
Schopenhauer's Porcupines
Intimacy and Its Dilemmas: Five Stories of Psychotherapy
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Narrated by:
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Deborah Anna Luepnitz
About this listen
The classic compilation of psychological case studies from a master clinician and lyrical writer
Each generation of therapists can boast of only a few writers like Deborah Luepnitz, whose sympathy and wit shine in her fine, luminous prose. In Schopenhauer's Porcupines, she recounts five true stories from her practice, stories of patients who range from the super-rich to the destitute, who grapple with panic attacks, psychosomatic illness, marital despair, and sexual recklessness. Intimate, original, and triumphantly funny, Schopenhauer's Porcupines goes further than any other book in illuminating "how talking helps".
©2002 Deborah Anna Luepnitz (P)2021 Basic BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Drawing heavily on the work of Lacan, Winnicott, and Klein, Luepintz educates us as well, allowing us to look over her shoulder and see miracles happen." (Boston Globe)
"Schopenhauer's Porcupines is the most affirming, original, and literate psychoanalytic work of the past thirty years." (Psychoanalytic Psychology)
"I could not put Schopenhauer's Porcupines down. These stories illustrate how a master clinician uses complex and sophisticated theory with just the right light touch, so that it seems transparent to her patients and her readers." (Lewis Aron, PhD, director, New York University)
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- A Practical Guide to Surviving, Healing, and Thriving
- By: Meghan Jobson MD PhD, Juliet Morgan MD
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Drs. Meghan Jobson and Juliet Morgan specialize in treating long illness; from their work on the frontlines with long COVID, they know that all long illnesses shares many of the same hallmarks. Using evidence-based integrative medicine, they have put together a program that legitimizes long illness and validates concerns where other physicians often dismiss them. In Long Illness, you’ll find an unparalleled, holistic approach to healing.
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The most singularly amazing & helpful book!
- By view on 04-09-24
By: Meghan Jobson MD PhD, and others
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Heart of the Hive
- Inside the Mind of the Honey Bee and the Incredible Life Force of the Colony
- By: Hilary Kearney
- Narrated by: Hilary Kearney
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Listeners will be awestruck by the hive as superorganism and how the individual bee lives and behaves within it, perfectly suited to each specific job it performs. From their intricate dances and information-rich pheromones to how they sense and respond to their environment, learn, and remember, this immersive journey into the world of bees offers an entirely new perspective on the wisdom of nature and our relationship to it.
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Full of fun facts!
- By Nicole Fraker on 04-13-25
By: Hilary Kearney
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Everyday MAGIC
- The Joy of Not Being Everything and Still Being More than Enough
- By: Mattie James
- Narrated by: Mattie James
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Today we are all stretching ourselves more than ever to live up to life’s seemingly endless demands, so why do we still feel we are less than enough? Mattie James— mother, influencer, and CEO—believes that living a beautiful life amidst the chaos and pressures is possible. All it takes is a little everyday MAGIC.
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Grounding book
- By Bree on 12-22-22
By: Mattie James
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The Aleister Crowley Manual
- Thelemic Magick for Modern Times
- By: Marco Visconti
- Narrated by: Robbie Stevens
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Marco Visconti has taught Aleister Crowley's Magick to hundreds of aspirants, proving to himself and others its transmutative powers. This book brings together the effective techniques and practices from those lessons. We all live very busy lives in increasingly small spaces, but this book shows that to practice magick you don’t need fancy tools or robes or marbles halls. Magick is truly for everyone, because all you need to practice it is a will set in stone.
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best introduction to thelema
- By Joon on 07-14-23
By: Marco Visconti
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Psych
- The Story of the Human Mind
- By: Paul Bloom
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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How does the brain—a three-pound wrinkly mass—give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind.
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Not particularly interesting
- By michelle gourgeot on 07-10-23
By: Paul Bloom
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The Quest for Character
- What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches Us About Our Search for Good Leaders
- By: Massimo Pigliucci
- Narrated by: Alan Carlson
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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another great work by Massimo
- By Cameron on 11-14-22
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My Penguin Year
- Life Among the Emperors
- By: Lindsay McCrae
- Narrated by: Lindsay McCrae
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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An unprecedentedly intimate portrait of an emperor penguin colony in Antarctica, by a BAFTA Award-winning BBC director of photography who observed these extraordinary birds for a year. This is the ultimate gift for any penguin or nature lover.
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My favorite animal
- By smilin29 on 01-28-24
By: Lindsay McCrae
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Out Cold
- A Chilling Descent into the Macabre, Controversial, Lifesaving History of Hypothermia
- By: Phil Jaekl
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In Out Cold, science writer Phil Jaekl chronicles the underappreciated story of human innovation with cold, from Ancient Egypt, where it was used to treat skin irritations, to 18th-century London, where scientists used it in their first explorations of suspended animation. Throughout history, physicians have used cold to innovate life extension, enable distant space missions, and explore consciousness.
