
Learning by Heart
An Unconventional Education
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tony Wagner
-
By:
-
Tony Wagner
About this listen
"A page turner. With candor and clarity, Tony Wagner tells the story of his remarkable life and, in so doing, tells the story of our education system." (Angela Duckworth, Founder and CEO, Character Lab, and New York Times best-selling author of Grit)
One of the world's top experts on education delivers an uplifting memoir on his own personal failures and successes as he sought to become a good learner and teacher.
Tony Wagner is an eminent education specialist: He has taught at every grade level from high school through graduate school; worked at Harvard; done significant work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and speaks across the country and all over the world. But before he found his success, Wagner was kicked out of middle school, expelled from high school, and dropped out of two colleges. Learning by Heart is his powerful account of his years as a student and teacher.
After struggling in both roles, he learned to create meaningful learning experiences despite the constraints of conventional schooling - initially for himself and then for his students - based on understanding each student's real interests and strengthening his or her intrinsic motivations. Wagner's story sheds light on critical issues facing parents and educators today, and reminds us that trial and error, resilience, and respect for the individual are at the very heart of all teaching and learning.
©2020 Tony Wagner (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Country Music
- A History
- By: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
- Narrated by: Brian Corrigan, Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the 20th century - based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019.
-
-
Immersed in country music!
- By Lori Hanson on 09-30-19
By: Dayton Duncan, and others
-
In My Own Way
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macmillan Audio presents In My Own Way, Alan Watts' acclaimed autobiography, published for the first time in audio.
-
-
This is Alan Watts at his very best, as a free spirit.
- By Gene Levinson on 03-20-19
By: Alan Watts
-
The Unseen Body
- A Doctor's Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy
- By: Jonathan Reisman M.D.
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jonathan Reisman - a physician, adventure traveler, and naturalist - brings listeners on an odyssey, navigating our insides like an explorer discovering a new world. With unique insight, Reisman shows us how understanding mountain watersheds helps to diagnose heart attacks, how the body is made mostly of mucus, not water, and how urine carries within it a tale of humanity’s origins.
-
-
Great, Simply Great
- By Wendy on 10-21-22
-
The Global Achievement Gap
- Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills our Children Need - and What We Can Do About it
- By: Tony Wagner
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Education expert Tony Wagner situates our school problems in the context of the global knowledge economy and analyzes the skills necessary for our young people to succeed.
-
-
made obsolete by 'MostLikelyToSucceed'-still great
- By MichaelS on 04-01-16
By: Tony Wagner
-
Most Likely to Succeed
- Preparing Our Kids for the New Innovation Era
- By: Tony Wagner, Ted Dintersmith
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From two leading experts in education and entrepreneurship, an urgent call for the radical reimagining of American education so that we better equip students for the realities of the 21st-century economy.
-
-
the most important book you may read in your life!
- By MichaelS on 03-10-16
By: Tony Wagner, and others
-
The Child in You
- The Breakthrough Method for Bringing Out Your Authentic Self
- By: Stefanie Stahl
- Narrated by: Leslie Howard
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Child in You, psychologist Stefanie Stahl guides you, step by step, through her therapeutic method that has helped millions to peel away these layers and reconnect with their inner child - both the shadow child, representing our deepest insecurities and the part of our self-esteem that is injured and unstable, and the sun child, representing our greatest joys and the part of our self-esteem that remains positive and intact.
-
-
Too repetitive
- By Roger D on 06-26-24
By: Stefanie Stahl
-
Country Music
- A History
- By: Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
- Narrated by: Brian Corrigan, Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the 20th century - based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019.
-
-
Immersed in country music!
- By Lori Hanson on 09-30-19
By: Dayton Duncan, and others
-
In My Own Way
- By: Alan Watts
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macmillan Audio presents In My Own Way, Alan Watts' acclaimed autobiography, published for the first time in audio.
-
-
This is Alan Watts at his very best, as a free spirit.
