Download Popular Titles Audiobooks in Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

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Title: The Lucifer Effect

Subtitle: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Author: Philip Zimbardo

Narrator: Kevin Foley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 26 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-01-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 328 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Where is the line separating good from evil, and who is in danger of crossing it? Renowned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo has the answers, and in The Lucifer Effect

Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women. Zimbardo is perhaps best known as the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Here, for the first time and in detail, he tells the full story of this landmark study, in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into guards and inmates and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week, the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. By illuminating the psychological causes behind such disturbing metamorphoses, Zimbardo enables us to better understand a variety of harrowing phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. He replaces the long-held notion of the "bad apple" with the "bad barrel" - the idea that the social setting and the system contaminate the individual, rather than the other way around.

This is a book that dares to hold a mirror up to mankind, showing us that we might not be who we think we are. While forcing us to reexamine what we are capable of doing when caught up in the crucible of behavioral dynamics, though, Zimbardo also offers hope. We are capable of resisting evil, he argues, and can even teach ourselves to act heroically.

Critic Reviews:

"Zimbardo challenges readers] to look beyond glib denunciations of evil-doers and ponder our collective responsibility for the world's ills." (

Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

What Most of Us Would Wish To Deny About Ourselves

Where does The Lucifer Effect rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Tough to answer. It is a chore to absorb because the subject is so distasteful and contrary to wishful thinking. As far as value to my personal life is concerned, it rates in the top three. As far as enjoyability is concerned it rates low. This is a "must read" and tears away at the illusion that we are all basically averse to committing atrocious behaviors.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is not a book about characters. It is a work on the CHARACTER of mankind.

What aspect of Kevin Foleys performance would you have changed?

Dunno.

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Title: The Social Animal

Subtitle: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement

Author: David Brooks

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-08-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1302 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

With unequaled insight and brio, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist and best-selling author of Bobos in Paradise, has long explored and explained the way we live. Now, with the intellectual curiosity and emotional wisdom that make his columns among the most read in the nation, Brooks turns to the building blocks of human flourishing in a multilayered, profoundly illuminating work grounded in everyday life.

This is the story of how success happens. It is told through the lives of one composite American couple, Harold and Erica - how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed. Distilling a vast array of information into these two vividly realized characters, Brooks illustrates a fundamental new understanding of human nature. A scientific revolution has occurred - we have learned more about the human brain in the last 30 years than we had in the previous 3,000.

The unconscious mind, it turns out, is most of the mind - not a dark, vestigial place but a creative and enchanted one, where most of the brain's work gets done. This is the realm of emotions, intuitions, biases, longings, genetic predispositions, personality traits, and social norms: the realm where character is formed and where our most important life decisions are made. The natural habitat of The Social Animal.

Drawing on a wealth of current research from numerous disciplines, Brooks takes Harold and Erica from infancy to school; from the "odyssey years" that have come to define young adulthood to the high walls of poverty; from the nature of attachment, love, and commitment, to the nature of effective leadership. He reveals the deeply social aspect of our very minds and exposes the bias in modern culture that overemphasizes rationalism, individualism, and IQ. Along the way, he demolishes conventional definitions of success while looking toward a culture based on trust and humility.

Critic Reviews:

"An uncommonly brilliant blend of sociology, intellect and allegory." (

Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

Finally!

Finally someone, if not laying out the solution, has written something about the real causes of the unequal access to opportunity in our world. And that it can't all be fixed by throwing money at any one thing. He follows two individuals from polar opposite backgrounds - who eventually join to become a couple - through the course of their lives. One person is from an educated background of privilege, the other is from a multicultural environment of poverty, dislocation and stress. What they both have in common is an intuitive grasp of how to make the decisions which will bring the best outcomes. Each person in tuned in to his/her unconscious (or subconscious?) layer of perception, which has nothing to do with their conscious layers of rational thought - but the two combine to bring success in school, good grades, success in a career, money, accolades. etc. Brooks' thesis is that we have two layers operating in our minds/brains/souls. One is conscious, or rational, the other is unconscious, or emotional. And we are of course mostly unaware of this unconscious layer and how it informs our life choices.

Both these characters lead very successful lives, though as Brooks points out, they are not on the top of any scale of IQ numbers, or list of SAT scores, nor are they "connected" through family in any way.

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Title: Willful Blindness

Subtitle: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril

Author: Margaret Heffernan

Narrator: Margaret Heffernan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-01-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 227 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?

Covering everything from our choice of mates to the SEC, Bernard Madoff's investors, the embers of BP's refinery, the military in Afghanistan, and the dog-eat-dog world of subprime mortgage lenders, this provocative book demonstrates how failing to see - or to admit to ourselves or our colleagues - the issues and problems in plain sight can ruin private lives and bring down corporations.

Heffernan explains how willful blindness develops before exploring ways that institutions and individuals can combat it. In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Margaret Heffernan's Willful Blindness is a tour de force on human behavior that will open your eyes.

Critic Reviews:

"[Heffernan] gives us an insightful look into the psychology of denial and makes an ethical and pragmatic argument for engagement rather than deflection. Heffernan's cogent, riveting look at how we behave at our worst encourages us to strive for our best." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Why We Ignore What Is About Us

Margaret Hefferman makes visible a human failing in Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril. In this book she approaches answers to why we willfully ignore what we need to acknowledge the most. The subject is important, according to the author, because we fail to see dangers right before our eyes. From marrying the wrong person, to the Enron fiasco, to the housing bubble, Hefferman alerts the reader to how the persons involved had the requisite information before them all the time and how the situations may have been avoided. Of course, hindsight is better than foresight, but her observations and presentation of research is informative. Hefferman is strongest when applying research to specific situations. She is weakest when she digresses into preaching about current events. She is most informative when she is explaining why organizations and individuals have willful blindness and lacking when she is on a soap box. All of it is valuable, but some of the book is more helpful than others. Her analysis of organizational structure and how it influences the decisions of large organizations is worth the price of the book. She details, for example, the problems of BP in Texas as well as the Gulf spill and explains why top management was blind to what was taking place. Willful blindness afflicts us all. Now, Hefferman has shown light on this timely subject. She reads her own text and does it well.

How Not to Be the Blind Leading the Blind

Margaret Heffernan's "Willful Blindness: Why we Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril" (2011) is in Audible's Nonfiction:Science & Technology:Social Science, along with Malcolm Gladwell's books, including "Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking" (2005) and "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference" (2007).

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Title: Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)

Subtitle: Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts

Author: Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson

Narrator: Marsha Mercant, Joe Barrett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-17-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1568 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why the parade of public figures unable to own up when they screw up? Why the endless marital quarrels over who is right? Why can we see hypocrisy in others but not in ourselves? Are we all liars? Or do we really believe the stories we tell? Backed by years of research and delivered in lively, energetic prose, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinating explanation of self-deception - how it works, the harm it can cause, and how we can overcome it.

Critic Reviews:

"Thanks, in part, to the scientific evidence it provides and the charm of its down-to-earth, commonsensical tone, Mistakes Were Made is convincing. Reading it, we recognize the behavior of our leaders, our loved ones, andif we're honestourselves, and some of the more perplexing mysteries of human nature begin to seem a little clearer." (Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine)

"By turns entertaining, illuminating andwhen you recognize yourself in the stories it tellsmortifying." (The Wall Street Journal)

Members Reviews:

Excellent insights, but a little too long

This book has a lot to offer. I feel that many things will be better in the world if people were aware of what the book says. That being said, I feel that the book could have been shortened and some of the later chapters could be omitted. Also, the book started off on solid ground with all claims being backed by experiments, but later made some far-fetched claims where the authors didn't hold up to the high standards of proof they setup up in the early chapters.

The first 3 chapters were excellent. The authors clearly explain how self-justification works and lay out cognitive dissonance theory. In chapter 3, they go in-depth into how memories can be wrong and how they play into what we want to believe. This was quite a revelation to me how ordinary people could be so wrong about what they remember. I would now be more careful when recalling old memories. They use the pyramid analogy very well in explaining how opinions form and how they harden as you justify them and base more decisions on them, and why it is a good idea not to be too fixed on any opinion or ideology.

The fourth chapter was a good listen. The authors discuss how "recovered memories" proved wrong and how social workers and clinicians with good intentions ended up causing people to "remember" childhood abuse, leading to false accusations and broken families. The authors explain what constitutes proper science, and how individuals, professionals and experts can be completely wrong about something because they haven't examined it critically or scientifically. They give an example of psychotherapy and how psychology clinicians (not scientists) have often caused more harm than good to their patients. Self-justification comes in the way of making people correct themselves, therefore causing more harm. The fifth chapter is about wrongful convictions, and how prosecutors deal with the dissonance of being wrong and sending innocent people to jail. Self-justification comes into play here too. "I sent someone to jail. Therefore, he must be guilty"

In my opinion, chapter 6 made too strong a claim - Relationships and marriages are ruined by self-justification - without proper backup.

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Title: The Pig that Wants to be Eaten: And Ninety-Nine Other Thought Experiments

Author: Julian Baggini

Narrator: Tom Lawrence

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-26-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

Is it right to eat a pig that wants to be eaten...? Thought experiments are short scenarios that pose a moral or philosophical problem in a vivid and concrete way. In this book Julian Baggini presents 100 of the most intriguing thought experiments from the history of philosophy and ideas.

©2005 Julian Baggini (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Members Reviews:

Food for Thought...

If you have ever been asked why you hold the beliefs that you do; if you find yourself getting into those late-night "what if" conversations; if you have struggled tryig to argue against a viewpoint that sounds totally reasonable yet totally wrong: this book might just help you out.

It can be really hard to find any philosophical works on audiobooks, and many philosophical works can seem daunting to the "uninitiated". Julian Baggini has an easy, conversational style, good story-telling skills, and - most importantly - a sense of humour!

The example-stories used to kick off these 100 thought experiments come from sources as wide as ancient Greece and China to modern movies and science-fiction. Some seem like brain-teasers, others like pressing moral issues that might change the way you live your life.

The narrator does an excellent job, and the format of 100 sections of about 5 minutes a piece means that you can dip in and out, read it beginning to end, or pause and re-read what you find most thought-provoking. A must for anyone who lists among their hobbies or pass-times "Thinking" or "Having Conversations"!

Started well

It started well, but very soon began to feel repetitive, and somewhat too technical.

it might suit philosophy majors a bit more.

shallow

An odd book with an ostensibly clever premise.

It's the sort of book that puts into words those odd little existential conumdrums you might think of whilst making a cup of tea.

It just never goes anywhere. To be fair, the author mentions this in the introduction. But it still manages not even to live up to that open-ended, psychology-lite premise. I can't really recommend it as I stopped listening about 5 problems in, in a book of 90.

An almost great book

This book is a decent collection of existing works that is sure to get you thinking.

The only problem I have with it is the intellectual dishonesty of the author, in the beginning; he sets out to make sure that he's presenting to the reader an impartial book, however throughout (and much noticeably towards the end) he shows a lot of personal bias.

I would have no problem with it except the fact that if you are going to make it seem as if you aren't preaching your side as best, stick to that principle.

Otherwise it is a great read and I would recommend it, the narrator does a very good job.

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Title: Bounce

Subtitle: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success

Author: Matthew Syed

Narrator: James Clamp

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-20-10

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 434 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

Why have all the sprinters who have run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds been black?

What's one thing Mozart, Venus Williams, and Michelangelo have in common?

Is it good to praise a child's intelligence?

Why are baseball players so superstitious?

Few things in life are more satisfying than beating a rival. We love to win and hate to lose, whether it's on the playing field or at the ballot box, in the office or in the classroom. In this bold new look at human behavior, award-winning journalist and Olympian Matthew Syed explores the truth about our competitive nature: why we win, why we don't, and how we really play the game of life.

Bounce reveals how competition - the most vivid, primal, and dramatic of human pursuits - provides vital insight into many of the most controversial issues of our time, from biology and economics, to psychology and culture, to genetics and race, to sports and politics.

Backed by cutting-edge scientific research and case studies, Syed shatters long-held myths about meritocracy, talent, performance, and the mind. He explains why some people thrive under pressure and others choke, and weighs the value of innate ability against that of practice, hard work, and will. From sex to math, from the motivation of children to the culture of big business, Bounce shows how competition provides a master key with which to unlock the mysteries of the world.

Members Reviews:

Very eye opening

Very eye opening, especially if you're new to the talent versus effort debate. The book started being a bit too close to Malcom Gladwell's "Outliers", which it quotes several times, but the 1st person experiences from the author bring a very good perspective and great examples. Very well narrated as well. Highly recommend.

takes us beyond Outliers

Fabulous narration. Matthew Syed does a deeper dive into what drives talent, beyond where Gladwell took us. Well researched insights are worth plowing through some familiar ground to get there.

Great book about top performance

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. It explains very interesting aspects of top performances in sports and other areas. It's one of the few books I've read that discusses the phenomenon of "choking under pressure". (Come on researchers, do more research on choking.)

great book from an essential perspective

the chapter on drugs felt out of place, but the rest of the book was awesome. even if you are familiar with some of the content (as i was from reading outliers and other similar books), the material in this book is more exhaustive, and Syed's perspective on the topic (as a world champion and an outlier himself) is essential to understanding topics like expert chunking (e.g. the part where he plays tennis with a pro). great book

One of my favorite books

I have been collecting Self Development books for years but I got to say this one is one of the best. It gives you a clear goal, if you want to be best in your field you need to invest 10 years or 10000 hours to hone your skills, it is not about the talent. Syed provides lot of data to support this argument and it got me to set up a new goals instantly :)

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Title: The Male Brain

Subtitle: A Breakthrough Understanding of How Men and Boys Think

Author: Louann Brizendine

Narrator: Kimberly Farr

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-23-10

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 434 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

Dr. Louann Brizendine, the founder of the first clinic in the country to study gender differences in brain, behavior, and hormones, turns her attention to the male brain, showing how, through every phase of life, the "male reality" is fundamentally different from the female one. Exploring the latest breakthroughs in male psychology and neurology with her trademark accessibility and candor, she reveals that the male brain:

The Male Brain finally overturns the stereotypes. Impeccably researched and at the cutting edge of scientific knowledge, this is a book that every man, and especially every woman bedeviled by a man, will need to own.

Critic Reviews:

"Louann Brizendine has done a great favor for every man who wants to understand the puzzling women in his life. A breezy and enlightening guide to women and a must-read for men." (Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence)

Members Reviews:

Story of the Male Brain

The companion book to The Female Brain (which I think helped me understand my wife, daughter, and mom - although they are yet to agree). Being the owner of a male brain myself, I was pleased to receive an owners manual (seems a little late at 40 - but shoos complaining? Turns out that all the ways my brain fails to help me make good decisions are understandable, if not excusable, by the mix of hormones and wiring that evolution has left my brain to cope with my environment. My male brain changes as I age due to the effect of age related hormones and changes in biochemistry.

Understanding the biological and hormonal routes of my emotions may help me recognize a gap between the reality I perceive the reality that those around may be interpreting. Like most brain books, the central message is that we are dealing with an enormously complex apparatus that may not always cause us to act in our best interest (as evolution cares about passing on genes, not making us or those around us happy). In the future I'm going to use my brain to think about the hormones and molecules being released at any given time when things start to fire wildly (causing stress, anxiety, anger, etc. etc.) - in an effort to recognize that with the passage of time the world may feel somewhat different.

The Male Brain has been pretty well panned in the reviews I've read. My advice is that if you are not a neuroscientist to start than you will get lots out of the book (I did). Brizendine is a good writer and a good storyteller. She may simplify - but simplification in this case advances rather than detracts from understanding.

Facts mixed with interpretation

I found this audiobook to be a plug for Brizendine's personal beliefs. It was fascinating to learn about the various hormones that influence the male brain. I found however, that Brizendine takes many liberties in her interpretation of this data. Her thesis seems to be centered around the idea that males are completely controlled by hormones and simply cannot help themselves in their actions. In other words, we apparently have no choice in the behaviors we participate in. Scholars should not pass their opinions off as facts unless they preface them as such.

Absolutely amazing

loved every minute of it. Can't say so about the female brain.

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Title: The Faith Instinct

Subtitle: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures

Author: Nicholas Wade

Narrator: Alan Sklar

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 141 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

For at least the last 50,000 years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?

In this original and controversial book, Nicholas Wade, a longtime reporter for the New York Times Science section, gathers new evidence showing why religion became so essential in the course of human evolution and how an instinct for faith has been hardwired into human nature. This startling thesis is sure to catch the attention of both believers and nonbelievers.

People of faith may not warm to the view that the mind's receptivity to religion has been shaped by evolution. Atheists may not embrace the idea that religious expression evolved because it conferred essential benefits on ancient societies and their successors. As The Faith Instinct argues, however, both groups must address the fact, little understood before now, that religious behavior is an evolved part of human nature. How did we evolve to believe? Wade shows that the instinct for religious behavior is wired into our neural circuits much like our ability to learn a language. Religion provided the earliest human societies with the equivalents of law and government, giving these societies an edge in the struggle for survival. As a force that binds people together and coordinates social behavior, religion supported another significant set of social behaviors: aggression and warfare. Religious behavior, both good and ill will remain an indelible component of human nature so long as human societies need the security and cohesion that belief provides.

Social scientists once predicted that religion would progressively fade away as societies advanced in wealth and education. They were wrong.

Critic Reviews:

"Sure to be controversial...Wade's study compels us to reconsider the role of evolution in shaping even our most sacred human creations." (

Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

If you're religious or into religion read this

This book helped to change the way I think about religion as a secular/atheist activist and change it for the better.

In The End of Faith, (also available here on Audible ;-) Sam Harris wrote,

"...one of the greatest challenges facing civilization in the twenty-first century is for human beings to learn to speak about their deepest personal concernsabout ethics, spiritual experience, and the inevitability of human sufferingin ways that are not flagrantly irrational. Nothing stands in the way of this project more than the respect we accord religious faith."

As an atheist I simply took this statement as if it were saying, "religion deserves no respect at all if we wish to have a rational discussion." The Faith Instinct brought it home to me that religion (and by association religious faith) when put under rational scientific scrutiny should be respected but not in the/a way we traditionally accord them respect. My only qualm with the book is that the author makes little distinction between morality and moral value and their association to religion.

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Title: The Blank Slate

Subtitle: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Author: Steven Pinker

Narrator: Victor Bevine

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-01-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1615 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits - a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century - denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.

Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense.

NOTE: Some changes to the original text have been made with the author's approval.

Critic Reviews:

"[P]ersuasive and illuminating." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Instant classic

The intellectual vigour demonstrated by Pinker is amazing. He spans a field so wide that most other would have problems keeping any depth, but not here.

Pinker deals with many of the most fundamental philosophical and political issues both with attention to detail and a constant reference to the whole.

It is a tough listen, and I found myself repeatedly rewind and listen to chapters again, to make sure I got it all. I have also bought the paper version, as it is easier to use for quick referencing.

