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How We Are

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

We are creatures of habit, living most of our lives automatically, in small worlds of more or less comfortable routine. But sometimes outside forces compel us to adjust, and sometimes we must make changes ourselves. What happens when change disrupts our lives? This book is the first in a trilogy which offers an insight unlike any other into the human mind and heart: how we are, how we break, and how we mend. It is about all of us, humbly figuring out how to live.

©2015 Vincent Deary (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Consciousness & Thought Mental Health Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health

Critic reviews

Exhilarating, lyrical, consoling... His voice is pleasingly sardonic one of a peer who finds this stuff as difficult and disorientating as the rest of us (Oliver Burkeman)
A book about human nature. It's crammed with ideas. It makes your head spin, in a good way (William Leith)
Fascinating, profound, wonderfully well-observed... [How We Are] could change lives (Bel Mooney)
An honest, self-searching voice, rich in images and characters' stories (Antonia Macaro)
All stars
Most relevant
Just a brilliant book, needed to listen to it too as there was so much to take in. Written with clarity, humour and profound wisdom. Now onto How We Break.. and roll on the third instalment

A Book Brimming with ideas

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This is a marvellous book. The writing is full of rich analogy and striking examples from literature, film, personal and professional experience. I have bought the actual book because the audio narration was troubling.
The “voice” has a resonant baritone quality and standard English pronunciation. It has a recurring cadence that drops to the same pitch in every sentence. It misreads and mispronounces foreign words because it is, I suspect, at least partially AI generated. The “reader “ applies the same intonation to every statement without giving any sense of engagement with the text. I would buy the audio book again, read by the author or someone able to do justice to the exceptional writing.

A book that explores the human condition

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I get the feeling that the author is coming from his heart. The narrator isn't.

Don't be put off by the narrator.

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