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A Personal Odyssey
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Knowledge and Decisions
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This reissue of Thomas Sowell’s classic study of decision making, which includes a preface by the author, updates his seminal work in the context of The Vision of the Anointed. Sowell, one of America’s most celebrated public intellectuals, describes in concrete detail how knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout modern society. He warns that society suffers from an ever-widening gap between firsthand knowledge and decision making—a gap that threatens not only our economic and political efficiency but our very freedom.
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Conquests and Cultures
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This book is the culmination of fifteen years of research and travels that have taken the author completely around the world twice. Its purpose has been to try to understand the role of cultural differences within nations and between nations, today and over the centuries of history, in shaping the economic and social fates of peoples and of whole civilizations.
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- By chris on 15-02-2017
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The Vision of the Anointed
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
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In this devastating critique of the mindset behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years, Thomas Sowell sees what has happened not as a series of isolated mistakes, but as a logical consequence of a vision whose defects have led to disasters in education, crime, family disintegration, and more.
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Everyone should read this book.
- By Beth on 19-03-2019
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Discrimination and Disparities
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 21
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Discrimination and Disparities challenges believers in such one-factor explanations of economic outcome differences as discrimination, exploitation, or genetics. It is listenable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidence with which it backs up its analysis spans the globe and challenges beliefs across the ideological spectrum.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eminently sensible
- By E. J. Lizier on 02-12-2018
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The Righteous Mind
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- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 172
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In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
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5 out of 5 stars
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everyone needs to listen to this book
- By Ken on 02-05-2017
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Race and Culture
- A World View
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- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 10
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In his book Race and Culture, Sowell asks the question: “What is it that allows certain groups to get ahead?” and the answer will undoubtedly create debates for years to come. The thesis of Race and Culture is that productive skills are the key to understanding the economic advancement of particular racial or ethnic groups, as well as countries and civilizations - and that the spread of those skills, whether through migration or conquest, explains much of the advancement of the human race.
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Knowledge and Decisions
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 17
This reissue of Thomas Sowell’s classic study of decision making, which includes a preface by the author, updates his seminal work in the context of The Vision of the Anointed. Sowell, one of America’s most celebrated public intellectuals, describes in concrete detail how knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout modern society. He warns that society suffers from an ever-widening gap between firsthand knowledge and decision making—a gap that threatens not only our economic and political efficiency but our very freedom.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing insight
- By Monica on 20-08-2018
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Conquests and Cultures
- An International History
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 21
This book is the culmination of fifteen years of research and travels that have taken the author completely around the world twice. Its purpose has been to try to understand the role of cultural differences within nations and between nations, today and over the centuries of history, in shaping the economic and social fates of peoples and of whole civilizations.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Share it with your kids while you can
- By chris on 15-02-2017
-
The Vision of the Anointed
- Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 21
In this devastating critique of the mindset behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years, Thomas Sowell sees what has happened not as a series of isolated mistakes, but as a logical consequence of a vision whose defects have led to disasters in education, crime, family disintegration, and more.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Everyone should read this book.
- By Beth on 19-03-2019
-
Discrimination and Disparities
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Discrimination and Disparities challenges believers in such one-factor explanations of economic outcome differences as discrimination, exploitation, or genetics. It is listenable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidence with which it backs up its analysis spans the globe and challenges beliefs across the ideological spectrum.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Eminently sensible
- By E. J. Lizier on 02-12-2018
-
The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 155
In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
everyone needs to listen to this book
- By Ken on 02-05-2017
-
Race and Culture
- A World View
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 10
In his book Race and Culture, Sowell asks the question: “What is it that allows certain groups to get ahead?” and the answer will undoubtedly create debates for years to come. The thesis of Race and Culture is that productive skills are the key to understanding the economic advancement of particular racial or ethnic groups, as well as countries and civilizations - and that the spread of those skills, whether through migration or conquest, explains much of the advancement of the human race.
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Basic Economics, Fifth Edition
- A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 23 hrs and 47 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
In this fifth edition of Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell revises and updates his popular book on commonsense economics, bringing the world into clearer focus through a basic understanding of the fundamental economic principles and how they explain our lives. Drawing on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history, Sowell explains basic economic principles for the general public in plain English.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Everyone should listen to this book
- By Anonymous User on 10-07-2018
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Black Rednecks and White Liberals
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Hugh Mann
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story5 out of 5 stars 55
This explosive new audiobook challenges many of the long-held assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans and Nazis, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on the trendy intellectuals of our times as well as historic interpreters of American life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enlightening
- By Anonymous User on 06-01-2019
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Dismantling America
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
These wide-ranging essays - on many individual political, economic, cultural, and legal issues - have as a recurring, underlying theme the decline of the values and institutions that have sustained and advanced American society for more than two centuries. This decline has been more than erosion. It has, in many cases, been a deliberate dismantling of American values and institutions by people convinced that their superior wisdom and virtue must override both the traditions of the country and the will of the people.
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The Thomas Sowell Reader
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of half a century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell’s letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines. The topics range from latetalking children to tax cuts for the rich, baseball, race, war, the role of judges, medical care, and the rhetoric of politicians.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!
