
The Secret Lives of Numbers
A Hidden History of Math’s Unsung Trailblazers
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
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Daphne Kouma
About this listen
A new history of mathematics focusing on the marginalized voices who propelled the discipline, spanning six continents and thousands of years of untold stories.
"A book to make you love math."—Financial Times
Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong—warped like the sixteenth-century map that enlarged Europe at the expense of Africa, Asia and the Americas. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, renowned math historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell make the case that the history of math is infinitely deeper, broader, and richer than the narrative we think we know.
Our story takes us from Hypatia, the first great female mathematician, whose ideas revolutionized geometry and who was killed for them—to Karen Uhlenbeck, the first woman to win the Abel Prize, “math’s Nobel.” Along the way we travel the globe to meet the brilliant Arabic scholars of the “House of Wisdom,” a math temple whose destruction in the Siege of Baghdad in the thirteenth century was a loss arguably on par with that of the Library of Alexandria; Madhava of Sangamagrama, the fourteenth-century Indian genius who uncovered the central tenets of calculus 300 years before Isaac Newton was born; and the Black mathematicians of the Civil Rights era, who played a significant role in dismantling early data-based methods of racial discrimination.
Covering thousands of years, six continents, and just about every mathematical discipline, The Secret Lives of Numbers is an immensely compelling narrative history.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2023 Tomoko Kitagawa (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Math-ish
- Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics
- By: Jo Boaler
- Narrated by: Jo Boaler
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mathematics is a fundamental part of life, yet every one of us has a unique relationship with learning and understanding the subject. Working with numbers may inspire confidence in our abilities or provoke anxiety and trepidation. Stanford researcher, mathematics education professor, and the leading expert on math learning Dr. Jo Boaler argues that our differences are the key to unlocking our greatest mathematics potential.
-
-
great book
- By Alena Vesela on 09-11-24
By: Jo Boaler
-
The Secret Life of the Universe
- An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
- By: Nathalie A. Cabrol
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living in a golden age in astronomy and in the search for life the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has shown that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life.
-
-
Omg insufferably boring cliches
- By John on 08-18-24
-
Inventology
- How We Dream Up Things That Change the World
- By: Pagan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A father cleans up after his toddler and imagines a cup that won't spill. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and has an idea. A doctor figures out how to deliver patients to the operating room before they die. By studying inventions like these—the sippy cup, the cell phone, and an ingenious hospital bed—we can learn how people imagine their way around "impossible" problems to discover groundbreaking answers. Pagan Kennedy reports on how these enduring methods can be adapted to the twenty-first century.
By: Pagan Kennedy
-
One Giant Leap
- The Untold Story of How We Flew to the Moon
- By: Charles Fishman
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission. It’s a story filled with surprises - from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today.
-
-
The Apollo Program in Historical Context
- By Nat on 06-19-19
By: Charles Fishman
-
The Math of Life and Death
- By: Kit Yates
- Narrated by: Kit Yates
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From birthdays to birth rates to how we perceive the passing of time, mathematical patterns shape our lives. But for those of us who left math behind in high school, the numbers and figures hurled at us as we go about our days can sometimes leave us scratching our heads, feeling as if we're fumbling through a mathematical minefield.
-
-
Good but More Statistics than Biology
- By Anonymous User on 02-08-20
By: Kit Yates
-
Thaddeus Stevens
- Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice
- By: Bruce Levine
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thaddeus Stevens was among the first to see the Civil War as an opportunity for a second American revolution - a chance to remake the country as a genuine multiracial democracy. As one of the foremost abolitionists in Congress in the years leading up to the war, he was a leader of the young Republican Party’s radical wing, fighting for anti-slavery and anti-racist policies long before party colleagues like Abraham Lincoln endorsed them. These policies - including welcoming black men into the Union’s armies - would prove crucial to the Union war effort.
