
Abominations
Selected Essays from a Career of Courting Self-Destruction
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Narrated by:
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Lionel Shriver
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By:
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Lionel Shriver
About this listen
“A rare voice, someone who challenges orthodoxies in the way that many journalists and public intellectuals claim to do but don’t. It is bracing to spend time in the company of such a smart, plain-spoken and unpredictable person.”—Wall Street Journal
A striking collection of essays from the prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Should We Stay or Should We Go, So Much for That, and The Post-Birthday World.
Novelist, cultural observer, and social satirist Lionel Shriver is among the sharpest talents of our age. A writer who embraces “under-expressed, unpopular or downright dangerous” points of view, she filets cherished shibboleths and the conformity of thought and attitude that has overtaken us.
Bringing together thirty-five works curated from her many columns, features, essays, and op-eds for the likes of the Spectator, the Guardian, the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, speeches and reviews, and some unpublished pieces, Abominations reveals Shriver at her most iconoclastic and personal. Relentlessly skeptical, cutting, and contrarian, this collection showcases Shriver’s piquant opinions on a wide range of topics, including religion, politics, illness, mortality, family and friends, tennis, gender, immigration, consumerism, health care, and taxes.
In her characteristically frank manner, Shriver shrewdly skewers the concept of language “crimes,” while chafing at arbitrary limitations on speech and literature that crimp artistic expression and threaten intellectual freedom. Many an essay in Abominations reflects sentiments that have “brought hell and damnation down on my head,” as she cheerfully explains, and have threatened her with “cancellation” more than once.
Throughout, Shriver offers insights on her novels and explores the perks and pitfalls of becoming a successful artist. In revisiting old pieces and rejected essays, Shriver updates and expands her thinking. “Enlightened” progressive readers will find plenty to challenge here. But they may find, to their surprise, insights with which they agree.
A timely synthesis of Shriver's expansive work, Abominations reveals this provocative, talented writer at her most assured.
©2022 Lionel Shriver (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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Physics has always been engaged in the pursuit of expanding our knowledge of the nature of matter and the world around us. But how can you use experiments to further this quest? How do you measure the mass of a particle a trillion times smaller than a grain of sand? And, finally, why is all this important? In The Matter of Everything, accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the people who, through a combination of genius, persistence and luck, staged the experiments that changed the course of history.
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Outstanding History of Curiosity-Driven Science
- By Ryan on 04-29-23
By: Suzie Sheehy
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The Purpose of Power
- How We Come Together When We Fall Apart
- By: Alicia Garza
- Narrated by: Alicia Garza
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2013, Alicia Garza wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal of the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. Garza wrote: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. With the speed and networking capacities of social media, #BlackLivesMatter became the hashtag heard ’round the world. But Garza knew even then that hashtags don’t start movements - people do.
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Black Lives Matter is not about rioting: read this
- By Miracle on 10-21-20
By: Alicia Garza
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Under the Sky We Make
- How to Be Human in a Warming World
- By: Kimberly Nicholas PhD
- Narrated by: Kimberly Nicholas PhD
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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After speaking to the international public for close to fifteen years about sustainability, climate scientist Dr. Nicholas realized that concerned people were getting the wrong message about the climate crisis. Yes, companies and governments are hugely responsible for the mess we're in. But individuals CAN effect real, significant, and lasting change to solve this problem. Nicholas explores finding purpose in a warming world, combining her scientific expertise and her lived, personal experience in a way that seems fresh and deeply urgent.
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a book everyone needs to hear
- By John on 01-08-23
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The Hidden Half of Nature
- The Microbial Roots of Life and Health
- By: David R. Montgomery, Anne Bikle
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting exploration of how microbes are transforming the way we see nature and ourselves - and could revolutionize agriculture and medicine. Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. Good health - for people and for plants - depends on Earth's smallest creatures. The Hidden Half of Nature tells the story of our tangled relationship with microbes and their potential to revolutionize agriculture and medicine, from garden to gut.
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A perfect introduction to microbiology
- By Ary Shalizi on 02-17-17
By: David R. Montgomery, and others
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Mott Street
- A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming
- By: Ava Chin
- Narrated by: Ava Chin
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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As the only child of a single mother in Queens, Ava Chin found her family’s origins to be shrouded in mystery. She had never met her father, and her grandparents’ stories didn’t match the history she read at school. Mott Street traces Chin’s quest to understand her Chinese American family’s story. Over decades of painstaking research, she finds not only her father but also the building that provided a refuge for them all.
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Captivating, fascinating and important read!
