Symphony in C
Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything
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Narrated by:
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Paul Brion
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By:
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Robert M. Hazen
About this listen
An enchanting biography of the most resonant - and most necessary - chemical element on Earth. Carbon. It's in the fibers in your hair, the timbers in your walls, the food that you eat, and the air that you breathe. It's worth billions as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity, but there are still mysteries yet to be solved about the element that can be both diamond and coal. Where does it come from, what does it do, and why, above all, does life need it?
With poetic storytelling, earth scientist Robert Hazen leads us on a global journey through the origin and evolution of life's most ubiquitous element. The story unfolds in four movements - Earth, Air, Fire, and Water - and transports us through 14 billion years of cosmic history.
From the archives of Harvard to the cliffs of Scotland and into the precious metal mines of Namibia, Symphony in C is a sweeping chronicle of carbon: the most essential element on Earth.
©2019 Robert M. Hazen (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. Now, Earth's isolation is coming to an end. Over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of "exoplanets" orbiting other stars, including some that could be similar to our own world. Studying those distant planets for signs of life will be crucial to understanding life's intricate mysteries right here on Earth. In a firsthand account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with top researchers.
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Bloated
- By Dr A on 01-09-14
By: Lee Billings
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Genesis
- The Story of How Everything Began
- By: Guido Tonelli, Erica Segre - translator, Simon Carnell - translator
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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A breakout best seller in Italy, now available for American listeners for the first time, Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began is a short, humanistic tour of the origins of the universe, earth, and life - drawing on the latest discoveries in physics to explain the seven most significant moments in the creation of the cosmos.
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This is soooo boring to listen to
- By A. Galer on 02-27-23
By: Guido Tonelli, and others
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The Planets
- By: Professor Brian Cox, Andrew Cohen
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Mercury, a lifeless victim of the Sun’s expanding power. Venus, once thought to be lush and fertile, now known to be trapped within a toxic and boiling atmosphere. Mars, the red planet, doomed by the loss of its atmosphere. Jupiter, twice the size of all the other planets combined, but insubstantial. Saturn, a stunning celestial beauty, the jewel of our Solar System. Uranus, the sideways planet and the first ice giant. Neptune, dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds. Pluto, the dwarf planet, a frozen rock.
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baroque and flowery verbiage
- By Chris on 01-14-20
By: Professor Brian Cox, and others
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The Disappearing Spoon
- And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
- By: Sam Kean
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Reporter Sam Kean reveals the periodic table as it’s never been seen before. Not only is it one of man's crowning scientific achievements, it's also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
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Great Book, Great Narration, But...
- By Henny Button on 09-18-10
By: Sam Kean
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Life on the Edge
- The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology
- By: Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: Nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation?
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More woo than new
- By Gary on 09-09-15
By: Johnjoe McFadden, and others
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The Vanishing Face of Gaia
- A Final Warning
- By: James Lovelock
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Vanishing Face of Gaia, British scientist James Lovelock predicts global warming will lead to a Hot Epoch. Lovelock is best known for formulating the controversial Gaia theory in the 1970s, with Ruth Margulis of the University of Massachusetts, which states that organisms interact with and regulate Earth's surface and atmosphere. We ignore this interaction at our peril.
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A New Perspective - A Must Listen - Very Moving
- By Thomas on 01-29-12
By: James Lovelock
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The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks
- Tales of Important Geological Puzzles and the People Who Solved Them
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks tells the fascinating stories behind the discoveries that shook the foundations of geology. In 25 chapters, Donald R. Prothero recounts the scientific detective work that shaped our understanding of geology, from the unearthing of exemplary specimens to tectonic shifts in how we view the inner workings of our planet.
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More about scientists than science
- By Aunt Vee on 06-14-20
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Catching Stardust
- Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System
- By: Natalie Starkey
- Narrated by: Alison Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Icy, rocky, sometimes dusty, always mysterious – comets and asteroids are among the Solar System's very oldest inhabitants, formed within a swirling cloud of gas and dust in the area of space that eventually hosted the Sun and its planets. Locked within each of these extra-terrestrial objects is the 4.6-billion-year wisdom of Solar System events, and by studying them at close quarters using spacecraft we can coerce them into revealing their closely-guarded secrets. This offers us the chance to answer some fundamental questions about our planet and its inhabitants.
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Chasing star stuff always results in technological advances
- By Richard Duede on 12-30-18
By: Natalie Starkey
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Forces of Nature
- By: Professor Brian Cox, Andrew Cohen
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Brian Cox uncovers some of the most extraordinary natural events on Earth and in the universe and beyond. From the immensity of the universe and the roundness of Earth to the form of every single snowflake, the forces of nature shape everything we see. Pushed to extremes, the results are astonishing. In seeking to understand the everyday world, the colours, structure, behaviour and history of our home, we develop the knowledge and techniques necessary to step beyond the everyday.
