True Nature
- Author Lance Richardson
- Narrator Mark Bramhall
- Publisher Random House
- Publish Date 16 October 2025
- Run Time 31 hours and 18 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biography: writers, Conservation of the environment, Zen Buddhism.
Flexible Pricing & Rewards For Listening
At xigxag, the more you read, the less you pay* on select audiobook and x-book® titles, as in the table below. Pricing updates automatically in the app and resets one year after your first purchase. And you can always find a selection of brilliant titles available for only £3.99.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price per title
- £8.99
- £7.99
- £6.99
- £5.99
- £4.99
*Only the full price titles you buy count toward your personal pricing tier. Full price titles don’t include Listen for Less or other books bought with a voucher or discount code.
Listen to a sample
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
Discover the many lives of Peter Matthiessen – writer, naturalist, activist, CIA agent, Zen master – in this kaleidoscopic biography of an American literary giant.
Author of The Snow Leopard, co-founder of the Paris Review and the only writer to have ever won the National Book Award for both fiction and nonfiction, Peter Matthiessen was a towering figure of twentieth-century American literature. He was also an undercover agent for the fledgling CIA; an environmental activist; an advocate for Native American rights; friends with the likes of Truman Capote and William Styron; and a daring explorer who visited every continent on Earth.
Across these many lives, Matthiessen was always searching for what he called his ‘true nature’, and this spiritual quest ultimately led him to the highest ranks of Zen.
Readers and critics have struggled to reconcile Matthiessen’s extraordinarily varied achievements and literary output. Now, for the first time, drawing on rich primary sources and hundreds of interviews, acclaimed biographer Lance Richardson pulls together the seemingly disparate threads of Matthiessen’s story. With page-turning immediacy, Richardson illuminates how the writer’s uncanny gifts enabled him to sense connections between ecological decline, racism and labour exploitation – to express, eloquently and presciently, that ‘in a damaged human habitat, all problems merge’.
'Magnificent' ROBERT MACFARLANE
'Fascinating' KATHERINE MAY
'Irresistible' KATHERINE BUCKNELL
‘Perceptive and consistently readable’ CAL FLYN
© Lance Richardson 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critics Review
| Author | Lance Richardson |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Mark Bramhall |
| Duration | 31 hours and 18 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781529926064 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Genre | Biography: writers, Conservation of the environment, Zen Buddhism |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE |
More from the same
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.