Why Dinosaurs Matter
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Narrated by:
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Kenneth Lacovara
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By:
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Kenneth Lacovara
About this listen
World-renowned paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara reveals how understanding dinosaurs can help us better understand our own biology - and our future.
Dinosaurs captivate people. Men and women, young and old, have a deep fascination with the species that roamed Earth before us. In this audiobook, paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Lacovara takes listeners on a journey - back to when dinosaurs roamed the Earth - to reveal how dinosaurs achieved feats unparalleled by any other group of animals.
Lacovara shows why these sublimely adaptable, remarkable creatures deserve our awe and respect. Lacovara blends exploration in remote locations across the globe with the latest imaging and modeling techniques from engineering to medicine. This eye-opening look into the strange and calamitous event that wiped out the dinosaurs weaves together the story of their existence on Earth with our own. Why Dinosaurs Matter is compelling and engaging and a great reminder that our place on this planet is precarious and potentially fleeting. We must look to the past to protect our future.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2017 Kenneth Lacovara (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Fascinating survey of amazing biology
- By Nerd's-eye view on 12-06-19
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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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Ancient Bones
- Unearthing the Astonishing New Story of How We Became Human
- By: Madelaine Böhme
- Narrated by: Aimée Ayotte
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Africa has long been considered the cradle of life - where life and humans evolved - but somewhere west of Munich, Germany, paleoclimatologist and paleontologist Madelaine Böhme and her team make a discovery that is beyond anything they ever imagined: the 12-million-year-old bones of an ancient ape - Danuvius guggenmos - which makes headlines around the world and defies prevailing theories of human history and where human life began.
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Brave Attempt
- By Bill Treat on 10-15-22
By: Madelaine Böhme
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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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How to Build a Dinosaur
- Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever
- By: Jack Horner, James Gorman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In movies, in novels, in comic strips, and on television, we've all seen dinosaurs - or at least somebody's educated guess of what they would look like. But what if it were possible to build, or grow, a real dinosaur without finding ancient DNA? Jack Horner, the scientist who advised Steven Spielberg on the blockbuster film Jurassic Park and a pioneer in bringing paleontology into the 21st century, teams up with the editor of the New York Times's Science Times section to reveal exactly what's in store.
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Good book but misplaced title
- By Robert on 06-19-15
By: Jack Horner, and others
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When Humans Nearly Vanished
- The Catastrophic Explosion of the Toba Volcano
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Some 73,000 years ago, the Mount Toba supervolcano in toda's Indonesia erupted, releasing the energy of a million tons of explosives. So much ash and debris was injected into the stratosphere that it partially blocked the sun's radiation and caused global temperatures to drop for a decade. In this book, Donald R. Prothero presents the controversial argument that the Toba catastrophe nearly wiped out the human race, leaving only about a thousand to ten thousand breeding pairs of humans worldwide.
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A very special book
- By Scott Fitzsimmons on 02-02-19
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.
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The Only Book I reread imediatley after reading
- By Andrew on 11-09-09
By: Bill Bryson
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Born in Africa
- The Quest for the Origins of Human Life
- By: Martin Meredith
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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In Born in Africa, Martin Meredith follows the trail of discoveries about human origins made by scientists over the last hundred years, recounting their intense rivalry, personal feuds, and fierce controversies, as well as their feats of skill and endurance. The results have been momentous. Scientists have identified more than 20 species of extinct humans. They have firmly established Africa as the birthplace not only of humankind but also of modern humans.
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A Brief History of Paleoanthropology
- By Jeff Harris on 05-06-13
By: Martin Meredith
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First Peoples in a New World
- Colonizing Ice Age America
- By: David J. Meltzer
- Narrated by: Christopher Prince
- Length: 11 hrs
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More than 12,000 years ago, in one of the greatest triumphs of prehistory, humans colonized North America, a continent that was then truly a new world. Just when and how they did so has been one of the most perplexing and controversial questions in archaeology.
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Last Gasp of American Anthropological Orthodoxy
- By Thomas66 on 01-05-17
By: David J. Meltzer
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The Sediments of Time
- My Lifelong Search for the Past
- By: Meave Leakey, Samira Leakey
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Preeminent paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey brings us along on her remarkable journey to reveal the diversity of our early pre-human ancestors and how past climate change drove their evolution. She offers a fresh account of our past, as recent breakthroughs have allowed new analysis of her team’s fossil findings and vastly expanded our understanding of our ancestors. Meave’s own personal story is replete with drama, from thrilling discoveries on the shores of Lake Turkana to run-ins with armed herders and every manner of wildlife, to raising her children....
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Brilliant!
- By tess koffler on 04-07-21
By: Meave Leakey, and others
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The Horse
- The Epic History of Our Noble Companion
- By: Wendy Williams
- Narrated by: Angela Brazil
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Horses have a story to tell - one of resilience, sociability, and intelligence and of partnership with human beings. In The Horse, journalist and equestrienne Wendy Williams brings that story brilliantly to life. Williams chronicles the 56-million-year journey of horses as she visits with experts around the world, exploring what our biological affinities and differences can tell us about the bond between horses and humans and what our longtime companions might think and feel.
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Full of science.
- By Jennifer90046 on 02-07-17
By: Wendy Williams
What listeners say about Why Dinosaurs Matter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jesse Salmons
- 09-25-17
humbling, eloquent, and beautifully portrayed
The journey Dr. Lacovara paints is wonderful and drives to the heart of being precariously human. The story leaves you feeling humbled and awe inspired by our place in the cosmos. The ending was brilliantly put in, addressing the ever increasing issues of climate change.
Thank you for this excellent flashback to my undergrad days in your evolution/paleo courses at Drexel. - Jesse S.
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- Per Erlend Hasvold
- 06-18-19
Brilliant and important!
Inspired after watching the TED talk that summarizes the messages of this book, I was curious to hear the longer story and the details. The perspectives and the way the the story of life on earth is told is just brilliant and entertaining. The message is extremely important in a time where celebrities and stupidity seems to get more attention than facts and good narratives of those facts.
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- Keegan
- 11-06-17
Funny, witty and educational
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It started me off laughing and kept me entertained the entire time.
I’m a dinosaur fan so the subject matter was a perfect fit.
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- Sebastian
- 02-17-19
Of course dinosaurs mater
This book argues the strange case if dinosaurs maters or not. The first hour is fantastically boring. But it goes into the really interesting history of the discovery of the dinosaurs. That part was fascinating!
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- J. E. Gregory
- 03-21-18
Get to the Point
This book isn't a book for data about dinosaurs, it's more generalized. Throughout the book, the author builds up to a point in the last chapter. I'm giving it three stars for that build up. If you don't know much about dinosaurs and their generalized evolution, this is a book for you. Being a paleontology guru, I was underwhelmed. I agree with the author's conclusion about the importance of dinosaurs, and their significance as an example of terrestrial organisms, but I didn't want to have to get through the whole book to hear his conclusion on the topic. It's not a bad book, in fact it's a very good one with an interesting and convincing point of view, but my three stars are because I had to get to the last chapter for anything related to the title of this volume.
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