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Complicated in its simplicity
- By Philomath on 06-13-17
By: Professor Brian Cox, and others
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.
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The Only Book I reread imediatley after reading
- By Andrew on 11-09-09
By: Bill Bryson
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Creation
- How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own.
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The Goldilocks book on what is life
- By Gary on 07-11-13
By: Adam Rutherford
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The Story of Earth
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Earth evolves. From first atom to molecule, mineral to magma, granite crust to single cell to verdant living landscape, ours is a planet constantly in flux. In this radical new approach to Earth’s biography, senior Carnegie Institution researcher and national best-selling author Robert M. Hazen reveals how the co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere - of rocks and living matter - has shaped our planet into the only one of its kind in the Solar System, if not the entire cosmos.
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Makes minerals interesting
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Oxygen
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Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
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A Story About Pretty Much Everything
- By ZebraBear on 09-09-20
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Life on a Young Planet
- The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
- By: Andrew H. Knoll
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
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Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites - such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty.
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The Earliest Life
- By Arden on 02-16-20
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The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks
- Tales of Important Geological Puzzles and the People Who Solved Them
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
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The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks tells the fascinating stories behind the discoveries that shook the foundations of geology. In 25 chapters, Donald R. Prothero recounts the scientific detective work that shaped our understanding of geology, from the unearthing of exemplary specimens to tectonic shifts in how we view the inner workings of our planet.
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More about scientists than science
- By Aunt Vee on 06-14-20
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Block by Block
- The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics
- By: Robert T. Hanlon
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 33 hrs and 47 mins
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Block by Block offers an original perspective on thermodynamic science and history based on the three approaches of a practicing engineer, academician, and historian. The book synthesizes and gathers into one accessible volume a strategic range of foundational topics involving the atomic theory, energy, entropy, and the laws of thermodynamics.
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Incomplete
- By William G Carrig on 11-27-20
By: Robert T. Hanlon
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Gene Machine
- The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome
- By: Venki Ramakrishnan
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
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Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome - an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms - that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases.
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biochemistry+autobiography+science politics
- By Irina Bataeva on 02-15-19
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The Story of Earth
- The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet
- By: Robert M. Hazen
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Earth evolves. From first atom to molecule, mineral to magma, granite crust to single cell to verdant living landscape, ours is a planet constantly in flux. In this radical new approach to Earth’s biography, senior Carnegie Institution researcher and national best-selling author Robert M. Hazen reveals how the co-evolution of the geosphere and biosphere - of rocks and living matter - has shaped our planet into the only one of its kind in the Solar System, if not the entire cosmos.
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Makes minerals interesting
- By Gary on 07-31-12
By: Robert M. Hazen
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Oxygen
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- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
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Oxygen takes the listener on an enthralling journey, as gripping as a thriller, as it unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death.
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A Story About Pretty Much Everything
- By ZebraBear on 09-09-20
By: Nick Lane
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Life on a Young Planet
- The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
- By: Andrew H. Knoll
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites - such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty.
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The Earliest Life
- By Arden on 02-16-20
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The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks
- Tales of Important Geological Puzzles and the People Who Solved Them
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
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The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks tells the fascinating stories behind the discoveries that shook the foundations of geology. In 25 chapters, Donald R. Prothero recounts the scientific detective work that shaped our understanding of geology, from the unearthing of exemplary specimens to tectonic shifts in how we view the inner workings of our planet.
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More about scientists than science
- By Aunt Vee on 06-14-20
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Block by Block
- The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics
- By: Robert T. Hanlon
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 33 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Block by Block offers an original perspective on thermodynamic science and history based on the three approaches of a practicing engineer, academician, and historian. The book synthesizes and gathers into one accessible volume a strategic range of foundational topics involving the atomic theory, energy, entropy, and the laws of thermodynamics.
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Incomplete
- By William G Carrig on 11-27-20
By: Robert T. Hanlon
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Gene Machine
- The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome
- By: Venki Ramakrishnan
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
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Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert blueprint for life. It is the ribosome - an enormous molecular machine made up of a million atoms - that makes DNA come to life, turning our genetic code into proteins and therefore into us. Gene Machine is an insider account of the race for the structure of the ribosome, a fundamental discovery that both advances our knowledge of all life and could lead to the development of better antibiotics against life-threatening diseases.
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biochemistry+autobiography+science politics
- By Irina Bataeva on 02-15-19
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When Life Nearly Died
- The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time
- By: Michael J. Benton
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
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Today it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living. It is far less widely understood that a much greater catastrophe took place at the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago: at least 90 percent of life on earth was destroyed. When Life Nearly Died documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction, but also the recent renewal of the idea of catastrophism.
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Obscurity to Enlightenment - A Mystery Revealed
- By Dipam on 03-18-21
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Periodic Tales
- A Cultural History of the Elements, From Arsenic to Zinc
- By: Hugh Aldersey-Williams
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
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Like the alphabet, the calendar, or the zodiac, the periodic table of the chemical elements has a permanent place in our imagination. But aside from the handful of common ones (iron, carbon, copper, gold), the elements themselves remain wrapped in mystery. We do not know what most of them look like, how they exist in nature, how they got their names, or of what use they are to us.
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Interesting but Rambling
- By Carolyn on 08-24-15
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The Knowledge Machine
- How Irrationality Created Modern Science
- By: Michael Strevens
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A paradigm-shifting work that revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science.
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Almost there. Scholarly review.
- By John on 05-02-21
By: Michael Strevens
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Spark
- The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life
- By: Timothy J. Jorgensen
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins
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When we think of electricity, we likely imagine the energy humming inside our home appliances or lighting up our electronic devices - or perhaps we envision the lightning-streaked clouds of a stormy sky. But electricity is more than an external source of power, heat, or illumination. Life at its essence is nothing if not electrical.
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The best book on electricity.
- By Anonymous User on 01-10-22
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Oceans of Kansas
- A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea
- By: Michael J. Everhart
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Revised, updated, and expanded with the latest interpretations and fossil discoveries, the second edition of Oceans of Kansas adds new twists to the fascinating story of the vast inland sea that engulfed central North America during the Age of Dinosaurs. Giant sharks, marine reptiles called mosasaurs, pteranodons, and birds with teeth all flourished in and around these shallow waters. Their abundant and well-preserved remains were sources of great excitement in the scientific community when first discovered in the 1860s and continue to yield exciting discoveries 150 years later.
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Great introduction into the Western Interior Sea
- By Ian Compton on 12-31-22
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Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field
- How Two Men Revolutionized Physics
- By: Nancy Forbes, Basil Mahon
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
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Two of the boldest and most creative scientists of all time were Michael Faraday (1791-1867) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). This is the story of how these two men - separated in age by 40 years - discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and devised a radically new theory which overturned the strictly mechanical view of the world that had prevailed since Newton's time.
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Amazing narration of an incredibly well told story
- By Paul de Jong on 03-01-21
By: Nancy Forbes, and others
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Transformer
- The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
- By: Nick Lane
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- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
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For decades, biology has been dominated by the study of genetic information. Information is important, but it is only part of what makes us alive. Our inheritance also includes our living metabolic network, a flame passed from generation to generation, right back to the origin of life. In Transformer, biochemist Nick Lane reveals a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight-how the same simple chemistry gives rise to life and causes our demise.
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You need lot of chemistry to get it
- By 11104 on 09-05-22
By: Nick Lane
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What Einstein Didn't Know
- Scientific Answers to Everyday Questions
- By: Robert L. Wolke
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
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How does soap know what's dirt? How do magnets work? Why do ice cubes crackle in your glass? And how can you keep them quiet? These are questions that torment us all. Now Robert L. Wolke, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, provides definitive - and amazingly simple - explanations for the mysteries of everyday life.
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A funny thing happened on the way to a great book
- By Joseph on 10-01-12
By: Robert L. Wolke
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The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries
- The Evidence and the People Who Found It
- By: Donald R. Prothero
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The theory of evolution unites the past, present, and future of living things. It puts humanity's place in the universe into necessary perspective. Despite a history of controversy, the evidence for evolution continues to accumulate as a result of many separate strands of incredible scientific sleuthing. In The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries, Donald R. Prothero explores the most fascinating breakthroughs in piecing together the evidence for evolution.
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Good synopsis of current understanding
- By Nunya on 05-28-23
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Conquering the Electron
- The Geniuses, Visionaries, Egomaniacs, and Scoundrels Who Built Our Electronic Age
- By: Derek Cheung, Eric Brach
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Want to know how AT&T's Bell Labs developed semiconductor technology - and how its leading scientists almost came to blows in the process? Want to understand how radio and television work - and why RCA drove their inventors to financial ruin and early graves? Conquering the Electron offers these stories and more, presenting each revolutionary technological advance right alongside blow-by-blow personal battles that all too often took place.
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Tech, science, engineering & the people behind it.
- By James S. on 05-29-20
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Geology
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Jan Zalasiewicz
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
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In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Jan Zalasiewicz gives a brief introduction to the fascinating field of geology. Describing how the science developed from its early beginnings, he looks at some of the key discoveries that have transformed it before delving into its various subfields, such as sedimentology, tectonics, and stratigraphy.
