The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023
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
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023
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
About this listen
Award-winning writer, columnist, and journalists Carl Zimmer selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022.
“What's most compelling about a scientific story is the way it challenges us to think about the concepts we take for granted,” writes guest editor Carl Zimmer in his introduction. The essays in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us. From a hopeful portrait of a future for people with Alzheimer’s disease, to a fascinating exploration of the rise of nearsightedness in children, to the heroic story of a herd of cows that evaded a hurricane, these selections reveal how science and nature shape our everyday lives. With tremendous intelligence, clarity, and insight, this anthology offers an expansive look at where we are and where we are headed.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023 includes JESSICA CAMILLE AGUIRRE • VANESSA GREGORY • SABRINA IMBLER FERRIS JABR • MARION RENAULT • ELIZABETH SVOBODA NATALIE WOLCHOVER • SARAH ZHANG and others
©2023 Carl Zimmer and Jaime Green (P)2023 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Eve
- How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
- By: Cat Bohannon
- Narrated by: Cat Bohannon
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 533
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 485
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 485
Why do women live longer than men? Why do women have menopause? Why are women more likely to get Alzheimer’s? Why do girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet? And does the female brain really exist? In Eve, Cat Bohannon answers questions scientists should have been addressing for decades. With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, she covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Stronger on reproductive bio, flimsy on sexuality
- By hotlanta on 12-20-23
By: Cat Bohannon
-
The Best American Essays 2023
- Best American
- By: Vivian Gornick, Robert Atwan
- Narrated by: Will Tulin, Marie Hoffman, Elena Rey, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honorable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and populist censorship movements, the twenty-one essays collected here reflect their authors’ unapologetic observations of the world around them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved It
- By Marcel on 10-24-23
By: Vivian Gornick, and others
-
Life's Edge
- The Search for What It Means to Be Alive
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 359
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 293
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What is Life?
- By Shane S Shull on 04-29-21
By: Carl Zimmer
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8,051
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 7,028
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7,021
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey
- By: Homer, W. H. D. Rouse - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,019
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,731
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,724
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world’s greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Oddball Translation
- By Joel Jenkins on 05-11-17
By: Homer, and others
-
Determined
- A Science of Life Without Free Will
- By: Robert M. Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 711
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 711
Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Abridged - no Appendix!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-02-23
-
Eve
- How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
- By: Cat Bohannon
- Narrated by: Cat Bohannon
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 533
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 485
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 485
Why do women live longer than men? Why do women have menopause? Why are women more likely to get Alzheimer’s? Why do girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet? And does the female brain really exist? In Eve, Cat Bohannon answers questions scientists should have been addressing for decades. With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, she covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Stronger on reproductive bio, flimsy on sexuality
- By hotlanta on 12-20-23
By: Cat Bohannon
-
The Best American Essays 2023
- Best American
- By: Vivian Gornick, Robert Atwan
- Narrated by: Will Tulin, Marie Hoffman, Elena Rey, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honorable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and populist censorship movements, the twenty-one essays collected here reflect their authors’ unapologetic observations of the world around them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved It
- By Marcel on 10-24-23
By: Vivian Gornick, and others
-
Life's Edge
- The Search for What It Means to Be Alive
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 359
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 293
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What is Life?
- By Shane S Shull on 04-29-21
By: Carl Zimmer
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8,051
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 7,028
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7,021
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey
- By: Homer, W. H. D. Rouse - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,019
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,731
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,724
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world’s greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Oddball Translation
- By Joel Jenkins on 05-11-17
By: Homer, and others
-
Determined
- A Science of Life Without Free Will
- By: Robert M. Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 789
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 711
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 711
Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Abridged - no Appendix!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-02-23
-
The Maniac
- By: Benjamin Labatut
- Narrated by: Gergo Danka, Eva Magyar
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 245
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 205
Benjamín Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World electrified a global readership. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist, and one of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the Year, it explored the life and thought of a clutch of mathematicians and physicists who took science to strange and sometimes dangerous new realms. In The MANIAC, Labatut has created a tour de force on an even grander scale.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gergo Danka and Eva Magyar are excellent narrators
- By Barbara S on 11-04-23
By: Benjamin Labatut
-
The Rigor of Angels
- Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality
- By: William Egginton
- Narrated by: David Glass
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 106
Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges was madly in love when his life was shattered by painful heartbreak. But the breakdown that followed illuminated an incontrovertible truth—that love is necessarily imbued with loss, that the one doesn’t exist without the other. German physicist Werner Heisenberg was fighting with the scientific establishment on the meaning of the quantum realm’s absurdity when he had his own epiphany—that there is no such thing as a complete, perfect description of reality.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The most ridiculous narration
- By Anonymous User on 03-07-24
By: William Egginton
-
I Contain Multitudes
- The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
- By: Ed Yong
- Narrated by: Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,836
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,310
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,292
Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin - a "microbe's-eye view" of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on Earth.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Undoes what you've learned from the headlines
- By Tristan on 10-14-16
By: Ed Yong
-
How to Change Your Mind
- What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 21,454
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 18,651
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 18,501
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction, and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A delightful trip
- By Paul E. Williams on 05-19-18
By: Michael Pollan
-
Entangled Life
- How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
- By: Merlin Sheldrake
- Narrated by: Merlin Sheldrake
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,011
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,404
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,396
When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Mycology for Everyone
- By Cephalopods Revenge on 05-12-20
By: Merlin Sheldrake
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 520
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 412
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 408
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great Professor, Hard to Follow.
