World-Building from the Inside Out
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 $6.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kevin Gisi
-
By:
-
Janeen Ippolito
About this listen
Go to the heart of your world and build it well!
Memorable world-building enhances story, attracts readers and listeners, and sells books and audiobooks! Find the core of your science fiction or fantasy people and instill your narrative with universal themes and concepts derived from real-world cultures.
- Explore different religions and governments with concise entries that include ideas for plot and character development
- Develop key aspects of your society without getting caught up in unnecessary details
- Learn how the deeper effects of appearance and location can enhance your narrative
World-Building from the Inside Out challenges you to go deep and build fantastical worlds that truly bring your story to life!
©2015 Janeen Ippolito (P)2018 Janeen IppolitoListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Monsters Know What They’re Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters
- The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Book 1
- By: Keith Ammann
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Monsters Know What They're Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM's burden by helping you understand your monsters' abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don't whip out their field manuals for the first time when they're already under fire, a DM shouldn't wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat.
-
-
Audible Got this RIGHT - Chapters have names!
- By Lego Man on 02-13-20
By: Keith Ammann
-
Kobold Guide to Roleplaying
- Kobold Guides
- By: Keith Ammann, Ginny Di, Clint McElroy, and others
- Narrated by: Ray Greenley
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s a reason it’s called a tabletop roleplaying game. Taking on the personae of different characters in the story brings a richness and depth to the experience and can make your game sessions exciting and memorable. But how can the poor, harried Game Master wrangle a whole slew of unique personalities on top of all the other work that goes into preparing each week? The Kobold Guide to Roleplaying has the answers you seek.
-
-
Ugh.
- By Michael on 04-17-24
By: Keith Ammann, and others
-
Worldbuilding for Fantasy Fans and Authors
- Forging Fantasy Realms, Book 1
- By: M.D. Presley
- Narrated by: Zac Katz-Stein
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Be you an established planner, pantser, or unsure new author, this comprehensive guide has you covered. Adopting a "tools not rules" approach, you’ll discover dozens of definitive worldbuilding tricks and strategies, including surveys showing what audiences want; identifying ineffective, effective, and inspired worldbuilding; the ins and outs of immersion; enhancing audience experience with fantasy conceits; and the four Cs of worldbuilding.
-
-
Stick to storytelling, not audience reaction
- By Historian1912 on 10-12-23
By: M.D. Presley
-
Writing Your Story's Theme
- The Writer's Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter (Helping Writers Become Authors)
- By: K. M. Weiland
- Narrated by: Sonja Field
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Theme—the mysterious cousin of plot and character. Too often viewed as abstract rather than actionable, theme is frequently misunderstood and left to chance. Some writers even insist theme should not be purposefully implemented. This is unfortunate, because in many ways theme is story. Theme is the heart, the meaning, the point. Nothing that important should be overlooked. Powerful themes are never incidental. They emerge from the conjunction of strong plots and resonant character arcs.
-
-
Awesome info if you get past the drama.
- By wondernate on 10-05-21
By: K. M. Weiland
-
Three Story Method
- Writing Scenes
- By: J. Thorn
- Narrated by: J. Thorn, Alicia McCalla, Valerie Ihsan, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Publishing veteran and best-selling author J. Thorn reveals his proven system for writing delicious scenes based on his legendary "Supercharge Your Scene" challenge successfully completed by thousands of authors. This tight yet comprehensive book teaches you what you absolutely must know about writing snappy scenes, whether you're a plotter or pantser, short story dynamo or lifelong novelist, rock star indie or a trad pub professional. Developed from decades of classroom experience and used to revise millions of words, Thorn teaches you how to use simple tools to master your craft.
-
-
The instruction is superb!
- By Mary Van Everbroeck on 09-02-22
By: J. Thorn
-
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Noah Lugeons on 09-11-18
-
The Monsters Know What They’re Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters
- The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Book 1
- By: Keith Ammann
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Monsters Know What They're Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM's burden by helping you understand your monsters' abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don't whip out their field manuals for the first time when they're already under fire, a DM shouldn't wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat.
-
-
Audible Got this RIGHT - Chapters have names!