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layers of "wows"
- By michele and david on 01-03-25
By: Phil Jaekl
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Savor
- Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
- By: Lilian Cheung, Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Common sense tells us that to lose weight, we must eat less and exercise more. But somehow we get stalled. We start on a weight-loss program with good intentions but cannot stay on track. Neither the countless fad diets, nor the annual spending of $50 billion on weight loss helps us feel better or lose weight. Too many of us are in a cycle of shame and guilt. We spend countless hours worrying about what we ate or if we exercised enough, blaming ourselves for actions that we can't undo.
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Same old advice with justa pinch of mindfullness
- By Dvdmon on 05-15-15
By: Lilian Cheung, and others
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The Other Side of Hope
- Flipping the Script on Cynicism and Despair and Rediscovering Our Humanity
- By: Danielle Strickland
- Narrated by: Danielle Strickland
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overcome the twin giants of cynicism and despair that threaten to derail your emotional and physical health and find hope for life by witnessing the power of God’s redemptive healing. Part guidebook and part storytelling, The Other Side of Hope includes two books in one with the message of finding hope in a desperately harsh world.
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Highly Recommend!
- By SMcD on 12-01-22
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The Power of the Downstate
- Recharge Your Life Using Your Body's Own Restorative Systems
- By: Sara C. Mednick PhD
- Narrated by: Sara C. Mednick PhD
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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If you’re like most people, the relentless daily grind of go-go-go, do-do-do, can run down your energy and deplete your resources. While most of us find our lives full of “Upstate” moments that rev up our stress engines, it doesn’t have to be this way. World-renowned sleep researcher Sara C. Mednick, PhD, shows us how we can access the most replenishing and repairing aspects of sleep through activities and moments that happen during our day by diving into our “Downstate”.
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Game Changer
- By MES on 01-22-23
What listeners say about Schopenhauer's Porcupines
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cleo Baldshein
- 05-03-22
A great reading of a great book
What a great listen! I read and loved this wonderful book about psychotherapy many years ago. But listening to the author reading it aloud brings a wonderful new dimension to it. Luepnitz does a really lovely job of bringing her patients to life with skillful voice acting, which in turn brings a dramatic energy to the more theoretical passages. This is a rich, substantive, and entertaining book.
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- Tonik2003
- 04-20-25
Clear and interesting
I would have liked more personal details of the author. Why did they get into this field? Etc... Really well done as is though, left me wanting more.
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- S.G.
- 05-07-25
Profound narratives
Love the humanity in the normative nature of the client stories she chooses to share.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-03-23
Fantastic
This was an incredibly thought provoking and well written book which managed to explain the therapeutic process in an incredibly accessible way. I loved it and could read another ten volumes of similar books.
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- DogMama26
- 07-13-21
Accessible to all
Shopenhauer's Porcupines makes talk therapy easy for the lay person to understand. The author tells the stories of five patients, and explains how transference occurs and is used to heal wounds of the past. Pretty fascinating stuff.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Leone McDermott
- 10-27-21
Enjoyable and informative
This is an engaging look at the work of psychoanalysis. Over the course of five case studies, the author introduces basic psychoanalytic concepts and shows how these apply to her patients’ situations. Luepnitz has a warm, personal tone as a narrator and explains each stage of analysis in language that the average person can understand. Unlike some, I thought the narrator’s use of different accents added clarity (since several stories involve multiple patients) and sometimes a touch of humor. A good read for anyone interested in Freudian analysis or the problems of human intimacy.
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3 people found this helpful
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- GothamReader
- 09-09-21
Excellent case studies
A lovely book with great case studies and a masterful command of history. I loved the narration with the exception of some of the accents (which were a little painful). A must read for any future therapist or anyone who enjoyed therapeutic inspiration.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Robert B. Davis
- 08-23-21
Poignant listen
Entertaining narration with accents. Fascinating stories. An interesting look into psychoanalytic therapy. Well worth the listen.
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4 people found this helpful
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- pd park
- 10-31-21
Entertaining and informative!
I love listening to books read by their author! It helps me feel connected with the author and know that the emphasis is intended on since it is the author. This book was certainly no different and I think Dr. Luepnitz did an amazing job narrating the stories and making me feel like I was brought into her therapy office. I was immersed. I am also a clinical Psychology student, so I found the content very applicable and helped me think through my own cases.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Lux
- 01-31-22
wonderful read
slow start, but a wonderful read! I love the author also read the book, it really brings the listener in! I recommend!
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1 person found this helpful