Swole
The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $21.84
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Mark Sanderlin
About this listen
From a Washington Post critic and self-described meathead, a witty, incisive, poignant exploration of male body image, from the history of the gym to the politics of superheroes to the world of manfluencers
Michael Andor Brodeur is a Gen-X gay writer with a passion for bodybuilding and an insatiable curiosity about masculinity—a concept in which many men are currently struggling to find their place. In our current moment, where “manfluencers” on TikTok tease their audiences with their latest videos, where right-wing men espouse the importance of being “alpha,” as toxic masculinity and the patriarchy are being rightfully criticized, the nature of masculinity has become murkier than ever.
In excavating this complex topic, Brodeur uses the male body as his guide: its role in cultures from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to Walt Whitman’s essays on manly health, from the rise of Muscular Christianity in 19th-century America to the swollen superheroes and Arnold Schwarzeneggers of Brodeur’s childhood. Interweaving history, cultural criticism, memoir, and reportage, laced with an irrepressible wit, Brodeur takes us into the unique culture centered around men’s bodies, probing its limitations and the promise beyond: how men can love themselves while rejecting the aggression, objectification, and misogyny that have for so long accompanied the quest to become swole.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Disaster Nationalism
- The Downfall of Liberal Civilization
- By: Richard Seymour
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound misunderstanding. While the spotlight often shines on the actions of charismatic leaders, the true peril lies elsewhere. Defeating these people will not stem the tide driving them forward. They are merely the embodiment of profound forces that are rarely understood. Propelled through the vast networks of social media and fueled by far-right influencers, enthralled by images of disaster and fantasies of doom, they have emerged from a reservoir of societal despair, fear, and isolation.
By: Richard Seymour
-
Critical Theory (Second Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Stephen Eric Bronner
- Narrated by: Justin Price
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose—and, if at all possible, cure—the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of leading representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukács and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations.
-
-
Excellent content and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 11-18-24
-
A Rome of One's Own
- The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire
- By: Emma Southon
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Rome of One’s Own is a retelling of the history of Rome with the Important Things, but also all the things Roman history writers relegate to the background—or designate as domestic, feminine, or worthless. This is a history of individuals, twenty-one women who span the length of its territory and its centuries, who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry, lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. A Rome of One’s Own highlights women overlooked and misunderstood, and through them offers a fascinating and groundbreaking chronicle of the ancient world.
-
-
Excellent stories, needlessly foul language
- By ShamaLambaDingDong on 04-14-24
By: Emma Southon
-
The Rediscovery of America
- Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity)
- By: Ned Blackhawk
- Narrated by: Jason Grasl
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most enduring feature of US history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.
-
-
Interesting book marred by poor reading
- By Nathaniel Sterling on 03-04-24
By: Ned Blackhawk
-
Bury Your Gays
- By: Chuck Tingle
- Narrated by: André Santana, Charlie Jane Anders, CJ Leede, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell. But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm," in the upcoming season finale.
-
-
The hype is real.
- By Dan Bugbee on 10-03-24
By: Chuck Tingle
-
The Male Gazed
- On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men
- By: Manuel Betancourt
- Narrated by: Manuel Betancourt
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Male Gazed grapples with the thrall of masculinity, examining its frailty and its attendant anxieties even as it focuses on its erotic potential. Masculinity, Betancourt suggests, isn't suddenly ripe for deconstruction—or even outright destruction—amid so much talk about its inherent toxicity. Looking back over decades' worth of pop culture's attempts to codify and reframe what men can be, wear, do, and desire, this book establishes that to gaze at men is still a subversive act.
-
-
Surprisingly Tedious
- By Alan Daniels on 01-12-24
-
Disaster Nationalism
- The Downfall of Liberal Civilization
- By: Richard Seymour
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rise of the new far right has left the world grappling with a profound misunderstanding. While the spotlight often shines on the actions of charismatic leaders, the true peril lies elsewhere. Defeating these people will not stem the tide driving them forward. They are merely the embodiment of profound forces that are rarely understood. Propelled through the vast networks of social media and fueled by far-right influencers, enthralled by images of disaster and fantasies of doom, they have emerged from a reservoir of societal despair, fear, and isolation.
By: Richard Seymour
-
Critical Theory (Second Edition)
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Stephen Eric Bronner
- Narrated by: Justin Price
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose—and, if at all possible, cure—the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of leading representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukács and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations.
