Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination
Visions, Minds, Ethics
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 $15.56
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
John Lescault
About this listen
In this highly original book, Russell Blackford discusses the intersection of science fiction and humanity’s moral imagination. With the rise of science and technology in the 19th century, and our continually improving understanding of the cosmos, writers and thinkers soon began to imagine futures greatly different from the present. Science fiction was born out of the realization that future techno-scientific advances could dramatically change the world.
Along with the developments described in modern science fiction - space societies, conscious machines, and upgraded human bodies, to name but a few - come a new set of ethical challenges and new forms of ethics. Blackford identifies these issues and their reflection in science fiction. His fascinating book will appeal to anyone with an interest in philosophy or science fiction, or in how they interact.
©2017 Springer International Publishing AG (P)2021 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
Alien Encounter
- A Scientific Novel (The Science and Fiction Series)
- By: Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Narrated by: Eddie Lopez
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has been nearly 100 years since the Apollo moon landings, when Jack and Vladimir, two astronauts on a mission to Venus, discover a mysterious void related to indigenous life on the planet. Subsequently more voids are detected on Earth, Mars, Titan, and, quite ominously, inside a planetoid emerging from the Kuiper belt. Jack is sent to investigate the voids in the Solar System and intercept the planetoid - which, as becomes increasingly clear, is inhabited by alien life forms.
-
Prometheism
- By: Jason Reza Jorjani
- Narrated by: Daniel Natal
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"This is a declaration of war. In the name of our creator, we declare a revolutionary war against both the gods and those titans who were gods before them! In the name of our liberator, we declare a revolutionary war against fatalism and every other form of tyranny! We think from out of the end of all things, with an indomitable will to achieve either victory or a martyrdom that inspires enduring rebellion in those to whom we pass the torch of our example."
-
-
Jorjani is one of the most innovative and ambitious minds of our era.
- By CHRISTOPHER W EVANS on 08-14-24
-
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
- Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution
- By: Carl R. Trueman
- Narrated by: Carl R. Trueman, Rod Dreher
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015, sexual identity has dominated both public discourse and cultural trends — yet no historical phenomenon is its own cause. From Augustine to Marx, various views and perspectives have contributed to the modern understanding of the self.
-
-
Best book I read in 2021 by far
- By Jfree on 12-18-21
By: Carl R. Trueman
-
Reading Between the Lines
- A Christian Guide to Literature
- By: Gene Edward Veith Jr.
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a guidebook for those who want to learn how to recognize books that are spiritually and aesthetically good - to cultivate good literary taste. Gene Edward Veith presents basic information to help book lovers understand what they read, from the classics to best sellers.
-
-
Great Reference Book for Recommendations
- By Anonymous User on 05-03-21
-
Philosophers
- Classical and Modern Critical Thinkers with Steady Morals
- By: Nelly Vortex
- Narrated by: Ric Chetter
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this audiobook on philosophers, several fascinating thinkers will be covered. Their inspiring and debatable thoughts will give you new insights in life and death and in ethics and morals. First, the political philosophers John Locke will be explored. Mr. Locke was the libertarian who said something when things appeared to go in the wrong direction.
-
-
Very good
- By Anonymous User on 05-06-20
By: Nelly Vortex
-
The Source of Self-Regard
- Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arguably the most celebrated and revered writer of our time now gives us a new nonfiction collection - a rich gathering of her essays, speeches, and meditations on society, culture, and art, spanning four decades.
-
-
Refreshing thoughts
- By Amazon Customer on 04-02-19
By: Toni Morrison
-
Alien Encounter
- A Scientific Novel (The Science and Fiction Series)
- By: Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Narrated by: Eddie Lopez
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has been nearly 100 years since the Apollo moon landings, when Jack and Vladimir, two astronauts on a mission to Venus, discover a mysterious void related to indigenous life on the planet. Subsequently more voids are detected on Earth, Mars, Titan, and, quite ominously, inside a planetoid emerging from the Kuiper belt. Jack is sent to investigate the voids in the Solar System and intercept the planetoid - which, as becomes increasingly clear, is inhabited by alien life forms.