- By Gene Levinson on 03-20-19
By: Alan Watts
-
The Unseen Body
- A Doctor's Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy
- By: Jonathan Reisman M.D.
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jonathan Reisman - a physician, adventure traveler, and naturalist - brings listeners on an odyssey, navigating our insides like an explorer discovering a new world. With unique insight, Reisman shows us how understanding mountain watersheds helps to diagnose heart attacks, how the body is made mostly of mucus, not water, and how urine carries within it a tale of humanity’s origins.
-
-
Great, Simply Great
- By Wendy on 10-21-22
-
The Global Achievement Gap
- Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills our Children Need - and What We Can Do About it
- By: Tony Wagner
- Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Education expert Tony Wagner situates our school problems in the context of the global knowledge economy and analyzes the skills necessary for our young people to succeed.
-
-
made obsolete by 'MostLikelyToSucceed'-still great
- By MichaelS on 04-01-16
By: Tony Wagner
-
Most Likely to Succeed
- Preparing Our Kids for the New Innovation Era
- By: Tony Wagner, Ted Dintersmith
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From two leading experts in education and entrepreneurship, an urgent call for the radical reimagining of American education so that we better equip students for the realities of the 21st-century economy.
-
-
the most important book you may read in your life!
- By MichaelS on 03-10-16
By: Tony Wagner, and others
-
The Child in You
- The Breakthrough Method for Bringing Out Your Authentic Self
- By: Stefanie Stahl
- Narrated by: Leslie Howard
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Child in You, psychologist Stefanie Stahl guides you, step by step, through her therapeutic method that has helped millions to peel away these layers and reconnect with their inner child - both the shadow child, representing our deepest insecurities and the part of our self-esteem that is injured and unstable, and the sun child, representing our greatest joys and the part of our self-esteem that remains positive and intact.
-
-
Too repetitive
- By Roger D on 06-26-24
By: Stefanie Stahl
-
Seed Money
- Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future
- By: Bartow J. Elmore
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Monsanto, a St. Louis chemical firm that became the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds, merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018 - but its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced 25 years ago, are still reshaping the farms that feed us. When researchers found trace amounts of the firm’s blockbuster herbicide in breakfast cereal bowls, Monsanto faced public outcry. Award-winning historian Bartow J. Elmore shows how the Roundup story is just one of the troubling threads of Monsanto’s past, many told here and woven together for the first time.
-
-
informative. and a bit depressing
- By Gregory X on 01-09-24
By: Bartow J. Elmore
-
How I Learned to Understand the World
- A Memoir
- By: Hans Rosling, Dr. Anna Paterson, Fanny Härgestam
- Narrated by: Simon Slater, Christina Delaine
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was facts that helped him explain how the world works. But it was curiosity and commitment that made the late Hans Rosling, author of the best-selling book Factfulness with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, the most popular researcher of our time. How I Learned to Understand the World is Hans Rosling’s own story of how he became a revolutionary thinker, and takes us from the swelter of an emergency clinic in Mozambique, to the World Economic Forum at Davos.
-
-
Very good follow-up to Factfulness
- By Dave on 01-08-23
By: Hans Rosling, and others
-
T
- The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone That Dominates and Divides Us
- By: Carole Hooven
- Narrated by: Rachel Perry
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through riveting personal stories and the latest research, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven shows how testosterone drives the behavior of the sexes apart and how understanding the science behind this hormone is empowering for all.
-
-
I wanted more science
- By L on 09-04-21
By: Carole Hooven
-
User Friendly
- How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play
- By: Cliff Kuang, Robert Fabricant
- Narrated by: Jean Ann Douglass
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In User Friendly, Cliff Kuang and Robert Fabricant reveal the untold story of a paradigm that quietly rules our modern lives: the assumption that machines should anticipate what we need. Spanning over a century of sweeping changes, from women’s rights to the Great Depression to World War II to the rise of the digital era, this audiobook unpacks the ways in which the world has been - and continues to be - remade according to the principles of the once-obscure discipline of user-experience design.