- By Jacob on 19-07-2017
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The Better Angels of Our Nature
- Why Violence Has Declined
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 165
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
We’ve all had the experience of reading about a bloody war or shocking crime and asking, “What is the world coming to?” But we seldom ask, “How bad was the world in the past?” In this startling new book, the best-selling cognitive scientist Steven Pinker shows that the world of the past was much worse. In fact, we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Epic
- By Simon Webster on 30-07-2015
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The Quest for Cosmic Justice
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 18
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 18
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Story5 out of 5 stars 18
This book is about the great moral issues underlying many of the headline-making political controversies of our times. It is not a comforting book but a book about disturbing and dangerous trends. The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies.
Publisher's Summary
The vignettes of the people and places that made impressions on Sowell at various stages of his life range from the poor and powerless to the mighty and the wealthy, from a home for homeless boys to the White House. More than an account of Sowell's life, this is also the story of the people who gave him their help, their support, and their loyalty, as well as those who demonized him and knifed him in the back. It is a study not just of one life, but also of life itself, with all its exhilaration, pain, constant striving, and deserved success.
Critic Reviews
"Offered a job simply because he was a black man, he turned it down and said why. Despite this righteousness, he has retained a sense of humor....Sowell admits to having had plenty of enemies, but enough friends to save him. This memoir should multiply the latter. Jeff Riggenbach...renders the narrative vividly." (AudioFile)
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lukas Koube
- 13-05-2015
Amazing
Thomas so well has an amazing story to tell in this book. You can learn all about his humble start and how he became the greatest intellectual alive.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- M. Ramsour
- 17-05-2007
Helps you understand the man
This autobiography of the economist Thomas Sowell helps you understand how many of his ideas, especially about education, were formed. As a man who was able to reach the heights of academic prominence, he illustrates how high academic expectations for children from any socio-economic background create fertile ground for their future successes. Even though the author had his own academic bumps along the way, due to family problems in high school, the spark was there from his earlier educational experiences to propel his pursuit of excellence forward.
It was also interesting to see how Sowell's own independent streak influenced his odyssey. He is definitely a man who knows his own mind and will not be pushed around by anyone. This is evidenced fairly early in his life and is a theme that continues throughout this book.
I wish he had discussed more the intellectual odyssey that influence the change in his economic philosophy from Marxism to the one he holds today. But, perhaps that is for another book.
I thought that the reader was excellent and made the autobiography come to life.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Chris
- 13-09-2010
Fascinating Story with Good Narration
After reading the print version of Applied Economics, I was curious to know more about Thomas Sowell. This book did a great job of satisfying my curiosity. Though, maybe unintentional, the humor of Thomas Sowell had me laughing out loud many times throughout, which made this an especially easy listen. Humorous bits aside, this is an amazing story that shows what a GED (general equivalency diploma) and years of hard work might get you.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Lynn
- 23-05-2007
Thomas Sowell - hero
This book was one of my favorites from audible.com. Mr. Sowell's intellect comes through with a large amount of humorous irony. The description of his education and academic experience is so "right on" yet very discouraging. I would have loved to have had him for a professor.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sam Motes
- 27-11-2013
What makes the intellectual?
Interesting read on the life events the culminated to make the intellectual Thomas Sowell the man he is today. His strong conservative principals and unfailing convictions come through loud and clear as he struggles through race issues, academic freedom and other character molding events in his history. It was very interesting to hear the story behind what was going on in his life when some of his books came out.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Sabrina
- 27-10-2010
The book is outstanding! The narrator is NOT.
I was hooked to this book when I started it. Sowell offers us a glimpse of the events that shaped his life and his status as a black conservative intellectual. He truly stands heads and shoulders above so many so called intellectuals, primarily because of practical experience he gained through out his life. This is truly an inspiring story.
My chief complaint is the narrator of this story. He reads it with all the emotion of a bad news anchor - that is to say no emotion whatsoever. His voice lacks any of the introspective qualities of the book itself, that it almost robs the listener of the sense that this is personal odyssey. Instead, it sounds as though the author is writing with no emotion whatsoever, even when describing deeply personal moments. I would strongly recommend passing on this audiobook and insteading purchasing the text from Amazon.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- SE Grieve
- 08-12-2018
A Real Story!!
We listened with the audio book as we were driving across town and out of town trips. (Very convenient) Sowell shares his interesting life and experiences. So glad Thomas wasn't afraid to interact with other races. He determined not be held back by Liberals crying, 'Victim'. Also, he did not succumb to programs dedicated to specific minorities.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M.W.C.
- 02-11-2018
Brilliant, entertaining, and touching book
Brilliant, entertaining, and touching book by a truly brilliant and inspirational man. I highly recommend this book, and all books by Thomas Sowell.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Matthew
- 28-08-2018
A delightful read.
A wonderful look into the life of the man whose ideas have greatly influenced my economic training. Thomas Sowell's work ought to be studied in economic classes everywhere.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- M. Kelly
- 22-07-2018
Astonishingly contemporary!
Sowell’s experiences in the 1960s, 70s 80s and 90s read as though it was all happening today - political correctness, unreliable media, and virtue signaling were all alive and well as he was developing his career, eager to examine and tell the truth. Thank God for his perceptiveness and determination not to be sucked in to the prevailing, demeaning racist narrative.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert
- 19-07-2018
Great memoir, tough listening, bad editing.
Wonderful to get to know this man who by his writing on economics, race and culture fed my intellectual hunger for insights and ideas.
I really enjoyed the look into his life and times, also to see how a real intellectual acts and thinks. It’s all very fascinating and the memories have its warmth and sorrow and triumphs.
That being said the reader read to fast and the editing and the starts and stops really took me out of the flow far to often.
Wonderful book though, even with the issues.