-
-
Excellent bio of a political hero
- By Anonymous User on 03-11-21
By: Bruce Levine
-
Math-ish
- Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics
- By: Jo Boaler
- Narrated by: Jo Boaler
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mathematics is a fundamental part of life, yet every one of us has a unique relationship with learning and understanding the subject. Working with numbers may inspire confidence in our abilities or provoke anxiety and trepidation. Stanford researcher, mathematics education professor, and the leading expert on math learning Dr. Jo Boaler argues that our differences are the key to unlocking our greatest mathematics potential.
-
-
great book
- By Alena Vesela on 09-11-24
By: Jo Boaler
-
The Secret Life of the Universe
- An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
- By: Nathalie A. Cabrol
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living in a golden age in astronomy and in the search for life the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has shown that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life.
-
-
Omg insufferably boring cliches
- By John on 08-18-24
-
Inventology
- How We Dream Up Things That Change the World
- By: Pagan Kennedy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A father cleans up after his toddler and imagines a cup that won't spill. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and has an idea. A doctor figures out how to deliver patients to the operating room before they die. By studying inventions like these—the sippy cup, the cell phone, and an ingenious hospital bed—we can learn how people imagine their way around "impossible" problems to discover groundbreaking answers. Pagan Kennedy reports on how these enduring methods can be adapted to the twenty-first century.
By: Pagan Kennedy
-
One Giant Leap
- The Untold Story of How We Flew to the Moon
- By: Charles Fishman
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission. It’s a story filled with surprises - from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today.
-
-
The Apollo Program in Historical Context
- By Nat on 06-19-19
By: Charles Fishman
-
The Math of Life and Death
- By: Kit Yates
- Narrated by: Kit Yates
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From birthdays to birth rates to how we perceive the passing of time, mathematical patterns shape our lives. But for those of us who left math behind in high school, the numbers and figures hurled at us as we go about our days can sometimes leave us scratching our heads, feeling as if we're fumbling through a mathematical minefield.
-
-
Good but More Statistics than Biology
- By Anonymous User on 02-08-20
By: Kit Yates
-
Thaddeus Stevens
- Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice
- By: Bruce Levine
- Narrated by: Landon Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thaddeus Stevens was among the first to see the Civil War as an opportunity for a second American revolution - a chance to remake the country as a genuine multiracial democracy. As one of the foremost abolitionists in Congress in the years leading up to the war, he was a leader of the young Republican Party’s radical wing, fighting for anti-slavery and anti-racist policies long before party colleagues like Abraham Lincoln endorsed them. These policies - including welcoming black men into the Union’s armies - would prove crucial to the Union war effort.
-
-
Excellent bio of a political hero
- By Anonymous User on 03-11-21
By: Bruce Levine
-
Checkpoint Charlie
- The Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
- By: Iain MacGregor
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce Lockhart
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A powerful, fascinating, and groundbreaking history of Checkpoint Charlie, the famous military gate on the border of East and West Berlin where the US confronted the USSR during the Cold War.
-
-
Hard to follow
- By J.Brock on 03-07-21
By: Iain MacGregor
-
Sentient
- How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses
- By: Jackie Higgins
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a scientific revolution stirring in the field of human perception. Research has shown that the extraordinary sensory powers of our animal friends can help us better understand the same powers that lie dormant within us....
-
-
Well written, well researched, compellingly told
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-24
By: Jackie Higgins
-
Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party
- How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated storyteller and historian Edward Dolnick leads us through a compelling true adventure as the paleontologists of the first half of the 19th century puzzled their way through the fossil record to create the story of dinosaurs we know today. The tale begins with Mary Anning, a poor, uneducated woman who had a sixth sense for finding fossils buried deep inside cliffs; and moves to a brilliant, eccentric geologist named William Buckland.
-
-
Wonderful narration of an awesome history
- By BB on 09-26-24
By: Edward Dolnick
-
Money, Lies, and God
- Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
- By: Katherine Stewart
- Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down.
-
-
Powerful and Important work.
- By Frank Nance on 02-28-25
-
Einstein's Fridge
- How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
- By: Paul Sen
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Einstein’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American).
-
-
What is the real purpose of this book?
