Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes
The Million Dollar Writing Series
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Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes
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Narrated by:
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Charles Kahlenberg
About this listen
International best seller Anderson has created many extensive fictional universes, ranging from sweeping galactic empires to complex steampunk fantasies, to humorous monster-filled cities. He has become known for his skill in worldbuilding. In Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes, he describes his techniques in creating a rich fictional setting, leading writers through the countless questions and topics one must consider. Whether it’s geography, climate, politics, economics, society, religion, science, arts, or history, all of these ingredients form the basis for a believable setting for your story to unfold.
©2015 WordFire, Inc. (P)2019 WordFire, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Excellent narrator
- By Tammy on 03-17-18
By: Russell Rathbun
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Germania
- In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History
- By: Simon Winder
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 163
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
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Story4 out of 5 stars 138
Propelled by a wish to reclaim the brilliant, chaotic, endlessly varied German civilization that the Nazis buried and ruined, and that so many Germans have worked to rebuild, Germania was recorded to enlighten us on serious topics, curiosities, and on the limits of language, the meaning of culture, and the pleasure of townscape.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Very Droll but Almost Entirely Uninformative
- By Timothy Verseput on 03-13-19
By: Simon Winder
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Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up
- By: Tom Phillips
- Narrated by: Nish Kumar
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 253
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 216
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 214
Modern humans have come a long way in the 70,000 years they’ve walked the earth. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we’re true winners. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we’ve managed to truly f--k things up.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Doesn’t live up to promise
- By Shirley Y. Thomas on 11-09-19
By: Tom Phillips
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Believers
- Making a Life at the End of the World
- By: Lisa Wells
- Narrated by: Lisa Wells
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story5 out of 5 stars 20
Like many of us, Lisa Wells has spent years overwhelmed by news of apocalyptic-scale climate change and a coming sixth extinction. She did not need to be convinced of the stakes. But what can be done? Wells embarked on a pilgrimage, seeking answers in dedicated communities - outcasts and visionaries - on the margins of society.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I believe
- By Amazon Customer on 08-19-21
By: Lisa Wells
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Pilgrims and Puritans: 1620-1676
- Drama of American History
- By: James Lincoln Collier, Christopher Collier
- Narrated by: Jim Manchester
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 374
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 340
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 339
In Pilgrims and Puritans, the authors begin in the year 1620 in England and end in New England in the year 1676. The book recounts the religious, political, and social history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its influence on our lives today. The narrative follows various groups of settlers from their departure from England through arrival in the New World and their often violent conflicts with the native peoples of the Americas. The authors examine a number of issues that arose in the new society that was founded and the rise and fall of the "city on a hill."
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5 out of 5 stars
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We need a Puritan revival
- By pat hanley on 08-10-21
By: James Lincoln Collier, and others
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Living in the Long Emergency
- Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way Forward
- By: James Howard Kunstler
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
In his 2005 book, The Long Emergency, James Howard Kunstler described the global predicaments that would pitch the USA into political and economic turmoil in the 21st century - the end of affordable oil, climate irregularities, and flagging economic growth, to name a few. Now, he returns with a book that takes an up-close-and-personal approach to how real people are living now - surviving The Long Emergency as it happens.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Please Read Before Buying
- By K. Skoog on 05-12-20
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The Story We Carry in Our Bones
- Irish History for Americans
- By: Juilene Osborne-McKnight
- Narrated by: Juilene Osborne-McKnight
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
More than 40 million people consider themselves Irish American, and yet most of them do not truly understand the rich cultural history of their ancestors. From prehistoric times to the emigration of the Irish to Amerikay, this broad, yet comprehensive, history gives a general overview of the deep history of Irish Americans.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Blown away
- By Bob on 01-27-22
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The Edge of the World
- A Cultural History of the North Sea and the Transformation of Europe
- By: Michael Pye
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Saints and spies, pirates and philosophers, artists and intellectuals: They all crisscrossed the grey North Sea in the so-called "dark ages", the years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of Europe's mastery over the oceans. Now the critically acclaimed Michael Pye reveals the cultural transformation sparked by those men and women: the ideas, technology, science, law, and moral codes that helped create our modern world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Super enjoyable
- By beakt on 10-01-19
By: Michael Pye
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Wanderlust
- An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age
- By: Reid Mitenbuler
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 173
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Story5 out of 5 stars 173
Deep in the Arctic wilderness, Peter Freuchen awoke to find himself buried alive under the snow. During a sudden blizzard the night before, he had taken shelter underneath his dogsled and become trapped there while he slept. Now, as feeling drained from his body, he managed to claw a hole through the ice only to find himself in even greater danger: his beard, wet with condensation from his struggling breath, had frozen to his sled runners and lashed his head in place, exposing it to icy winds that needed only a few minutes to kill him. If Freuchen could escape that, he could escape anything.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazingly in-depth look at an amazing person.