-
-
Underwhelming real life examples
- By Nick on 12-17-20
By: Cliff Kuang, and others
-
Perception
- How Our Bodies Shape Our Minds
- By: Dennis Proffitt, Drake Baer
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perception marries academic rigor with mainstream accessibility. The research presented and the personalities profiled will show what it means to not only have, but be, your unique human body. The positive ramifications of viewing ourselves from this embodied perspective include greater athletic, academic, and professional achievement, more nourishing relationships, and greater personal well-being. The better we can understand what our bodies are - what they excel at, what they need, what they must avoid - the better we can live our lives.
-
-
The body-mind connection well explained
- By Lucy A. Pithecus on 12-11-22
By: Dennis Proffitt, and others
-
Wonder Drug
- 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself
- By: Stephen Trzeciak MD, Anthony Mazzarelli MD
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Wonder Drug, physician scientists Stephen Trzeciak, M.D., and Anthony Mazzarelli, M.D., illuminate, through neuroscience and captivating stories from their clinical practices, how being a giving, other-focused person is a secret superpower. Serving others—and pitching in to the world in general—is the evidence-based way to live your life. Kinder people not only live longer, they also live better. Science shows that serving others is not just the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do.
-
-
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- By Jared Lish on 03-27-25
By: Stephen Trzeciak MD, and others
-
How to Be Perfect
- The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
- By: Michael Schur
- Narrated by: Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most people think of themselves as “good", but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad” - especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia, and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more, so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.
-
-
Some philosophy, lots of politics
- By NJDad on 02-02-22
By: Michael Schur
-
How the Other Half Learns
- Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice
- By: Robert Pondiscio
- Narrated by: Robert Pondiscio
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The promise of public education is excellence for all. But that promise has seldom been kept for low-income children of color in America. In How the Other Half Learns, teacher and education journalist Robert Pondiscio focuses on Success Academy, the network of controversial charter schools in New York City founded by Eva Moskowitz, who has created something unprecedented in American education: a way for large numbers of engaged and ambitious low-income families of color to get an education for their children that equals and even exceeds what wealthy families take for granted.
-
-
Interesting story about a Bronx charter school
- By Marie on 09-13-19
By: Robert Pondiscio
-
Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Lucy Paterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perhaps one of the best known of the English monarchs, Queen Victoria forever shaped a chapter of English history, bequeathing her name to the Victorian age. In Queen Victoria, Lucy Worsley introduces this iconic woman in a new light. Going beyond an exploration of the queen merely as a monarch, Worsley considers Victoria as a woman leading a truly extraordinary life in a unique time period.
-
-
Gloriana!
- By Karen on 01-21-19
By: Lucy Worsley
-
The Call of the Wild and Free
- Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child’s Education, A New Way to Homeschool
- By: Ainsley Arment
- Narrated by: Piper Goodeve
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inspired by the spirit of Henry David Thoreau—"All good things are wild and free"—mother of five Ainsley Arment founded Wild + Free. This growing online community of mothers and families want their children to receive a quality education at home by challenging their intellectual abilities and nurturing their sense of curiosity, joy, and awe—the essence of a positive childhood. The homeschool approach of past generations is gone—including the stigma of socially awkward kids, conservative clothes, and a classroom setting replicated in the home.
-
-
Very enriching!
- By Peter Drouillard on 04-24-20
By: Ainsley Arment
-
The Power of Regret
- How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward
- By: Daniel H. Pink
- Narrated by: Daniel H. Pink, Gisela Chipe, Edward Hong, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody has regrets, Daniel H. Pink explains in The Power of Regret. They’re a universal and healthy part of being human. And understanding how regret works can help us make smarter decisions, perform better at work and school, and bring greater meaning to our lives.
-
-
Powerful, immediately relevant
- By LEE on 02-08-22
By: Daniel H. Pink
-
Remember
- The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting
- By: Lisa Genova
- Narrated by: Lisa Genova
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. You'll learn whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds (like a passcode) while others can last a lifetime (your wedding day). You'll come to appreciate the clear distinction between normal forgetting (where you parked your car) and forgetting due to Alzheimer's (that you own a car).