-
-
Excellent content and narration
- By Dr. Krishnendu Ray on 11-18-24
-
A Rome of One's Own
- The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire
- By: Emma Southon
- Narrated by: Danielle Cohen
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Rome of One’s Own is a retelling of the history of Rome with the Important Things, but also all the things Roman history writers relegate to the background—or designate as domestic, feminine, or worthless. This is a history of individuals, twenty-one women who span the length of its territory and its centuries, who caused outrage, led armies in rebellion, wrote poetry, lived independently or under the thumb of emperors. A Rome of One’s Own highlights women overlooked and misunderstood, and through them offers a fascinating and groundbreaking chronicle of the ancient world.
-
-
Excellent stories, needlessly foul language
- By ShamaLambaDingDong on 04-14-24
By: Emma Southon
-
The Rediscovery of America
- Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity)
- By: Ned Blackhawk
- Narrated by: Jason Grasl
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most enduring feature of US history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, with a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.
-
-
Interesting book marred by poor reading
- By Nathaniel Sterling on 03-04-24
By: Ned Blackhawk
-
Bury Your Gays
- By: Chuck Tingle
- Narrated by: André Santana, Charlie Jane Anders, CJ Leede, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell. But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, "for the algorithm," in the upcoming season finale.
-
-
The hype is real.
- By Dan Bugbee on 10-03-24
By: Chuck Tingle
-
The Male Gazed
- On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men
- By: Manuel Betancourt
- Narrated by: Manuel Betancourt
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Male Gazed grapples with the thrall of masculinity, examining its frailty and its attendant anxieties even as it focuses on its erotic potential. Masculinity, Betancourt suggests, isn't suddenly ripe for deconstruction—or even outright destruction—amid so much talk about its inherent toxicity. Looking back over decades' worth of pop culture's attempts to codify and reframe what men can be, wear, do, and desire, this book establishes that to gaze at men is still a subversive act.
-
-
Surprisingly Tedious
- By Alan Daniels on 01-12-24
-
Boyslut
- A Memoir and Manifesto
- By: Zachary Zane
- Narrated by: Zachary Zane
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sex and relationship columnist bares it all in a series of essays—part memoir, part manifesto—that explore the author’s coming of age and coming out as a bisexual man and move toward embracing and celebrating sex unencumbered by shame.
-
-
Great insight and information. Vain human.
- By Lauren B. on 07-27-23
By: Zachary Zane
-
When Brooklyn Was Queer
- By: Hugh Ryan
- Narrated by: Hugh Ryan
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hugh Ryan's When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBT history of Brooklyn, from the early days of Walt Whitman in the 1850s up through the queer women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, and beyond. In intimate, evocative, moving prose, Ryan brings this never-before-told story of Brooklyn's vibrant and forgotten queer history to life.
-
-
A Love Letter
- By Jeffrey on 06-26-19
By: Hugh Ryan
-
Change
- A Novel
- By: Édouard Louis
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Édouard Louis longs for a life beyond the poverty, discrimination, and violence in his working-class hometown-so he sets out for school in Amiens, and, later, university in Paris. He sheds the provincial "Eddy" for an elegant new name, determined to eradicate every aspect of his past. He reads incessantly; he dines with aristocrats; he spends nights with millionaires and drug—dealers alike. Everything he does is motivated by a single obsession: to become someone else.
By: Édouard Louis
-
Reagan
- His Life and Legend
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 32 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this “monumental and impressive” biography, Max Boot, the distinguished political columnist, illuminates the untold story of Ronald Reagan, revealing the man behind the mythology. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred of the fortieth president’s aides, friends, and family members, as well as thousands of newly available documents, Boot provides “the best biography of Ronald Reagan to date” (Robert Mann).
-
-
Remarkable biography of a political giant
- By Rafael Verduzco on 12-01-24
By: Max Boot
-
The Scottish Boy
- By: Alex de Campi
- Narrated by: Richard Pearce
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1333. Edward III is at war with Scotland. Nineteen-year-old Sir Harry de Lyon yearns to prove himself and jumps at the chance when a powerful English baron, William Montagu, invites him on a secret mission with a dozen elite knights. They ride north, to a crumbling Scottish keep, capturing a feral, half-starved boy within and putting the other inhabitants to the sword. But nobody knows why the flower of English knighthood snuck over the border to capture a savage, dirty teenage boy. Montagu gives the boy to Harry as his squire, with only two rules.
