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Figuring
- Narrated by: Natascha McElhone
- Length: 21 hrs and 27 mins
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Publisher's summary
Figuring explores the complexities of love and the human search for truth and meaning through the interconnected lives of several historical figures across four centuries - beginning with the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, and ending with the marine biologist and author Rachel Carson, who catalyzed the environmental movement.
Stretching between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists - mostly women, mostly queer - whose public contribution have risen out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private relationships to change the way we understand, experience, and appreciate the universe. Among them are the astronomer Maria Mitchell, who paved the way for women in science; the sculptor Harriet Hosmer, who did the same in art; the journalist and literary critic Margaret Fuller, who sparked the feminist movement; and the poet Emily Dickinson.
Emanating from these lives are larger questions about the measure of a good life and what it means to leave a lasting mark of betterment on an imperfect world: Are achievement and acclaim enough for happiness? Is genius? Is love? Weaving through the narrative is a set of peripheral figures - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Darwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman - and a tapestry of themes spanning music, feminism, the history of science, the rise and decline of religion, and how the intersection of astronomy, poetry, and transcendentalist philosophy fomented the environmental movement.
Critic reviews
“The polymathic Popova, presiding genius behind brainpickings.org, looks at some of the forgotten heroes of science, art, and culture...she peppers thoughtful, lucid consideration of acts of the imagination with stories that, if ever aired before, are too little known.... Throughout her complex, consistently stimulating narrative, the author blends biography, cultural criticism, and journalism to forge elegant connections: Dickinson feeds onto Carson, who looks back to Mitchell, who looks forward to Popova herself, and with plenty of milestones along the way.... A lyrical work of intellectual history, one that Popova's many followers will await eagerly and that deserves to win her many more.” (Kirkus Reviews)
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Laura
- 03-12-19
Stunning
This is now one of my favorite books of all time. Having no idea what to expect, I followed the recommendation of the Patti Smith who praised Figuring on Instagram in such a reverent tone, I put it at the top of my reading list. I am so happy I followed my intuition.
Also, I would like somehow to have Natascha McElhone read every book to me from now on - her reading was perfectly wonderful.
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18 people found this helpful
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- Demetrius Walker
- 03-08-19
Fascinating collection of biographical accounts
The narration was wonderful. The story hops around quite a bit between decades and centuries so it requires the utmost attention to follow. Nevertheless, the author strings words and sentences together as eloquently as the legends she honors with this magnificent work of art.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Charles McBryde
- 03-11-19
A Symphony of Beauty, Wonder, and Truth
This book is a triumph. It is an offering of the author’s soul and a splendid expression of beauty, pain, and meaning. I have never felt peace knowing that we are fragments of stardust flung broadside against an unfeeling and uncaring universe, but this book is a celebration of the human spirit to flame and dance in the face of such wonderful annihilation. Maria Popova must write more, but even if this little volume remains the only testament to her empathy and brilliance, it is testament enough.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Teresa T
- 08-09-19
Loved the entire book!
I absolutely loved this book. It is History, but not dry; Feminist, but not strident; Lyrical, but not sappy. The first-person narrator's voice is woven in so that she is ever present and yet, most of the time, nearly invisible. It is non-fiction that places you in-scene so effectively, with characters drawn so vividly, that it transports the way great fiction does. Oh, on top of all that, it is both insightful and educational. I am so very pleased to have discovered this author. I wish I could recall who recommended this book to me so I could thank them.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Anora Sutherland McGaha
- 09-04-19
Brilliant
Extraordinary writer, thinker and soul! I’ve read the author’s newsletter, which I recommend highly, and stand in awe of her!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Brad
- 06-20-19
An Amazing work
This is a truly inspired and beautiful book. Popova does a masterful job of weaving together the complex themes of science, art, genius and creativity amide the back drop of women’s and gender equality life and love.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Dale
- 10-15-22
Not for me
I did not get past a few chapters in this book. After reading so many positive reviews, I was disappointed at the plodding telling of I guess magical threads of great thoughts of scientists and artists across the centuries. Maybe it really picked up in later chapters, but I just couldn’t get there. I just couldn’t care. Secondly, and while I this criticism isn’t confined to this audio book alone, the epigraphs to each chapter only add to the confusion of the work. There is no way to tell whether these spoken words are an epigraph or part of the author’s original work. Surely audio book directors can devise methods that allows their listeners to get the full enjoyment of the written book in an aural means. I can think of plenty of such devises. Oh well, enough said.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jeff B.
- 12-02-19
Absolutely overwhelming
A beautifully told series of vignettes illustrating the author's sweeping vision of the human condition
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2 people found this helpful
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- Robert Reed
- 12-05-22
Popova is like no one else
Poignant and with purpose, her blog and books are a true delight. Eye opening, heart searching, and mind blowing. Loved every minute.
