The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar
Evolution's Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life's Biggest Problems
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Todd Ross
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By:
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Matt Simon
About this listen
From the man behind the popular Wired series "Absurd Creature of the Week", a fun, fascinating collection of unique animals and the unbelievable evolutionary traits they use to survive the most extreme scenarios.
The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar is an absurdist, comical romp through evolution's weirdest solutions to - appropriately enough - the hazards that evolution itself produces. Each original entry talks about a creature and its amazing adaptation, using Matt Simon's signature blend of scientific accuracy and humor that has made his Wired column and accompanying web show so popular.
The creatures themselves are absolutely mind-blowing, with zombie ants mind-controlled by a fungus; beautiful salamanders that can regenerate any part of their bodies including their brains; the mantis shrimp, which fires its club-like appendage so fast that the surrounding water becomes as hot as the surface of the sun; the Antechinus, whose runaway testosterone levels cause them to have so much sex during their three-week mating session that they bleed internally, go blind, and drop dead; and many more.
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Story
Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.
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Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
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Sex in the Sea
- Our Intimate Connection with Kinky Crustaceans, Sex-Changing Fish, Romantic Lobsters and Other Salty Erotica of the Deep
- By: Marah J. Hardt
- Narrated by: Carla Mercer-Meyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Forget the Kama Sutra. When it comes to inventive sex acts, just look to the sea. There we find the elaborate mating rituals of armored lobsters; giant right whales engaging in a lively threesome while holding their breath; full-moon sex parties of groupers; and daily mating blitzes by blueheaded wrasse. Deep-sea squid perform inverted 69s while hermaphrodite sea slugs link up in giant sex loops.
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How to laugh while learning/ learn while laughing
- By Miamigrrl on 07-27-16
By: Marah J. Hardt
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What a Fish Knows
- The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins
- By: Jonathan Balcombe
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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An underwater exploration that overturns myths about fishes and reveals their complex lives, from tool use to social behavior. There are more than 30,000 species of fish - more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined. But for all their breathtaking diversity and beauty, we rarely consider how fish think, feel, and behave.
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Title misled me
- By Margaret Weidemann on 08-12-17
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Nature's Nether Regions
- What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves
- By: Menno Schithuizen
- Narrated by: Steven Menasche
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of evolution as you’ve never heard it before. What’s the easiest way to tell species apart? Check their genitals. Researching private parts was long considered taboo, but scientists are now beginning to understand that the wild diversity of sex organs across species can tell us a lot about evolution. Menno Schilthuizen invites listeners to join him as he uncovers the ways the shapes and functions of genitalia have been molded by complex Darwinian struggles.
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A New Favorite
- By S. Pepper on 05-15-15
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The Hidden Life of Trees
- What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.
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Tree Hugger
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-19
By: Peter Wohlleben
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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
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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.
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Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
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Feathers
- The Evolution of a Natural Miracle
- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
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Fantastic Science and Fun
- By Chris Reich on 12-28-14
By: Thor Hanson
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The Thing with Feathers
- The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human
- By: Noah Strycker
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Birds are highly intelligent animals, yet their intelligence is dramatically different from our own and has been little understood. As we learn more about the secrets of bird life, we are unlocking fascinating insights into memory, relationships, game theory, and the nature of intelligence itself. The Thing with Feathers explores the astonishing homing abilities of pigeons, the good deeds of fairy-wrens, the influential flocking abilities of starlings, the deft artistry of bowerbirds, the extraordinary memories of nutcrackers, and other mysteries.
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Interesting book, terrible reader
- By MGM123 on 03-16-18
By: Noah Strycker
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The Book of General Ignorance
- By: John Mitchinson, John Lloyd
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Abridged
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Misconceptions, misunderstandings, and flawed facts finally get the heave-ho in this humorous, downright humiliating book of reeducation based on the phenomenal British best seller. Challenging what most of us assume to be verifiable truths in areas like history, literature, science, nature, and more, The Book of General Ignorance is a witty “gotcha” compendium of how little we actually know about anything. It’ll have you scratching your head wondering why we even bother to go to school.
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Interesting.
- By A. Hawkbird on 12-07-08
By: John Mitchinson, and others
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The Most Perfect Thing
- By: Tim Birkhead
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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How are eggs of different shapes made, and why are they the shapes they are? When does the shell of an egg harden? Why do some eggs contain two yolks? How are the colours and patterns of eggshells created, and why do they vary? And which end of an egg is laid first - the blunt end or the pointy end?
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Great book about eggs!!
- By Timothy on 03-24-21
By: Tim Birkhead
What listeners say about The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- C Makoski
- 09-02-21
Hard to follow
Probably would've been better to read on Kindle. It was hard to follow the story. The author kept jumping backwards or maybe it was the narrator who wasn't being clear when one topic ended and another begn. The first 2/3 of the book is about weird sexual practices of animals and insects, I enjoyed the last portion of the book best. Overall it was an ok read, glad it wasn't longer.
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- coulter
- 11-17-17
Fun book
Great book. Lots of good info especially for someone just getting in to entomology. The guy makes lots of goofy jokes but it's bearable and some are actually funny.
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- B. B. Keay
- 03-01-21
Fascinating survey of evolutionary development
My main interest is in parasitic wasps, so I was bummed when most of the book was not about them. The book is very interesting nonetheless. The writing seems fragmented though. I thought the author was moving on time and time again only to double back on the same creature.
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- Maria M
- 02-11-19
Another word please
The author gives great information. However, if I hear the word 'laid' one more time in this book I think I will scream. The author's tone is too familiar.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Philomath
- 11-30-17
Very enjoyable and well written
Who ever said science is boring and too complicated should learn from this author.
Probably the most enjoyable book about evolution and biology I have listened to. What an amazing thing life is, and this book opens your eyes to the wonders around us. Don't be fooled, while it is perfect to engage a younger person with its wit and easy to understand conveyance, it is detailed enough even for those that like depth.
Highly recommended, especially for the young people that don't understand how a subject like this can be fascinating and enjoyable.
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- Mary
- 10-16-18
Marvelous
Absolutely as marvelous as the title. Great performance, exceptional writing and such deftly woven stories of the bizarre creatures that inhabit the earth.
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- tetrahymena
- 10-07-18
More than I expected!
I was expecting a book on parasites, but it turned out to be a book on adaptations. Really weird and creepy adaptations. The book is written so it could easily be read by a high-school student, but as an adult, I loved it too. Singing fish that keep the neighbourhood up at night, parasites that change behaviours of their victims, velvet worms that shoot goo from a firehose, hagfish that clog the gills of their enemies with slime, and tiger beetles that run faster than a human (inch for inch). This romp through animal adaptation is just plain fun.
Note: There are many references to animal sexuality within the book, so if you are a bit worried about weird sexual adaptations, I would recommend reading it before passing it onto anyone below the junior level. (E.g., males that turn into accessory organs in females, or who live inside the cloaca of their partner.) Nothing human, but lots of animal hanky-panky.
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1 person found this helpful