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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the 19th century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do.
The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection. Upon its publication, the book began to transform attitudes about society and religion and was soon used to justify the philosophies of communists, socialists, capitalists, and even Germany’s National Socialists. But the most quoted response came from Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin’s friend and also a renowned naturalist, who exclaimed, “How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!"
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The Beak of the Finch
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- By: Jonathan Weiner
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spend 20 years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos, studying natural selection. They recognize each individual bird on the island, when there are 400 at the time of the author's visit or when there are over a thousand. They have observed about 20 generations of finches - continuously.Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.
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Fascinating in-depth look at evolution in action
- By Philip on 05-15-11
By: Jonathan Weiner
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Masters of the Planet
- The Search for Our Human Origins
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special.
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Great Book, Some Sloppy Editing
- By DB on 11-23-20
By: Ian Tattersall
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Domesticated
- Evolution in a Man-Made World
- By: Richard C. Francis
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Without our domesticated plants and animals, human civilization as we know it would not exist. We would still be living at subsistence level as hunter-gatherers if not for domestication. It is no accident that the cradle of civilization - the Middle East - is where sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, and cats commenced their fatefully intimate associations with humans.
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Well, what did you expect?
- By Mark on 03-25-16
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The Voyage of the Beagle
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 25 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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I hate every wave of the ocean', the seasick Charles Darwin wrote to his family during his five-year voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle. It was this world-wide journey, however, that launched the scientists career.
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High Adventure - Well Written
- By wbiro on 09-16-17
By: Charles Darwin
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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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Before the Dawn
- Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
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Just in the last three years a flood of new scientific findings, driven by revelations discovered in the human genome, has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing mysteries about our most ancient ancestors, the people who first evolved in Africa and then went on to colonize the whole world. Nicholas Wade weaves this host of news-making findings together for the first time into an intriguing new history of the human story before the dawn of civilization.
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Amazing information
- By Albert on 06-15-07
By: Nicholas Wade
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Letters to a Young Scientist
- By: Edward O. Wilxon
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Edward O. Wilson has distilled sixty years of teaching into a book for students, young and old. Reflecting on his coming-of-age in the South as a Boy Scout and a lover of ants and butterflies, Wilson threads these twenty-one letters, each richly illustrated, with autobiographical anecdotes that illuminate his career - both his successes and his failures - and his motivations for becoming a biologist.
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Long on biography, short on advice
- By A. Mandelin on 08-02-18
By: Edward O. Wilxon
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First published in 1871, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex sees Darwin apply his evolutionary theory to the human race, controversially placing apes in our family tree. The book covers a range of adjacent themes, including differences between different peoples, the dominance of women in mate choice, and the relevance of evolutionary theory to general society.
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excellent reveal of Darwin's racism
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What listeners say about The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Alessandro
- 08-22-17
An excellent book of monumental importance.
Beautifully written and narrated. Darwin was so incredibly thorough and explained his work and ideas so clearly that it baffles me that there are still people that do not understand them. The narrator does an excellent job - it felt that Darwin himself was speaking to me. I highly recommend this book... it should be in every hotel and motel room draw.
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- Richard
- 12-26-11
Not exactly easy listening
I'm sure this historically groundbreaking work is essential listening for people studying the subject, but as an interested layperson I should have gone with a more recent work studying the work of Darwin and its impact on our understanding of evolution.
This work is quite a repetitive overview of his research which though interesting, was not exactly easy to listen to and I found my attention wandering during the narration.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Paula
- 11-04-18
Pleasant Listen
This book is charming, informative and historically formative. It's amazing how much Darwin understood about heredity without understanding DNA. I can understand how darker philosophies could be derived from his work and used to justify the destruction of Native American people, and the WW2 holocaust, but I'm not certain if Darwin intended this-he seems to be more science geeky than intentionally political or philosophical. I liked that he uses a Rogerian argument style rather than an atagonistic one.
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- MtsSea
- 10-25-18
Great book - boring delivery here
I should’ve sampled before buying because the narrator is perhaps the single most boring reader possible for this material - which makes listening difficult for an already difficult subject for 95% of listeners out there who might otherwise be interested.
Having read the book - and being adaptable - I knew much of the material already, but most readers likely do not have a scientific background, and are likely to be yawning very soon. I was, and Im a 25 yr biologist.
Audible is clearly just a vendor here, but consider checking your material first. This is great stuff and Darwin was way ahead of his time - but its made nearly unbearable by a narrator who brings no life to evolution and Darwin.
Yawn.
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- Heather
- 01-01-22
I loved the book
it was mostly information already known to me, but it was interesting to hear it from the perspective of first learning it. I absolutely love this author, his voice is perfect for reading books like this.
