Download the New Releases Audiobooks in Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Importance of Being Civil

Author: John A. Hall

Narrator: Richard Allen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-26-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Civility is desirable and possible, but can this fragile ideal be guaranteed? The Importance of Being Civil offers the most comprehensive look at the nature and advantages of civility, throughout history and in our world today. Esteemed sociologist John Hall expands our understanding of civility as related to larger social forces - including revolution, imperialism, capitalism, nationalism, and war - and the ways that such elements limit the potential for civility. Combining wide-ranging historical and comparative evidence with social and moral theory, Hall examines how the nature of civility has fluctuated in the last three centuries, how it became lost, and how it was reestablished in the 20th century following the two world wars. He also considers why civility is currently breaking down and what can be done to mitigate this threat.

Paying particular attention to the importance of individualism, of rules allowing people to create their own identities, Hall offers a composite definition of civility. He focuses on the nature of agreeing to differ over many issues, the significance of fashion and consumption, the benefits of inclusive politics on the nature of identity, the greater ability of the United States in integrating immigrants in comparison to Europe, and the conditions likely to assure peace in international affairs. Hall factors in those who are opposed to civility, and the various methods with which states have destroyed civil and cooperative relations in society.

The Importance of Being Civil is a decisive and sophisticated addition to the discussion of civil society in its modern cultural and historical contexts.

Members Reviews:

Staggeringly naive, assertions not backed up

The book was a disappointment. Assertions were made without bothering to cite any relevant data or statistics to support the assertions (e.g., about rampant racism and low levels of racial intermarriage in United States). Statements were made and simply left there (e.g., about the inevitable failure of austerity measures, while failing to make a counterproposal about where the loaves and fishes would come from to support the social spending). Failure to understand crucial social trends were also made (e.g., statements about ethnic groups moving into Western countries and not being allowed to assimilate in and not seeking social safety net supports, when in fact many individuals within such groups not only actively seek social support but also actively avoid assimilating and prefer to remain within their cultural enclaves and maintain traditions that are at odds with the cultural values of the country to which they have moved). Overall, a book of assertions without a great deal of support.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Our Bodies, Whose Property

Author: Anne Phillips

Narrator: Julia Farhat

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-26-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

No one wants to be treated like an object, regarded as an item of property, or put up for sale. Yet many people frame personal autonomy in terms of self-ownership, representing themselves as property owners with the right to do as they wish with their bodies. Others do not use the language of property, but are similarly insistent on the rights of free individuals to decide for themselves whether to engage in commercial transactions for sex, reproduction, or organ sales. Drawing on analyses of rape, surrogacy, and markets in human organs, Our Bodies, Whose Property? challenges notions of freedom based on ownership of our bodies and argues against the normalization of markets in bodily services and parts.

Anne Phillips explores the risks associated with metaphors of property and the reasons why the commodification of the body remains problematic.What, she asks, is wrong with thinking of oneself as the owner of one's body? What is wrong with making our bodies available for rent or sale? What, if anything, is the difference between markets in sex, reproduction, or human body parts, and the other markets we commonly applaud? Phillips contends that body markets occupy the outer edges of a continuum that is, in some way, a feature of all labor markets. But she also emphasizes that we all have bodies, and considers the implications of this otherwise banal fact for equality. Bodies remind us of shared vulnerability, alerting us to the common experience of living as embodied beings in the same world.

Examining the complex issue of body exceptionalism, Our Bodies, Whose Property? demonstrates that treating the body as property makes human equality harder to comprehend.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Contagion

Subtitle: Health, Fear, Sovereignty: Global Re-Visions

Author: Bruce Magnusson, Zahi Zalloua

Narrator: Alexander MacDonald

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-09-13

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Over many decades, "contagion" has been a metaphor of choice for everything from global terrorism, suicide bombings, poverty, immigration, global financial crises, human rights, fast food, obesity, divorce, and homosexuality. Essays examine the language of epidemiology used in the war on terror, the repressive effects of global disease surveillance, and films and novels that enact the perplexities of contagion in a global context. Fear of microbial disaster becomes a framework for larger questions about the nature and location of sovereignty and the related questions of contact and hygienic isolation, fear and invisibility, the hazards of sociability, the security of surveillance, and what a healthy security might mean. Utilizing the cross-disciplinary approach of global studies, contagion emerges as a vexed trope for globalization itself.