- By Lego Man on 02-13-20
By: Keith Ammann
-
Kobold Guide to Roleplaying
- Kobold Guides
- By: Keith Ammann, Ginny Di, Clint McElroy, and others
- Narrated by: Ray Greenley
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s a reason it’s called a tabletop roleplaying game. Taking on the personae of different characters in the story brings a richness and depth to the experience and can make your game sessions exciting and memorable. But how can the poor, harried Game Master wrangle a whole slew of unique personalities on top of all the other work that goes into preparing each week? The Kobold Guide to Roleplaying has the answers you seek.
-
-
Ugh.
- By Michael on 04-17-24
By: Keith Ammann, and others
-
Worldbuilding for Fantasy Fans and Authors
- Forging Fantasy Realms, Book 1
- By: M.D. Presley
- Narrated by: Zac Katz-Stein
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Be you an established planner, pantser, or unsure new author, this comprehensive guide has you covered. Adopting a "tools not rules" approach, you’ll discover dozens of definitive worldbuilding tricks and strategies, including surveys showing what audiences want; identifying ineffective, effective, and inspired worldbuilding; the ins and outs of immersion; enhancing audience experience with fantasy conceits; and the four Cs of worldbuilding.
-
-
Stick to storytelling, not audience reaction
- By Historian1912 on 10-12-23
By: M.D. Presley
-
Writing Your Story's Theme
- The Writer's Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter (Helping Writers Become Authors)
- By: K. M. Weiland
- Narrated by: Sonja Field
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Theme—the mysterious cousin of plot and character. Too often viewed as abstract rather than actionable, theme is frequently misunderstood and left to chance. Some writers even insist theme should not be purposefully implemented. This is unfortunate, because in many ways theme is story. Theme is the heart, the meaning, the point. Nothing that important should be overlooked. Powerful themes are never incidental. They emerge from the conjunction of strong plots and resonant character arcs.
-
-
Awesome info if you get past the drama.
- By wondernate on 10-05-21
By: K. M. Weiland
-
Three Story Method
- Writing Scenes
- By: J. Thorn
- Narrated by: J. Thorn, Alicia McCalla, Valerie Ihsan, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Publishing veteran and best-selling author J. Thorn reveals his proven system for writing delicious scenes based on his legendary "Supercharge Your Scene" challenge successfully completed by thousands of authors. This tight yet comprehensive book teaches you what you absolutely must know about writing snappy scenes, whether you're a plotter or pantser, short story dynamo or lifelong novelist, rock star indie or a trad pub professional. Developed from decades of classroom experience and used to revise millions of words, Thorn teaches you how to use simple tools to master your craft.
-
-
The instruction is superb!
- By Mary Van Everbroeck on 09-02-22
By: J. Thorn
-
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Noah Lugeons on 09-11-18
-
The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
-
-
Why Good People Are Divided - Good for whom?
- By K. Cunningham on 09-21-12
By: Jonathan Haidt
-
Battle for the American Mind
- Uprooting a Century of Miseducation
- By: Pete Hegseth, David Goodwin
- Narrated by: Pete Hegseth, David Goodwin
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind a smokescreen of “preparing students for the new industrial economy,” early progressives had political control in mind. America’s original schools didn’t just make kids memorize facts or learn skills; they taught them to think freely and arrive at wisdom. They assigned the classics, inspired love of God and country, and raised future citizens that changed the world forever.
-
-
Academically sound
- By Rick Townsend on 07-21-22
By: Pete Hegseth, and others
-
Strange New World
- How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution
- By: Carl R. Trueman, Ryan T. Anderson - foreword
- Narrated by: Carl R. Trueman
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the world arrive at its current, disorienting state of identity politics, and how should the church respond? Historian Carl R. Trueman discusses how influences ranging from traditional institutions to technology and pornography moved modern culture toward an era of "expressive individualism." Investigating philosophies from the Romantics, Nietzsche, Marx, Wilde, Freud, and the New Left, he outlines the history of Western thought to the distinctly sexual direction of present-day identity politics and explains the modern implications of these ideas.
-
-
Read and reread
- By Daniel on 04-04-22
By: Carl R. Trueman, and others
-
Aphro-ism
- Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters
- By: Aph Ko, Syl Ko
- Narrated by: Dana Brewer Harris
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this lively, accessible, and provocative collection, Aph and Syl Ko provide new theoretical frameworks on race, advocacy for nonhuman animals, and feminism. Using popular culture as a point of reference for their critiques, the Ko sisters engage in groundbreaking analysis of the compartmentalized nature of contemporary social movements, present new ways of understanding interconnected oppressions, and offer conceptual ways of moving forward, expressive of Afrofuturism and Black veganism.
