Listen free for 30 days
-
Selfie
- How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us
- Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Status Game
- On Social Position and How We Use It
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: Will Storr
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in a group? What makes you, you? For centuries, philosophers and scholars have described human behaviour in terms of sex, power and money. In The Status Game, best-selling author Will Storr radically turns this thinking on its head by arguing that it is our irrepressible craving for status that ultimately defines who we are.
-
-
Oversimplified conclusions to fit the status narrative
- By Bashir Hassan on 02-02-22
-
The Heretics
- Adventures with the Enemies of Science
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do obviously intelligent people believe things in spite of the evidence against them? Will Storr has travelled across the world to meet an extraordinary cast of modern heretics in order to answer this question. He goes on a tour of Holocaust sites with David Irving and a band of neo-Nazis, experiences his own murder during 'past-life regression' hypnosis, takes part in a mass homeopathic overdose, and investigates a new disease affecting tens of thousands of people - a disease that doesn't actually exist.
-
-
It opens up your mind. Didn't expect any less!
- By favianna haliti on 23-07-19
-
The Science of Storytelling
- Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: Will Storr
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stories mould who we are, from our character to our cultural identity. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions, and shape our politics and beliefs. We use them to construct our relationships, to keep order in our law courts, to interpret events in our newspapers and social media. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human.
-
-
own dog food he did not eat!
- By Roger D. on 29-10-19
-
Four Thousand Weeks
- Embrace Your Limits. Change Your Life.
- By: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nobody needs telling that there isn't enough time. We're obsessed by our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Yet we rarely make the conscious connection that these problems only trouble us in the first place, thanks to the ultimate time-management problem: the challenge of how best to use our 4,000 weeks. Four Thousand Weeks is an uplifting, engrossing and deeply realistic exploration of this problem.
-
-
Hard work
- By JC on 14-11-21
-
The Self Illusion
- Why There Is No "You" Inside Your Head
- By: Bruce Hood
- Narrated by: Bruce Hood
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Self Illusion provides a fascinating examination of how the latest science shows that our individual concept of a self is in fact an illusion. Most of us believe that we possess a self - an internal individual who resides inside our bodies, making decisions, authoring actions and possessing free will. The feeling that a single, unified, enduring self inhabits the body is compelling and inescapable. But that sovereignty of the self is increasingly under threat from science as our understanding of the brain advances.
-
-
Well written, well read! I enjoyed disagreeing.
- By Jim Vaughan on 21-01-13
-
Stolen Focus
- Why You Can't Pay Attention
- By: Johann Hari
- Narrated by: Johann Hari
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have we lost our ability to focus? What are the causes? And, most importantly, how do we get it back? For Stolen Focus, internationally best-selling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons why our teenagers now focus on one task for only 65 seconds, and why office workers on average manage only three minutes. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong.
-
-
No substance and not much style
- By the typist on 17-01-22
-
The Status Game
- On Social Position and How We Use It
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: Will Storr
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in a group? What makes you, you? For centuries, philosophers and scholars have described human behaviour in terms of sex, power and money. In The Status Game, best-selling author Will Storr radically turns this thinking on its head by arguing that it is our irrepressible craving for status that ultimately defines who we are.
-
-
Oversimplified conclusions to fit the status narrative
- By Bashir Hassan on 02-02-22
-
The Heretics
- Adventures with the Enemies of Science
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do obviously intelligent people believe things in spite of the evidence against them? Will Storr has travelled across the world to meet an extraordinary cast of modern heretics in order to answer this question. He goes on a tour of Holocaust sites with David Irving and a band of neo-Nazis, experiences his own murder during 'past-life regression' hypnosis, takes part in a mass homeopathic overdose, and investigates a new disease affecting tens of thousands of people - a disease that doesn't actually exist.
-
-
It opens up your mind. Didn't expect any less!
- By favianna haliti on 23-07-19
-
The Science of Storytelling
- Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: Will Storr
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stories mould who we are, from our character to our cultural identity. They drive us to act out our dreams and ambitions, and shape our politics and beliefs. We use them to construct our relationships, to keep order in our law courts, to interpret events in our newspapers and social media. Storytelling is an essential part of what makes us human.
