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Rahel Varnhagen
- The Life of a Jewish Woman
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
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Rahel Varnhagen
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Publisher's summary
Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewish Woman is the biography of a remarkable, complicated, troubled, passionate woman, an important figure in German romanticism, the person who in a sense founded the Goethe cult that would become central to German cultural life in the 19th century, as well as someone who confronted with unusual determination and bore the burden of being both a woman in a man's world and an assimilated Jew in Germany.
Rahel Levin Varnhagen was, Arendt writes, "neither beautiful nor attractive...and possessed no talents with which to employ her extraordinary intelligence and passionate originality." Arendt sets out to tell the story of Rahel's life as Rahel might have told it and, in doing so, to reveal the way in which intellectual and social assimilation works out in one person's destiny.
On her deathbed, Rahel is reported to have said, "The thing which all my life seemed to me the greatest shame, which was the misery and misfortune of my life - having been born a Jewess - this I should on no account now wish to have missed." Only because she had remained both a Jew and a pariah, Arendt observes, "did she find a place in the history of European humanity."
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Fear and Trembling
- By: Søren Kierkegaard
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 318
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 265
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 263
From the perspective of an unbeliever, Fear and Trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of Christianity, and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham, who was instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and forces us to consider Abraham's state of mind. What drove Abraham, and what made him carry out such an absurd and extreme request from God? Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's agreement to sacrifice Isaac, and his suspension of reason, elevated him to the highest level of faith.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book and Formidable Narration
- By MFC on 03-06-20
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Letters to a Young Poet
- By: Rainer Maria Rilke
- Narrated by: Marc Allen
- Length: 1 hr and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
These have been called the most famous and beloved letters of the past century. Rainer Maria Rilke himself said that much of his creative expression went into his correspondence, and here he touches upon a wide range of subjects that will interest writers, artists, and thinkers. This luminous translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's classic offers brilliant inspiration to all people who seek to know and express their inner truth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely amazing writing, great reader.
- By Matt on 09-10-15
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A Wicked Company
- The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment
- By: Philipp Blom
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
The flourishing of radical philosophy in Baron Thierry Holbach’s Paris salon from the 1750s to the 1770s stands as a seminal event in Western history. Holbach’s house was an international epicenter of revolutionary ideas and intellectual daring, bringing together such original minds as Denis Diderot, Laurence Sterne, David Hume, Adam Smith, Ferdinando Galiani, Horace Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, Guillaume Raynal, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In A Wicked Company, acclaimed historian Philipp Blom retraces the fortunes of this exceptional group of friends.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book on Radical Enlightenment
- By EJJ on 02-15-15
By: Philipp Blom
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The Spiritual Teachings of Seneca
- Ancient Philosophy for Modern Wisdom
- By: Mark Forstater, Victoria Radin
- Narrated by: David Troughton, Louisa Millwood Haig
- Length: 1 hr and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
Seneca was dedicated to Stoicism, and in his essays and letters he explained the stoic position on many fundamental issues: pleasure and the problem of desire, happiness, and contentment; anger, fear, living in the present, how to think for yourself, anxiety and tranquillity, goodness, freedom, trusting the universe; courage, opportunity, cruelty and how to deal with it, friendship, love and trust, death and how to live, learning , chance and fate, time, aspirations, wisdom - and more.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Odd presentation style
- By Mark on 08-03-08
By: Mark Forstater, and others
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The Varieties of Religious Experience
- By: William James
- Narrated by: Jim Killavey
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4 out of 5 stars 78
The Varieties of Religious Experience is considered to be the classic work in the field. To quote Wikipedia, "James was most interested in understanding personal religious experience. The importance of James to the psychology of religion - and to psychology more generally - is difficult to overstate. He discussed many essential issues that remain of vital concern today. What makes James writing so special is that he could take a very complex subject and, without watering it down, make it understandable to 'the rest of us.'"
