-
The Making of the Fittest
- DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
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
Buy for $14.61
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
DNA is the genetic material that defines us as individuals. Over the last two decades, it has emerged as a powerful tool for solving crimes and determining guilt and innocence. But, very recently, an important new aspect of DNA has been revealed: it contains a detailed record of evolution. That is, DNA is a living chronicle of how the marvelous creatures that inhabit our planet have adapted to its many environments, from the freezing waters of the Antarctic to the lush canopy of the rain forest.
In this fascinating narrative, Sean Carroll guides listeners on a tour of the massive DNA record of three billion years of evolution to see how the fittest are made. And what an eye-opening tour it is - one featuring immortal genes, fossil genes, and genes that bear the scars of past battles with horrible diseases. This book clinches the case for evolution, beyond any reasonable doubt.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
A Series of Fortunate Events
- Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean B. Carroll
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason, or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world.
-
-
We are for a short time.
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-20
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The Serengeti Rules
- The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean B. Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions.
-
-
Mind blown
- By David on 08-14-18
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
- The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over a century, opening the black box of embryonic development was the holy grail of biology. Evo Devo--Evolutionary Developmental Biology--is the new science that has finally cracked open the box. Within the pages of his rich and riveting book, Sean B. Carroll explains how we are discovering that complex life is ironically much simpler than anyone ever expected.
-
-
Challenging but rewarding
- By Terry A. Gray on 05-26-10
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
- Space, Time, and Motion
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.
-
-
Accompanying PDF is Included
- By Barton on 11-21-22
By: Sean Carroll
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
ABSOLUTE MUST READ!
- By serine on 05-12-16
By: Sean Carroll
-
Brave Genius
- A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.
-
-
Fascinating book but a difficult listen
- By Thomas F. Lennon on 07-04-22
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
A Series of Fortunate Events
- Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean B. Carroll
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason, or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world.
-
-
We are for a short time.
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-20
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The Serengeti Rules
- The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean B. Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions.
-
-
Mind blown
- By David on 08-14-18
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
- The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over a century, opening the black box of embryonic development was the holy grail of biology. Evo Devo--Evolutionary Developmental Biology--is the new science that has finally cracked open the box. Within the pages of his rich and riveting book, Sean B. Carroll explains how we are discovering that complex life is ironically much simpler than anyone ever expected.
-
-
Challenging but rewarding
- By Terry A. Gray on 05-26-10
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
- Space, Time, and Motion
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.
-
-
Accompanying PDF is Included
- By Barton on 11-21-22
By: Sean Carroll
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
ABSOLUTE MUST READ!
- By serine on 05-12-16
By: Sean Carroll
-
Brave Genius
- A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.
-
-
Fascinating book but a difficult listen
- By Thomas F. Lennon on 07-04-22
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
Something Deeply Hidden
- Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927.
-
-
The Best Layperson Book on Quantum Physics
- By Conrad Barski on 09-11-19
By: Sean Carroll
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Undoes what you've learned from the headlines
- By Tristan on 10-14-16
By: Ed Yong
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
-
-
As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
Transformer
- The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades, biology has been dominated by the study of genetic information. Information is important, but it is only part of what makes us alive. Our inheritance also includes our living metabolic network, a flame passed from generation to generation, right back to the origin of life. In Transformer, biochemist Nick Lane reveals a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight-how the same simple chemistry gives rise to life and causes our demise.
-
-
You need lot of chemistry to get it
- By 11104 on 09-05-22
By: Nick Lane
-
Flights of Fancy
- Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The wonder of flight. The science of evolution. From both, Richard Dawkins weaves a fascinating account of how nature and humans have learned to overcome the pull of gravity and take to the skies. Have you ever dreamt you could fly? Or imagined what it would be like to glide and swoop through the sky like a bird? Do you let your mind soar to unknown, magical spaces?
-
-
Thank God for Richard Dawkins!
- By aaron on 12-19-21
By: Richard Dawkins
-
The Edge of Evolution
- The Search for the Limits of Darwinism
- By: Michael J. Behe
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a tour de force of science and logic, the best-selling author of Darwin's Black Box combines genetics, laboratory results, and mathematics to prove, once and for all, that the universe and life on Earth are designed.
-
-
reader1
- By Stephen on 04-27-08
By: Michael J. Behe
-
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals
- A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
- By: Steve Brusatte
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages: the mammals. Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals.
-
-
Fantastic Book
- By Peter Jensen on 09-08-22
By: Steve Brusatte
-
The Greatest Show on Earth
- The Evidence for Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Greatest Show on Earth is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design," explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument". Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence: from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics.
