Philosophy bestsellers

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
Length: 15 hours 17 minutes

“Harari's brilliant cross-discipline synthesis of humanity's last 100,000 year story arc is sweeping and brilliant. I would almost use a phrase usually reserved for beach read thrillers-it's a page-turner. Rarely does a book stir up conversation in academic circles while still being so accessible to a general audience. That a history book has... Read more

Four Thousand Weeks

Time Management for Mortals

By: Oliver Burkeman
Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

“This isn't the book you think it is, and that's great news. Rather than offering cheap productivity hacks, this philosophical work instead will help you face two important (albeit uncomfortable) truths: (1) In the 4,000 weeks or so you have to live, you won't be able to get everything you want done, and (2) accepting that will help you redirect... Read more

How to Be Perfect

The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

By: Michael Schur
Narrated by: Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil & Todd May
Length: 9 hours 13 minutes

“Curiosity to Hilarity to Thoughtfulness and all around. Michael Schur's How to Be Perfect as read by himself was fascinating and laugh inducing. I appreciate his due diligence to be real in creating the absurd world of a tv show. The 'notes' Michael offers are like sprinkles on ice cream, thoughts made even more memorable with humor. And some... Read more

On Freedom

By: Timothy Snyder
Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
Length: 10 hours 48 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A brilliant exploration of freedom—what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it’s our only chance for survival—by the acclaimed Yale historian and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller On Tyranny

“A rigorous and visionary argument . . . Buy or borrow this book, read it, take it to heart.”—The... Read more

The Courage to Be Disliked

How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness

By: Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
Narrated by: Noah Galvin, Graeme Malcolm & January LaVoy
Length: 6 hours 28 minutes

An international bestseller and TikTok sensation with more than 10 million copies sold worldwide, The Courage to Be Disliked is a transformative and practical guide to personal happiness and self-fulfillment.

Now you can unlock your full potential and free yourself from the shackles of past traumas and societal expectations to find true personal... Read more

When Breath Becomes Air

By: Paul Kalanithi
Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra & Cassandra Campbell
Length: 5 hours 34 minutes

“With a message both mournful and life-affirming, When Breath Becomes Air chronicles a young doctor's journey from literature student to promising neurosurgeon and finally to a patient in his own hospital after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Always profound, never sentimental, this important book refuses to take refuge in platitudes,... Read more

How to Know a Person

The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

By: David Brooks
Narrated by: David Brooks
Length: 7 hours 27 minutes

“Brooks went from zero to hero in my mind. His deep research and obvious self-reflection glows in this book. I not only have new terminology to grapple with people who don't listen, but also used his story telling inquiry for richer conversations with my family. Read more

How Fascism Works

The Politics of Us and Them

By: Jason Stanley
Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
Length: 5 hours 44 minutes

“With unsettling insight and disturbing clarity, How Fascism Works is an essential guidebook to our current national dilemma of democracy vs. authoritarianism.”—Jelani Cobb, New Yorker staff writer

“No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A Yale... Read more

Discipline Is Destiny

The Power of Self-Control

The Stoic Virtues Series

By: Ryan Holiday
Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
Length: 7 hours 23 minutes

The instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller!

In his New York Times bestselling book Courage is Calling, author Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a bold and brave life. In this much-anticipated second book of his Stoic Virtue series, Holiday celebrates the awesome power of self-discipline and those who have seized... Read more

Solidarity

The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea

By: Leah Hunt-Hendrix & Astra Taylor
Narrated by: Veronica Giguere
Length: 14 hours 12 minutes

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From renowned organizers and activists Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor, comes the first in-depth examination of Solidarity—not just as a rallying cry, but as potent political movement with potential to effect lasting change.

“A window into what is possible when we reject the politics of division, trade... Read more

Bad Education

Why Our Universities Are Broken and How We Can Fix Them

By: Matt Goodwin
Narrated by: Matt Goodwin
Length: 4 hours 56 minutes

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE EXPLOSIVE NEW BOOK FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NATIONAL POPULISM AND VALUES, VOICE AND VIRTUE.

