
Cosmosapiens
Human Evolution from the Origin of the Universe
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $25.76
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Gildart Jackson
-
By:
-
John Hands
About this listen
Cosmosapiens is a big-picture look at how human life emerged and evolved in the universe, incorporating the ideas of world-renowned experts from a wide range of intellectual disciplines.
Who are we, and how did we get here? These are two of the most fundamental and far-reaching questions facing scientists and cosmologists alike and have rested at the center of human intellectual endeavor since its beginning. They are questions that stretch across numerous disciplines. Philosophy, theology, evolutionary biology, and mathematics are just some of the fields looking to explain the emergence of human life. But with so many groups seeking answers using so many different methods, it can be nearly impossible to tell what sort of progress has been made without stepping back and looking at the whole interdisciplinary picture.
In Cosmosapiens, John Hands presents listeners with exactly such a synthesis, 10 years in the making and incorporating the ideas of world-renowned experts from wide array of fields. The book sifts the speculative from the firmly established, examining claims of all sorts, challenging the orthodox consensus in those branches of cosmology, biology, and neuroscience that have ossified into dogma. His striking analysis reveals underlying patterns of cooperation, complexification, and convergence that begin to tell the story of human emergence and consciousness. In the end, it will transform our understanding of what we are and how we evolved from the origin of the universe.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 John Hands (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Future of Humankind
- Why We Should Be Optimistic
- By: John Hands
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his acclaimed Cosmosapiens, renowned scientist John Hands looked back on how we humans evolved from the origin of the universe to the present day. Building on that work, The Future of Humankind: Why We Should Be Optimistic looks ahead to our ultimate destiny. Listeners embark on a fascinating journey in which Hands evaluates current major predictions for our future in three categories—extinction, survival, and transformation—before making his own unique and astonishing forecast.
-
-
Thorough, authoritative, and enticing
- By Paul on 04-27-23
By: John Hands
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
Life on the Edge
- The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology
- By: Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: Nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation?
-
-
More woo than new
- By Gary on 09-09-15
By: Johnjoe McFadden, and others
-
Power, Sex, Suicide
- Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating and thought-provoking book, author Nick Lane brings together the latest research findings in the exciting field of mitochondria research to reveal how our growing understanding of mitochondria is shedding light on how complex life evolved, why sex arose (why don't we just bud?), and why we age and die. This understanding is of fundamental importance, both in understanding how we and all other complex life came to be, but also in order to be able to control our own illnesses, and delay our degeneration and death.
-
-
Possibly the heaviest Nick Lane book I've read
- By Mic Mises on 05-20-19
By: Nick Lane
-
The Ascent of Humanity
- Civilization and the Human Sense of Self
- By: Charles Eisenstein
- Narrated by: Steve Wojtas
- Length: 27 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Eisenstein explores the history and potential future of civilization, tracing the converging crises of our age to the illusion of the separate self. He argues that our disconnection from one another and the natural world has mislaid the foundations of science, religion, money, technology, economics, medicine, and education as we know them. It has fired our near-pathological pursuit of technological Utopias even as we push ourselves and our planet to the brink of collapse.
-
-
Interesting ideas but lots of negativity
- By Dan B on 05-22-23
-
The Silk Roads
- A New History of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 24 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures, and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the 20th century - this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.
-
-
An Absolutely SUPERB Book for Lovers of History
- By Dipam on 06-27-21
By: Peter Frankopan
-
The Future of Humankind
- Why We Should Be Optimistic
- By: John Hands
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his acclaimed Cosmosapiens, renowned scientist John Hands looked back on how we humans evolved from the origin of the universe to the present day. Building on that work, The Future of Humankind: Why We Should Be Optimistic looks ahead to our ultimate destiny. Listeners embark on a fascinating journey in which Hands evaluates current major predictions for our future in three categories—extinction, survival, and transformation—before making his own unique and astonishing forecast.
-
-
Thorough, authoritative, and enticing
- By Paul on 04-27-23
By: John Hands
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
Life on the Edge
- The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology
- By: Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: Nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation?
-
-
More woo than new
- By Gary on 09-09-15
By: Johnjoe McFadden, and others
-
Power, Sex, Suicide
- Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating and thought-provoking book, author Nick Lane brings together the latest research findings in the exciting field of mitochondria research to reveal how our growing understanding of mitochondria is shedding light on how complex life evolved, why sex arose (why don't we just bud?), and why we age and die. This understanding is of fundamental importance, both in understanding how we and all other complex life came to be, but also in order to be able to control our own illnesses, and delay our degeneration and death.