-
-
Unexpectedly wonderful
- By Salrena on 02-07-23
By: Alex de Campi
-
Bad Gays
- A Homosexual History
- By: Huw Lemmey, Ben Miller
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We all remember Oscar Wilde, but who speaks for Bosie? What about those 'bad gays' whose un-exemplary lives reveal more than we might expect? Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs but, as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue, the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and dastardly deeds have been overlooked. Based on the hugely popular podcast series, Bad Gays subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about LGBTQ+ history, sexuality and identity through its villains and baddies.
-
-
Stick with the history
- By John Bryan on 03-11-23
By: Huw Lemmey, and others
-
Bored Gay Werewolf
- By: Tony Santorella
- Narrated by: Anthony Nyro
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brian, an aimless slacker, works doubles at his shift job, forgets to clean his room and lays about with his friends Nik and Darby. He's been struggling to manage his transition to adulthood almost as much as his monthly transitions to a werewolf. Really, he is not great at the whole werewolf thing, and his recent murderous slip-ups have caught the attention of Tyler, a Millennial were-mentor determined to take the mythological world by storm.
-
-
Very entertaining
- By Ashley on 06-09-23
By: Tony Santorella
-
Jewish Space Lasers
- The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories
- By: Mike Rothschild
- Narrated by: Jon Vertullo
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018 Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to social media to share her suspicions that the California wildfires were started by 'space solar generators' which were funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Instantly, thousands of people rallied around her, blaming the fires on "Jewish space lasers" and, ultimately, the Rothschild family. For more than 200 years, the name "Rothschild" has been synonymous with two things: great wealth, and conspiracy theories about what they're "really doing" with it.
-
-
An Instant Relic
- By Kindle Customer on 07-17-24
By: Mike Rothschild
-
Leg
- The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It
- By: Greg Marshall
- Narrated by: Greg Marshall
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Greg Marshall's early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes and you'll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he's crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast forward the tape and you'll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man only to discover he's been living in another closet his whole life.
-
-
Funny and sweet
- By Anonymous User on 06-27-24
By: Greg Marshall
-
Mutual Aid
- Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next)
- By: Dean Spade
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is about mutual aid: why it is so important, what it looks like, and how to do it. It provides a grassroots theory of mutual aid, describes how mutual aid is a crucial part of powerful movements for social justice, and offers concrete tools for organizing, such as how to work in groups, how to foster a collective decision-making process, how to prevent and address conflict, and how to deal with burnout.
-
-
An excellent primer on collective good
- By Robert R. Fike on 01-27-22
By: Dean Spade
-
The Two-Parent Privilege
- How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind
- By: Melissa S. Kearney
- Narrated by: Cait Raymond
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution's decline has led to a host of economic woes—problems that have fractured American society and rendered vulnerable populations even more vulnerable.
-
-
Get the printed or ebook version!
- By Wayne on 03-10-24
-
Who's Afraid of Gender?
- By: Judith Butler
- Narrated by: Judith Butler
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Judith Butler, the groundbreaking thinker whose iconic book Gender Trouble redefined how we think about gender and sexuality, confronts the attacks on “gender” that have become central to right-wing movements today. Global networks have formed “anti-gender ideology movements” that are dedicated to circulating a fantasy that gender is a dangerous, perhaps diabolical, threat to families, local cultures, civilization—and even “man” himself. In this book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways that this phantasm of “gender” collects and displaces anxieties and fears of destruction.
-
-
Butler’s reading of Butler was stunning
- By Joseph Schneider on 07-19-24
By: Judith Butler
Critic reviews
“A memoir, history, and critical essay in one, sure to captivate anyone who’s ever pumped—or dreamed of pumping—iron.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“Brodeur maintains a sharp focus on the way Western culture’s perceived mind-body divide has shaped ideas about masculinity . . . Punchy, entertaining, and perceptive, this delivers.”—Publishers Weekly
“If you want your brain to get ripped, jacked, and shredded on the fascinating history of why men obsess over building up their bodies, you need to read Swole. Covering everything from He-Man and TikTok primal manfluencers to the jacked Jesus of Muscular Christianity, Brodeur’s glorious, insightful, and cackle-out-loud hilarious book is destined to be a classic. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to do some push-ups.”—Kevin Alexander, author of Burn the Ice: The American Culinary Revolution and Its End
Related to this topic
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
The Secret History of Christmas
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, over-indulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes and yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.
