Queer Ducks (and Other Animals)
The Natural World of Animal Sexuality
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Narrated by:
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Joel Froomkin
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Dustin Ballard
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Hope Newhouse
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Neo Cihi
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By:
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Eliot Schrefer
About this listen
This groundbreaking YA nonfiction title from two-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Eliot Schrefer is a well-researched and teen-friendly exploration of the gamut of queer behaviors observed in animals.
A quiet revolution has been underway in recent years, with study after study revealing substantial same-sex sexual behavior in animals. Join celebrated author Eliot Schrefer on an exploration of queer behavior in the animal world—from albatrosses to bonobos to clownfish to doodlebugs.
In sharp and witty prose Schrefer uses science, history, anthropology, and sociology to illustrate the diversity of sexual behavior in the animal world. Interviews with researchers in the field offer additional insights for readers and aspiring scientists.
Queer behavior in animals is as diverse and complex—and as natural—as it is in our own species. It doesn’t set us apart from animals—it bonds us even closer to our animal selves.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Story
Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics - as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies.
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Ridiculously Insightful
- By Liron on 10-25-10
By: Robert Wright
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Virus of the Mind
- The New Science of the Meme
- By: Richard Brodie
- Narrated by: Richard Brodie
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
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Virus of the Mind is the first popular work devoted to the science of memetics, a controversial new field that transcends psychology, biology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Memetics is the science of memes, the invisible but very real DNA of human society. Here, the author carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives.
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The "Memes Explain Everything" Meme.
- By Nelson Alexander on 02-20-10
By: Richard Brodie
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The Rational Animal
- How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think
- By: Douglas T. Kenrick, Vladas Griskevicius
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Why do three out of four professional football players go bankrupt? How can illiterate jungle dwellers pass a test that tricks Harvard philosophers? And why do billionaires work so hard - only to give their hard-earned money away? When it comes to making decisions, the classic view is that humans are eminently rational. But growing evidence suggests instead that our choices are often irrational, biased, and occasionally even moronic. Which view is right - or is there another possibility?
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Good book
- By Justin on 02-17-17
By: Douglas T. Kenrick, and others
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What Love Is
- And What It Could Be
- By: Carrie Jenkins
- Narrated by: Carrie Jenkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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What is love? Aside from being the title of many a popular love song, this is one of life's perennial questions. In What Love Is, philosopher Carrie Jenkins offers a bold new theory on the nature of romantic love that reconciles its humanistic and scientific components.
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What Philosophy Is and What It Could Be
- By Amazon Customer on 03-09-17
By: Carrie Jenkins
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The Science of Good and Evil
- Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule
- By: Michael Shermer
- Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins
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In The Science of Good and Evil, psychologist and science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates into moral primates, how and why morality motivates the human animal, and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence. Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans.
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Read by author
- By Gregory A. Townsend on 04-16-23
By: Michael Shermer
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Beasts
- What Animals Can Teach Us About the Origins of Good Evil
- By: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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There are two supreme predators on the planet with the most complex brains in nature: humans and orcas. In the 20th century alone, one of these animals killed 200 million members of its own species, the other killed none. Jeffrey Masson’s fascinating new book begins here: There is something different about us. In Beasts he demonstrates that the violence we perceive in the "wild" is mostly a matter of projection. We link the basest human behavior to animals, to "beasts" ("he behaved no better than a beast"), and claim the high ground for our species.
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This one is a MUST!!! Thought provoking....
- By kristen on 03-10-14
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Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters
- By: Alan S. Miller, Satoshi Kanazawa
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Contrary to conventional wisdom, our brains and bodies are hardwired to carry out an evolutionary mission that determines much of what we do, from life plans to everyday decisions. With an accessible tone and a healthy disregard for political correctness, this lively and eminently readable book popularizes the latest research in a cutting-edge field of study: one that turns much of what we thought we knew about human nature upside-down.