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- Frank H
- 07-08-21
Superb
I read reviews very purposefully as I was completely unfamiliar with this author, Maria Popova, and knew nothing about the book. I selected it as each review described the subject with accolades and I was very interested in the arts, the early science of Kepler, the Philosophy and interactions of the Transcendentalists, the poet Emily Dickenson, and to know more about Rachel Carson. It exceeded all of my wishes and curiosities. It is a book of which I must have the hard copy - which is a rare in these times.
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- By Patrick Cantrell on 10-17-20
By: David Whyte
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Barking up the Wrong Tree
- The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong
- By: Eric Barker
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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By looking at what separates the extremely successful from the rest of us, we learn what we can do to be more like them - and find out, in some cases, why it's good that we aren't. Barking up the Wrong Tree draws on startling statistics and surprising anecdotes to help you understand what works and what doesn't, so you can stop guessing at success and start living the life you want.
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Teaching to live a life, but how?
- By Medgeniva on 09-02-17
By: Eric Barker
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Stories We Tell Ourselves
- Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
- By: Richard Holloway
- Narrated by: Richard Holloway
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of what it all means: our place in a small corner of one of billions of galaxies, at the end of billions of years of existence. In this new book Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are.
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Effortlessly profound
- By Consi on 09-28-21
By: Richard Holloway
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The Wizard and the Prophet
- Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 18 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In 40 years, Earth's population will reach 10 billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups - Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin.
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Fantastic
- By BKATX on 01-26-18
By: Charles C. Mann
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White Girls
- By: Hilton Als
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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White Girls is about, among other things, blackness, queerness, movies, Brooklyn, love (and the loss of love), AIDS, fashion, Basquiat, Capote, philosophy, porn, Eminem, Louise Brooks, and Michael Jackson. Freewheeling and dazzling, tender and true, it is one of the most daring and provocative books of recent years, an invaluable guide to the culture of our time.
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Don't Recommend
- By lucy on 11-25-22
By: Hilton Als
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How to Be an Artist
- By: Jerry Saltz
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz
- Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Art has the power to change our lives. For many, becoming an artist is a lifelong dream. But how to make it happen? In How to Be an Artist, Jerry Saltz, one of the art world’s most celebrated and passionate voices, offers an indispensable handbook for creative people of all kinds. From the first sparks of inspiration - and how to pursue them without giving in to self-doubt - Saltz offers invaluable insight into what really matters to emerging artists: originality, persistence, a balance between knowledge and intuition, and that most precious of qualities, self-belief.
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Terrible Book Waste of Money
- By Classic on 04-22-20
By: Jerry Saltz
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Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words
- By: David Whyte
- Narrated by: David Whyte
- Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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With the imagery of a poet and the reflection of a philosopher, David Whyte turns his attention to 52 ordinary words, each its own particular doorway into the underlying currents of human life. Beginning with "Alone" and closing with "Work", each chapter is a meditation on meaning and context, an invitation to shift and broaden our perspectives on the inevitable vicissitudes of life: pain and joy, honesty and anger, confession and vulnerability, the experience of feeling besieged and the desire to run away from it all.
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Timely
- By Patrick Cantrell on 10-17-20
By: David Whyte
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Barking up the Wrong Tree
- The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong
- By: Eric Barker
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By looking at what separates the extremely successful from the rest of us, we learn what we can do to be more like them - and find out, in some cases, why it's good that we aren't. Barking up the Wrong Tree draws on startling statistics and surprising anecdotes to help you understand what works and what doesn't, so you can stop guessing at success and start living the life you want.
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Teaching to live a life, but how?
- By Medgeniva on 09-02-17
By: Eric Barker
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The Fellowship
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C. S. Lewis is the 20th century's most widely read Christian writer and J. R. R. Tolkien its most beloved mythmaker. For three decades they and their closest associates formed a literary club known as the Inklings, which met weekly in Lewis' Oxford rooms and a nearby pub. They read aloud from works in progress, argued about anything that caught their fancy, and gave one another invaluable companionship, inspiration, and criticism.
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I Am Dynamite!
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Nietzsche wrote that all philosophy is autobiographical, and in this vividly compelling, myth-shattering biography, Sue Prideaux brings listeners into the world of this brilliant, eccentric, and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. I Am Dynamite! is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand history's most misunderstood philosopher.
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Fascinating; tragic
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Emerson
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Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most important figures in the history of American thought, religion, and literature. The vitality of his writings and the unsettling power of his example continue to influence us more than a hundred years after his death. Now Robert D. Richardson Jr. brings to life an Emerson very different from the old stereotype of the passionless Sage of Concord.
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Keats
- A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph
- By: Lucasta Miller
- Narrated by: Sally Scott
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
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Miller, through Keats’s poetry, brilliantly resurrects and brings vividly to life, the man, the poet in all his complexity and spirit, living dangerously, disdaining respectability and cultural norms, and embracing subversive politics. Keats was a lower-middle-class outsider from a tragic and fractured family, whose extraordinary energy and love of language allowed him to pummel his way into the heart of English literature; a freethinker and a liberal at a time of repression, who delighted in the sensation of the moment.
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A Romantic Life
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Letters to a Young Poet
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