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STRANGE TOOLS

ART AND HUMAN NATURE

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Tom Perkins is a very listenable narrator, and that's especially valuable when the material calls for some relistening, and gradual absorption. Noë's text is accessible, and he uses familiar references for all his points. But even the sophisticated listener will find his distinctions between art and perception--which often defy current theories of neuroscience and evolutionary biology--surprising, and difficult to take in the first time around. The extra time is well spent, however, and Perkins is especially effective at conveying demanding texts, for which the skill lies not in expressiveness but in steady pacing, precise enunciation, and a sure instinct for the value of every word. Provocative and thought provoking, Noë's contention that art objects are tools of perception opens up a broad new understanding of art, aesthetics, and human cognition. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

Pub Date: Dec. 22, 2015

Duration: 8 hrs, 15 mins

Publisher: Tantor Media

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026

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    THE EMERSON CIRCLE

    THE CONCORD RADICALS WHO REINVENTED THE WORLD

    Listeners will find much worth discovering in the lives of these vanguards of American intellectual life.

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    Kevin R. Free’s voice is the perfect vehicle for this fascinating portrait of a remarkable group of artists, philosophers, abolitionists, and social reformers who all happened to live in Concord, Massachusetts in the 19th century. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and her father, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, and many others called themselves transcendentalists and became the first truly American philosophical movement. With his genial delivery, Free is up to the task of narrating this complicated account of many intersecting lives; his inflections add character to the correspondence and inject life into the often formal writings the Circle left behind.

    Listeners will find much worth discovering in the lives of these vanguards of American intellectual life.

    Pub Date: April 28, 2026

    Duration: 9 hrs, 53 mins

    DD ISBN: 9781668132777

    Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

    Review Posted Online: July 14, 2026

    Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026

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      CAVE MOUNTAIN

      A DISAPPEARANCE AND A RECKONING IN THE OZARKS

      An interesting Ozark history that doesn’t quite cohere.

      Author Hale presents the case of his young cousin Haley's disappearance on Cave Mountain in 2001 and the ensuing search and rescue operation, the largest in Arkansas history. Hale connects this with the murder of 3-year-old Bethany by a small and isolated religious sect decades earlier on the same mountain. Narrating these two stories in a low, slightly gruff tone, Hale weaves together family anecdotes, Ozark lore, local and broader history, and Christian theology. While the two cases are intriguing, the work lacks focus and contains extraneous details.

      An interesting Ozark history that doesn’t quite cohere.

      Pub Date: March 3, 2026

      Duration: 11 hrs, 9 mins

      DD ISBN: 9780063398153

      Publisher: Harper Audio

      Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026

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