Bruce Magnusson is associate professor of politics and the director of global studies and Zahi Zalloua is associate professor of French and general studies, both at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

Contributors:

Alberto S. Galindo, assistant professor of Spanish, Whitman College

Andrew Lakoff, associate professor of anthropology, communications, and sociology at the University of Southern California

Christian Moraru, professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro

Paul B. Stares, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations

Priscilla Wald, professor of English and women's studies at Duke University

Geoffrey Whitehall, associate professor of political science at Acadia University, Nova Scotia

Mona Yacoubian, special adviser to the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the U.S. Institute of Peace

Members Reviews:

A strange admixture, but - interesting

All kinds of dimensions of "contagion" are here, and it emerges as a central metaphor of how we organize our world nowadays, subjectively and collectively. But the journey to this point is quirky. The introduction was somewhat misleading, as I thought, crestfallen, "oh no, a politicized hectoring on leftish-academic themes in trendy abstract terms by spoiled effete impudent snobs with the usual too-obvious 'bad guys' and no sense of ironic self-awareness but instead a sort of righteousness ...." But straightaway, the book's first essays offered up some straight-faced tutorials on epidemiological and military trends in managing contagion issues in today's world, as in, microbial diseases and ideologies with the terrorism label. Then it veered back toward the sort of post-structuralist, deconstructionist, modern French lit-crit stuff that, frankly, is a guilty pleasure I can find stimulating and imaginative (particularly when it escapes the Marxist rhetorical baggage some academics endlessly schlep around). There was some discussion of modern popular culture from zombie fiction to DeLillo's novels (including Cosmopolis, available here). At some point, it was working: I got this great eerie feeling of being transported to spooky new ways of mapping my emerging world, much as I got listening recently to Hyperobjects (another audio available here, in that same vein). I like thinkers who turn my comfortable world inside out and leave me a little (or a lot) disturbed.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: On Admiration

Subtitle: Heros, Heroines, Role Models, and Mentors

Author: W. D. Wetherell

Narrator: Erik Davies

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-07-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

In a refreshing departure from today's celebrity worship cultivated by reality television, tabloid photos, and celebrity twittering, award-winning novelist W.D. Wetherell's On Admiration celebrates the heroes and heroines who have peopled his life from his earliest years. Writers, singers, presidents, athletes, cartoonists, artists, activists, and many more are examined here- from Henry David Thoreau to Willa Cather to Albert Camus to Dwight D. Eisenhower to Winston Churchill to Beverly Sills - in this humorous, insightful memoir that speaks powerfully about the state of fame, celebrity culture, and honest admiration.Wetherell skillfully reminds us of the magic and mystery that comes with slow discovery - of that first awareness of those figures who awoke something within us, that inspired us as children, teenagers, and adults - forever altering the landscape of ourselves. From visiting Herman Melville's study where Melville wrote Moby Dick to being a Rangers fan living in NYC - Wetherell examines the meaning of the American cultural landscape - and its remnants - in a candid and personal memoir like no other before him. With this lively and exacting series of pop culture essays, Wetherell joins the ranks of David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, and Chuck Klosterman.

Editorial Reviews:

In On Admiration: Heros, Heroines, Role Models, and Mentors, acclaimed writer W. D. Wetherell approaches a memoir from a different angle: Rather than simply recounting his life, he details the influences that have made him who he is today. Warmly performed by experienced voice actor Erik Davies, Wetherell's candid pop culture essays reference people as diverse as Henry David Thoreau, Albert Camus, and Winston Churchill. A deep, thoughtful collection that distances itself from today's shallow celebrity culture, On Admiration is an enjoyable listen that celebrates truly inspirational cultural icons.

