Brief Lives

By: John Aubrey

Narrated by: Brian Cox

Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Thomas Hobbes - three of the greatest Englishmen who ever lived. They, and many others, are here remembered by another great Englishman, John Aubrey, whose Brief Lives are some of the wittiest and most moving miniature portraits ever written. Aubrey - a scholar, antiquarian and close observer of both the foibles and courage of this contemporaries - lived through the upheavals of the English Civil War in the 17th century. His little biographies are amusing, ribald, moving; a testament to the brevity of human existence and one of the most precious relics of a distant age.

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(P)1995 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.; ©1995 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.

Brian Cox’s rendition a pleasure to listen to

This was an edited version of Aubrey’s lives. For a complete version, check out the Penguin English Library.

Aubrey touches upon the interesting eccentricities of famous philosophers, politicians, courtiers, scientists, theologians, and aristocrats who lived in the times of Elizabeth, James I, Charles I, Cromwell, and Charles II.

It’s like reading Vanity Fair or People Magazine concerning famous personalities. The English language is a delight to listen to, the listener can hear Brian Cox chuckling in the background, showing his fondness for some of those characters. Also helpful, was the music which introduced some of this characters. I found Sir Walter Raleigh’s and Thomas Hobbes’ lives fascinating and quite entertaining. You’re taken back to that time and place.

I have listened to it over and over

I heartily recommend it. The writing is very original and Brian Cox is superb, as always: I think John Aubrey himself could not have narrated it better. He captures the spirit of the writing. For me it's an all-time classic, and phrases and whole passages from this recording (which I first had as a CD from Naxos years ago) are my constant companions. But again, as I believe one reviewer has said, don't expect autobiographies: these are vignettes. But in terms of vignettes, I have never seen anything to compare with them.

A whimsical antique

Regrettably, when I purchased this I did not realize that John Aubrey lived and wrote in the 1600's. This might be a fascinating piece of 'period' language, but it is woefully uninformative by the current standards of biography.