Philosophy Audiobooks | Non-Fiction

The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now

In troubled times, there is an urgency to understand ourselves and our world. We have so many questions, and they tug at us night and day, consciously and unconsciously. In this important volume Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh—one of the most revered spiritual leaders in the world today—reveals an art of living in mindfulness that helps us answer life’s deepest questions and experience the happiness and freedom we desire. Thich Nhat Hanh presents, for the first time, seven transformative meditations that open up new perspectives on our lives, our relationships and our interconnectedness with the world around us. Based on the last full talks before his sudden hospitalization, and drawing on intimate examples from his own life, Thich Nhat Hanh shows us how these seven meditations can free us to live a happy, peaceful and active life, and face ageing and dying with curiosity and joy and without fear. Containing the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and Thich Nhat Hanh’s poignant, timeless, and clarifying prose, The Art of Living provides a spiritual dimension to our lives. This is not an effort to escape life or to dwell in a place of bliss outside of this world. Instead, this path will allow us to discover where we come from and where we are going. And most of all, it will generate happiness, understanding, and love, so we can live deeply in each moment of our life, right where we are.

Thich Nhat Hanh (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, Gabra Zackman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Aristotle: Your Guide to Citizen Virtue

How can Aristotle help you become a better person? In this course by award-winning teacher and leading Aristotle expert Prof. Cary J. Nederman (Ph.D., York University), you will become a more ethical person as you explore Aristotelian thought. The word “politics” is an often-controversial term in our day, conjuring associations with partisanship and subterfuge. But as conceived by the ancient Greeks, politics was essential for becoming a virtuous person. Among the great minds of antiquity, perhaps none remains as relevant as Aristotle, for whom the ultimate purpose of politics was the common good. Aristotle: A Course on Citizen Virtue gives you the rare opportunity to learn from one of the leading experts on Aristotle and political theory. With Nederman, an award-winning professor at Texas A&M University, you’ll explore Aristotle’s historical, intellectual, and biographical backdrop. You’ll also draw connections between this context and the moral and political philosophies of Aristotle. Finally, you will consider the powerful Aristotelian conception of human goodness. In particular, you’ll look at his powerful principle of teleology: all human beings have a purpose. By grasping Aristotle’s influences and ideas, you’ll come to understand him as a thinker influenced by his time and place. But Prof. Nederman’s course also reveals how he provided the basis for moral philosophy, political thought, and university curricula in the West and beyond. Today, Aristotle remains as vital as ever, inspiring great thinkers and providing insights into contemporary issues. And most importantly, he speaks powerfully about what it means to be a good person. By studying his thought, you will find guidance for flourishing and realizing your full potential.

Cary Nederman (Author), Cary Nederman (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Sensational Past: How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses

Sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch-as they were celebrated during the Enlightenment and as they are perceived today. Blindfolding children from birth? Playing a piano made of live cats? Using tobacco to cure drowning? Wearing "flea"-colored clothes? These actions may seem odd to us, but in the eighteenth century, they made perfect sense. As often as we use our senses, we rarely stop to think about their place in history. But perception is not dependent on the body alone. Carolyn Purnell persuasively shows that, while our bodies may not change dramatically, the way we think about the senses and put them to use has been rather different over the ages. Journeying through the past three hundred years, Purnell explores how people used their senses in ways that might shock us now. And perhaps more surprisingly, she shows how many of our own ways of life are a legacy of this earlier time. Author bio: Carolyn Purnell received her PhD from the University of Chicago. She is a history instructor, an interior design writer, and a lover of bizarre facts. This is her first book.

Carolyn Purnell (Author), Liz Thompson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Unter dem Vesuv (Ungekürzt)

Als im Jahr 79 n. Chr. der Vesuv ausbrach und Pompeji mit einer dicken Schicht aus Asche und Vulkangestein bedeckte, brachte er das Leben dort zum Stillstand und bewahrte die antike Stadt für die Ewigkeit. Als die Archäologen später die versunkene Welt von Pompeji wieder ans Tageslicht beförderten, präsentierten sie dem staunenden Publikum eine komplett erhaltene Stadtanlage, die überraschende Einblicke in das Alltagsleben bot. Holger Sonnabend erzählt vom Leben in einer Stadt, die sich - aufgrund des Erdbebens von 62 n. Chr. - im Wandel befand. Er schildert kulinarische Genüsse und Theaterbesuche, den Kult um die Götter und den Verkehr auf der Straße.