-
-
Content great, reader too young
- By Suzanne M. Owen on 04-03-21
By: Lisa Genova
Critic reviews
"Wagner’s passionate memoir serves as blueprint for educators looking to inspire their own students." (Publishers Weekly)
"Tony Wagner has written an irresistible coming-of-age memoir that is an extended reverie on education - what it is, what it’s not, and why it matters. As Wagner walks us through his journey, he show us not only how he learned to love to learn, but also how he learned to pass that love on to others. This story of mental, emotional, and moral awakening will touch your heart." (Daniel H. Pink, author of When and Drive)
"Eloquent, intimate...Tony Wagner’s memoir is a much-needed account of how unconventional kids navigate a conventional education. I love this book, find hope in Wagner’s story, and will be recommending it to parents who worry that their children won’t find their way in the world." (Jessica Lahey, New York Times best-selling author of The Gift of Failure)
"If you think you know what it means to be 'smart' or a 'lifelong learner' read Learning by Heart and be prepared to have your assumptions challenged. Neither smart nor learning are likely to take place on a straight and narrow road where high grades and test scores meet compliance and memorization. Wagner artfully reminds us of what we already know, that smart and learning take place at a far different intersection, one where curiosity, creativity and perseverance meet." (Madeline Levine, PhD, co-founder, Challenge Success, Stanford Graduate School of Education, author of The Price of Privilege and Ready or Not)
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Love, Teach
- Real Stories and Honest Advice to Keep Teachers from Crying Under Their Desks
- By: Kelly Treleaven
- Narrated by: Kelly Treleaven
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every teacher will tell you the first years are the hardest, and even the most confident of the pack sometimes ask themselves, Am I cut out for this? Kelly Treleaven, the teacher behind Love, Teach, wants you to know that you're not alone, and that yes, she has cried under her desk, too. Treleaven's blog has become a sensation in the education world, known for its heartfelt, high-spirited dispatches straight from the trenches and its practical advice. Here, she gives rookie teachers the advice she wishes she'd had when she started out in a large district in Houston.
-
-
Best Teaching Guidance Book Ever!!!
- By Anonymous User on 11-07-23
By: Kelly Treleaven
-
Attention: A Love Story
- By: Casey Schwartz
- Narrated by: Casey Schwartz
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Combining expert storytelling with genuine self-scrutiny, Casey Schwartz details the decade she spend taking Adderall to help her pay attention (or so she thought) and then considers the role of attention in defining our lives as it has been understood by thinkers such as William James, David Foster Wallace, and Simone Weil. From our craving for distraction to our craving for a cure, from Silicon Valley consultants and psychedelic researchers to the findings of trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté, Schwartz takes us on an eye-opening tour of the modern landscape of attention.
-
-
I wanted to love this story
- By MMcQ on 05-06-20
By: Casey Schwartz
-
All the Lives We Ever Lived
- Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf
- By: Katharine Smyth
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katharine Smyth was a student at Oxford when she first read Virginia Woolf’s modernist masterpiece To the Lighthouse in the comfort of an English sitting room, and in the companionable silence she shared with her father. After his death - a calamity that claimed her favorite person - she returned to that beloved novel as a way of wrestling with his memory and understanding her own grief. Through her inventive, highly personal reading of To the Lighthouse, Smyth guides us toward a new vision of Woolf’s most demanding and rewarding novel.
-
-
Surprised I Finished This
- By Amazon Customer on 03-25-22
By: Katharine Smyth
-
Eat Like a Fish
- My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer
- By: Bren Smith
- Narrated by: Bren Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part memoir, part manifesto, in Eat Like a Fish Bren Smith - a former commercial fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer - shares a bold new vision for the future of food: seaweed. Through tales that span from his childhood in Newfoundland to his early years on the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers, from pioneering new forms of ocean farming to surfing the frontiers of the food movement, Smith introduces the world of sea-based agriculture and advocates getting ocean vegetables onto American plates (there are thousands of edible varieties in the sea!).
