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Mutants
- On Genetic Variety and the Human Body
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
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Providing a cover for our delicate and intricate bodies, the skin is our largest and fastest-growing organ. We see it, touch it, and live in it every day. It is a habitat for a mesmerizingly complex world of micro-organisms and physical functions that are vital to our health and our survival. It is also a waste removal plant, a warning system for underlying disease and a dynamic immune barrier to infection. One of the first things people see about us, skin is crucial to our sense of identity, providing us with social significance and psychological meaning.
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Publisher's Summary
Stepping effortlessly from myth to cutting-edge science, Mutants gives a brilliant narrative account of our genetic code and the captivating people whose bodies have revealed it - a French convent girl who found herself changing sex at puberty; children who, echoing Homer's Cyclops, are born with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads; a village of long-lived Croatian dwarves; one family, whose bodies were entirely covered with hair, was kept at the Burmese royal court for four generations and gave Darwin one of his keenest insights into heredity.
This elegant, humane, and engaging book "captures what we know of the development of what makes us human" (Nature).
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 614
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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5 out of 5 stars
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I wish this book was in American high schools.
- By melody sheldon on 03-31-19
By: Adam Rutherford
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The Book of Humans
- A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Adam Rutherford
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 159
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 158
Evolutionary theory has long established that humans are animals: Modern Homo sapiens are primates who share an ancestor with monkeys and other great apes. Our genome is 98 percent identical to a chimpanzee's. And yet we think of ourselves as exceptional. Are we? In this original and entertaining tour of life on Earth, Adam Rutherford explores the profound paradox of the "human animal".
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2 out of 5 stars
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Scattered and anecdotal
- By Fred271 on 09-29-19
By: Adam Rutherford
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Human Errors
- A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes
- By: Nathan H. Lents
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,200
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,947
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,941
We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often - 200 times more often than a dog does? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake. As professor of biology Nathan H. Lents explains in Human Errors, our evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last.
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4 out of 5 stars
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From Pointless Bones to Broken Genes to...Aliens?
- By Katy.LED on 12-04-18
By: Nathan H. Lents
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Close Encounters with Humankind
- A Paleoanthropologist Investigates Our Evolving Species
- By: Sang-Hee Lee, Shin-Young Yoon
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
What can fossilized teeth tell us about our ancient life expectancy? What can big data on fossils reveal about farming's problematic role in human evolution? How can simple geometric comparisons of skull and pelvic fossils suggest an origin to our social nature? In Close Encounters with Humankind, paleoanthropologist Sang-Hee Lee explores some of our biggest evolutionary questions from unexpected new angles. Through a series of entertaining, bite-sized chapters, we gain new perspectives into our first hominin ancestors, our first steps on two feet, and more.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A different perspective of human ancestry
- By John on 09-15-18
By: Sang-Hee Lee, and others
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The Accidental Species
- Misunderstandings of Human Evolution
- By: Henry Gee
- Narrated by: Martin Dew
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
The idea of a missing link between humanity and our animal ancestors predates evolution and popular science and actually has religious roots in the deist concept of the Great Chain of Being. Yet, the metaphor has lodged itself in the contemporary imagination, and new fossil discoveries are often hailed in headlines as revealing the elusive transitional step, the moment when we stopped being "animal" and started being "human". In The Accidental Species, Henry Gee, longtime paleontology editor at Nature, takes aim at this misleading notion.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Too much minutiae, please get to the point already!
- By D. Hellmann on 07-22-17
By: Henry Gee
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Why Evolution Is True
- By: Jerry A. Coyne
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,903
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,419
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,415
Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact. In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design", there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned: the evidence, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection.
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5 out of 5 stars
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As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
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The Better Half
- On the Genetic Superiority of Women
- By: Dr. Sharon Moalem MD PhD
- Narrated by: Dr. Sharon Moalem MD PhD
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story5 out of 5 stars 36
Here are some facts: Women live longer than men. They have stronger immune systems. They're better at fighting cancer and surviving famine, and even see the world in a wider variety of colors. They are simply stronger than men at every stage of life. Why is this? And why are we taught the opposite? To find out, Dr. Sharon Moalem drew on his own medical experiences - treating premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit; recruiting the elderly for neurogenetic studies; and more - and tried to understand why in every instance men were consistently less likely to thrive.
