Philosophy Audiobooks | Non-Fiction

Woke: The Journey of a Word: A BBC Radio 4 Series

Matthew Syed traces the origins and evolution of the word 'woke’ Once a watchword for African Americans in the early 1900s, 'woke' is now used as an insult across the political spectrum, and it has become synonymous with our era of angry debate. As the word has spread, what people mean by it has become less clear than ever. Award-winning journalist and author Matthew Syed is on a mission to uncover the roots of this social phenomenon and, in this series, he follows the evolution of 'woke' through five key stories. Beginning with the first ever use of 'woke', which appeared on a 1938 recording by the musician Lead Belly, Syed uncovers what the singer meant when he instructed people to ‘stay woke, keep their eyes open’. Matthew then explores one of the earliest uses of 'woke' in print, by young Black author William Melvin Kelley in 1962. He goes on to look at #StayWoke and how the use of 'woke' online exploded in 2014, following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Next, Matthew considers how the adoption of 'woke' at the 2017 Women's March aided the term's movement away from Black communities and into the mainstream. In the final episode, he examines the actions of Governor Ron DeSantis, tipped by some to be the next President of the United States. The politician has labelled his state of Florida as 'Where Woke Goes to Die', and introduced a 'Stop W.O.K.E.' bill aimed at reducing the spread of identity politics. Has the word become too politically charged? What relationship – if any – does the word ‘woke’ have to its original sense? Syed considers its multiple meanings in this fascinating series that sheds new light on a word that is often used – and often misunderstood. Cast and credits Presented by Matthew Syed Produced by Sam Peach Episode 1 Featuring Peggy Parks Miller and Kip Lornell Episode 2 Featuring Jesi Kelley Readings by Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong Excerpts from ‘If You're Woke You Dig It’ (New York Times, 1962) and ‘Dunfords Travels Everywheres’ by William Melvin Kelley Episode 3 Featuring Johnetta Elzie and Nicole Holliday Episode 4 Featuring Prisca Kim and Aja Romano Episode 5 Featuring Nicole Holliday, James O'Malley and Prof Matthew Goodwin First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20-24 February 2023 Copyright © 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Matthew Syed (Author), Matthew Syed (Narrator)

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The Roman Revolution: Crisis and Christianity in Ancient Rome

It was a time of revolution. The Roman Revolution describes the little known 'crisis of the third century', and how it led to a revolutionary new Roman Empire. Long before the more famous collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century, in the years between AD 235-275, barbarian invasions, civil war, and plague devastated ancient Rome. Out of this ordeal came new leaders, new government, new armies, and a new vision of what it was to be Roman. Best remembered today is the rapid rise of Christianity in this period, as Rome's pagan gods were rejected, and the emperor Constantine converted to this new religion. Less well remembered is the plethora of other changes that conspired to provide an environment well suited to a religious revolution. Drawing on the latest research, Nick Holmes looks for new answers to old questions. He charts the rise of the Roman Republic and the classical Roman Empire, examining the roles played by sheer good luck and the benign climate. Focusing on the reigns of the critically important but under-researched emperors in the third century, such as Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine, he vividly brings to life how Rome just escaped catastrophe in the third century, and embarked on a journey that would take it into a brave new world-one which provided the foundations for modern Europe and America.

Nick Holmes (Author), Nigel Patterson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Fall of Rome: End of a Superpower

A skilled storyteller, Holmes presents a riveting account of the wars, intrigues and personalities that contributed to Rome's decline, with entire chapters devoted to single battles.' Kirkus Reviews Why did Rome Fall? In this gripping retelling of one of the most momentous chapters in history, Nick Holmes presents a new interpretation of an old story. The fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by an environmental disaster. A catastrophic megadrought on the Asian steppes in the fourth century AD forced the migration of entire peoples-Huns, Goths, Vandals, and others-west into the Roman Empire. They met an empire weakened from war with Persia. Rome's misfortunes multiplied as it made tactical errors on the battlefield. Civil war, religious unrest, and political incompetence compounded a worsening situation. The result was one of the greatest disasters in the ancient world-the sack of Rome by the Goths in AD 410.