-
-
We have hope for feeding the world thanks to ocean farming!
- By Jeanie Milliken on 03-23-25
By: Bren Smith
-
Let Me Not Be Mad
- My Story of Unraveling Minds
- By: A. K. Benjamin
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do doctors actually think about when you list your problems in the consulting room? Are they really listening to you? Is the connection all in your head? Every day for 10 years - even while his hospital became the set for a reality television series - clinical neuropsychologist A. K. Benjamin confronted these questions, and this book is his attempt to tell the truth about what happens in these rooms in hospitals the world over.
By: A. K. Benjamin
-
Honey and Venom
- Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper
- By: Andrew Coté
- Narrated by: Andrew Coté
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the humble drone to the fittingly named worker to the queen herself - who is more a slave than a monarch - the hive world, Andrew Coté reveals, is full of strivers and slackers, givers and takers, and even some insect promiscuity (startlingly similar to the prickly human variety). Written with Coté’s trademark humor, acumen, and a healthy dose of charm, Honey and Venom illuminates the obscure culture of New York City “beeks” and the biology of the bees themselves for both casual readers and bee enthusiasts.
-
-
Ego gets in the way
- By Gregory Lehman on 10-12-22
By: Andrew Coté
-
Love, Teach
- Real Stories and Honest Advice to Keep Teachers from Crying Under Their Desks
- By: Kelly Treleaven
- Narrated by: Kelly Treleaven
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every teacher will tell you the first years are the hardest, and even the most confident of the pack sometimes ask themselves, Am I cut out for this? Kelly Treleaven, the teacher behind Love, Teach, wants you to know that you're not alone, and that yes, she has cried under her desk, too. Treleaven's blog has become a sensation in the education world, known for its heartfelt, high-spirited dispatches straight from the trenches and its practical advice. Here, she gives rookie teachers the advice she wishes she'd had when she started out in a large district in Houston.
-
-
Best Teaching Guidance Book Ever!!!
- By Anonymous User on 11-07-23
By: Kelly Treleaven
-
Attention: A Love Story
- By: Casey Schwartz
- Narrated by: Casey Schwartz
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Combining expert storytelling with genuine self-scrutiny, Casey Schwartz details the decade she spend taking Adderall to help her pay attention (or so she thought) and then considers the role of attention in defining our lives as it has been understood by thinkers such as William James, David Foster Wallace, and Simone Weil. From our craving for distraction to our craving for a cure, from Silicon Valley consultants and psychedelic researchers to the findings of trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté, Schwartz takes us on an eye-opening tour of the modern landscape of attention.
-
-
I wanted to love this story
- By MMcQ on 05-06-20
By: Casey Schwartz
-
All the Lives We Ever Lived
- Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf
- By: Katharine Smyth
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Katharine Smyth was a student at Oxford when she first read Virginia Woolf’s modernist masterpiece To the Lighthouse in the comfort of an English sitting room, and in the companionable silence she shared with her father. After his death - a calamity that claimed her favorite person - she returned to that beloved novel as a way of wrestling with his memory and understanding her own grief. Through her inventive, highly personal reading of To the Lighthouse, Smyth guides us toward a new vision of Woolf’s most demanding and rewarding novel.
-
-
Surprised I Finished This
- By Amazon Customer on 03-25-22
By: Katharine Smyth
-
Eat Like a Fish
- My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer
- By: Bren Smith
- Narrated by: Bren Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part memoir, part manifesto, in Eat Like a Fish Bren Smith - a former commercial fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer - shares a bold new vision for the future of food: seaweed. Through tales that span from his childhood in Newfoundland to his early years on the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers, from pioneering new forms of ocean farming to surfing the frontiers of the food movement, Smith introduces the world of sea-based agriculture and advocates getting ocean vegetables onto American plates (there are thousands of edible varieties in the sea!).
