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A Brief History of the Martial Arts
- East Asian Fighting Styles, from Kung Fu to Ninjutsu
- Narrated by: Jonathan Clements
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
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A Brief History of the Martial Arts
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Publisher's summary
From Shaolin warrior monks to the movies of Bruce Lee, a new history of the evolution of East Asian styles of unarmed combat, from kung fu to ninjutsu.
Folk tales of the Shaolin Temple depict warrior monks with superhuman abilities. Today, dozens of East Asian fighting styles trace their roots back to the Buddhist brawlers of Shaolin, although any quest for the true story soon wanders into a labyrinth of forgeries, secret texts and modern retellings.
This new study approaches the martial arts from their origins in military exercises and callisthenics. It examines a rich folklore from old wuxia tales of crime-fighting heroes to modern kung fu movies. Centre stage is given to the stories that martial artists tell themselves about themselves, with accounts (both factual and fictional) of famous practitioners including China's Yim Wing-chun, Wong Fei-hong, and Ip Man, as well as Japanese counterparts such as Kano Jigoro, Itosu Anko and So Doshin.
The history of martial arts encompasses secret societies and religious rebels, with intimate glimpses of the histories of China, Korea and Japan, their conflicts and transformations. The book also charts the migration of martial arts to the United States and beyond. Special attention is paid to the turmoil of the 20th century, the cross-cultural influence of Japanese colonies in Asia, and the post-war rise of martial arts in sport and entertainment - including the legacy of Bruce Lee, the dilemma of the ninja and the global audience for martial arts in fiction.
Critic reviews
"If I had to pick a single general martial arts history book in English, I would recommend A Brief History of the Martial Arts by Dr Jonathan Clements." (Richard Beitlich, Martial History Team blog)
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Among the extensive writing available about the history of ancient Greece, there is precious little about the city-state of Thebes. At one point the most powerful city in ancient Greece, Thebes has been long overshadowed by its better-known rivals, Athens and Sparta. In Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece, acclaimed classicist and historian Paul Cartledge brings the city vividly to life and argues that it is central to our understanding of the ancient Greeks' achievements - whether politically or culturally.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Why is this author considered an expert scholar of Ancient Greece?
- By DaneDeer on 11-06-20
By: Paul Cartledge
-
Lost Enlightenment
- Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
- By: S. Frederick Starr
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 497
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 429
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 427
Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Subject worthwhile but repetative narrative
- By F-M on 04-10-14
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A Brief History of Japan
- Samurai, Shogun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun
- By: Jonathan Clements
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 235
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 197
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 197
With intelligence and wit, author Jonathan Clements blends documentary and storytelling styles to connect the past, present, and future of Japan, and in broad yet detailed strokes reveals a country of paradoxes: a modern nation steeped in ancient traditions; a democracy with an emperor as head of state; a famously safe society built on 108 volcanoes resting on the world's most active earthquake zone; a fast-paced urban and technologically advanced country whose land consists predominantly of mountains and forests.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Brief Review of the Book
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Arabs
- A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes, and Empires
- By: Tim Mackintosh-Smith
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 25 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 262
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 231
This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Good book bad narration
- By Anonymous User on 09-18-19
-
Incarnations
- India in Fifty Lives
- By: Sunil Khilnani
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
For all of India's myths, its sea of stories and moral epics, Indian history remains a curiously unpeopled place. In Incarnations, Sunil Khilnani fills that space, recapturing the human dimension of how the world's largest democracy came to be. His trenchant portraits of emperors, warriors, philosophers, film stars, and corporate titans - some famous, some unjustly forgotten - bring feeling, wry humor, and uncommon insight to dilemmas that extend from ancient times to our own.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great listen, the author is biased
- By Anonymous User on 02-15-19
By: Sunil Khilnani
-
Thermopylae
- By: Paul Cartledge
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 74
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 70
In 480 B.C., a huge Persian army, led by the inimitable King Xerxes, entered the mountain pass of Thermopylae to march on Greece, intending to conquer the land with little difficulty. But the Greeks, led by King Leonidas and a small army of Spartans, took the battle to the Persians at Thermopylae and halted their advance: almost. It is one of history's most acclaimed battles, one of civilization's greatest last stands.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Requires full attention
- By Euryleia on 01-18-08
By: Paul Cartledge
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A History of Japan
- Revised Edition
- By: R. H. P. Mason, J. G. Caiger
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 254
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 223
A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Content great - pronunciation not so much
- By A. Weber on 03-08-19
By: R. H. P. Mason, and others
-
The Greeks
- A Global History
- By: Roderick Beaton
- Narrated by: Anna Crowe
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An Ethnography of the Greeks
- By gmurphy92 on 03-27-22
By: Roderick Beaton
-
The Ornament of the World
- How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
- By: Maria Rosa Menocal, Harold Bloom - foreword
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 78
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Book
- By Zahid Ahmad on 08-14-18
By: Maria Rosa Menocal, and others
-
Sailing from Byzantium
- How a Lost Empire Shaped the World
- By: Colin Wells
