The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus
Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Hoye
About this listen
Explorer, diving pioneer, filmmaker, inventor, and activist, Jacques Cousteau was blessed from his childhood with boundless curiosity about the natural world. As the leader of fascinating, often dangerous expeditions all over the planet, he discovered firsthand the complexity and beauty of life on earth and undersea - and watched the toll taken by human activity in the 20th century.
In this magnificent last book, available for the first time in the United States, Cousteau describes his deeply informed philosophy about protecting our world for future generations. Weaving gripping stories of his adventures throughout, he and coauthor Susan Schiefelbein address the risks we take with human health, the overfishing and sacking of the world's oceans, the hazards of nuclear proliferation, and the environmental responsibility of scientists, politicians, and people of faith.
Written over the last 10 years of his life with frequent collaborator Schiefelbein, who also introduces the text and provides an update on environmental developments in the decade since Cousteau's death, this prescient, clear-sighted book is a remarkable testament to the life and work of one of our greatest modern adventurers.
©2007 Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein (P)2008 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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When painter Winslow Homer first sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, he was struck by its "special kind of providence." Indeed, the Gulf presented itself as America's sea - bound by geography, culture, and tradition to the national experience - and yet, there has never been a comprehensive history of the Gulf until now. And so, in this rich and original work that explores the Gulf through our human connection with the sea, environmental historian Jack E. Davis finally places this exceptional region into the American mythos in a sweeping history that extends from the Pleistocene age to the 21st century.
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Decolonize gulf history
- By Jesse Carr on 05-02-18
By: Jack E. Davis
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Generalist, Volume 1
- By: iMinds
- Narrated by: Luca James Lee, Ellouise Rothwell
- Length: 1 hr and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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A compilation of diverse topics across our 12 categories. You will learn about: the history of whaling, the art of film noir, the psychology behind the Stockholm Syndrome, the history of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the story of Joan of Arc, the discovery of penicillin, the science of meteorites, the history of the D-Day Invasion, the unexplained phenomenon of crop circles, the adventure of climbing Everest, the thought of Confucius, and the start of fireworks.
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Excellent Compilation
- By Michael T Schreiber on 09-18-09
By: iMinds
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Brilliant Beacons
- A History of the American Lighthouse
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Set against the backdrop of an expanding nation, Brilliant Beacons traces the evolution of America's lighthouse system, highlighting the political, military, and technological battles fought to illuminate the nation's hardscrabble coastlines.
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Great book about Lighthouses
- By Anastasia on 04-25-21
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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The Alchemy of Air
- A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler
- By: Thomas Hager
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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At the dawn of the 20th century, humanity was facing global disaster. Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the worlds scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: the brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and the reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives.
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Great Book Thoroughly Researched
- By Terry A. Gray on 10-21-11
By: Thomas Hager
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Windfall
- The Booming Business of Global Warming
- By: McKenzie Funk
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Global warming's physical impacts can be separated into three broad categories: melt, drought, and deluge. Funk travels to two dozen countries to profile entrepreneurial people who see a potential windfall in each of these forces. The melt is a boon for newly arable, mineral rich regions of the Arctic, such as Greenland - and for the man-made snow trade. Drought creates opportunities for private firefighters working for insurance companies as well as for fund managers backing south Sudanese warlords who control local farmland.
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unintended windfalls mixed with obvious perils
- By Andy on 02-09-14
By: McKenzie Funk
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The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated
- The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late
- By: Thom Hartmann, Neale Donald Walsch - associate editor
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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While everything appears to be collapsing around us - ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, water shortages, global famine, wars - we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children's children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio's feature documentary movie The 11th Hour, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture's blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem.
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One of the Most Important Books of our Time
- By Jana on 04-24-20
By: Thom Hartmann, and others
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Uranium
- War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World
- By: Tom Zoellner
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Uranium is a common element in the earth's crust and the only naturally occurring mineral with the power to end all life on the planet. After World War II, it reshaped the global order---whoever could master uranium could master the world. Marie Curie gave us hope that uranium would be a miracle panacea, but the Manhattan Project gave us reason to believe that civilization would end with apocalypse.
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GREAT book, awful narration
- By Carolyn on 03-30-09
By: Tom Zoellner
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War of the Whales
- A True Story
- By: Joshua Horwitz
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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War of the Whales is the gripping tale of a crusading attorney who stumbles on one of the US Navy’s best-kept secrets: a submarine detection system that floods entire ocean basins with high-intensity sound - and drives whales onto beaches. As Joel Reynolds launches a legal fight to expose and challenge the Navy program, marine biologist Ken Balcomb witnesses a mysterious mass stranding of whales near his research station in the Bahamas.
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Legal Drama - better than fiction
- By W. P. Brown on 08-23-14
By: Joshua Horwitz
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The Secret Life of Lobsters
- By: Trevor Corson
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In this intimate portrait of an island lobstering community and an eccentric band of renegade biologists, journalist Trevor Corson escorts the listener onto the slippery decks of fishing boats, through danger-filled scuba dives, and deep into the churning currents of the Gulf of Maine to learn about the secret undersea lives of lobsters.
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Uninteresting and poorly written
- By Alexandra DuSablon on 01-10-20
By: Trevor Corson
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The Age of Radiance
- The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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From the New York Times best-selling author of Rocket Men and the award-winning biographer of Thomas Paine comes the first complete history of the Atomic Age, a brilliant, magisterial account of the men and women who uncovered the secrets of the nucleus, brought its power to America, and ignited the 20th century.
