-
Civilized to Death
- The Price of Progress
- Narrated by: Christopher Ryan
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $18.89
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Sex at Dawn
- How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships
- By: Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson, Jonathan Davis, Christopher Ryan (Preface)
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing....
-
-
Narrator
- By Jacqueline Sorrels on 05-25-19
By: Christopher Ryan, and others
-
The Comfort Crisis
- Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
- By: Michael Easter
- Narrated by: Michael Easter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
-
-
beyond expectations
- By CassieM on 06-03-21
By: Michael Easter
-
Black Elk Speaks
- Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition
- By: John G. Neihardt
- Narrated by: Robin Neihardt
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely hailed as a spiritual classic, this inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during the epic closing decades of the Old West. In 1930, the aging Black Elk met a kindred spirit, the famed poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
-
-
A book that will change your life...
- By Robert on 03-14-14
By: John G. Neihardt
-
The Denial of Death
- By: Ernest Becker
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie: man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates more than 30 years after its writing.
-
-
Not for the closed-minded
- By Yhatze on 05-27-17
By: Ernest Becker
-
The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution - from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality - and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
-
-
Embarrassingly Bad
- By Jason on 11-15-21
By: David Graeber, and others
-
Enlightenment Now
- The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West but worldwide.
-
-
Good information but a ponderous dissertation
- By JDC on 08-28-18
By: Steven Pinker
-
Sex at Dawn
- How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships
- By: Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson, Jonathan Davis, Christopher Ryan (Preface)
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing....
-
-
Narrator
- By Jacqueline Sorrels on 05-25-19
By: Christopher Ryan, and others
-
The Comfort Crisis
- Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
- By: Michael Easter
- Narrated by: Michael Easter
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
-
-
beyond expectations
- By CassieM on 06-03-21
By: Michael Easter
-
Black Elk Speaks
- Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition
- By: John G. Neihardt
- Narrated by: Robin Neihardt
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Widely hailed as a spiritual classic, this inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during the epic closing decades of the Old West. In 1930, the aging Black Elk met a kindred spirit, the famed poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt (1881–1973) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
-
-
A book that will change your life...
- By Robert on 03-14-14
By: John G. Neihardt
-
The Denial of Death
- By: Ernest Becker
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie: man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates more than 30 years after its writing.
-
-
Not for the closed-minded
- By Yhatze on 05-27-17
By: Ernest Becker
-
The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution - from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality - and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
-
-
Embarrassingly Bad
- By Jason on 11-15-21
By: David Graeber, and others
-
Enlightenment Now
- The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West but worldwide.
-
-
Good information but a ponderous dissertation
- By JDC on 08-28-18
By: Steven Pinker
-
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.
-
-
Good stuff, but mostly repeats
- By Amazon Customer on 09-13-18
-
The Wim Hof Method
- Activate Your Full Human Potential
- By: Wim Hof, Elissa Epel PhD
- Narrated by: Apolo Anton Ohno
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wim Hof has a message for each of us: “You can literally do the impossible. You can overcome disease, improve your mental health and physical performance, and even control your physiology so you can thrive in any stressful situation.” With The Wim Hof Method, this trailblazer of human potential shares a method that anyone can use - young or old, sick or healthy - to supercharge their capacity for strength, vitality, and happiness.
-
-
Outstanding book
- By Fred on 10-21-20
By: Wim Hof, and others
-
Sapiens
- A Brief History of Humankind
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
-
-
Fascinating, despite claims of errors
- By Jonas Blomberg Ghini on 12-09-19
-
12 Rules for Life
- An Antidote to Chaos
- By: Jordan B. Peterson, Norman Doidge MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Jordan B. Peterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research. Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.
-
-
Fairly religious view toward the "Rules for Life"
- By Amazon Customer on 02-09-20
By: Jordan B. Peterson, and others
-
A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century
- Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life
- By: Heather Heying, Bret Weinstein
- Narrated by: Heather Heying, Bret Weinstein
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided, and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness, and chronic illness continue to skyrocket. How do we explain the gap between these truths? And how should we respond? For evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, the cause of our troubles is clear: The accelerating rate of change in the modern world has outstripped the capacity of our brains and bodies to adapt.