-
-
own dog food he did not eat!
- By Roger D. on 29-10-19
-
Four Thousand Weeks
- Embrace Your Limits. Change Your Life.
- By: Oliver Burkeman
- Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nobody needs telling that there isn't enough time. We're obsessed by our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Yet we rarely make the conscious connection that these problems only trouble us in the first place, thanks to the ultimate time-management problem: the challenge of how best to use our 4,000 weeks. Four Thousand Weeks is an uplifting, engrossing and deeply realistic exploration of this problem.
-
-
Hard work
- By JC on 14-11-21
-
The Self Illusion
- Why There Is No "You" Inside Your Head
- By: Bruce Hood
- Narrated by: Bruce Hood
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Self Illusion provides a fascinating examination of how the latest science shows that our individual concept of a self is in fact an illusion. Most of us believe that we possess a self - an internal individual who resides inside our bodies, making decisions, authoring actions and possessing free will. The feeling that a single, unified, enduring self inhabits the body is compelling and inescapable. But that sovereignty of the self is increasingly under threat from science as our understanding of the brain advances.
-
-
Well written, well read! I enjoyed disagreeing.
- By Jim Vaughan on 21-01-13
-
Stolen Focus
- Why You Can't Pay Attention
- By: Johann Hari
- Narrated by: Johann Hari
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have we lost our ability to focus? What are the causes? And, most importantly, how do we get it back? For Stolen Focus, internationally best-selling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons why our teenagers now focus on one task for only 65 seconds, and why office workers on average manage only three minutes. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong.
-
-
No substance and not much style
- By the typist on 17-01-22
-
The Memory Illusion
- Why You May Not Be Who You Think You Are
- By: Julia Shaw
- Narrated by: Siri Steinmo
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Think you have a good memory? Think again. Memories are our most cherished possessions. We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate records of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why or suddenly being unable to recall the name of someone we've met dozens of times. But what if we have the potential for more profound errors of memory?
-
-
Insufferable narration
- By A on 08-02-18
-
The Growth Delusion
- Why Economists Are Getting It Wrong and What We Can Do About It
- By: David Pilling
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A revelatory and entertaining book about the pitfalls of how we measure our economy and how to correct them, by an award-winning editor of The Financial Times. According to GDP, the economy is in a golden era: economic growth has risen steadily over the past 70 years and shows no sign of stopping. But if this is the case, why are we living in such fractured times, with global populism on the rise and wealth inequality as stark as ever?
-
-
Great book made even better by great narration
- By KF on 08-08-18
-
Rip It Up
- By: Richard Wiseman
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most self-help books encourage you to think differently, to think yourself thin, imagine a richer self or visualize the perfect you. This is difficult, time consuming and often doesn’t work. Drawing on a dazzling array of scientific evidence, psychologist Richard Wiseman presents a radical new insight that turns conventional self-help on its head: simple physical actions represent the quickest, easiest and most powerful way to instantly change how you think and feel.
-
-
Fantastic Read with lots of take-aways!
- By S. Morgan on 23-03-19
-
Tribes
- We Need You to Lead Us
- By: Seth Godin
- Narrated by: Seth Godin
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tribes are groups of people aligned around an idea, connected to a leader and to each other. Tribes make our world work, and always have. The new opportunity is that it's easier than ever to find, organize, and lead a tribe. The Web has enabled an explosion of all kinds of tribes - and created shortage of people to lead them. This is the growth industry of our time. Tribes will help you understand exactly what's at stake, and why YOU can and should lead a tribe of your own.
-
-
Terrible
- By Sam Gamgee on 15-12-13
-
Utopia for Realists
- By: Rutger Bregman
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement.
-
-
Why not do it?
- By kieronmayers on 22-11-18
-
Farmageddon
- The True Cost of Cheap Meat
- By: Philip Lymbery, Isabel Oakeshott
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Farm animals have been disappearing from our fields as the production of food has become a global industry. We no longer know for certain what is entering the food chain and what we are eating - as the UK horsemeat scandal demonstrated. We are reaching a tipping point as the farming revolution threatens our countryside, health, and the quality of our food wherever we live in the world.
