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Masters of the Planet
- The Search for Our Human Origins
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special. Surveying a vast field from initial bipedality to language and intelligence, Tattersall argues that Homo sapiens acquired a winning combination of traits that was not the result of long-term evolutionary refinement. Instead, the final result emerged quickly, shocking our world and changing it forever.
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What listeners say about Masters of the Planet
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DB
- 11-23-20
Great Book, Some Sloppy Editing
Excellent book, and a good narrator. The issue here is with the editor: Edit out the "tisks!" It's such an easy thing to do, it's an easily identifiable waveform amd simple to cut out--it's mind boggling that whoever edited this audio just left those tisks and deep breaths in, as though it adds texture to the narration. It doesn't, it's just incredibly sloppy editing that is not the narrator's fault. I enjoyed his voice, perhaps a bit fast-paced, but good overall. And this book is phenomenal. I just had to point out that editing miss, thank you for indulging me.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Keith Seidel
- 01-14-21
Judge A Book By . . . 😙✨
‘How many time you back up’, just to find out what you may have missed the first time is the real gauge of its’ worth . Or perhaps in this case, backing up the second or even the third time demonstrates the real advantage to Audible. Also, Bob Souer’s voice— the narrator—is so easy to listen to it almost overshadows the book itself. I would gladly start this book over but what for—I’ve already listened to the best parts two times end more. Great book—if you’re hungry for human evolution but ever if you’re not, you need this information anyway.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Dustin
- 01-10-22
5 stars
Very well researched by extremely knowledgeable and passionate author. You will come to know, without him saying, why Ian Tattersall came to study evolutionary anthropology
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1 person found this helpful
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- BigWally
- 05-22-19
Wonderful book about the rise of Homo sapiens!
This is a beautifully written book about the origins of Homo sapiens by a preeminent authority in primatology and paleoanthropology, Ian Tattersall, who holds an Emeritus designation at the American Museum of Natural History. The book is written for a general audience.
I happened to visit the American Museum of Natural History recently and spied this book in their bookstore. I have a fascination about how our species, Homo sapiens, arose. Just who were our ancestors? This small volume will provide the reader with a number of answers. Obviously, there are gaps in our knowledge, but Mr. Tattersall offers his expert opinion when confronting the various options and paths ahead.
Ian Tattersall has written a remarkable book on a very deep subject. Just where did we come from? I had the feeling I was listening to listening to one of the finest professors in the world address this subject. I can recommend this book without reservation. I am most grateful that experts like Ian Tattersall are willing to write popular books and not limit their writings to scientific journals which are read by the same small group of experts! There are many of us "non-experts" who are interested in this subject and would like to know more from an acknowledged expert. I say "Bravo!" to Ian Tattersall.
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- Robert J.
- 09-27-23
Excellent Listen
I very much enjoyed the logical ordering the author took to explain the rise of Homo sapiens and the presentation by the narrator. I am firmly a non-scientist in terms of background knowledge but found the material interesting and accessible. This is a really nice read.
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- James H.
- 05-18-23
Excellent
I recommend this excellent audiobook for every thinking person. I comprehensively covers a wide range of information on human and primate evolution. Most enjoyable listening.
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- Nancy K. Merbitz
- 03-21-23
Out of date when it was written
Ian Tattersall present with too much of a 19th century wise man attitude. Too much opinion, too much reverence for all that he thinks makes Homo sapiens special. We have learned more about Neanderthals since 2013 so perhaps he can be excused for writing that they lacked symbolic thought and language, but even in 2013 we had the work of Frans de Waal and others regarding the problem solving skills of various animals (mammals and even birds) as well as their limited but real capacity for empathy and for anticipating the actions of other animals in their group. I finally got so annoyed I stopped the book. I’ll see if I can return it.
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- CBuk61
- 01-20-22
Refreshingly Detailed & Positive
Despite acknowledging the negative theories of who we are and where we’re going as a species, the author stays surprisingly optimistic about humanity and our ability to innovate into a limitless future.
