-
The Seashell on the Mountaintop
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.84
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
It was a puzzle that stymied history's greatest minds: Why were the fossils of seashells found far inland, sometimes high up into the mountains? Seventeenth century, scholars calculated the age of the earth to be only six thousand years - not enough time for the fossils to form.
The brilliant and enigmatic Nicholas Steno - the man whom Stephen Jay Gould called "the founder of geology" - explored beyond the pages of the Bible, to look directly at the clues left in the layers of the Earth. Steno challenged the religious and scientific thinking of his own time, and set the stage for the modern science that came after him. As the groundbreaking ideas gains acceptance, Steno entered the priesthood and rose to become a bishop, ultimately becoming venerated as a saint.
A thrilling scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop gives us new insight into our planet, revealing how we learned to read the story told to us by the Earth itself, written in rock and stone.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Language of God
- A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
- By: Francis S. Collins
- Narrated by: Francis S. Collins
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists, yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God and scripture. Dr. Collins has resolved the dilemma that haunts everyone who believes in God and respects science. Faith in God and faith in science can be harmonious, not separately but together, combined into one worldview. For Collins, science does not conflict with the Bible, science enhances it.
-
-
For those on the fence
- By Stephen on 10-07-06
-
Is Atheism Dead?
- By: Eric Metaxas
- Narrated by: Eric Metaxas
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is Atheism Dead? is an entertaining, impressively wide-ranging, and decidedly provocative answer to that famous 1966 Time cover that itself provocatively asked “Is God Dead?” In a voice that is by turns witty, muscular, and poetic, Metaxas intentionally echoes C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton in cheerfully and logically making his astonishing case, along the way presenting breathtaking - and often withering - new evidence and arguments against the idea of a Creatorless universe.
-
-
A fun but very frustrating listen
- By Chad on 11-01-21
By: Eric Metaxas
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Long Lost History
- By Than on 04-19-19
-
The Rise and Fall of Alexandria
- Birthplace of the Modern Mind
- By: Justin Pollard, Howard Reid
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Founded by Alexander the Great and built by self-styled Greek pharaohs, the city of Alexandria at its height dwarfed both Athens and Rome. It was the marvel of its age, legendary for its vast palaces, safe harbors, and magnificent lighthouse. But it was most famous for the astonishing intellectual efflorescence it fostered and the library it produced. If the European Renaissance was the "rebirth" of Western culture, then Alexandria, Egypt, was its birthplace.
-
-
A good listen
- By Jeffrey on 10-02-08
By: Justin Pollard, and others
-
Escaping from Eden
- Does Genesis Teach that the Human Race was Created by God or Engineered by ETs?
- By: Paul Wallis
- Narrated by: Paul Wallis
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Escaping from Eden will take you on a journey around the world and into the mythologies of ancient Sumeria, Mesoamerica, India, Africa, and Greece, to reveal a profound secret, hidden in plain sight in the text of the Bible.
-
-
Impressive and Mind-blowing
- By Jessica on 05-11-23
By: Paul Wallis
-
Science in the Soul
- Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward, Gillian Somerscales
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades Richard Dawkins has been the world's most brilliant scientific communicator, consistently illuminating the wonders of nature and attacking faulty logic. Science in the Soul brings together 42 essays, polemics, and paeans - culled from personal papers, newspapers, lectures, and online salons - all written with Dawkins' characteristic erudition, remorseless wit, and unjaded awe of the natural world.
-
-
Great writing; distracting reading
- By Chris DeMuth Jr on 08-09-17
By: Richard Dawkins
-
The Language of God
- A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
- By: Francis S. Collins
- Narrated by: Francis S. Collins
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists, yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God and scripture. Dr. Collins has resolved the dilemma that haunts everyone who believes in God and respects science. Faith in God and faith in science can be harmonious, not separately but together, combined into one worldview. For Collins, science does not conflict with the Bible, science enhances it.
-
-
For those on the fence
- By Stephen on 10-07-06
-
Is Atheism Dead?
- By: Eric Metaxas
- Narrated by: Eric Metaxas
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is Atheism Dead? is an entertaining, impressively wide-ranging, and decidedly provocative answer to that famous 1966 Time cover that itself provocatively asked “Is God Dead?” In a voice that is by turns witty, muscular, and poetic, Metaxas intentionally echoes C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton in cheerfully and logically making his astonishing case, along the way presenting breathtaking - and often withering - new evidence and arguments against the idea of a Creatorless universe.
