The Origin of Species
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Narrated by:
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David Case
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By:
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Charles Darwin
About this listen
Not quite offering the misleading tautological Spencerian claim of "survival of the fittest", or the claim that man descends from monkeys (a typical perversion of the understanding of natural selection), the book did turn much of the world and how man thinks about it upside down. It is, well more than a century after its first publication, still a powerful and fascinating read.
©1992 Phoenix Recordings (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Perhaps the most influential science book ever written, On the Origin of Species has continued to fascinate for more than a century after its initial publication. Its controversial theory that populations evolve and adapt through a process known as natural selection led to heated scientific, philosophical, and religious debate, revolutionizing every discipline in its wake. With its clear, concise, and surprisingly enjoyable prose, On the Origin of Species is both captivating and edifying.
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Charles Darwin was just 22 when he went on his first voyage around the world in 1831. Darwin's father at first refused to allow his young son to go on the voyage. Fortunately, his father relented, and Darwin's journal is now considered by many to be the greatest scientific travel narrative ever written.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the 19th century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do. The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection. Upon its publication, the book began to transform attitudes about society and religion.
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Performance
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Story
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Story
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-
-
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The Voyage of the Beagle (Unabridged)
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- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Darwin was just 22 when he went on his first voyage around the world in 1831. Darwin's father at first refused to allow his young son to go on the voyage. Fortunately, his father relented, and Darwin's journal is now considered by many to be the greatest scientific travel narrative ever written.
-
-
Interesting on several levels
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By: Charles Darwin
-
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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-
-
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- Narrated by: Robin Field
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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-
-
For aficionados only.
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By: Charles Darwin
-
Cosmic Queries
- StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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-
-
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-
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- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.
-
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Better than print!
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Related to this topic
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On the Origin of Species
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This scientific writing, which was considered to be the groundwork of evolutionary biology, presented the theory that species developed over a line of originations through a method of natural selection. It imparted evidence that the variety of life resulted from a common descent via a branching model of evolution.
-
-
This is the 1859 British edition.
- By Barry L. Wolfe on 11-11-11
By: Charles Darwin
-
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the 19th century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do. The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection. Upon its publication, the book began to transform attitudes about society and religion.
-
-
For aficionados only.
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By: Charles Darwin
-
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- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
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-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
-
-
Challenging textbook more than an enjoyable listen
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-
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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-
-
Please do an unabridged version!
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By: Richard Dawkins
-
On the Origin of Species
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Bill DeWees
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This scientific writing, which was considered to be the groundwork of evolutionary biology, presented the theory that species developed over a line of originations through a method of natural selection. It imparted evidence that the variety of life resulted from a common descent via a branching model of evolution.
-
-
This is the 1859 British edition.
- By Barry L. Wolfe on 11-11-11
By: Charles Darwin
-
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the 19th century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do. The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection. Upon its publication, the book began to transform attitudes about society and religion.
-
-
For aficionados only.
- By Ary Shalizi on 01-11-12
By: Charles Darwin
-
The Blind Watchmaker
- Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
-
-
Challenging textbook more than an enjoyable listen
- By Eric on 01-15-12
By: Richard Dawkins
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
As great as everyone says it is
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By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
Paleontology
- A Brief History of Life
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ian Tattersall, a highly esteemed figure in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and paleontology, leads a fascinating tour of the history of life and the evolution of human beings. Starting at the very beginning, Tattersall examines patterns of change in the biosphere over time, and the correlations of biological events with physical changes in the Earth's environment.
-
-
great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
-
The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
-
-
Please do an unabridged version!
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By: Richard Dawkins
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Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special.
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Performance
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The Galapagos were once known to the sailors and pirates who encountered them as Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands, home to exotic creatures and dramatic volcanic scenery. In The Galapagos, science writer Henry Nicholls offers a lively natural and human history of the archipelago, charting its evolution from deserted wilderness to scientific resource (made famous by Charles Darwin) and global ecotourism hot spot.
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Thought-Provoking
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By: Henry Nicholls
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On Human Nature: Revised Edition
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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...
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Just in the last three years a flood of new scientific findings, driven by revelations discovered in the human genome, has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing mysteries about our most ancient ancestors, the people who first evolved in Africa and then went on to colonize the whole world. Nicholas Wade weaves this host of news-making findings together for the first time into an intriguing new history of the human story before the dawn of civilization.
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Amazing information
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Over the past 20 years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.
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NOT WORTH THE PRICE OF ADDMISSION
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Domesticated
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Without our domesticated plants and animals, human civilization as we know it would not exist. We would still be living at subsistence level as hunter-gatherers if not for domestication. It is no accident that the cradle of civilization - the Middle East - is where sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, and cats commenced their fatefully intimate associations with humans.
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Well, what did you expect?
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Spectacular fossil finds make today's headlines; new technology unlocks secrets of skeletons unearthed 100 years ago. Still, evolution is often poorly represented by the media and misunderstood by the public. A potent antidote to pseudoscience, Written in Stone is an engrossing history of evolutionary discovery for anyone who has marveled at the variety and richness of life.