-
-
Listen to this if you want to become vegan
- By Sarah on 21-07-15
-
Lost Connections
- Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions
- By: Johann Hari
- Narrated by: Johann Hari
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author of Chasing the Scream, a radically new way of thinking about depression and anxiety. What really causes depression and anxiety - and how can we really solve them?
-
-
Journalist explores his own psychological pain
- By Amazon Customer on 07-05-19
-
Political Order and Political Decay
- From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 24 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fukuyama examines the effects of corruption on governance, and why some societies have been successful at rooting it out. He explores the different legacies of colonialism in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and offers a clear-eyed account of why some regions have thrived and developed more quickly than others. And he boldly reckons with the future of democracy in the face of a rising global middle class and entrenched political paralysis in the West.
-
-
Thought provoking read
- By Kindle Customer on 13-03-21
-
When It Is Darkest
- Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent It
- By: Rory O'Connor
- Narrated by: Rory O'Connor
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When It Is Darkest draws on Rory O'Connor's years of experience in suicide prevention, mental health and psychology and takes a comprehensive look into the reasons behind suicide and how to support someone who is suicidal themselves. Suicide is baffling and devastating in equal measures, and it can affect any one of us - one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Yet despite the scale of the devastation, for family members and friends, suicide is still poorly understood.
-
-
Important insight into suicide
- By Thanos Z. on 23-04-22
-
The Genetic Lottery
- Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
- By: Kathryn Paige Harden
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Genetic Lottery, Harden introduces listeners to the latest genetic science, dismantling dangerous ideas about racial superiority and challenging us to grapple with what equality really means in a world where people are born different. Weaving together personal stories with scientific evidence, Harden shows why our refusal to recognize the power of DNA perpetuates the myth of meritocracy, and argues that we must acknowledge the role of genetic luck if we are ever to create a fair society.
-
-
An annoying book but with some merit
- By Megan on 23-12-21
-
Woke Racism
- How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America
- By: John McWhorter
- Narrated by: John McWhorter
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and acclaimed linguist John McWhorter argues that an illiberal neoracism, disguised as antiracism, is hurting Black communities and weakening the social fabric. In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of 'white privilege' and the weaponisation of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervour of the 'woke mob'.
-
-
WOW! What an incredibly
- By Michael on 16-02-22
-
Night School
- Wake Up to the Power of Sleep
- By: Richard Wiseman
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost a third of your whole life is spent asleep. Night School uncovers the scientific truth about the sleeping brain - and gives powerful tips on how those hours of apparently ‘dead’ time in the dark can transform your waking life.
-
-
Informative with a quirky sense of humour
- By Laura on 19-05-14
Summary
We live in the age of the individual.
We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular. This is our culture's image of the perfect self. We see this person everywhere: in advertising, in the press, all over social media. We're told that to be this person, you just have to follow your dreams, that our potential is limitless, that we are the source of our own success.
But this model of the perfect self can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy. Unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide. Where does this ideal come from? Why is it so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell?
To answer these questions, Selfie takes us from the shores of Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of narcissism and the selfie generation, and right up to the era of hyperindividualistic neoliberalism in which we live now.
It tells the extraordinary story of the person we all know so intimately - our self.
Exclusive to the audiobook, Selfie includes a unique 15-minute interview with the author, Will Storr, and reader, Jack Hawkins.
Critic reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about Selfie
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mr SA Lambe
- 17-08-17
Brilliant
This is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to - and I've listened to a lot! A fantastic combination of sociology, psychology and history - with a bit of politics and economics thrown in. This is the first time I've listened to a book and found it resonating with me, personally ("but that's ME") in places.
A few bonuses - his concise dissections of the financial crisis and the Brexit / Trump phenomenons are pithy and eminently quotable. Also Jack Hawkins reading - and his novel interview with Storr right at the end - are both fabulous.