-
-
We have hope for feeding the world thanks to ocean farming!
- By Jeanie Milliken on 03-23-25
By: Bren Smith
-
Let Me Not Be Mad
- My Story of Unraveling Minds
- By: A. K. Benjamin
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What do doctors actually think about when you list your problems in the consulting room? Are they really listening to you? Is the connection all in your head? Every day for 10 years - even while his hospital became the set for a reality television series - clinical neuropsychologist A. K. Benjamin confronted these questions, and this book is his attempt to tell the truth about what happens in these rooms in hospitals the world over.
By: A. K. Benjamin
-
Honey and Venom
- Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper
- By: Andrew Coté
- Narrated by: Andrew Coté
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the humble drone to the fittingly named worker to the queen herself - who is more a slave than a monarch - the hive world, Andrew Coté reveals, is full of strivers and slackers, givers and takers, and even some insect promiscuity (startlingly similar to the prickly human variety). Written with Coté’s trademark humor, acumen, and a healthy dose of charm, Honey and Venom illuminates the obscure culture of New York City “beeks” and the biology of the bees themselves for both casual readers and bee enthusiasts.
-
-
Ego gets in the way
- By Gregory Lehman on 10-12-22
By: Andrew Coté
-
Stronghold
- One Man's Quest to Save the World's Wild Salmon
- By: Tucker Malarkey
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Orchid Thief, Stronghold is Tucker Malarkey’s eye-opening account of one of the world’s greatest fly fishermen and his crusade to protect the world’s last bastion of wild salmon. From a young age, Guido Rahr was a misfit among his family and classmates, preferring to spend his time in the natural world. When the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest began to decline, Guido was one of the few who understood why.
-
-
Breathtakingly Brilliant
- By Stephen Victor on 08-21-21
By: Tucker Malarkey
-
Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them
- By: Maeve Higgins
- Narrated by: Maeve Higgins
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As an eternally curious outsider, Maeve Higgins can see that the United States is still an experiment. Some parts work well and others really don’t, but that doesn't stop her from loving the place and the people that make it. With piercing political commentary in a sweet and salty tone, these essays unearth answers to the questions we all have about this country we call home; the beauty of it all and the dark parts too.
-
-
Wanted to love it
- By D34 on 06-14-22
By: Maeve Higgins
-
My Time Will Come
- A Memoir of Crime, Punishment, Hope, and Redemption
- By: Ian Manuel, Bryan Stevenson - foreword
- Narrated by: Ian Manuel
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1991, Ian Manuel, then 14, was sentenced to life without parole for a non-homicide crime. In a botched mugging attempt with some older boys, he shot Debbie Baigrie, a young white mother of two, in the face. But as Bryan Stevenson has insisted, none of us should be judged only by the worst thing we have ever done. Capturing the fullness of his humanity, here is Manuel’s powerful testimony of growing up homeless in Central Park Village in Tampa, Florida - a neighborhood riddled with poverty, gang violence, and drug abuse - and of his efforts to rise above his circumstances.
-
-
How Long Will We Let This Go On!
- By Kindle Customer on 05-06-21
By: Ian Manuel, and others
-
Unsolaced
- Along the Way to All That Is
- By: Gretel Ehrlich
- Narrated by: Gretel Ehrlich
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of the enduring classic The Solace of Open Spaces, here is a wondrous meditation on how water, light, wind, mountain, bird, and horse have shaped her life and her understanding of a world besieged by a climate crisis. Amid species extinctions and disintegrating ice sheets, this stunning collection of memories, observations, and narratives is acute and lyrical, Whitmanesque in breadth, and as elegant as a Japanese teahouse.
-
-
A journey worth taking
- By Jay on 10-30-23
By: Gretel Ehrlich
-
A Beginner's Guide to America
- For the Immigrant and the Curious
- By: Roya Hakakian
- Narrated by: Roya Hakakian
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Into the maelstrom of unprecedented contemporary debates about immigrants in the United States, this perfectly timed book gives us a portrait of what the new immigrant experience in America is really like. Written as a "guide" for the newly arrived, and providing "practical information and advice", Roya Hakakian, an immigrant herself, reveals what those who settle here love about the country, what they miss about their homes, the cruelty of some Americans, and the unceasing generosity of others.