Members Reviews:

Bridget's Review

It's hard not to fall in love with certain celebrities and be mesmerized by their every move. It is sad that famous people can be an overnight sensation just by partying like idiots. We as humans should be more amazed by a person who uses their resources to help all of mankind. W.D. Wetherell knows and explains in his book how admiring the wrong people can affect the way you act and feel. I really enjoyed this book and think that this book will be especially helpful to today's teens.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Better Than Homemade

Subtitle: Amazing Food That Changed the Way We Eat

Author: Carolyn Wyman

Narrator: Nancy Wu

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 02-27-13

Publisher: Recorded Books

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Americans pride themselves in their knack for innovation, and nowhere has Americas can-do attitude been more apparent than at the supermarket. Need a cheese that is virtually indestructible? Want to find a way to stretch a pound of hamburger into a hearty main course for a family of five? Hard pressed for time to throw together a home-cooked meal? In the early decades of the 20th century, and from the world wars to the cold wars, food producers and everyday dreamers met these challenges with the same ingenuity and resourcefulness that launched the country to the moon and back, with groundbreaking packaging, new technologies, and improvements on Mother Nature.

Better Than Homemade is food biographer Carolyn Wymans freewheeling and entertaining cultural history of the innovative packaged foods that changed the way we eat. It highlights the fascinating stories behind the food inventions; the histories behind the brands and icons that have become synonymous with them; the jingles that have made them such a large part of our popular culture; and the recipes that have tutored generations of homemakers and comfort-food master chefs.

Members Reviews:

Great for people that enjoy knowing the history of food

Great for people that enjoy knowing the history of food. Wish there were a few more recipes but I didn't buy it for that.

Retro walk down memory lane good bathroom book.

Retro walk down memory lane good bathroom book.

Great Book

A real keeper for those who are interested in just where all our processed foods come from. Easy read, lots of pix, many historical ads and facts. A good supplement to Wyman's "I'm a Spam Fan." Her style differing slightly from her "I'm a Spam Fan," you'll find that Ms. Wyman's work, "Better Than Homemade," has a bit more of a bite to it. There are some poignant jests aimed at the food scientists, marketeers and the American Consumer. But all is in good fun and the main thrust of her book is that we have invented some really cool products that have honestly changed our way of thinking about what we eat.

Love nostalgia? Love shows like Unwrapped

Love nostalgia? Love shows like Unwrapped? Love FOOD? Then you will LOVE this book! With fascinating tidbits on everything from Hamburger Helper to Reddi-Whip, from Jiffy Pop to Pringles, Tater Tots and Velveeta, this book truly had something for everyone's taste. One WARNING, though... this book might make you very, very hungry!

Amazingly Entertaining - and Educational Too!

I like to collect pop culture "curio" books, and this is one of my favorites. It's lightly humorous while being very interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone casually interested in food, trivia, and pop culture. It's also great for people who take forever to poke through the asiles of the supermarket, reading all of the labels and product packaging out of interest more than anything else. Highly recommended, and also a great gift idea for children to discuss with parents or grandparents who "lived through it."

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: How Hemlines Predict the Economy

Subtitle: Explanations, Rationalizations, and Theories on Everything

Author: Peter FitzSimons

Narrator: Robin Bloodworth

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-21-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Hilarious riffs on life from a man's perspective. Why does the dominant partner in any sexual relationship usually sleep on the side of the bed nearest the door? Is there a direct relationship between the length of hemlines and the state of the national economy? Are odd numbers evil? And why do drivers with hats drive 20 miles per hour slower than those without?These are the big questions of life, and it takes a brave man to tackle them.

Author, broadcaster, and columnist Peter FitzSimons is the ideal guide to the weird world of the popular theory, the urban myth, and the land of "did you know...?" His offbeat, insightful, and painfully funny takes on our world will have listeners laughing out loud and recounting every last anecdote to friends and family. FitzSimons' knack for witty and wise observations of everything from relationship phenomena to street traffic is sure to leave all American readers wondering why they haven't read him until now. A perfect gift for the man who has everything but answers.

Editorial Reviews:

Why do people wearing hats drive more slowly? Why does the dominant partner in a romantic relationship always sleep near the door? Why do people in some countries tilt their heads to the left when they kiss, and others to the right? In this amusing audiobook, narrated in a smooth baritone by Robin Bloodworth, Australian writer and broadcaster Peter FitzSimons shares a collection of folk theories about relationships, science, life, death, and everything in between. Less serious than the title might make it seem, these are light, chuckle-worthy pieces that probably won't help you win an argument, but will give you plenty to talk about at your next dinner party.