- By Jen on 05-14-19
By: Ron B. Davis, and others
-
Anaximander
- And the Birth of Science
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Over two millennia ago, the prescient insights of Anaximander paved the way for cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. His legacy includes the revolutionary ideas that the Earth floats in a void, that animals evolved, that the world can be understood in natural rather than supernatural terms, and that universal laws govern all phenomena. In this elegant work, the renowned theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander’s overlooked influence on modern science
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Father of Science
- By Darwin8u on 10-31-24
By: Carlo Rovelli
-
Once upon a Prime
- The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature
- By: Sarah Hart
- Narrated by: Sarah Hart
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 18
We often think of mathematics and literature as polar opposites. But what if, instead, they were fundamentally linked? In her clear, insightful, laugh-out-loud funny debut, Once Upon a Prime, Professor Sarah Hart shows us the myriad connections between math and literature, and how understanding those connections can enhance our enjoyment of both. As the first woman to hold England’s oldest mathematical chair, Professor Hart is the ideal tour guide, taking us on an unforgettable journey through the books we thought we knew, revealing new layers of beauty and wonder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Infinite Review
- By LCorSMT on 04-26-23
By: Sarah Hart
-
Interstellar
- The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars
- By: Avi Loeb
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 40
In the New York Times bestseller Extraterrestrial, Avi Loeb, the longest serving Chair of Harvard’s Astronomy Department, presented a theory that shook the scientific community: our solar system, Loeb claimed, had likely been visited by a piece of advanced alien technology from a distant star. This provocative and persuasive argument opened millions of minds internationally to the vast possibilities of our universe and the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Postcolonial intersectional astrophysics
- By Amazon Customer on 09-02-23
By: Avi Loeb
-
The Heat Will Kill You First
- Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
- By: Jeff Goodell
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 255
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 213
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 213
The world is waking up to a new reality: wildfires are now seasonal in California, the Northeast is getting less and less snow each winter, and the ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica are melting fast. Heat is the first order threat that drives all other impacts of the climate crisis. And as the temperature rises, it is revealing fault lines in our governments, our politics, our economy, and our values. The basic science is not complicated: Stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, and the global temperature will stop rising tomorrow.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Eminently Skipable for Climate Science Believers
- By Chad on 07-15-23
By: Jeff Goodell
-
The Song of the Cell
- An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 861
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 730
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 724
From the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and The Gene, a #1 New York Times bestseller, comes his most spectacular book yet, an exploration of medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Rich with Mukherjee’s revelatory and exhilarating stories of scientists, doctors, and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, The Song of the Cell is the third book in this extraordinary writer’s exploration of what it means to be human.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beyond Words Wonderful
- By Lynn on 11-27-22
-
The Science of Storytelling
- By: Will Storr
- Narrated by: James Clamp
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 551
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 442
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 443
How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers - and also our brains - create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A great portal into human psychology
- By Stephanie Romer on 02-13-21
By: Will Storr
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 500
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 432
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 427
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,165
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,018
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,014
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Arguing brain health theory to medical profession
- By Maya H Saric on 03-10-23
-
Secrets of the Octopus
- By: Sy Montgomery, Warren K. Carlyle IV - contributor, Alex Schnell - foreword
- Narrated by: Sy Montgomery
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals. This new book brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures. The companion to the highly anticipated National Geographic television special, this book explores the alluring underwater world of the octopus—a creature that resembles an alien lifeform, but whose behavior has earned it a reputation as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not for me
- By Mike on 01-14-25
By: Sy Montgomery, 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
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,218
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,081
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,077
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.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
-
The Selfish Gene
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,932
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,546
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,468
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Better than print!
- By J. D. May on 07-31-12
By: Richard Dawkins
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,137
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,846
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,828
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Dear Neil...
- By Tina G. on 10-14-19
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 500
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 432
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 427
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.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,165
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,018
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,014
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.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Arguing brain health theory to medical profession
- By Maya H Saric on 03-10-23
-
Secrets of the Octopus
- By: Sy Montgomery, Warren K. Carlyle IV - contributor, Alex Schnell - foreword
- Narrated by: Sy Montgomery
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
Remarkable new discoveries affirm the octopus as one of nature’s most intelligent and complex animals. This new book brings us closer than ever to these elusive creatures. The companion to the highly anticipated National Geographic television special, this book explores the alluring underwater world of the octopus—a creature that resembles an alien lifeform, but whose behavior has earned it a reputation as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not for me
- By Mike on 01-14-25
By: Sy Montgomery, 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
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,218
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,081
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,077
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.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
-
The Selfish Gene
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,932
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,546
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,468
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Better than print!
- By J. D. May on 07-31-12
By: Richard Dawkins
-
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
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,137
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,846
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,828
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.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Dear Neil...
- By Tina G. on 10-14-19
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024
- By: Bill McKibben, Jaime Green
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens, Stephen Graybill, Lee Osorio, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year. ” The selections in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024 reveal a trying year for our planet—from the Lahaina wildfire tragedy to the lush Amazon jungle slowly turning to savanna—while also celebrating the earth’s beautiful and mysterious ways—from the largest beaver dam on earth to the heroic innovation to prevent birds from crashing into Chicago’s expanse of glass buildings.
By: Bill McKibben, and others
-
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2022
- Best American
- By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson - editor, Jaime Green - series editor
- Narrated by: Tracey Leigh, Jennifer Aquino, Ulka Simone Mohanty, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 7
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, renowned marine biologist and co-founder of the All We Can Save climate initiative, compiles the best science and nature writing of the year.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
The worst book in the series I have read.
- By O on 06-19-23
By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson - editor, and others
-
The Best American Essays 2023
- Best American
- By: Vivian Gornick, Robert Atwan
- Narrated by: Will Tulin, Marie Hoffman, Elena Rey, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honorable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and populist censorship movements, the twenty-one essays collected here reflect their authors’ unapologetic observations of the world around them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved It
- By Marcel on 10-24-23
By: Vivian Gornick, and others
-
The Best American Essays 2024
- By: Wesley Morris, Kim Dana Kupperman
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Cary Hite, Jeanette Illidge, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
“Imparting some piece of yourself—any part—is arduous and warrants some kind of commendation,” writes guest editor Wesley Morris in his introduction. Both personal and personable, the essayists in this volume use their own vulnerability to guide listeners on excursions that unfold on uncomfortable edges. From contemplating the nuances of memory to exploring the complexities of family, romance, gender identity, illness, and death, Morris’s selection of essays presents a roundup of the thinkers who masterfully grapple with the issues of our time.
By: Wesley Morris, and others
-
Becoming Earth
- How Our Planet Came to Life
- By: Ferris Jabr
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth—we are Earth, an outgrowth of its structure and an engine of its evolution. Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming a lump of orbiting rock into a cosmic oasis—a planet that breathes, metabolizes, and regulates its climate.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating and well researched
- By Amazon Customer on 07-10-24
By: Ferris Jabr
-
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023
- By: R. F. Kuang, John Joseph Adams
- Narrated by: Will Tulin, Chanté McCormick, Em Grosland, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 7
“Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages,” writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. “The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird.” The stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 are brimming with bizarre and otherworldly premises.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Strange mixed bag
- By Pie S. on 10-28-23
By: R. F. Kuang, and others
-
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024
- By: Bill McKibben, Jaime Green
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens, Stephen Graybill, Lee Osorio, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year. ” The selections in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024 reveal a trying year for our planet—from the Lahaina wildfire tragedy to the lush Amazon jungle slowly turning to savanna—while also celebrating the earth’s beautiful and mysterious ways—from the largest beaver dam on earth to the heroic innovation to prevent birds from crashing into Chicago’s expanse of glass buildings.
By: Bill McKibben, and others
-
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2022
- Best American
- By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson - editor, Jaime Green - series editor
- Narrated by: Tracey Leigh, Jennifer Aquino, Ulka Simone Mohanty, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 7
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, renowned marine biologist and co-founder of the All We Can Save climate initiative, compiles the best science and nature writing of the year.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
The worst book in the series I have read.
- By O on 06-19-23
By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson - editor, and others
-
The Best American Essays 2023
- Best American
- By: Vivian Gornick, Robert Atwan
- Narrated by: Will Tulin, Marie Hoffman, Elena Rey, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
In her introduction to this year’s The Best American Essays, guest editor Vivian Gornick states that her selections “contribute materially to the long and honorable history of the personal essay by way of the value they place on lived experience.” Provocative, daring, and honest at a time when many writers are deliberately silencing themselves in the face of authoritarian and populist censorship movements, the twenty-one essays collected here reflect their authors’ unapologetic observations of the world around them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved It
- By Marcel on 10-24-23
By: Vivian Gornick, and others
-
The Best American Essays 2024
- By: Wesley Morris, Kim Dana Kupperman
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Cary Hite, Jeanette Illidge, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
“Imparting some piece of yourself—any part—is arduous and warrants some kind of commendation,” writes guest editor Wesley Morris in his introduction. Both personal and personable, the essayists in this volume use their own vulnerability to guide listeners on excursions that unfold on uncomfortable edges. From contemplating the nuances of memory to exploring the complexities of family, romance, gender identity, illness, and death, Morris’s selection of essays presents a roundup of the thinkers who masterfully grapple with the issues of our time.
By: Wesley Morris, and others
-
Becoming Earth
- How Our Planet Came to Life
- By: Ferris Jabr
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth—we are Earth, an outgrowth of its structure and an engine of its evolution. Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming a lump of orbiting rock into a cosmic oasis—a planet that breathes, metabolizes, and regulates its climate.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating and well researched
- By Amazon Customer on 07-10-24
By: Ferris Jabr
-
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023
- By: R. F. Kuang, John Joseph Adams
- Narrated by: Will Tulin, Chanté McCormick, Em Grosland, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story3 out of 5 stars 7
“Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages,” writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. “The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird.” The stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 are brimming with bizarre and otherworldly premises.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Strange mixed bag
- By Pie S. on 10-28-23
By: R. F. Kuang, and others
-
The Best American Essays 2022
- By: Alexander Chee
- Narrated by: Robert Atwan, Iva-Marie Palmer, Ewan Chung, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 17
Alexander Chee, an essayist of “virtuosity and power” (Washington Post), selects twenty essays out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best of this series ever
- By Melissa on 02-28-23
By: Alexander Chee
-
The Best American Short Stories 2024
- By: Lauren Groff, Heidi Pitlor
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine, Vikas Adam, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
“There have never been as many exquisitely built stories in existence than there are now,” proclaims guest editor Lauren Groff in her introduction. This abundance led to a volume of robust stories with the nerve to push against narrative expectations. The Best American Short Stories 2024 boasts a collection of twenty stories that “buzz with their own strange logic.” Daring and resonant, the stories in this volume invite in Groff “a feeling that both the author and I were simultaneously discovering something together.”
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Magnificent Collection
- By Andre on 12-29-24
By: Lauren Groff, and others
-
Turning to Stone
- Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
- By: Marcia Bjornerud
- Narrated by: Rebecca Stern
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 14
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very unusual book by a profound writer
- By F Shaw on 09-17-24
By: Marcia Bjornerud
-
Life's Edge
- The Search for What It Means to Be Alive
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 359
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 293
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What is Life?
- By Shane S Shull on 04-29-21
By: Carl Zimmer
![A Planet of Viruses [Third Edition] Audiobook By Carl Zimmer cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51trQIyFJfL._SL320_.jpg)
-
A Planet of Viruses [Third Edition]
- By: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
In 2020, an invisible germ - a virus - wholly upended our lives. We're most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or Covid-19. But viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in deep caves miles underground.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Quite interesting stories but not very deep
- By Samuel Lampa on 08-23-24
By: Carl Zimmer
-
Invisible Influence
- The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior
- By: Jonah Berger
- Narrated by: Keith Nobbs
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 516
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 446
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 442
If you're like most people, you think that your choices and behaviors are driven by your individual personal tastes and opinions. You wear a certain jacket because you like the way it looks. You picked a particular career because you found it interesting. The notion that our choices are driven by our own personal thoughts and opinions is patently obvious. Right? Wrong. Without our realizing it, other people's behavior has a huge influence on everything we do at every moment of our lives, from the mundane to the momentous occasion.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointing and lightweight
- By Gerry on 07-25-16
By: Jonah Berger