Creating Life
The Art of World Building, Volume 1
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Creating Life
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Narrated by:
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Randy Ellefson
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By:
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Randy Ellefson
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- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 268
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 224
Drawing on years of research in Japan, Michael Dylan Foster unpacks the history and cultural context of yokai, tracing their roots, interpreting their meanings, and introducing people who have hunted them through the ages. In this delightful and accessible narrative, listeners will explore the roles played by these mysterious beings within Japanese culture and will also learn of their abundance and variety through detailed entries on more than 50 individual creatures.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Pt 2 was delightful (+no cringey pronunciations!!)
- By Julieanne on 06-04-19
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Bronze Age Mindset
- By: Bronze Age Pervert
- Narrated by: Adam Smith
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,013
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 850
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 846
Some say that this work, found in a safe-box in the port area of Kowloon, was dictated because Bronze Age Pervert refuses to learn what he calls "the low and plebeian art of writing". It isn't known how this work was transcribed. The contents are pure dynamite. He explains that you live in ant farm. That you are observed by the lords of lies, ritually probed. Ancient man had something you have lost: confidence in his instincts and strength, knowledge in his blood. BAP shows how the Bronze Age mind-set can set you free from this iron prison and help you embark on the path of power.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Mandatory Reading For All Men
- By Anonymous User on 11-20-18
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Beasts
- What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good Evil
- By: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4 out of 5 stars 79
There are two supreme predators on the planet with the most complex brains in nature: humans and orcas. In the 20th century alone, one of these animals killed 200 million members of its own species, the other killed none. Jeffrey Masson’s fascinating new book begins here: There is something different about us. In Beasts he demonstrates that the violence we perceive in the "wild" is mostly a matter of projection. We link the basest human behavior to animals, to "beasts" ("he behaved no better than a beast"), and claim the high ground for our species.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This one is a MUST!!! Thought provoking....
- By kristen on 03-10-14
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When They Severed Earth from Sky
- How the Human Mind Shapes Myth
- By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Paul T. Barber
- Narrated by: Beth Richmond
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these "myths" did not begin as fiction.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The Volcano Book
- By Stanley on 02-05-11
By: Elizabeth Wayland Barber, and others
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How Forests Think
- Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human
- By: Eduardo Kohn
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 58
Can forests think? Do dogs dream? In this astonishing book, Eduardo Kohn challenges the very foundations of anthropology, calling into question our central assumptions about what it means to be human - and thus distinct from all other life forms. Based on four years of fieldwork among the Runa of Ecuador's Upper Amazon, Kohn draws on his rich ethnography to explore how Amazonians interact with the many creatures that inhabit one of the world's most complex ecosystems.
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5 out of 5 stars
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No more non author narrators
- By CJ on 04-28-18
By: Eduardo Kohn
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Virus of the Mind
- The New Science of the Meme
- By: Richard Brodie
- Narrated by: Richard Brodie
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 260
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 174
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 173
Virus of the Mind is the first popular work devoted to the science of memetics, a controversial new field that transcends psychology, biology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Memetics is the science of memes, the invisible but very real DNA of human society. Here, the author carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The "Memes Explain Everything" Meme.
- By Nelson Alexander on 02-20-10
By: Richard Brodie
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Breaking the Spell
- Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 758
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 661
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 648
For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Reader Actually Enhances A Great Book!
- By Don Caliente on 07-14-14
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Secrets and Mysteries of the World
- By: Sylvia Browne
- Narrated by: Sylvia Browne
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 159
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
For those of us who have always been fascinated by the unexplained, or inadequately explained, secrets and mysteries of this world, psychic Sylvia Browne now comes to our rescue. From the Great Pyramid to Stonehenge, Sylvia reveals amazing facts behind some of the world's most mysterious sites.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Utter, utter crap
- By Sebastiaan on 02-28-05
By: Sylvia Browne
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Ask a Historian
- 50 Surprising Answers to Things You Always Wanted to Know
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Dan Schreiber, Greg Jenner, Janina Ramirez, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 49
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Responding to fifty genuine questions from the public, Greg Jenner takes you on an entertaining tour through history from the Stone Age to the Swinging Sixties, revealing the best and most surprising stories, facts and historical characters from the past. From ancient joke books, African empires and the invention of meringues, to mummies, mirrors and menstrual pads—Ask A Historian is a deliciously amusing and informative smorgasbord of historical curiosities.
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5 out of 5 stars
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best bonus content ever!
- By Matthew K Wendelken on 03-24-22
By: Greg Jenner
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The Worm at the Core
- On the Role of Death in Life
- By: Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, Tom Pyszczynski
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 286
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 239
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
More than 100 years ago, the American philosopher William James wrote that the knowledge that we must die is "the worm at the core" of the human condition - a universally shared fear that informs all our thoughts and actions, from the great art we create to the devastating wars we wage.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Skeptical at first, but they won me over.
- By Tory Giddens on 06-07-20
By: Jeff Greenberg, and others
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Riveted
- The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe
- By: Jim Davies
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 51
Professor Jim Davies's fascinating and highly accessible book, Riveted, reveals the evolutionary underpinnings of why we find things compelling. Drawing on work from philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, psychology, economics, computer science, and biology, Davies offers a comprehensive explanation to show that in spite of the differences between the many things that we find compelling, they have similar effects on our minds and brains.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fun and excellent listen!
- By Alejandro Franco on 04-13-18
By: Jim Davies
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Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master
- By: Michael E. Shea
- Narrated by: Colby Elliott
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 586
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 501
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 487
You love Dungeons and Dragons. As an experienced dungeon master, you've run dozens, if not hundreds of games. You put a lot of work into making your games great. What if there's another way to look at how you prepare your game? What if it turned out you could spend less time and less energy and have a better game as a result? It's time to unleash the Lazy Dungeon Master.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Helpful tips for Dungeon Masters
- By Goblin Town on 05-02-16
By: Michael E. Shea
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The Creative Spark
- How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional
- By: Agustín Fuentes
- Narrated by: Agustín Fuentes
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 150
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 125
In the tradition of Jared Diamond's million-copy-selling classic Guns, Germs, and Steel, a bold new synthesis of paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and anthropology that overturns misconceptions about race, war and peace, and human nature itself, answering an age-old question: What made humans so exceptional among all the species on Earth? Creativity. It is the secret of what makes humans special, hiding in plain sight.
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4 out of 5 stars
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What's new?
- By Mark on 05-02-17
By: Agustín Fuentes
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50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True
- By: Guy P. Harrison
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 139
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 119
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Story4 out of 5 stars 118
Maybe you know someone who swears by the reliability of psychics or who is in regular contact with angels. Or perhaps you're trying to find a nice way of dissuading someone from wasting money on a homeopathy cure. How do you find a gently persuasive way of steering people away from unfounded beliefs, bogus cures, conspiracy theories, and the like? Longtime skeptic Guy P. Harrison shows you how in this down-to-earth, entertaining exploration of commonly held extraordinary claims.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Skepticism, so Dull & Condescending
- By Mr Conway on 03-11-13
By: Guy P. Harrison
What listeners say about Creating Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Scott Fowler
- 07-22-20
oh God don't let this guy read his books anymore!
The author reads the book, which usually I'm happy about... this is do not the case... oh dear God he is monotonous.... no emotion or lilt to his voice... the info was good, but it's a long 5 hours
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dallin R Nelsen
- 04-20-23
Great guidance
Looks like some people criticizing the author for reading it himself which I agree that he’s no voice actor but it’s not like this is a story. This is a guide or lecture really on possibilities in world building. It’s perfect for what it is.
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