-
Prometheism
- By: Jason Reza Jorjani
- Narrated by: Daniel Natal
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"This is a declaration of war. In the name of our creator, we declare a revolutionary war against both the gods and those titans who were gods before them! In the name of our liberator, we declare a revolutionary war against fatalism and every other form of tyranny! We think from out of the end of all things, with an indomitable will to achieve either victory or a martyrdom that inspires enduring rebellion in those to whom we pass the torch of our example."
-
-
Jorjani is one of the most innovative and ambitious minds of our era.
- By CHRISTOPHER W EVANS on 08-14-24
-
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
- Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution
- By: Carl R. Trueman
- Narrated by: Carl R. Trueman, Rod Dreher
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015, sexual identity has dominated both public discourse and cultural trends — yet no historical phenomenon is its own cause. From Augustine to Marx, various views and perspectives have contributed to the modern understanding of the self.
-
-
Best book I read in 2021 by far
- By Jfree on 12-18-21
By: Carl R. Trueman
-
Reading Between the Lines
- A Christian Guide to Literature
- By: Gene Edward Veith Jr.
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a guidebook for those who want to learn how to recognize books that are spiritually and aesthetically good - to cultivate good literary taste. Gene Edward Veith presents basic information to help book lovers understand what they read, from the classics to best sellers.
-
-
Great Reference Book for Recommendations
- By Anonymous User on 05-03-21
-
Philosophers
- Classical and Modern Critical Thinkers with Steady Morals
- By: Nelly Vortex
- Narrated by: Ric Chetter
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this audiobook on philosophers, several fascinating thinkers will be covered. Their inspiring and debatable thoughts will give you new insights in life and death and in ethics and morals. First, the political philosophers John Locke will be explored. Mr. Locke was the libertarian who said something when things appeared to go in the wrong direction.
-
-
Very good
- By Anonymous User on 05-06-20
By: Nelly Vortex
-
The Source of Self-Regard
- Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Arguably the most celebrated and revered writer of our time now gives us a new nonfiction collection - a rich gathering of her essays, speeches, and meditations on society, culture, and art, spanning four decades.
-
-
Refreshing thoughts
- By Amazon Customer on 04-02-19
By: Toni Morrison
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
Uncertain Places
- Essays on Occult and Outsider Experiences
- By: Mitch Horowitz
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today’s leading voice of esotericism and the occult, Mitch Horowitz explores topics that evoke widespread misunderstanding, including the real history of secret societies, the wisdom of the Satanic, the relevance of Gnosticism, and connection between today’s spiritual culture and antiquity, including in areas of Hermeticism, deity worship, out-of-body experience, and magick. He demonstrates the occult roots of wide-ranging facets of modern culture, including politics, abstract art, mind-body healing, self-help, and scientific fields such as quantum physics and neuroplasticity.
-
-
Uncertain Places
- By Margaret on 12-13-22
By: Mitch Horowitz
-
How to Save the West
- Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises
- By: Spencer Klavan
- Narrated by: Spencer Klavan
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has been proclaimed many times, but perhaps never more convincingly than now, when every news cycle seems to deliver further confirmation of a world gone mad. Is this the endgame? Author Spencer Klavan is a classicist, with a Ph.D. from Oxford, and a deep understanding of the West. His analysis: The situation is dire. But every crisis we face today, we have faced before. And we can surmount each one. Klavan brings to the West’s defense the insights of Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, and the Founding Fathers to show that in the wisdom of the past lies hope for the future.
-
-
Spectacular! A must read!
- By M.A. on 02-15-23
By: Spencer Klavan
-
You and Your Profile
- Identity After Authenticity
- By: Hans-Georg Moeller, Paul J. D'Ambrosio
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We present ourselves and encounter others through profiles. A profile shows us not as we are seen directly but how we are perceived by a broader public. Profile-based identity is evident everywhere from pop culture to politics, marketing to morality. This book argues that the profile marks an epochal shift in our concept of identity and demonstrates why that matters. You and Your Profile blends social theory, philosophy, and cultural critique to unfold an exploration of the way we have come to experience the world.