- By E. on 11-18-23
By: Ava Chin
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Parasite Rex
- Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and the darkest shadows of science. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer takes listeners on a fantastic voyage into the secret universe of these extraordinary life forms that are not only among the most highly evolved on Earth, but make up the majority of life's diversity. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the parasite-riddled war zone of southern Sudan, Zimmer introduces an array of amazing creatures that invade their hosts, prey on them from within, and control their behavior.
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Fascinating, Repetitive and reading disaster
- By Spiral, on 04-02-20
By: Carl Zimmer
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Hello World
- Being Human in the Age of Algorithms
- By: Hannah Fry
- Narrated by: Hannah Fry
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Hello World takes us on a tour through the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us on a daily basis. Mathematician Hannah Fry reveals their inner workings, showing us how algorithms are written and implemented, and demonstrates the ways in which human bias can literally be written into the code. By weaving in relatable, real world stories with accessible explanations of the underlying mathematics that power algorithms, Hello World helps us to determine their power, expose their limitations, and examine whether they really are improvements.
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Disappointing and meandering book
- By Sc on 02-10-20
By: Hannah Fry
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The Joy of Sweat
- The Strange Science of Perspiration
- By: Sarah Everts
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Sweating may be one of our weirdest biological functions, but it’s also one of our most vital and least understood. In The Joy of Sweat, Sarah Everts delves into its role in the body - and in human history. Everts’ entertaining investigation takes listeners around the world - from Moscow, where she participates in a dating event in which people sniff sweat in search of love, to New Jersey, where companies hire trained armpit sniffers to assess the efficacy of their anti-sweat products. Along the way, Everts traces humanity’s long quest to control sweat.
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Quirky topic, but engaging
- By K. Bachelor on 05-02-22
By: Sarah Everts
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Unacknowledged
- An Exposé of the World’s Greatest Secret
- By: Steven M. Greer MD
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The biggest lie in history is about to be shattered. UFOs are real. In late June of 1947, three extraterrestrial craft were downed outside Roswell Air Force Base. Many more followed, revealing dozens of ET species and a Rosetta Stone to a new physics, an energy generation and propulsion system responsible for interstellar space travel. This new system could have easily replaced oil, gas, coal, and nuclear plants - and with them, the entire geopolitical and economic order on our planet. But a cabal of bankers, the military-industrial complex, and Big Oil stopped it.
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One Of Those Must Buy Phenomenal Rare Books
- By Vitaly on 11-09-17
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Salt
- A World History
- By: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of Cod and The Basque History of the World takes an extraordinary look at an ordinary substance — salt, the only rock humans eat — and how it has shaped civilization from the very beginning. Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends economic, scientific, political, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.
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More than SALT
- By Karen on 03-12-03
By: Mark Kurlansky
What listeners say about Abominations
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Holden
- 04-12-24
Nonplussed
Outstanding commentary you can hardly find these days delivered with whit and guts! More please.
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- Elisabeth Mannschott
- 03-20-23
Sorely needed
I love her writing and love listening to her voice reading it. Honest and fresh.
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1 person found this helpful
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- KathyK
- 09-25-23
Funny, provocative, and unique
This is a wonderful and varied collection of essays. Shriver is engaged with the issues of the day and does not shy from controversy or self-exposure.
Shriver is about a decade older than I, so I appreciated her thoughts on aging and watching your parents grow old and incompetent, as they rang true to my experience and observations. Her political ideas are refreshing, observant and so well-written that I enjoyed them even when I disagreed with her. She is a wonderful stylist even at her most curmudgeonly. I highly recommend the book for anyone who appreciates thoughtful provocative writing. I will undoubtedly listen again and give to friends.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Irene E Nunn
- 12-03-22
Fearless thinker
I enjoyed the curated pickings from the mind of of my new favorite author. Her perceptions of the complexity of any issue and her courage to reveal what she believes to be her personal failings is refreshing, interesting, thoughtful and missing from so much current literary dreck On to my fifth read from her repertoire.
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3 people found this helpful
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- stacey a shapiro
- 04-02-23
A delicious listen from a brilliant woman.
having read and listened to most of her novels, I was thrilled that this exits, not only to answer many questions I was dying to ask her about her stories, but to learn from where her ideas were concieved. now I know. Her narration is crisp and droll, cranky and crusty, smooth as silk. I just might listen again...but not until I've polished off her remaining unread novels. This was pure pleasure. Thanks Ms. Shriver, I hope there is a bun in the oven coming soon for us to devour.
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2 people found this helpful
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- S. Mork
- 01-20-23
Superb
10 out of 10, will listen again. Everything Lionel Shriver has written is gold and this is no exception.
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1 person found this helpful