-
In Praise of Shadows
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 09-22-17
- Language: English
- Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
- Whispersync for Voice-ready
Regular price: $12.59
People who bought this also bought...
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
-
The Book of Tea
- By: Okakura Kakuzo
- Narrated by: Ken Cohen
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 37
The Book of Tea is much more than a book about tea. It's a celebration of the arts and culture of Japan, and a portrait of tea ceremony, the "Way of Tea", as the pinnacle of Japanese spirituality and artistic life. Written in 1906 by Kakuzo Okakura, curator of Chinese and Japanese Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a noted scholar and art critic, this modern classic traces the history of tea from its early medicinal uses in China, through the development of Chinese tea culture, and finally to the role of tea in Japanese Zen, culture, and politics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A moving narration of The Book of Tea
- By DanielA on 01-17-16
-
Snow Country
- By: Yasunari Kawabata
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 73
The story of the doomed love affair of a wealthy sophisticate, Shimamura, and the geisha Komako, at a mountain hotspring resort in western Japan, one of the snowiest regions on earth.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Tragedy...
- By Douglas on 04-24-16
-
The Architecture of Happiness
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 168
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 125
One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of chairs, walls, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet, a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
LOVED it!
- By JJ HUNSECKER on 12-23-16
-
Tokyo Vice
- An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
- By: Jake Adelstein
- Narrated by: Jake Adelstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 666
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 475
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 478
At 19, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime reporting at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. For 12 years of 80-hour workweeks, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking, and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Memoir, crime story and travelogue in one package
- By Steven on 02-07-10
-
No Longer Human
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life, even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reassuring in its bare-boned humanity
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 07-19-17
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
-
The Book of Tea
- By: Okakura Kakuzo
- Narrated by: Ken Cohen
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 37
The Book of Tea is much more than a book about tea. It's a celebration of the arts and culture of Japan, and a portrait of tea ceremony, the "Way of Tea", as the pinnacle of Japanese spirituality and artistic life. Written in 1906 by Kakuzo Okakura, curator of Chinese and Japanese Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a noted scholar and art critic, this modern classic traces the history of tea from its early medicinal uses in China, through the development of Chinese tea culture, and finally to the role of tea in Japanese Zen, culture, and politics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A moving narration of The Book of Tea
- By DanielA on 01-17-16
-
Snow Country
- By: Yasunari Kawabata
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 73
The story of the doomed love affair of a wealthy sophisticate, Shimamura, and the geisha Komako, at a mountain hotspring resort in western Japan, one of the snowiest regions on earth.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Tragedy...
- By Douglas on 04-24-16
-
The Architecture of Happiness
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 168
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 125
One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of chairs, walls, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet, a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
LOVED it!
- By JJ HUNSECKER on 12-23-16
-
Tokyo Vice
- An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan
- By: Jake Adelstein
- Narrated by: Jake Adelstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 666
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 475
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 478
At 19, Jake Adelstein went to Japan in search of peace and tranquility. What he got was a life of crime reporting at the prestigious Yomiuri Shinbun. For 12 years of 80-hour workweeks, he covered the seedy side of Japan, where extortion, murder, human trafficking, and corruption are as familiar as ramen noodles and sake.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Memoir, crime story and travelogue in one package
- By Steven on 02-07-10
-
No Longer Human
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life, even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reassuring in its bare-boned humanity
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 07-19-17
-
Convenience Store Woman
- By: Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori - translator
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 84
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 83
Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quirky and original
- By RueRue on 08-03-18
-
Thousand Cranes
- By: Yasunari Kawabata
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 3 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 76
With a restraint that barely conceals the ferocity of his characters' passions, one of Japan's great postwar novelists tells the luminous story of Kikuji and the tea party he attends with Mrs. Ota, the rival of his dead father's mistress. A tale of desire, regret, and sensual nostalgia, every gesture has a meaning, and even the most fleeting touch or casual utterance has the power to illuminate entire lives - sometimes in the same moment that it destroys them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Painfully beautiful
- By Erez on 12-02-10
-
You Say to Brick
- The Life of Louis Kahn
- By: Wendy Lesser
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20
Born to a Jewish family in Estonia in 1901 and brought to America in 1906, the architect Louis Kahn grew up in poverty in Philadelphia; by the time of his death in 1974, he was widely recognized as one of the greatest architects of his era. Yet this enormous reputation was based on only a handful of masterpieces, all built during the last 15 years of his life.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
a good book on a great subject
- By Cameron Preston Kruger on 11-05-17
-
The Complete Cosmicomics
- Translated by Martin McLaughlin, Tim Parks, & William Weaver
- By: Italo Calvino, Martin McLaughlin - translator, Tim Parks - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 16
Italo Calvino's beloved cosmicomics cross planets and traverse galaxies, speed up time or slow it down to the particles of an instant. Through the eyes of an ageless guide named Qfwfq, Calvino explores natural phenomena and tells the story of the origins of the universe. Poignant, fantastical, and wise, these 34 dazzling stories - collected here in one definitive anthology - relate complex scientific and mathematical concepts to our everyday world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Moments of Greatness = Worth the Read
- By Amazon Customer on 08-06-18
-
Flights
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft - translator
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 19
A 17th-century Dutch anatomist discovers the Achilles tendon by dissecting his own amputated leg. Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a body in motion not only through space but through time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What an incredible experience!
