Shop Jurassic World Rebirth!
Limited Time Offer
3 months free
$0.00
  • For a limited time, get Audible Premium Plus free for 3 months.
  • Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection—yours to keep (you'll use your first credit now).
  • Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
  • Auto-renews at $14.95/mo. after 3 months. Cancel online anytime.
Learn more about membership
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
List Price: $20.00
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

David Whyte (Author, Narrator), Brilliance Audio (Publisher)
4.5 out of 5 stars 314 ratings
In The Three Marriages, David Whyte, the best-selling author, poet, and speaker, asks you to think about your significant relationship to your partner, your work and your inner self in a radically different way by drawing them into a mutually supportive conversation.

According to Whyte, we humans are involved not just with one marriage with a significant other. We also have made secret vows to our work and unspoken vows to an inner, constantly developing self. These Three Marriages constantly surprise us, and they demand larger and renewed dedication as the years go by. Whyte's thesis is that to separate these marriages in order to balance them is to destroy the fabric of happiness itself; that in each of these marriages, will, effort, and hard work are overused, overrated, and in many ways self-defeating. Happiness, Whyte says, is possible, but only if we re-imagine how we inhabit the worlds of love, work, and self-understanding.

Whyte argues that it is not possible to sacrifice one marriage for any of the others without causing deep psychological damage. He looks to a different way of seeing and bringing these relationships together and invites us to examine each marriage with a fierce but affectionate eye as he shows the nonnegotiable nature at the core of each commitment.

Only by understanding the journey involved in each of the Three Marriages and the stages of their maturation, he says, can we understand how to bring them together in one fulfilled life.

Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Listening Length
    9 hours and 38 minutes
  2. Author
    David Whyte
  3. Narrator
    David Whyte
  4. Audible release date
    February 5, 2009
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  7. ASIN
    B001RUZSXG
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
Next slide of product details

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible audiobook with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $11.99 after you buy the Kindle book.
Prime Day Offer
Get 3 months of Audible FREE. Terms apply. Try now.

Product details

Listening Length 9 hours and 38 minutes
Author David Whyte
Narrator David Whyte
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date February 05, 2009
Publisher Brilliance Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B001RUZSXG
Best Sellers Rank

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
314 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book insightful, particularly appreciating its meaningful observations on life themes. Moreover, the writing style receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as excellent, and one noting how the prose reads like poetry.

Select to learn more

InsightReadabilityWriting style
24 customers mention "Insight"24 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, particularly appreciating its meaningful observations on three life themes. One customer notes how it provides deep insight into human motivation, while another describes it as a wonderful way to conceptualize our many selves.

"David Whyte takes you on an in-depth journey to what you are really about and establishes the words to define how committed we can be to our work...." Read more

"...I appreciated the underpinnings of the Four Noble Truths that becomes clearer in the “Marriage of Marriages”" Read more

"...This book has some stunning stories and good resources for deepening your life." Read more

"...It has some good illustrations about committment and some untentional (unbeknownst to the author) illustrations about not-quite-so-completed..." Read more

20 customers mention "Readability"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and worthwhile, with one customer noting that the last third is particularly rewarding.

"The Three Marriages is an easy read and worthwhile. Not as worthwhile as the title might imply, but worthwhile...." Read more

"...David Whyte is a beautiful piece in the enigma of existence...." Read more

"...Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship is insightful and useful...." Read more

"Absolutely beautiful and perceptive descriptions of these relationships and the struggles in and among them...." Read more

16 customers mention "Writing style"14 positive2 negative

Customers praise the writing style of the book, with one customer noting that the prose is often like poetry, while another mentions that the language is direct and clear.

"All through this tape, you feel the presence of a true poet who is sharing his poetic, painful, joyful, rich and the inseparable mundanity and..." Read more

"...He addressed so many important areas, using wonderful stories and poems, that finally, after listening to it twice, I ordered a copy of the book so..." Read more

"...David Whyte's book helps. In addition he uses language like the poet he is and this not only guides his point home but guides it beautifully...." Read more

"Meaningful observations on 3 life themes central to all. The language is direct and clear...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening - a different method for viewing WORK !
    Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2011
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    David Whyte takes you on an in-depth journey to what you are really about and establishes the words to define how committed we can be to our work. I find I am a sponge just soaking up what he is laying out before the reader. Examine it, see what fits for you, how you define yourself for all 3 levels. I never thought of a marriage to "self", but that is part of our journey throughout our lives. The exploration and acceptable of ourselves does take a commitment - a marriage of sorts. Then there is the "self" that is defined by work, our careers, the companies we work for and colleagues we spend so much time with during the work day. We are always asked "what is it that you do"? at parties, the hairdresser, at a church meeting - every where! I feel I have made my marriage to work my own path. Yes, I followed the rules, but added in what I like to do to make things better, with my colleagues and being true to myself along the way. After 30 years of working, I find this book bring me to a new horizon. How can I re-commit myself to all three and how do I shape the years ahead for me and those I mentor? Enjoy the journey for we are always growing up!
    17 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, I recommend it wholeheartedly
    Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This book is accessible on many levels. I appreciated the underpinnings of the Four Noble Truths that becomes clearer in the “Marriage of Marriages”
    Helpful
     Report
  • Joyce
    5.0 out of 5 stars Core Conversations With Life
    Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Whyte, a poet, applies his poetic insights to the whole of life, seeing it as three marriages: to a special person, to one's work, to oneself. Rather than talking about balancing these parts of one's life, he sees each "marriage" as "a core conversation with life that seems necessary for almost all human beings," even if the conversation is carried on unconsciously. He uses the life examples of writers like Jane Austen, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling, and spiritual teacher Pema Chodron to illustrate his points. Here is a nugget for each of the three marriages: The marriage to another person is a place to discuss one another's three marriages. The marriage to work involves deciding what we want to bring about in the world. And silence of one kind or another is necessary to come to terms with the marriage to self. This book has some stunning stories and good resources for deepening your life.
    23 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Joseph C. Waters
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Three Marriages
    Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    The Three Marriages is an easy read and worthwhile. Not as worthwhile as the title might imply, but worthwhile. It has some good illustrations about committment and some untentional (unbeknownst to the author) illustrations about not-quite-so-completed committments. The idea is that people can be (and need to be) loyal and completely committed to more than one thing and/or person at the same time, and do not need to slight one for the other.

