The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati | 
| Manufacturer: Rodale Books Category: EBooks
List Price: $17.95 Buy New: $9.99 You Save: $7.96 (44%)
Avg. Customer Rating: 19 reviews Sales Rank: 1360
Format: Kindle Book Media: Kindle Edition Number Of Items: 1 Pages: 384
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.8 ASIN: B001GMANC6
Publication Date: October 14, 2008 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
When The Intellectual Devotional debuted in the fall of 2006, it became an instant national bestseller. NBC’s Today show judged it a "great book to give as a Christmas gift." A year later, The Intellectual Devotional: American History also leaped onto bestseller lists. Now, an avid readership of "devoted intellectuals" will be eager to build on the knowledge base it acquired in the first two books, and what better way to do so than to dive into the complex and vital world of Western culture? Here, the authors turn to the fascinating world of our contemporary culture covering the essential artists, works, icons, and consumer products that have defined the way we live and express ourselves. From War and Peace to Catcher in the Rye, from Beethoven to John Lennon, from H. L. Mencken to Marilyn Monroe, from Andy Warhol to American Idol—the defining events and figures from literature, music, film, sports, and pop culture are served up in morsels of daily wisdom that will revive forgotten knowledge and open new horizons of intellectual discovery.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
Fun but impractical January 9, 2009 These little "devotionals" (a term I find a bit odd since it is usually used to invoke prayer or other religious rites) are fun to be sure. One can, in a short little bite, glean some interesting information and trivia from them. But, at least for me, they are very impractical. There is a different devotional--oh heck I'm just going to say "piece" because that word "devotional" bugs me--for each day. Problem is, if you play the CD, you have to either leave it in your player on pause so that you can pick up the next piece on the following day, or put it on your iPod. Neither works well. If you do the former, and you want to listen to other CDs during the drive to work, you then have to re-cue the devotional CD to the correct disc and track to keep the pieces in sequence. If the latter, how do you organize it on the iPod? It's not an audiobook and isn't meant to be used as such. If you put it in with your music, you can drag it into a playlist for easy access, but then when you use the shuffle feature, as I do a lot, these things will pop up randomly and completely out of context. So in the end, I stopped listening to these after a few days. Call me lazy, but for me the logistics of trying to play the right one on the right day, day after day, just wasn't worth the effort.
Nice set for Info Junkies to listen while driving; nothing earth-shattering November 28, 2008 6 out of 7 found this review helpful
"The Intellectual Devotional: Modern Culture edition" is a 16 CD set comprised of brief yet interesting segments on various historical figures and other cultural phenomenae. The set, like the other installments in the "Intellectual Devotional" series are designed to be read (or in this case, listened to) in daily segments throughout the year. Each piece runs about 2-3 minutes and focuses on an interesting person or movement from history or culture.
The first figure profiled, interestingly enough, is Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. Authors Kidder and Oppenheim provide a brief overview of Freud, his major career developments, books and discoveries, along with some interesting trivia tidbits and "factoids" at the end of the profile.
Literary classics and genres, as well as composers are also explored similarly, such as Dostoyevsky's ground-breaking novel "Crime and Punishment," composer Tchaikovsky, as well as cultural icons Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol.
Bottom line: Nice way to pass the time while driving to work, etc., or prep for your next Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit tournament. However, if you are reasonably well-read, paid some attention part of the time in school, and pick up a decent newspaper a few times a month or so, there is nothing earth-shattering in this installment of The Intellectual Devotional. It is an interesting novelty, and the CDs are nice, but one can find the same sort of stuff on Wikipedia for free.
Well worth a listen, but I would wait for it to come down in price, check it out from the library, OR check out some of the excellent (and free) podcasts on history and trivia from iTunes.
Nightly Routine November 23, 2008 1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the 3rd installment in the Intellectual Devotional series and I recommend the series. There are 365 entries and I keep the book on beside my bed and read an entry every night. I even photocopy pages when I go on vacation so I don't get behind!
An Information Bonaza November 22, 2008 1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This collection of cd's is really quite more that I could have ever expected. I love to know interesting things about society and culture and this collection is amazing. I find myself listening to and from work everyday and then sharing my new little bits of info to co-workers. For anyone who enjoys quiz shows this is a worthwhile collection. For anyone who prefers listening over reading you will become quite an informed individual at the end of the day...
Good as a book - but the CD version just isn't the same November 20, 2008 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
There is no doubt that the book is valuable for learning new little pieces of trivia and such. Unfortunately, it's not suited for the audio format. This is really a bedside book to pick-up and read a "devotional" a night, or to read one with breakfast each morning. Hearing them all, one after another, as you do in the audio version is tedious and takes something away from what the book is really all about. 4 Stars for content, 1 star as an audio book.
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