Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
A Language Older Than Words  By  cover art

A Language Older Than Words

By: Derrick Jensen
Narrated by: Oni Woods Ojukwu
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

At once a beautifully poetic memoir and an exploration of the various ways we live in the world, A Language Older Than Words explains violence as a pathology that touches every aspect of our lives and indeed affects all aspects of life on Earth. This chronicle of a young man's drive to transcend domestic abuse offers a challenging look at our worldwide sense of community and how we can make things better.

©2000, 2004 Derrick Jensen (P)2019 Derrick Jensen

More from the same

What listeners say about A Language Older Than Words

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful punch in the gut!

If you are looking for a place to go after consuming all Daniel Quinn has to offer, then I am certain this will become your seminal book. Beautifully written and masterfully read by Oni … if it does not shake you to your core, you do not know what it means to be alive on this planet.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Life changing!

This book had me angry, grieving, and forced me to acknowledge my own trauma. At the same time I've learned to look more closely at the world and I've found so much to love. I'm hurting all the time because I'm witnessing the destruction of what I love most, but at the same time I've only recently discovered that love. Derrick Jensen's work has been a guide in my awakening and I'm forever grateful to have found his work and been in a place in my own life where I can internalize his convictions. 10/10 always recommending

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
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The need to change

After reading the Ishmael series this was the next beautiful book I got to listen to. How thought provoking, will we change? Only if we choose to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Cleansing

"This is on how to be sane in an insane culture" - Derrick Jensen ; also, this is a male author, even though the audiobook is narrated by a female voice actor. Definitely hard at first, but it's worth it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Most recommended

I love this author and his deep thinking. I first read the book years ago and it had a profound effect on me., I was not the same after reading it. Now, listening to it in it's entirety again was refreshing and it's still entirely relevant. The reader's voice is both soothing and compelling; I found myself looking forward to the 20 minute drive to work just so I could listen again. Thank you 💗

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

bamboozled again

I don't remember the last time I felt this gutted yet empowered by a book... Derrick Jensen's heart-shredding medicine made easier going down by the honey - smooth voice of Oni Woods Ojukwu. I can't thank them both enough for this masterpiece <3

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful and sad

I felt I met another brother in my lonely swim up against the current.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

What needed saying and he said it. Jensen is incredible at truth telling. I wish everyone would read this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Most irritating narrator I've heard

Book is more about how humans have destroyed life on this planet than anything to do with communication.

The narrator behaves as if she's acting out a play and is constantly changing voices and shouting. I find this especially annoying and hard to listen to. Nothing is worse than trying to relax at night with an audiobook, then just as you're drifting off to sleep the narrator abruptly shouts something at full volume to wake you up.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good narration but wrong narrator

So the book itself is good. The problem is that I was already half way through the paperback copy and I switched to the audible and I just can’t pay attention since the author is a male telling his story from that point of view and the narrator on here is a female. It just trips me out every time I try to listen because I already have a male voice for the book in my head. That being said the narrator is very good!! But it just doesn’t work if you have already read the paper version. It’s too bad I should have sampled it before I bought it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!