Depressed tutors and disillusioned students. Cheating parents, funding crises and faculty misconduct. Culture wars and campus protests. Welcome to the broken world of academia. Welcome to Bad... Read more

Determined

A Science of Life without Free Will

By: Robert M. Sapolsky
Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
Length: 13 hours 42 minutes

The instant New York Times bestseller

“Excellent…Outstanding for its breadth of research, the liveliness of the writing, and the depth of humanity it conveys.” – Wall Street Journal

One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave, plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating... Read more

Silence

In the Age of Noise

By: Erling Kagge
Narrated by: Atli Gunnarsson
Length: 2 hours 3 minutes

“Kagge's deceptively simple meditation on silence complicates something we all think we understand. Quoting from a wide range of artists and thinkers, Kagge constructs a graceful mosaic of definitions, statements, and paradoxes. We all have a 'primal need for' silence, Kagge states, and in this noisy world, it's 'the new luxury.' Though it's... Read more

Fathoms

The World in the Whale

By: Rebecca Giggs
Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio
Length: 12 hours 5 minutes

“This isn't a scientists memoir about their life studying whales; it's really just a rambling of facts that held me and my friends in fascination as we listened to it on libro.fm during a road trip. WHALES ARE SO INTERESTING! Rebecca lives in Australia and became obsessed with whales when a young humpback washed up too high on her local beach and... Read more

The Eternal Tao Te Ching

The Philosophical Masterwork of Taoism and Its Relevance Today

By: Benjamin Hoff
Narrated by: George Newbern
Length: 1 hour 56 minutes

“The Tao Te Ching is a philosophical text that I frequently revisit, hold dear, and own multiple translations of. Hoff's Eternal Tao Te Ching is a different translation, but one that is extensively studied, and an essential addition to the library of anyone who appreciates the Tao Te Ching. Read more

101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

By: Brianna Wiest
Narrated by: Abby Craden
Length: 10 hours 45 minutes

Over the past few years, Brianna Wiest has gained renown for her deeply moving, philosophical writing. This new compilation of her published work features pieces on why you should pursue purpose over passion, embrace negative thinking, see the wisdom in daily routine, and become aware of the cognitive biases that are creating the way you see... Read more

Right Story, Wrong Story

How to Have Fearless Conversations in Hell

By: Tyson Yunkaporta
Narrated by: Tyson Yunkaporta
Length: 8 hours 46 minutes

Continuing the work of the award-winning Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta casts an Indigenous lens on contemporary society, challenging us to face conflict and embrace conversation to find our way onto the right track. With Right Story, Wrong Story, Apalech Clan member Tyson Yunkaporta, from far north Queensland, tackles the divisions that prevent us... Read more

On Mysticism

The Experience of Ecstasy

By: Simon Critchley
Narrated by: Simon Critchley
Length: 8 hours 17 minutes

Mysticism is about existential ecstasy - an experience of heightening one's senses and self into a sheer feeling of aliveness. Mystical experiences offer us a practical way to open our thoughts and deepen the sense of our lives, whether through a mainstream connection to God or by taking part in mind-altering experiences.

Here, Simon Critchley... Read more

The Second Mountain

The Quest for a Moral Life

By: David Brooks
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
Length: 12 hours 57 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world.

“Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—The Washington Post

Every so often, you meet... Read more

The Art of Communicating

By: Thich Nhat Hanh
Narrated by: Dan Woren
Length: 3 hours 18 minutes

Zen master Thick Nhat Hanh, bestselling author of Peace is Every Step and one of the most respected and celebrated religious leaders in the world, delivers a powerful path to happiness through mastering life's most important skill.How do we say what we mean in a way that the other person can really hear?How can we listen with compassion and... Read more

All Things Are Too Small

Essays in Praise of Excess

By: Becca Rothfeld
Narrated by: Ruth Crawford
Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

