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A Grown-Up Guide to Oceans By cover art

A Grown-Up Guide to Oceans

By: Professor Ben Garrod, Ellie Sans
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  • Summary

  • Kids love the ocean - it‚Äôs mysterious and unknown, home to monsters of the imagination and some of the most fascinating life forms on the planet.

    But while many grown-ups might love being by or on the sea, how much do we actually know about the world beneath the waves?

    In this follow-up to A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs, evolutionary biologist, Professor Ben Garrod, takes the listener on an oceanic journey from the beginning of life on Earth to the present day, discovering what the ocean actually is and why it’s so important in the evolutionary history of life.

    A Listen Entertainment production for Audible Originals.

    This is an Audible Original Podcast. You can download all 6 episodes to your Library now.
    ©2020 Audible, Ltd. (P)2020 Audible, Ltd.
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Episodes
  • Ep. 1: What Is the Ocean?

    Ep. 1: What Is the Ocean?
    Aug 10 2020

    A deceptively simple question....

    The series starts by answering a question: ‘What is the ocean?’

    We know it’s big, salty and wet but how did it get so big, why is it salty and why is it so important to life on earth? And what do we know about how these three things made the ocean the perfect place for the beginning of life itself? We meet the scientists studying the conditions in deep sea hydrothermal vents to find out where and how it all began.
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    33 mins
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  • Ep. 2: Evolutionary Explosions

    Ep. 2: Evolutionary Explosions
    Aug 10 2020

    How did we get from single celled organisms to the incredibly diverse ocean ecosystem we have today?

    After two billion years of painfully slow evolutionary change what happened to scramble the system and allow the earth to get messy with life? The answer again lies in the ocean. Ben finds out how changing conditions in the ocean allowed animals to evolve from their single celled origins to the huge diversity we see today, and meets some of the first weird and wonderful animals to roam the ocean bottom in Evolutionary Explosions.
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    31 mins
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  • Ep. 3: Rise of the Fishes

    Ep. 3: Rise of the Fishes
    Aug 10 2020

    During the Cambrian Explosion we find the first examples of every major animal group, including the line to which we belong - the vertebrates. In Rise of the Fishes Ben finds out more about our distant ancestors - the fish. Making up half of all living vertebrates, fish are the most successful backboned animals on the planet. And they are the group to which we owe the evolution of teeth, jaws, and even our limbs.
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    26 mins
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Biological Sciences Ecosystems & Habitats
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What listeners say about A Grown-Up Guide to Oceans

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Profile Image for DnTA

excellent introductory information

the narrator had a pleasant voice. the guest speakers clearly were knowledgeable in their fields. excellent introductory information regarding why the oceans need human intervention to change the waste we contribute. after the upbeat tone of the previous episodes, I would have liked to hear less about why humans are the problem and more about what humans can do (what not to buy or what to buy instead for example) to fix what we've done to the oceans. definitely worth a listen. especially useful is the details of how the ocean was during different time periods before the industrial era as a counterpoint to current state of the oceans

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Profile Image for Anonymous User

Great, albeit with a slightly misleading title.

Well, no, the title isn't THAT misleading. More like the concept as a whole. You read the title 'A Grown-Up Guide to Oceans', you see the cover filled with all manner of aquatic life and you think you're going to hear all about sharks, whales, jellyfish, coral reefs, the abyss, and all the rest of it. What you actually get is more of a grown-up guide to the origins of life on the planet, which just happened to start and develop in the oceans and thus it's considered a guide to the oceans.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed as I thought it was brilliantly done - reel upon reel of fascinating information delivered in simple words and an easy-to-listen-to fashion. It just wasn't exactly the fascinating information I expected to be listening to based on the cover and title of the podcast.

So all in all, if you want to hear about the origins of life in the oceans, some of the research that has gone into animal intelligence in sea creatures, and conservation efforts relating to preserving the oceans with regards to plastic and global warming, then go for it! It's brilliant!

But if you want to learn solely about the oceans and its life as they currently are, you won't find much of that here.

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Profile Image for Teal Vee

Doesn’t make me feel stupid

I listen, learn and enjoy the presentation. I also need Siri to tell me some of the words. Just enough to be interesting but not a master class. Love the narrator and his lighthearted way.

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Profile Image for Anonymous User

An awesome listen

It was easy to follow along the scientific lingo as things are well explained. Garrod manages to keep you focused and curious throughout the chapters. Also super relevant. All people should give a listen to the last chapter!

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Profile Image for Isabel Amarantino

To dream of fishes and waterworlds

I think it’s well-edited and because of that it’s very easy to follow. It has wonderfull ideas that were new to me! However, there are some visual concepts I can’t grasp only with descriptions (the animals I don’t know look so alien I can’t imagine them without an internet search and I don’t know how to spell the names to do it so...I lost those parts...) and that’s why I don’t give it a 5star review. But someone with a good imagination to picture strange fishes won’t have any problems I’m sure :)

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Profile Image for Andalusia

Fascinated

The ocean is my greatest fascination and combined with good storytelling, these podcasts are a water for my thirsty soul. I greatly enjoyed how it is presented in a non complicated manner.

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Profile Image for Montzalee Wittmann

Informative and interesting!

A Grown-up Guide to Oceans Audible Original
by Professor Ben Garrod
This covers lots of basics of the oceans in six easy pieces! Six interesting sections about 30 minutes long started about how life started in the ocean and how climate change and pollution in the ocean in the last lesson. Most adults know these things but it is great to hear it spelled out in an easy, interesting way.

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Profile Image for Ruth Crofts

This series has been great.

I have listened to all 3 of these grown up guides, oceans, planet and dinosaurs. very good. more please!

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Profile Image for Mani S.

One of the best on Audible podcasts

I am curious about science and try to keep myself informed about big ideas as a lay person. This really enriched my understanding by adding some current and recent research and findings to established knowledge. I love this show and I hope Prof Ben Garrod will continue with the series. What's next? Hopefully something like the deserts or mountains?

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Profile Image for Chris Kammer

Awesome & Informative

Great professor, who provides useful, actionable knowledge that reminds you of the importance of our oceans to life on Earth & our future.

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