Possibly the book could have been shorter. A version 1/3 of the length would catch most of the argument but with fewer examples, and that would probably suffice for most readers.

As an academic, Pinker is a true inspiration for me to get out of bed earlier, work harder, and examine my subjects more carefully. He truly sets a standard of his own in this field.

Great book from an amazing polymath author

The scope of this book is extremely wide but centered on how the Blank Slate (i.e., the concept that babies have no innate traits and are totally shaped by environment, especially homelife) has permeated our views of many issues, despite being thoroughly discredited by scientific research.

Dr. Pinker examines such varied phenomena as pay disparities between men and women, the decline of popular interest in art, the effect of parenting styles on childhood development, why violence is related to the concept of honor for inner city youth and the Mafia, and many other topics. In each case, he approaches each issue logically but often in a way that is at first counter-intuitive.

His main point is that we need to reject the dogma of the Blank Slate to get at truth. He also examines how those who reject this dogma can be excoriated by the narrow-minded intellectual elite who wish to promote a scientifically unfounded utopian political agenda.

I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in this subject. I cannot remember being more influenced by a book I have read.

Excellent, as expected

I bought this as an audiobook so I would actually have time to read it - my husband read it several years ago and has been encouraging me to do so as well ever since, but although it's sitting on our bookshelf it never actually got read.

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Title: The Birth Order Book

Subtitle: Why You Are the Way You Are

Author: Kevin Leman

Narrator: Wayne Shepherd

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-29-09

Publisher: Oasis Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 227 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Psychology & The Mind

Publisher's Summary:

It's all about birth order. Birth order powerfully influences who you are, whom you marry, the job you choose, and the kind of parent you are. And Dr. Kevin Leman's The Birth Order Book will help you understand yourself, get along better with others, overcome ingrained tendencies you never thought you could get rid of, and be more successful in the workplace.

This revised and updated audio edition of Dr. Leman's classic book includes more than 30 years of experience and research, current examples, and fascinating stories to show how birth order impacts your life. Thousands of people have unlocked the secrets of birth order already. Shouldn't you be one of them?

Members Reviews:

Just for fun

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I have already recommended this book to a few people who I think may benefit from giving it a read, however I do not believe that it lives up to it's, some what exhaustive, claim that it offers 'life changing' wisdom within it's pages/wavelengths.

What could Kevin Leman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Usually when I buy a book of this kind I am looking for lots of real life application suggestions. This book offers little in that regard.

Have you listened to any of Wayne Shepherds other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first I have listened to narration by Wayne Shepherd. I would happily recommend his performances.

Any additional comments?

This book was a fun read/listen but my personal opinion is that the psycographic profiles presented by Dr Leman are a bit too exacting and few people would fit into such a precise frame.I give this book a star rating of 462 out of 1000...

Bleh, like reading a horoscope

Sadly, this book fell well short of my expectations. I was hoping for some real insight into what makes a person tick. Instead, this book was more like a long, drawn-out horoscope. Leman makes little effort to substantiate his claims with objective evidence.

I did get a sense of the three basic personality types.

First born: Conscientious, orderly, organized, driven to please mom and dad

Middle child: Peace maker, independent, chooses a different route to recognition than older siblings

Last born: Disorganized, impulsive, attention-seeking, creative

However, those personality classes are very difficult to apply. Why? Because his definition of who is in those categories is vague. You are a first-born if you are the first girl or first boy in your family, or if your next older sibling is at least 5 years older than you. Similarly, you are a last-born if you are the youngest in your family, or if your next younger sibling is at least 5 years younger than you. A middle child is one who doesn't fit those categories.

I have an older sister (15 months older), and a brother who is about 5 years younger. That makes me a first-born and a last-born. But in many ways, I also fit the definition of a middle child. How uninteresting is THAT?! Without a clear picture of what class you're in, the book descends into an arbitrary list of personality types, and my personality spans across all of them.