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Turning to Stone
- Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
- Narrated by: Rebecca Stern
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
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Publisher's summary
Earth is vibrantly alive and full of wisdom for those who learn to listen.
Earth has been reinventing itself for more than four billion years, keeping a record of its experiments in the form of rocks. Yet most of us live our lives on the planet with no idea of its extraordinary history, unable to interpret the language of the rocks that surround us. Geologist Marcia Bjornerud believes that our lives can be enriched by understanding our heritage on this old and creative planet.
Contrary to their reputation, rocks have eventful lives—and they intersect with our own in surprising ways. In Turning to Stone, Bjornerud reveals how rocks are the hidden infrastructure that keep the planet functioning, from sandstone aquifers purifying the water we drink to basalt formations slowly regulating global climate.
Bjornerud’s life as a geologist has coincided with an extraordinary period of discovery in the geosciences. From an insular girlhood in rural Wisconsin, she found her way to an unlikely career studying mountains in remote parts of the world and witnessed the emergence of a new understanding of the Earth as an animate system of rock, air, water and life. We are all, most fundamentally, Earthlings and we can find existential meaning and enduring wisdom in stone.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
Critic reviews
"Marcia Bjornerud masterfully weaves together the story of her own life and that of the Earth's long, often tumultuous history. “Turning to Stone” is a beautiful book—at once intimate and sweeping, informative and moving."—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky
“This lyrical, wise book will change your relationship to the living Earth. Marcia Bjornerud offers a nuanced celebration of the languages of stone, from the subtle whispers of sand grains to the delightfully complex inner lives of mountains disclosed by eroding outcrops. Her careful attention not only reveals unexpected stories of stone, but teaches us what it means to be boundlessly curious and caring about our world and one another.”—David George Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken
"Marcia Bjornerud has done it again! With flowing grace, technical mastery, and poetic insight, she takes us on a geological odyssey across the vastness of deep time and to the literal ends of the Earth. Turning to Stone interweaves the profound testimony of ancient rocks—granite, basalt, sandstone, and flint—with her inspiring personal journey from curious youth to avid student, from struggling junior faculty member to master field geologist and revered educator. In the process, we share in the eventful, poignant life journey of a gifted scientist who has gained the expertise and nurtured the passion to share astonishing stories of Earth in a unique and timeless book."—Robert Hazen, author of The Story of Earth
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Left Behind
- A New Economics for Neglected Places
- By: Paul Collier
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In Left Behind, Collier examines how the assumption that any impoverished area will find a way to progress through market forces has devastated nations all over the world. With keen insight, he draws lessons from such disparate fields as behavioral psychology, evolutionary biology, and moral philosophy to explain how we can adapt to the needs of individual economies in order to build a brighter and fairer global future.
By: Paul Collier
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Kent State
- An American Tragedy
- By: Brian VanDeMark
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, political fires that had been burning across America during the 1960s exploded. Antiwar protesters wearing bell-bottom jeans hurled taunts and rocks at another group of young Americans—National Guardsmen sporting gas masks and rifles. At half past noon, violence unfolded with chaotic speed, as guardsmen—many of whom had joined the Guard to escape the draft—opened fire on the students. Kent State meticulously re-creates the divided cultural landscape of America during the Vietnam War and popular anxieties around the country.
By: Brian VanDeMark
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Why Animals Talk
- The New Science of Animal Communication
- By: Arik Kershenbaum
- Narrated by: John Hastings
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Why Animals Talk is an exhilarating journey through the untamed world of animal communication. Following his international bestseller, The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, acclaimed zoologist Arik Kershenbaum draws on extensive original research to reveal how many of the animal kingdom’s most seemingly confusing or untranslatable signals are in fact logical and consistent—and not that different from our own.
By: Arik Kershenbaum
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The Wisdom of Sheep
- Observations from a Family Farm
- By: Rosamund Young
- Narrated by: Rosamund Young
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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We talk a lot about sheep: following the herd, counting sheep to fall asleep and looking out for wolves in sheep’s clothing. But, just like people, animals don’t always follow the pack. Some are affectionate while others butt heads; some follow the leader while some guide the whole flock home. With startling beauty and tenderness, Rosamund Young reveals the remarkable emotional and intellectual complexity of the animals she lives with on her family farm, and the story of her life’s work, with the intimacy of a personal diary.
By: Rosamund Young
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The Rent Collectors
- Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA
- By: Jesse Katz
- Narrated by: Jesse Katz
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Baby-faced teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA's most predatory gangs, the Columbia Lil Cycos—so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang's shakedown demands. But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead. The overlords who rule the Lil Cycos from a Supermax prison 1,000 miles away must be placated and Giovanni is lured across the border where, in turn, the gang botches his killing.
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Unflinching and even handed look at the LA justice system
- By guerillaw on 09-04-24
By: Jesse Katz
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Wonderful Life
- The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
- By: Stephen Jay Gould
- Narrated by: Jonathan Sleep
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale. It holds the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived—a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail. In this book, Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale tells us about evolution and the nature of history.
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Science made interesting
- By An Old Crow on 09-13-23