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Strong finish
- By David's Opinions and Reviews on 05-04-14
By: Craig Nelson
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Last Train to Paradise
- Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean
- By: Les Standiford
- Narrated by: Del Roy
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The paths of the great American robber barons were paved with riches, and though ordinary citizens paid for them, they also profited. Les Standiford, author of the John Deal thrillers, tells how the man who turned Florida's swamps into the playgrounds of the rich performed the almost superhuman feat of building a railroad from the mainland to Key West at the turn of the century.
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A Pleasant Surprise
- By Roy on 04-05-09
By: Les Standiford
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The Swamp
- The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise
- By: Michael Grunwald
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Everglades was America's last frontier, a wild country long after the West was won. In this book Michael Grunwald chronicles how a series of visionaries tried to drain and "reclaim" it and how Mother Nature refused to bend to their will; in the most harrowing tale, a 1928 hurricane drowned 2,500 people in the Everglades. But the Army Corps of Engineers finally tamed the beast with levees and canals, converting half the Everglades into sprawling suburbs and sugar plantations.
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This is not Jiminy Cricket's river
- By Robert R. on 09-02-18
By: Michael Grunwald
What listeners say about The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Joseph Abel
- 01-08-19
I cried. I cried alot.
it was a pleasure listening to the story and adventures of the father of marine biology. how he tried to make the world better by satisfying his own curiosities. the struggles he faced with our society through war and greed. if only people would have cared more and listened to his warnings and pleas to protect our planet. I loved the chapter about how he saw our world 1000s of years from now when we have already learned the hard way. the peace he still hopes for. the possibility of living with nature and not against it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Mark G
- 01-15-11
A wonderful and illuminating book
We've all been very lucky that a man with a great spirit, passion and honesty has lived and told us his story and views in such a pleasant and intelligent way. It is very different from the imbecilic coverage of just about anything in the media so it requires a serious and sincere mindset to appreciate. The philosophical insights and indeed underpinnings of Cousteau's work are amply explained in the book - thank God for the lack of sound-bites and political correctness. A fascinating, moving and enjoyable story for a discriminating and sophisticated listener, and a life changing for some, I'm sure. A gem. If only Oprah operated on a higher intellectual plane, it would be so great if she recommended this book to her book club. It's a breath of fresh air and a wake up call. The narration is decent and its faults are minor - I think they do not really detract from the book for a serious minded listener. The tone and the intention of the book, and, of course, the man, are very inspiring to me.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 11-13-09
fabulous book amazing man
had we heeded Cousteau 30 years ago we wouldnt be in the predicament we are in now. This book chronicals his expoilts and gives us a clear view of the truth of our actions on our environment. I always wondered why the death of this amazing man was hardly covered on the news. Now i know, he spoke the truth and it was inconvenient.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Thomas M. Olenski
- 03-05-13
A Politcal Opinion
Would you try another book from Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schielfelbein and/or Stephen Hoye?
No.
What could Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schielfelbein have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
The book merged two very different types of books together that should not have been done. Some sections of the book were filled with interesting stories about life under the sea and the voyages of Cousteau. Other sections, the majority, were making a strong political statement about fishing, the international community of nations, and nuclear power. The political statement was supported with numerous facts and made a very strong argument. Unfortunately, if the reader is not prepared for this, it takes the reader by surprise and brings them from the highs of adventure to the lows of helplessness and resignation of defeat. Many socialist principles are espoused that are really so far from reality that is presents a pure fantasy that deserves 2 minutes rather than hours. This book should have been advertised a Cousteau's political point of view and perhaps how he tried to use it to preserve the oceans.
What aspect of Stephen Hoye’s performance would you have changed?
Perhaps too forceful and demanding. Perhaps it may have been better received if it was not so much in the style of preaching and arogant. I don't think it matched at all the speaking style of the author.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Extreme sadness. No hope for the future. No path to follow.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tom
- 10-12-10
Not what I was expecting !!
In short if you want stories of life aboard Calapyso this is NOT the book for you! If you want a reflection of policital science during the life of our favorite explorer well then step right up !
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Lucas
- 10-27-09
Prepared yourself for a diatribe
Wow, this is not what I was expecting. Cousteau rails on scientists, religion, world leaders, common citizens, and more. There's also a lengthy section on the perils of nuclear energy that was provided some news to me but it was just too much.
As the inventor of SCUBA technology and, obviously, a lifetime diver, he saw the oceans deteriorate and whither in a matter of decades so I understand his passionate cry for the planet. I just found some of the science to be a bit lacking in places and too few moments of hope.
I also found the narrator's voice lacked variation but that may have been a function of the text. I made it through this one but just barely (I stepped it up to double speed to get through--THANK YOU iPOD for that ingenius feature).
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 07-03-10
Snooze fest !
I like animals, I like animal stories, I like Jacques Cousteau, but I DON'T like this book. The narration stinks and the pseudo-French accent the narrator employs often, is annoying. The book is boring and is a hero-worship of Jacques Cousteau and not much about animals. This is one of the few times I only made it half way though a book. I gave up and decided not to throw any more good time after bad money.
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Overall
- Mitchell
- 04-16-10
Too much ranting
I enjoyed the book somewhat. But there was too much ranting against just about everything. For example it felt like a third of the book was against nuclear power and nuclear proliferation. He makes some good points, but too many over and over again.
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1 person found this helpful