-
-
Fascinating and Entertaining
- By Laura Carrington on 11-23-22
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Daily Stoic
- 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
- By: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations.
-
-
Not well made as audio
- By Andreas on 12-27-16
By: Ryan Holiday, and others
-
The Parole Room
- By: Ben Austen
- Narrated by: Ben Austen
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will Johnnie Veal—convicted of the murder of two police officers in 1970—be granted parole after 50 years in prison? How can he convince the parole board he’s reformed when he insists he’s innocent? What is prison time even supposed to accomplish? These are the questions that propel The Parole Room forward as it builds toward Johnnie’s 20th parole hearing—after 19 rejections.
-
-
Enlightening story & a must read
- By Patsy on 10-07-24
By: Ben Austen
-
The Mastery of Self
- A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom
- By: Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.
- Narrated by: Charlie Varon
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ancient Toltecs believed that life, as we perceive it, is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and these come together to form the dream of the planet, or the world in which we live. Problems arise when our perception of the dream becomes clouded with negativity, drama, and judgment (of ourselves and others), because it's in these moments of suffering that we have forgotten that we are the architects of our own reality and we have the power to change our dream if we choose.
-
-
listen.. .then listen again
- By Casiano on 12-22-16
-
The Last Days of Cabrini-Green
- By: Ben Austen, Harrison David Rivers
- Narrated by: Ben Austen, Patina Miller, Harry Lennix, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1992, the deadliest year in Chicago’s history, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed in front of his elementary school inside the public housing complex Cabrini-Green. What happened to Dantrell led to a truce among Chicago’s gangs, but it also ignited a national panic about poverty and violence in America’s cities. Dantrell’s name would soon be used to demolish all of Chicago’s high-rise public housing, displacing tens of thousands of low-income families.
-
-
A Gripping and Necessary Work
- By booklover on 11-24-24
By: Ben Austen, and others
-
The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
- Narrated by: Aidan Gillen
- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
-
-
The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Nemo71 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
-
The Secret History of Christmas
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, over-indulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes and yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.
-
-
Fascinating and Entertaining
- By Laura Carrington on 11-23-22
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Daily Stoic
- 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
- By: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations.
-
-
Not well made as audio
- By Andreas on 12-27-16
By: Ryan Holiday, and others
-
The Parole Room
- By: Ben Austen
- Narrated by: Ben Austen
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will Johnnie Veal—convicted of the murder of two police officers in 1970—be granted parole after 50 years in prison? How can he convince the parole board he’s reformed when he insists he’s innocent? What is prison time even supposed to accomplish? These are the questions that propel The Parole Room forward as it builds toward Johnnie’s 20th parole hearing—after 19 rejections.
-
-
Enlightening story & a must read
- By Patsy on 10-07-24
By: Ben Austen
-
The Mastery of Self
- A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom
- By: Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.
- Narrated by: Charlie Varon
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ancient Toltecs believed that life, as we perceive it, is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and these come together to form the dream of the planet, or the world in which we live. Problems arise when our perception of the dream becomes clouded with negativity, drama, and judgment (of ourselves and others), because it's in these moments of suffering that we have forgotten that we are the architects of our own reality and we have the power to change our dream if we choose.
-
-
listen.. .then listen again
- By Casiano on 12-22-16
-
The Last Days of Cabrini-Green
- By: Ben Austen, Harrison David Rivers
- Narrated by: Ben Austen, Patina Miller, Harry Lennix, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1992, the deadliest year in Chicago’s history, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed in front of his elementary school inside the public housing complex Cabrini-Green. What happened to Dantrell led to a truce among Chicago’s gangs, but it also ignited a national panic about poverty and violence in America’s cities. Dantrell’s name would soon be used to demolish all of Chicago’s high-rise public housing, displacing tens of thousands of low-income families.
-
-
A Gripping and Necessary Work
- By booklover on 11-24-24
By: Ben Austen, and others
-
Ho Tactics
- How to MindF**k a Man into Spending, Spoiling, and Sponsoring
- By: G. L. Lambert
- Narrated by: Patrick Stevens
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I have discovered a group of women who refuse to be exploited, are immune to manipulation, and who never settle in the name of love. These ladies know what they want and take what they want by beating men at their own game. Utilizing the secrets exposed in this book, these women gain power, money, and status. Men call them gold diggers, women call them hos, but they call themselves winners. This is the book that society doesn't want you to listen to….