Oh, and my score was 7 out of 40. Listen to the book, and you'll know what I mean.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JohnLuke
- 07-08-17
A book for for our Time
Thought provoking, revealing and enjoyable. We are not who we think we are, we are not even what others think we are - We are what we think others think we are - This and the destruction of the scientific base for the Rogerian philosophy of Total Positive Regard are significant revelations. Well argued, compelling story telling at its best and isn't that what we have relied upon to form our opinions through the ages. Absolutely worth the read.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- maveric78
- 28-12-18
Great book... horrible title
I was unsure where this was going but it came together beautifully it the last few chapters. The narrator also seems the perfect match for the material.
Only negative is that the title makes it sound unsubstantial or light weight which is absolutely not the case.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. Yarwood
- 29-05-18
Great content but wish I'd read it instead
Fascinating content, but I wish I had just read this one as throughout the audiobook the narrator puts on accents for contributors which range from comical to mildly offensive and really took me out of the story. Muddled through as it was so interesting but the dodgy accents were mildly infuriating.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Drew
- 01-09-17
Wonderful book about the self and all those other selfs
I once had the privilege of seeing the author reading and talk about his previous book 'the heretics' in a Birmingham pub about people who have different and unusual belief systems that favour those more of conspiracy theory than reality. His new book looks more at the self and the self in society. I found it a wonderful book. Looking at a range of selfs (e.g. the dying self, the perfectible self, the good / bad / digital self) telling stories that tell us about ourself and the society we live in. The section on self belief and the story of John Vasconcellos and Storr's trip to a movement where we behave as something else are both diverting and bonkers and we live is strange times (just as we always have). Storr has a wonderful way of writing that can cover both factual information and stories that help highlight and picture the many nuggets of information of which highlight who and what we are. Highly recommended. I loved it and learnt a lot.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 19-07-17
A calming exciting truth.
A refreshing eye-opener with some calming truths. Refreshing to hear solidly researched material in our world of spin and nonsense. l loved it. Thank you.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lisa Obermaier
- 26-03-19
Fascinating account - perhaps too long
The book overall is really fascinating. I learned so much new about or Western Self. The only downer are some veeery long passages, in particular about Eselan, that should have been shortened. I don‘t need to know entire histories in order to get the gist.
Also a few times too biased. To discredit safe spaces at universities by using the most ridiculous examples is very deceptive.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SV
- 05-08-19
excellent
Exceptional performance of a beautifully written and thought-provoking book. Was a pleasure to listen to and would definitely recommend.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mattthomas
- 12-03-19
Thought Provoking and Profound
Thank you Will Storr for writing this book. There is a lot to think about here for all of us living in the modern age. Will change how you see yourself and others, in positive and honest way
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lee Ellison
- 28-01-19
A very interesting listen
This is not a self help book but more of an account of the authors journey into discovering more about his own self esteem issues. It deals with things from suicide to the social media addiction.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Eli
- 17-01-22
Wrong title
I honestly can't really tell what this book is about, but I know what is not about and that's not what the title or the tagline suggest.
I think 95% of the people buying this would think, based on the title, that this is book is about the digital era, but it only touches on that after 8 hours, and then just briefly.
There's some interesting parts, but I found it long and winding and not really going anywhere.
As I said, the title really hurts the book, because it's pretty much clickbait.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 09-02-19
History book of individual human
Great start and great ending. Had a bit hard time in the middle. Connecting some stories to the whole was not easy-going ride. Still would recommend and suggest to just jump chapter if it gets to too much history. The story is jumping anyway, so you can just start the next.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Femke
- 27-01-19
Absolutely reassuring
I loved this book so much, especially the exposure of the self esteem task force (groundbreaking!), the journey throughout history, the humor and how this focus on individualism influences our mental states. Found it greatly reassuring to hear my instincts on achievable goals don't have anything to do with 'underestimating yourself' or anything like that. Must read if you ever feel like not being enough, whilst you got the feeling you should be capable of being anyone you imagine.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Gregor
- 05-06-18
Highly recommended book
As someone very interested in personality, the social sciences in general, l really enjoyed this book.
It was interesting to hear that the author is is a high neurotic personality type like myself and learning about this through his experiences and views helped me tremendously. The narrator is also fantastic.