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5 out of 5 stars
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very good
- By Anabelle Cardona on 04-16-22
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The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,192
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,226
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,180
Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body - how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted."
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must Read for the Sheer Fun of It
- By J.B. on 10-16-19
By: Bill Bryson
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Sex, Time, and Power
- How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story5 out of 5 stars 33
Sex, Time, and Power offers a tantalizing answer to an age-old question: Why did big-brained Homo sapiens suddenly emerge some 150,000 years ago? The key, according to Shlain, is female sexuality. Drawing on an awesome breadth of research, he shows how, long ago, the narrowness of the newly bipedal human female's pelvis and the increasing size of infants' heads precipitated a crisis for the species. Natural selection allowed for reconfiguration of hormonal cycles, entraining women with the periodicity of the moon - and imbuing women with the concept of time.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Interesting conjecture
- By DJKPP on 10-15-20
By: Leonard Shlain
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The Gene
- An Intimate History
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,779
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,084
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,036
The extraordinary Siddhartha Mukherjee has written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices.
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5 out of 5 stars
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It's a Wonderful Book
- By JKC on 06-02-16
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How Sex Works
- By: Sharon Moalem
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 194
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4 out of 5 stars 131
Can twins have different fathers? From the composition and function of human sex organs to the fascinating biochemistry behind sexual attraction, How Sex Works presents captivating new ideas and surprising answers to questions about contraception, fertility, circumcision, menopause, STDs, homosexuality, orgasms, and more. This is an entertaining, comprehensive exploration of culture, biology, and history that takes us far beyond our common understanding of sex.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An interesting and easy listen
- By colleen on 06-15-12
By: Sharon Moalem
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The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries
- The Evidence and the People Who Found It
- By: Donald R. Prothero
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story5 out of 5 stars 61
The theory of evolution unites the past, present, and future of living things. It puts humanity's place in the universe into necessary perspective. Despite a history of controversy, the evidence for evolution continues to accumulate as a result of many separate strands of incredible scientific sleuthing. In The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries, Donald R. Prothero explores the most fascinating breakthroughs in piecing together the evidence for evolution.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good synopsis of current understanding
- By Nunya on 05-28-23
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Some Assembly Required
- Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA
- By: Neil Shubin
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 285
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 239
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 239
Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Interesting but thin. ANNOYING narration
- By MSB on 04-10-20
By: Neil Shubin
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I, Mammal
- By: Liam Drew
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story5 out of 5 stars 20
A list of the attributes that define a mammal is a ragbag of things - fur, live birth, three bones in the middle ear, a brain whose two halves are robustly joined together.... But this curious collection of features contain the roots of all the biology that makes us what we are: monkeys with massive brains who parent extensively, enjoy sport and think lots. Which is to say, what makes us mammals makes us human.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Who knew?
- By Fitmen on 04-25-18
By: Liam Drew
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Phallacy
- Life Lessons from the Animal Penis
- By: Emily Willingham
- Narrated by: Emily Willingham
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4 out of 5 stars 39
The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating audiobook reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis - or the human attached to it - to have the upper...hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature's more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Feminist Cry
- By jb on 11-07-20
By: Emily Willingham
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Evolving Ourselves
- How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth
- By: Juan Enriquez, Steve Gullans
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 180
Why are conditions like autism, asthma, obesity, and allergies exploding at unprecedented rates? Why are we living longer, getting smarter, having far fewer kids? If Darwin were alive today, how would he explain this new world?
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5 out of 5 stars
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fascinating ideas and science
- By Joel on 07-04-15
By: Juan Enriquez, and others
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River out of Eden
- A Darwinian View of Life
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 310
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 263
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 260
How did the replication bomb we call "life" begin, and where in the world, or rather, in the universe, is it heading? Writing with characteristic wit and an ability to clarify complex phenomena (the New York Times described his style as "[T]he sort of science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius"), Richard Dawkins confronts this ancient mystery.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it
- By Jeff P on 09-19-20
By: Richard Dawkins