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 156
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 81
A gripping intellectual adventure story, Sailing from Byzantium sweeps you from the deserts of Arabia to the dark forests of northern Russia, from the colorful towns of Renaissance Italy to the final moments of a millennial city under siege.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Missing Years
- By Nikoli Gogol on 12-29-07
By: Colin Wells
-
Introducing the Ancient Greeks
- From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind
- By: Edith Hall
- Narrated by: Sian Thomas
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 75
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall's Introducing the Ancient Greeks is the first book to offer a synthesis of the entire ancient Greek experience, from the rise of the Mycenaean kingdoms of the sixteenth century BC to the final victory of Christianity over paganism in AD 391. Each of the ten chapters visits a different Greek community at a different moment during the twenty centuries of ancient Greek history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Surveying the Greeks
- By Jolene on 05-31-18
By: Edith Hall
-
Classical Antiquity
- A Captivating Guide to Ancient Greece and Rome and How These Civilizations Influenced Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
From about the ninth to fifth centuries BCE, the population of Greece grew unprecedentedly large, expanding from about 800,000 people to as many as 13 million. About a quarter million of these lived in Athens. The average size of urban households during this period grew considerably, a fact that suggests that food was suddenly available in excesses sufficient to keep larger families healthy and alive much more effectively than just a millennium earlier. Bigger families meant bigger armies and larger communities that would eventually grow into the metropolises of Classical Greece.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This book was very helpful
- By Micaela James on 11-21-19
-
A History of Iran
- Empire of the Mind
- By: Michael Axworthy
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 155
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 136
Although frequently vilified, Iran is a nation of great intellectual variety and depth, and one of the oldest continuing civilizations in the world. Its political impact has been tremendous, not only on its neighbors in the Middle East but also throughout the world. From the time of the prophet Zoroaster, to the powerful ancient Persian Empires, to the revolution of 1979, the hostage crisis, and the current standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Michael Axworthy vividly depicts the nation’s rich history.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Lazy Narration
- By Arya Pourtabatabaie on 11-05-16
By: Michael Axworthy
-
Ancient Japan
- A Captivating Guide to the Ancient History of Japan, Their Ancient Civilization, and Japanese Culture, Including Stories of the Samurai, Shoguns, and Zen Masters
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Richard L. Walton
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 52
All in all, Japan seems to be a country of paradoxes and oppositions, of yin and yang. Yet it doesn’t seem to suffer from it; instead, it is thriving, growing, and developing, and it has been doing so for a long time. From those contradictions, a sense of unity and pride arose, guiding Japanese history and civilizational development through the ages, leaving an unquestionable mark on the world heritage and mankind. But this is only the surface of an astonishing culture that deserves a deeper look.
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2 out of 5 stars
-
Great for the history, but...
- By AudioFile on 01-07-20
-
Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
- By: Matthew Restall
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Using a wide array of sources, historian Matthew Restall highlights seven key myths, uncovering the source of the inaccuracies and exploding the fallacies and misconceptions behind each myth. This vividly written and authoritative book shows, for instance, that native Americans did not take the conquistadors for gods and that small numbers of vastly outnumbered Spaniards did not bring down great empires with stunning rapidity. We discover that Columbus was correctly seen in his lifetime - and for decades after - as a briefly fortunate but unexceptional participant in efforts.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
A good book marred by awful narration
- By Dr. Philip Fowler on 02-23-24
By: Matthew Restall
-
Confronting the Classics
- Traditions, Adventures and Innovations
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Lynne Jenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 89
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 77
One of the world's leading historians provides a revolutionary tour of the Ancient World, dusting off the classics for the twenty-first century. Mary Beard, drawing on thirty years of teaching and writing about Greek and Roman history, provides a panoramic portrait of the classical world, a book in which we encounter not only Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal, but also the common people - the millions of inhabitants of the Roman Empire, the slaves, soldiers, and women.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Annoying narrator
- By Chris E on 02-27-15
By: Mary Beard
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Good story with terrible pronunciation
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Legendary 17th century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi’s exposition of sword fighting, strategy and Zen philosophy. Required reading for any martial artist, business person or student of strategy. Includes the one hour Zen inspired soundtrack The Mysterious Sound of Wind in the Bamboo. Performed on authentic Japanese instruments.
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Bushido. This one word contains a wealth of meaning. Honor and grace, strength and compassion, loyalty and vengeance. Bushido is the warrior code of the samurai, a standard of conduct and an unwritten guide for right behavior and attitude. It is the core principle of ethics in Japan, an ideal that extends into every aspect of life and character.
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Good book - unneeded lengthy foreword
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Bruce Lee is a cultural icon, renowned the world over for his martial arts and film legacy. But Lee was also a deeply philosophical thinker, learning at an early age that martial arts are more than just an exercise in physical discipline - they are an apt metaphor for living a fully realized life. Now, in Be Water, My Friend, Lee’s daughter, Shannon, shares the concepts at the core of his philosophies, showing how they can serve as tools of personal growth and self-actualization.