A glorious call to throw off restraint and balance in favor of excess, abandon, and disproportion, in essays ranging from such topics as decluttering, mindfulness, David Cronenberg, sadomasochism, and women who wait. All Things Are Too Small is brilliant cultural and literary critic Becca Rothfeld’s plea for derangement: imbalance, obsession,... Read more

Shop Class as Soulcraft

An Inquiry into the Value of Work

By: Matthew B. Crawford
Narrated by: Max Bloomquist
Length: 6 hours 38 minutes

A philosopher/mechanic's wise (and sometimes funny) look at the challenges and pleasures of working with one's hands 

“This is a deep exploration of craftsmanship by someone with real, hands-on knowledge. The book is also quirky, surprising, and sometimes quite moving.” —Richard Sennett, author of The Craftsman

Called “the sleeper hit of the... Read more

How Not to Kill Yourself

A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind

By: Clancy Martin
Narrated by: Clancy Martin
Length: 14 hours 32 minutes

An intimate, insightful, at times even humorous exploration of why the thought of death is so compulsive for some while demonstrating that there’s always another solution—from the acclaimed writer and professor of philosophy, based on his viral essay, “I’m Still Here.”

“If you’re going to write a book about suicide, you have to be willing to say... Read more

What We Owe the Future

By: William MacAskill
Narrated by: William MacAskill
Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

An Oxford philosopher makes the case for “longtermism”—that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time

The fate of the world is in our hands. Humanity’s written history spans only five thousand years. Our yet-unwritten future could last for millions more—or it could end tomorrow. Astonishing numbers of people... Read more

It's Easier than You Think - Abridged

The Buddhist Way to Happiness

By: Sylvia Boorstein
Narrated by: Sylvia Boorstein
Length: 2 hours 51 minutes

Sylvia Boorstein— known by friends and colleagues as a "Jewish grandmother bodhisattva"— is highly-skilled in making the universal wisdom of traditional Buddhist teachings available to all. Using delightful and deceptively powerful stories from everyday experiences, Boorstein demystifies spirituality, charts the path to... Read more

Entitled

How Male Privilege Hurts Women

By: Kate Manne
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
Length: 6 hours 5 minutes

An urgent exploration of men’s entitlement and how it serves to police and punish women, from the acclaimed author of Down Girl

“Kate Manne is a thrilling and provocative feminist thinker. Her work is indispensable.”—Rebecca Traister 

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ATLANTIC

In this bold and stylish critique, Cornell philosopher... Read more

Many Lives, Many Masters

The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives

By: Brian L. Weiss
Narrated by: Fred Sanders
Length: 5 hours 49 minutes

From author and psychotherapist Dr. Brian Weiss comes the classic New York Times bestseller on the true case of the past-life therapy that changed the lives of both the prominent psychiatrist and young patient involved—now featuring a new afterword by the author.

As a traditional psychotherapist, Dr. Brian Weiss was astonished and skeptical when... Read more

Equality

What It Means and Why It Matters

By: Michael J. Sandel & Thomas Piketty
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill & Derek Dysart
Length: 2 hours 32 minutes

In this compelling dialogue, two of the world’s most influential thinkers reflect on the value of equality and debate what citizens and governments should do to narrow the gaps that separate us. Ranging across economics, philosophy, history, and current affairs, Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel consider how far we have come in achieving greater... Read more

The Rigor of Angels

Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality

By: William Egginton
Narrated by: David Glass
Length: 10 hours 14 minutes

A NEW YORK TIMES AND NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A poet, a physicist, and a philosopher explored the greatest enigmas in the universe—the nature of free will, the strange fabric of the cosmos, the true limits of the mind—and each in their own way uncovered a revelatory truth about our place in the world

“[A] mind-expanding book. . . .... Read more

The Courage to Be Happy

Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day

By: Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm, Noah Galvin & January LaVoy
Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

In this follow-up to the international bestseller and TikTok sensation The Courage to Be Disliked, discover how to reconnect with your true self, experience true happiness, and live the life you want.

What if one simple choice could unlock your destiny?

Already a major international bestseller, this eye-opening and accessible follow-up to the... Read more

What Are Children For?