-
-
Takes vegan philosophy to a higher level
- By Mark on 10-12-19
By: Aph Ko, and others
-
Becoming Who We Need to Be
- By: Colin Wright
- Narrated by: Colin Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Becoming Who We Need to Be is a book about the challenges we face as societies and how the decisions we make as individuals matter in those larger struggles. How we seek out, filter, and parse knowledge shapes our understanding of ourselves and of the world. How we analyze, organize, and act upon this information influences how well our individual ideas and ideologies scale up to the societal level.
-
-
solid content from a great thinker
- By Chet Leigh on 08-18-20
By: Colin Wright
-
Hospicing Modernity
- Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism
- By: Vanessa Machado de Oliveira
- Narrated by: Dougald Hine, Vanessa Machado de Oliveira
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is not easy: It contains no quick-fix plan for a better, brighter tomorrow, and gives no ready-made answers. Instead, Vanessa Machado de Oliveira presents us with a challenge: to grow up, step up, and show up for ourselves, our communities, and the living Earth, and to interrupt the modern behavior patterns that are killing the planet we’re part of.
-
-
Riveting
- By Sofyah on 05-31-24
-
Suicide of the West
- How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that defines most of history. If democracy, individualism, and the free market were humankind’s destiny, they should have appeared and taken hold a bit earlier in the evolutionary record. The emergence of freedom and prosperity was nothing short of a miracle.
-
-
Put some gratitude in your attitude
- By Amazon Customer on 04-25-18
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
Drawing Down the Moon
- Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America
- By: Margot Adler
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 20 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost 40 years since its original publication, Drawing Down the Moon continues to be the only detailed history of the burgeoning but still widely misunderstood Neo-Pagan subculture. Margot Adler attended ritual gatherings and interviewed a diverse, colorful gallery of people across the United States, people who find inspiration in ancient deities, nature, myth, even science fiction. In this revised edition, Adler takes a fascinating and honest look at the religious experiences, beliefs, and lifestyles of modern America's Pagan groups.
-
-
Important history lesson but missing elements
- By Waterfall on 09-12-20
By: Margot Adler
-
Breaking the Spell
- Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.
-
-
Great Reader Actually Enhances A Great Book!
- By Don Caliente on 07-14-14
-
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
-
Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
- By: Anton Treuer
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers-or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of what's up with Indians, anyway.
-
-
one of the better books
- By Erica Kerr on 07-14-18
By: Anton Treuer
-
Surviving the Future: Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy
- By: David Fleming, Shaun Chamberlin, Rob Hopkins
- Narrated by: Shaun Chamberlin, Rob Hopkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Surviving the Future is a story drawn from the fertile ground of the late David Fleming's extraordinary Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It. That hardback consists of 404 interlinked dictionary entries, inviting listeners to choose their own path through its radical vision. Recognizing that Lean Logic's sheer size and unusual structure can be daunting, Fleming's long-time collaborator Shaun Chamberlin has selected and edited one of these potential narratives to create Surviving the Future.
-
-
Essential reading
- By Lindsey on 06-25-20
By: David Fleming, and others
Related to this topic
-
The Lies That Bind
- Rethinking Identity
- By: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Narrated by: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all know how identities - notably, those of nationality, class, culture, race, and religion - are at the root of global conflict, but the more elusive truth is that these identities are created by conflict in the first place. In provocative, entertaining chapters, Kwame Anthony Appiah interweaves keen-edged argument with engrossing historical tales and reveals the tangled contradictions within the stories that define us.
-
-
Not full of SJW nonsense
- By Frank on 10-22-18
-
Suicide of the West
- How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that defines most of history. If democracy, individualism, and the free market were humankind’s destiny, they should have appeared and taken hold a bit earlier in the evolutionary record. The emergence of freedom and prosperity was nothing short of a miracle.
-
-
Put some gratitude in your attitude
- By Amazon Customer on 04-25-18
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
Why You Think the Way You Do
- The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home
- By: Glenn S. Sunshine
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
-
-
"Christian's view of the western world"
- By Bradley on 03-21-10
-
Atheism for Dummies
- By: Dale McGowan PhD
- Narrated by: Paul Mantell
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Atheism For Dummies offers a brief history of atheist philosophy and its evolution, explores it as a historical and cultural movement, covers important historical writings on the subject, and discusses the nature of ethics and morality in the absence of religion. A simple, yet intelligent exploration of an often misunderstood philosophy.