Nick Holmes (Author), Nigel Patterson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice: A Treatise, Critique, and Call to Action (Manifesto)

Part treatise, part critique, part call to action, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice is a journey into the uncanny realities revealed to us in the great works of art of the past and present.Received opinion holds that art is culturally-determined and relative. We are told that whether a picture, a movement, a text, or sound qualifies as a "work of art" largely depends on social attitudes and convention. Drawing on examples ranging from Paleolithic cave paintings to modern pop music and building on the ideas of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Gilles Deleuze, Carl Jung, and others, J.F. Martel argues that art is an inborn human phenomenon that precedes the formation of culture and even society. Art is free of politics and ideology. Paradoxically, that is what makes it a force of liberation wherever it breaks through the trance of humdrum existence. Like the act of dreaming, artistic creation is fundamentally mysterious. It is a gift from beyond the field of the human, and it connects us with realities that, though normally unseen, are crucial components of a living world. While holding this to be true of authentic art, the author acknowledges the presence-overwhelming in our media-saturated age-of a false art that seeks not to liberate but to manipulate and control. Against this anti-artistic aesthetic force, which finds some of its most virulent manifestations in modern advertising, propaganda, and pornography, true art represents an effective line of defense. Martel argues that preserving artistic expression in the face of our contemporary hyper-aestheticism is essential to our own survival. Art is more than mere ornament or entertainment; it is a way, one leading to what is most profound in us. Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice places art alongside languages and the biosphere as a thing endangered by the onslaught of predatory capitalism, spectacle culture, and myopic technological progress. The book is essential reading for visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, and poets. It will also interest anyone who has ever been deeply moved by a work of art, and for all who seek a way out of the web of deception and vampiric diversion that the current world order has woven around us. Leaping gracefully from Coleridge to Kubrick, from the Bible to Baudrillard, J.F. Martel offers us a lovely and powerful reminder that the greatest art presents the world through mystery rather than manipulation. Arguing that art's prophetic promise comes from its capacity to rupture the workaday world of means and ends, Martel calls for a visionary return to the imaginal rifts of a novelty beyond artifice." -Erik Davis, author of TechGnosis "A key work for the soul of our time, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice is for the seasoned artist and the novice alike, for all those who dare to walk in, as J.F. Martel writes, an 'excess of meaning.' We need those today who would dare to live this way, and this book is a resounding call to return to the Imaginal life. 'Sing in me muse,' spoke Homer, and Martel has writ this large across the pages." -Jeremy D. Johnson, editor at Reality Sandwich "J.F. Martel is an incisive cultural critic with a penetrating vision of art. His book is a quiet manifesto for the creative act, reminding us of the numinous quality of the aesthetic object, as well as the intrinsic strangeness of our lives in the world." -Daniel Pinchbeck, author of Breaking Open the Head and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

J.F. Martel (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Is Your Work Worth It?: How to Think About Meaningful Work

A critical examination of the complex and revealing questions we must ask ourselves about our work and the value it brings to ourselves and others. According to recent studies, barely a third of American workers, and even fewer globally, feel "engaged" at work, and nearly half are "unhappy" doing what they do for a living. In the post-pandemic era with its turbulent job markets and spiraling economic landscape, many workers find themselves wondering: is my work worth it? In Is Your Work Worth It?, a prominent philosopher and an organizational psychologist investigate the purpose of work and its value in our lives. The book asks vital questions, such as: - When and how much should we work? - Should I work for love or money? - What would make life worth living in a world without work? - What kind of mark will my work leave on the world? This essential book combines scholarship, cultural artifacts like film and literature, and inspiring stories to help us clarify what worthy work looks like, what tradeoffs are acceptable to pursue it, and what our work can contribute to society.

Christopher Wong Michaelson, Jennifer Tosti-Kharas (Author), Andrew Sellen, Christopher Wong Michaelson, Jennifer Tosti-Kharas, TBD (Narrator)

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The Black Practice of Disbelief: An Introduction to the Principles, History, and Communities of Blac

A short introduction to Black Humanism: its history, its present, and the rich cultural sensibilities that infuse it In the United States, to be a Black American is to be a Black Christian. And there's something to this assumption in that the vast majority of African Americans are Christian. However, in recent years a growing number of African Americans have said they claim no particular religious affiliation-they are Black 'nones.' And of these Black 'nones,' the most public and vocal are those who claim to be humanists. What does it mean to be a Black humanist? What do Black humanist believe, and what do they do? This slim volume answers these questions. Animated by six central principles, and discussed in terms of its history, practices, formations, and community rituals, this book argues that Black humanism can be understood as a religious movement. Pinn makes a distinction between theism and religion-which is simply a tool for examining, naming, and finding the meaning in human experience. Black humanism, based on this definition isn't theistic but it is a religious system used to explore human experience and foster life meaning. It infuses humanism with rich cultural sensibilities drawn from Black experience. As shown in these pages, thinking about Black humanism this way frees readers from making unfounded assumptions and enables them to better appreciate the secular "beliefs," ritual structures, and community formation constituted by Black humanists.

Anthony Pinn (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife

A near-fatal health emergency leads to this powerful reflection on death—and what might follow—by the bestselling author of Tribe and The Perfect Storm. For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. “It’s okay,” his father said. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll take care of you.” That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived. This experience spurred Junger—a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical—to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions? In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery.