On Ambivalence and Choice

By: Anastasia Berg & Rachel Wiseman
Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens, Kirsten Potter & Zura Johnson
Length: 9 hours 26 minutes

This program features multicast narration.

A modern argument, grounded in philosophy and cultural criticism, about childbearing ambivalence and how to overcome it

Becoming a parent, once the expected outcome of adulthood, is increasingly viewed as a potential threat to the most basic goals and aspirations of modern life. We seek... Read more

We Were Made for These Times

By: Kaira Jewel Lingo
Narrated by: Kaira Jewel Lingo
Length: 3 hours 20 minutes

In ten concise chapters, you'll learn powerful ways to meet life's challenges with wisdom, resilience, and ease.
We all go through times when it feels like the ground is being pulled out from under us. What we relied on as steady and solid may change or even appear to vanish. In this era of global disruption, threats to our individual, social,... Read more

The Republic of Plato

By: Allan Bloom
Narrated by: Adam Verner
Length: 20 hours 36 minutes

The definitive translation of Plato's Republic, the most influential text in the history of Western philosophy

Long regarded as the most accurate rendering of Plato's Republic that has yet been published, this widely acclaimed translation by Allan Bloom was the first to take a strictly literal approach. In addition to the annotated text, there is... Read more

How to Argue With a Meat Eater (And Win Every Time)

By: Ed Winters
Narrated by: Ed Winters
Length: 8 hours 46 minutes

Brought to you by Penguin.

Challenge their beliefs; change the world

If you are a vegan, you’ll know all too well how provocative it can be – you never know when you’ll be challenged or how. But being able to face down and rebut arguments against veganism is hugely important. Not just because many of the arguments lack substance, but because every... Read more

The Open Society and Its Enemies

New One-Volume Edition

By: Karl Popper
Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
Length: 23 hours 17 minutes

One of the most important books of the twentieth century, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. Popper was born in 1902 to a Viennese family of Jewish origin. He taught in Austria until 1937, when he emigrated to New... Read more

From Bacteria to Bach and Back

The Evolution of Minds

By: Daniel C. Dennett
Narrated by: Tom Perkins
Length: 15 hours 44 minutes

What is human consciousness and how is it possible? This question fascinates thinking people from poets and painters to physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. From Bacteria to Bach and Back is Daniel C. Dennett's brilliant answer, extending perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, exploring the deep interactions of... Read more

The Tao of Physics - Abridged

An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism

By: Fritjof Capra
Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
Length: 3 hours 6 minutes

"Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science, but man needs both." —Fritjof Capra, Ph.D.
Their paths to the truth could not be more different—but the amazing thing is that, in their own ways, the mystics and the scientists are discovering the same truths about our world. In non-technical language, with no complex... Read more

The Meaning of Happiness

The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East

By: Alan Watts
Narrated by: Kern Schmidt
Length: 7 hours 1 minute

Deep down, most people think that happiness comes from having or doing something. Here, in Alan Watts’s groundbreaking third book (originally published in 1940), he offers a more challenging thesis: authentic happiness comes from embracing life as a whole in all its contradictions and paradoxes, an attitude that Watts calls the “way of... Read more

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

By: Daniel C. Dennett
Narrated by: Jeff Crawford
Length: 13 hours 22 minutes

Over a storied career, Daniel C. Dennett has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. His answers have combined rigorous argument with strong empirical grounding. And a lot of fun. Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking offers seventy-seven of Dennett’s most successful “imagination-extenders and focus-holders” meant to... Read more

Stand Out of Our Light

Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy

By: James Williams
Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
Length: 4 hours 24 minutes

Former Google advertising executive, now Oxford-trained philosopher James Williams launches a plea to society and to the tech industry to help ensure that the technology we all carry with us every day does not distract us from pursuing our true goals in life. As information becomes ever more plentiful, the resource that is becoming more scarce... Read more

The Good Ancestor

A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking

By: Roman Krznaric
Narrated by: Joe Jameson
Length: 7 hours 52 minutes

A call to save ourselves and our planet by targeting the root of our inaction: extreme short-sightedness“The most important question we must ask ourselves is: Are we being good ancestors?” So said Jonas Salk, who cured polio in 1953. Salk saved millions of lives, but he refused to patent his cure or make any money from it. His radical rethinking... Read more

Congratulations, by the way

Some Thoughts on Kindness

By: George Saunders
Narrated by: George Saunders
Length: 12 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This inspiring meditation on kindness from the author of Lincoln in the Bardo is based on his popular commencement address.