-
-
Wow wow wow, wow wow!
- By J. Joel on 02-13-24
By: Hans-Georg Moeller, and others
-
How to Survive the Apocalypse
- Zombies, Cylons, Faith, and Politics at the End of the World
- By: Robert Joustra, Alissa Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world is going to hell. So begins this book, pointing to the prevalence of apocalypse - cataclysmic destruction and nightmarish end-of-the-world scenarios - in contemporary entertainment.
-
-
Media teaches us about what it means human
- By Adam Shields on 09-19-17
By: Robert Joustra, and others
-
A Secular Age
- By: Charles Taylor
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 42 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
-
-
Needs Guest Narrators for French and German
- By Norman on 06-13-15
By: Charles Taylor
-
Irrationality
- A History of the Dark Side of Reason
- By: Justin E. H. Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the “rational animal”. But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today - from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump - Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite.
-
-
A good brain workout
- By ThomasC on 04-09-19
-
High Weirdness
- Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies
- By: Erik Davis
- Narrated by: Erik Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A study of the spiritual provocations to be found in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the American counterculture of the 1970s. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality - but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America?
-
-
High Weirdness
- By Amazon Customer on 09-17-20
By: Erik Davis
-
Against Interpretation and Other Essays
- By: Susan Sontag
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Originally published in 1966, Susan Sontag's first collection of essays is a modern classic and includes the famous essays "Notes on Camp" and "Against Interpretation", as well as, her impassioned discussions of Sartre, Camus, Simone Weil, Godard, Beckett, Levi-Strauss, science-fiction movies, psychoanalysis, and contemporary religious thought.
-
-
Against interpretation, like, literally.
- By Dulce Mattos on 08-14-19
By: Susan Sontag
-
Culture and Imperialism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A landmark work from the intellectually auspicious author of Orientalism, this book explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it. This classic study, the direct successor to Said's main work, is read by Peter Ganim ( Orientalism).
-
-
BRAVO, AUDIBLE!! WE NEED MORE SAID!! REAL BOOKS!!
- By AnthonyStevens on 02-27-11
By: Edward Said
-
A Secret History of Consciousness
- By: Gary Lachman
- Narrated by: Russell Newton
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the last four centuries, science has tried to account for everything in terms of atoms and molecules and the physical laws they adhere to. Recently, this effort was extended to try to include the inner world of human beings. Gary Lachman argues that this view of consciousness is misguided and unfounded. He points to another approach to the study and exploration of consciousness that erupted into public awareness in the late 1800s.
-
-
The worst audio and narration on Audible
- By NoirGuitarSuperstar on 03-25-21
By: Gary Lachman
-
The Weird and the Eerie
- By: Mark Fisher
- Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
- Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What exactly are the weird and the eerie? In this new essay, Mark Fisher argues that some of the most haunting and anomalous fiction of the 20th century belongs to these two modes. The weird and the eerie are closely related but distinct modes, each possessing its own distinct properties. Both have often been associated with horror, yet this emphasis overlooks the aching fascination that such texts can exercise. The weird and the eerie both fundamentally concern the outside and the unknown, which are not intrinsically horrifying, even if they are always unsettling.
-
-
clear but mispronounced
- By SLV on 01-02-20
By: Mark Fisher
Related to this topic
-
Irrationality
- A History of the Dark Side of Reason
- By: Justin E. H. Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the “rational animal”. But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today - from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump - Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite.
-
-
A good brain workout
- By ThomasC on 04-09-19
-
High Weirdness
- Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies
- By: Erik Davis
- Narrated by: Erik Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A study of the spiritual provocations to be found in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the American counterculture of the 1970s. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality - but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America?