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- ghraspalt
- 05-07-23
It is Darwin presenting his most important work
I did not read the book, I listened to the Audible version which was well done. I am not sure I would have finished the book if I tried to read it. There was way too much taxonomy and I am a chemist not a biologist. Listening to the book and I did listen carefully, I was impressed at the detail Darwin put into this book. It is not surprising that it took until 1859 before he felt he had everything in order so that he could publish. It is probably a good think that Wallace prodded Darwin enough that he had the courage to publish which at the time would have been condemned by the bible thumpers in the US of today. I don't think we give Darwin enough credit for the courage it took to do the research needed to support his work on Natural Selection. I my opinion Darwin is one of the most important scientists in human history. The work of Newton, Galileo, Einstein, Rutherford would have been done by someone else. There were and are plenty of hard science types around who would have come up with the discoveries of the physicists and mathematicians. Darwin was looking backwards in time and then postulating how prehistoric creatures would change and then ultimately change the world. It is not everyday that an intellect comes along who can synthesize what is gleaned from the past and project the path the future will take.
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- DONA
- 11-25-19
YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED
YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED to hear what Darwin really did and did not say. Unless you are or were a biology major getting through the details of the species Darwin studied may be tedious for you as it was for me. Neither a scientist nor a lover of botanical studies I found myself -- after several hours of listening -- actually paying attention to the details and the interesting differences between "birds of a feather". Then much of what Darwin wrote about turned into fascinating facts about plants and animals that I never imagined to be fascinating at all. (I should spend a lot more time outdoors or at least looking at photos from people who love plants and animals enough to devote their lives to studying them.) But the best part was listening for the "heresies" that I was taught were promoted by Charles Darwin: they are not in this book. Neither was Darwin the "inventor" of the idea of evolution, nor the only person studying life and coming to similar conclusions. He was the first to publish and that made him a target for abuse. Thank God for audio books! This one gave me a chance to hear the truth and dispel those myths church and society taught me long ago. From here on in, anyone making negative comments about Darwin or evolution in my hearing is going to be confronted with a simple question: "Did you ever read The Origin of Species?" If not, don't talk to me about it until you have.
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- Kevin
- 07-24-14
A must read for anyone interested in lifes origins
Where does The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Near the top...probably in the top 5
Who was your favorite character and why?
Um, is this a trick question...there are no characters in On the Origin of Species, but many animals...I like birds I guess...
What does Robin Field bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He did alright.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I greatly enjoyed this book and wish I would've read it while in college.
Any additional comments?
After reading Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" I can see why its been noted as one of the most significant books ever written - especially when it comes to scientific literature and observation. I've come to realize that many of Darwin's ideas are over emphasized, underestimated, and way ahead of his time.
To my point on being over emphasized, I have heard many assumptions by many people that assume Darwin wrote this book in a way that pushed evolution to being the explanation for all of life's origins. Many of his ideas and observations are either taken out of context or argued in a way that makes it seem like Darwin had all the answers. If people who openly debated evolution actually read this work, they would come to understand that many of his ideas make perfect sense within the context of his observations. He also dedicates a full chapter to problems with his theory - many of which are some of the arguments still made today.
To my point on being underestimated, I think that when people have taken Darwin's ideas out of context they are missing a grander point in that natural selection is a means by which we can explain evolution and change through time. I think that many people also misunderstand Darwin's observations in that he was able to use empirical evidence to support his ideas, which can be easily overlooked by individuals that attack his theory as an "opinion" or theory without explanation.
To my point on Darwin being ahead of his time, I found it extremely interesting that he was able to make predictions about tectonic plates and the movement of the earth's continents that allowed for the geographical distribution of species 50-60 years before scientists began working off of the theory of plate tectonics. I think many of his other observations have since been confirmed regarding inheritance, now that we have the technology to craft phylogentic trees and such - even to the extent of using mitochondrial DNA and rRNA to track ancestry.
Altogether I found this book fascinating and look forward to reading it again. I'll also look forward to checking out his other writings at some point. Part of me wishes I would've read this book in college when I would've had more opportunities to explore his ideas as well as take advantage of professors that could have spoken at great lengths on the subject.
Pros: Truly a classic when it comes to scientific observations and how science should be performed.
Cons: The chapter on hybrids was a bit dry and hard to follow.
Bottom line: Excellent read for anyone interested in life's origins or how there is commonality among life forms.
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- Taylor Britton
- 11-11-19
cool book
cool book but i think this dude is a plagiarist.
everything down to addressing the steelman argument of skepticism around gradual evolution of complex structures like the eyes, i heard first from richard dawkins books
dawkins should sue.
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Story
- Amer
- 01-19-22
Struggled to finish
This is a classic, but not easy to finish. I am done with classics :)
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