- By Halit Pinar, MD on 09-09-18
-
A Personal Matter
- By: Kenzaburo Oe, John Nathan (translator)
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Oe's most important novel, A Personal Matter, has been called by The New York Times "close to a perfect novel". In A Personal Matter, Oe has chosen a difficult, complex though universal subject: how does one face and react to the birth of an abnormal child?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Overwhelming
- By Salvador on 09-21-16
-
The Emissary
- By: Yoko Tawada, Margaret Mitsutani - translator
- Narrated by: Julian Cihi
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6
Japan, after suffering from a massive irreparable disaster, cuts itself off from the world. Children are so weak they can barely stand or walk: the only people with any get-go are the elderly. Mumei lives with his grandfather Yoshiro, who worries about him constantly. They carry on a day-to-day routine in what could be viewed as a post-Fukushima time, with all the children born ancient - frail and gray-haired, yet incredibly compassionate and wise. Mumei may be enfeebled and feverish, but he is a beacon of hope, full of wit and free of self-pity and pessimism.
-
Invisible Cities
- By: Italo Calvino
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 239
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 208
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 211
In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo - Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts the emperor with tales of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. Soon it becomes clear that each of these fantastic places is really the same place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful prose poems read too quickly
- By David on 10-04-16
-
To the Lighthouse
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Nicole Kidman
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 426
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 389
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 385
To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman ( Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful combination of text and narrator
- By R. H OAKLEY on 06-12-16
-
The Artist's Journey
- The Wake of the Hero's Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning
- By: Steven Pressfield
- Narrated by: Steven Pressfield
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
On our artist's journey, we move past resistance and past self-sabotage. We discover our true selves and our authentic calling, and we produce the works we were born to create. You are an artist too - whether you realize it or not, whether you like it or not - and you have an artist's journey. Will you live it out? Will you follow your muse and do the work you were born to do?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
It will give you strength
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-18
-
The Socratic Dialogues: Early Period, Volume 1
- The Apology, Crito, Charmides, Laches, Lysis, Menexenus, Ion
- By: Plato, Benjamin Jowett - translator
- Narrated by: David Rintoul, full cast
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 42
Here are the Socratic Dialogues presented as Plato designed them to be - living discussions between friends and protagonists, with the personality of Socrates himself coming alive as he deals with a host of subjects, from justice and inspiration to courage, poetry and the gods. Plato's Socratic Dialogues provide a bedrock for classical Western philosophy. For centuries they have been read, studied and discussed via the flat pages of books, but the ideal medium for them is the spoken word.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining, insightful, stimulating
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-30-18
-
A Tokyo Romance
- By: Ian Buruma
- Narrated by: Ian Buruma
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
When Ian Buruma arrived in Tokyo in 1975, Japan was little more than an idea in his mind, a fantasy of a distant land. A sensitive misfit in the world of his upper middle class youth, what he longed for wasn't so much the exotic as the raw, unfiltered humanity he had experienced in Japanese theater performances and films, witnessed in Amsterdam and Paris.
Publisher's Summary
"Were it not for shadows there would be no beauty."
In Praise of Shadows is an eloquent tribute to the austere beauty of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Through architecture, ceramics, theatre, food, women, and even toilets, Tanizaki explains the essence of shadows and darkness, and how they are able to augment beauty. He laments the heavy electric lighting of the West and its introduction to Japan, and shows how the artificial, bright, and polished aesthetic of the West contrasts unfavorably with the moody and natural light of the East. Dreamy, melancholic, and mysterious, In Praise of Shadows is a haunting insight into a forgotten world.
The popular translation by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker is essential listening for anyone interested in Japan and Japanese culture.
More from the same
Narrator
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars29
-
4 Stars4
-
3 Stars4
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Performance
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars27
-
4 Stars6
-
3 Stars0
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars27
-
4 Stars4
-
3 Stars2
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary
- 05-26-18
An interesting pov
I was recommended this book by my Japanese teacher. He told me that it was a perfect example of how Japan (or the generality of it) saw the western world. I can say that I somewhat agree with the author. While it is not an analysis on the western world itself but on the USA specifically, it is a good in-depth pondering on how much damage does the USA inflict on all the societies it comes in contact with. Then again, I am tired and maybe I am rambling. Regardless, I do recommend it
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 03-25-18
How to listen
Listen to story at X75 to get the full effect of the story. Any faster you’ll miss the important key points.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- T. Prizer
- Atlanta, GA
- 11-07-17
Powerful evocation of materiality and its aura
In Praise of Shadows is as powerful an evocation of materiality's mysterious aura as anything ever composed. In breathtaking prose, Junichiro Tanizaki articulates the vital role of shadows (or the lack of direct light) not only in Japan's traditionally austere architectural design, but indeed in the long history of the Orient itself. He beautifully unpacks the power of shadows to render even the most everyday utensils and objects enchanting. Running throughout his essay is a dialogue of West vs. East -- of the harsh luminescence of Western lighting versus the warm embrace of the East's sparse use of light. This is essential reading not simply for those interested in Japanese culture and history, but rather for all who wish to further explore the power and agency of the material world. Sheer brilliance.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful