Philosophy audiobooks

The Upanishads

By: Thomas Egenes & Vernon Katz

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

Length: 3 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

The Upanishads are often considered the most important literature from ancient India. Yet many academic translators fail to capture the work's philosophical and spiritual subtlety, while others convey its poetry at the cost of literal meaning.



This new translation by Vernon Katz and Thomas Egenes fills the need for an Upanishads that is clear,... Read more

Trigger Warning

By: Mick Hume

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 11 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

In this blistering polemic, veteran journalist Mick Hume presents an uncompromising defence of freedom of expression, which he argues is threatened in the West, not by jackbooted censorship but by a creeping culture of conformism and You-Can’t-Say-That. The cold-blooded murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in January 2015... Read more

Altruism

By: Matthieu Ricard

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 29 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

The author of the international bestseller Happiness makes a passionate case for altruism -- and why we need it now more than ever.

In Happiness, Matthieu Ricard demonstrated that true happiness is not tied to fleeting moments or sensations, but is an enduring state of soul rooted in mindfulness and compassion for others. Now he turns his lens... Read more

The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Buddhism

By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Narrated by: Tom Parks

Length: 1 hour 3 minutes

Abridged: No

This little audiobook contains the core teaching on Buddhism by the Dalai Lama. It includes thought-provoking quotations about the importance of love and compassion, and the need for individual responsibility, fuses ancient wisdom with an awareness of the problems of everyday life.In addition to containing the essence of Buddhism, this audiobook... Read more

The Age of Voltaire

By: Will Durant & Ariel Durant

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 42 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

The Age of Voltaire, the ninth volume of the Story of Civilization, is an in-depth examination of France and England in the first half of the eighteenth century. In this masterful work, listeners will encounter the English ideas that inspired the Enlightenment in France—skepticism, scientific experiment, constitutional government, "natural... Read more

The Power of Compassion - Abridged

By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Narrated by: Derek Jacobi

Length: 2 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Based on the Dalai Lama’s talks in London this ebook addresses the current difficulties facing humanity including: racial hatred, gender and environmental protection. Modern life is so full of confusion and suffering that people need the courage to face their anger and hatred, in order to transfrom their lives and... Read more

Was wollte ... Mohammed? - phil.COLOGNE live (Ungekürzt)

By: Abdel-Hakim Ourghi

Narrated by: Abdel-Hakim Ourghi & Joachim Frank

Length: 1 hour 25 minutes

Abridged: No

Gefährlich lebt, wer Mohammed nicht als Propheten, sondern als Philosophen betrachtet. Schließlich gilt Mohammed, rund 570 Jahre nach Christus in Mekka geboren, als Religionsstifter des Islam. Ihm soll mit dem Koran das Wort Gottes offenbart worden sein. Das macht den Umgang mit diesem Text schwierig: Wer ihn als Menschenwerk betrachtet, gilt... Read more

Curiosity

By: Alberto Manguel

Narrated by: John McDonough

Length: 15 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

Alberto Manguel's The History of Reading was an international bestseller translated into thirty-four languages and for which Manguel earned the MEdicis Prize. Fourteen years later, Manguel anchors his new book in the primal connection between reading and curiosity. Tracing twenty-five centuries of human history, from the fourth century BC to the... Read more

Dead White Guys

By: Matt Burriesci

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 9 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

After his daughter was born prematurely in 2010, Matt Burriesci set out to write a book about thirty-two great books, from Plato to Karl Marx, and how their lessons have applied to his life. As someone who has spent a long and successful career advocating for great literature, Burriesci defends the great books in this series of tender and candid... Read more

Common Sense

By: Thomas Paine

Narrated by: Qarie Marshall

Length: 2 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1775, the American colonies were a hotbed of political discord. Many of the British policies, specifically taxes, had caused American colonial leaders to consider the unthinkable: declaring independence from the British Empire and its King George. One such leader, Thomas Paine, wrote Common Sense: a pamphlet that explained the advantages of... Read more

A Neurosurgeon's Journey to the Afterlife

By: Eben Alexander

Narrated by: Eben Alexander

Length: 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Dr. Eben Alexander has been an academic neurosurgeon for over 25 years. In 2008, his remarkable near-death experience radically transformed his understanding of consciousness and the brain, indeed, of all existence.A Better Listen audio production. Read more

Awe And Wonder: Keys To Living A Passionate Life

By: Gregg Levoy

Narrated by: Justine Willis Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

This far-ranging dialogue is full of stories that will inspire and delight. Levoy speaks about a sense of wonder as being the active ingredient in a passionate life, and how even suffering and restlessness can be explored with curiosity. He tells us that wonder can offer us the adaptive benefit of free cognitive upgrades. You’ll be encouraged by... Read more