-
-
High Weirdness
- By Amazon Customer on 09-17-20
By: Erik Davis
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
Culture and Imperialism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A landmark work from the intellectually auspicious author of Orientalism, this book explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it. This classic study, the direct successor to Said's main work, is read by Peter Ganim ( Orientalism).
-
-
BRAVO, AUDIBLE!! WE NEED MORE SAID!! REAL BOOKS!!
- By AnthonyStevens on 02-27-11
By: Edward Said
-
How to Save the West
- Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises
- By: Spencer Klavan
- Narrated by: Spencer Klavan
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has been proclaimed many times, but perhaps never more convincingly than now, when every news cycle seems to deliver further confirmation of a world gone mad. Is this the endgame? Author Spencer Klavan is a classicist, with a Ph.D. from Oxford, and a deep understanding of the West. His analysis: The situation is dire. But every crisis we face today, we have faced before. And we can surmount each one. Klavan brings to the West’s defense the insights of Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, and the Founding Fathers to show that in the wisdom of the past lies hope for the future.
-
-
Spectacular! A must read!
- By M.A. on 02-15-23
By: Spencer Klavan
-
Civilization and Its Discontents, Totem and Taboo
- By: Sigmund Freud
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is remembered as the father of psychoanalysis. Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) is one of his key works, written three decades after his seminal book The Interpretation of Dreams. In it he considers the conflict between the needs of the individual acting both egotistically and altruistically in the pursuit of happiness and the myriad demands of civilised society and the ensuing tensions this clash of needs and demands generates.
By: Sigmund Freud
-
Irrationality
- A History of the Dark Side of Reason
- By: Justin E. H. Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the “rational animal”. But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today - from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump - Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite.
-
-
A good brain workout
- By ThomasC on 04-09-19
-
High Weirdness
- Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies
- By: Erik Davis
- Narrated by: Erik Davis
- Length: 20 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A study of the spiritual provocations to be found in the work of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness charts the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the American counterculture of the 1970s. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality - but how did their writings reflect, as well as shape, the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America?
-
-
High Weirdness
- By Amazon Customer on 09-17-20
By: Erik Davis
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
Culture and Imperialism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A landmark work from the intellectually auspicious author of Orientalism, this book explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it. This classic study, the direct successor to Said's main work, is read by Peter Ganim ( Orientalism).
-
-
BRAVO, AUDIBLE!! WE NEED MORE SAID!! REAL BOOKS!!
- By AnthonyStevens on 02-27-11
By: Edward Said
-
How to Save the West
- Ancient Wisdom for 5 Modern Crises
- By: Spencer Klavan
- Narrated by: Spencer Klavan
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has been proclaimed many times, but perhaps never more convincingly than now, when every news cycle seems to deliver further confirmation of a world gone mad. Is this the endgame? Author Spencer Klavan is a classicist, with a Ph.D. from Oxford, and a deep understanding of the West. His analysis: The situation is dire. But every crisis we face today, we have faced before. And we can surmount each one. Klavan brings to the West’s defense the insights of Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, and the Founding Fathers to show that in the wisdom of the past lies hope for the future.
-
-
Spectacular! A must read!
- By M.A. on 02-15-23
By: Spencer Klavan
-
Civilization and Its Discontents, Totem and Taboo
- By: Sigmund Freud
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is remembered as the father of psychoanalysis. Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) is one of his key works, written three decades after his seminal book The Interpretation of Dreams. In it he considers the conflict between the needs of the individual acting both egotistically and altruistically in the pursuit of happiness and the myriad demands of civilised society and the ensuing tensions this clash of needs and demands generates.
By: Sigmund Freud
-
Cosmos and Psyche
- Intimations of a New World View
- By: Richard Tarnas
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 25 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a philosopher whose magisterial history of Western thought was praised by Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith comes a brilliant new book that traces the connection between cosmic cycles and archetypal patterns of human experience. Drawing on years of research and on thinkers from Plato to Jung, Richard Tarnas explores the planetary correlations of epochal events like the French Revolution, the two world wars, and September 11. Cosmos and Psyche is a work of immense sophistication, deep learning, and lasting importance.