-
-
Back to His Strong Suit
- By Dalton on 09-23-09
By: Richard Dawkins
-
Cosmos
- A Personal Voyage
- By: Carl Sagan
- Narrated by: LeVar Burton, Seth MacFarlane, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space.
-
-
Over-acting voice actors
- By John on 11-09-17
By: Carl Sagan
-
The Particle at the End of the Universe
- How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Scientists have just announced an historic discovery on a par with the splitting of the atom: The Higgs boson, the key to understanding why mass exists has been found. In The Particle at the End of the Universe, Caltech physicist and acclaimed writer Sean Carroll takes readers behind the scenes of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to meet the scientists and explain this landmark event.
-
-
A History of Modern Particle Physics
- By Matthew on 12-22-12
By: Sean Carroll
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
Critic reviews
"Carroll offers some provocative and convincing evidence." (Publishers Weekly)
"Here is evolution clearly explained and stoutly defended." (Booklist)
Related to this topic
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
-
-
As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Good book but misplaced title
- By Robert on 06-19-15
By: Jack Horner, and others
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
-
Paleontology
- A Brief History of Life
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ian Tattersall, a highly esteemed figure in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and paleontology, leads a fascinating tour of the history of life and the evolution of human beings. Starting at the very beginning, Tattersall examines patterns of change in the biosphere over time, and the correlations of biological events with physical changes in the Earth's environment.
-
-
great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
-
Evolution
- What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters: Adapted for Audio
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: John Bishop
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past 20 years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.
-
-
NOT WORTH THE PRICE OF ADDMISSION
- By CRAIG on 12-25-14
-
Genesis
- The Deep Origin of Societies
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Asserting that religious creeds and philosophical questions can be reduced to purely genetic and evolutionary components, and that the human body and mind have a physical base obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, Genesis demonstrates that the only way for us to fully understand human behavior is to study the evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Of these, Wilson demonstrates that at least 17 - among them the African naked mole rat and the sponge-dwelling shrimp - have been found to have advanced societies based on altruism and cooperation.
-
-
Simply awful
- By Mike A Klotz on 02-07-20
By: Edward O. Wilson
-
Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
-
-
As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Good book but misplaced title
- By Robert on 06-19-15
By: Jack Horner, and others
-
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
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
-
Paleontology
- A Brief History of Life
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ian Tattersall, a highly esteemed figure in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and paleontology, leads a fascinating tour of the history of life and the evolution of human beings. Starting at the very beginning, Tattersall examines patterns of change in the biosphere over time, and the correlations of biological events with physical changes in the Earth's environment.
-
-
great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
-
Evolution
- What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters: Adapted for Audio
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: John Bishop
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past 20 years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.
-
-
NOT WORTH THE PRICE OF ADDMISSION
- By CRAIG on 12-25-14
-
Genesis
- The Deep Origin of Societies
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Asserting that religious creeds and philosophical questions can be reduced to purely genetic and evolutionary components, and that the human body and mind have a physical base obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, Genesis demonstrates that the only way for us to fully understand human behavior is to study the evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Of these, Wilson demonstrates that at least 17 - among them the African naked mole rat and the sponge-dwelling shrimp - have been found to have advanced societies based on altruism and cooperation.
-
-
Simply awful
- By Mike A Klotz on 02-07-20
By: Edward O. Wilson
-
A Series of Fortunate Events
- Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean B. Carroll
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason, or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world.
-
-
We are for a short time.
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-20
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The Deeper Genome
- Why There Is More to the Human Genome than Meets the Eye
- By: John Parrington
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over a decade ago, as the Human Genome Project completed its mapping of the entire human genome, hopes ran high that we would rapidly be able to use our knowledge of human genes to tackle many inherited diseases, and understand what makes us unique among animals. But things didn't turn out that way.
-
-
Great Scientific Writing/ Wrong Narrator
- By Richard on 11-24-15
By: John Parrington
-
Creation
- How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own.
-
-
The Goldilocks book on what is life
- By Gary on 07-11-13
By: Adam Rutherford
-
I, Mammal
- By: Liam Drew
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A list of the attributes that define a mammal is a ragbag of things - fur, live birth, three bones in the middle ear, a brain whose two halves are robustly joined together.... But this curious collection of features contain the roots of all the biology that makes us what we are: monkeys with massive brains who parent extensively, enjoy sport and think lots. Which is to say, what makes us mammals makes us human.
-
-
Who knew?
