Humanly Possible cover art

Humanly Possible

The great humanist experiment in living

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Humanly Possible

By: Sarah Bakewell
Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The bestselling, prizewinning author of How to Live and At the Existentialist Café brings us a celebration of 700 years of human endeavour and achievement, in which dozens of philosophers, scientists, classicists, architects, educationalists and others explore the art of being human

Humanly Possible is a wide-ranging, personal, thought-provoking and entertaining journey through the battle of ideas over some 700 years of history—mostly, but not exclusively, in Europe. Through a mixture of biography and philosophy, Bakewell seeks to understand what humanism is, why it has continued to flourish despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, tyrants and cultural pessimists of all kinds, and exactly why we should value and defend it in the 21st century.

©2023 Sarah Bakewell (P)2023 Penguin Audio Consciousness & Thought History History & Philosophy Movements Philosophers Philosophy Professionals & Academics Science Humanism

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All stars
Most relevant
As with all Sarah Bakewell’s book that I’ve read to date, this is another masterpiece. The narration is as good as it gets also.

Amazing

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The team from heaven: a brilliant author and a brilliant narrator. Audible at its best.

Excellent - twice over

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Conscious cognoscentient human being's represent humanity and humanity is the measure of all conscious cognoscentient human being's creativity.

Humanity has no higher authority than humanity itself.

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Entertaining, engaging and profound. Provides grounds for optimism and encouragement to engage with anti-humanists

Quite brilliant

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An enthralling account of a wonderful collection of characters over a wide span of varied history, telling the story of their voyage to enlighten themselves and others.

Utterly compelling and beautifully narrated.

Insightful and Compelling

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