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Very good but has some weaknesses
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Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason, or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world.
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We are for a short time.
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How to Clone a Mammoth
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Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? The science says yes. In How to Clone a Mammoth, Beth Shapiro, evolutionary biologist and pioneer in "ancient DNA" research, walks listeners through the astonishing and controversial process of de-extinction.
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Very Readable Take on a Complex Subject
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By: Beth Shapiro
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What listeners say about The Origin of Species
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- steve
- 04-04-11
Great concept
Darwin was a genius and the ideas in this book set the foundation to the evolution theory. Furthermore, there were some very interesting ideas present in this book, however, the overall subject matter was a little dry and too scientific, which made for a boring listen, tho that could be the fault of the not so good narrator.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Riley Burnham
- 04-21-23
surprisingly good; measured; practical
audiobook good enough 👍👍
this is thick material, actually, & was hard to retain much of the detail compared to the overall themes
Darwin here is discussing the ins outs ups & downs of evolution by natural selection, which is a hurdle or 💡 when classifying taxonomies
w/ proper classification comes more accurate predictions, & a "story" forms
this is to say, there were moments/points in the book where i diverged, such as his usage of "globe" when talking about Earth & his insistence on a Pangea-like continent
another so-so surpriser was the complete lack of dinosaurs in this work, as it was published before the dino craze went wild [see: invented by charlatans]
he explains how a given area on an island, for instance, will have significantly less diversity than an equal space on a continental area, which makes logical sense
he says that species drift is checked to a large extent by sterility & 'the struggle,' which eliminates the weak/ill-fitted in favor of the most adapted
i'm actually fresh enough on his content to try another book
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- billfish
- 06-10-10
I loved it
We've heard it's work of genius, and listening to it shows that that's true.
I really liked the narrator. He's British, the book is British, he obviously cared a lot about what he was doing and practiced before he recorded. Very clear, easy to understand, properly inflected.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gary Putinsky
- 03-26-10
Don't knock it till you have read it
A book of scientific observation and research, cannot understand all the fuss. I believe most who comdemn haven't read it.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Prometheus
- 10-03-23
Brilliant Writer
Darwin was a consummate writer and a brilliant thinker. He anticipated nearly all the modern objections to Darwinism, and what he did fail to address is largely due to his ignorance of the mechanisms of inheritance. Even then he still had many insights that apply equally well to modern population genetics. I never knew how truly necessary it is for anyone who discusses evolution to read Darwin!
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Overall
- Suzanne McGaugh
- 03-05-08
Case is tedious
I found this book very enlightening and fascinating. However, the narrator sounds pretenious and bored. He emphasis is odd and very hard to listen to. Try LibriVox.com for this title if you want a better reading of it.
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26 people found this helpful
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- Angela
- 05-10-07
Good if your interested in this type of stuff
Very scientific and hard to get through at points.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Hansi
- 06-03-12
In Defence of a Glorious Narrator
What made the experience of listening to The Origin of Species the most enjoyable?
While some of the other reviews show that the narrator is not universally popular, I could listen to David Case (aka Frederick Davidson) read the London phone book. Darwin's prose is notoriously dry, but read by this narrator listening to the Origin of Species is not only intellectually exciting but an aural delight.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tyler
- 04-02-12
Historically Significant
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species is a little bit outdated; however, it is historically significant in that it is the first work that coins the "theory of evolution".
Although it is not all accurate, it was a stunning piece of work for its time. Any serious Biology enthusiast should read this book, seeing as how all modern evolutionary science references it.
The audiobook is very long, a little dry, and I don't know what version it is either; suffering through the audiobook is better than reading the hard copy though. There is no way around it, push through it, and you'll be glad you did :)
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- Darwin8u
- 03-14-14
Evolve, ubi sunt canes!
It is amazing to think that this mild, scientific book published a little less than 155 years ago caused (and is still causing) such a complete storm. I'm surprised at how adapted we have become (or at least the segment of those people on the planet who don't reject Darwin's theory of natural selection as counter to their own idea of the way God makes and shakes) to Darwin's revolutionary idea(s).
Like with many of the pantheon of scientific geniuses (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, etc) there was a bit of luck involved. The ground was ready for Darwin's seed. There were enough scholars and scientists and rationalists around to carry his idea(s) hither and thither. So while the book, and Darwin himself, were both stellar examples of scientific restraint, the force of his book can't be under appreciated. It was just the right time and right place for a revolution. Darwin and his little book walked by a labour of scientific mouldywarps who happened to find themselves on the chalk cliffs of science, pushed those sterile hybrids off, and never looked back. Evolve, batches! (I couldn't keep the word I wanted because Audible has a problem with either female dogs or categorical imperatives).
The audio is just ok. David Case, RIP, did a fine job of narration. The audio quality of the digital book just wasn't great. It wasn't pulled from the original master, but from the audio tapes and that is obvious both in its low quality and those few occasions when the audiobook tells you it is time to flip the tape over. Ah, well, at least it didn't talk about rotary phones.
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11 people found this helpful