Understanding Human Evolution
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Narrated by:
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Michael Page
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By:
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Ian Tattersall
About this listen
Human life, and how we came to be, is one of the greatest scientific and philosophical questions of our time. This compact and accessible book presents a modern view of human evolution. Written by a leading authority, it lucidly and engagingly explains not only the evolutionary process, but the technologies currently used to unravel the evolutionary past and emergence of Homo sapiens. By separating the history of palaeoanthropology from current interpretation of the human fossil record, it lays numerous misconceptions to rest, and demonstrates that human evolution has been far from the linear struggle from primitiveness to perfection that we've been led to believe. It also presents a coherent scenario for how Homo sapiens contrived to cross a formidable cognitive barrier to become an extraordinary and unprecedented thinking creature. Understanding Human Evolution is for anyone interested in the complex and tangled story of how we came to be.
©2022 Ian Tattersall (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Who are we? How do scientists define Homo sapiens, and how does our species differ from the extinct hominins that came before us? In this accessible account palaeoarchaeologist Paul Pettitt shows how the latest scientific advances, especially in genetics, are revolutionizing our understanding of human evolution. Pettitt reveals the extraordinary story of how our ancestors adapted to unforgiving and relentlessly changing climates, leading to remarkable innovations in art, technology, and society that we are only now beginning to comprehend.
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Current and Relevant
- By Amazon Customer on 11-16-23
By: Paul Pettitt
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Human Evolution, 2nd Edition
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Bernard Wood
- Narrated by: Mike Cooper
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The study of human evolution is advancing rapidly. Newly discovered fossil evidence is adding ever more pieces to the puzzle of our past, while revolutionary technological advances in the study of ancient DNA are completely reshaping theories of early human populations and migrations. In this Very Short Introduction, Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the 18th century to the very latest fossil finds.
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Brief, simple, and informative
- By Stef on 09-10-24
By: Bernard Wood
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The Accidental Homo Sapiens
- Genetics, Behavior, and Free Will
- By: Ian Tattersall, Rob DeSalle
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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When you think of evolution, the picture that most likely comes to mind is a straight-forward progression, the iconic illustration of a primate morphing into a proud, upright human being. But in reality, random events have played huge roles in determining the evolutionary histories of everything from lions to lobsters to humans. However, random genetic novelties are most likely to become fixed in small populations. It is mathematically unlikely that this will happen in large ones.
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Graphics NOT AVAILABLE - big problem!
- By yweltay6471 on 09-03-23
By: Ian Tattersall, and others
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Strange Survivors
- How Organisms Attack and Defend in the Game of Life
- By: Oné R. Pagán
- Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In Strange Survivors, biologist Oné R. Pagán takes us on a tour of the improbable, the ingenious, and the just plain bizarre ways that creatures fight for life. Inside this funny, fascinating field guide to nature’s most colorful characters, you’ll meet killer snails, social bacteria, and an animal with toxic elbows. But Strange Survivors is more than a collection of curiosities—it is a love letter to science and an argument for the continuing relevance of this evolutionary battle as we face the threat of resistant bacteria and the need for novel medical therapies.
By: Oné R. Pagán
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The World Before Us
- The New Science Behind Our Human Origins
- By: Tom Higham
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating investigation of the origin of humans based on incredible new discoveries and advanced scientific technology.
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Wonderfully Accessible
- By Deborah N on 11-02-21
By: Tom Higham
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Extinctions
- How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves
- By: Michael J. Benton
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Cutting-edge techniques across biology, chemistry, physics, and geology have transformed our understanding of the deep past, including the discovery of a previously unknown mass extinction. This compelling evidence, revealing a series of environmental crises resulting in the near collapse of life on Earth, illuminates our current dilemmas in exquisite detail.
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Wonderful, thought provoking !
- By Judy on 05-06-24
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Remnants of Ancient Life
- The New Science of Old Fossils
- By: Dale Greenwalt
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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This audiobook narrated by Christopher Ragland describes the revolution in science that is transforming our understanding of extinct life.
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Recommended.
- By Todd Woollen on 02-11-23
By: Dale Greenwalt
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Third Ear
- Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening
- By: Elizabeth Rosner
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Rosner
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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This illuminating book weaves personal stories of a multilingual upbringing with the latest scientific breakthroughs in interspecies communication to show how the skill of deep listening enhances our curiosity and empathy toward the world around us.
By: Elizabeth Rosner
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Into the Unknown
- The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos
- By: Kelsey Johnson
- Narrated by: Kelsey Johnson
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In Into the Unknown, astrophysicist Kelsey Johnson takes us to the edge of scientific understanding about the universe: What caused the Big Bang? What happens inside black holes? Are there other dimensions? She doesn’t just celebrate what we know but rather what we don’t, and asks what it means if we never find that knowledge. Exploring the convergence of science, philosophy, and theology, Johnson argues we must reckon with possibilities—including those that may be beyond human comprehension.
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Loved it
- By Elizabeth Smith on 11-26-24
By: Kelsey Johnson
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Into the Great Wide Ocean
- Life in the Least Known Habitat on Earth
- By: Sönke Johnsen
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The open ocean, far from the shore and miles above the seafloor, is a vast and formidable habitat that is home to the most abundant life on our planet, from giant squid and jellyfish to anglerfish with bioluminescent lures that draw prey into their toothy mouths. Into the Great Wide Ocean takes listeners inside the peculiar world of the seagoing scientists who are providing tantalizing new insights into how the animals of the open ocean solve the problems of their existence.
By: Sönke Johnsen
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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
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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
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The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
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Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
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Warping Reality: Inside the Psychology of Cults
- By: Wind Goodfriend, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Wind Goodfriend
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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In the 12 fascinating lectures of Warping Reality: Inside the Psychology of Cults, you will learn about some of the most widely known cults of modern times. But unlike any standard news reporting or documentary about the Peoples Temple, The Manson “Family,” The Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate, Children of God, the Unification Church, and NXIVM, your expert, Dr. Wind Goodfriend, will help you explore the psychology of these cults. How could these cult leaders have committed such heinous crimes under the guise of “helping” members in their development?
By: Wind Goodfriend, and others
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The Dopamine Brain
- By: Anastasia Hronis
- Narrated by: Anastasia Hronis
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Sex, shopping, eating, social media, drugs and gambling are just some of the things that can trigger a release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that is involved in the brain's reward system. The overindulgence of certain pursuits can disrupt the level of dopamine in our brain, which can steer us towards habits that do not align with our core values. Fortunately, The Dopamine Brain offers a clear and practical way to help people find balance and harmony in their lives.
By: Anastasia Hronis
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Fossil Men
- The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind
- By: Kermit Pattison
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White—"the Steve Jobs of paleoanthropology"—uncovered the bones of a human ancestor in Ethiopia's Afar region. The findings challenged many assumptions about human evolution and repudiated a half-century of paleoanthropological orthodoxy. An intriguing tale of scientific discovery, obsession and rivalry that moves from the sun-baked desert of Africa to modern high-tech labs and academic lecture halls, Fossil Men is popular science at its best, and a must-listen for fans of Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson.
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Oh narrator
- By Paul on 01-21-21
By: Kermit Pattison
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A New History of Life
- By: Stuart Sutherland, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Stuart Sutherland
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
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The story of our world and the different living things that have populated it is an amazing epic with millions of species, exotic settings, planet-wide cataclysms, and surprising plot twists. These 36 lectures tell the all-embracing story of life on Earth - its origins, extinctions, and evolutions - in a manner that assumes no background in science. At half an hour per lecture, you’ll cover the entire 4.54-billion-year history of Earth in 18 hours, averaging 70,000 years per second!
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Get the video version
- By B. Bartosh on 06-17-19
By: Stuart Sutherland, and others
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A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
- The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Adam Rutherford
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species - births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex. But those stories have always been locked away - until now. Who are our ancestors? Where did they come from? Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our DNA has completely upended what we thought we knew about ourselves. Acclaimed science writer Adam Rutherford explains exactly how genomics is completely rewriting the human story - from 100,000 years ago to the present.
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I wish this book was in American high schools.
- By melody sheldon on 03-31-19
By: Adam Rutherford