Socrates
A Man for Our Times
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Narrated by:
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John Curless
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By:
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Paul Johnson
About this listen
Acclaimed historian and best-selling author Paul Johnson’s books have been translated into dozens of languages. In Socrates: A Man for Our Times, Johnson draws from little-known resources to construct a fascinating account of one of history’s greatest thinkers. Socrates transcended class limitations in Athens during the fifth century B.C. to develop ideas that still shape the way we think about the human body and soul, including the workings of the human mind.
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Read Brant Pitre's the case for Jesus instead.
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Related to this topic
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
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-
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
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-
-
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Performance
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Performance
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Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy? Not only the erudite Thomas Jefferson, the wily and elusive Ben Franklin, and the underappreciated Thomas Paine, but also Ethan Allen, the hero of the Green Mountain Boys, and Thomas Young, the forgotten Founder who kicked off the Boston Tea Party. These radicals who founded America set their sights on a revolution of the mind. Derided as "infidels" and "atheists" in their own time, they wanted to liberate us not just from one king but from the tyranny of supernatural religion.
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Excellent exploration of this subject
- By Caroline on 01-13-15
By: Matthew Stewart
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Stay
- A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It
- By: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Narrated by: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Worldwide, more people die by suicide than by murder, and many more are left behind to grieve. Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness.
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Informative but oddly dispassionate
- By Scott on 01-07-14
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Battling the Gods
- Atheism in the Ancient World
- By: Tim Whitmarsh
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
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Long before the European Enlightenment and the Darwinian revolution, which we often take to mark the birth of the modern revolt against religious explanations of the world, brave people doubted the power of the gods. Religion provoked skepticism in ancient Greece, and heretics argued that history must be understood as a result of human action rather than divine intervention. They devised theories of the cosmos based on matter and notions of matter based on atoms.
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We have a history as long and as rich as any relig
- By Glencannnon on 08-13-19
By: Tim Whitmarsh
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The Swerve
- How the World Became Modern
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles.
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Very compelling history, a less compelling thesis
- By A reader on 05-01-12
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The Man Who Invented Fiction
- How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World
- By: William Egginton
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 17th century, a crippled, graying, almost toothless veteran of Spain's wars against the Ottoman Empire published a novel. It was the story of a poor nobleman, his brain addled from studying too many novels of chivalry, who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. That story, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in human history.
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Very Interesting and Informative, but Poorly Read
- By LCorSMT on 06-21-23
By: William Egginton
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The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
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Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
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Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
By: Alain de Botton
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The Dream of Enlightenment
- The Rise of Modern Philosophy
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
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In The Dream of Enlightenment, Anthony Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period - from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution - Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.
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Enlightenment meets Neuroscience
- By Rodger on 12-05-19
By: Anthony Gottlieb
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Surprised By a Negative Review
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No Plato, lots of Feminism
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Socrates in 90 Minutes
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Just a century after it had begun, philosophy entered its greatest age with the appearance of Socrates, who spent so much of his time talking about philosophy on the streets of Athens that he never got around to writing anything down. His method of aggressive questioning, called dialectic, was the forerunner of logic; he used it to cut through the twaddle of his adversaries and arrive at the truth. Rather than questioning the world, he believed, we would be better off questioning ourselves.
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I thought it was OK
- By Theodore on 11-21-11
By: Paul Strathern
What listeners say about Socrates
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Melissa Sheperd
- 06-21-24
Engaging and informative without being dry
Oftentimes historical subject books have the reader suffering through a high British, slightly monotone liturgy of begot history, rather like reading of Genesis' A begot B who begot C then D,E,F,G.... with some small bits of interest thrown in just to see if the listener hasn't fallen asleep at the wheel.
This was not a begot book.
This kept me awake through two consecutive listening.
Interesting with the flavor of the time giving notice of the what's, why's, and especially the so what's.
And the reader very nicely complimented the text.
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- Kico M
- 05-23-20
Good analysis
The book is really good and provides a good analysis of Socrates mind and life. It makes great connection among his thoughts, modern philosophy, Christianity and other relevant aspects. My only point of the book is that in some parts it took too much focus on peripheral figures instead of Socrates. Finally another great book from Paul Johnson, my favorite biographer.
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- brian
- 01-15-19
top shelf in all respects .
will surely read more from this author. efficient and clearly explained . highly recommended to all who love the classics
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1 person found this helpful
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- James Benson
- 06-09-23
The ethical just moralist for every age
Very impressed with the level of righteousness this non-christian achieved without the blessing of God's revelation.
Great narration.
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- Luis L.
- 08-09-23
Must read, basic knowledge for humanity.
I think Socrates' thoughts are very well detailed and objectively analyzed by the author.The reading is immersing and enjoyable.
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- John N. Berg
- 09-24-13
Great Story About a Great Man
We all know the name Socrates, but often time we think philosophers are insufferable know-it-alls. Socrates was not. Although this book only generally touches upon his philosophy it does a great job in describing what sort of man Socrates was and the times he lived in. The author does a great job in making the information accessible and interesting and the narrator was excellent.
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- R H II
- 09-08-24
My misconceptions dispelled
Most of what I had learned about Socrates as a person seems to have be wrong or at least misconstrued. The author does a fantastic job of casting light onto the person and his ideas.
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- Katherine D.
- 04-28-22
A bit lacking....
While Paul Johnson does a good job at telling the reader about Socrates... it is not what Johnson said as much as what he omitted. There are only a handful of human beings in antiquity and hundreds of years post CE that warrant a sizeable or larger volume of information. Socrates is one. I did not look at length, amount of time it takes to read and so forth. " Note to self" , make sure coverage is thorough. Johnson does refer the reader to a better biography of Socrates in the 3rd chapter or so, highly encouraging the reader to follow up. I appreciate the narrator. He read what was written and I found myself secretly wishing, he read all of the books available on Audible and more. Too, author gives perspectives, such as Socrates' chosen tool for teaching, elaborates aptly on use of irony. He cites how oblivious the listener or student is, perhaps even confused with frequent ironic inserts. To answer a question with an unrelated but 100% applicable question or even asking the student, "what do you think?"intermittently, reminded me of several teachers in college, more. He cites all of the important Socrates graduates, importance of our acknowledgement. He focused on Socrates' virtue and his bottom line was just that. That ethical, moral and honesty were everything. So my problem? What did he eat? When did he learn sarcasm.. and use it. ? What did students enjoy? Ok. That's all from me.
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- Jakob
- 07-29-15
History, context, and analysis: Great listen!
I love all of Johnson's books. This one gave me an understanding of what we know of Socrates. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a brief overview of the era, culture, his contemporaries, his life and death, his philosophy, and a masterly analysis of it all.
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- Kevin Connelly
- 07-16-23
Great introduction to Socrates.
East to understand. This book is a great introduction into Socrates and his lasting impact on the west.
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