-
-
A fun but very frustrating listen
- By Chad on 11-01-21
By: Eric Metaxas
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Long Lost History
- By Than on 04-19-19
-
The Rise and Fall of Alexandria
- Birthplace of the Modern Mind
- By: Justin Pollard, Howard Reid
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Founded by Alexander the Great and built by self-styled Greek pharaohs, the city of Alexandria at its height dwarfed both Athens and Rome. It was the marvel of its age, legendary for its vast palaces, safe harbors, and magnificent lighthouse. But it was most famous for the astonishing intellectual efflorescence it fostered and the library it produced. If the European Renaissance was the "rebirth" of Western culture, then Alexandria, Egypt, was its birthplace.
-
-
A good listen
- By Jeffrey on 10-02-08
By: Justin Pollard, and others
-
Escaping from Eden
- Does Genesis Teach that the Human Race was Created by God or Engineered by ETs?
- By: Paul Wallis
- Narrated by: Paul Wallis
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Escaping from Eden will take you on a journey around the world and into the mythologies of ancient Sumeria, Mesoamerica, India, Africa, and Greece, to reveal a profound secret, hidden in plain sight in the text of the Bible.
-
-
Impressive and Mind-blowing
- By Jessica on 05-11-23
By: Paul Wallis
-
Science in the Soul
- Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward, Gillian Somerscales
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades Richard Dawkins has been the world's most brilliant scientific communicator, consistently illuminating the wonders of nature and attacking faulty logic. Science in the Soul brings together 42 essays, polemics, and paeans - culled from personal papers, newspapers, lectures, and online salons - all written with Dawkins' characteristic erudition, remorseless wit, and unjaded awe of the natural world.
-
-
Great writing; distracting reading
- By Chris DeMuth Jr on 08-09-17
By: Richard Dawkins
-
Anaximander
- And the Birth of Science
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two millennia ago, the prescient insights of Anaximander paved the way for cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. His legacy includes the revolutionary ideas that the Earth floats in a void, that animals evolved, that the world can be understood in natural rather than supernatural terms, and that universal laws govern all phenomena. In this elegant work, the renowned theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander’s overlooked influence on modern science
-
-
Wide ranging case for a Critical Figure in the Evolution of Science
- By Tom on 03-20-23
By: Carlo Rovelli
-
The Gods Never Left Us
- By: Erich von Däniken
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gods Never Left Us contends that recent advancements in biotechnology, astrophysics, engineering, and artificial intelligence not only give us a fresh perspective on his ancient astronaut theory but actually validates it. We are - as a race - embarking on the exact same trajectory of our own interplanetary colonization, just as von Daniken suggested Earth itself was colonized. ETs are definitely at work today. And that affects all of us.
-
-
Same Information
- By Oba Kewsi on 06-05-19
-
The Map of Knowledge
- A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found
- By: Violet Moller
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed. Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean....
-
-
Terrible narration.
- By nathan535 on 11-05-19
By: Violet Moller
-
The Dream of Reason, New Edition
- A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
- By: Anthony Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Anthony Gottlieb
- Length: 19 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already a classic, this landmark study of early Western thought now appears in a new edition with expanded coverage of the Middle Ages. Author Anthony Gottlieb looks afresh at the writings of the great thinkers, questions much of conventional wisdom, and explains his findings with unbridled brilliance and clarity. From the pre-Socratic philosophers through the celebrated days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, up to Renaissance visionaries like Erasmus and Bacon, philosophy emerges here as a phenomenon unconfined by any one discipline.
-
-
Bias spoils the work.
- By MC on 08-21-20
By: Anthony Gottlieb
-
Aristotle in 90 Minutes
- By: Paul Strathern
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aristotle wrote on everything from the shape of seashells to sterility, from speculations on the nature of the soul to meteorology, poetry, art, and even the interpretation of dreams. Apart from mathematics, he transformed every field of knowledge that he touched. Above all, Aristotle is credited with the founding of logic. When he first divided human knowledge into separate categories, he enabled our understanding of the world to develop in a systematic fashion.
-
-
Misrepresentation of Aristotle
- By Jonathan Wells on 09-09-20
By: Paul Strathern
-
The Unidentified
- Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained
- By: Colin Dickey
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a world where rational, scientific explanations are more available than ever, belief in the unprovable and irrational - in fringe - is on the rise: from Atlantis to aliens, from Flat Earth to the Loch Ness monster, the list goes on. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures. Enter Colin Dickey, cultural historian and tour guide of the weird.
