The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time cover art

The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time

By: Will Durant
Narrated by: John Little
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Best-selling historian and philosopher Will Durant devoted his entire life to studying the most significant eras, individuals, and achievements of human history. Here is a summation of Durant's work, as he presents the best of world history, from "The One Hundred Best Books for an Education" to "The Ten Greatest Thinkers," "The Ten Greatest Poets," "The Ten Peaks of Human Progress," and "Twelve Vital Dates in Human History." Filled with Durant's renowned wit, knowledge, and unique ability to explain events in simple and exciting terms, it is a concise liberal arts education.©2003 John Little and the Estate of Will Durant; 2002 John Little, Monica Ariel Mihell, and William James Durant Easton (P)2003 The Audio Partners Publishing Corp. Consciousness & Thought Epistemology History Literary History & Criticism Philosophy World Funny World History

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Heroes of History cover art
Fallen Leaves cover art
Titan cover art
Principles cover art
The Story of Philosophy cover art
Nostalgia cover art
Our Oriental Heritage cover art
Outliers cover art
Welcome to the Universe cover art
The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle cover art
Curiosity cover art
The Fiery Angel cover art
Primitive Mythology cover art
The Portable Atheist cover art
The Renaissance cover art
The Prince cover art

Critic reviews

"This compact work is a gem that elevates historical writing to the level of superb literature." ( Booklist)
"[An] engaging, accessible book of essays...in prose peppered with biographical bon mots and excerpts of the world's loveliest poems. Lay folks especially will find this a delightful introduction to Durant's irrepressible style." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant  
Will Durant was nothing if not an unashamed elitist and his personal take on the greatest minds and figure in history are fairly well justified, though he admits himself his choice of greatest poets is somewhat personal! Some of the other choices might be considered in the same light. Well worth as listen though.

Durant being Durant, not a bad thing...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was an amazing book that I was happy to listen to! The narrator was doing an amazing job, as he made the experience outstanding - thank you!

Brilliant!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
daunting amount I need to read now. great reference for impactful history and books that could transform your perspective of this world. I'll be using it for this

Exceptionally interesting but

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great recommendations some of them are pure gold which I will try and buy. Epic

Great recommendations

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator reads very fast without inflexion and emotion, no pauses either. The book is very good.

Difficult to follow and boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I would definitely recommend this book and will Durant for anyone interested in history and knowledge

So interesting and educational

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
For this author women do not seem to exist. He refers to men , mankind, man, and schoolboys for the members of the human race. Women are simply not in his thoughts at all. Won’t be reading another of his one sided views.

Where are the women?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I agree with other reviews - this is barely listenable because it sounds like it’s being read by a robot. I actually started laughing because the diction is so bad - it sounds like when my Mac is set to voiceover or a bad Sat Nav.

Is this a robot reading a book?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This titlte is another jewel from Will Durant but I can not recommend it due to the poor naration. The voice is flat and makes the book unlistenable. This has nothing to do with the sound quality and is due to the reader. I advise listening to the excellenty narated 'The Story of Philosophy' by the same author and compare prior to purchase. I will be seeking to return this title.

Poor choice of narator lets excellent title down

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A three hour essay on why you should read the books you should read for an all rounded Human education.

a PDF with a list of the books would have sufficed so that one can make a start on this mammoth task.

Some of his recommendations are outdated and obscure particularly with science, Astronomy, psychology etc where recent discoveries have moved knowledge on significantly.

you would be wasting your time reading early 19th century books on Astronomy and Physics.

Durant himself has written hugely important tombs on World history.
Better to read those than this essay.

A list would have sufficed

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews