-
Darwin Comes to Town
- How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution
- Narrated by: Chris Nayak
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
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
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Darwin Comes to Town draws on eye-popping examples of adaptation to share a stunning vision of urban evolution in which humans and wildlife co-exist in a unique harmony.
*Carrion crows in the Japanese city of Sendai have learned to use passing traffic to crack nuts.
*Lizards in Puerto Rico are evolving feet that better grip surfaces like concrete.
*Europe’s urban blackbirds sing at a higher pitch than their rural cousins, to be heard over the din of traffic.
How is this happening?
Menno Schilthuizen is one of a growing number of “urban ecologists” studying how our manmade environments are accelerating and changing the evolution of the animals and plants around us. In Darwin Comes to Town, he takes us around the world for an up-close look at just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be.
With human populations growing, we’re having an increasing impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlap as much as they do in cities. The urban environment is about as extreme as it gets, and the wild animals and plants that live side-by-side with us need to adapt to a whole suite of challenging conditions: they must manage in the city’s hotter climate (the “urban heat island”); they need to be able to live either in the semidesert of the tall, rocky, and cavernous structures we call buildings or in the pocket-like oases of city parks (which pose their own dangers, including smog and free-ranging dogs and cats); traffic causes continuous noise, a mist of fine dust particles, and barriers to movement for any animal that cannot fly or burrow; food sources are mainly human-derived. And yet, as Schilthuizen shows, the wildlife sharing these spaces with us is not just surviving, but evolving ways of thriving.
This audiobook reveals that evolution can happen far more rapidly than Darwin dreamed, while providing a glimmer of hope that our race toward over population might not take the rest of nature down with us.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Hospital
- Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town
- By: Brian Alexander
- Narrated by: Nick Landrum
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By following the struggle for survival of one small-town hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its doors, The Hospital takes listeners into the world of the American medical industry in a way no audiobook has done before. Americans are dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no plan will solve America’s health crisis until the deeper causes of that crisis are addressed.
-
-
This book says it all about what is wrong with healthcare
- By 042850 on 03-11-21
By: Brian Alexander
-
The Lost Art of Dying
- Reviving Forgotten Wisdom
- By: L.S. Dugdale
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lost Art of Dying is filled with much-needed insight and thoughtful guidance that will change our perceptions. Dr. Dugdale offers a hopeful perspective on death and dying as she shows us how to adapt the wisdom from the past to our lives today. Part of living well means preparing for the end, Dr. Dugdale reminds us. By recovering our sense of finitude, confronting our fears, accepting how our bodies age, developing meaningful rituals, and involving our communities in end-of-life care, we can discover what it means to both live and die well.
-
-
Powerful. Helpful.
- By ECWalter on 02-20-21
By: L.S. Dugdale
-
Under the Knife
- A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations
- By: Arnold van de Laar, Andy Brown - translator
- Narrated by: Rich Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the story of the desperate man from 17th-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room. What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell, or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery?
-
-
Why did a surgeon need a fast horse?
- By India Clamp on 10-18-18
By: Arnold van de Laar, and others
-
A Taste for Poison
- Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them
- By: Neil Bradbury Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals, and political assassins to show how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin and tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom, A Taste for Poison leads listeners on a fascinating tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive - or don’t.
-
-
Poison, Murder, and So Much More!
- By Rebecca Hill on 02-12-22
-
Eating to Extinction
- The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them
- By: Dan Saladino
- Narrated by: Dan Saladino
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past several decades, globalization has homogenized what we eat, and done so ruthlessly. The numbers are stark: Of the roughly 6,000 different plants once consumed by human beings, only nine remain major staples today. Just three of these - rice, wheat, and corn - now provide 50 percent of all our calories. Dig deeper and the trends are more worrisome still.
-
-
Must read
- By Morgan German on 10-06-22
By: Dan Saladino
-
The Next Great Migration
- The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Sonia Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A prize-winning journalist upends our centuries-long assumptions about migration through science, history, and reporting - predicting its lifesaving power in the face of climate change.
-
-
BRAVA!!!!