-
-
Skeptic's Analysis of Weird America
- By Adrian on 11-23-20
By: Colin Dickey
-
Immortality of the Gods
- Legends, Mysteries, and the Alien Connection to Eternal Life
- By: Nick Redfern
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each of us are alive for a very limited time. Or are we? What if we could live not just for a century, but for millennia? What if there were a way for us to never die? Is such a thing even remotely possible? It may not only be feasible; it may very well have been achieved in the distant past. Ancient aliens may well have uncovered the secrets behind slowing, and ultimately completely stopping, the aging process.
-
-
Great fun and very well read.
- By Daniel Pisegna on 06-04-17
By: Nick Redfern
-
Galileo Galilei
- A Captivating Guide to an Italian Astronomer, Physicist, and Engineer and His Impact on the History of Science
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Kevin Hung-Liang
- Length: 2 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Galileo Galilei’s contributions to modern science were so fundamental to a variety of fields that even though he died almost 400 years ago, his name retains international acclaim. This 17th-century natural philosopher is often credited with the invention of the telescope, thanks to his many discoveries using that specific instrument, and though he was not, in fact, its inventor, the myth still persists.
-
-
Supposed to be the Age of Common Sense
- By Dianne E Parks on 03-26-20
-
The Cave and the Light
- Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 25 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.
-
-
All of Western Philosphy Leads to Ayn Rand?!?
- By Leslie on 06-22-15
By: Arthur Herman
-
Slave Species of the Gods: The Secret History of the Anunnaki and Their Mission on Earth, 2nd Edition
- By: Michael Tellinger
- Narrated by: Micah Hanks
- Length: 21 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scholars have long believed that the first civilization on Earth emerged in Sumer some 6,000 years ago. However, as Michael Tellinger reveals, the Sumerians and Egyptians inherited their knowledge from an earlier civilization that lived at the southern tip of Africa and began with the arrival of the Anunnaki more than 200,000 years ago. Sent to Earth in search of life-saving gold, these ancient Anunnaki astronauts from the planet Nibiru created the first humans as a slave race to mine gold - thus beginning our global traditions of gold obsession, slavery, and god as dominating master.
-
-
Socialist Propaganda
- By Little Mermaid on 11-29-20
-
The Human Cosmos
- Civilization and the Stars
- By: Jo Marchant
- Narrated by: Jo Marchant
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence, but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are - our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost.
-
-
This book has changed the way I think about my own mortality!
- By Jerry on 02-04-21
By: Jo Marchant
-
Scientific Revolution
- A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period and the Life of Galileo Galilei
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Kevin Hung-Liang
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Scientific Revolution, then pay attention...Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: The Scientific Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period, Including Stories of Thinkers Such as Isaac Newton and René Descartes and Galileo Galilei: A Captivating Guide to an Italian Astronomer, Physicist, and Engineer and His Impact on the History of Science. So if you want to learn more about the Scientific Revolution and Galileo Galilei listen to this audiobook now!
-
-
great info, worst narratorever.
- By Pat Newell on 08-10-21
Critic reviews
"Cutler's animated and energetic prose provides a page-turning thriller of scientific discovery, and this splendid biography captures in intimate detail not only its subject but also the tenor of Steno's times." (Publishers Weekly)
"A sophisticated portrait of a forgotten pioneer." (Booklist)
Related to this topic
-
The Discoverers
- A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself
- By: Daniel J. Boorstin
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why didn't the Chinese discover America? Why were people so slow to learn the earth goes around the sun? How and why did we begin to think of "species" of plants and animals? How, when, and why did people begin digging in the earth to learn about the past? How did the study of economics begin? These are but a few of the fascinating questions answered by Dr. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress Emeritus.
-
-
One of my Top 10 Fav. Books!
- By shannonnn on 05-09-05
-
The Scientific Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period, Including Stories of Thinkers Such as Isaac Newton and René Descartes
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Kevin Hung-Liang
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ancient cultures have been looking up at the stars for thousands of years, wondering about their place in the universe. What were those glowing spots in the black cover of night? Just how far away was the moon? These and other questions hounded humanity through the millennia until, finally, relative economic stability allowed for a number of people to examine their world more closely. Slowly, knowledge and understanding accumulated generation by generation until the conditions were ideal enough for a revolution to occur in thinking, experimentation, worldview, and natural philosophy.