- By Fitmen on 04-25-18
By: Liam Drew
-
The Blind Watchmaker
- Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
-
-
Challenging textbook more than an enjoyable listen
- By Eric on 01-15-12
By: Richard Dawkins
-
How to Clone a Mammoth
- The Science of De-Extinction
- By: Beth Shapiro
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? The science says yes. In How to Clone a Mammoth, Beth Shapiro, evolutionary biologist and pioneer in "ancient DNA" research, walks listeners through the astonishing and controversial process of de-extinction.
-
-
Very Readable Take on a Complex Subject
- By John on 04-26-15
By: Beth Shapiro
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
Welcome to the Microbiome
- Getting to Know the Trillions of Bacteria and Other Microbes In, On, and Around You
- By: Rob DeSalle, Susan L. Perkins
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suddenly, research findings require a paradigm shift in our view of the microbial world. The Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health is well under way, and unprecedented scientific technology now allows the censusing of trillions of microbes inside and on our bodies as well as in the places where we live, work, and play. This intriguing, up-to-the-minute book for scientists and nonscientists alike explains what researchers are discovering about the microbe world and what the implications are for modern science and medicine.
-
-
I learned so much from this book. I am happy.
- By Jonathan Miller on 09-08-18
By: Rob DeSalle, and others
-
Population Wars
- A New Perspective on Competition and Coexistence
- By: Greg Graffin
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the very beginning, life on Earth has been defined by war. Today, those first wars continue to be fought around and literally inside us, influencing our individual behavior and that of civilization as a whole. War between populations - whether between different species or between rival groups of humans - is seen as an inevitable part of the evolutionary process. The popular concept of "the survival of the fittest" explains and often excuses these actions.
-
-
Life Changing Book. No other like it.
- By Abraham R. Herrick-Rough on 05-16-16
By: Greg Graffin
-
The Most Perfect Thing
- By: Tim Birkhead
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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?
-
-
Great book about eggs!!
- By Timothy on 03-24-21
By: Tim Birkhead
-
Arrival of the Fittest
- Solving Evolution's Greatest Puzzle
- By: Andreas Wagner
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Arrival of the Fittest, renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner draws on over 15 years of research to present the missing piece in Darwin's theory. Using experimental and computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined, he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance, but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation would take.
-
-
Robustness makes for an interesting life and book
- By Gary on 11-29-14
By: Andreas Wagner
-
Written in Stone
- Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature
- By: Brian Switek
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spectacular fossil finds make today's headlines; new technology unlocks secrets of skeletons unearthed 100 years ago. Still, evolution is often poorly represented by the media and misunderstood by the public. A potent antidote to pseudoscience, Written in Stone is an engrossing history of evolutionary discovery for anyone who has marveled at the variety and richness of life.
-
-
Very good but has some weaknesses
- By Anonymous User on 06-23-19
By: Brian Switek
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
From Eternity to Here
- The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Time moves forward, not backward---everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here, Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself---a period of modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed.
-
-
Great Book For Cosmology Lovers
- By Mardon on 10-24-11
By: Sean Carroll
-
Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition
- By: Richard Wolfson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Richard Wolfson
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It doesn't take an Einstein to understand modern physics," says Professor Wolfson at the outset of these 24 lectures on what may be the most important subjects in the universe: relativity and quantum physics. Both have reputations for complexity. But the basic ideas behind them are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone. These dynamic and illuminating lectures begin with a brief overview of theories of physical reality starting with Aristotle and culminating in Newtonian or "classical" physics.
-
-
Great primer for hard SF fans and physics laymen
- By David on 01-05-15
By: Richard Wolfson, and others
-
Brave Genius
- A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.
-
-
Fascinating book but a difficult listen
- By Thomas F. Lennon on 07-04-22
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The History of Physics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: J. L. Heilbron
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does the physics we know today - a highly professionalized enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry - link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? What is the path that leads from the old philosophy of nature and its concern with humankind's place in the universe to modern massive international projects that hunt down fundamental particles and industrial laboratories that manufacture marvels? This audiobook introduces us to Islamic astronomers and mathematicians calculating the size of the Earth while their caliphs conquered much of it and more.
-
-
narrator sounds like he's been to dentist
- By S. Lee on 01-04-19
By: J. L. Heilbron
-
What Evolution Is
- By: Ernst Mayr
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a spirited defense of Darwinian explanations of biology and an elegant primer on evolution for the general listener, What Evolution Is poses the questions at the heart of evolutionary theory and considers how our improved understanding of evolution has affected the viewpoints and values of modern man.