-
-
Presents conjecture and bias as science
- By Reviewer on 09-16-21
By: Heather Heying, and others
-
The War on the West
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is now in vogue to celebrate non-Western cultures and disparage Western ones. Some of this is a much-needed reckoning, but much of it fatally undermines the very things that created the greatest, most humane civilization in the world. In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric.
-
-
Every Human (seriously, everyone) Read This!
- By aaron on 04-27-22
By: Douglas Murray
-
The Happiness Hypothesis
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Ryan Vincent Anderson
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Happiness Hypothesis is about ten Great Ideas. Each chapter is an attempt to savor one idea that has been discovered by several of the world's civilizations - to question it in light of what we now know from scientific research, and to extract from it the lessons that still apply to our modern lives and illuminate the causes of human flourishing. Award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Righteous Mind, shows how a deeper understanding of the world's philosophical wisdom and its enduring maxims can enrich and even transform our lives.
-
-
Amazing book, terrible choice in voice.
- By JAMES on 02-05-19
By: Jonathan Haidt
-
Tribe
- On Homecoming and Belonging
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Sebastian Junger
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians - but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life.
-
-
The most profound book on the subject
- By joseph on 05-26-16
By: Sebastian Junger
-
The Coddling of the American Mind
- How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
- By: Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The culture of “safety” and its intolerance of opposing viewpoints has left many young people anxious and unprepared for adult life. Lukianoff and Haidt offer a comprehensive set of reforms that will strengthen young people and institutions, allowing us all to reap the benefits of diversity, including viewpoint diversity. This is a book for anyone who is confused by what’s happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live and work and cooperate across party lines.
-
-
Only Praise
- By Amazon Customer on 12-02-18
By: Jonathan Haidt, and others
-
The World Until Yesterday
- What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence.
-
-
A visit with our ancient ancestors
- By BRB on 01-30-13
By: Jared Diamond
-
Maps of Meaning
- By: Jordan B. Peterson
- Narrated by: Jordan B. Peterson
- Length: 30 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos comes a provocative hypothesis that explores the connection between what modern neuropsychology tells us about the brain and what rituals, myths, and religious stories have long narrated. A cutting-edge work that brings together neuropsychology, cognitive science, and Freudian and Jungian approaches to mythology and narrative, Maps of Meaning presents a rich theory that makes the wisdom and meaning of myth accessible to the critical modern mind.
-
-
The lectures are many times better
- By Katarina on 04-13-19
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
As a complete layman, this is very good
- By Donald Carroll on 09-13-18
By: James C. Scott
Publisher's Summary
The New York Times best-selling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live — how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die — in this “engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking” (Booklist) book.
Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending - balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are, and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the "progress" defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.
Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process?
Civilized to Death “will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light” (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that “the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want to the earth to outlive us” (Psychology Today). Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future.
More from the same
What listeners say about Civilized to Death
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-21-19
Brilliant
The one negative review I have seen was written by someone who clearly hadn’t made it to the first chapter because Chris patiently and eloquently walks through all possible angles and perceptions of what he is discussing. This is a great book for our current crossroads and important listening/reading for locusts and grasshoppers alike.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JEMUMN
- 06-23-20
Littered with misrepresentations/misrepresentation
This is the first review I have ever written in 8 years of using Audible. I have a PhD in psychology from a large well-respected state university. As such, I'm well-positioned to spot the many misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the psychological literature cited in this book. They're all over the place. Honestly, I'm amazed how Ryan, who apparently earned his PhD in psychology from Saybrook University (a largely online program based in San Francisco from what I can tell), could so butcher the literature he cites in this book, without it being intentional. Skip this one. This isn't science. This is a polemic based on cherry-picked data and a poor understanding of actual science. You can hear in his narration that this man has an ax to grind. Scientists, at least good scientists, don't grind axes.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Andrew in Ohio
- 10-08-19
I couldn't stop listening.
Thanks to Chris Ryan for writing this.
