A Companion to Descartes

By: John Carriero, Janet Broughton

Narrated by: Annie Wauters

Length: 30 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

With more than 30 newly commissioned essays, A Companion to Descartes details in unparalleled depth the work of the seventeenth–century philosopher–scientist commonly regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. Alongside discussion of his seminal contributions to our understanding of skepticism, mind–body dualism, self–knowledge, innate ideas, substance, causality, God, and the nature of animals, the volume provides in several essays a unique orientation to the intellectual, religious, and scientific contexts that were important to Descartes’s work. Concluding with discussions of the impact of Descartes’s work on subsequent generations of philosophers, the essays in this volume offer fresh and distinctive scholarly perspectives on this giant of the history of modern thought.

Janet Broughton is Professor of Philosophy and Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Descartes’s Method of Doubt (2002). John Carriero is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published widely in early modern philosophy.

©2013 Janet Broughton, John Carriero (P)2013 Audible Ltd

execrable

What disappointed you about A Companion to Descartes?

It was very boring. Not illuminating. Gratuitous and myopic scholarship.

Has A Companion to Descartes turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not really, but John Carriero's contributions to this volume were singularly poor, and did make question the legitimacy of this ever-growing--but steadily deteriorating---secondary literature.

Have you listened to any of Annie Wauters’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

She is an excellent narrator. I don't wasted

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from A Companion to Descartes?

Everything that John Carriero wrote. He is sooo boring.

Any additional comments?

Why was this written?

Disastrous

What disappointed you about A Companion to Descartes?

Very boring. Recycled material. Obscure, aimless.

What was most disappointing about John Carriero and Janet Broughton ’s story?

John Carriero cannot make a clear point. A wave numb washes over me during the parts he wrote.

Which character – as performed by Annie Wauters – was your favorite?

None

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Extreme disappointment, and a certain bitterness towards these supposed 'experts.'

Any additional comments?

The narrator was dignified and good. But this was not a good use of her talents.

weak content, good narration

What disappointed you about A Companion to Descartes?

John Carriero is not intelligent or thoughtful, and he is evasive, not to mention very, very boring.

What was most disappointing about John Carriero and Janet Broughton ’s story?

Broughton was vaguely passable, but John Carriero is not the real deal.

What does Annie Wauters bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I liked her performance. It was sober and dignified.

What character would you cut from A Companion to Descartes?

John Carriero needs to go.

Any additional comments?

This book is very much not worth buying.

Probably the worst book on audible

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

John Carriero's essay on Descartes was turbid and obtuse. I cannot believe that someone with a bachelor's degree would produce such numbing spew.

What could John Carriero and Janet Broughton have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

There is nothing positive about this. I bought it on the basis of the amazon reviews, which, I now realize, were lies.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Not narrated it.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It did not.

Any additional comments?

Oxford University Press has disgraced, which it has been doing with increasing frequency.

Poorly Done

Very poorly done! Descartes would not be pleased with how this group of assays were done.