By: Ernst Mayr
-
The Serengeti Rules
- The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean B. Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions.
-
-
Mind blown
- By David on 08-14-18
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
From Eternity to Here
- The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Time moves forward, not backward---everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here, Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself---a period of modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed.
-
-
Great Book For Cosmology Lovers
- By Mardon on 10-24-11
By: Sean Carroll
-
Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists, 2nd Edition
- By: Richard Wolfson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Richard Wolfson
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It doesn't take an Einstein to understand modern physics," says Professor Wolfson at the outset of these 24 lectures on what may be the most important subjects in the universe: relativity and quantum physics. Both have reputations for complexity. But the basic ideas behind them are, in fact, simple and comprehensible by anyone. These dynamic and illuminating lectures begin with a brief overview of theories of physical reality starting with Aristotle and culminating in Newtonian or "classical" physics.
-
-
Great primer for hard SF fans and physics laymen
- By David on 01-05-15
By: Richard Wolfson, and others
-
Brave Genius
- A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.
-
-
Fascinating book but a difficult listen
- By Thomas F. Lennon on 07-04-22
By: Sean B. Carroll
-
The History of Physics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: J. L. Heilbron
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does the physics we know today - a highly professionalized enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry - link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? What is the path that leads from the old philosophy of nature and its concern with humankind's place in the universe to modern massive international projects that hunt down fundamental particles and industrial laboratories that manufacture marvels? This audiobook introduces us to Islamic astronomers and mathematicians calculating the size of the Earth while their caliphs conquered much of it and more.
-
-
narrator sounds like he's been to dentist
- By S. Lee on 01-04-19
By: J. L. Heilbron
-
What Evolution Is
- By: Ernst Mayr
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a spirited defense of Darwinian explanations of biology and an elegant primer on evolution for the general listener, What Evolution Is poses the questions at the heart of evolutionary theory and considers how our improved understanding of evolution has affected the viewpoints and values of modern man.
By: Ernst Mayr
-
The Serengeti Rules
- The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean B. Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions.
-
-
Mind blown
- By David on 08-14-18
By: Sean B. Carroll
What listeners say about The Making of the Fittest
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JC
- 03-05-12
An understandable story of genetics and evolution
Where does The Making of the Fittest rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?
Among the best.
What did you like best about this story?
Clear and understandable to a layman like me.
Have you listened to any of Patrick Lawlor???s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Never heard him before but his reading is exellent!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. I listen upon retiring each night and upon waking a few times. No problem; I simply use my MP3 sleep timer and repeat parts as often as necessary until I've heard it all.
Any additional comments?
Sean B. Carroll is an excellent biologist and geneticist with a great gift for making his subjects understood by laymen. I listen to books in order to fall asleep (repeatedly) at night. Carroll???s charts and graphs are available on line but they???re not convenient for my purpose. However, the book is fascinating nevertheless. Carroll traces certain effects back to their genetic origins and describes genes that persist through evolution in species after species. This is a very interesting and understandable story told by an expert geneticist and storyteller.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jmzap
- 03-01-14
Very good and also a disappointment
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
learned a lot
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Making of the Fittest?
The first reference to illustrations that are not available.
Which scene was your favorite?
no scenes
Do you think The Making of the Fittest needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
don't know
Any additional comments?
The book makes constant references to illustrations that are nowhere to be found.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 12-05-16
magical
This book is a magical story about biology. It is written in a style like some of the science shows like 'Cosmos.' It is filled with tons of facts and examples but it is such a fun story you don't even realize how much you learned.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Eduardo
- 09-13-08
No further clinching needed, really
This is an outstanding book. The editorial review promises to "clinch" the case for evolution- as if it needed any further clinching. This piece of work does deliver. It indirectly points out the crucial need for strengthening science curricula in our schools.
Unfortunately, I suspect more than one may dismiss the author's solid scientific arguments due to a lack of a basic understanding of biological sciences. Although the book may sometimes seem too basic to somebody with a background in biological disciplines, the opposite may be the case for a more general audience. The fact is, however, that science is not easy. It needs to be learned from basic principles, with progressive levels of complexity being laid on previous knowledge.
Rather than spending so many resources trying to force the teaching of illogical, scientifically unsound, and plain nonsensical fairy tales in our schools, why not expand the teaching of the wondrous world of real science? As the author proposes, cultural and religious factors are responsible for this great disservice to future generations.