- By Bob on 07-02-22
By: Paul Sen
-
Quantum Physics for Beginners, Into the Light
- The 4 Bizarre Discoveries You Must Know to Master Quantum Mechanics Fast, Revealed Step-By-Step (In Plain English)
- By: John Stoddard
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this book, we will break through the confusion and reveal to you the most important ideas of quantum physics, told through the amazing true story of just four bizarre discoveries–many of which were made completely by accident!
-
-
The audio book even has a commercial in it...
- By AjM on 11-26-23
By: John Stoddard
-
Heaven's Command
- An Imperial Progress - Pax Britannica, Volume 1
- By: Jan Morris
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 20 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pax Britannica trilogy is Jan Morris’s epic story of the British Empire from the accession of Queen Victoria to the death of Winston Churchill. It is a towering achievement: informative, accessible, entertaining and written with all her usual bravura. Heaven’s Command, the first volume, takes us from the crowning of Queen Victoria in 1837 to the Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The story moves effortlessly across the world, from the English shores to Fiji, Zululand, the Canadian prairies and beyond.
-
-
Review for all three in the series
- By Cookie on 05-14-12
By: Jan Morris
-
Biomimicry
- Innovation Inspired by Nature
- By: Janine M. Benyus
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Biomimicry is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world. Janine Benyus takes listeners into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create by watching spiders weave fibers; and many more examples.
-
-
Dated but good
- By stephen taylor on 09-05-21
By: Janine M. Benyus
-
Before the Big Bang
- The Origin of Our Universe from the Multiverse
- By: Laura Mersini-Houghton
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What came before the Big Bang, and what exists outside of the universe it created? Until recently, scientists could only guess at what lay past the edge of space-time. However, as pioneering theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton explains, new scientific tools are now giving us the ability to peer beyond the limits of our universe and to test our theories about what is there. And what we are finding is upending everything we thought we knew about the cosmos and our place in it.
-
-
I tried, and learned nothing
- By Gary on 07-22-22
-
Alien Encounter
- A Scientific Novel (The Science and Fiction Series)
- By: Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Narrated by: Eddie Lopez
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It has been nearly 100 years since the Apollo moon landings, when Jack and Vladimir, two astronauts on a mission to Venus, discover a mysterious void related to indigenous life on the planet. Subsequently more voids are detected on Earth, Mars, Titan, and, quite ominously, inside a planetoid emerging from the Kuiper belt. Jack is sent to investigate the voids in the Solar System and intercept the planetoid - which, as becomes increasingly clear, is inhabited by alien life forms.
-
-
Focus on uninterested characters and badly written
- By Let's Be Reasonable on 03-25-25
-
The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger
- The Inside Story of California's First Drive-Through and How It Became a Beloved Cultural Icon
- By: Lynsi Snyder
- Narrated by: Amanda Sanfilippo, Lynsi Snyder, Tim Tremaine, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lynsi Snyder’s grandparents founded In-N-Out Burger in 1948, they built it with a passion for quality and service that Lynsi embraced at a young age. After starting as a store associate at age seventeen, she then worked in other departments, gaining firsthand experience with almost every aspect of the family business until she became president in 2010. She has led the company through explosive growth—today, there are three-hundred-ninety-two stores and counting—and is deeply committed to the well-being of the In-N-Out Burger family.
-
-
Great story about dedication and perseverance
- By Anthony Fasulo on 10-20-23
By: Lynsi Snyder
-
Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric
- By: Ward Farnsworth
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Masters of language can turn unassuming words into phrases that are beautiful, effective, and memorable. What are the secrets of this alchemy? Part of the answer lies in rhetorical figures: practical ways of applying great aesthetic principles to a simple sentence or paragraph. Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric recovers this knowledge for our times. It amounts to a tutorial on eloquence conducted by Churchill and Lincoln, Dickens and Melville, Burke and Paine, and more than a hundred others.