- By Liz Jardine on 08-03-20
By: Sonia Shah
-
The Hospital
- Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town
- By: Brian Alexander
- Narrated by: Nick Landrum
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By following the struggle for survival of one small-town hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its doors, The Hospital takes listeners into the world of the American medical industry in a way no audiobook has done before. Americans are dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no plan will solve America’s health crisis until the deeper causes of that crisis are addressed.
-
-
This book says it all about what is wrong with healthcare
- By 042850 on 03-11-21
By: Brian Alexander
-
The Lost Art of Dying
- Reviving Forgotten Wisdom
- By: L.S. Dugdale
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lost Art of Dying is filled with much-needed insight and thoughtful guidance that will change our perceptions. Dr. Dugdale offers a hopeful perspective on death and dying as she shows us how to adapt the wisdom from the past to our lives today. Part of living well means preparing for the end, Dr. Dugdale reminds us. By recovering our sense of finitude, confronting our fears, accepting how our bodies age, developing meaningful rituals, and involving our communities in end-of-life care, we can discover what it means to both live and die well.
-
-
Powerful. Helpful.
- By ECWalter on 02-20-21
By: L.S. Dugdale
-
Under the Knife
- A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations
- By: Arnold van de Laar, Andy Brown - translator
- Narrated by: Rich Keeble
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the story of the desperate man from 17th-century Amsterdam who grimly cut a stone out of his own bladder to Bob Marley's deadly toe, Under the Knife offers a wealth of fascinating and unforgettable insights into medicine and history via the operating room. What happens during an operation? How does the human body respond to being attacked by a knife, a bacterium, a cancer cell, or a bullet? And, as medical advances continuously push the boundaries of what medicine can cure, what are the limits of surgery?
-
-
Why did a surgeon need a fast horse?
- By India Clamp on 10-18-18
By: Arnold van de Laar, and others
-
A Taste for Poison
- Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them
- By: Neil Bradbury Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals, and political assassins to show how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin and tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom, A Taste for Poison leads listeners on a fascinating tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive - or don’t.
-
-
Poison, Murder, and So Much More!
- By Rebecca Hill on 02-12-22
-
Eating to Extinction
- The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them
- By: Dan Saladino
- Narrated by: Dan Saladino
- Length: 16 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past several decades, globalization has homogenized what we eat, and done so ruthlessly. The numbers are stark: Of the roughly 6,000 different plants once consumed by human beings, only nine remain major staples today. Just three of these - rice, wheat, and corn - now provide 50 percent of all our calories. Dig deeper and the trends are more worrisome still.
-
-
Must read
- By Morgan German on 10-06-22
By: Dan Saladino
-
The Next Great Migration
- The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Sonia Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A prize-winning journalist upends our centuries-long assumptions about migration through science, history, and reporting - predicting its lifesaving power in the face of climate change.
-
-
BRAVA!!!!
- By Liz Jardine on 08-03-20
By: Sonia Shah
-
Seed Money
- Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future
- By: Bartow J. Elmore
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Monsanto, a St. Louis chemical firm that became the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds, merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018 - but its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced 25 years ago, are still reshaping the farms that feed us. When researchers found trace amounts of the firm’s blockbuster herbicide in breakfast cereal bowls, Monsanto faced public outcry. Award-winning historian Bartow J. Elmore shows how the Roundup story is just one of the troubling threads of Monsanto’s past, many told here and woven together for the first time.
-
-
informative. and a bit depressing
- By Gregory X on 01-09-24
By: Bartow J. Elmore
-
The Crime Book
- Big Ideas Simply Explained
- By: DK, Peter James
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Jack the Ripper to the modern-day drug cartels, discover the most notorious crimes and criminals in history. With a foreword written and narrated by best-selling crime author Peter James, The Crime Book explores over 100 crimes and examines the science, psychology and sociology of criminal behavior. Hear the gory details of each crime and how they were solved, with renowned quotes and detailed criminal profiles letting you delve into the criminal mind.
-
-
It covers a huge span of time. But what is covered is shallow rather than in depth.