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Obscure documents, Korean-language books, and in-depth interviews with tae kwon do pioneers tell the tale of the origin of the most popular martial art. In 1938, tae kwon do began at the end of a poker game in a tiny village in a remote corner of what is now North Korea by Choi Hong-Hi, who began the martial art, and his nemesis, Kim Un-Yong, who developed the Olympic style and became one of the most powerful, controversial men in sports. The story follows Choi from the 1938 poker game where he fought for his life, through high-class geisha houses where the art was named, and into the Vietnam War where the martial art evolved into a killing art. The techniques cut across all realms – from the late 1960s when tae kwon do trained Korean CIA agents kidnapped people in the United States and Europe to the 1970s when Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and other Hollywood stars mastered the art’s new kicks. Tae kwon do is also a martial art for the 21st century, one of merciless techniques, indomitable men, and justice pumped on steroids.
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3 out of 5 stars
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An Ugly, Albeit honest, Look @ Taekwondo's history
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3 out of 5 stars
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Like the translation but I feel it don’t do it justice
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A Brief History of the Vikings
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Between the eighth and eleventh centuries, the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homeland to trade, raid and invade along the coasts of Europe. Their influence and expeditions extended from Newfoundland to Baghdad, their battles were as far-flung as Africa and the Arctic. But were they great seafarers or desperate outcasts, noble heathens or oafish pirates, the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
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A History of Japan
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
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Story4 out of 5 stars 223
A classic of Japanese history, this audiobook is the preeminent work on the history of Japan. Newly revised and updated, A History of Japan is a single-volume complete history of the nation of Japan. Starting in ancient Japan during its early pre-history period, A History of Japan covers every important aspect of history and culture through feudal Japan to the post-Cold War period and collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. Recent findings shed additional light on the origins of Japanese civilization and the birth of Japanese culture.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Content great - pronunciation not so much
- By A. Weber on 03-08-19
By: R. H. P. Mason, and others
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The 32 Principles
- Harnessing the Power of Jiu-Jitsu to Succeed in Business, Relationships, and Life
- By: Rener Gracie, Paul Volponi, Jocko Willink - foreword
- Narrated by: Rener Gracie
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story4 out of 5 stars 94
Jiu-jitsu is more than a martial art; it is a lifestyle that promotes health, confidence, self-determination, and balance. Famed jiu-jitsu instructor Rener Gracie presents the core teachings of jiu-jitsu and explains how they can apply to all of our daily lives.
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1 out of 5 stars
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A Long Informercial
- By amazonreviewer on 08-25-23
By: Rener Gracie, and others
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Training the Samurai Mind
- A Bushido Sourcebook
- By: Thomas Cleary - translator/editor
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 670
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 583
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 579
Training the Samurai Mind gives an insider's view of the samurai world: the moral and psychological development of the warrior, the ethical standards they were meant to uphold, their training in both martial arts and strategy, and the enormous role that the traditions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism had in influencing samurai ideals.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great classic
- By Luis Pires on 01-22-15
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Vanished Kingdoms
- The Rise and Fall of States and Nations
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 30 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 216
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 174
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 172
There is something profoundly romantic about lost civilizations. Davies peers through the cracks in the mainstream accounts of modern-day states to dazzle us with extraordinary stories of barely remembered pasts, and of the traces they left behind. This is Norman Davies at his best: sweeping narrative history packed with unexpected insights. Vanished Kingdoms will appeal to all fans of unconventional and thought-provoking history, from listeners of Niall Ferguson to Jared Diamond.
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3 out of 5 stars
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needs a good editor.
- By Ryan Anderson on 09-25-21
By: Norman Davies
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The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,666
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,430
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,415
What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
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Musashi
- By: Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 53 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,597
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,121
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4,113
The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. Miyamoto Musashi becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good Historical Novel
- By The Walking Dude on 08-11-19
By: Eiji Yoshikawa, and others
What listeners say about A Brief History of the Martial Arts
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Lynne
- 09-12-23
A surprisingly good listen about karate!
What a surprise find! The author’s voice is perfect for this read, and the information is bite-sized and enjoyable, rather than a formal graduate level thesis. Highly recommended.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Imaginative Photography Inc.
- 08-17-22
Excellent and well worth listening to
This was well written, well laid out, and well researched! Excellent and worth listening to you. I really enjoyed this audio book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Darren Sapp
- 03-01-22
Thorough
From A to Z, Clements covers it all in a way that treats each style, philosophy, and adherents with equality. No martial arts enthusiasts will also appreciate the history told here.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- M.F.R.
- 12-07-21
Cynicism?
So if Durant is right and most history is guesswork and the rest prejudice, this one defies that balance to the latter. Just my opinion.
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