- By Dave on 06-18-23
By: Reid Mitenbuler
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The First Americans: Prehistory – 1600, A History of US, Book 1
- By: Joy Hakim
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 268
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 169
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Story4 out of 5 stars 171
Thousands of years, way before Christopher Columbus set sail, wandering tribes of hunters made their way from Asia across the Bering land bridge to North America. They didn't know it, but they had discovered a New World. The First Americans is a fascinating re-creation of pre-Columbian Native American life, and it's an adventure of a lifetime!
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2 out of 5 stars
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For Kids
- By Matthew on 01-26-05
By: Joy Hakim
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The Written World
- The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization
- By: Martin Puchner
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 89
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Martin Puchner leads us on a remarkable journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Puchner introduces us to numerous visionaries as he explores 16 foundational texts selected from more than 4,000 years of world literature and reveals how writing has inspired the rise and fall of empires and nations, the spark of philosophical and political ideas, and the birth of religious beliefs. Indeed, literature has touched generations and changed the course of history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Powerful and illuminating!
- By Gloria J. Petit-Clair on 12-04-17
By: Martin Puchner
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Amsterdam
- A History of the World's Most Liberal City
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 594
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 533
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 530
In this effortlessly erudite account, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam, showing how such disparate elements as herring anatomy, naked Anabaptists parading through the streets, and an intimate gathering in a 16th-century wine-tasting room had a profound effect on Dutch - and world - history. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, Shorto provides an ever-surprising, intellectually engaging story of Amsterdam from its golden age to the present.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Worth Reading - Highly Recommended
- By Whit B on 05-12-14
By: Russell Shorto
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A History of the World
- By: Andrew Marr
- Narrated by: Andrew Marr, David Timson
- Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 491
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 429
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 430
From the earliest civilizations to the 21st century: a global journey through human history, published alongside a landmark BBC One television series. Our understanding of world history is changing, as new discoveries are made on all the continents and old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey, Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories, from classical Greece and Rome to the rise of Napoleon, but surrounds them with less familiar material, from Peru to the Ukraine, China to the Caribbean.
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5 out of 5 stars
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25 hours of enjoyment
- By Mark on 04-26-13
By: Andrew Marr
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Earning the Rockies
- How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World
- By: Robert D. Kaplan
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 230
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 197
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Story4 out of 5 stars 197
As a boy, Robert D. Kaplan listened to his truck-driver father's evocative stories about traveling across America as a young man, travels in which he learned to understand the country from a ground-level perspective. In Earning the Rockies, Kaplan undertakes his own cross-country journey to recapture an appreciation and understanding of American geography that is often lost in the jet age.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Magnificent book that found a great narrator!
- By BotakTree on 03-09-17
By: Robert D. Kaplan
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China Road
- A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power
- By: Rob Gifford
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 603
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 332
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 329
National Public Radio's Beijing correspondent Rob Gifford recounts his travels along Route 312, the Chinese Mother Road, the longest route in the world's most populous nation. Based on his successful NPR radio series, China Road draws on Gifford's 20 years of observing first-hand this rapidly transforming country, as he travels east to west, from Shanghai to China's border with Kazakhstan. As he takes listeners on this journey, he also takes them through China's past and present while he tries to make sense of this complex nation's potential future.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Outstanding Book on China
- By Sarda on 08-13-07
By: Rob Gifford
What listeners say about Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Jesse
- 08-19-22
2D Examples for 3D Creation
I can personally attest that at least one real world anecdote Mr. Anderson uses is misleading and inaccurate at best. Much of his advice is common knowledge, and he comes off as pompous all while proving how intelligent he is over others from the kids he went to school with, to aspiring authors, to the religious groups he finds disagreement with. There is some to be learned from this book, but I'd venture a guess it could be sought from a simple article somewhere else for less money.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-03-23
felt like I was taking a very easy test.
A lot of information here I already knew, except his personal life, I suppose, wich was useless to me and considering its not a very long read can give you context to how much useful information is here. Narration is fine, old wizard voice is cool.
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