Three months after George Saunders gave a graduation address at Syracuse University, a transcript of that speech was posted on the website of The New York Times, where its simple, uplifting... Read more

People of the Lie Vol. 1 - Abridged

Toward a Psychology of Evil

By: M. Scott Peck
Narrated by: M. Scott Peck
Length: 1 hour 29 minutes

Dr. M. Scott Peck has inspired millions by combining the deepest insights of psychiatry with those of religion. In this first of a three volume audio series based on his bestselling book People of the Lie, Dr. Peck once again integrates religious teaching with the science of psychology as he offers hope for healing one of society's most... Read more

Buddhism

An Introduction to the Buddha's Life, Teachings, and Practices (The Essential Wisdom Library)

The Essential Wisdom Library

By: Joan Duncan Oliver
Narrated by: Joan Duncan Oliver & Juanita Rockwell
Length: 4 hours 50 minutes

This program includes an introduction read by the author.

A modern guide to the teachings of Buddhism.

Buddhism: An Introduction to the Buddha’s Life, Teachings, and Practices is an indispensable guide to a 2,600-year-old wisdom tradition that has transformed the lives of millions across centuries and around the world. Readers will learn how... Read more

The Book That Changed America

How Darwin's Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation

By: Randall Fuller
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
Length: 9 hours 39 minutes

A compelling portrait of a unique moment in American history when the ideas of Charles Darwin reshaped American notions about nature, religion, science and race

“A lively and informative history.” – The New York Times Book Review

Throughout its history America has been torn in two by debates over ideals and beliefs.  Randall Fuller takes us back... Read more

The Conspiracy against the Human Race

A Contrivance of Horror

By: Thomas Ligotti
Narrated by: Jon Padgett
Length: 11 hours 6 minutes

In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality.

"There is a signature motif discernible in both works of philosophical pessimism and... Read more

The Ethical Psychic

A Beginner's Guide to Healing with Integrity, Avoiding Unethical Encounters, and Using Your Gifts for Good

By: Jennifer Lisa Vest, PhD
Narrated by: Cindy Kay
Length: 5 hours 38 minutes

A 101 guide for psychics and energy workers to build an authentic, equitable, and culturally sensitive healing practice, written by Afro-Indigenous intuitive, scholar, and healer Dr. Jennifer Lisa Vest.

Being an ethical psychic means being of service--and learning how to navigate the thorny issues and unique risks inherent to intuitive... Read more

Become What You Are

By: Alan Watts
Narrated by: Jeremy Stockwell
Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

The prominent Zen Buddhist scholar and author of The Wisdom of Insecurity draws on Taoism, Christianity, and other world religions to explore the dilemma of seeking your true self. In this collection, Alan Watts displays the intelligence, playfulness of thought, and simplicity of language that has made him so perennially popular as an... Read more

America's Revolutionary Mind

A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It

By: C. Bradley Thompson
Narrated by: Tom Parks
Length: 18 hours 17 minutes

The purpose of this book is twofold: first, to elucidate the logic, principles, and significance of the Declaration of Independence as the embodiment of the American mind; and, second, to shed light on what John Adams once called the "real American Revolution"; that is, the moral revolution that occurred in the minds of the people in the fifteen... Read more

The Republic

By: Plato
Narrated by: Pat Bottino
Length: 12 hours 37 minutes

In this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, Plato sought to answer some of the world’s most formidable questions: What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish between right and wrong? How should human virtues be translated into a just society? Perhaps the greatest single treatise written on political philosophy,... Read more