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Geology and climate change
- By Dr. Pops on 03-15-23
By: Jan Zalasiewicz
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Philosophy of Physics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: David Wallace
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Philosophy of Physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics - notably quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics - and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications. A deeper understanding of these theories helps both physics, through pointing the way to new theories and new applications, and philosophy, through seeing how our worldview has to change in the light of what we learn from physics.
By: David Wallace
What listeners say about Symphony in C
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jose
- 02-08-23
Dr. Hazen makes a Celebrity of Element 6
I am not a Chemist or Chemical Engineer. But I do like to mix up some elective learning to my education in Systems Engineering. An engineer to the core, I wish I could have majored in at least 3 engineering majors and One science major. I read stuff like this because I love it. This is not a text book, it is something much better.
This is an excellent, finely crafted book and the organization is brilliant. It covers where carbon comes from in star life cycles. Where carbon resides on Earth. From the earth Core and Mantle to the atmosphere. So you get astrophysics, planetary science, geology, chemistry, oceanic, and atmospheric science in one great book.
I found myself teaching my kids about carbon after reading the book and the kids (all little elementary age kids) asked, "Dad, why do you like Carbon so much?" It's all because this book is so cool and interesting. 5-Stars, Easy.
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2 people found this helpful
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- michael
- 08-09-24
The Most Detailed Story of Geological Earth
I love everything this author writes and does especially The Great Courses...very informative and we'll written..I've learned more about our Earth than anything I learned in school..always fun to keep learning.
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- Maureen Moses
- 06-02-23
Beautiful Listen
As a geoscientist who worked around the Deep Carbon Observatory for much of my career I appreciated this book immensely. It went into parts of the Carbon Cycle I knew about and introduced me to others I did not! Only feedback that is not perfect is the mispronunciation of common geological terms. It just was hard to hear, not something that most people would pick up on.
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3 people found this helpful
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- john
- 03-01-22
Mind Blowing Game Changer!!!!
not only is this book revolutionary from a geophysics standpoint but it's a paradigm shifting mind bending game changer on any front that you look at it from, including religious and spiritual.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mark D. Schnittman
- 12-09-20
A nice surprise
This book was a pleasant surprise. The first the focused on mineralogy, the remainder on the carbon cycle and research needing to be done to fill in the blanks. Technical, but highly readable, this book will appeal to a wide audience. Recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Joseph L Contreras
- 06-26-19
There is a Caveat
This is a fantastic book, Dr. Hazen presents a tremendous amount of knowledge in a very digestible manner. but it is an involved read. I don't know if I've ever read a non textbook book that presents its topic so well. While not a textbook it does delve into deep science stuff, definitely college level nerd stuff. If you get engrossed in the science, and have a special place in your heart for Carbon, this book is for you!
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36 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-22-19
Excellent discourse on carbon
Robert Hazen is one of the big names in mineralogy and origin of life research. He’s also a highly respected musician (he played trumpet professionally all during his active career in science). Music and science are my two parallel careers as well, so I was very happy to see this book on Audible. Unfortunately, the very low key narration took some of the excitement out of what should have been a most enjoyable book. The only thing that saved it from being almost a monotone was the narrator’s excellent enunciation. Even so, his voice was so uninflected and soft at times that it was difficult to understand the words. And of course, the narration was sprinkled with all the typical mispronunciations that occur whenever a person untrained in the sciences tries to read even a lay scientific publication (no, ‘molybdenum’ is not pronounced ‘Molly-Be-denim’). Doesn’t anyone scan such books to find terms likely to be mispronounced?
I’m sure I will listen to this again, even with the shortcomings in the narration.
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16 people found this helpful
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- F. Scott Humphrey
- 07-27-21
amazing explanation
I'm a geology enthusiast, not a geologist. I love this audiobook. while bits and pieces of the chemistry were far over My intellectual head, most of the book made perfectly good sense. and who could imagine a book about carbon would be interesting? it's very interesting.
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- June
- 06-12-23
Earth History through Minerals
Enjoyed the audio presentation and the life-long research from Hazen. By incorporating the research from the various scientific disciplines, Hazen has managed to put together a compelling narrative of Earth’s history, From an exploration geologist, I appreciated the story.
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- Paul Mullen
- 07-26-22
A survey of the presence of Carbon
this is a decent overview of many of the ways in which carbon interacts with our life and our planet. it's not a particularly engaging story but it does seem to be comprehensive in its scope. some have complained about the unimpressive narration, but I think this is more of a production issue then it is really the quality of the narrator.
this isn't at the top of my recommended list, but it is part of the fund of knowledge which keeps us up to date.
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