
Ends of the Earth
Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future
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

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fred Berman
-
By:
-
Neil Shubin
About this listen
The bestselling author of Your Inner Fish takes listeners on an epic adventure to the North and South Poles to reveal the secrets locked in the ice about life, the cosmos, and our planet’s future.
“Urgent [and] prescient…The book captures Shubin’s reverence for both the beauty and the mysteries hidden in the cold, barren tundra.”—The New Yorker
Renowned scientist Neil Shubin has made extraordinary discoveries by leading scientific expeditions to the sweeping ice landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic. He’s survived polar storms, traveled in temperatures that can freeze flesh in seconds, and worked hundreds of miles from the nearest humans, all to deepen our understanding of our world.
Written with infectious enthusiasm and irresistible curiosity, Ends of the Earth blends travel writing, science, and history in a book brimming with surprising and wonderful discoveries. Shubin retraces his steps on a “dinosaur dance floor,” showing us where these beasts had populated the once tropical lands at the poles. He takes listeners meteor hunting, as meteorites preserved in the ice can be older than our planet and can tell us about our galaxy’s formation. Listeners also encounter insects and fish that develop their own anti-freeze, and aquatic life in ancient lakes hidden miles under the ice that haven’t seen the surface in centuries. It turns out that explorers and scientists have found these extreme environments as prime ground for making scientific breakthroughs across a vast range of knowledge.
Shubin shares unforgettable moments from centuries of expeditions to reveal just how far scientists will go to understand polar regions. In the end, what happens at the poles does not stay in the poles—the ends of the earth offer profound stories that will forever change our view of life and the entire planet.
©2025 Neil Shubin (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
Your Inner Fish
- A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.
-
-
Your Inner Fish
- By Mel on 02-03-08
By: Neil Shubin
-
How to Feed the World
- The History and Future of Food
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food. In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today.
-
-
Full of good info, but not for audiobook format
- By O. Espinoza on 03-28-25
By: Vaclav Smil
-
The Elements of Marie Curie
- How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Pat Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Even now, nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie remains the only female scientist most people can name,” writes Dava Sobel at the opening of her shining portrait of the sole Nobel laureate decorated in two separate fields of science—Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre and Chemistry by herself in 1911. And yet, Sobel makes clear, as brilliant and creative as she was in the laboratory, Marie Curie was equally passionate outside it.
-
-
Wonderful
- By A. Zitelli on 02-06-25
By: Dava Sobel
-
Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
-
-
Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By MSB on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Secret Life of the Universe
- An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
- By: Nathalie A. Cabrol
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living in a golden age in astronomy and in the search for life the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has shown that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life.
-
-
Omg insufferably boring cliches
- By John on 08-18-24
-
White Holes
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Harry Lloyd
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Let us journey, with beloved physicist Carlo Rovelli, into the heart of a black hole. We slip beyond its horizon and tumble down this crack in the universe. As we plunge, we see geometry fold. Time and space pull and stretch. And finally, at the black hole’s core, space and time dissolve, and a white hole is born. Rovelli has dedicated his career to uniting the time-warping ideas of general relativity and the perplexing uncertainties of quantum mechanics. In White Holes, he reveals the mind of a scientist at work.
-
-
Absolutely Beyond Brilliant!
- By H. S. on 11-01-23
By: Carlo Rovelli
-
Your Inner Fish
- A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.
-
-
Your Inner Fish
- By Mel on 02-03-08
By: Neil Shubin
-
How to Feed the World
- The History and Future of Food
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food. In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today.
-
-
Full of good info, but not for audiobook format
- By O. Espinoza on 03-28-25
By: Vaclav Smil
-
The Elements of Marie Curie
- How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Pat Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Even now, nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie remains the only female scientist most people can name,” writes Dava Sobel at the opening of her shining portrait of the sole Nobel laureate decorated in two separate fields of science—Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre and Chemistry by herself in 1911. And yet, Sobel makes clear, as brilliant and creative as she was in the laboratory, Marie Curie was equally passionate outside it.