-
-
I spent $24,000 in 4 months
- By B.M. on 10-06-18
By: G. L. Lambert
-
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- As Told to Alex Haley
- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
-
-
it's Nearly perfect
- By Kerry on 09-16-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
-
The Philosopher's Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room
- By: Patrick Grim, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Patrick Grim
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taught by award-winning Professor Patrick Grim of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, The Philosopher’s Toolkit: How to Be the Most Rational Person in Any Room arms you against the perils of bad thinking and supplies you with an arsenal of strategies to help you be more creative, logical, inventive, realistic, and rational in all aspects of your daily life.
-
-
This should NOT be an audio book
- By Brooks Emerson on 03-21-20
By: Patrick Grim, and others
-
I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t)
- Telling the Truth about Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power
- By: Brené Brown
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on seven years of ground-breaking research and hundreds of interviews, I Thought It Was Just Me shines a long-overdue light on an important truth: Our imperfections are what connect us to each other and to our humanity. Our vulnerabilities are not weaknesses; they are powerful reminders to keep our hearts and minds open to the reality that we're all in this together.
-
-
I'm sure its great if you are a mother ....
- By Leslie A Hill on 08-09-11
By: Brené Brown
-
My Big TOE: Awakening
- Book One of a Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics
- By: Thomas Campbell
- Narrated by: Thomas Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My Big TOE: Awakening, written by a nuclear physicist in the language of contemporary culture, unifies science and philosophy, physics and metaphysics, mind and matter, purpose and meaning, the normal and the paranormal. The entirety of human experience (mind, body, and spirit) including both our objective and subjective worlds is brought together under one seamless scientific understanding.
-
-
What a Trip (but to where?)
- By Michael on 11-26-13
By: Thomas Campbell
-
Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
-
-
An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Weight of Nature
- How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains
- By: Clayton Page Aldern
- Narrated by: Clayton Page Aldern
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The march of climate change is stunning and vicious, with rising seas, extreme weather, and oppressive heat blanketing the globe. But its effects on our very brains constitute a public-health crisis that has gone largely unreported. Based on seven years of research, this book by the award-winning journalist and trained neuroscientist Clayton Page Aldern, synthesizes the emerging neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics of global warming and brain health. A masterpiece of literary journalism, this book shows readers how a changing environment is changing us today, from the inside out.
-
-
Uniquely deep story and theme.
- By MWK on 07-28-24
-
Radical Suburbs
- Experimental Living on the Fringes of the American City
- By: Amanda Kolson Hurley
- Narrated by: Kristin Price
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America’s suburbs are not the homogenous places we sometimes take them for. Today’s suburbs are racially, ethnically, and economically diverse, with as many Democratic as Republican voters, a growing population of renters, and rising poverty. The cliche of white picket fences is well past its expiration date. The history of suburbia is equally surprising: American suburbs were once fertile ground for utopian planning, communal living, socially conscious design, and integrated housing. We have forgotten that we built suburbs like these....
-
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
- Searching for an American Utopia
- By: Adrian Shirk
- Narrated by: Adrian Shirk
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Told in a series of essays that balance memoir with fieldwork, Heaven Is a Place on Earth is an idiosyncratic study of American utopian experiments—from the Shakers to the radical faerie communes of Short Mountain to the Bronx rebuilding movement—through the lens of one woman’s quest to create a more communal life in a time of unending economic and social precarity.
-
-
Loved the historical review, personal narrative a bit privileged
- By MomTheZookeeper on 11-25-24
By: Adrian Shirk
-
Boyslut
- A Memoir and Manifesto
- By: Zachary Zane
- Narrated by: Zachary Zane
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sex and relationship columnist bares it all in a series of essays—part memoir, part manifesto—that explore the author’s coming of age and coming out as a bisexual man and move toward embracing and celebrating sex unencumbered by shame.
-
-
Great insight and information. Vain human.
- By Lauren B. on 07-27-23
By: Zachary Zane
-
Raw Dog
- The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
- By: Jamie Loftus
- Narrated by: Jamie Loftus
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge fifteen dollars for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids' food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America's Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog. Raw Dog is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today.