-
-
Possibly the heaviest Nick Lane book I've read
- By Mic Mises on 05-20-19
By: Nick Lane
-
The Ascent of Humanity
- Civilization and the Human Sense of Self
- By: Charles Eisenstein
- Narrated by: Steve Wojtas
- Length: 27 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Eisenstein explores the history and potential future of civilization, tracing the converging crises of our age to the illusion of the separate self. He argues that our disconnection from one another and the natural world has mislaid the foundations of science, religion, money, technology, economics, medicine, and education as we know them. It has fired our near-pathological pursuit of technological Utopias even as we push ourselves and our planet to the brink of collapse.
-
-
Interesting ideas but lots of negativity
- By Dan B on 05-22-23
-
The Silk Roads
- A New History of the World
- By: Peter Frankopan
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 24 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures, and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the 20th century - this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.
-
-
An Absolutely SUPERB Book for Lovers of History
- By Dipam on 06-27-21
By: Peter Frankopan
-
The Blank Slate
- The Modern Denial of Human Nature
- By: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 22 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits, denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
-
-
Don't bother. Outdated science & poor logic...
- By ejf211 on 03-31-10
By: Steven Pinker
-
The Enlightenment
- The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
- By: Ritchie Robertson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 40 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magisterial history - sure to become the definitive work on the subject - recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.
-
-
The quickest 40 hour audio book I’ve listen to
- By Joey Caster on 04-02-21
-
The Fourth Phase of Water
- Beyond Solid, Liquid, and Vapor
- By: Gerald H. Pollack
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World renowned scientist, Dr. Gerald Pollack, takes us on a fantastic voyage through water, showing us a hidden universe teeming with physical activity - providing simple explanations for everyday phenomena, which you have inevitably seen but not really understood. Have you ever wondered how do clouds made up of dense water droplets manage to float in the sky? Why don't your joints squeak as they rub together? Why do you sink in dry sand, but not in wet sand? Pollack uses a recent and fundamental scientific finding - EZ water - to help explain these and many other head-scratchers.
-
-
A seed for pseudo-science?
- By James S. on 07-27-20
-
Helgoland
- Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution
- By: Carlo Rovelli, Erica Segre - translator, Simon Carnell - translator
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving. Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the 23-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution.
-
-
The cat is not sleeping
- By Anonymous on 05-30-21
By: Carlo Rovelli, and others
-
Chemistry and Our Universe
- How It All Works
- By: Ron B. Davis, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Ron B. Davis
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught through 60 engaging half-hour lectures that are suitable for any background or none at all. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University.
-
-
Great Professor, Hard to Follow.
- By Jen on 05-14-19
By: Ron B. Davis, and others
-
Black Holes
- The Key to Understanding the Universe
- By: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Jeff Forshaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the star physicist and author of multiple #1 Sunday Times bestsellers, a major and definitive narrative work on black holes and how they can help us understand the universe.
-
-
not really a good audio book for active listeners
- By D Co on 05-27-24
By: Brian Cox, and others
-
A Brief History of Black Holes
- And Why Nearly Everything You Know About Them Is Wrong
- By: Dr Becky Smethurst
- Narrated by: Dr. Becky Smethurst
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Right now, you are orbiting a black hole. The Earth goes around the Sun, and the Sun goes around the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole—the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy. In A Brief History of Black Holes, University of Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst charts the scientific breakthroughs that have uncovered the weird and wonderful world of black holes, from Hawking radiation to the iconic first photographs of a black hole in 2019.
-
-
Becky is the British Neil Degrasse Tyson!
- By Mark on 09-02-22
-
Return of the God Hypothesis
- Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
- By: Stephen C. Meyer
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of Darwin’s Doubt presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology.
-
-
A Wonderful Culmination of Dr. Meyer’s Work
- By Trevor Rolls on 03-31-21
By: Stephen C. Meyer
-
Science and the Akashic Field
- An Integral Theory of Everything
- By: Ervin Laszlo
- Narrated by: Tom Pile
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mystics and sages have long maintained that there exists an interconnecting cosmic field at the roots of reality that conserves and conveys information, a field known as the Akashic record. Recent discoveries in vacuum physics show that this Akashic field is real and has its equivalent in science's zero-point field that underlies space itself. This field consists of a subtle sea of fluctuating energies from which all things arise: atoms and galaxies, stars and planets, living beings, and even consciousness.