-
-
Wonderful
- By A. Zitelli on 02-06-25
By: Dava Sobel
-
Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
-
-
Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By MSB on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Secret Life of the Universe
- An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
- By: Nathalie A. Cabrol
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living in a golden age in astronomy and in the search for life the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has shown that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life.
-
-
Omg insufferably boring cliches
- By John on 08-18-24
-
White Holes
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Harry Lloyd
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Let us journey, with beloved physicist Carlo Rovelli, into the heart of a black hole. We slip beyond its horizon and tumble down this crack in the universe. As we plunge, we see geometry fold. Time and space pull and stretch. And finally, at the black hole’s core, space and time dissolve, and a white hole is born. Rovelli has dedicated his career to uniting the time-warping ideas of general relativity and the perplexing uncertainties of quantum mechanics. In White Holes, he reveals the mind of a scientist at work.
-
-
Absolutely Beyond Brilliant!
- By H. S. on 11-01-23
By: Carlo Rovelli
-
The Universe Within
- Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his last book, Neil Shubin delved into the amazing connections between human anatomy—our hands, our jaws—and the structures in the fish that first took over land 375 million years ago. Now, with his trademark clarity and exuberance, he takes an even more expansive approach to the question of why we are the way we are.
-
-
Cosmic
- By Mark on 01-17-13
By: Neil Shubin
-
Emperor of the Seas
- Kublai Khan and the Making of China
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Genghis Khan built a formidable land empire, but he never crossed the sea. Yet by the time his grandson Kublai Khan had defeated the last vestiges of the Song empire and established the Yuan dynasty in 1279, the Mongols controlled the most powerful navy in the world. How did a nomad come to conquer China and master the sea? Based on ten years of research and a lifetime of immersion in Mongol culture and tradition, Emperor of the Seas brings this little-known story vibrantly to life.
-
-
Awesome
- By Rubin on 12-30-24
By: Jack Weatherford
-
Quanta and Fields
- The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to sharing physics with a broad audience, one that goes beyond analogies to show how physicists really think. He cuts to the bare mathematical essence of our most profound theories, explaining every step in a uniquely accessible way. Quantum field theory is how modern physics describes nature at its most profound level. Starting with the basics of quantum mechanics itself, Sean Carroll explains measurement and entanglement before explaining how the world is really made of fields.
-
-
only for professionals
- By ATTILIO GALIANI on 10-02-24
By: Sean Carroll
-
The Great Mortality
- An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
- By: John Kelly
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the 14th century has been of never-ending interest to both scholars and the general public. Many books on the plague rely on statistics to tell the story. In The Great Mortality, author John Kelly lends an air of immediacy and intimacy to his telling of the journey of the plague as it traveled from the steppes of Russia, across Europe, and into England, killing 75 million people—one third of the known population—before it vanished.
-
-
The Great Mortality
- By Amazon Customer on 10-16-24
By: John Kelly
-
Cabin
- Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
- By: Patrick Hutchison
- Narrated by: Patrick Hutchison
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wit’s End isn’t just a state of mind. It’s the name of a gravel road, the address of a rundown, off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. To say Hutchison didn’t know what he was getting into is no more an exaggeration than to say he’s a man with nearly zero carpentry skills. Well, used to be. You can learn a lot over six years of renovations. CABIN is the story of those renovations, but it's also a love story; of a place, of possibilities, and of the process of construction.
-
-
He Pulled Me Right In
- By Patrice W. Parrish on 12-11-24
-
The Universe in Verse
- 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science & Poetry
- By: Maria Popova, Ofra Amit - illustrator
- Narrated by: Maria Popova, Lili Taylor
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists—many of them women, many underrecognized—and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal.
-
-
Maria Popova Curates More than Poetry
- By melody sheldon on 12-25-24
By: Maria Popova, and others
-
Oranges
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic of reportage, Oranges was first conceived as a magazine article, but John McPhee kept encountering so much irresistible information that he wrote a book. It is perhaps the last word on the subject (the first came in 500 BC and is attributed to Confucius). McPhee writes about the botany, history, and industry of oranges, from the great orangeries of European monarchs to a fascinating profile of Ben Hill Griffin of Frostproof, Florida, who may be the last of the individual orange barons.
-
-
Orange PTSD
- By Vas Sladek on 02-22-25
By: John McPhee
-
The Serviceberry
- By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity.
-
-
Engaging and optimistic
- By Steve on 12-18-24
-
Becoming Earth
- How Our Planet Came to Life
- By: Ferris Jabr
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth—we are Earth, an outgrowth of its structure and an engine of its evolution. Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming a lump of orbiting rock into a cosmic oasis—a planet that breathes, metabolizes, and regulates its climate.
-
-
Fascinating and well researched
- By Amazon Customer on 07-10-24
By: Ferris Jabr
-
Fuzz
- When Nature Breaks the Law
- By: Mary Roach
- Narrated by: Mary Roach
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
-
-
The footnotes
- By Alex on 09-24-21
By: Mary Roach
-
The Earth
- A Biography of Life: The Story of Life on Our Planet Through 47 Incredible Organisms
- By: Dr Elsa Panciroli
- Narrated by: Reanne Farley
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is difficult to conceive of the vast scale of the history of life on Earth, from the very first living organisms sparking into life in hydrothermal deep-sea vents to the dizzying diversity of life today. The evolution of life is a sweeping epic of a tale, with twists and turns, surprising heroes and unlikely survivors. The Earth beautifully distils this complex story into a meaningful scale. In taking a closer look at 47 carefully selected organisms over 15 periods in our planetary history, this audiobook tells the whole story of life on Earth.
-
-
Not worth the time
- By Anonymous User on 12-18-23
-
Paris in Ruins
- Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism
- By: Sebastian Smee
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the summer of 1870 to the spring of 1871, famously dubbed the "Terrible Year" by Victor Hugo, Paris and its people were besieged, starved, and forced into surrender by Germans-then imperiled again as radical republicans established a breakaway Commune, ultimately crushed by the French Army after bloody street battles and the burning of central Paris.
-
-
Stunningly great narrator!
- By Julie Seavello on 12-26-24
By: Sebastian Smee
Critic reviews
"In this comprehensive yet concise history of modern polar exploration, Shubin, a professor of evolutionary biology, mixes urgent scientific findings about glaciers and sea-level rise with prescient geopolitical histories of Arctic territorial disputes. Throughout, Shubin relates stories from his own field expeditions: a pilot lands a propeller plane in an icy valley; a crew member stumbles on kaleidoscopic hues of blue while spelunking in Antarctic crevasses; Shubin’s team discovers a field of dinosaur footprints that had been miraculously preserved under layers of ice. Such descriptions enliven the book, and capture Shubin’s reverence for both the beauty and the mysteries hidden in the cold, barren tundra."—The New Yorker
"Paleontologist Neil Shubin's Ends of the Earth offers readers a comprehensive overview of the geology, oceanography, glaciology, geopolitics, and climatology of the planet's polar regions: Antarctica and the Arctic. Shubin writes clearly and understandably about various complex topics, incorporating stories about his own fieldwork experiences in these places and arguing that polar science offers a "lens to see the natural world and the extraordinary ways we have come to know it.""—Science
"Written with infectious enthusiasm and irresistible curiosity, Ends of the Earth blends travel writing, science, and history in a book brimming with surprising and wonderful discoveries."—Daily Kos
Related to this topic
-
The Complete Book of Five Rings
- By: Miyamoto Musashi, Kenji Tokitsu - editor/translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Complete Book of Five Rings is an authoritative version of Musashi's classic The Book of Five Rings, translated and annotated by a modern martial arts master, Kenji Tokitsu. Tokitsu has spent most of his life researching the legendary samurai swordsman and his works, and in this book he illuminates this seminal text, along with several other works by Musashi.
-
-
Best translation I have encountered.
- By DW on 05-27-16
By: Miyamoto Musashi, and others
-
Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
-
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
-
From Lukov with Love
- By: Mariana Zapata
- Narrated by: Callie Dalton, Teddy Hamilton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one. After 17 years - and countless broken bones and broken promises - she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close. But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.
-
-
New Favorite MZ Slow Burn
- By Brittany M on 05-13-18
By: Mariana Zapata
-
Bigger Leaner Stronger
- The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Michael Matthews
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bestselling fitness book for men who want to gain 25-35 pounds of lean muscle and lose as much fat or more in just 3-5 hours per week—and without giving up delicious foods or doing grueling workouts. Is Bigger Leaner Stronger a body building book that can help you pack on brain-shrinking amounts of muscle in 30 days flat? No. Is it a fitness nutrition book full of dubious diet and exercise “hacks” and “shortcuts” for melting belly fat faster than a roided hornet? Absolutely not.
-
-
Narration sounds like a Robot
- By pauly on 07-04-19
By: Michael Matthews
-
Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
-
-
What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
-
The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Michael Matthews
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bestselling fitness and self-improvement book for breaking through mental resistance and barriers, building unshakeable discipline, and keeping your goals alive when things get tough.
-
-
Diamond in the rough
- By Mike on 09-03-18
By: Michael Matthews
-
The Complete Book of Five Rings
- By: Miyamoto Musashi, Kenji Tokitsu - editor/translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Complete Book of Five Rings is an authoritative version of Musashi's classic The Book of Five Rings, translated and annotated by a modern martial arts master, Kenji Tokitsu. Tokitsu has spent most of his life researching the legendary samurai swordsman and his works, and in this book he illuminates this seminal text, along with several other works by Musashi.
-
-
Best translation I have encountered.
- By DW on 05-27-16
By: Miyamoto Musashi, and others
-
Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
-
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
-
From Lukov with Love
- By: Mariana Zapata
- Narrated by: Callie Dalton, Teddy Hamilton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one. After 17 years - and countless broken bones and broken promises - she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close. But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.
-
-
New Favorite MZ Slow Burn
- By Brittany M on 05-13-18
By: Mariana Zapata
-
Bigger Leaner Stronger
- The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Michael Matthews
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bestselling fitness book for men who want to gain 25-35 pounds of lean muscle and lose as much fat or more in just 3-5 hours per week—and without giving up delicious foods or doing grueling workouts. Is Bigger Leaner Stronger a body building book that can help you pack on brain-shrinking amounts of muscle in 30 days flat? No. Is it a fitness nutrition book full of dubious diet and exercise “hacks” and “shortcuts” for melting belly fat faster than a roided hornet? Absolutely not.
-
-
Narration sounds like a Robot
- By pauly on 07-04-19
By: Michael Matthews
-
Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
-
-
What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
-
The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Michael Matthews
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bestselling fitness and self-improvement book for breaking through mental resistance and barriers, building unshakeable discipline, and keeping your goals alive when things get tough.
-
-
Diamond in the rough
- By Mike on 09-03-18
By: Michael Matthews
-
Thinner Leaner Stronger
- The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Elliott Denkers
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bestselling fitness book for women who want to lose up to 35 pounds of fat or more and gain whole-body muscle definition in just 3-5 hours per week—and without giving up delicious foods or doing grueling workouts.
-
-
"The Ultimate Female Body", but uses male examples
- By bookWorm on 06-29-15
By: Michael Matthews
-
Ranger Confidential
- Living, Working, and Dying in the National Parks
- By: Andrea Lankford
- Narrated by: Julia Motyka
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
-
-
Depressing from Cover to Cover
- By Drew (@drewsant) on 04-13-15
By: Andrea Lankford
-
The Unlikely Thru-Hiker
- An Appalachian Trail Journey
- By: Derick Lugo
- Narrated by: Derick Lugo
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Derick Lugo had never been hiking. He certainly couldn't imagine going more than a day without manicuring his goatee. But with a job cut short and no immediate plans, this fixture of the New York comedy scene began to think about what he might do with months of free time. He had heard of the Appalachian Trail, but he had never seriously considered attempting to hike all 2,184.2 miles of it. Suddenly he found himself asking, Could he do it?
-
-
On My Feet All Day
- By bannedbum on 08-21-21
By: Derick Lugo
-
The Last Season
- By: Eric Blehm
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Destined to become a classic of adventure literature, The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada - mountains as perilous as they are beautiful. Eric Blehm's masterful work is a gripping detective story interwoven with the riveting biography of a complicated, original, and wholly fascinating man.
-
-
Well Written Character Study of an NPS Ranger
- By Kathy in CA on 06-23-16
By: Eric Blehm
-
The Best Hunting Stories Ever Told
- By: Jay Cassell - editor
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 32 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Follow the trails of hunters - the original storytellers - as they interpret signs, examine tracks, and chase and catch their prey (or fail to). Listeners can curl up with the best authentic hunting fiction and non-fiction, bringing the great Mount Kenya and the prairies of the American Bison into your living room. From Theodore Roosevelt and Gene Hill to Rick Bass and Charles Dickens, remember classic hunting tales and discover new stories of hunters’ luck, camaraderie, and use of smarts on the trail.
-
-
A broad collection of hunting tales
- By Elaine on 06-21-15
-
There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather
- A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)
- By: Linda Åkeson McGurk
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bringing Up Bébé meets Last Child in the Woods in this lively, insightful memoir about a mother who sets out to discover if the nature-centric parenting philosophy of her native Scandinavia holds the key to healthier, happier lives for her American children.
-
-
Great concept, interesting writing.
- By Kate on 11-03-17
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Your Inner Fish
- A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.
-
-
Your Inner Fish
- By Mel on 02-03-08
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Universe Within
- Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his last book, Neil Shubin delved into the amazing connections between human anatomy—our hands, our jaws—and the structures in the fish that first took over land 375 million years ago. Now, with his trademark clarity and exuberance, he takes an even more expansive approach to the question of why we are the way we are.
-
-
Cosmic
- By Mark on 01-17-13
By: Neil Shubin
-
Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
-
-
Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By MSB on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Control of Nature
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places where people are locked in combat with nature. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strategies and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking is his depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those attempting to wrest control from her—stubborn, sometimes foolhardy, more often ingenious, and always arresting characters.
By: John McPhee
-
The Sexual Evolution
- How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships
- By: Nathan H. Lents
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Immense World meets Sex at Dawn in this fascinating exploration of sexual behavior throughout the animal kingdom, as evolutionary biologist Nathan H. Lents argues persuasively that many of our supposedly modern ideas about gender and human sexuality are, in fact, deeply rooted in our animal ancestors.
By: Nathan H. Lents
-
Quantum Physics Unplugged
- A Beginner's Guide to Understanding the Universe's Greatest Mysteries - Master the Basics Through Clear Language, Fun Examples, and Zero Complex Math
- By: House of Abundance Publications
- Narrated by: Jesse Burke
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journey into quantum physics - without the mathematical maze! Ever wonder how particles can exist in two places at once or why Einstein called quantum entanglement "spooky action at distance"? Quantum Physics Unplugged transforms these mind-bending concepts into clear, engaging insights that anyone can grasp.
-
-
Physics less complicated
- By Diana Freel on 02-16-25
-
Your Inner Fish
- A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.
-
-
Your Inner Fish
- By Mel on 02-03-08
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Universe Within
- Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his last book, Neil Shubin delved into the amazing connections between human anatomy—our hands, our jaws—and the structures in the fish that first took over land 375 million years ago. Now, with his trademark clarity and exuberance, he takes an even more expansive approach to the question of why we are the way we are.
-
-
Cosmic
- By Mark on 01-17-13
By: Neil Shubin
-
Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
-
-
Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By MSB on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
-
The Control of Nature
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Control of Nature is John McPhee's bestselling account of places where people are locked in combat with nature. Taking us deep into these contested territories, McPhee details the strategies and tactics through which people attempt to control nature. Most striking is his depiction of the main contestants: nature in complex and awesome guises, and those attempting to wrest control from her—stubborn, sometimes foolhardy, more often ingenious, and always arresting characters.
