The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist
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Narrated by:
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Paul Boehmer
About this listen
Ben Barres was known for his groundbreaking scientific work and for his groundbreaking advocacy for gender equality in science. In this book, completed shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in December 2017, Barres (born Barbara Barres in 1954) describes a life full of remarkable accomplishments - from his childhood as a precocious math and science whiz to his experiences as a female student at MIT in the 1970s to his female-to-male transition in his 40s to his scientific work and role as teacher and mentor at Stanford.
Barres recounts his early life - his interest in science, first manifested as a fascination with the mad scientist in Superman; his academic successes; and his gender confusion. Barres felt even as a very young child that he was assigned the wrong gender. After years of being acutely uncomfortable in his own skin, Barres transitioned from female to male. As an undergraduate at MIT, Barres experienced discrimination, but it was after transitioning that he realized how differently male and female scientists are treated. This led him to become an advocate for gender equality in science.
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The Latin term for the female genitalia, pudendum, means “parts for which you should be ashamed”. Until 1651, ovaries were called female testicles. The fallopian tubes are named for a man. Named, claimed, and shamed: Welcome to the story of the female body, as penned by men. Today, a new generation of (mostly) women scientists is finally redrawing the map. With modern tools and fresh perspectives, they’re looking at the organs traditionally bound up in reproduction—the uterus, ovaries, vagina—and seeing within them a new biology of change and resilience.
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poor narration
- By Jane on 08-23-22
By: Rachel E. Gross
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The Psychopath Inside
- A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain
- By: James Fallon
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
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The memoir of a neuroscientist whose research led him to a bizarre personal discovery, James Fallon had spent an entire career studying how our brains affect our behavior when his research suddenly turned personal. While studying brain scans of several family members, he discovered that one perfectly matched a pattern he’d found in the brains of serial killers. This meant one of two things: Either his family’s scans had been mixed up with those of felons or someone in his family was a psychopath.
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Entertaining story with some quick neuroscience
- By smarmer on 09-21-14
By: James Fallon
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101 Theory Drive
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It's not fiction: Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist - malnourished, contentious, inspiring, explosive, remarkably ambitious, consistently brilliant. He is one of the foremost figures of contemporary neuroscience, and his decades-long quest to understand the inner workings of the brain's memory machine has begun to pay off.
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Pretty Dang Funny
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By: Terry McDermott
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A Shot to Save the World
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Few were ready when a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Wuhan, China, in January 2020. Politicians, government officials, business leaders, and public-health professionals were unprepared for the most devastating pandemic in a century. Many of the world’s biggest drug and vaccine makers were slow to react or couldn’t muster an effective response. It was up to a small group of unlikely and untested scientists and executives to save civilization.
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Wow! Do not miss this one.
- By Jacob on 11-18-21
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The Exceptions
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In 1963, a female student was attending a lecture given by Nobel Prize winner James Watson, then tenured at Harvard. At nineteen, she was struggling to define her future. She had given herself just ten years to fulfill her professional ambitions before starting the family she was expected to have. For women at that time, a future on the usual path of academic science was unimaginable—but during that lecture, young Nancy Hopkins fell in love with the promise of genetics. Confidently believing science to be a pure meritocracy, she embarked on a career.
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Unbelievable and deeply inspiring.
- By Lilit Garibyan on 06-05-23
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Brain Rules for Aging Well
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- Narrated by: John Medina
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How come I can never find my keys? Why don't I sleep as well as I used to? Why do my friends keep repeating the same stories? What can I do to keep my brain sharp? Scientists know. Brain Rules for Aging Well, by developmental molecular biologist Dr. John Medina, gives you the facts - and the prescription to age well - in his signature engaging style. With so many discoveries over the years, science is literally changing our minds about the optimal care and feeding of the brain. All of it is captivating. A great deal of it is unexpected.
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Scientific and practical
- By symya08 on 04-29-18
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Plague of Corruption
- Restoring Faith in the Promise of Science
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- Narrated by: Mariel Hemingway
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Dr. Judy Mikovits is a modern-day Rosalind Franklin, a brilliant researcher shaking up the old boys' club of science with her groundbreaking discoveries. And like many women who have trespassed into the world of men, she uncovered decades-old secrets that many would prefer to stay buried.
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If only most of the public knew these facts
- By David Getoff, CCN on 06-18-20
By: Dr. Judy Mikovits, and others
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Hood
- Trailblazer of the Genomics Age
- By: Luke Timmerman, David Baltimore
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
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Lee Hood did that rarest of things. He enabled scientists to see things they couldn't see before and do things they hadn't dreamed of doing. Scientists can now sequence complete human genomes in a day, setting in motion a revolution that is personalizing medicine. Hood, a son of the American West, was an unlikely candidate to transform biology. But with ferocious drive, he led a team at Caltech that developed the automated DNA sequencer, the tool that paved the way for the Human Genome Project.
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A Revealing Biography
- By Jean on 07-27-17
By: Luke Timmerman, and others
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A Crack in Creation
- Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
- By: Jennifer A. Doudna, Samuel H. Sternberg
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
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Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR - a revolutionary new technology that she helped create - to make heritable changes in human embryos.
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In to the abyss we ascend, a scary future
- By Philomath on 06-17-17
By: Jennifer A. Doudna, and others
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Age of Opportunity
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Adolescence now lasts longer than ever before. And as world-renowned expert on adolescent psychology Dr. Laurence Steinberg argues, this makes these years the key period in determining individuals’ life outcomes, demanding that we change the way we parent, educate, and understand young people.
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if you think you know, think again
- By Dk on 12-11-14
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What listeners say about The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-14-24
good just skip over the scientific part if ur not a scientist lol
its a great look at ben’s life. just skip the parts about science lol
as a trans person i felt connected to what ben described as gender dysphoria very much in a way i could not to a lot of other transgender media
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- Anonymous User
- 10-13-19
Ben Barres’ autobiography breaks barriers for all
Reading this very personal story was a great privilege. It touched me personally as a scientist, mentor, female, and person of color. Thank you Ben Barres for the many lessons you’ve taught us and the great legacy you’ve left for us that includes an amazing number of scientific children! Imas a reader, if you want to live in a world where gender bias is a thing of the past in all walks of life this is a must read!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Shay
- 07-06-23
Fantastic listen.
This was an eye opening book to listen to and I wish the author was still alive so that I could write to him about how much this meant to me to hear. The grit and perserverence of LGBTQ+, especially trans people, is astounding.
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- Debbie
- 04-07-23
Narrator is hard to listen to
The narrator for the audiobook sounds AI generated and unnatural. I feel like I’m listening to that voice on a corporate phone tree saying “press 1 if you know your account number.” I have listened to dozens of audiobooks, and this is one of the hardest to listen to. The content is great, so I kept going.
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- PaigeA
- 06-03-23
Happy I listened
The narration is a bit boring and robotic. But it’s quick and I enjoyed it overall. Ben Barres seems like someone I would have enjoyed knowing and I’m glad I know his story.
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- Mon_R
- 10-19-18
Inspiring
A great treatise in humanity, inequality and tolerance in a life of a fellow believer of the greatness of scientific discovery. May his soul finds rest.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Book Buddy
- 04-04-20
Some chapters very technical
Good story but there is a section that is very technical, about the research his team has been working on, that was mostly over my head. But story before and after this is inspiring!
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- Shorttyler
- 05-31-23
Surprised by amount of neuroscience but loved it
I was shocked by essentially the 2nd half of the book just being about neuroscience, but as a neuroscientist myself, it was a welcome surprise. I'm also shocked that I wasn't familiar with the author, since they're responsible for so much seminal work. I really enjoyed this whole book, but just be aware that the 2nd half is a lot of science.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-09-20
Too much scientific gibberish
I wanted to hear a little more detail about what happened during his transition besides just about his career the majority of the book. There were many scenarios where Ben talked about how he was being sexualized but left out specific context . I expected the book to be more about his transition than his whole college education three times over . Towards the end of the book, he mentioned what went on during his mentorship with students and just talked all scientifically as if we knew his knowledge. Overall, I wouldn't say this read was a waste but if it wasn't an assignment I probably wouldn't have read it .
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- Paul MacPherson
- 01-23-24
Amazingly Unscientific Academic Dishonesty
Yes, this is what American’s supposedly finest academic institutions are pushing on American youth and society, advancing their own personal feelings and theories in the name of “science”.
This “scientist” might be correct in her/his conclusions regarding cellular function and neurology. However, given that she/he first presents the reader with her/his own unvalidated non-scientific beliefs that she/he claims to be science-based explanations, it’s a bit difficult to then buy into the brilliance of her/his supposedly objective neuroscientific hypotheses.
First, the non-existence of God: There is millennia’s worth of empirical evidence for the existence of God, and zero evidence for the non-existence of God.
Second, Trangender Theory: The author tries to add what she/he sees as adding to the “scientific” explanation of Transgender “knowledge”, based on unreplicatable and highly unusual personal genetics combined with personal family history and subjective personal feelings. Not exactly the best example of scientific method.
The author’s own personal decision to be transgender is based on the testosterone hormones that his mother was given prenatally (even though his twin experienced none of the same outcomes), as well as the “feelings” that she had as a little girl and teen. No consideration is given to the idea that perhaps her attraction to “male” toys & attitudes might have been influenced by obviously dysfunctional family dynamics, nor to disturbing experiences as a teen, nor to the (very real)obstacles caused by gender discrimination in the workplace in the 1960’s-1970’s, that interferes with her career advancement.
Sadly, the author is born with MRKH syndrome, an exceptionally rare syndrome that affects only females with 46 XX chromosomes. At one point she is tested, hoping that the tests will reveal 46 XY, so that she will have scientific proof that she is actually a male. And yes, that WOULD have been actual scientific proof, were that the actual outcome. XY chromosomes are objective, factual, scientific proof. However, the author chooses to ignore this evidence, and embraces Transgender lifestyle based on her/his own “feelings” of maleness. Choosing a Transgender identity for her/himself is a personal decision, which happily seems to be working for this college Professor, but not a decision based on scientific evidence.
This author’s own exceptionally rare personal circumstance of receiving testosterone prenatally, (a therapy no longer prescribed to mothers prenatally), combined with the extremely rare MRKH genetic syndrome, and then attempting to correlate this unusual circumstance with the current Transgender movement, is the antithesis of a scientific approach. So I strongly caution other readers to not other accept any of the tenants of this book as “scientific truths “.
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