You confirmed deep suspicions in my psyche that something was off about how I was raised, how life is planned, and how I relate to others. I don't need drugs or therapy to numb me out. I need the kind of therapy, relationships, and lifestyle that brings me closer to my natural state. As I've been doing this over the past couple years, my depression has waned, my anxiety has lessened, my discontent has subsided more and more. I am much happier eating an avocado than crembule. Happier with a beach bonfire than a loud club. More at peace with a hike than with the treadmill. We need the message in this book of simplicity, of acceptance of our nature, and the acknowledgement of our animal nature. These don't need to be damned, but understood and celebrated. Hopefully we all take the wisdom of taking a step back from all this "progress" to see what we have lost in the process.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 12-13-19
Half-Baked Rousseau
I thought Sex at Dawn was one of the most insightful books I've ever read, so I was willing to stay with this one until the end, but it's terrible. Ryan extrapolated way too much from his expertise and passed on Sahlins and Diamond in an uncritical and hyperbolic way. Too bad.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Damian
- 12-18-19
A Book that make you rethink life
Civilized To Death is an amazing book! Each chapter, after chapter kept me engaged, and interested in learning more of the reality of our past, and how our society control us. However, there were times in this book that I completely disagree with the author, but regardless, I appreciate it thinking. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!!!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ciaran O'Regan
- 12-11-19
We need to think deeper about our own Zoo.
This is a book I have been looking forward to for years due to Ryan's podcast and it did not disappoint. Ryan has produced (and narrated here) what I imagine will be the cause of a very big ripple in Western culture. We are in the midst of a meaning crisis with some symptoms of the crisis being a toxic divisive political circus, mass distraction through consumerism, and environmental destruction. Recent books like this one, "Tribe" by Sebastien Junger, "Lost Connections" by Johann Hari, along with evolutionary theory (and some might say common sense) point to the possibility that the cause of our meaning crisis may simply be the fact that the meaning and purpose we all need to thrive may be found by trying to live in accordance with our nature as a social ape who craves acceptance, belonging, and a collective to whom we as individuals can contribute to the wellbeing of.
To nit pick on some issues I had due to my current knowledge base and subsequent biases I docked a star each for Story and Overall. To provide some balance to a few of the brilliant arguments put forward by Ryan here I would highly recommend curious people who liked this book to check out "Stubborn Attachments" by Economist Tyler Cowen and also "The Beginning of Infinity" by Physicist David Deutsch.
Bravo Chris. This is an astounding piece of work that is very much needed.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ian Frand
- 12-10-19
Well presented case for the common man's malaise
This was a well presented, well written, and very interesting argument. I appreciated the constant references found therein and also the fact that the author was skeptical of himself throughout. I really appreciated his way of crafting sentences and ideas. You can tell he's a fan of literary work. Science based that incorporates humanity unlike most books on scientific subjects that seem to ignore the human condition. Looking forward to more from this author.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Konnor C
- 12-06-19
Congintive Dissonance
While the premise of the book is excellent, the pessimistic view of the modern world is down right depressing. I agree that our genetic make up has not yet caught up with the modern world. But the author, while condemning civilization, proposes “solutions” to society’s ills via left wing big government programs that only “civilization” can provide. So he offers more “civilized” solutions, yet whines about modern society? Cognitive dissonance much? I bought this book to read a critique on modern civilization and not to read some anti-free market, anti-rich, socialist rant by some rich author from California. Note to the author: people can cooperate in a free market society. Denmark is one of them.
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-15-21
Waste of time
Got drawn in by the title. It's trash. This book is just a shallow far left take on how society is bad. Socialism is good. Private property is exclusionary blah blah blah. Then depicts the "uncivilized" as these carefree characters from Pocahontas talking to wolves. It's basically a conservative's satire of what a liberal would say about progress. Don't waste your time.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Josh
- 11-02-21
Just go talk to a Nihilistic Emo teenager from rich parents
Very excited about this book after hearing about it on JRE. Really gave it my all to try and learn some key takeaways. Christopher narrates it himself quite well however it felt like all of the arguments he makes to prove his controversial claims consists of reading quotes from other people on a mocking tone and making a quick jab before moving on without discrediting anything they’ve claimed.
The entire writing simply is dripping with this “we’re all going to die because of Western powers and capitalism so screw it all we’re doomed anyway”. I would really have liked to see this book have been a resource to how to navigate the landscape we now find ourselves in from technology but instead it’s just the ranting of a modern liberal who is mad at the world.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jack
- 10-29-19
This book is life changing
I wondered why at 23 I still felt trapped, inadequate, not good enough. But this is the message our modern world drills into us. Work more, consume more, chase money, chase power, more more more. So this is moment I decide to go back to what matters. To live on purpose. To not live to work. To be human
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Roberto Miguel
- 10-01-19
Absolutely outstanding.
Simple and clear. Outstanding work Doc. I have followed Dr Chris Ryan for while now and his take on life has changed my outlook in so many ways. Thank you for that.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Paul d.