By: John McPhee
-
The Sexual Evolution
- How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships
- By: Nathan H. Lents
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Immense World meets Sex at Dawn in this fascinating exploration of sexual behavior throughout the animal kingdom, as evolutionary biologist Nathan H. Lents argues persuasively that many of our supposedly modern ideas about gender and human sexuality are, in fact, deeply rooted in our animal ancestors.
By: Nathan H. Lents
-
Quantum Physics Unplugged
- A Beginner's Guide to Understanding the Universe's Greatest Mysteries - Master the Basics Through Clear Language, Fun Examples, and Zero Complex Math
- By: House of Abundance Publications
- Narrated by: Jesse Burke
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Journey into quantum physics - without the mathematical maze! Ever wonder how particles can exist in two places at once or why Einstein called quantum entanglement "spooky action at distance"? Quantum Physics Unplugged transforms these mind-bending concepts into clear, engaging insights that anyone can grasp.
-
-
Physics less complicated
- By Diana Freel on 02-16-25
-
We Hold These "Truths"
- How to Spot the Myths That Are Holding America Back
- By: Casey Burgat
- Narrated by: Deanna Anthony, Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Former congressional staffer turned George Washington University grad school professor Casey Burgat leads a diverse team of officials, academics, and experts from both sides of the aisle to expose the lies at the heart of our political dysfunction. They debunk talking points about term limits, lobbyists, money in politics, and more—offering real-world insights into how our government actually works.
By: Casey Burgat
-
Paris Undercover
- A Wartime Story of Courage, Friendship, and Betrayal
- By: Matthew Goodman
- Narrated by: Kristi Burns
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Etta Shiber and Kate Bonnefous are the unlikeliest of heroines: two seemingly ordinary women, an American widow and an English divorcée, living quietly together in Paris. Yet during the Nazi occupation, these two friends find themselves unexpectedly plunged into the whirlwind of history. With the help of a French country priest and others, they set out to rescue British and French soldiers trapped behind enemy lines—some of whom they daringly smuggle through Nazi checkpoints hidden inside the trunk of their car.
-
-
Great history marred by terrible reader
- By gail on 03-01-25
By: Matthew Goodman
-
When the Earth Was Green
- Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance
- By: Riley Black
- Narrated by: Wren Mack
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riley Black brings us back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Each chapter stars plants and animals alike, underscoring how the interactions between species have helped shape the world we call home. As the chapters move upwards in time, Black guides listeners along the burgeoning trunk of the Tree of Life, stopping to appreciate branches of an evolutionary story that links the world we know with one we can only just perceive now through the silent stone, from ancient roots to the present.
-
-
Great book about early life and plants but last chapter a real turn off
- By S Anthony on 03-19-25
By: Riley Black
-
Air-Borne
- The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air—and thousands of living things. From the ground to the stratosphere, the air teems with invisible life. This last great biological frontier remains so mysterious that it took over two years for scientists to finally agree that the COVID pandemic was caused by an airborne virus. In Air-Borne, award-winning New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer leads us on an odyssey through the living atmosphere and through the history of its discovery.
-
-
Very clarifying look at how messy science can be
- By webtraverser on 03-04-25
By: Carl Zimmer
-
Inevitable
- Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles
- By: Mike Colias
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The question is no longer if electric vehicles will happen, or even when they'll happen, but how. Veteran automotive reporter Mike Colias takes you inside the transformation in this thoroughly reported profile of the hard pivot in the car business, a $2 trillion industry undergoing the biggest change in its 120-year history—a change that is already sending ripples across the entire global economy.
By: Mike Colias
-
Bandwidth
- The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation That Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom
- By: Dan Caruso
- Narrated by: Dylan Wheeler
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With insights into the cyclical nature of innovation and the indomitable spirit of human ingenuity, Bandwidth is a powerful saga that shines a light on how history may be repeating itself as the AI, quantum, and blockchain Boom cycle is taking hold.
-
-
Light on content, heavy on personal
- By David Ingram on 02-27-25
By: Dan Caruso
-
Live Forever?