-
-
Not really about hot dogs
- By Amazon Customer on 06-25-23
By: Jamie Loftus
-
Having and Being Had
- By: Eula Biss
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“My adult life can be divided into two distinct parts”, Eula Biss writes, “the time before I owned a washing machine and the time after.” Having just purchased her first home, the poet and essayist now embarks on a provocative exploration of the value system she has bought into. Through a series of engaging exchanges - in libraries and laundromats, over barstools and backyard fences - she examines our assumptions about class and property and the ways we internalize the demands of capitalism.
-
-
self-indulgent, snarky, entitled rant
- By diane on 12-15-20
By: Eula Biss
-
The Weight of Nature
- How a Changing Climate Changes Our Brains
- By: Clayton Page Aldern
- Narrated by: Clayton Page Aldern
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The march of climate change is stunning and vicious, with rising seas, extreme weather, and oppressive heat blanketing the globe. But its effects on our very brains constitute a public-health crisis that has gone largely unreported. Based on seven years of research, this book by the award-winning journalist and trained neuroscientist Clayton Page Aldern, synthesizes the emerging neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics of global warming and brain health. A masterpiece of literary journalism, this book shows readers how a changing environment is changing us today, from the inside out.
-
-
Uniquely deep story and theme.
- By MWK on 07-28-24
-
Radical Suburbs
- Experimental Living on the Fringes of the American City
- By: Amanda Kolson Hurley
- Narrated by: Kristin Price
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America’s suburbs are not the homogenous places we sometimes take them for. Today’s suburbs are racially, ethnically, and economically diverse, with as many Democratic as Republican voters, a growing population of renters, and rising poverty. The cliche of white picket fences is well past its expiration date. The history of suburbia is equally surprising: American suburbs were once fertile ground for utopian planning, communal living, socially conscious design, and integrated housing. We have forgotten that we built suburbs like these....
-
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
- Searching for an American Utopia
- By: Adrian Shirk
- Narrated by: Adrian Shirk
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Told in a series of essays that balance memoir with fieldwork, Heaven Is a Place on Earth is an idiosyncratic study of American utopian experiments—from the Shakers to the radical faerie communes of Short Mountain to the Bronx rebuilding movement—through the lens of one woman’s quest to create a more communal life in a time of unending economic and social precarity.
-
-
Loved the historical review, personal narrative a bit privileged
- By MomTheZookeeper on 11-25-24
By: Adrian Shirk
-
Boyslut
- A Memoir and Manifesto
- By: Zachary Zane
- Narrated by: Zachary Zane
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sex and relationship columnist bares it all in a series of essays—part memoir, part manifesto—that explore the author’s coming of age and coming out as a bisexual man and move toward embracing and celebrating sex unencumbered by shame.
-
-
Great insight and information. Vain human.
- By Lauren B. on 07-27-23
By: Zachary Zane
-
Raw Dog
- The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
- By: Jamie Loftus
- Narrated by: Jamie Loftus
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge fifteen dollars for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids' food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America's Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog. Raw Dog is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today.
-
-
Not really about hot dogs
- By Amazon Customer on 06-25-23
By: Jamie Loftus
-
Having and Being Had
- By: Eula Biss
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“My adult life can be divided into two distinct parts”, Eula Biss writes, “the time before I owned a washing machine and the time after.” Having just purchased her first home, the poet and essayist now embarks on a provocative exploration of the value system she has bought into. Through a series of engaging exchanges - in libraries and laundromats, over barstools and backyard fences - she examines our assumptions about class and property and the ways we internalize the demands of capitalism.
-
-
self-indulgent, snarky, entitled rant
- By diane on 12-15-20
By: Eula Biss
-
Sickening
- How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It
- By: John Abramson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries—yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health care professionals.
-
-
Great info, but I’m confused…
- By Iread on 04-04-22
By: John Abramson
-
Slow Down
- The Degrowth Manifesto
- By: Kohei Saito, Brian Bergstrom - translator
- Narrated by: Troy Glasgow, Kohei Saito
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his international bestseller, Kohei Saito argues that while unfettered capitalism is often blamed for inequality and climate change, subsequent calls for “sustainable growth” and a “Green New Deal” are a dangerous compromise. Instead, Saito advocates for degrowth and deceleration, which he conceives as the slowing of economic activity through the democratic reform of labor and production. In practical terms, he argues for the following:
-
-
Must read
- By Gaya on 06-04-24
By: Kohei Saito, and others
-
Oak Flat
- A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West
- By: Lauren Redniss
- Narrated by: Lauren Redniss, Darrell Dennis, Kyla Garcia, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oak Flat is a serene high-elevation mesa that sits above the Southeastern Arizona desert, 15 miles to the west of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. For the San Carlos tribe, Oak Flat is a holy place, an ancient burial ground and religious site where Apache girls celebrate the coming-of-age ritual known as the Sunrise Ceremony. In 1995, a massive untapped copper reserve was discovered nearby.
