The Age of Reason: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Age of Reason, credited to Thomas Paine, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine. The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, a deistic treatise written by eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary Thomas Paine, critiques institutionalized religion and challenges the inerrancy of the Bible. Published in three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807, it was a bestseller in America, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. British audiences, however, fearing increased political radicalism as a result of the French revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age of Reason presents common deistic arguments; for example, it highlights the corruption of the Christian Church and criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine advocates reason in the place of revelation, leading him to reject miracles and to view the Bible as an ordinary piece of literature rather than as a divinely-inspired text. Yet, The Age of Reason is not atheistic: it promotes natural religion and argues for a creator-God. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Age of Reason
• Author credits: Thomas Paine
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 37
• Listed recording duration: 8:11:05

Catalogue topics

• non-fiction

Opening tracks: first 24 of 37

1. 00 - Part First, Introduction — 1:29
2. 01 - Part First, Section 1 — 8:21
3. 02 - Part First, Section 2 — 10:28
4. 03 - Part First, Section 3 — 9:42
5. 04 - Part First, Section 4 — 10:56
6. 05 - Part First, Section 5 — 11:28
7. 06 - Part First, Section 6 — 10:12
8. 07 - Part First, Section 7 — 11:09
9. 08 - Part First, Section 8 — 12:15
10. 09 - Part First, Section 9 — 8:44
11. 10 - Part First, Section 10 — 12:32
12. 11 - Part First, Section 11 — 13:19
13. 12 - Part First, Section 12 — 13:36
14. 13 - Part First, Section 13 — 12:47
15. 14 - Part First, Section 14 — 13:12
16. 15 - Part First, Section 15 — 13:43
17. 16 - Part Second, Preface — 9:47
18. 17 - Part Second, Sections 1 & 2 — 12:41
19. 18 - Part Second, Section 3 — 13:13
20. 19 - Part Second, Section 4 — 13:41
21. 20 - Part Second, Section 5 — 14:53
22. 21 - Part Second, Section 6 — 22:07
23. 22 - Part Second, Section 7 — 13:00
24. 23 - Part Second, Section 8 — 24:57

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.