- By DJ on 12-06-23
By: DK, and others
-
Archaeology from Space
- How the Future Shapes Our Past
- By: Sarah Parcak
- Narrated by: Sarah Parcak
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Archaeology from Space, Sarah Parcak shows the evolution, major discoveries, and future potential of the young field of satellite archaeology. From surprise advancements after the declassification of spy photography, to a new map of the mythical Egyptian city of Tanis, she shares her field's biggest discoveries, revealing why space archaeology is not only exciting, but urgently essential to the preservation of the world's ancient treasures.
-
-
So excited
- By Michael G Bell on 05-15-21
By: Sarah Parcak
-
Genesis
- The Story of How Everything Began
- By: Guido Tonelli, Erica Segre - translator, Simon Carnell - translator
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A breakout best seller in Italy, now available for American listeners for the first time, Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began is a short, humanistic tour of the origins of the universe, earth, and life - drawing on the latest discoveries in physics to explain the seven most significant moments in the creation of the cosmos.
-
-
This is soooo boring to listen to
- By A. Galer on 02-27-23
By: Guido Tonelli, and others
-
The End of Bias: A Beginning
- The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias
- By: Jessica Nordell
- Narrated by: Jessica Nordell
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unconscious bias: persistent, unintentional prejudiced behavior that clashes with our consciously held beliefs. We know that it exists, to corrosive and even lethal effect. We see it in medicine, the workplace, education, policing, and beyond. But when it comes to uprooting our prejudices, we still have far to go. With nuance, compassion, and ten years' immersion in the topic, Jessica Nordell weaves gripping stories with scientific research to reveal how minds, hearts, and behaviors change.
-
-
An awesome book about understanding unconscious bias and how to end its powerful grip on our behavior.
- By Jose R. Nino on 10-10-21
By: Jessica Nordell
-
His Majesty's Airship
- The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine
- By: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragic fate of the British airship R101—which went down in a spectacular fireball in 1930, killing more people than died in the Hindenburg disaster seven years later—has been largely forgotten. In His Majesty’s Airship, S.C. Gwynne resurrects it in vivid detail, telling the epic story of great ambition gone terribly wrong.
-
-
O, The Humanity
- By Glenn G Poole II on 06-11-23
By: S. C. Gwynne
-
The Better Half
- On the Genetic Superiority of Women
- By: Dr. Sharon Moalem MD PhD
- Narrated by: Dr. Sharon Moalem MD PhD
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are some facts: Women live longer than men. They have stronger immune systems. They're better at fighting cancer and surviving famine, and even see the world in a wider variety of colors. They are simply stronger than men at every stage of life. Why is this? And why are we taught the opposite? To find out, Dr. Sharon Moalem drew on his own medical experiences - treating premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit; recruiting the elderly for neurogenetic studies; and more - and tried to understand why in every instance men were consistently less likely to thrive.
-
-
very good
- By Anabelle Cardona on 04-16-22
-
Metazoa
- Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind
- By: Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Narrated by: Mitch Riley, Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dip below the ocean’s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals, and serpulid worms, whose rooted bodies, intricate geometry, and flower-like appendages are more reminiscent of plant life or even architecture than anything recognizably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom — the Metazoa— they can teach us much about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds.
-
-
Philosophy Meets Biology
- By aaron on 01-22-21
-
The Quick Fix
- Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills
- By: Jesse Singal
- Narrated by: Jesse Singal
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An investigative journalist exposes the many holes in today’s best-selling behavioral science and argues that the trendy, TED Talk-friendly psychological interventions that are so in vogue at the moment will never be enough to truly address social injustice and inequality.
-
-
TDS detracts from otherwise ok book
- By Eric on 06-22-21
By: Jesse Singal
-
T
- The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone That Dominates and Divides Us
- By: Carole Hooven
- Narrated by: Rachel Perry
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through riveting personal stories and the latest research, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven shows how testosterone drives the behavior of the sexes apart and how understanding the science behind this hormone is empowering for all.