-
-
A little unwieldy for audio
- By Coral on 05-26-14
By: Ward Farnsworth
Related to this topic
-
My Big TOE: Awakening
- Book One of a Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics
- By: Thomas Campbell
- Narrated by: Thomas Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My Big TOE: Awakening, written by a nuclear physicist in the language of contemporary culture, unifies science and philosophy, physics and metaphysics, mind and matter, purpose and meaning, the normal and the paranormal. The entirety of human experience (mind, body, and spirit) including both our objective and subjective worlds is brought together under one seamless scientific understanding.
-
-
What a Trip (but to where?)
- By Michael on 11-26-13
By: Thomas Campbell
-
Brain Energy
- A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More
- By: Christopher M. Palmer MD
- Narrated by: Christopher M. Palmer MD
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are in the midst of a global mental health crisis, and mental illnesses are on the rise. But what causes mental illness? And why are mental health problems so hard to treat? Drawing on decades of research, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Chris Palmer outlines a revolutionary new understanding that for the first time unites our existing knowledge about mental illness within a single framework: mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain. Brain Energy will transform the field of mental health, and the lives of countless people around the world.
-
-
Arguing brain health theory to medical profession
- By Maya H Saric on 03-10-23
-
The Selfish Gene
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
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.
-
-
Better than print!
- By J. D. May on 07-31-12
By: Richard Dawkins
-
How the Earth Works
- By: Michael E. Wysession, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Michael E. Wysession
- Length: 24 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet - from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth.
-
-
Excellent course
- By Doug B. on 05-23-19
By: Michael E. Wysession, and others
-
Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
-
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
-
Chemistry and Our Universe
- How It All Works
- By: Ron B. Davis, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Ron B. Davis
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught through 60 engaging half-hour lectures that are suitable for any background or none at all. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University.
-
-
Great Professor, Hard to Follow.
- By Jen on 05-14-19
By: Ron B. Davis, and others
-
My Big TOE: Awakening
- Book One of a Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics
- By: Thomas Campbell
- Narrated by: Thomas Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My Big TOE: Awakening, written by a nuclear physicist in the language of contemporary culture, unifies science and philosophy, physics and metaphysics, mind and matter, purpose and meaning, the normal and the paranormal. The entirety of human experience (mind, body, and spirit) including both our objective and subjective worlds is brought together under one seamless scientific understanding.
-
-
What a Trip (but to where?)
- By Michael on 11-26-13
By: Thomas Campbell
-
Brain Energy
- A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More
- By: Christopher M. Palmer MD
- Narrated by: Christopher M. Palmer MD
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are in the midst of a global mental health crisis, and mental illnesses are on the rise. But what causes mental illness? And why are mental health problems so hard to treat? Drawing on decades of research, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Chris Palmer outlines a revolutionary new understanding that for the first time unites our existing knowledge about mental illness within a single framework: mental disorders are metabolic disorders of the brain. Brain Energy will transform the field of mental health, and the lives of countless people around the world.
-
-
Arguing brain health theory to medical profession
- By Maya H Saric on 03-10-23
-
The Selfish Gene
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
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.
-
-
Better than print!
- By J. D. May on 07-31-12
By: Richard Dawkins
-
How the Earth Works
- By: Michael E. Wysession, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Michael E. Wysession
- Length: 24 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How the Earth Works takes you on an astonishing journey through time and space. In 48 lectures, you will look at what went into making our planet - from the big bang, to the formation of the solar system, to the subsequent evolution of Earth.
-
-
Excellent course
- By Doug B. on 05-23-19
By: Michael E. Wysession, and others
-
Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
-
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
-
Chemistry and Our Universe
- How It All Works
- By: Ron B. Davis, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Ron B. Davis
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught through 60 engaging half-hour lectures that are suitable for any background or none at all. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University.
-
-
Great Professor, Hard to Follow.
- By Jen on 05-14-19
By: Ron B. Davis, and others
-
Letters from an Astrophysicist
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Vikas Adam, Piper Goodeve, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world’s largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe. Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by unveiling his candid correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers. In this hand-picked collection of 100 letters, Tyson draws upon cosmic perspectives to address a vast array of questions about science, faith, philosophy, life, and of course, Pluto.
-
-
Dear Neil...
- By Tina G. on 10-14-19
-
Inspired
- How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, Second Edition
- By: Marty Cagan
- Narrated by: Marty Cagan
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do today's most successful tech companies - Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla - design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently from the vast majority of tech companies. In Inspired, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides listeners with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love.
-
-
Great book, terrible audio wanted to ask a refund
- By Srikanth Ramanujam on 11-15-18
By: Marty Cagan
-
Welcome to the Universe
- An Astrophysical Tour
- By: Michael A. Strauss, J. Richard Gott, Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to the Universe is a personal guided tour of the cosmos by three of today's leading astrophysicists. Inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton, this book covers it all - from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel.
-
-
All About What We Know About the Universe - ALL
- By J.B. on 02-17-17
By: Michael A. Strauss, and others
-
Ranger Confidential
- Living, Working, and Dying in the National Parks
- By: Andrea Lankford
- Narrated by: Julia Motyka
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
-
-
Depressing from Cover to Cover
- By Drew (@drewsant) on 04-13-15
By: Andrea Lankford
-
The Quantum Universe
- (And Why Anything That Can Happen, Does)
- By: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw approach the world of quantum mechanics in the same way they did in Why Does E=mc2? and make fundamental scientific principles accessible - and fascinating - to everyone.The subatomic realm has a reputation for weirdness, spawning any number of profound misunderstandings, journeys into Eastern mysticism, and woolly pronouncements on the interconnectedness of all things. Cox and Forshaw's contention? There is no need for quantum mechanics to be viewed this way.
-
-
Not suitable as an audio book
- By SPN on 03-29-22
By: Brian Cox, and others
-
The Big Mysteries of Human Evolution
- By: Dr. Elen Feuerriegel, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Dr. Elen Feurriegel
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 10 riveting episodes, paleoanthropologist Elen Feuerriegel takes you on an unrivaled tour of the human fossil record in search of the biological and behavioral underpinnings of our very “humanness”.
-
-
Fascinating lecture
- By M Hester on 04-15-22
By: Dr. Elen Feuerriegel, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Secret Life of the Universe
- An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
- By: Nathalie A. Cabrol
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living in a golden age in astronomy and in the search for life the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has shown that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life.
-
-
Omg insufferably boring cliches
- By John on 08-18-24
-
The Day It Finally Happens
- Alien Contact, Dinosaur Parks, Immortal Humans - and Other Possible Phenomena
- By: Mike Pearl
- Narrated by: Mike Pearl
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a VICE magazine columnist, "a deeply entertaining - if occasionally horrifying" (Joshua Piven, coauthor of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook) look at how humanity is likely to weather such happenings as nuclear war, a global internet collapse, antibiotics shortages, and even immortality.
-
-
Fun read
- By Nick on 12-31-19
By: Mike Pearl
-
Leave It as It Is
- A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness
- By: David Gessner
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s pronouncement signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today. To reconnect with the American wilderness and with the president who courageously protected it, acclaimed nature writer and New York Times best-selling author David Gessner embarks on a great American road trip guided by Roosevelt’s crusading environmental legacy.
-
-
Ugh, Not at All What I'd Hoped For
- By Glenn R. Nelson on 11-20-21
By: David Gessner
-
Sentient
- How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses
- By: Jackie Higgins
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a scientific revolution stirring in the field of human perception. Research has shown that the extraordinary sensory powers of our animal friends can help us better understand the same powers that lie dormant within us....
-
-
Well written, well researched, compellingly told
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-24
By: Jackie Higgins
-
The Year 1000
- When Explorers Connected the World - and Globalization Began
- By: Valerie Hansen
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
People often believe that the years immediately prior to AD 1000 were, with just a few exceptions, lacking in any major cultural developments or geopolitical encounters, that the Europeans hadn’t yet reached North America, and that the farthest feat of sea travel was the Vikings’ invasion of Britain. But how, then, to explain the presence of blond-haired people in Maya temple murals at Chichén Itzá, Mexico? Could it be possible that the Vikings had found their way to the Americas during the height of the Maya empire?