Holger Sonnabend (Author), Markus Boshkow (Narrator)

Audiobook

Stadtluft macht frei (Ungekürzt)

Seit dem 11. Jahrhundert entstanden aus Siedlungen rund um Burgen und Klöster neue Städte. Immer mehr Leibeigene aus der Umgebung setzen sich in diese Orte ab. Dort waren sie für ihre Grundherren meist unauffindbar. Es entstand der Rechtsbrauch: Ein Leibeigener in einer Stadt konnte nach Jahr und Tag nicht mehr von seinem Grundherrn zurückgefordert werden. Stadtluft machte also im wahrsten Sinn des Wortes frei. Jörg Schwarz zeichnet ein anschauliches Bild der mittelalterlichen Stadt. Wer lebte dort? Welche sozialen Gruppen gab es? Wer regierte und welche Rolle spielte das Bürgertum dabei? Wer zählte zu den Außenseitern? Was leistete die Stadt für ihre Bewohner und wo lagen ihre Probleme? Paradebeispiel in der Darstellung ist die Stadt Köln, doch der Blick geht auch immer wieder auf andere Städte und über den deutschen Tellerrand hinaus.

Jörg Schwarz (Author), Axel Thielmann, Kerstin Hoffmann (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lügen, die wir uns über Gott erzählen (Ungekürzt)

Was ist wahr? Was ist falsch? William Paul Young lädt uns ein, über Auffassungen nachzudenken, die wir gemeinhin über Gott haben. Oft machen wir uns gar keine Gedanken, ob diese wahr oder falsch sind. Dem möchte er auf den Grund gehen und hat 28 solch gängiger Aussagen wie 'Gott ist Christ' oder 'Es ist alles nur Zufall' gesammelt und stellt sie zur Diskussion. Der Autor zeigt, wie wir uns mit unseren Gedanken unsere eigene Welt erschaffen und warum viele unserer Ansichten mehr mit uns selbst als mit Gott zu tun haben. William Paul Young arbeitete viele Jahre als Büroangestellter und Nachtportier in Hotels. Der gebürtige Kanadier wuchs als Sohn von Missionaren in Papua-Neuguinea auf, war selbst viele Jahre lang Mitarbeiter einer christlichen Gemeinde. Mit seiner Frau Kim und seinen sechs Kindern lebt er in Oregon, USA.

William Paul Young (Author), Thorsten Breitfeldt (Narrator)

Audiobook

My First Summer in the Sierra

In the summer of 1869, John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, joined a crew of shepherds in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The diary he kept while tending sheep formed the heart of this book, which was first published in 1911 and which eventually lured thousands of Americans to visit Yosemite country. My First Summer in the Sierra incorporates the lyrical accounts and sketches Muir produced during his four-month stay in the Yosemite River Valley and the High Sierra. His daily records track his memorable experiences, describing in picturesque terms the majestic vistas, flora and fauna, and other breathtaking natural wonders of the area. Today, Muir is recognized as one of the most important and influential naturalists and nature writers in America. This book, the most popular of the author’s works, will delight environmentalists and nature lovers with its exuberant observations.

John Muir (Author), Barry Press (Narrator)

Audiobook

Encounters In Yoga and Zen

Gleaned from the author’s experiences over many years Yoga and Zen training as well as from conversations with teachers, folk stories and temple magazines, this is a fascinating and enlightening compendium of tales from the Yoga and Zen traditions. Stories such as these are used in many spiritual schools’ teaching – they’re the flint or steel that makes the spark which, when nurtured daily, fires the imagination, heralds enlightenment and insight.