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Not bad but didn't live up to the reviews
- By Ana Mohammed on 01-08-12
By: Alan S. Miller, and others
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Superlative
- The Biology of Extremes
- By: Matthew D. LaPlante
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Fascinating survey of amazing biology
- By Nerd's-eye view on 12-06-19
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Men Chase, Women Choose
- The Neuroscience of Meeting, Dating, Losing Your Mind, and Finding True Love
- By: Dawn Maslar
- Narrated by: Suzanne Elise Freeman
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Men Chase, Women Choose is the first book to offer cutting-edge research that explains how the brain works when two people first meet, start to date, fall in love, and then move into real long-term love. Maslar's unique approach brings together the latest and most relevant neurological, physiological, and biochemical research on the science of love while incorporating stories and examples of composite characters based on participants of her popular classes and seminars.
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Disappointed
- By Kittenheels on 11-18-18
By: Dawn Maslar
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Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You
- A Lively Tour Through the Dark Side of the Natural World
- By: Dan Riskin
- Narrated by: Dan Riskin
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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It may be a wonderful world, but as Dan Riskin explains, it's also a dangerous, disturbing, and disgusting one. At every turn, it seems, living things are trying to eat us, poison us, use our bodies as their homes, or have us spread their eggs. In Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You, Riskin is our guide through the natural world at its most gloriously ruthless. Using the seven deadly sins as a road map, Riskin offers dozens of jaw-dropping examples that illuminate how brutal nature can truly be.
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Just a bunch of random animal behaviors.
- By Goddess on 05-18-23
By: Dan Riskin
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How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog)
- Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution
- By: Lyudmila Trut, Lee Alan Dugatkin
- Narrated by: Joe Hempel
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Tucked away in Siberia, there are furry, four-legged creatures with wagging tails and floppy ears that are as docile and friendly as any lapdog. But, despite appearances, these are not dogs - they are foxes. They are the result of the most astonishing experiment in breeding ever undertaken - imagine speeding up thousands of years of evolution into a few decades. In 1959, biologists Dmitri Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut set out to do just that, by starting with a few dozen silver foxes from fox farms in the USSR and attempting to recreate the evolution of wolves into dogs in real time.
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Amazing
- By paul on 10-26-17
By: Lyudmila Trut, and others
What listeners say about Queer Ducks (and Other Animals)
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- iamltr
- 06-18-22
Absolutely Wonderful
When I started this, I thought I would simply be learning about queer animals, but this was more than just that.
This not only taught me about the queerness of animals, but also some of the history of human queerness. I learned a lot from this book.
Overall, this was so unbelievably funny at times, serious when needed, and a good way to learn about queer animals.
The narration was the best. I know the narrator as Joel Leslie, and it was through him that I learned about this audiobook and I am so glad I bought it.
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- Farah
- 06-26-22
A must-read for every human being.
There’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot to know. This is a fun and funny book. Tremendously entertaining.
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- Kindle Customer
- 02-26-23
Loved it
I think everyone should read this story. It is an eye opener for sure. And a lot of right wingers need this book.
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- BN Symons
- 06-11-22
a must read for any LGBTQ+ person or ally
this book does a wonderful job showing how the LGBTQ population is completely natural and maybe even a little more natural than heterosexuality
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- Krystle Ziegler
- 02-28-23
Love love love
My new all time favorite, should be encouraged reading in school. Can’t wait to share this!
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- julie marcus
- 06-02-22
this was revelatory!
I love this book, it turns everything we know about the non-human animal sexuality on its head! I highly recommend it to everyone!
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- R. G. Pickering
- 06-13-22
Very Informative
This book opens our eyes to the truth of the natural world. Sex can be a bit different for each animal. We are all the same and we are all different. It is really fascinating.
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- Placeholder
- 06-20-23
This is a must listen!
The read is enthusiastic and at times just a tad straining but please do not let that stop you from listening all the way through. Well researched, compelling, and ultimately liberating, this book is a must for all humans, period.
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- SiminskiGen
- 07-06-22
Brilliant!
I thought I knew a lot about the animal world until I listened to this audiobook. It's both entertaining and very educational. In many ways, it turns the research we've been taught about animal/bird/insect science on its head. I highly recommend it!
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- Alison Gambill
- 01-31-23
Best Nonfiction of 2022
This is absolutely the best piece of non-fiction I read in 2022 and in my top 10 for books overall. So much intersectionality in the presentation of information. I laughed out loud several times.
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