated by: Michael Chance
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have a love affair with people who plunge into new experiences and push limits. We admire those who imagine the unimaginable, solve enduring mysteries, who turn the impossible into possible, and help us evolve. In Purposeful Curiosity, Dr. Constantine Andriopoulos lifts the veil on how accomplished individuals channel their curiosity to a particular purpose—toward advancing science and human understanding, discovering new lands and opportunities or reaching a significant goal.
-
Awe
- The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
- By: Dacher Keltner
- Narrated by: Dacher Keltner
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison, or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? In Awe, Dacher Keltner presents a radical investigation and deeply personal inquiry into this elusive emotion.
-
-
Love the idea more than the product
- By Jackie on 04-23-23
By: Dacher Keltner
-
Cracking the Curiosity Code
- The Key to Unlocking Human Potential
- By: Diane Hamilton PhD
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Dr. Diane Hamilton’s provocative new book, she uncovers what could foreseeably be the next movement to enhance human performance, a critical and direct link to improving motivation and communication-based issues that challenge organizations. Drawing on decades of research and incorporating interviews from some of the top leaders of our time, Hamilton examines the factors that influence curiosity including fear, assumptions, technology, and environment (FATE). Her ground-breaking research provides an action plan to transform individuals and organizations.
-
-
The Key to Everything
- By RDreeke on 07-08-22
-
John & Paul
- A Love Story in Songs
- By: Ian Leslie
- Narrated by: Chris Addison
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Beatles shook the world to its core in the 1960’s and, to this day, new generations continue to fall in love with their songs and their story. At the heart of this phenomenon lies the dynamic between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Few other musical partnerships have been rooted in such a deep, intense and complicated personal relationship.
-
-
Stunned
- By BellevueMike on 04-16-25
By: Ian Leslie
-
Fascinate, Revised and Updated
- How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist
- By: Sally Hogshead
- Narrated by: Sally Hogshead
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A newly revised and updated edition of the influential guide that explores one of the most powerful ways to attract attention and influence behavior - fascination - and how businesses, products, and ideas can become irresistible to consumers. In an oversaturated culture defined by limited time and focus, how do we draw attention to our messages, our ideas, and our products when we have only seconds to compete?
-
-
Motivational, but lacks substance!
- By Melanie Iannaggi on 09-15-17
By: Sally Hogshead
-
Nonsense
- The Power of Not Knowing
- By: Jamie Holmes
- Narrated by: Jamie Holmes
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Jamie Holmes shows in Nonsense, being confused is unpleasant, so we tend to shutter our minds as we grasp for meaning and stability, especially in stressful circumstances. We’re hard-wired to resolve contradictions quickly and extinguish anomalies. This can be useful, of course. When a tiger is chasing you, you can’t be indecisive. But as Nonsense reveals, our need for closure has its own dangers. It makes us stick to our first answer, which is not always the best, and it makes us search for meaning in the wrong places.
-
-
Great Material - Weak Delivery
- By Douglas C. Bates on 10-06-16
By: Jamie Holmes
-
The Power of Moments
- Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
- By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While human lives are endlessly variable, our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. If we embrace these elements, we can conjure more moments that matter. What if a teacher could design a lesson that he knew his students would remember 20 years later? What if a manager knew how to create an experience that would delight customers? What if you had a better sense of how to create memories that matter for your children?
-
-
Easy to create your own defining moments
- By A. Yoshida on 12-15-17
By: Chip Heath, and others
-
Conflicted
- How Productive Disagreements Lead to Better Outcomes
- By: Ian Leslie
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an increasingly polarized world, our only chance for coming together and moving forward is to learn from those who have mastered the art and science of disagreement. In this much-needed book, Ian Leslie explores what happens to us when we argue, why disagreement makes us stressed, and why we get angry. By drawing together the lessons he learns from different experts, he proposes a series of clear principles that we can all use to make our most difficult dialogues more productive—and our increasingly acrimonious world a better place.
-
-
One of the best books of the year
- By chris boutte on 03-19-21
By: Ian Leslie
-
A More Beautiful Question
- The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas
- By: Warren Berger
- Narrated by: Dale Nichols
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating exploration of the surprising power of questioning, innovation expert Warren Berger reveals that powerhouse businesses like Google, Nike, and Netflix, as well as hot Silicon Valley startups like Pandora and Airbnb, are fueled by the ability to ask fundamental, game-changing questions. But Berger also shares human stories of people using questioning to solve everyday problems—from “How can I adapt my career in a time of constant change?” to “How can I step back from the daily rush and figure out what really makes me happy?”
-
-
Slower build but fantastic finish
- By Joe Rand on 08-24-24
By: Warren Berger
-
Games People Play
- The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis
- By: Eric Berne
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over 40 years ago, Games People Play revolutionized our understanding of what really goes on during our most basic social interactions. More than five million copies later, Dr. Eric Berne's classic is as astonishing and revealing as it was on the day it was first published. We play games all the time---sexual games, marital games, power games with our bosses, and competitive games with our friends.
-
-
Great book but not suited for audio
- By Griggah on 05-10-15
By: Eric Berne
-
The Game
- Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
- By: Neil Strauss
- Narrated by: Neil Strauss
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hidden somewhere, in nearly every major city in the world, is an underground seduction lair. And in these lairs, men trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to charm women. This is not fiction. These men really exist. They live together in houses known as Projects. And Neil Strauss, the best-selling author, spent two years living among them, using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity. The result is one of the most explosive and controversial books of the year.
-
-
Won't up your Game, but better than reality TV
- By David on 06-07-15
By: Neil Strauss
What listeners say about Curious
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K D
- 03-30-25
revealing how much we give up to grow up
the voice of the narrator makes it a little difficult to follow, but the information is worth it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MM
- 11-25-23
Thought provoking
I liked the indictment of search engines stifling epistemic curiosity. Very few people today study to inform their decisions, but rather depend on quick answers from others.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nathan Price
- 04-01-23
Thought-Provoking
A thoughtful presentation on the importance of curiosity and the nature of the role parents play in developing their children's minds from birth.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nathan
- 05-17-23
Good not great
I enjoyed the read. Good insights and lead sins for life, but could be better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Molly Helm
- 01-11-24
Loved it.
I picked this up and had no idea what to expect and I’m eager to listen a second time. It’s inspiring and reminds me that curiosity is a muscle we can strengthen and it is also a choice. It can change everything.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ed
- 06-02-22
Disappointing
A good topic not adequately researched or present it narrator is perfect cure for insomnia
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David W
- 04-08-25
A very good book, but HORRIBLE narration!
What’s the deal with this narrator? His tone is almost hypnotic…like a preacher in a church delivering a sermon to a congregation. He seems to have no excitement or even interest in the topic. It’s like he’s in some kind of trance, quietly reading along, pausing in weird places. The weird thing is that he doesn’t really sound…curious. A curious narrator would convey a lot more energy and enthusiasm. This guy is the opposite of that. It made me wonder: did the author listen to this narrator before he agreed to using him? Ugh. It almost ruins a very interesting book. But I had to buy the Kindle version to finish it because I couldn’t stand the Audible version.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!