-
-
Dull and superficial
- By Leonardo Fagundes Fernandino on 12-05-19
-
Scientific Revolution
- A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period and the Life of Galileo Galilei
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Kevin Hung-Liang
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Scientific Revolution, then pay attention...Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: The Scientific Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period, Including Stories of Thinkers Such as Isaac Newton and René Descartes and Galileo Galilei: A Captivating Guide to an Italian Astronomer, Physicist, and Engineer and His Impact on the History of Science. So if you want to learn more about the Scientific Revolution and Galileo Galilei listen to this audiobook now!
-
-
great info, worst narratorever.
- By Pat Newell on 08-10-21
-
Descartes' Bones
- A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a brutal winter's day in 1650 in Stockholm, Frenchman Rene Descartes, the most influential and controversial thinker of his time, was buried after a cold and lonely deathfar from home. Sixteen years later, the pious French Ambassador Hugues de Terlon secretly unearthed Descartes' bones and transported them to France. Why would this devoutly Catholic official care so much about the remains of a philosopher who washounded from country after country on charges of atheism?
-
-
Philosophy of Modernity
- By Roger on 06-17-09
By: Russell Shorto
-
The Human Cosmos
- Civilization and the Stars
- By: Jo Marchant
- Narrated by: Jo Marchant
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence, but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are - our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost.
-
-
This book has changed the way I think about my own mortality!
- By Jerry on 02-04-21
By: Jo Marchant
-
The Upright Thinkers
- The Human Journey From Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos
- By: Leonard Mlodinow
- Narrated by: Leonard Mlodinow
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating and illuminating work, Leonard Mlodinow guides us through the critical eras and events in the development of science, all of which, he demonstrates, were propelled forward by humankind's collective struggle to know. From the birth of reasoning and culture to the formation of the studies of physics, chemistry, biology, and modern-day quantum physics, we come to see that much of our progress can be attributed to simple questions - why? how? - bravely asked.
-
-
10/10 Got What I Wanted.
- By Austin on 09-22-15
By: Leonard Mlodinow
-
The Discoverers
- A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself
- By: Daniel J. Boorstin
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why didn't the Chinese discover America? Why were people so slow to learn the earth goes around the sun? How and why did we begin to think of "species" of plants and animals? How, when, and why did people begin digging in the earth to learn about the past? How did the study of economics begin? These are but a few of the fascinating questions answered by Dr. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress Emeritus.
-
-
One of my Top 10 Fav. Books!
- By shannonnn on 05-09-05
-
The Scientific Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period, Including Stories of Thinkers Such as Isaac Newton and René Descartes
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Kevin Hung-Liang
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ancient cultures have been looking up at the stars for thousands of years, wondering about their place in the universe. What were those glowing spots in the black cover of night? Just how far away was the moon? These and other questions hounded humanity through the millennia until, finally, relative economic stability allowed for a number of people to examine their world more closely. Slowly, knowledge and understanding accumulated generation by generation until the conditions were ideal enough for a revolution to occur in thinking, experimentation, worldview, and natural philosophy.
-
-
Dull and superficial
- By Leonardo Fagundes Fernandino on 12-05-19
-
Scientific Revolution
- A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period and the Life of Galileo Galilei
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Kevin Hung-Liang
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Scientific Revolution, then pay attention...Two captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: The Scientific Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the Emergence of Modern Science During the Early Modern Period, Including Stories of Thinkers Such as Isaac Newton and René Descartes and Galileo Galilei: A Captivating Guide to an Italian Astronomer, Physicist, and Engineer and His Impact on the History of Science. So if you want to learn more about the Scientific Revolution and Galileo Galilei listen to this audiobook now!
-
-
great info, worst narratorever.
- By Pat Newell on 08-10-21
-
Descartes' Bones
- A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a brutal winter's day in 1650 in Stockholm, Frenchman Rene Descartes, the most influential and controversial thinker of his time, was buried after a cold and lonely deathfar from home. Sixteen years later, the pious French Ambassador Hugues de Terlon secretly unearthed Descartes' bones and transported them to France. Why would this devoutly Catholic official care so much about the remains of a philosopher who washounded from country after country on charges of atheism?
-
-
Philosophy of Modernity
- By Roger on 06-17-09
By: Russell Shorto
-
The Human Cosmos
- Civilization and the Stars
- By: Jo Marchant
- Narrated by: Jo Marchant
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence, but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are - our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost.
-
-
This book has changed the way I think about my own mortality!