-
-
Great topic...irritating narrator
- By Duke Playbent on 10-26-14
By: Dale McGowan PhD
-
The Chalice and the Blade
- Our History, Our Future
- By: Riane Eisler
- Narrated by: Riane Eisler
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riane Eisler believes that war and the "war of the sexes" are concepts neither divinely nor biologically ordained. Join the author as she reconstructs a prehistoric culture based on partnership rather than domination and traces the roots of the global shift to patriarchy. Eisler, an acclaimed scholar, futurist, and activist, also presents new scripts for living based on a more socially, economically, ecologically, personally, and spiritually balanced society. This script is in direct opposition to the tension and violence typical of what she calls the dominator model. Her vision is the partnership model, which today is struggling to reemerge. This program is an important contribution to that struggle.
-
-
the chalice and the blade
- By Anne on 07-25-08
By: Riane Eisler
-
What Love Is
- And What It Could Be
- By: Carrie Jenkins
- Narrated by: Carrie Jenkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is love? Aside from being the title of many a popular love song, this is one of life's perennial questions. In What Love Is, philosopher Carrie Jenkins offers a bold new theory on the nature of romantic love that reconciles its humanistic and scientific components.
-
-
What Philosophy Is and What It Could Be
- By Amazon Customer on 03-09-17
By: Carrie Jenkins
-
The Lies That Bind
- Rethinking Identity
- By: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Narrated by: Kwame Anthony Appiah
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all know how identities - notably, those of nationality, class, culture, race, and religion - are at the root of global conflict, but the more elusive truth is that these identities are created by conflict in the first place. In provocative, entertaining chapters, Kwame Anthony Appiah interweaves keen-edged argument with engrossing historical tales and reveals the tangled contradictions within the stories that define us.
-
-
Not full of SJW nonsense
- By Frank on 10-22-18
-
Suicide of the West
- How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that defines most of history. If democracy, individualism, and the free market were humankind’s destiny, they should have appeared and taken hold a bit earlier in the evolutionary record. The emergence of freedom and prosperity was nothing short of a miracle.
-
-
Put some gratitude in your attitude
- By Amazon Customer on 04-25-18
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
Why You Think the Way You Do
- The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home
- By: Glenn S. Sunshine
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
-
-
"Christian's view of the western world"
- By Bradley on 03-21-10
-
Atheism for Dummies
- By: Dale McGowan PhD
- Narrated by: Paul Mantell
- Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Atheism For Dummies offers a brief history of atheist philosophy and its evolution, explores it as a historical and cultural movement, covers important historical writings on the subject, and discusses the nature of ethics and morality in the absence of religion. A simple, yet intelligent exploration of an often misunderstood philosophy.
-
-
Great topic...irritating narrator
- By Duke Playbent on 10-26-14
By: Dale McGowan PhD
-
The Chalice and the Blade
- Our History, Our Future
- By: Riane Eisler
- Narrated by: Riane Eisler
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riane Eisler believes that war and the "war of the sexes" are concepts neither divinely nor biologically ordained. Join the author as she reconstructs a prehistoric culture based on partnership rather than domination and traces the roots of the global shift to patriarchy. Eisler, an acclaimed scholar, futurist, and activist, also presents new scripts for living based on a more socially, economically, ecologically, personally, and spiritually balanced society. This script is in direct opposition to the tension and violence typical of what she calls the dominator model. Her vision is the partnership model, which today is struggling to reemerge. This program is an important contribution to that struggle.
-
-
the chalice and the blade
- By Anne on 07-25-08
By: Riane Eisler
-
What Love Is
- And What It Could Be
- By: Carrie Jenkins
- Narrated by: Carrie Jenkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is love? Aside from being the title of many a popular love song, this is one of life's perennial questions. In What Love Is, philosopher Carrie Jenkins offers a bold new theory on the nature of romantic love that reconciles its humanistic and scientific components.
-
-
What Philosophy Is and What It Could Be
- By Amazon Customer on 03-09-17
By: Carrie Jenkins
-
Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
- By: Anton Treuer
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers-or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of what's up with Indians, anyway.