-
-
Long on Speculation, Short on Evidence
- By Phyllis on 10-10-20
By: Valerie Hansen
-
Einstein's Fridge
- How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
- By: Paul Sen
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Einstein’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American).
-
-
What is the real purpose of this book?
- By Bob on 07-02-22
By: Paul Sen
-
The Secret Life of the Universe
- An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
- By: Nathalie A. Cabrol
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We are living in a golden age in astronomy and in the search for life the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has shown that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life.
-
-
Omg insufferably boring cliches
- By John on 08-18-24
-
The Day It Finally Happens
- Alien Contact, Dinosaur Parks, Immortal Humans - and Other Possible Phenomena
- By: Mike Pearl
- Narrated by: Mike Pearl
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a VICE magazine columnist, "a deeply entertaining - if occasionally horrifying" (Joshua Piven, coauthor of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook) look at how humanity is likely to weather such happenings as nuclear war, a global internet collapse, antibiotics shortages, and even immortality.
-
-
Fun read
- By Nick on 12-31-19
By: Mike Pearl
-
Leave It as It Is
- A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt's American Wilderness
- By: David Gessner
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Leave it as it is,” Theodore Roosevelt announced while viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time. “The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.” Roosevelt’s pronouncement signaled the beginning of an environmental fight that still wages today. To reconnect with the American wilderness and with the president who courageously protected it, acclaimed nature writer and New York Times best-selling author David Gessner embarks on a great American road trip guided by Roosevelt’s crusading environmental legacy.
-
-
Ugh, Not at All What I'd Hoped For
- By Glenn R. Nelson on 11-20-21
By: David Gessner
-
Sentient
- How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses
- By: Jackie Higgins
- Narrated by: Joan Walker
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a scientific revolution stirring in the field of human perception. Research has shown that the extraordinary sensory powers of our animal friends can help us better understand the same powers that lie dormant within us....
-
-
Well written, well researched, compellingly told
- By Amazon Customer on 09-14-24
By: Jackie Higgins
-
The Year 1000
- When Explorers Connected the World - and Globalization Began
- By: Valerie Hansen
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
People often believe that the years immediately prior to AD 1000 were, with just a few exceptions, lacking in any major cultural developments or geopolitical encounters, that the Europeans hadn’t yet reached North America, and that the farthest feat of sea travel was the Vikings’ invasion of Britain. But how, then, to explain the presence of blond-haired people in Maya temple murals at Chichén Itzá, Mexico? Could it be possible that the Vikings had found their way to the Americas during the height of the Maya empire?
-
-
Long on Speculation, Short on Evidence
- By Phyllis on 10-10-20
By: Valerie Hansen
-
Einstein's Fridge
- How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
- By: Paul Sen
- Narrated by: Malk Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Einstein’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American).
-
-
What is the real purpose of this book?
- By Bob on 07-02-22
By: Paul Sen
-
Walls
- A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick
- By: David Frye
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Frye as our raconteur-guide, we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed - to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone and with them effectively divide humanity: On one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves - rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America....
-
-
Great Narration, Ok History, Unwelcome Opinions
- By jack a on 02-17-25
By: David Frye
-
As We Speak
- How to Make Your Point and Have It Stick
- By: Peter Meyers, Shann Nix
- Narrated by: Peter Meyers
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A practical and empowering guide to public speaking and becoming a more effective, persuasive communicator in all areas of life. The world is full of brilliant people whose ideas are never heard. This book is designed to make sure that you’re not one of them.
-
-
Roadmap to finding your voice.
- By Claudia & Jason Ransom on 01-31-23
By: Peter Meyers, and others
-
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books
- Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library
- By: Edward Wilson-Lee
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books tells the story of the first and greatest visionary of the print age, a man who saw how the explosive expansion of knowledge and information generated by the advent of the printing press would entirely change the landscape of thought and society. He also happened to be Christopher Columbus’ illegitimate son.
-
-
Erudite. Stimulating. Rewarding.