- By Jerry on 02-04-21
By: Jo Marchant
-
The Upright Thinkers
- The Human Journey From Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos
- By: Leonard Mlodinow
- Narrated by: Leonard Mlodinow
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating and illuminating work, Leonard Mlodinow guides us through the critical eras and events in the development of science, all of which, he demonstrates, were propelled forward by humankind's collective struggle to know. From the birth of reasoning and culture to the formation of the studies of physics, chemistry, biology, and modern-day quantum physics, we come to see that much of our progress can be attributed to simple questions - why? how? - bravely asked.
-
-
10/10 Got What I Wanted.
- By Austin on 09-22-15
By: Leonard Mlodinow
-
Galileo
- And the Science Deniers
- By: Mario Livio
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Astrophysicist and best-selling author Mario Livio draws on his own scientific expertise to provide captivating insights into how Galileo reached his bold new conclusions about the cosmos and the laws of nature. A freethinker who followed the evidence wherever it led him, Galileo was one of the most significant figures behind the scientific revolution. He believed that every educated person should know science as well as literature, and insisted on reaching the widest audience possible, publishing his books in Italian rather than Latin.
-
-
Galileo through the mind of Mario Livio
- By Rick B on 06-09-20
By: Mario Livio
-
The Story of Western Science
- From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory
- By: Susan Wise Bauer
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Far too often, public discussion of science is carried out by journalists, voters, and politicians who have received their science secondhand. The Story of Western Science shows us the joy and importance of reading groundbreaking science writing for ourselves and guides us back to the masterpieces that have changed the way we think about our world, our cosmos, and ourselves.
-
-
Good text, tedious book structure
- By Diane K. on 10-07-15
By: Susan Wise Bauer
-
Anaximander
- And the Birth of Science
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two millennia ago, the prescient insights of Anaximander paved the way for cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. His legacy includes the revolutionary ideas that the Earth floats in a void, that animals evolved, that the world can be understood in natural rather than supernatural terms, and that universal laws govern all phenomena. In this elegant work, the renowned theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander’s overlooked influence on modern science
-
-
Wide ranging case for a Critical Figure in the Evolution of Science
- By Tom on 03-20-23
By: Carlo Rovelli
-
The House of Wisdom
- How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance
- By: Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Arabic legacy of science and philosophy has long been hidden from the West. British-Iraqi physicist Jim Al-Khalili unveils that legacy to fascinating effect by returning to its roots in the hubs of Arab innovation that would advance science and jump-start the European Renaissance.
-
-
Very interesting book, well-narrated for sure
- By Roderic Rinehart on 11-07-20
By: Jim Al-Khalili
-
Twilight of the Gods
- The Mayan Calendar and the Return of the Extraterrestrials
- By: Erich von Däniken
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Something here really stinks to high heaven," writes Erich von Däniken. "In Twilight of the Gods," says von Däniken, "I document precisely what it was that left the first visitors breathless as they stood before the mighty stone blocks some 400 years ago. I will show you what archeologists discovered hundreds of years ago and demonstrate how much has been destroyed over the centuries. Intentionally.
-
-
So very logical it makes me shiver!
- By Chuck on 06-10-11
-
Isaac Newton
- By: James Gleick
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Gleick has long been fascinated by the making of science: how ideas order visible appearances, how equations can give meaning to molecular and stellar phenomena, how theories can transform what we see. In Chaos, he chronicled the emergence of a new way of looking at dynamic systems; in Genius, he portrayed the wondrous dimensions of Richard Feymnan's mind.
-
-
BRUTAL
- By Andrew on 05-25-05
By: James Gleick
-
The Genesis of Science
- How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution
- By: James Hannam
- Narrated by: Rich Germaine
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you were taught that the Middle Ages were a time of intellectual stagnation, superstition, and ignorance, you were taught a myth that has been utterly refuted by modern scholarship. As a physicist and historian of science James Hannam shows in his brilliant new book, The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution, without the scholarship of the "barbaric" Middle Ages, modern science simply would not exist. The Middle Ages were a time of one intellectual triumph after another.
-
-
Insightful!
- By John on 07-07-15
By: James Hannam
-
Chariots of the Gods
- By: Erich von Däniken
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Erich von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods is a work of monumental importance---the first book to introduce the shocking theory that ancient Earth was visited by aliens. This world-famous best seller has withstood the test of time, inspiring countless books and films, including the author's own popular sequel, The Eye of the Sphinx.
