Endless Forms
The Secret World of Wasps
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Narrated by:
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Sumner Seirian
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By:
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Seirian Sumner
About this listen
“A book that draws us in to the strange beauty of what we so often run away from.” — Robin Ince, author of The Importance of Being Interested
In this eye-opening and entertaining work of popular science in the spirit of The Mosquito, Entangled Life, and The Book of Eels, a leading behavioural ecologist transforms our understanding of wasps, exploring these much-maligned insects’ secret world, their incredible diversity and complex social lives, and revealing how they hold our fragile ecosystem in balance.
Everyone worries about the collapse of bee populations. But what about wasps? Deemed the gangsters of the insect world, wasps are winged assassins with formidable stings. Conduits of Biblical punishment, provokers of fear and loathing, inspiration for horror movies: wasps are perhaps the most maligned insect on our planet.
But do wasps deserve this reputation?
Endless Forms opens our eyes to the highly complex and diverse world of wasps. Wasps are 100 million years older than bees; there are ten times more wasp species than there are bees. There are wasps that spend their entire lives sealed inside a fig; wasps that turn cockroaches into living zombies; wasps that live inside other wasps. There are wasps that build citadels that put our own societies to shame, marked by division of labor, rebellions and policing, monarchies, leadership contests, undertakers, police, negotiators, and social parasites. Wasps are nature’s most misunderstood insect: as predators and pollinators, they keep the planet’s ecological balance in check. Wasps are nature’s pest controllers; a world without wasps would be just as ecologically devastating as losing the bees, or beetles, or butterflies.
Wasps are diverse and beautiful by every measure, and they are invaluable to planetary health, Professor Sumner reminds us; we’d do well to appreciate them as much as their cuter cousins, the bees.
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- By Adrian on 03-30-16
By: Thor Hanson
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This Is Your Brain on Parasites
- How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society
- By: Kathleen McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting investigation of the myriad ways that parasites control how other creatures - including humans - think, feel, and act. These tiny organisms can live only inside another animal, and, as McAuliffe reveals, they have many evolutionary motives for manipulating their host's behavior. Far more often than appreciated, these puppeteers orchestrate the interplay between predator and prey.
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Entertaining but questionable studies
- By mdkoci on 01-02-17
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The Lives of a Cell
- Notes of a Biology Watcher
- By: Lewis Thomas
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Lives of a Cell, Dr. Lewis Thomas opens up to the listener a universe of knowledge and perception that is perhaps not wholly unfamiliar to the research scientist; but the world he explores is also one of men and women, of complex interrelationships, old ironies, peculiar powers, and intricate languages that give identity to the alienated and direction to the dependent. This remarkable work offers a subtle, bold vision of humankind and the world around us - a sense of what gives life - from a writer who seems to draw grace and strength from the very substance of his subject.
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So enlightening and enjoyable!
- By Flora on 03-15-18
By: Lewis Thomas
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Population Wars
- A New Perspective on Competition and Coexistence
- By: Greg Graffin
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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From the very beginning, life on Earth has been defined by war. Today, those first wars continue to be fought around and literally inside us, influencing our individual behavior and that of civilization as a whole. War between populations - whether between different species or between rival groups of humans - is seen as an inevitable part of the evolutionary process. The popular concept of "the survival of the fittest" explains and often excuses these actions.
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Life Changing Book. No other like it.
- By Abraham R. Herrick-Rough on 05-16-16
By: Greg Graffin
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I, Mammal
- By: Liam Drew
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A list of the attributes that define a mammal is a ragbag of things - fur, live birth, three bones in the middle ear, a brain whose two halves are robustly joined together.... But this curious collection of features contain the roots of all the biology that makes us what we are: monkeys with massive brains who parent extensively, enjoy sport and think lots. Which is to say, what makes us mammals makes us human.
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Who knew?
- By Fitmen on 04-25-18
By: Liam Drew
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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
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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.
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Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
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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
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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.
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Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
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Intelligence in Nature
- An Inquiry into Knowledge
- By: Jeremy Narby
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Anthropologist Jeremy Narby has altered how we understand the Shamanic cultures and traditions that have undergone a worldwide revival in recent years. Now, in one of his most extraordinary journeys, Narby travels the globe - from the Amazon Basin to the Far East - to probe what traditional healers and pioneering researchers understand about the intelligence present in all forms of life. Intelligence in Nature presents overwhelming illustrative evidence that independent intelligence is not unique to humanity alone.
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Favorite part was untrue :(
- By Al A'scgh on 08-13-18
By: Jeremy Narby
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The Creative Spark
- How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional
- By: Agustín Fuentes
- Narrated by: Agustín Fuentes
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Jared Diamond's million-copy-selling classic Guns, Germs, and Steel, a bold new synthesis of paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and anthropology that overturns misconceptions about race, war and peace, and human nature itself, answering an age-old question: What made humans so exceptional among all the species on Earth? Creativity. It is the secret of what makes humans special, hiding in plain sight.
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What's new?
- By Mark on 05-02-17
By: Agustín Fuentes
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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
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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.
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Compulsory Reading - Share with Everyone!
- By Charles Koenen on 04-12-20
By: Rowan Jacobsen
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How to Clone a Mammoth
- The Science of De-Extinction
- By: Beth Shapiro
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? The science says yes. In How to Clone a Mammoth, Beth Shapiro, evolutionary biologist and pioneer in "ancient DNA" research, walks listeners through the astonishing and controversial process of de-extinction.
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Very Readable Take on a Complex Subject
- By John on 04-26-15
By: Beth Shapiro
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Parasite Rex
- Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and the darkest shadows of science. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer takes listeners on a fantastic voyage into the secret universe of these extraordinary life forms that are not only among the most highly evolved on Earth, but make up the majority of life's diversity. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the parasite-riddled war zone of southern Sudan, Zimmer introduces an array of amazing creatures that invade their hosts, prey on them from within, and control their behavior.
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Fascinating and Horrible
- By David A on 10-09-18
By: Carl Zimmer
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Five hundred years before Columbus, a Viking woman named Gudrid sailed off the edge of the known world. She landed in the New World and lived there for three years, giving birth to a baby before sailing home. Or so the Icelandic sagas say.
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Very interesting
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Mispronunciation bothers me
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The Cooking Gene
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Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who "owns" it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes listeners to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine. From the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields, Twitty tells his family story.
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Thank you!
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Fatal Discord
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This deeply textured dual biography and fascinating intellectual history examines two of the greatest minds of European history - Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther - whose heated rivalry gave rise to two enduring, fundamental, and often colliding traditions of philosophical and religious thought.
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Excellent work - up until the discussion of America
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By: Michael Massing
What listeners say about Endless Forms
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Alex V.
- 01-02-24
all the services wasps provide,
it is a beautiful book, I love it. I wish it was in Spanish too
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- J. Moras
- 03-24-23
Pretty good
I liked it, the background story got a little cheesy at times but the overall information is very interesting!
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1 person found this helpful
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- tetrahymena
- 04-01-24
Not a fan of the pointy things? Then read on...
Most people feel fear and revulsion at the word "wasp" and have no plans to read a book about them. Yet, if you hold that stand, I urge you to rethink it. This book shows the wonders of wasps. From their keystones in ecology to their life histories and intelligence, wasps play an integral part in our own survival. As key predatory insects, they help reduce our dependence on pesticides. As pollinators, they supplement the work of bees; their behavior is fascinating, and their intelligence is highly underrated. The author demonstrates a contagious love of wasps and the power to sway many readers into their fan club.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-01-24
There is FANTASTIC info contained
It’s long, but oh my good lord the amount of information contained in this is spectacular. There are some over the top cheesy moments, but, still worth it.
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- Laura Badcock
- 08-31-22
Very Interesting Content Great Narration by Author
I was not that familiar with wasps prior to listening to this book. But I can tell you after listening to it, I've learned how amazing, essential, and fascinating wasps are. This book is packed full of interesting facts about wasps and their world. Nature is a wild ride, with drama and real life sci-fi. Fantastic narration by the author, she helped keep me curious and engaged. I listen to lots of audio books and it's a real treat to have both good content and narration. I have great respect for Seirian Sumner's work and other scientist out in the field (tracking wasps) and in science labs/classrooms doing what is often unseen and underappreciated. If you are not sure if this book is for you, check out a podcast where she is being interviewed/promoting this book (she has done several) and that will give you a taste of what you can expect. That is how I was introduced to Seirian and she made me want to learn more about wasps and I'm glad that I did.
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- Reids
- 08-24-22
Fabulous!
As a life long wasp supporter and protector I truly appreciate the research and work that went into writing it. Exceedingly informative and an important read whether you are an fan of wasps or not.
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- elaine
- 07-29-24
Not what I was expecting
Watching a small enclave of paper wasps in progress above my back door, I became fascinated with these creatures and had many question mostly about their social behavior and concerns about their interactions with humans.
The book, charmingly narrated by its enthusiastic and knowledgeable author, did manage to allay my fears, but sadly for me didn’t quench my desire to know more about the wasps’ interactions within the nest.
The author starts the book with a longer-than-I-would-like tirade on why bees don’t deserve the adoration we have lathered upon them, but wasps should.
Then, like many scientists, the author spent much of the book discussing who discovered what and when, way back into history. This is important to frame the subject, but this is not my interest and I soon grew weary of the recitation of names and dates.
Then then author plunged into the evolution of wasps from nearly the very first cell. I learned from the discussion of eusocial development, it did not focus in on the questions I have about social interaction. About the time,it occurred to me that I should,check the table of contents. Not seeing any chapters that specially address my particular interest and not feeling up to 2 chapters describing an imaginary date with a long-dead historical figure, I felt it best to bail.
I am sure, though, that it will please many people with a different direction of interest.
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- Jeffrey D
- 10-17-22
Informative, but...
But what? Frankly, although there is a lot of information in the book, the narrative is, to use a Britishism, twee. That would be OK in itself, depending on your taste, but for this author it leads into a swamp of anthropomorphism and teleology, which generally speaking are antithetical to evolutionary thinking. The author is a respected professor of behavioral ecology, so I presume she understands evolutionary theory, and the anthropomorphism and so on are just an attempt to interest what she believes to be her audience. In my view, though, although she might in fact lose a few readers, she ought to give us the grown-up version. Her readers deserve no less.
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