
The Secret Life of the Universe
An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
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Narrated by:
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Cassandra Campbell
About this listen
One of the world’s leading astrobiologists takes us on an awe-inspiring journey across the cosmos to investigate some of humanity’s most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe? And, how did life on Earth begin?
We are in a golden age in astronomy, living on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos in. Yet a profound question remains: Are we alone in the universe?
We have never been closer to answering this question. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life. The book’s odyssey begins by exploring how life began on Earth in order to understand what’s necessary for its existence elsewhere. What role did our Moon play? And could life on Mars have seeded life on Earth?
Cabrol continues this dazzling interplanetary tour, illuminating the likeliest places for life in our neighborhood: While Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are among the top contenders, recent missions are redefining the limits of habitability to include unexpected worlds. Finally, we seek life beyond our Solar System, becoming witness to a revolution in the night sky: the realization that there are as many planets as stars in our galaxy. With more than 300 million exoplanets in the habitable zone of their stars in the Milky Way alone, to think we are alone, or the only advanced intelligent civilization, may be little more than nonsense.
The Secret Life of the Universe is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the search for life. This is an exhilarating journey for anyone who has ever looked up at the stars and wondered what might be out there.
©2024 Nathalie A. Cabrol (P)2024 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- Unabridged
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Celebrated storyteller and historian Edward Dolnick leads us through a compelling true adventure as the paleontologists of the first half of the 19th century puzzled their way through the fossil record to create the story of dinosaurs we know today. The tale begins with Mary Anning, a poor, uneducated woman who had a sixth sense for finding fossils buried deep inside cliffs; and moves to a brilliant, eccentric geologist named William Buckland.
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Wonderful narration of an awesome history
- By BB on 09-26-24
By: Edward Dolnick
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Silver, Sword, and Stone
- Three Crucibles in the Latin American Story
- By: Marie Arana
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In this “timely and excellent volume” (NPR) Marie Arana seamlessly weaves these stories with the history of the past millennium to explain three enduring themes that have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian times: the foreign greed for its mineral riches, an ingrained propensity to violence, and the abiding power of religion. Silver, Sword, and Stone combines “learned historical analysis with in-depth reporting and political commentary...[and] an informed and authoritative voice, one that deserves a wide audience” (The New York Times Book Review).
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Marie Arana does not Understand Economics
- By Jose on 01-11-21
By: Marie Arana
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Walls
- A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick
- By: David Frye
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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With Frye as our raconteur-guide, we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed - to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone and with them effectively divide humanity: On one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves - rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America....
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Great Narration, Ok History, Unwelcome Opinions
- By jack a on 02-17-25
By: David Frye
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The Great Mortality
- An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
- By: John Kelly
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The plague that devastated Asia and Europe in the 14th century has been of never-ending interest to both scholars and the general public. Many books on the plague rely on statistics to tell the story. In The Great Mortality, author John Kelly lends an air of immediacy and intimacy to his telling of the journey of the plague as it traveled from the steppes of Russia, across Europe, and into England, killing 75 million people—one third of the known population—before it vanished.
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The Great Mortality
- By Amazon Customer on 10-16-24
By: John Kelly
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The Ugly History of Beautiful Things
- Essays on Desire and Consumption
- By: Katy Kelleher
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris Review contributor Katy Kelleher explores our obsession with gorgeous things, unveiling the fraught histories of makeup, flowers, perfume, silk, and other beautiful objects. In these dazzling and deeply researched essays, Katy Kelleher blends science, history, and memoir to uncover the dark underbellies of our favorite goods.
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Lovely work
- By Anonymous User on 06-25-23
By: Katy Kelleher
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Blood Moon
- By: John Sedgwick
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Blood Moon is the story of the century-long blood feud between two rival Cherokee chiefs from the early years of the United States through the infamous Trail of Tears and into the Civil War. While little remembered today, their mutual hatred shaped the tragic history of the tribe far more than anyone, even the reviled President Andrew Jackson, ever did.
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The Real Story
- By CLS on 04-17-18
By: John Sedgwick
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One Giant Leap
- The Untold Story of How We Flew to the Moon
- By: Charles Fishman
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The New York Times best-selling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission. It’s a story filled with surprises - from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today.
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The Apollo Program in Historical Context
- By Nat on 06-19-19
By: Charles Fishman
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Operation Pedestal
- The Fleet that Battled to Malta, 1942
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, John Hopkins
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned historian Max Hastings recreates one of the most thrilling events of World War II: Operation Pedestal, the British action to save its troops from starvation on Malta - an action-packed tale of courage, fortitude, loss, and triumph against all odds.
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Sir Max Hastings at his best
- By J.Brock on 10-27-22
By: Max Hastings
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The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books
- Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World's Greatest Library
- By: Edward Wilson-Lee
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books tells the story of the first and greatest visionary of the print age, a man who saw how the explosive expansion of knowledge and information generated by the advent of the printing press would entirely change the landscape of thought and society. He also happened to be Christopher Columbus’ illegitimate son.
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Erudite. Stimulating. Rewarding.
- By R. P. RIBEYRE on 10-26-20
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The Hunt for History
- On the Trail of the World's Lost Treasures - from the Letters of Lincoln, Churchill, and Einstein to the Secret Recordings On-Board JFK's Air Force One
- By: Nathan Raab, Luke Barr
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Nathan Raab, America’s preeminent rare documents dealer, delivers a “diverting account of treasure hunting in the fast lane” (The Wall Street Journal) that recounts his years as the Sherlock Holmes of historical artifacts, questing after precious finds and determining their authenticity.
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I wished it was longer
- By NANAS on 04-15-20
By: Nathan Raab, and others
What listeners say about The Secret Life of the Universe
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dennis T.
- 09-20-24
Incredible Book
We all think about how life might have started. Nathalie nails the explanation. An absolute must listen and read!
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- Patrick White
- 03-08-25
Sustain and Survive
I liked:
How our species' survival rests on recognizing and accepting as real & fundamental the concepts of Earth First and becoming/being human Planetary Citizens
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- Anonymous User
- 03-22-25
Perspective of life
Great perspective, we need to act or we are doomed , good reference to Carl Sagan
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- John
- 08-18-24
Omg insufferably boring cliches
I rarely write reviews but I have to say that this is an attempt to emulate Carl Sagan by someone who is no way qualified to do so. Insufferably boring, using ten words where one will do. Tell me things I don’t know. There is nothing special about this book
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1 person found this helpful