Jonathan Keeble, Trevor Leggett (Author), Gerard Mcdermott, Jonathan Keeble, Judith Clark, Madeline Brolly, Peter Anthony Monk (Narrator)

Audiobook

Lotus Lake Dragon Pool

Collected by the author over many years, these stories from the Yoga and Zen traditions are the flint and steel that strike a spark that lights up the mind with insights that one should ponder daily to bring to light ever deeper meaning. They may be similar in intent to Zen Koans – but they are rather different in content. In many Zen Koans someone says or does something extraordinarily inappropriate, which catches your attention just because it’s extraordinary –but afterwards the light from them has to be applied to daily life. In contrast, the stories here are often ordinary incidents from ordinary lives (not that there aren’t some extraordinary ones too!) that nevertheless open the mind’s eye to the vast potential for realization and inspiration to be found in daily life. The Pictures The pictures featured throughout this book were brushed by Jacques Allais in the Suiboku style, in which he was an acknowledged expert. The innate beauty of this ancient monochrome ink-painting technique lies in its subtlety of expression, in which infinitely more is suggested than is drawn on the page – making it the perfect vehicle for focusing meditation practice as well as an ideal complement to the stories in this book.

Jonathan Keeble, Trevor Leggett (Author), Gerard Mcdermott, Jonathan Keeble, Judith Clark, Madeleine Brolly, Madeline Brolly, Peter Anthony Monk (Narrator)

Audiobook

Compelling Reason

'You can only find out the rights and wrongs by Reasoning - never by being rude about your opponent's psychology.' For C. S. Lewis, reason and logic are the sensible way to approach faith and ethics. Much of the 20th century's ills are caused by ill-founded beliefs and opinions. Lewis's original approach remains as vital today as ever. He is able to take the most convoluted subject, turn it side on and shed bright illumination on it. To be able to see along things rather than at them - just like a beam of sunlight that invades the darkness of a toolshed - is, to Lewis, the way to understanding. Written variously between 1940 and 1962, this collection of essays represents the best of Lewis's considerable wisdom on the great ethical and theological concerns of the day.

C. S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis (Author), Peter Noble (Narrator)

Audiobook

The World as Will and Idea: Volume 2

The original edition of The World as Will and Idea appeared in 1818, but in 1844 Schopenhauer published an expanded version. It contained the 'Criticism of the Kantian Philosophy', a lengthy document; and Supplements to the First Book (The Doctrine of the Idea of Perception) and the Second Book (The Doctrine of Perception or Knowledge of the Understanding). The original edition of The World as Will and Idea had been largely ignored, and for 25 frustrating years, Schopenhauer had to live with a feeling of failure, while remaining as acute, as challenging and as creative as ever. His decision to expand and build on his original ideas with the addition of the Supplements, clarifying and furthering his views, made his body of work even stronger. It was with this second edition that his reputation spread, and at last his standing as a major German philosopher of the 19th century was established. In this new volume, following the Kantian critique, are many essays, including 'On the Senses', On the Relation of Knowledge of Perception to Abstract Knowledge, 'On Man's Need for Metaphysics' and 'On the Primacy of the Will in Self-Consciousness'. Leighton Pugh again reads with the clarity and understanding that was praised following the release of The World as Will and Idea, Volume 1. Translation: R. B. Haldane and J. Kemp. Footnotes included.

Arthur Schopenhauer (Author), Leighton Pugh (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science

The book that bestselling meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg raves "brings the path of meditation to life," The Mind Illuminated is the first how-to meditation guide from a neuroscientist who is also an acclaimed meditation master. This innovative book offers a ten-stage program that is both deeply grounded in ancient spiritual teachings about mindfulness and holistic health, and also draws from the latest brain science to provide a roadmap for anyone interested in achieving the benefits of mindfulness. Dr. John Yates offers a new and fascinating model of how the mind works, including steps to overcome mind wandering and dullness, extending your attention span while meditating, and subduing subtle distractions. This groundbreaking manual helps you work through each stage of the process, offering tools that work across all types of meditation practices. The Mind Illuminated is essential listening, whether you are a beginner wanting to establish your practice or a seasoned veteran ready to master the deepest state of peace and mindfulness.

PhD Immergut, PhD John Yates (Author), Sean Runnette (Narrator)

Audiobook

Philosophy Audiobooks in Non-Fiction