Against the backdrop of compelling scientific facts, the conciliatory tone towards religion, at least non-fundamentalist religious views, assumed by the author in Chapter 9 is somewhat disconcerting. Still, this is a minor issue in the context of this excellent review of why stating that evolution is "just another theory", whose scientific stature is shared by relabeled Creationism (i.e., Intelligent Design), is simply not tenable, reflecting a major lack of scientific rigor.
I agree with a previous reviewer that the narrator could refer us less often to the book's website. Also, there are a few mispronunciations of technical terms interspersed throughout the book. These are very minor details that do not substract from the content of this excellent work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Bradly D. Elder
- 08-13-07
Outstanding examples!
For me (I teach evolution) the best part of this book is the premise that we use DNA fingerprinting every day in the court systems and no one has a problem with its evolutionary implications. I am embarrassed that this had never occurred to me. For the teacher, this book is loaded with excellent examples and demonstrates our existing understanding of how DNA reveals evolution. The science in this book is extremely accessible to all levels of knowledge. The recording itself is quite clear and the narrator easy to listen to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Stephen
- 08-26-09
Leaves you wanting more.
I really enjoyed the book. A very good book that explains how evolution works. It shows that everything really isn't just chance and that sometimes evolution does not benefit the organism.
Highly recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 02-21-14
Pft. Seriously.
I don't know...
Evolution isn't really an argument anymore, we know how things evolve, but the missing link is still not really explained. There are a few things in our evolutionary transition from Neanderthal Man to Space Man, that don't add up. I am not christian creationist "Let there be Light!!" believer and I would not care how humans have came to be. However I am interested and every time someone comes up with a book that says they absolutely have the answer I buy it hoping they do. Beyond a reasonable doubt.... Not yet. When you see how long it takes for things to evolve the smallest thing and we go from Zero to Hero in miniscule blink of an eye. The only people that can slam me are the people that are RELIGIOUSLY one sided. The extremes are on both sides of the fence. I have talked with Evolutionist that were more imposing than some of the hard-core southern bible thumpers, there is no debating with them, it's an absolute.
Second this guys tiptoes around all the subjects trying to build his case and then when he should be slamming his point home he give a general opinion that can be interpreted different ways...
In general it was a good book, explained some confusing subjects in easy to understand details. It was obviously one sided.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-07-12
Must read for Evolutionary Genetics!
The phrase "Use it or Lose it" takes on a much greater meaning in this highly detailed but extremely readable discussion of evolutionary genetics.
Making of the Fittess compared the molecular structure of light sensitive proteins (opsins} in the retina of the eyes of animal that lived in different types of light conditions and then examine the differences in the genes that allow animals to detect a particular wave lenght or color of light illustrating how natural selection works. When there was no advantages for an animal to see a particular color, the gene responsible was not used and eventually became inactive and that type of opsin was not produced. These inactive genes bcome non-functional and Carroll term these genes "fossil genes" which remained in the geome until eventually being lost to the organism. So "used it or lose it" acutally applies to the inactive gene. The type of light environment the animal lives in determines the type of light sensitive proteins (opsins) it has illustrating how natural selection works. Knowing the type of "fossil genes" of opsin allow you determine evolutionary relationships. It been awhile since they discovered the change in the gene that lead to Sickle Cell Anemia but "Making of The Fittess" allows us to examine many new specific changes in genes and how these changes lead to making of the fittess.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dr Rick
- 05-16-15
Introductory Jr college class for non-biologists
author is erudite. well written. but textbook-like. better read than heard probably as the illustrations are critical if you don't already know how DNA and transcription work. and in a book it's easier to skip the long introduction and stuff you already know.
If you are bright and skeptical and relatively uneducated about biology, and especially if you have heard rhetoric from anti-evolutionists, you are the target audience.
The text is missing a couple elements. 1. How the toolbox or immortal genes came into existence not mentioned; critics may have math on their side when you consider only the piecemeal construction methods of random mutation and selection. 2. Epi-genetics is not mentioned. this is very new and I was hoping to learn about it here.
:
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anne Clark
- 08-26-24
Elementary Review of Evolution
I’ve read a few books on genetics and evolution, and this is probably the weakest. The author is so preoccupied with addressing creationists that he misses the opportunity to let the science speak for itself. The anecdotes he selects are informative, but the tone of absolute certainty about why or how things evolve is a little off-putting to anyone who works in the scientific field (claiming, for instance, certain traits are “done” evolving and others are not just sounds silly). The author also often talks down to the audience, never missing a chance to talk about how fascinating it is that most people are not as educated as they might be (a favorite line was “if Einstein was just a bit more clever”). The narration is also mediocre, with terrible accents for every quotation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!