-
-
I wanted more science
- By L on 09-04-21
By: Carole Hooven
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
Until Proven Safe
- The History and Future of Quarantine
- By: Nicola Twilley, Geoff Manaugh
- Narrated by: Kristen DiMercurio
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quarantine is our most powerful response to uncertainty: it means waiting to see if something hidden inside us will be revealed. It is also one of our most dangerous, operating through an assumption of guilt. In quarantine, we are considered infectious until proven safe. Until Proven Safe tracks the history and future of quarantine around the globe, chasing the story of emergency isolation through time and space - from the crumbling lazarettos of the Mediterranean, built to contain the Black Death, to an experimental Ebola unit in London, and from the hallways of the CDC.
-
-
Excellent writing, timely and informative
- By MSE on 07-24-21
By: Nicola Twilley, and others
Critic reviews
“In a conversational style as appealing as it is informative, Schilthuizen...explores myriad ways in which plants and animals have adapted to modern urban environments....Schilthuizen is careful throughout to distinguish between true evolutionary changes and learned behaviors passed between individuals. He also does a superb job of introducing important ecological principles along the way, leaving readers with a fascinating question: ‘Can we harness the power of urban evolution to use it to make more livable cities for the future?’” —Publishers Weekly *STARRED REVIEW*
“Not only is evolution a real thing (something that, pathetically, one still needs to point out), and not only is it an ongoing process (rather than a phenomenon of the distant past), but some of the fastest, most interesting evolving occurs right under our noses, in our cities. In Darwin Comes to Town, Menno Schilthuizen explores the ways in which animals and plants have rapidly evolved to adapt to the opportunities and exigencies of urban niches. This is a fun, witty, thoroughly informative read.” —Robert M. Sapolsky, New York Times bestselling author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
“Natural selection is occurring all around us, and, as Darwin Comes to Town explains, increasingly because of us. Menno Schilthuizen introduces us to such rapidly-evolving creatures as urban lizards and city-dwelling mice. The result is a lively and fascinating book." —Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction
Related to this topic
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
The Wonder of Birds
- What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future
- By: Jim Robbins
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.
-
-
Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
-
A Naturalist at Large
- The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich
- By: Bernd Heinrich
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of the finest scientists and writers of our time comes an engaging record of a life spent in close observation of the natural world, one that has yielded marvelous, mind-altering insight and discoveries. In essays that span several decades, Bernd Heinrich finds himself at his beloved camp in Maine, plays host to annoying visitors from Europe (the cluster fly) and more helpful guests from Asia (ladybugs), and unravels the far-reaching ecological consequences of elephants in Botswana bruising mopane trees.
-
-
Listen and See the World Anew!
- By Thoughtful Learner on 06-03-18
By: Bernd Heinrich
-
Superlative
- The Biology of Extremes
- By: Matthew D. LaPlante
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world's largest land mammal could help us end cancer. The fastest bird is showing us how to solve a century-old engineering mystery. The oldest tree is giving us insights into climate change. The loudest whale is offering clues about the impact of solar storms. For a long time, scientists ignored superlative life forms as outliers. Increasingly, though, researchers are coming to see great value in studying plants and animals that exist on the outermost edges of the bell curve.
-
-
Fascinating survey of amazing biology
- By Nerd's-eye view on 12-06-19
-
The Galápagos
- A Natural History
- By: Henry Nicholls
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Galapagos were once known to the sailors and pirates who encountered them as Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands, home to exotic creatures and dramatic volcanic scenery. In The Galapagos, science writer Henry Nicholls offers a lively natural and human history of the archipelago, charting its evolution from deserted wilderness to scientific resource (made famous by Charles Darwin) and global ecotourism hot spot.
-
-
Thought-Provoking
- By Jean on 10-23-18
By: Henry Nicholls
-
Feathers
- The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
-
-
Fantastic Science and Fun
- By Chris Reich on 12-28-14
By: Thor Hanson
-
The Beak of the Finch
- A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
-
-
Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
-
The Wonder of Birds
- What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future
- By: Jim Robbins
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.
-
-
Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
-
A Naturalist at Large
- The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich
- By: Bernd Heinrich
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of the finest scientists and writers of our time comes an engaging record of a life spent in close observation of the natural world, one that has yielded marvelous, mind-altering insight and discoveries. In essays that span several decades, Bernd Heinrich finds himself at his beloved camp in Maine, plays host to annoying visitors from Europe (the cluster fly) and more helpful guests from Asia (ladybugs), and unravels the far-reaching ecological consequences of elephants in Botswana bruising mopane trees.
-
-
Listen and See the World Anew!
- By Thoughtful Learner on 06-03-18
By: Bernd Heinrich
-
Superlative
- The Biology of Extremes
- By: Matthew D. LaPlante
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world's largest land mammal could help us end cancer. The fastest bird is showing us how to solve a century-old engineering mystery. The oldest tree is giving us insights into climate change. The loudest whale is offering clues about the impact of solar storms. For a long time, scientists ignored superlative life forms as outliers. Increasingly, though, researchers are coming to see great value in studying plants and animals that exist on the outermost edges of the bell curve.
-
-
Fascinating survey of amazing biology
- By Nerd's-eye view on 12-06-19
-
The Galápagos
- A Natural History
- By: Henry Nicholls
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Galapagos were once known to the sailors and pirates who encountered them as Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands, home to exotic creatures and dramatic volcanic scenery. In The Galapagos, science writer Henry Nicholls offers a lively natural and human history of the archipelago, charting its evolution from deserted wilderness to scientific resource (made famous by Charles Darwin) and global ecotourism hot spot.
-
-
Thought-Provoking
- By Jean on 10-23-18
By: Henry Nicholls
-
Feathers
- The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
-
-
Fantastic Science and Fun
- By Chris Reich on 12-28-14
By: Thor Hanson
-
The Triumph of Seeds
- How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life, supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and the humble peppercorn drove the Age of Discovery, so did coffee beans help fuel the Enlightenment and cottonseed help spark the Industrial Revolution. And from the fall of Rome to the Arab Spring, the fate of nations continues to hinge on the seeds of a Middle Eastern grass known as wheat.
-
-
Delightfully simplistic!
- By Adrian on 03-30-16
By: Thor Hanson
-
The Thing with Feathers
- The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human
- By: Noah Strycker
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birds are highly intelligent animals, yet their intelligence is dramatically different from our own and has been little understood. As we learn more about the secrets of bird life, we are unlocking fascinating insights into memory, relationships, game theory, and the nature of intelligence itself. The Thing with Feathers explores the astonishing homing abilities of pigeons, the good deeds of fairy-wrens, the influential flocking abilities of starlings, the deft artistry of bowerbirds, the extraordinary memories of nutcrackers, and other mysteries.
-
-
Interesting book, terrible reader
- By MGM123 on 03-16-18
By: Noah Strycker
-
The Hidden Life of Trees
- What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.
-
-
Tree Hugger
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-19
By: Peter Wohlleben
-
Nature's Best Hope
- A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard
- By: Douglas W. Tallamy
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Douglas W. Tallamy's first book, Bringing Nature Home, awakened thousands of individuals to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this new book, Tallamy takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation.
-
-
A must read for everybody! Not just nature lovers.
- By Steve Ebert on 06-11-20
-
Gods, Wasps and Stranglers
- The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees
- By: Mike Shanahan
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are trees of life and trees of knowledge. They are wish-fulfillers, rain forest royalty, more precious than gold. They are the fig trees, and they have affected humanity in profound but little-known ways. Gods, Wasps and Stranglers tells their amazing story. Fig trees fed our prehuman ancestors, influenced diverse cultures, and played key roles in the dawn of civilization.
-
-
Incredible research in a wonderful story
- By Alonsa Guevara on 11-24-22
By: Mike Shanahan
-
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
- A New History of a Lost World
- By: Steve Brusatte
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stunning narrative spanning more than 200 million years, Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field - discovering 10 new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork - masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy.
-
-
"The Rise of the Scientists Who Study Dinosaurs"
- By Daniel Powell on 09-16-18
By: Steve Brusatte
-
The Tree
- A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter
- By: Colin Tudge
- Narrated by: Enn Reitel
- Length: 19 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time Columbus first landed and pines still alive that germinated around the time humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field. From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder in all of us, and in The Tree, Colin Tudge travels around the world - throughout the United States, the Costa Rican rain forest, Panama and Brazil, India, New Zealand, China, and most of Europe - bringing to life stories and facts about the trees around us.
-
-
Not the book described in the Audible summary
- By E. Miller on 04-28-17
By: Colin Tudge
-
The Most Perfect Thing
- By: Tim Birkhead
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How are eggs of different shapes made, and why are they the shapes they are? When does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two yolks? How are the colours and patterns of eggshells created, and why do they vary? And which end of an egg is laid first - the blunt end or the pointy end?
-
-
Great book about eggs!!
- By Timothy on 03-24-21
By: Tim Birkhead
-
The Cabaret of Plants
- Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination
- By: Richard Mabey
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A rich, sweeping, and compelling work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Richard Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death.
-
-
Can't wait to listen to again!
- By hyacinthgirl on 12-27-16
By: Richard Mabey
-
Letters to a Young Scientist
- By: Edward O. Wilxon
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward O. Wilson has distilled sixty years of teaching into a book for students, young and old. Reflecting on his coming-of-age in the South as a Boy Scout and a lover of ants and butterflies, Wilson threads these twenty-one letters, each richly illustrated, with autobiographical anecdotes that illuminate his career - both his successes and his failures - and his motivations for becoming a biologist.
-
-
Long on biography, short on advice
- By A. Mandelin on 08-02-18
By: Edward O. Wilxon
-
Fruitless Fall
- The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis
- By: Rowan Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Rowell Gormon
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many people will remember that Rachel Carson predicted a silent spring, but she also warned of a fruitless fall, a time with no pollination and no fruit. The fruitless fall nearly became a reality when, in 2007, beekeepers watched 30 billion bees mysteriously die. And they continue to disappear. The remaining pollinators, essential to the cultivation of a third of American crops, are now trucked across the country and flown around the world, pushing them ever closer to collapse.
-
-
Compulsory Reading - Share with Everyone!
- By Charles Koenen on 04-12-20
By: Rowan Jacobsen
-
The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
-
-
Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
What listeners say about Darwin Comes to Town
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- W
- 11-05-19
Evolution rediscovered
Here is an interesting read and a refreshing outlook on the impact that humans and our urban environments have on the natural world. As the ultimate ecosystem engineers, we are rapidly driving the evolution of innumerable plant and animal species, a process that we can actively observe. At the center of the book’s message, and indeed my favorite aspect of the book, is a challenge to the idea that human presence and influence is somehow inherently evil and unnatural. Are we not as “natural” as any other species? There is no reason that we cannot, at the same time, work to preserve and appreciate the untouched natural regions of Earth and diminish our destructive tendencies as well as observe, celebrate, and learn from our role in urban evolution.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 02-01-23
Perfect book for experts or newbies
This book is PHENOMENAL! The most fascinating evolutionary stories in the most entertaining format that makes it accessible to everyone. Like the best biology teacher you’ve ever had giving a lecture just for you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cynthia
- 05-17-23
Eye opening and optimistic!
What a fascinating field of study, one that affects ALL of us! I now see my neighborhood.with new and appreciative eyes and understanding.
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
- Martin
- 01-04-19
A Hope For Nature
A superbly written and researched book. If you fear for what is happening to our planet, as you should, this will give you some hope for the future of nature.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mohammed shamsuddeen
- 02-18-19
if you don't pay full attention you'll miss out
it was pretty interesting how me have cause animals to adjust and cause harm to themselves all by adding cars and street lights
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- metasynergy
- 06-11-19
Interesting Overview
Have you ever found yourself wondering, on a long drive cross-state drive, how being tasty to humans and docile enough for agriculture seems to be the single best thing a species can do to survive (and even flourish) ? Or whether animals might think of cars as fast moving herbivores that are mostly harmless? This book answered some of my musings from long country drives, but left me wanting more.
to my thinking, the author is biased towards defending urban ecology as a study, and probably should have spent more time on negative impacts (and possible answers).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- nick cucinella
- 11-25-22
Joyful journey
This is a delightful journey through the world. Highly recommend. Good for all ages. Terrific.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!