- By R. P. RIBEYRE on 10-26-20
-
Fight of the Century
- Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
- By: Michael Chabon - editor, Ayelet Waldman - editor
- Narrated by: an all-star cast
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays about landmark cases in the organization’s 100-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in - Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona - need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Nancy B on 10-06-20
By: Michael Chabon - editor, and others
-
Finale
- Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim
- By: D.T. Max
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2017, New Yorker staff writer D.T. Max began working on a major profile of Stephen Sondheim that would be timed to the eventual premiere of a new musical Sondheim was writing. Sadly , that process – and the years of conversation – was cut short by Sondheim’s own hesitations, then the global pandemic, and finally by the great artist’s death in November 2021.
-
-
That's happily ever after, Ever, ever, ever after For now
- By JoeGato57 on 11-02-24
By: D.T. Max
-
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things
- Essays on Desire and Consumption
- By: Katy Kelleher
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris Review contributor Katy Kelleher explores our obsession with gorgeous things, unveiling the fraught histories of makeup, flowers, perfume, silk, and other beautiful objects. In these dazzling and deeply researched essays, Katy Kelleher blends science, history, and memoir to uncover the dark underbellies of our favorite goods.
-
-
Lovely work
- By Anonymous User on 06-25-23
By: Katy Kelleher
-
Master Mentors
- 30 Transformative Insights from Our Greatest Minds
- By: Scott Jeffrey Miller
- Narrated by: Scott Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mining the best and brightest revelations from Franklin Covey’s global podcast, On Leadership with Scott Miller, Scott personally introduces you to 30 Master Mentors, featuring the single most transformative insight from each of them.
-
-
Name dropping, shallow content, false humility
- By Sandy McPherson on 09-13-21
-
Chasing Chopin
- A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions
- By: Annik LaFarge
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this widely praised book, Annik LaFarge presents a very different Frédéric Chopin from the melancholy, sickly, Romantic figure that has predominated for so long. The artist she discovered is, instead, a purely independent - and endlessly relevant - spirit: an innovator who created a new musical language; an autodidact who became a spiritually generous, trailblazing teacher; a stalwart patriot during a time of revolution, pandemic, and exile.
-
-
I learned so much!
- By Tess369 on 02-18-21
By: Annik LaFarge
-
A Concise History of the United States of America
- By: Susan-Mary Grant
- Narrated by: Robert G. Slade
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born out of violence and the aspirations of its early settlers, the United States of America has become one of the world's most powerful nations. This audiobook begins in colonial America as the first Europeans arrived, lured by the promise of financial profit, driven by religious piety, and accompanied by diseases that would ravage the native populations. Woven through this richly crafted study of America's shifting social and political landscapes are the multiple perspectives of the nation's history, helping to define the United States at the dawn of a new century.
-
-
so much good info
- By tracy danziger on 07-05-19
By: Susan-Mary Grant
-
One Giant Leap
- The Untold Story of How We Flew to the Moon
- By: Charles Fishman
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission. It’s a story filled with surprises - from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today.
-
-
The Apollo Program in Historical Context
- By Nat on 06-19-19
By: Charles Fishman
-
The Explorers
- A New History of America in Ten Expeditions
- By: Amanda Bellows
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter, Leon Nixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The archetype of the American explorer, a rugged white man, has dominated our popular culture since the late eighteenth century, when Daniel Boone’s autobiography captivated readers with tales of treacherous journeys. But our commonly held ideas about American exploration do not tell the whole story—far from it. The Explorers rediscovers a diverse group of Americans who went to the western frontier and beyond, traversing the farthest reaches of the globe and even penetrating outer space in their endeavor to find the unknown.
-
-
Needs a different title
- By Madyson Chance on 07-06-24
By: Amanda Bellows
-
Blood Moon
- By: John Sedgwick
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blood Moon is the story of the century-long blood feud between two rival Cherokee chiefs from the early years of the United States through the infamous Trail of Tears and into the Civil War. While little remembered today, their mutual hatred shaped the tragic history of the tribe far more than anyone, even the reviled President Andrew Jackson, ever did.
-
-
The Real Story
- By CLS on 04-17-18
By: John Sedgwick