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Feathers
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Delightfully simplistic!
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Good, but not comparable to Braiding Sweetgrass
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The Triumph of Seeds
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-
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We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life, supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and the humble peppercorn drove the Age of Discovery, so did coffee beans help fuel the Enlightenment and cottonseed help spark the Industrial Revolution. And from the fall of Rome to the Arab Spring, the fate of nations continues to hinge on the seeds of a Middle Eastern grass known as wheat.
-
-
Delightfully simplistic!
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-
Buzz
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- By: Thor Hanson
- Narrated by: Brant Pope
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bees are like oxygen: ubiquitous, essential, and, for the most part, unseen. While we might overlook them, they lie at the heart of relationships that bind the human and natural worlds. In Buzz, the beloved Thor Hanson takes us on a journey that begins 125 million years ago, when a wasp first dared to feed pollen to its young. From honeybees and bumbles to lesser-known diggers, miners, leafcutters, and masons, bees have long been central to our harvests, our mythologies, and our very existence. They've given us sweetness and light, the beauty of flowers, and as much as a third of the foodstuffs we eat. And, alarmingly, they are at risk of disappearing.
-
-
Not just honeybees!
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-
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- Narrated by: Emily Durante
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before there were mammals on land, there were dinosaurs. And before there were fish in the sea, there were cephalopods - the ancestors of modern squid and Earth's first truly substantial animals. Cephalopods became the first creatures to rise from the seafloor, essentially inventing the act of swimming. With dozens of tentacles and formidable shells, they presided over an undersea empire for millions of years. But when fish evolved jaws, the ocean's former top predator became its most delicious snack. Cephalopods had to step up their game.
-
-
Cephalopod Paleontology
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-
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
- A New History of a Lost World
- By: Steve Brusatte
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this stunning narrative spanning more than 200 million years, Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field - discovering 10 new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork - masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy.
-
-
so surprised -- I loved it!!
- By steph on 10-01-18
-
The Genius of Birds
- By: Jennifer Ackerman
- Narrated by: Margaret Strom
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, according to revolutionary new research, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have enormous brains relative to their size. Although small, bird brains are packed with neurons that allow them to punch well above their weight.
-
-
What a disappointment!
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Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites listeners to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.
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Good, but not comparable to Braiding Sweetgrass
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What is it like to be a swift, flying at over one hundred kilometres an hour? Or a kiwi, plodding flightlessly among the humid undergrowth in the pitch dark of a New Zealand night? And what is going on inside the head of a nightingale as it sings, and how does its brain improvise? Bird Sense addresses questions like these and many more, by describing the senses of birds that enable them to interpret their environment and to interact with each other.
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Are You A Serious Birdwatcher?
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So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it. The fine balance of nature, the trade of salt as a currency of many nations and empires, the theme of a popular Shakespearean play... Salt is best selling author Mark Kurlansky's story of the only rock we eat.
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More than SALT
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The story of poison is the story of power. For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns, and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family's spoons, tried on their underpants, and tested their chamber pots. Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications, and filthy living conditions.
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Relieved and surprised
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Most interesting, well narrated
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Quammen at his usual best
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wow. love this book! informative, engaging,
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Publisher's Summary
Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: Aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told.
In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?
Engineers call feathers the most efficient insulating material ever discovered, and they are at the root of biology's most enduring debate. They silence the flight of owls and keep penguins dry below the ice. They have decorated queens, jesters, and priests. And they have inked documents from the Constitution to the novels of Jane Austen.
Feathers is a captivating and beautiful exploration of this most enchanting object.
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- Chris Reich
- Northern, CA
- 12-28-14
Fantastic Science and Fun
If you enjoy science books, you are sure to enjoy this book. It is a well structured book with a good balance of history, science and personal quest. It is not overly technical nor is it watered down.
A book that motivates me to want to know more about a given subject is a winner. Now I want to know more about feathers! I bought the print book to have as reference.
This book by far soars above the books written by non-scientist columnists. I really dislike most of those "I was curious about ---- so I decided to write a book" type science books. I like my science to come from someone who knows what they are talking about and not just a compilation of quotes from 'research'. This book is the real deal.
This goes on the highly recommend list if you like science.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
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- Patricia
- 01-02-15
Book alive but reader dead`
Would you consider the audio edition of Feathers to be better than the print version?
Not unless it was reproduced with another reader who possessed some animation.
What did you like best about this story?
It's fortunate the author was so articulate and I was able to enjoy the book despite the reader. I would recommend the book but not in the audible form with this reader.
How could the performance have been better?
A computer would have been more animated, If the reader couldn't get into the material why did he agree to the project?
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I found it very informative and the author easily related to his audience as equals. And, yes, despite this being a scientific presentation the author injected some humor and I had a few laughs.
Any additional comments?
This was the most robotic reading I have ever heard and Andy Ingalls has been added to my very short list of readers I will not ever listen to again. There should be some kind of quality control to prevent this. Only the author's superb presentation saved the audible format and led me to finish the book and keep it for further reference
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
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- Caille
- 08-04-16
Love the content!
What did you love best about Feathers?
I did love the subject and content of this book. After Sharing space with lovebirds, I think everything about feathers is fascinating.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
I did not care for the narration at all. It was monotonous, and there were mispronounced words. I had to listen to the book three times before I got all the way through the content. I will buy the hardcover, and I will not buy any more books by this narrator.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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- Corrine
- 03-16-16
Great book, narrator did a great disservice
This book is fascinating but putting up with the narrator's over enunciation and unbelievably slow speech pattern hugely distracted from how special the content is. I guess I'm spoiled by audible's typically fabulous narrators. Missed it by a long shot on this one. If you love birds and feathers this book is a must read. But read it. Don't try to listen.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- Euryleia
- Fountain Valley, CA United States
- 03-23-18
Good Book, Bad Narration
Interesting, informative without going too far beyond a non-specialists's understanding of science, and written in an accessible manner. You get the feeling that you'd kinda like to be friends with someone like the author, even though you'd be late to everything because he'd get distracted by ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS! Unfortunately, the narration of the audio is oddly enunciated and almost monotone. I had to speed it up 1.75x to get through it (thank goodness for that function), and if this had been my first Thor Hansen book, I would not have picked out another.
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- Brett Gilbert
- Long Island, NY
- 03-22-18
Great book; cheesy accents.
I liked this book a lot and would recommend it to any bird or science enthusiast, though I wish narrators would drop the accents when they quote others.
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- Monk
- 08-03-17
great story.
I learned a lot. It wet my appetite for more. I'll look at my feathered with more appreciation than ever. :-).
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- Jon M. Wilson
- Jacksonville, FL USA
- 05-03-16
Interesting
An unusual topic and organization. Overall- an entertaining read. I would recommend-- both a history of the natural and cultural of the feather.
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- Spring
- 08-29-15
Fascinating Feathers
Would you listen to Feathers again? Why?
Yes. I liked Feathers so much that I bought a hard copy to share with friends who do not listen to recorded books.
What other book might you compare Feathers to and why?
Feathers is well written, entertaining and interesting. I also loved The Last Ape Standing and bought three signed hard copies to give to friends who do not listen to audio books.
What about Andy Ingalls’s performance did you like?
Andy Ingalla's performance was excellent. He has an inflection style that keeps your attention without overshadowing the information in the book.
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- floh
- 05-28-15
Feathers
This is a very interesting and enjoyable book. Absolutely no hesitation recommending it to others. The actual book has pictures that unfortunately are lost in the audible version.