-
-
A must-read about ultimate nature of reality
- By Alexandra Hopkins on 04-15-18
By: Ervin Laszlo
-
The Hidden Reality
- Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
- By: Brian Greene
- Narrated by: Brian Greene
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There was a time when “universe” meant all there is. Everything. Yet, in recent years discoveries in physics and cosmology have led a number of scientists to conclude that our universe may be one among many. With crystal-clear prose and inspired use of analogy, Brian Greene shows how a range of different “multiverse” proposals emerges from theories developed to explain the most refined observations of both subatomic particles and the dark depths of space.
-
-
This book & Greene's analogies connected Qs to As
- By Blair on 02-02-11
By: Brian Greene
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
ABSOLUTE MUST READ!
- By serine on 05-12-16
By: Sean Carroll
-
A Universe from Nothing
- Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
- By: Lawrence M. Krauss
- Narrated by: Lawrence M. Krauss, Simon Vance
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where did the universe come from? What was there before it? What will the future bring? And finally, why is there something rather than nothing? Krauss’ answers to these and other timeless questions, in a wildly popular lecture on YouTube, has attracted almost a million viewers. One of the few prominent scientists to have actively crossed the chasm between science and popular culture, Krauss reveals that modern science is indeed addressing the question of why there is something rather than nothing—with surprising and fascinating results.
-
-
Read Review Before Buying
- By Nathan on 04-26-18
What listeners say about Cosmosapiens
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-23-23
a rare broad survey, give it a go!
While some will beg to differ on various points throughout the text, this book overall represents a rare broad survey of science as it applies to the question : where did we come from?
this is a serious attempt to ask a lot of very good basic questions about science in the world, and at the very least it is a wonderful book for inspiring thought and your own questions.
I hope that a future edition contains a bit more focus on the hypothico deductive process and even the statistics used with that to evaluate the legitimacy of results.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- quinet
- 04-11-16
Much too long
John Hands has much to cover - too much - and he does not handle it well. I got some new knowledge from this book but to get there I had to be vitally interested in the topic and disciplined enough to plow through many hours of Hands reviewing the current state of scientific understanding of central issues in cosmology, evolution, and related science fields. Hands takes pains to undermine current orthodoxy on matters such as the Big Bang theory, string theory, and neo-Darwinism, and is perhaps a little too smug about this.
The amount of verbiage discussing current theories makes me worry that as our scientific understanding learns and evolves, the book will become dated.
In short there is useful stuff in here even for the scientifically literate but it might be written at too high a level for the lay person and too exhaustive to reward 31 hours of listening for someone with a science background.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Terri Fuqua
- 05-02-18
VERY THOROUGH
I enjoyed this book. The author introduced several viable theories to otherwise challenge the orthodox beliefs. As well, the material was researched, presented with open mindedness, and offered reasonable thought.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Purchaser
- 11-11-18
One of my all time favorites!!
I enjoyed this great book about connecting knowledge. Great book and enjoyable listen. Highly recommended!! #Inspiring #SelfDiscovery #Provocative #tagsgiving #sweepstakes
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- macGA
- 10-13-16
<br /><br />Overview of what we know, and what we don't know
excellent summary of what science has discovered so far, for lay people and scholars alike.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kevin M Lowe
- 07-31-16
May not be a fair treatment
Though a valuable perspective and counter to what may be acceptance of false precepts by established and respected scientists, the esoteric nature of the subject and the writing style come together such that a layman is left constantly wondering what the author is leaving out.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- La Bookeria
- 03-16-16
encyclopedic and anarchistic
encyclopedic and anarchist in its impulse and delivery. it constitutes not only the latest report, but a manifesto of sorts. highly highly recommended
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard
- 07-22-17
Very Comprehensive
This is a long, but exceedingly comprehensive treatment of the various theories currently advanced for the beginning of the universe, though the present. It contains explorations of many concepts which I had not considered. It is too comprehensive for me to grasp in one listening, especially because of the way I listen; that is, while driving or working out. For me to really absorb the content on the first pass, I need to take notes while listening and this is not possible. Overall, a lengthy but worthy listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Akhil Tandulwadikar
- 07-27-16
Long but worth it
This is a thoroughly researched and unbiased look at human history and how science has shaped us
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan
- 03-11-16
A Stunningly Thorough Survey of Human Knowledge
This is perhaps the most complete survey of the current state of knowledge in the fields of cosmology, biochemistry, biology, and physics that is available for a lay reader. In addition to his careful attention to detail, Hands provides a uniquely critical and unbiased analysis of the mainstream orthodoxy of these fields, as they relate to human evolution. He is especially critical of mainstream cosmology and neo-Darwinian theories, but his critiques are so nuanced and evidence-based it is hard to disagree with his conclusions. In all, Cosmosapiens provides a careful analysis of how we got here, what we know, what we don't know, and what we may never know can hardly be imagined.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful