The Praise of Folly
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Narrated by:
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Joe Gomez
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By:
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Erasmus
About this listen
The Praise of Folly is a hilarious satirical essay on various superstitions and irrational beliefs held by European society and the Roman Catholic Church at the time of Desiderius Erasmus. The narrator is Folly and her attendants include Philautia (Self Love), Kolakia (Flattery), Lethe (Forgetfulness), and Anoia (Imbecility).
The Praise of Folly is considered one of the most noteworthy works of the Renaissance which was a contributing factor to the Protestant Reformation.
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- By: Marcus Aurelius
- Narrated by: Alan Munro
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Meditations is former U.S. President Bill Clinton's favorite book. This audio consists of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 AD, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy.
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The reading made it impossible to focus on content
- By Mark Grebner on 09-02-12
By: Marcus Aurelius
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The Pilgrim's Progress (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: John Bunyan
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Plagued by spiritual anguish, devout everyman Christian fears his fate in the sinful City of Destruction. He’s told that only by embarking for the Celestial City can he achieve personal salvation. After his wife and children refuse to join him, he sets forth alone into the unknown. Mocked for his faith, tempted at every turn, and heartened by fellow pilgrims, Christian’s winding journey toward grace unfolds. But as he reaches Mount Zion, his family chooses to follow the same treacherous path, hoping to join Christian in the shining light.
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Best version I have heard
- By Julie Rae Loving on 11-09-19
By: John Bunyan
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The Devils of Loudun
- A True Story of Demonic Possession
- By: Aldous Huxley
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In 1632, an entire convent in the small French village of Loudun was apparently possessed by the devil. After a sensational and celebrated trial, the convent's charismatic priest Urban Grandier - accused of spiritually and sexually seducing the nuns in his charge - was convicted of being in league with Satan. Then he was burned at the stake for witchcraft. A remarkable true story of religious and sexual obsession, The Devils of Loudun is considered by many to be Brave New World author Aldous Huxley's nonfiction masterpiece.
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Strange book strange tale
- By Grant on 09-08-20
By: Aldous Huxley
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Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- By: Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Here in one volume are both the Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series from one of the most influential philosophers in American history. Although Ralph Waldo Emerson, perhaps America’s most famous philosopher, did not wish to be referred to as a transcendentalist, he is nevertheless considered the founder of this major movement of nineteenth-century American thought. Emerson was influenced by a liberal religious training; theological study; personal contact with the Romanticists Coleridge, Carlyle, and Wordsworth; and a strong indigenous sense of individualism and self-reliance.
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Riggenbach's Essays, Not Emerson's
- By Jake Behm on 12-01-15
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The Art of Worldly Wisdom
- By: Balthasar Gracian
- Narrated by: Keira Grace
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Art of Worldly Wisdom was written in 1647. It is a collection of 300 maxims on various topics, each elaborated with a commentary. The sayings offer advice and guidance on how to live well, advance socially, and be a better person.
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Terrible Narration
- By John P. Owens on 08-31-22
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Self Reliance
- By: Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Narrated by: Alana Munro
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. It is the source of one of Emerson's most famous quotations, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." This essay is a considered a watershed moment in which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement. An American classic.
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Don't buy this
- By Leah L on 07-31-16
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The Roman Way
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Edith Hamilton shows us Rome through the eyes of the Romans. Plautus and Terence, Cicero and Caesar, Catullus, Horace, Virgil, and Augustus come to life in their ambitions, their work, their loves and hates. In them we see reflected a picture of Roman life very different from that fixed in our minds through schoolroom days, and far livelier.
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Not so bad
- By steve on 04-25-11
By: Edith Hamilton
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Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
- By: Charles MacKay
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the '80s, and over-valued high-tech stocks of the '90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but Mackay's classic - first published in 1841 - shows that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds.
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People don't change
- By J. on 07-05-16
By: Charles MacKay
What listeners say about The Praise of Folly
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Barry L. Ickes
- 01-18-21
The Praise of Folly
It is necessary to update the language of the text as well as add notes to clarify the context of Erasmus’ remarks.
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- Patrick Johnston
- 03-25-24
Horrible translation and subpar narration
There are so many grammatical errors in the translation that it is overly difficult to follow the story. Perhaps this is a word-for-word translation of the original Latin, but trying to understand what is being said took quite an effort.
The narrator did fairly well reading each awkward sentence (I followed along with the text in hand). Unfortunately, he mispronounced so many names that it became a distraction.
Overall, I found my purchase of this version to be big regret. Fortunately, it wasn't too expensive...perhaps you get what you pay for.
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