Showing results by narrator "Martyn Swain" in All Categories

This recording contains four important and related works by Heidegger: 'What Is Philosophy', 'What Is Metaphysics', 'On the Essence of Truth' and 'The Question of Being'.

Secunda Secundae is the longest part in this immense undertaking by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). His purpose was nothing less than to survey the theological teachings of the Catholic Church, while absorbing, controversially for his time, many other strands of learning and philosophy, varying from ancient Greek (particularly Aristotle) to Muslim writers (Averroes and Avicenna) and the Sephardic Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides.  

The Annals, written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (56c-120 CE), is regarded as one of the great literary works of history in the Roman world. Tacitus is considered by many to be the greatest of Roman historians, and The Annals is his’ outstanding achievement. Originally comprising 18 volumes, books 7 to 10 and parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16 have been lost, but those that remain, read here by Martyn Swain, tell the fascinating tale of the Julio Claudian emperors and their times. 

On War was first published in 1832, at a time when muskets and cavalry were a dominating presence on the battlefield. Yet in the 21st century it remains a much-read and studied treatise on the subject – perhaps the most important European classic of its kind – and this despite the author’s demise before he could finish what was an extended review of the whole subject of military strategy. Why is that?

From the moment of its publication in 1748, The Spirit of the Laws proved to be a controversial work provoking widespread interest. Within three years it had been translated into various European languages - and was swiftly added to the List of Prohibited Books by the Roman Catholic Church. It is a remarkable book, a potpourri of observations and comments ranging far and wide over the social activities of mankind and it exerted a great influence on political leaders in the following decades. 

This extraordinary work (Das Wesen Des Christentums) is an anthropological dissection of Christianity in particular and a critique of religion in general. It proved both controversial and influential following its publication in 1841. But soon it became a classic of humanism - so much so that it was none other than George Eliot, under her real name of Marian (Mary Ann) Evans, who felt impelled to undertake the first English translation (1851), and which helped to underscore her humanistic attitudes which infused her novels.  

Summa Theologica Part III (Tertia Pars) is Volume 4 in Ukemi Audiobooks’ complete recording of Thomas Aquinas’s momentous work on Christian theology and philosophy. The presentation of the discussions in Part III follow the pattern we have become so familiar with from earlier Parts with the statement of the question, then a series of objections, further considerations and finally Aquinas’s replies to each of the objections.

The year is 1940, and Great Britain's forces struggle against the Nazi war machine. France has fallen to Adolf Hitler's army, and England is next. A British secret agent pays the ultimate price to deliver early warning to harness the power of the occult to conquer Great Britain by launching a supernatural assault that no defending military force could possibly deflect.

Pangloss would have been right at home in a post-truth, social media world. You can imagine the tweets, “I was hanged and survived #soggyrope,” or, “#nosyphilisnochocolate.” Candide, written in 1759, was never more relevant than today. Blind obeisance and denial, barbarous villainy, greed, and rapacity, are all in a day’s toil for the young Candide. And this is in the best of all possible worlds!

Thomas Aquinas (c1225-1274) died before he could complete his ambitious plan for Summa Theologica, described as ‘a systematic compendium’ of Roman Catholic theology. Drawing on a wide range of Christian sources - and, controversially, on Greek and Latin philosophers as well as Arabian commentators - he sought to explicate matters of doctrine through a specific scheme of Question, Article, Objection, Answer and Reply.  

Though best known for The Scarlet Pimpernel, the Hungarian novelist Baroness Orczy was a prolific and versatile writer who could turn her pen to other genres. So, in the social and literary context of the huge success of Sherlock Holmes, she developed a memorable, but nameless character with remarkable powers of detection. The first stories appeared in The Royal Magazine in 1901, and other series followed. The first collection appeared in book form in 1905. 

An authoritative biography of Thomas Arundel, the English archbishop who overthrew a king Thomas Arundel was a pivotal figure in English politics at the turn of the fifteenth century. His career began in 1373 when, at the age of just twenty, he was ordained as bishop of Ely. By 1396, he had...

In a letter of 1932, Karl Popper described Die beiden Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie–The Two Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Knowledge–as ‘…a child of crises, above all of …the crisis of physics.' The two fundamental problems of knowledge that lie at the center of the book are the problem of induction, that although we are able to observe only a limited number of particular events, science nevertheless advances unrestricted universal statements; and the problem of demarcation, which asks for a separating line between empirical science and non-science.

What do you really know about the people around you? To the residents of leafy Acacia Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. Smith were like any other couple. Living a very ordinary life, in a very ordinary suburb, on the outskirts of a very ordinary city. But behind closed doors, Mr. and Mrs. Smith were at the heart of a world filled with deception and organized crime—and they were the good guys. Inspired by true events and detailing Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s covert deployments, this is first in a series of gripping tales.

The Sceptic Isle provides a bold reassessment of how the British government sold the Second World War to the British public. It powerfully showcases the major credibility gap that cast a long shadow over the British government's efforts to sell the different dimensions of the Second World War to the home front.

A Groundbreaking Analysis of Dallas Willard's Theology of Spiritual Formation Dallas Willard's formational theology begins with the claim that the aim of God in human history is the formation of a community of loving persons apprenticed to Jesus―and ends with the promise that such...

John Wanamaker famously observed that "half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half." Indeed, though advertising is pervasive in our society, how it works (if and when it works) is not a question most of us can answer. In this Very Short Introduction...

Haunted by a past trauma, Cathy yearns for sanctuary away from city life. She finds it with her boyfriend Alfie, at Blacksheep Farm, a haven in the Peaks of Derbyshire. But their peace is blighted by Bertha, the cold-hearted matriarch of Alfie’s family, who is hell-bent on keeping control of the farm—and her children. When a collection of hidden portraits is found by Alfie, Cathy is drawn to their mysterious beauty and embarks on a quest to return them to their owner. But her journey threatens to unearth long-buried secrets and tear her new life apart.

Destructive forces have been eroding the University of Cape Town, Africa’s leading university. This audiobook tells the sad, true tale of what has been transpiring. It is a saga of lunacy, criminality, pandering, and identity politics. The mad and the bad–the deranged, deluded, the depraved–have been granted endless latitude in bullying and abusing others.

Texts from Dad: Hilarious dad releases The Coronavirus Chronicles, inspired by viral texts to daughter during lockdown. Peter Barber’s Coronavirus Chronicles takes listeners on a unique journey through 57 days of lockdown, unraveling the musings, opinions, and downright irreverence Barber would text his daughter daily. The texts rapidly gained global notoriety after being turned into a blog, and now a much-called-for book.