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Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
- Narrated by: Nick Sagan, Ann Druyan, Clinnette Minnis
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
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Publisher's summary
World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits - self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics - are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.
Astonishing in its scope, brilliant in its insights, and absolutely compelling, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.
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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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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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The Creative Spark
- How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional
- By: Agustín Fuentes
- Narrated by: Agustín Fuentes
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
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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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Nature's Nether Regions
- What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves
- By: Menno Schithuizen
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
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The story of evolution as you’ve never heard it before. What’s the easiest way to tell species apart? Check their genitals. Researching private parts was long considered taboo, but scientists are now beginning to understand that the wild diversity of sex organs across species can tell us a lot about evolution. Menno Schilthuizen invites listeners to join him as he uncovers the ways the shapes and functions of genitalia have been molded by complex Darwinian struggles.
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A New Favorite
- By S. Pepper on 05-15-15
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How to Build a Dinosaur
- Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever
- By: Jack Horner, James Gorman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
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In movies, in novels, in comic strips, and on television, we've all seen dinosaurs - or at least somebody's educated guess of what they would look like. But what if it were possible to build, or grow, a real dinosaur without finding ancient DNA? Jack Horner, the scientist who advised Steven Spielberg on the blockbuster film Jurassic Park and a pioneer in bringing paleontology into the 21st century, teams up with the editor of the New York Times's Science Times section to reveal exactly what's in store.
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Good book but misplaced title
- By Robert on 06-19-15
By: Jack Horner, and others
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Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
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Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
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As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
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On Human Nature: Revised Edition
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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This revised edition of Human Nature begins a new phase in the most important intellectual controversy of this generation: Is human behavior controlled by the species' biological heritage? Does this heritage limit human destiny?
With characteristic pungency and simplicity of style, the author of Sociobiology challenges old prejudices and current misconceptions about the nature-nurture debate.
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A Heralding Voice...
- By Douglas on 07-22-14
By: Edward O. Wilson
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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
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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.
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Interesting book, terrible reader
- By MGM123 on 03-16-18
By: Noah Strycker
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Letters to a Young Scientist
- By: Edward O. Wilxon
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Long on biography, short on advice
- By A. Mandelin on 08-02-18
By: Edward O. Wilxon
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Blueprint
- The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
- By: Nicholas A. Christakis
- Narrated by: Nicholas A. Christakis
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all our inventions - our tools, farms, machines, cities, nations - we carry with us innate proclivities to make a good society.
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Many interesting thoughts
- By Jonas Blomberg Ghini on 06-01-19
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How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.
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Some good points, but not a great book
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Technical problems with this recording - skips...
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This recording features the highlights of this historic 1995 event sponsored by the Temple of Understanding and includes a talk by the late cosmologist Carl Sagan. Visions for the 21st Century was a powerful forum for religious leaders, diplomats, nongovernmental organizations, and educators to present their visions for the next century.
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Not a Carl Sagan audio.
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By: Carl Sagan
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Here's the thing
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In 1977, two extraordinary spacecraft called Voyager were launched to the stars. Affixed to each Voyager craft was a gold-coated copped phonograph record as a message to possible extra-terrestrial civilizations that might encounter the spacecraft in some distant space and time.
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Interesting information into Masters & Johnson mystic. Worth a listen.
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Well worth the time
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Challenging textbook more than an enjoyable listen
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Not worth it
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The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know
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As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.
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Fun across the universe
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By: The Great Courses, and others
What listeners say about Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jonathan Saurez Ulloa
- 07-17-18
Excelente bofetada al ego especista
El humano se piensa a sí mismo como un ser superior y totalmente desligado del entorno en que vive, la cantidad de pruebas presentadas en este libro debería ser suficiente para una persona racional replantee seriamente ese tipo de pensamiento.
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- Phillip L. Hasenkamp
- 08-17-23
Fantastic. Exactly what I expected.
I gave a 4 for performance because of the awful foreword by the female with laryngitis. But this is a fantastic experience for the ears and mind.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tyeen Taylor
- 03-17-19
A very important read, poor audio performance
Understanding the evolved underpinnings of our modern psychology, culture, and societal structure helps me see our failings with greater compassion, and the obstacles in our path with greater clarity. We are a species with a history and a future--a future to be defined with knowledge and wisdom, or haphazardly via vestigial tendencies however impractical they may be in a modern context.
As important as this work is, and I feel bad saying it, the reading by Sagan and Druyan's son is uninspired, and even monotonously weasly, tending to end statements in a whiny, pleading tone that undermines the authority of carefully considered words. Toward the end, I either got more used to it or he got better, but getting there was often a struggle.
Still, for the absolutely critically essential content that should be in every human's brain, the audio version is worth it. Though if you're able to read it instead, maybe better...
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25 people found this helpful
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- Randy Lopez
- 05-30-22
Dated but still relevant and revealing
Nicely performed as a labor of love and well worth the listen, esp. considering the time of Carl Sagan's initial writing. Well ahead of his time but right on the money on so many points.
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- rdy2try
- 07-07-24
Realizations of how all species are connected
Loved it - content and delivery. Such insights about human behaviors and how these are connected. Realization that we are just another species like many others!
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- James Weisner
- 04-22-21
Busting the myth of human uniqueness
This is a weird one. I love reading Carl & Ann pretty much no matter what they write about. But this book does start off with some sexy chimpanzee fiction. Like, a whole chapter is in the voice of chimpanzee characters, talking mostly about doing the sex. Uncomfortable. But pretty fascinating from a Jane Goodall point of view.
The subject meanders a bit but it seems like the major goal of the book is to get across the idea that nothing is truly unique about human behavior. Human behavior literally is animal behavior. All things proposed as unique to human nature has been discovered in other animals. Like tool use, language, incest taboo, etc.
One issue with the book that I hope readers will keep in mind is that group selection is presented as an explanation for some evolved traits. But group selection isn't a thing. Gene selection is the whole show. Group selection is an antiquated idea and shouldn't have shown up in this book.
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9 people found this helpful
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- ADAT680554
- 05-25-18
Chapter 15
No idea what is in chapter 15.
Audible plz Check chapter 15 if it belongs to this book
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8 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-08-19
Everyone should read this book!
Carl Sagan is a champion of logic and reason! I admire Sagan's work and his ability to communicate science to the public. I can't thank Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan enough for their inspirational hard work. Nick Sagan did a superb job in the audio book, bravo! Everyone should read Shadows of our forgotten ancestors. There is alot we can learn about ourselves. It's time to get to work.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Christopher Damato
- 08-21-24
Chapter 15 not part of this book . Audible needs to correct this and install the content that’s missing.
Chapter 15 is not part of this book. It’s from a crime story of some type. Profanity laced and has sexually explicit content. Audible needs to review this as this was also listed on a previous review. Someone either made a mistake when editing or intentionally sabotaged this excellent book.
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- Jenner Zeno
- 02-22-18
Profoundly Enlightening
For the first time in my life, I experienced something I can only describe as Spiritual. I’ve long been a fan of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan’s works, but this book, especially with Nick Sagan’s spectacular and captivating performance, is something truly special.
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16 people found this helpful