-
-
Un believable book
- By Saleem on 10-09-22
By: Roya Hakakian
-
Love Unknown
- The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop
- By: Thomas Travisano
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elizabeth Bishop's friend James Merrill once observed that "Elizabeth had more talent for life - and for poetry - than anyone else I've known." This new biography reveals just how she learned to marry her talent for life with her talent for writing in order to create a brilliant array of poems, prose, and letters - a remarkable body of work that would make her one of America's most beloved and celebrated poets. In Love Unknown, Thomas Travisano, founding president of the Elizabeth Bishop Society, tells the story of the famous poet and traveler's life.
-
-
Love the book, just OK with the narration
- By Amazon Customer on 06-05-20
By: Thomas Travisano
-
Chasing the Thrill
- Obsession, Death, and Glory in America's Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt
- By: Daniel Barbarisi
- Narrated by: Daniel Barbarisi
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Forrest Fenn was given a fatal cancer diagnosis, he came up with a bold plan: He would hide a chest full of jewels and gold in the wilderness, and publish a poem that would serve as a map leading to the treasure's secret location. But he didn't die, and after hiding the treasure in 2010, Fenn instead presided over a decade-long gold rush that saw many thousands of treasure hunters scrambling across the Rocky Mountains in pursuit of his fortune.
-
-
Wonderful Adventure!
- By Smartypants on 05-25-21
By: Daniel Barbarisi
-
Sign My Name to Freedom
- A Memoir of a Pioneering Life
- By: Betty Reid Soskin
- Narrated by: Betty Reid Soskin
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Betty Reid Soskin’s 96 years of living, she has been a witness to a grand sweep of American history. When she was born in 1921, the lynching of African-Americans was a national epidemic, blackface minstrel shows were the most popular American form of entertainment, white women had only just won the right to vote, and most African-Americans in the Deep South could not vote at all. From her great-grandmother, who had been enslaved until her mid-20s, Betty heard stories of slavery and the times of terror and struggle for Black folk that followed.
-
-
Betty Reid Soskin's life and career, in her own words
- By Betsy Fowler on 04-13-25
-
Missed Translations
- Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me
- By: Sopan Deb
- Narrated by: Sopan Deb, Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Approaching his 30th birthday, Sopan Deb had found comfort in his day job as a writer for the New York Times and a comedian. But his stage material highlighting his South Asian culture only masked the insecurities borne from his family history. Sure, Deb knew the facts: His parents, both Indian, separately immigrated to North America in the 1960s and 1970s. They were brought together in a volatile and ultimately doomed arranged marriage and raised a family in New Jersey before his father returned to India alone. But Deb had never learned who his parents were as individuals.
-
-
Not funny
- By Jeanette H. on 12-10-23
By: Sopan Deb
-
Once More We Saw Stars
- A Memoir
- By: Jayson Greene
- Narrated by: Jayson Greene
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the story opens: Two-year-old Greta Greene is sitting with her grandmother on a park bench on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A brick crumbles from a windowsill overhead, striking her unconscious, and she is immediately rushed to the hospital. But although it begins with this event and with the anguish Jayson and his wife, Stacy, confront in the wake of their daughter's trauma and the hours leading up to her death, Once More We Saw Stars quickly becomes a narrative that is as much about hope and healing as it is about grief and loss.
-
-
It will open your heart if you let it.
- By Rachel on 09-23-19
By: Jayson Greene
-
The Wild Silence
- A Memoir
- By: Raynor Winn
- Narrated by: Raynor Winn
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband, Moth. After walking 630 miles homeless along The Salt Path, the windswept and wild English coastline now feels like their home. And despite Moth's terminal diagnosis, against all medical odds, he seems revitalized in nature - outside, they discover that anything is possible. Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits. As they return to four walls, the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything.