Sebastian Junger (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Like Love: Essays and Conversations

Brought to you by Penguin. Like Love is a momentous, raucous collection of essays drawn from twenty years of Maggie Nelson's brilliant work. These profiles, reviews, remembrances, tributes and critical essays, as well as several conversations with friends and idols, bring to life Nelson's passion for dialogue and dissent. The range of subjects is wide - from Prince to Carolee Schneemann to Matthew Barney to Lhasa de Sela to Kara Walker - but certain themes recur: intergenerational exchange; love and friendship; feminist and queer issues, especially as they shift over time; subversion, transgression and perversity; the roles of the critic and language in relation to visual and performance arts; forces that feed or impede certain bodies and creators; and the fruits and follies of a life spent devoted to making. Arranged chronologically, Like Love shows the writing, thinking, feeling, reading, looking and conversing that occupied Nelson while writing iconic books such as Bluets and The Argonauts. As such, it is a portrait of a time, an anarchic party rich with wild guests, a window into Nelson's own development and a testament to the profound sustenance offered by art and artists. ©2024 Maggie Nelson (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Maggie Nelson (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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Out of One, Many: Ancient Greek Ways of Thought and Culture

Covering the whole of the ancient Greek experience from its beginnings late in the third millennium BCE to the Roman conquest in 30 BCE, Out of One, Many is an accessible and lively introduction to the Greeks and their ways of living and thinking. In this fresh and witty exploration of the thought, culture, society, and history of the Greeks, Jennifer Roberts traces not only the common values that united them across the seas and the centuries, but also the enormous diversity in their ideas and beliefs. Examining the importance to the Greeks of religion, mythology, the Homeric epics, tragic and comic drama, philosophy, and the city-state, the book offers shifting perspectives on an extraordinary and astonishingly creative people. Century after century, in one medium after another, the Greeks addressed big questions, many of which are still very much with us. Yet for all their virtues, Greek men set themselves apart from women and foreigners and profited from the unpaid labor of enslaved workers, and the book also looks at the mixed legacy of the ancient Greeks today. The result is a rich, wide-ranging, and compelling history of a fascinating and profoundly influential culture in all its complexity-and the myriad ways, good and bad, it continues to shape us today.

Jennifer T. Roberts (Author), Petrea Burchard (Narrator)

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The Sacred Chain

A thought-provoking and eye-opening work in the vein of Sapiens, Walking the Bible, and The Language of God that offers a compelling argument for how science is not only compatible with faith, but can enrich it. For more than a century, philosophers and scientists have wrestled with reconciling evolution and religion, a debate that continues today. James Stump, the Vice President at BioLogos—a nonprofit started by Francis Collins, the scientist who led the international Human Genome Project and later served as Director of the National Institutes of Health—is both a man of science and a man of faith. In this moving and deeply thoughtful book, he shows Christians a hopeful way forward out of the morass. The Sacred Chain seeks to open the dialogue between theology and science, to be a bridge to understanding and a view of God and nature that encompasses both. Stump draws on philosophy, theology, and the latest scientific research to tackle some of the biggest questions facing humanity and people of faith today, involving issues such as: How to consider the Bible How to understand the long history of the universe How a mind or soul could have evolved How evolution factors into faith How a species is defined How a good and loving God could create a world rife with pain Deeply researched, wonderfully accessible, and both intellectually and emotionally engaging, The Sacred Chain provides clarity in our uncertain times, revealing a bigger picture of our world and our place within it. It is a panorama consistent with the scientific findings about who we are and where we come from that can actually bolster our faith as it engages our curiosity about ourselves, our universe, and the nature of existence itself. The Sacred Chain is illustrated with 30 black-and-white line drawings.

James Stump, Jim Stump (Author), James Stump, Jim Stump, TBD (Narrator)

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The Stoic Mindset: 10 Ancient Lessons for Modern Life

Mark Tuitert (Author), Mark Tuitert, TBD (Narrator)

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Beyond the Wager: The Christian Brilliance of Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth-century French philosopher and scientist, is perhaps best known for his 'wager,' an argument about the existence of God. But there was much more to Pascal and his brilliance. In this accessible and well-documented study, philosopher Douglas Groothuis introduces listeners to Pascal's life as well as the breadth of his intellectual pursuits, including his contributions to mathematics, science, ethics, and theology. Groothuis overviews the key points of Pascal's Pensees, which captures his thoughts about God, humanity, and Jesus Christ. Listeners will also explore Pascal's views on a range of topics, including culture, politics, Islam, and miracles. Often quoted and often misunderstood, Pascal is a complex figure whose writings have charmed, puzzled, and inspired readers across the centuries. With guidance from a leading Christian thinker and longtime student of Pascal, Beyond the Wager takes you on a journey to discover the riches Pascal has to offer today.

Douglas Groothuis (Author), Lyle Blaker (Narrator)

Audiobook

Philosophy Audiobooks in Non-Fiction