    Someone made a comment about a political speech that it was, "A corporal of thought accompanied by an army of words." This book illustrates something to the converse. It is a king of thought accompained by an inadequate army.

    It should be read, as Sir Francis Bacon might be paraphrased, "Not for argument, but to consider."
    12 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Hydeh Aubon
    5.0 out of 5 stars the three marrriages by David Whyte
    Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2010
    Format: Audio CDVerified Purchase
    All through this tape, you feel the presence of a true poet who is sharing his poetic, painful, joyful, rich and the inseparable mundanity and magicality of his encounters with people, moments, sceneries, nature, words and in short Life.

    David Whyte is a beautiful piece in the enigma of existence. His presence and the flow of this rich dimension of his beautiful inner world is rich enough that you can take this tape, or book, be in a small room, on top of a mountain, a crowded place, a hospital bed, in a train cabin, a small café, facing the ocean or....and be inspired endlessly.

    His work is a gift. A gift that never stops giving,

    May his work reach the searching souls who seek poetry, beauty, accepting, fighting, surviving, thriving and beyond.
    11 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Rob Prouse
    3.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking with great literary examples
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2015
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This isn't a self help book but it does encourage the reader to ask valuable questions about their own relationships with work, partner and self. It is honest and and insightful though at time a bit verbose
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Rayellen
    5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book
    Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2014
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I love this book, and more importantly, the truths it invites me to contemplate and let in. First, I listened to it all the way through on audio--twice, and then I felt compelled to buy the paper version so that I could re-read and highlight sections that were impactful. It is one of the most ambitious narratives I've ever read, with the author's and other biographies woven throughout three sections. These stories act to set you up to receive unexpected and deep gems of wisdom David Whyte lovingly and drops along the story path. I'd also buy the Crib notes, just those gems neatly packaged without the illustrative stories, but only after gaining the full appreciation of the richness of how the stories help make the point. This is a fantastic selection for a multi-session discussion group.
    7 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Michelle Alberigi McKenzie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Some Pretty Terrific Stuff Here!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    David posits that we have three very important marriages in our lives: marriage to a partner, our marriage to our work, and that ultimate marriage we should be having with ourselves. He says these things are so closely tied to who we are, that we must look at all three. (probably OFTEN.) He also says we can't expect a perfect balance, and explains why that just doesn't work in the real world. (what a relief!)

    I downloaded the audio version and listened to it twice. He addressed so many important areas, using wonderful stories and poems, that finally, after listening to it twice, I ordered a copy of the book so I could highlight all the good stuff I wanted to remember. I'm a happy camper.
    31 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Perspective
    Reviewed in Canada on April 7, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    David Whyte has a way of articulating aspects of inner life that I've felt, but have never been able to put into words. He's given me a language and a conceptual framework from which to see, and describe, and explore.
    Report
  • Dr. Peter Davies
    5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is David Whyte at his best. He has written this book well, describing how we are constantly balancing ourselves between work, self and relationships. He points out that we have personal relationships to each component- to our sel, to our work, to our relationships. Whyte argues against trying to compartmentalise our lives too much. There is not time to divide our life into chunks, or to become different people in different settings.

    What he's basically arguing for is development of character and depth, so producing stable and effective relationships in whatever context we are. His argument is for presence in whatever we are doing now.

    Whyte is a fascinating writer who blends many themes into a helpful synthesis. This is a great book and ranks well alongside his earlier classic The Heart Aroused.
    Report
  • Sardis Siren
    5.0 out of 5 stars worth reading
    Reviewed in Canada on October 9, 2016
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is a book worth reading to understand the relationship we have with ourselves over time through how we balance work, family and self....
    Report
  • Mark B
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wise and practical
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 14, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    A phenomenal insight into integrating the different aspects of self, relationships and work (in whatever sense that may be).

    I was already a fan of David Whyte's insightful poetry, but this book is spectacularly practical, as well as inspiring. I don't mean practical in terms of worksheets or techniques for time prioritisation, but in terms of philosophical outlook and providing a framework within which to reconcile the conflicting, sometimes paradoxical demands of the different areas of our lives.

    Highly recommended for anybody wishing to reflect on themselves and their lives.
    One person found this helpful
     Report
  • jumpingjack
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Enriching Read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    A gift of a book. Written with depth and compassion. David Whyte deftly weaves the lives of writers and thinkers with his personal reflections, poetry and philosophy. It is a generous, intelligent, humorous and reflective book. It had for me the quality of an unexpected and deeply rewarding conversation with a stranger, the sense of having encountered something that is not contained by the encounter, but takes on a life of its own and continues to enrich long after the last page is turned.
    Report