Living with a Wild God

A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth About Everything

By: Barbara Ehrenreich

Narrated by: Barbara Ehrenreich

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

In middle age, Ehrenreich came across the journal she had kept during her tumultuous adolescence and set out to reconstruct that quest, which had taken her to the study of science and through a cataclysmic series of uncanny - or as she later learned to call them, "mystical" - experiences. A staunch atheist and rationalist, she is profoundly shaken by the implications of her life-long search.

Part memoir, part philosophical and spiritual inquiry, Living with a Wild God brings an older woman's wry and erudite perspective to a young girl's uninhibited musings on the questions that, at one point or another, torment us all. Ehrenreich's most personal audiobook ever will spark a lively and heated conversation about religion and spirituality, science and morality, and the "meaning of life."

Certain to be a classic, Living with a Wild God combines intellectual rigor with a frank account of the inexplicable, in Ehrenreich's singular voice, to produce a true literary achievement.

©2014 Barbara Ehrenreich (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Ehrenreich does not believe in a wild god.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Ehrenreich states at the beginning of the book that she has never, nor will she ever write an autobiography, then she goes on to write an autobiography about herself. You learn all about her childhood, teen years, love affairs, etc. for the first part of her life. In a book about spiritual experiences and the quest for enlightenment, I didn't need to know, nor did I care to learn about Ehrenreich's childhood. The bits where Ehrenreich talks about her mystical experience are curious and the parts about her personal philosophy are interesting. Still she has NO answers and you have to wad threw oceans of autobiographical material to get to that.

What else would you have wanted to know about Barbara Ehrenreich’s life?

I would like to know how Ehrenreich can be a professional author and not know what "autobiography" means.

Provocative

This is another book from a woman who earned my respect with Nickel and Dimed. Seekers of truth will find this helpful in their quest.

Just read this

What made the experience of listening to Living with a Wild God the most enjoyable?

Many things: In general, I deeply appreciate Barbara Ehrenreich's writing. Her iconoclastic take on beliefs that are uncritically accepted defy demographic pigeonholing. Ms. Ehrenreich challenges the status quo, yet at the same time she works toward an original reframing of the concepts she deconstructs giving the listener something worthwhile to go toward. In this book, she reconciles seemingly paradoxical positions: mysticism and atheism. The insights she offers the reader are fresh and full of heart and intellect.

What other book might you compare Living with a Wild God to and why?

None.

Have you listened to any of Barbara Ehrenreich’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

An author reading their own philosophical treatise brings a degree of intent to the listening that transcends the merits and demerits of performance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

For this book, there is no film. Live it.

Read by the author

Please do not violate your good writing with less than stellar reading skills. Barbara, you killed your book with your poor reading!

Compelling. Moving.

Barbara shares insights into the world she grew up in and the struggles she had both with her training in science, her beliefs and her breast cancer diagnosis. I've always loved her writings and this doesn't disappoint. She is brutally honest and observant about life and the human condition. A terrific read.

Her Work. Her Voice

Not all authors have the voice and cadence for reading their own material, but I can't imagine anyone sharing Ehrenreich's highly intellectual, probing work better than Ehrenreich herself. Both empiricist and shaman, plain-spoken and poetic, she carries you through the steps of her journey candidly and articulately. Her one false claim is that she hasn't written an autobiography, but this is -- a solid one by a highly accomplished individual with a lifetime of research to reference. Loved it.

From a longtime fan

Story chronicles a somewhat interesting intellectual journey, focusing more than I would have liked on the dawning of intelligence - theories and musings about human existence, feelings of superiority that lounge of thinking brings. Didn't find it as insightful in the end as I had hoped. And I have been a Barbara Ehrenreich fan for 30+ years.

Hard to listen to. Not at all what I expected.

I'm a finisher of books and that's the only reason I kept listening through the end. The words and the narration make this book like listening to your weird Aunt Betsy drone on at a family gathering about her youth. Ugh. Thought it might get better, more interesting, but it just kept going.

kindly leaves the reader empty

I will give her A+ for honesty. but this subject requires more than just a little honesty. truth is never just the sum of all our experience

Horrible

the book is horrible. It talks not at all about God. Hated it. Don't reccomend.