- 03-20-20
awful
Such a waste of time. incredibly negative outlook. Do not bother buying this book. Feel worse than before listening to it
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 01-20-20
Utterly enthralling. This makes my all-time top 5
Erudite and engaging without the pomposity of most academic tomes. I can't stop talking about this book.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall

- seardin
- 07-11-20
An interesting view but not the whole story.
Some interesting points about what we can learn from hunter gatherers but completely ignores the astonishing progress made in recent times. If you read this be sure to also read Hans Rosling's Factfullness so you are aware of the other side of the argument.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- catherine jeffrey
- 03-31-20
c19 : Read during selfisolation from corona virus
haha well I now think civilisation is a pretty good thing Christopher Ryan.
When you are cut off from it you star to appreciate the finer details of what made life in London with its fast public transport, meuseums, art galleries, dating in romantic restaurant and music festivals in Hyde park so extraordinarily CIVILIZED.
c19 is hell of a virus.
Appreciate westerner civilisation.
I've had a tiny taste of life without it and it even that was hell.
This book is well written but wow did I disagreed with most of it sitting indoors with food and essentials running low during self-isolation from covid 19.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall

- Anonymous User
- 07-09-22
Well recommended!!
Laser-sharp, broad and deep insights about us and our journey through self-harm and utopian future to come.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ross
- 06-26-22
outstanding
terrifying but eye opening. I'd recommend to anyone and hope the new generations hear it
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Edward O'Dwyer-Smith
- 05-18-22
Back to the Past in the Future
Great conclusion. I'd love to see some references for other writers talking about how to rewild and hunter gatherer your life up.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 03-28-22
Nice
Most listen at least 2 times. A great experience and great story telling nice work
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 12-19-19
Chris , you’ve changed my life
When I first listened to you on Joe Rogan’s podcast I hated you - you touched every nerve of my fears and insecurities surrounding my relationship and femininity.
As I caught myself in the act of switching off the podcast , I stopped instead and decided to shore up my courage and continue to listen . I am profoundly grateful that I did . The more podcasts I listened to with you and Joe and Duncan the more I couldn’t help agreeing with so much of what you say.
I have now finished Sex at Dawn and now this incredible book , Civilized to Death and it has given me a great insight into how we interrelate and the cognitive dissonance suffered by so many of us living in this ‘civilized’ world.
I don’t know how to thank someone who has probably afforded the general populace with the two biggest paradigm-shifting works of all time , so...
Thank you x
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Thomas
- 11-03-19
incredible
no non fiction book has made me question everything I know than this masterpiece.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MrGherkin
- 11-30-19
Listen, for it might change you.
A confirmation that this inner dissatisfaction is nothing to be ashamed of. Thank you Christopher
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rob
- 11-05-19
Asking hard and interesting questions
It was great. Deeply interesting, revealing much about the human condition and our origins. This is then used to explore the ways our present fails to live up to these truths. I found the writing style to be informative and entertaining, as the author has a many moments of witty word play that kept me engaged. Definitely worth your time even if you don't argee with the conclusion. The information and ideas explored in the book are valuable and raise questions worth asking and answering.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Caselka
- 06-30-22
An essential for everyone.
Chris not only brings up important questions, but he also has a fairly neutral point of view. In mode cases, he allows the listener to take their own stance on the ideologies within this book. This book is imperative for everyone and should be a part of school curriculums.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 07-28-21
Good for the soul
I loved it! and everyone should read it and that is enough said so fuck your 15 word minimum Audible.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 04-01-21
An unrelenting indictment of our civilization
Chris Ryan makes us reconsider the quality of life of modern society, and asks why we should look back to our pre-aggrecultral lifestyle for answers to the biggest issues we face today.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Chromothripsis
- 03-21-21
Great!
Brought up many facts and figures, a very interesting thesis on the negatives of our advancing societies. Because this is an audiobook, i could not find the references to the facts listed, but I expect they can be found online!
Definitely something i would listen to again. Thankyou
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rachel
- 11-07-20
Fabulous!!
This book really resonated with me. Well thought out, well researched and well read. Definitely worth listening to change the paradigm of modern western society.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ryan.Mc
- 09-23-20
Eye opening
So glad to hear the author read the audiobook,
loved every minute of it, also loved how much this reveals about my own feelings that I had not yet understood..