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- Josh
- 11-23-19
Phenomenal
Truly puts the perspective of our species into perspective. A philosophical and scientific masterpiece.
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- R.G.
- 11-12-19
great book but too fast of an audio book
this is a great book. I specifically enjoyed the fact that the author only relies on the evidence and brimgs up conclusions as speculations rather than facts which some books do. my only problem with the audiobook was that given such scientifically heavy subject, it would have been easier to follow if read at a slower pace.
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- Paul
- 11-17-20
Decent exploration, unbalanced
The first half of the book is way too long, the second half, which would be more interesting a topic, and true to the books title, is rushed.
A huge amount of time is spend on our earliest ancestors. Digressions occur on the specifics of how rocks and fossils are dated etc, which don't help the overall purpose of the book. By the time discussion has moved to the Neanderthals, it has become a hurried affair. Neanderthal interbreeding with Homosapiens is brushed off with "well Ligers in South Carolina". It would be better to steelman other perspectives in paleoanthropology, and then challenge them, than to dismiss them off-hand.
Our acquisition of language, is the most fascinating topic, but only delved into in the last few chapters. The last 2 or 3 chapters read like a promising introduction to a book rather than the closing of a seminal publication. The narration speed is too fast, but that can be reduced in the player. The sentences are often long winded, something only exacerbated by the monotone narration.
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1 person found this helpful
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Paleontology
- A Brief History of Life
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
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Homo Sapiens Rediscovered
- The Scientific Revolution Rewriting Our Origins
- By: Paul Pettitt
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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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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A Good Overview
- By Brandon on 02-08-23
By: Paul Pettitt
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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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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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Life on a Young Planet
- The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
- By: Andrew H. Knoll
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites - such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty.
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The Earliest Life
- By Arden on 02-16-20
By: Andrew H. Knoll
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The Pleistocene Era
- The History of the Ice Age and the Dawn of Modern Humans
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Daniel Houle
- Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pleistocene spans a period from around 2.5 million years ago (mya) to just over 12,000 years ago, and it was an epoch of enormous change on Earth, mainly characterized by climate changes involving fluctuations between periods of extreme heat and long periods of glaciation. This period is commonly known as the Ice Age, despite the fact there were actually a number of separate periods of cold. The Pleistocene Era: The History of the Ice Age and the Dawn of Modern Humans looks at the development of the era, what life on Earth was like, and the origins of archaic humans.
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Meh
- By Sarah on 04-09-21
Related to this topic
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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.
-
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great summary of where we are with understanding
- By david on 06-25-11
By: Ian Tattersall
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The Neanderthals Rediscovered
- How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story (Revised and Updated Edition)
- By: Dimitra Papagianni, Michael A. Morse
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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In recent years, the common perception of the Neanderthals has been transformed, thanks to new discoveries and paradigm-shattering scientific innovations. It turns out that the Neanderthals' behavior was surprisingly modern: they buried the dead, cared for the sick, hunted large animals in their prime, harvested seafood, and communicated with spoken language. Meanwhile, advances in DNA technologies are compelling us to reassess the Neanderthals' place in our own past.
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Fascinating Subject... Soporific Reader
- By Andrew E. Yarosh on 11-21-17
By: Dimitra Papagianni, and others
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A Pocket History of Human Evolution
- How We Became Sapiens
- By: Silvana Condemi, Francois Savatier
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A Pocket History of Human Evolution brings us up-to-date on the exploits of all our ancient relatives. Paleoanthropologist Silvana Condemi and science journalist François Savatier consider what accelerated our evolution: Was it tools, our "large" brains, language, empathy, or something else entirely? And why are we the sole survivors among many early bipedal humans? Their conclusions reveal the various ways ancient humans live on today - from gossip as modern "grooming" to our gendered division of labor - and what the future might hold for our strange and unique species.
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Well presented and very informative.
- By Jim Griggs on 11-11-21
By: Silvana Condemi, and others
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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
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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.