Members Reviews:

Lighthearted

I have enjoyed listening to this audio book, it is full of interesting facts and clever research and analysis of common behaviours in both sexes.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: My Friend the Fanatic

Subtitle: Travels with a Radical Islamist

Author: Sadanand Dhume

Narrator: Andrew Randall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

A nation once synonymous with tolerance, Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, and the world's most populous Muslim country, now finds itself in the midst of a profound shift toward radical Islam. Sadanand Dhume, a Princeton-educated Indian atheist with a fondness for literary fiction and an interest in economic development, travels to Indonesia to find out how a society goes from broad inclusiveness to shrill intolerance in the space of a generation. His traveling companion is Herry Nurdi, a young Islamist who hero-worships Osama bin Laden. Together, their travels span mosques and discotheques, prison cells and dormitories, sacred volcanoes and temple ruins, forging an uneasy friendship that offers a first-hand look into the crucible of radical Islam's future.

With Indonesia's first presidential election in five years scheduled for April 2009, My Friend the Fanatic is a disturbing and poignant journey through the battleground for Islam's future.

Editorial Reviews:

A respected international journalists captivating reconnaissance of the divided psyche of the worlds most populous Muslim country, the historically moderate Indonesia.

In tones filled with wonder, surprise, and no judgment, Andrew Randall paints an aural portrait of the mosques, discotheques, prison cells, sacred volcanoes, temple ruins, and Indonesian people. Herry Nurdi, an Osama bin Laden hero-worshipping editor of an influential Islamist magazine presents to the Princeton-educated, Indian, foreign correspondent, and author Sadanand Dhume. Their experience is a journey of discovery into how a rise in democracy has led to a darkening of the countrys soul.

Members Reviews:

Interesting setting and people

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The subject and presentation is interesting. It tells the story of the authors travels through Indonesia. The "fanatic " he travels with is an interesting fellow and provides a novel perspective on Islamization. The book itself feels a bit disjointed but that didn't really bother me because the subject was fascinating.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: ARCADIA

Subtitle: Changing High Schools for the Real 21st Century

Author: Beverly Enwall

Narrator: Beverly Enwall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-03-13

Publisher: Asgaard Viking Editions

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

There has to be a reason for learning, and it has to be one that makes sense to the learner. The purpose of education is not to preserve the good old days nor is it to create a Utopia in the midst of our imperfect society. The mission of a school is to provide education, the kind of education that helps each child explore and develop his or her individual abilities. We've lost sight of that. And until we "fix" that, we will not fix the system. It cannot be fixed by band-aids nor by bandwagons. But it can be addressed with common sense and a willingness to evict a few sacred cows from the pastures. To turn your high school into an Arcadia will not require great sums of money. But it will require work, and it will require a bit of courage.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: VangoNotes for Psychology, 5/e

Author: Stephen F. Davis

Narrator: Stow Lovejoy, Alyson Silverman

Format: Original Recording

Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-09-11

Publisher: Pearson Education, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Study on the go with VangoNotes. Just download chapter reviews from Psychology, 4/e and listen to them on your mp3 player. Now wherever you are -- whatever you're doing -- you can study by listening to the following for each chapter of your textbook:

©2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Members Reviews:

It Sucked!

This review only went over like 1/8 of the chapter before it started quizzing you on it. Which I thought really sucked! I figured it would be more details about the chapter to help me study and remember, not just straight to the quizzing almost.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: A Brush with Nature

Subtitle: 25 Years of Personal Reflections on Nature

Author: Richard Mabey

Narrator: Cameron Stewart

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences

Publisher's Summary:

Richard Mabey is Britains foremost nature writer. He has written a regular column for BBC Wildlife Magazine for over 25 years and, in doing so, has created a passionate, lyrical and deeply personal record of the natural world.'A Brush with Nature' is an absorbing anthology of Richards best writing, a collection that stands out not just because of the quality of his work, but also because of its unparalleled scope - from observational reflections on nature, to questions about its relationship with language, art and life.

Members Reviews:

Shame about the voice

Mabey is always worth attention, and this is a fine collection of his columns. Sadly, the narrator is one of these rather sardonic types who seem to suck much of the life out of good prose. Still, the content is good enough to make up for it and make this worth a listen.