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By Any Other Name
- A Cultural History of the Rose
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
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By Any Other Name
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Publisher's summary
The rose is bursting with meaning: Over the centuries, it has come to represent love and sensuality, deceit, death, and the mystical unknown. Today the rose enjoys unrivalled popularity across the globe, ever present at life's seminal moments.
Grown in the Middle East 2,000 years ago for its pleasing scent and medicinal properties, it has attached itself to us, its needy host and servant, to become one of the most adored flowers across cultures. The rose is well-versed at enchanting human hearts - no longer selected by nature, but by us. From Shakespeare's sonnets to Bulgaria's Rose Valley to the thriving rose trade in Africa and the Far East, via museums, high fashion, Victorian England, and Belle Epoque France, we meet an astonishing array of species and hybrids of remarkably different provenance.
This is the story of a hardy, thorny flower and how, by beauty and charm, it came to seduce the world.
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- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
Through ancient art, evocative myth, exciting archaeological revelations and philosophical explorations Bettany Hughes shows why this immortal goddess endures through to the 21st century and what her journey through time reveals about what matters to us as humans. Charting Venus' origins in powerful ancient deities, Bettany demonstrates that Venus is far more complex than first meets the eye.
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5 out of 5 stars
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it was pretty good
- By JJ on 01-17-24
By: Bettany Hughes
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The Book of Tea
- By: Okakura Kakuzo
- Narrated by: Ken Cohen
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 81
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Story4 out of 5 stars 80
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A moving narration of The Book of Tea
- By DanielA on 01-17-16
By: Okakura Kakuzo
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Primitive Mythology
- The Masks of God Series, Volume I
- By: Joseph Campbell, David Kudler - editor
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 124
The author of such acclaimed books as The Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth discusses the primitive roots of mythology, examining them in light of the most recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, and psychology.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Epic speculation into the origins of our mythic consciousness
- By BGZ on 01-10-19
By: Joseph Campbell, and others
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The Discarded Image
- An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
- By: C. S. Lewis
- Narrated by: Richard Elwood
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 164
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 137
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Story5 out of 5 stars 137
The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval worldview, providing the historical and cultural background to the literature of the middle ages and renaissance. It describes the 'image' discarded by later years as "the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organization of their theology, science, and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe". This, Lewis' last book, has been hailed as "the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind".
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5 out of 5 stars
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I hope more of Lewis's scholastic stuff is coming
- By James on 04-01-21
By: C. S. Lewis
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The Secret History of America
- Classic Writings on Our Nation's Unknown Past and Inner Purpose
- By: Manly P. Hall, Mitch Horowitz - editor
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 342
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 289
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 288
Writer and scholar Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) is one of the most significant names in the study of the esoteric, symbolic, and occult. His legendary book The Secret Teachings of All Ages has been an underground classic since its publication in 1928. The Secret History of America expands on that legacy, offering a collection of Hall’s works - from books and journals to transcriptions of his lectures - all relating to the hidden past and unfolding future of our nation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting history.
- By Rudy F. Ochoa on 05-11-20
By: Manly P. Hall, and others
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The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
- A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East
- By: John M. Allegro
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 222
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 188
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Story4 out of 5 stars 188
Where did God come from? What do the bible stories really tell us? Who or what was Jesus Christ? This audiobook challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Hated it,
- By Troy Sunde on 12-22-22
By: John M. Allegro
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Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 132
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4 out of 5 stars 100
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
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The History of Western Art
- By: Peter Whitfield
- Narrated by: Sebastian Comberti
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 257
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 219
What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities from eras of history utterly remote from ourselves? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age: religious, political and aesthetic. From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, to the revolutionary years of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the artist has acted as a mirror to the ideals and conflicts of the human mind.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A whirlwind tour of Western art
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-18-12
By: Peter Whitfield
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The Cabaret of Plants
- Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination
- By: Richard Mabey
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4 out of 5 stars 87
A rich, sweeping, and compelling work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Richard Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Can't wait to listen to again!
- By hyacinthgirl on 12-27-16
By: Richard Mabey
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Wagnerism
- Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Alex Ross
- Length: 28 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 143
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 119
Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics - an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not Just for Wagner Experts!
- By Rupert Pupkin on 09-26-20
By: Alex Ross
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William Blake vs the World
- By: John Higgs
- Narrated by: John Higgs
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 95
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 82
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Story5 out of 5 stars 82
A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy, and religion to better understand the mercurial genius of William Blake.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best book ever
- By idamae on 11-04-22
By: John Higgs
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Stories We Tell Ourselves
- Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
- By: Richard Holloway
- Narrated by: Richard Holloway
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story5 out of 5 stars 48
Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of what it all means: our place in a small corner of one of billions of galaxies, at the end of billions of years of existence. In this new book Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Effortlessly profound
- By Consi on 09-28-21
By: Richard Holloway
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The Reason for Flowers
- Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives
- By: Stephen Buchmann
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Flowers, and the fruits that follow, feed, clothe, sustain, and inspire all humanity. Flowers are used to celebrate all-important occasions, to express love, and are also the basis of global industries. Americans buy 10 million flowers a day, and perfumes are a worldwide industry worth $30 billion annually. Stephen Buchmann takes us along on an exploratory journey of the roles flowers play in the production of our foods, spices, medicines, and perfumes while simultaneously bringing joy and health.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Only for the Flower Lover
- By Anonymous User on 01-19-16
By: Stephen Buchmann
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Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 131
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
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The Secret History of the World
- By: Jonathan Black
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 149
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
Here, for the first time, is a complete history of the world based on the beliefs and writings of secret societies, researched with the help of an initiate of more than one secret society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Not for beginners
- By Being of Light on 09-13-12
By: Jonathan Black