-
-
Beautiful Story
- By Amazon Customer on 11-23-21
By: Lauren Redniss
-
Filterworld
- How Algorithms Flattened Culture
- By: Kyle Chayka
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From trendy restaurants to city grids, to TikTok and Netflix feeds the world round, algorithmic recommendations dictate our experiences and choices. The algorithm is present in the familiar neon signs and exposed brick of Internet cafes, be it in Nairobi or Portland, and the skeletal, modern furniture of Airbnbs in cities big and small. Over the last decade, this network of mathematically determined decisions has taken over, almost unnoticed—informing the songs we listen to, the friends with whom we stay in touch—as we’ve grown increasingly accustomed to our insipid new normal.
-
-
This should be a short blog post, not a book
- By Amazon Customer on 02-22-24
By: Kyle Chayka
-
In Tongues
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Grattan
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s 2001, and twenty-four-year-old Gordon—handsome, sensitive, and eager for direction—takes a bus from Minnesota to New York City because it’s the only place for a young gay man to go. As he begins to settle into the city’s punishing rhythm, he gets a job walking rich Manhattanites’ dogs. But it isn’t until he stumbles into the West Village brownstone of two of his clients, the powerful gallery owners Phillip and Nicola, that Gordon learns how much the world has hidden from him—and what he’s capable of doing in order to get it for himself.
-
-
Engaging, smart and witty storytelling!
- By Bruce Cannella on 09-30-24
By: Thomas Grattan
-
When the Clock Broke
- Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
- By: John Ganz
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the Soviet Union extinct, Saddam Hussein defeated, and U.S. power at its zenith, the early 1990s promised a “kinder, gentler America.” Instead, it was a period of rising anger and domestic turmoil, anticipating the polarization and resurgent extremism we know today. In When the Clock Broke, the acclaimed political writer John Ganz tells the story of America’s late-century discontents.
-
-
Amazing history of the early 90s
- By Aaron R. Isaacson on 06-25-24
By: John Ganz
What listeners say about Swole
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Julia Grant
- 06-21-24
Such an enjoyable listen!
This book draws on the author’s own history, as well as his vast knowledge of weight lifting, classical history, art, and other topics that he blends perfectly into an excellent book. It is laugh-out-loud funny at points, cringe-worthy at points, touching at points. The reading is spot-on as well, delivering the ideas perfectly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andres Alfredo Gomez
- 07-05-24
No dumbbell left uncurled
Idk how to review books so this is a summary/review for me.
This book is about men and men’s ideological history. Where do men get their beliefs for masculinity? This book offers readers rich historical perspectives from classical sculptors interpretations of Roman and Greek mythology to the designers and marketers of action hero’s and artistic and non-artisic motives.
In addition to the historical archive this book becomes the author uses personal experiences as a gay man traversing what it means to be a ‘man’ and sheds light on the topic. It is eye opening.
Childhood, adolescence, adulthood, in all stages of life men are asking themselves what is means to be a man and society asks them “how manly are you?” Many men follow a hyper masculine trope that the author, well wrote a whole book about. As he walks us through what i describe the history of ‘men wanting to be masculine’ I found myself seeing that muscles, looks, and wanting to be bigger than the other guy is not necessarily what makes one a man.
This book is a solid choice for any man who wants to understand what gender on a spectrum is. By exposing the audience to the historical accounts of the many Hercules statues, and bodybuilders in an era where their physique was unordinary men are left realizing that the physiques they are worshiping and dying to emulate (quite literally) are on the far end of the masculine presenting spectrum.
I love this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Edward Antonio
- 06-28-24
A wonderful informative history of masculinity and muscle
Provides a historical perspective through a queer lense of masculinity and muscle culture and how it has changed throughout the years. Definitely recommend it, as the author also provides their own experience dealing with masculinity.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JoJo Bear
- 07-15-24
Every man should read this!
Big fan of Michael and after this book I’m even a bigger fan! He paints a picture of my own childhood.
I went in thinking this book was about lifting weights and getting bigger and It turns out it’s about getting older, our bodies and our identities as men!
A must read!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!