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5 out of 5 stars
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Profound stuff
- By Empowerment on 09-05-09
By: William James
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The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23,073
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20,311
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20,275
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Simple, Beautiful, and Exquisitely Textured
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-13
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The Conquest of Happiness
- By: Bertrand Russell
- Narrated by: Chris Lutkin
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 108
This metaphysical self-help classic instills happiness within and urges individuals to pursue a content life without sin, boredom, or contempt. Written decades ago with post-war depression in mind, this text has transcended time and continues to give applicable advice for modern-day individuals.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Narrator was horrible
- By Mar on 09-09-20
By: Bertrand Russell
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My Battle Against Hitler
- Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich
- By: John Henry Crosby, Dietrich von Hildebrand
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
In My Battle against Hitler, von Hildebrand tells of the scorn and ridicule he endured for sounding the alarm when many still viewed Hitler as a positive and inevitable force. He tells how he defiantly challenged Nazism in the public square, prompting the German ambassador in Vienna to describe him to Hitler as "the architect of the intellectual resistance."
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5 out of 5 stars
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amazing book what in site I loved every second.
- By tracie on 07-14-15
By: John Henry Crosby, and others
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The Wisdom of Life, Counsels and Maxims
- By: Arthur Schopenhauer
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
'The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.' Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the most influential philosophers of the 19th century because his humanistic, atheistic, if pessimistic views chimed with a new secularism that was emerging from a Western society dominated by religion. Despite his rather forbidding image (and a few outdated views), he is one of the most approachable German philosophers, and this is certainly evident in these two key works, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims.
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5 out of 5 stars
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depressingly hopeful
- By Sebastian huerta on 06-22-17
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The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrated by: Duncan Steen
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 168
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 148
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
One of Nietzsche’s earliest works, The Birth of Tragedy (1872) is a remarkable source of inspiration. It is here that the philosopher expresses his frustration with the contemporary world and urges man to embrace Dionysian energy once more. He refutes European culture since the time of Socrates, arguing that it is one-sidedly Apollonian and prevents man from living in optimistic harmony with the sufferings of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Apollonian vs The Dionysian
- By JCW on 02-05-18
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Uncommon Gratitude
- Alleluia for All That Is
- By: Joan Chittister, Rowan Williams
- Narrated by: Joan Chittister O.S.B., Dan Havron O.F.M.
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4 out of 5 stars 33
This series of reflections reveals the importance of gratitude in helping us see beyond the immediate to a broader and deeper reality. The discovery of this perpetual alleluia will help you discover what you are, become who you are, and grow with gratitude into the unknown.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Spiritual platform for left-wing ideology
- By John Glemby on 06-29-19
By: Joan Chittister, and others
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Notes of a Native Son
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,308
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,125
Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only in his twenties, the essays collected in Notes of a Native Son capture a view of Black life and Black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement and as the movement slowly gained strength through the words of one of the most captivating essayists and foremost intellectuals of that era.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterful Essayist
- By Andre on 09-30-16
By: James Baldwin
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The Greek Way
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 314
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 253
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 250
Based on a thorough study of Greek life and civilization, of Greek literature, philosophy, and art, The Greek Way interprets their meaning and brings a realization of the refuge and strength the past can be to us in the troubled present. Miss Hamilton's book must take its place with the few interpretative volumes which are permanently rooted and profoundly alive in our literature.
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3 out of 5 stars
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...Not as Good as The Echo of Greece
- By The Masked Reviewer on 11-04-16
By: Edith Hamilton
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The Meaning of Happiness
- The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Kern Schmidt
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 161
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 138
Deep down, most people think that happiness comes from having or doing something. Here, in Alan Watts’s groundbreaking third book (originally published in 1940), he offers a more challenging thesis: authentic happiness comes from embracing life as a whole in all its contradictions and paradoxes, an attitude that Watts calls the “way of acceptance.” Drawing on Eastern philosophy, Western mysticism, and analytic psychology, Watts demonstrates that happiness comes from accepting both the outer world around us and the inner world inside us,
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good Concepts Hard to Follow Along
- By Ryan on 04-13-20
By: Alan Watts
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Why We Are Restless
- On the Modern Quest for Contentment
- By: Benjamin Storey, Jenna Silber Storey
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
We live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, yet everywhere we see signs that our pursuit of happiness has proven fruitless. Dissatisfied, we seek change for the sake of change - even if it means undermining the foundations of our common life. In Why We Are Restless, Benjamin and Jenna Storey offer a profound and beautiful reflection on the roots of this malaise and examine how we might begin to cure ourselves.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good primer.
- By Chris on 09-29-21
By: Benjamin Storey, and others