The Road to Character

By: David Brooks

Narrated by: Arthur Morey & David Brooks

Length: 12 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success—“résumé virtues”—and our core principles.
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST
 
With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column... Read more

The Character Of Thought

By: Laura Basha, Ph.D

Narrated by: Justine Willis Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Dr. Laura Basha discusses how the power and quality of thought influences our ability to bring choice into process. She describes the three principles of Mind, Consciousness, and Thought and how they are connected: “The mind is formless but has energy…consciousness is the movement of the mind according to our level of understanding and is the... Read more

Let There Be Light

By: Stephen J. Hage

Narrated by: Andrew Mulcare

Length: 10 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Let There Be Light presents a simple, beautiful, and elegant view of the oneness of all life, subjective and objective. It demonstrates the unity of the physical world with conscious experience of the physical world. Consciousness is not inside space and time, space and time are within consciousness; they are a special structure of the... Read more

The World Beyond Your Head

By: Matthew B. Crawford

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Length: 9 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

In his bestselling book Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B. Crawford explored the ethical and practical importance of manual competence, as expressed through mastery of our physical environment. In his brilliant follow-up, The World Beyond Your Head, Crawford investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind.

We often complain about our... Read more

The Age of Louis XIV

By: Will Durant & Ariel Durant

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 36 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

The Age of Louis XIV is the biography of a period (1648–1715) that Spengler considered the apex of modern European civilization. "Some centuries hence," Frederick the Great correctly predicted to Voltaire, "they will translate the good authors of the age of Pericles and Augustus." Those authors are lovingly treated here: Pascal, Racine, and... Read more

Zen in the Martial Arts

By: Joe Hyams

Narrated by: Jim Meskimen

Length: 2 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

"A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action."—Samurai maximUnder the guidance of such celebrated masters as Ed Parker and the immortal Bruce Lee, Joe Hyams vividly recounts his more than twenty-five years of experience in the martial arts. In his illuminating story, Hyams reveals to listeners how the daily... Read more

Spiritual Bypassing - Abridged

By: Robert Augustus Masters, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Robert Augustus Masters, Ph.D.

Length: 5 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: Yes

“A wonderfully significant and important book.”  —Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision
“A timely and penetrating analysis of spirituality’s shadow.” —Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism without Beliefs
 
A spiritual teacher and integral psychotherapist offers a first-of-its-kind study on how we use—and abuse—spiritual beliefs and practices, revealing how to... Read more

Matter And Consciousness: Shifting The Metaparadigm

By: Peter Russell, D.C.S.

Narrated by: Justine Willis Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Russell explains the difference between a paradigm and a metaparadigm and why consciousness cannot be explained within our current systems. He asserts that science is able to measure phenomena such as energy, time, and space, yet has not found a way to prove or measure consciousness. “These are all concepts in the mind…I am conscious I am having... Read more

The Allure of Gentleness

By: Dallas Willard

Narrated by: Alan Winter & Eileen Stevens

Length: 5 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

The revered Christian author whose bestselling classics include The Divine Conspiracy and The Spirit of the Disciplines provides a new model for how we can present the Christian faith to others.When Christians share their faith, they often appeal to reason, logic, and the truth of doctrine. But these tactics often are not effective. A better... Read more

The Age of Reason Begins

By: Will Durant & Ariel Durant

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 34 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

This seventh volume of Will and Ariel Durant's renowned Story of Civilization chronicles the history of European civilization from 1558 to 1648.The Age of Reason Begins brings together a fascinating network of stories in the discussion of the bumpy road toward the Enlightenment. This is the age of great monarchs and greater artists—on the one... Read more

Weaving The Fabric Of The World With Our Stories

By: Rebecca Solnit

Narrated by: Justine Willis Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Rebecca Solnit discusses how all of us are connected to one another as though we are threads woven into the fabric of the world. Storytelling is often our way of tracing these threads, starting with our personal stories and exploring outward. The effects of our stories can be subtle and powerful. Solnit explains how we make our stories and how... Read more

Discovering Your Creative Fire

By: Eric Maisel, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Roger Housden

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

As a creativity coach, Dr. Maisel talks about the lineage of our creativity. There is a point in our lives when we fall in love with something — a book, a painting, a piece of music, a film — and we long to be part of the lineage of that creation. This longing emboldens us to enter the path of our own creative spirit. However in the hubbub of... Read more