-
-
Another great book!!
- By Anthony Mayfield on 01-04-23
By: Raynor Winn
-
This Ordinary Stardust
- A Scientist's Path from Grief to Wonder
- By: Alan Townsend PhD
- Narrated by: Alan Townsend PhD
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when society’s relationship with science is increasingly polarized while threats to human life on earth continue to rise, Townsend offers a balanced, moving perspective on the common ground between science and religion through the spiritual fulfillment he found in his work. Awash in Townsend's electrifying and breathtaking prose, THIS ORDINARY STARDUST offers hope that life can carry on even in the face of near-certain annihilation.
-
-
Inspirational and touching!
- By Grace M on 08-18-24
What listeners say about Learning by Heart
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D Brandt
- 04-27-20
Magnificent!
What an amazing, heartfelt, beautiful journey, and to hear it directly from the author's mouth such a pleasure! Tony brought every scene into exquisite view with his extraordinary ability to paint a vivid picture for the audience. He had me shaking my head, smiling, laughing, or wanting to cry throughout the story that I couldn't put down and didn't want to end. Three cheers for proving the mole wrong on so many levels. Thank you for your inspiration to educators as well as parents! It's so amazing to feel like I've gained both a friend and mentor after reading this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 06-26-21
Inspiring story, beautifully told!
As a teacher striving to provide the most meaningful educational experiences for my students, I have been interested in Tony Wagner's work for years. His books The Global Achievement Gap and Most Likely to Succeed have been of tremendous benefit to my thinking about curriculum and the purpose of school, so when I came across this memoir I couldn't wait to listen to it.
And LEARNING BY HEART doesn't disappoint. It is Wagner's portrait of the artist as a young man, recounting his experiences with learning and school from childhood to mid-early adulthood. As a curious, perceptive, and independently motivated young person, Wagner was often underwhelmed by what the schools he attended taught and prioritized, and his account of his school days will resonate with anyone who's ultimately been disappointed by their academic institutions. But even as his schooling generally failed him, Wagner's education flourished with opportunities — from unconventional teachers, summer camps, and colleges — to pursue what was of interest to him and design ambitious projects to demonstrate his learning. (In the second half of the work, Wagner explores how practicing similar approaches in his own classroom led to his success as a teacher.) Those familiar with Wagner's works on education will trace from his experiences the origin of many of his beliefs about school and (to borrow a phrase from Wagner's friend and collaborator Ted Dintersmith) what school could be.
I loved listening to Wagner read this audiobook. As the author, he knows the story best, and his voice has a warmth, a clearness, and an inflection that made this one of the best Audible experiences in the dozens of titles I own.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 10-07-20
A gem of a memoir, and not just for educators
The early days of the pandemic had me walking and walking, listening to music, podcasts, books.
One of the most memorable audio books I listened to is Tony Wagner's memoir Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education.
I generally enjoy memoirs when they are well written, and this is a gem. Hearing it read by the author made it come exquisitely alive.
Wagner's story is not your typical educator's trajectory. He shares his painful struggles as a student in middle, high school and college, bringing me close to tears as I heard about the insensitivity and ineptness of some of the teachers he had along the way.
What was so very moving, exhilarating really, was hearing how he continued to persevere ~ seeking out wise and passionate teachers who challenged, inspired and mentored him, helping him become the world-class teacher, author and educational consultant he is today, someone we would all benefit from listening to.
If you are a teacher, parent, student, or anyone who needs to feel some hope that one can make education a meaningful and joyful experience, do, please, listen to Learning By Heart.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angela Salmon
- 09-27-21
Inspiring!!
I am inspired by learning the experiences that shaped the teaching philosophy of someone I admite. So many powerful connections. Thank you Tony!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elizabeth
- 12-31-24
A great story of a great educator
A great reminder they the work educators do is hard, but so very worth it. Love that Tony reads the book. Really enjoyed his story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!