-
-
Compelling content; monochromatic narration
- By Melissa Chase on 04-14-21
By: Richard Tarnas
-
The Hedgehog and the Fox (Second Edition)
- An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History
- By: Isaiah Berlin, Henry Hardy - editor, Michael Ignatieff - foreword
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." This ancient Greek aphorism, preserved in a fragment from the poet Archilochus, describes the central thesis of Isaiah Berlin's masterly essay on Leo Tolstoy and the philosophy of history, the subject of the epilogue to War and Peace. Although there have been many interpretations of the adage, Berlin uses it to mark a fundamental distinction between human beings who are fascinated by the infinite variety of things and those who relate everything to a central, all-embracing system.
-
-
The Fox Who Tried To Be A Hedgehog
- By Rich S. on 12-14-21
By: Isaiah Berlin, and others
-
What Are We Doing Here?
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America, like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Alexis de Tocqueville, inform our political consciousness or discussing how beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.
-
-
Unpersuasive and a bit repetitive
- By Adam Shields on 03-07-18
-
The Romantic Manifesto
- A Philosophy of Literature
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this beautifully written and brilliantly reasoned collection of essays, Ayn Rand throws new light on the nature of art and its purpose in human life. Once again, she demonstrates her bold originality and her refusal to let conventional ideas define her sense of the truth. Rand eloquently asserts that one cannot create art without infusing it with one's own value judgments and personal philosophy - even an attempt to withhold moral overtones only results in a deterministic or naturalistic message.
-
-
Essential AYN
- By Mica on 07-15-08
By: Ayn Rand
-
The Art of the Novel
- By: Milan Kundera, Linda Asher - translator
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kundera brilliantly examines the work of such important and diverse figures as Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne, Diderot, Flaubert, Tolstoy, and Musil. He is especially penetrating on Hermann Broch, and his exploration of the world of Kafka's novels vividly reveals the comic terror of Kafka's bureaucratized universe. Kundera's discussion of his own work includes his views on the role of historical events in fiction, the meaning of action, and the creation of character in the postpsychological novel.
-
-
Informative and Inspiring
- By Mo on 11-27-21
By: Milan Kundera, and others
-
Irrational Man
- A Study in Existential Philosophy
- By: William Barrett
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely recognized as the finest definition of existentialist philosophy ever written, this book introduced existentialism to America in 1958. Irrational Man begins by discussing the roots of existentialism in the art and thinking of Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Baudelaire, Blake, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, and Beckett. The heart of the book explains the views of the foremost existentialists - Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The result is a marvelously lucid definition of existentialism and a brilliant interpretation of its impact.
-
-
heady
- By A. Antine on 07-28-22
By: William Barrett
-
A Secular Age
- By: Charles Taylor
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 42 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
-
-
Needs Guest Narrators for French and German
- By Norman on 06-13-15
By: Charles Taylor
-
Seven Types of Atheism
- By: John Gray
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood “science.” John Gray’s stimulating and enjoyable new book, Seven Types of Atheism, describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself.
By: John Gray
-
The Twilight of the American Enlightenment
- The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief
- By: George M. Marsden
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in The Twilight of the American Enlightenment, postwar Americans looked to the country's secular liberalelites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course.
-
-
Such a relevant book to our current world
- By Adam Shields on 09-14-16
-
The Givenness of Things
- Essays
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind, and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope.
-
-
Mostly thoughts on religious things
- By Adam Shields on 01-26-16
-
The Story Paradox
- How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down
- By: Jonathan Gottschall
- Narrated by: Joshua Kane
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it.
-
-
A bit of a mixed bag with some amazing discussion
- By Justin on 04-27-22
-
The Art Instinct
- Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution
- By: Denis Dutton
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It's not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, "socially constructed".
-
-
A breath of fresh air!
- By Michael on 02-19-14
By: Denis Dutton