-
-
one of the better books
- By Erica Kerr on 07-14-18
By: Anton Treuer
-
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
-
Drawing Down the Moon
- Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America
- By: Margot Adler
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 20 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost 40 years since its original publication, Drawing Down the Moon continues to be the only detailed history of the burgeoning but still widely misunderstood Neo-Pagan subculture. Margot Adler attended ritual gatherings and interviewed a diverse, colorful gallery of people across the United States, people who find inspiration in ancient deities, nature, myth, even science fiction. In this revised edition, Adler takes a fascinating and honest look at the religious experiences, beliefs, and lifestyles of modern America's Pagan groups.
-
-
Important history lesson but missing elements
- By Waterfall on 09-12-20
By: Margot Adler
-
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
-
Nonzero
- The Logic of Human Destiny
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the beginning of Nonzero, Robert Wright sets out to "define the arrow of the history of life, from the primordial soup to the World Wide Web." Twenty-two chapters later, after a sweeping and vivid narrative of the human past, he has succeeded and has mounted a powerful challenge to the conventional view that evolution and human history are aimless.
-
-
Non-Zero (but pretty close to zero)
- By Douglas on 02-06-14
By: Robert Wright
-
Not for Profit
- Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
- By: Martha C. Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education. Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry in the United States and abroad.
-
-
Not for Profit
- By elemarteacher on 07-21-17
-
Before We Were Trans
- A New History of Gender
- By: Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D
- Narrated by: Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Heyam looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures.
-
-
The history we need right now
- By Daniel Hebert on 04-11-23
-
Breaking the Spell
- Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.
-
-
Great Reader Actually Enhances A Great Book!
- By Don Caliente on 07-14-14
-
The Faith Instinct
- How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?
-
-
If you're religious or into religion read this
- By Adam on 08-16-10
By: Nicholas Wade
-
Trekonomics
- The Economics of Star Trek
- By: Manu Saadia
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What would the world look like if everybody had everything they wanted or needed? Trekonomics, the premier book in financial journalist Felix Salmon's imprint PiperText, approaches scarcity economics by coming at it backward - through thinking about a universe where scarcity does not exist. Delving deep into the details and intricacies of 24th-century society, Trekonomics explores post-scarcity and whether we, as humans, are equipped for it.
-
-
An Amusing & Practical Analysis of Fictional Ideas
- By Lost In The Wash on 09-19-16
By: Manu Saadia
-
Olmecs
- A Captivating Guide to the Earliest Known Major Ancient Civilization in Mexico
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Did you know the Olmecs might have been the first people to introduce writing? The first people who managed to elevate themselves to civilized life were the Olmecs. But they remain relatively unknown. In this new captivating history audiobook, you will discover the truth about the earliest known civilization in America.
-
-
Olmecs
- By Elle on 11-12-18
-
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
What listeners say about World-Building from the Inside Out
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RB
- 12-14-18
REAL STUFF with no FLUFF, & only 101 MINUTES!
This short work is packed with good stuff every author should consider before creating a new world for their story! It's dense with things to consider. However, those 101 minutes of material took me a full day to get through while making notes and jotting down comments on what was relevant to my project. The author, Janeen Ippolito, categorically goes through all of the social and political influences, customs, and other factors, that in my view, influence a character's nuanced behaviors as they intuitively and realistically come to life, living the story they have been written into. There's no fluff here. It's a bang for the buck, no-nonsense, fast-paced, comprehensive list of the most important influences on any culture and all the individuals that live in it.
Some of the categories this book covers are;
Society, (with subcategories like technology, naming, customs, gender roles, family structure, traditions, and coming of age)
Religion and Philosophy,
Goverment,
Apperance,
Location,
Health and Medicine,
Military,
and Education. With each category having many sub-categories and brief explanations on their influence within a story.
Even though only a fraction of what this book lays out would actually be communicated within the words of a story, much of it should be decided by the author in advance of the story's creation. The intention being that once the story is in the readers hands, the flow, attitudes, and feel of the culture surrounding the character can be unconsciously perceived by the reader to intuitively fit together, without necessitating dry exposition or long elaboration to establish them.
The author relates in the introduction that the book was written because of the "I wish I would have known" and "wisdom in hindsight" she experienced after years of her own work feeling like it was missing something. I found value in what she has shared and saw it had no reviews, so decided to write this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sebren l. green III
- 08-08-20
The minimum
Not much here beyond a solid outline builder. Not bad info, but nothing that would generate a powerful "aha moment".
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!