-
-
Answers? No. But if you wish to think it's great!
- By Neal on 09-10-12
-
The Anunnaki Connection
- Sumerian Gods, Alien DNA, and the Fate of Humanity
- By: Heather Lynn PhD
- Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Anunnaki Connection, Heather Lynn connects a diverse range of new and existing theories about the Anunnaki, offering a definitive guide to Mesopotamian gods while exploring what role they might have played in engineering mankind. The Anunnaki Connection traces the evolution of gods throughout the Ancient Near East, analyzing the religion, myth, art, and symbolism of the Sumerians, investigating: Who are the Anunnaki?
-
-
meh
- By Marco on 05-27-20
By: Heather Lynn PhD
-
The House of Wisdom
- How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
- By: Jonathan Lyons
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the remarkable story of how medieval Arab scholars made dazzling advances in science and philosophy, and of the itinerant Europeans who brought this knowledge back to the West. For centuries following the fall of Rome, Western Europe was a benighted backwater, a world of subsistence farming, minimal literacy, and violent conflict. Meanwhile, Arab culture was thriving, dazzling those Europeans fortunate enough to catch even a glimpse.
-
-
Missing history
- By Robert on 11-26-11
By: Jonathan Lyons
-
The Cave and the Light
- Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 25 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.
-
-
All of Western Philosphy Leads to Ayn Rand?!?
- By Leslie on 06-22-15
By: Arthur Herman
-
The Invention of Science
- A New History of the Scientific Revolution
- By: David Wootton
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 22 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating history spanning continents and centuries, historian David Wootton offers a lively defense of science, revealing why the Scientific Revolution was truly the greatest event in our history. The Invention of Science goes back 500 years in time to chronicle this crucial transformation, exploring the factors that led to its birth and the people who made it happen. Wootton argues that the Scientific Revolution was actually five separate yet concurrent events that developed independently.
-
-
A Good Read Spoiled
- By David A. Donnelly on 12-23-16
By: David Wootton
What listeners say about The Seashell on the Mountaintop
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Vanessa
- 10-22-03
Not to be missed
I was completely facinated by this book. This should be required reading for anyone with a background or interest in geology. Steno's principles, set down in the late 1600's are still in use by geologists today. This book was, quite simply one of the best audio books I have heard. Don't miss this one!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Rick
- 02-11-05
A biography of the end of ignorance
This is wonderful book that begins as a biography of a particular 17th century scientist and scholar (Nicolai Stenno) but, in reality, becomes an biography of how inquisitive scholarship, at the right time in history, can expand our knowledge of the world by challenging the paradigms that hold scientific understanding in check. This is a great account of how the exploration of a simple curiosity challenged the fundamental biblical and "scholarly" interpretation of the creation and formation of natural world. If you interpret biblical stories such as Noah's Flood or the Creation story as fundamentally true - which must serve as the basis for all scientific examination - you may find this book troublesome.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JohninMaine
- 11-17-12
A well told story of an unusual scientist
An interesting and rewarding exploration of Nicholas Steno, his love of knowledge and science, and the life he lived in that era. It's also interesting to see how the crowd of "knowledgeable people" can sometimes be quite blind and quite wrong. Well written by Alan Cutler and easy to follow. Grover Gardner does well. I enjoyed it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elsa Braun
- 02-15-16
Great interlacing of faith and science
An unusual catholic Saint. An accomplished scientist. Great research untangle the origins of geology and give credit where credit is due. I'm going to buy a paper copy of the book for my library. The narrator was one of my favorites.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JR6934
- 11-26-20
Entertaining and enlightening
I enjoyed learning about Mr Steno and Grover Gardner is the most listenable voice ever
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- reggie p
- 04-12-04
genesis of geology
This is a well written history of the genesis of geology. Geologist types will especially enjoy it but the style is such that everyone will be able to follow the story. I found the discussion of previous centuries' thought patterns and beliefs particulary interesting. Things that we now think are common sense weren't so obvious years ago. It makes you wonder what beliefs we are still holding on to that are getting in the way of progress.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jorge Barrera
- 01-03-24
Crazy what every thoughts
Very insightful, even the most important men in science had awfully bad ideas of nature and scripture, from Newton to Jeferson. That fact we eventually sort things out is amazing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- StephanieP
- 05-06-04
Best as a cure for insomnia
This is an incredibly boring book. Both the text and the narrator are dry as dirt. I tried listening to it and was only able to last 15 minutes. It would be good as a sleep aid.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful