Jennifer Nicoll Victor has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 12 ratings. The most-rated is On Looking.
On Looking
Summary
From the author of the number-one New York Times mega-best seller Inside of a Dog comes an equally smart, delightful, and startling exploration of how we perceive and discover our world. Alexandra Horowitz’s brilliant On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes shows us how to see the spectacle of the ordinary - to practice, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, "the observation of trifles". On Looking is structured around a series of eleven walks the author takes, mostly in her Manhattan neighborhood, with experts on a diverse range of subjects, including an urban sociologist, the well-known artist Maira Kalman, a geologist, a physician, and a sound designer. She also walks with a child and a dog to see the world as they perceive it. What they see, how they see it, and why most of us do not see the same things reveal the startling power of human attention and the cognitive aspects of what it means to be an expert observer. As the million-plus readers of Inside of a Dog have discovered, Alexandra Horowitz is charmingly adept at explaining the mysteries of human perception. Trained as a cognitive scientist, she discovers a feast of fascinating detail, all explained with her generous humor and self-deprecating tone. On Looking presents the same engaging combination, this time in service to understanding how human beings encounter their daily worlds and one another. Page by page, Horowitz shows how much more there is to see - if only we would really look. On Looking is nutrition for the considered life, serving as a provocative response to our relentlessly virtual consciousness. So turn off the phone and other electronic devices and be in the real world - where strangers communicate by geometry as they walk toward one another, where sounds reveal shadows, where posture can display humility, and the underside of a leaf unveils a Lilliputian universe - where, indeed, there are worlds within worlds within worlds. Alexandra Horowitz’s On Looking confirms her place as one of today’s most illuminating observers of our infinitely complex world.
©2013 Alexandra Horowitz (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Understanding the US Government
Summary
Whether we participate or not, government plays a deeply fundamental role in how we live. By gaining a clear grasp of political institutions, we’re better equipped to engage with government and politics; to be discerning consumers of news, media, and public opinion; and to grasp the deeper content and meaning of the legislation and policies we live with. In these 24 refreshingly balanced lectures, Professor Victor presents a comprehensive examination of American politics in which she demystifies its many puzzles and offers a nonpartisan look at the outcomes it produces. You’ll delve into essential topics such as: How the federal bureaucracy is organized. Learn how our bureaucracy breaks down into the 15 cabinet departments, the many independent governmental agencies, and the government corporations; Intricacies of Congress and the legislature. Across three lectures, study how the House and Senate function and interact, how congressional bills are passed, and how congressional elections operate; The politics of the Supreme Court. Investigate outside influences on the Court’s rulings, take account of judicial ideology within the Court, and witness the political and policy effects of the Court’s actions; The challenge of campaign finance. Observe how organized interests maneuver around campaign finance laws, ensuring that a small group of people finance most of what happens during our elections; Politics and the media. Track the phenomenon of political media as both information and entertainment, and grasp how our media environment is ripe for misinformation and conspiracy theories; America’s deep political polarization. Take a rigorous look at how the United States has become more politically polarized than at any time in the past 140 years. In Understanding the US Government, you’ll gain valuable insights for assessing the policies coming out of Washington, the news, the media, and the ongoing political dialogue that moves our democracy and shapes the actions of the United States on the world stage. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 The Great Courses (P)2020 The Teaching Company, LLC