- A Curious Scientist's Guide to Wellness, Ageing and Death
- By: John Tregoning
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With over 17,000 known diseases affecting humans, and countless poisons, carcinogens and toxins in our environment, it's a miracle that our bodies manage to keep us alive. And that is, of course, if they don't betray us themselves, whether through cancers or autoimmune conditions. Biomedical researcher Professor John Tregoning tells the unlikely story of how, against all odds, we manage to stay alive. Taking an organ-by-organ tour of the human body, Tregoning embarks on his own experimental quest, testing 'life-extending' diets and exercise regimes to separate fact from fad.
-
-
The conclusions of the author are pretty much what you would expect.
- By Aaron W Cloninger on 04-02-25
By: John Tregoning
-
Countdown
- The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons
- By: Sarah Scoles
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Countdown, science journalist Sarah Scoles uncovers a different atomic reality: the nuclear age's present. Drawing from years of on-the-ground reporting at the nation's nuclear weapons labs, Scoles interrogates the idea that having nuclear weapons keeps us safe, deterring attacks and preventing radioactive warfare. She deftly assesses the existing nuclear apparatus in the United States, taking listeners beyond the news headlines and policy-speak to reveal the state of nuclear-weapons technology.
-
-
It was just not interesting.
- By Anonymous User on 02-02-25
By: Sarah Scoles
-
Doctored
- Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's
- By: Charles Piller
- Narrated by: Lyle Blaker
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly seven million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, a tragedy that is already projected to grow into a $1 trillion crisis by 2050. While families suffer and promises of pharmaceutical breakthroughs keep coming up short, investigative journalist Charles Piller’s Doctored shows that we’ve quite likely been walking the wrong path to finding a cure all along—led astray by a cabal of self-interested researchers, government accomplices, and corporate greed.
-
-
Misconduct is the antithesis of science
- By Amazon Customer on 03-08-25
By: Charles Piller
-
Ends of the Earth
- By: Keira Andrews
- Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jason Kellerman's life revolves around his eight-year-old daughter. Teenage curiosity with his best friend led to Maggie's birth, and her mother tragically died soon after. Only 25 and a single dad, Jason hasn't had time to even think about romance. Disowned by his wealthy family, he's scrimped and saved to bring Maggie west for a camping vacation. The last thing Jason expects is to question his sexuality after meeting a sexy, older park ranger.
-
-
A thrilling adventure, not sure I'd reread though
- By Zell Oakley on 08-16-20
By: Keira Andrews
-
Seeking Shelter
- A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America
- By: Jeff Hobbs
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Jeff Hobbs
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018, poverty and domestic violence cast Evelyn and her children into the urban wilderness of Los Angeles, where she avoids the family crisis network that offers no clear pathway for her children to remain together and in a decent school. For the next five years, Evelyn works full time as a waitress yet remains unable to afford legitimate housing or qualify for government aid. All the while she strives to provide stability, education, loving memories, and college aspirations for her children even as they sleep in motels and in her car.
By: Jeff Hobbs
-
Stoicism 101
- From Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus to the Role of Reason and Amor Fati, an Essential Primer on Stoic Philosophy
- By: Erick Cloward
- Narrated by: Erick Cloward
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You’ve seen the memes and quotes everywhere—from Reddit to TikTok—but what is stoicism really about? Stoicism 101 teaches you everything you need to know about this influential philosophy—from its key figures (including Epictetus, Seneca the Younger, and Marcus Aurelius), to its key principles (virtue, mindfulness, and the dichotomy of control). This easy-to-digest guide uses engaging, straightforward lessons to teach you all the important stoic concepts.
By: Erick Cloward
What listeners say about Ends of the Earth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Prosanta Chakrabarty
- 02-27-25
Excellent scientific view of the poles
I loved that Dr. Shubin writes about often overlooked women scientists and indigenous communities living in polar regions. I was unaware of the active scramble for the Arctic among various nations and the magnitude of change happening in glaciers even at the poles. I really enjoyed the book and learned a lot.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!