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On the Origin of Species
- Narrated by: Bill DeWees
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Originally named On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, was first published in 1859. This scientific writing, which was considered to be the groundwork of evolutionary biology, presented the theory that species developed over a line of originations through a method of natural selection. It imparted evidence that the variety of life resulted from a common descent via a branching model of evolution. Darwin incorporated facts that he had collected on the Beagle mission in the 1830s and his succeeding findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.
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What listeners say about On the Origin of Species
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Barry L. Wolfe
- 11-11-11
This is the 1859 British edition.
This is the 1859 British edition, and as such it is the second best edition. The 1860 British edition is slightly better in that it contains some insignificant, but non-substantive, corrections. However, the 1860 British edition is probably not available as an audio book. The editions of 1861, 1866, 1869, and 1872 are all inferior. In them Darwin made changes and expansions in an effort to meet the objections that arose during those times. The modifications expanded the book and clouded the argument. Since most of the objections that were raised would be regarded as silly today, Darwin's arguments against them are of interest for social history, but not for Darwin's theory.
31 people found this helpful
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- Gary
- 05-13-13
Reads as well as any modern popular science book
I've probably listened to and rated over 15 books about evolution over the last two years, but I was always hesitant to read the granddaddy of them all. I should not have been and am glad I did for the following reasons,
1) The book reads as well as any of the good popular science books available on audible. It is written as if his attended audience is for a 13 year old. That's how good of a writer Darwin is.
2) I had obtained a google book version, but couldn't bring myself to read it, and I had obtained a free audio version floating around the net, but this audio version is professionally read and doesn't suffer at all from the narrator.
3) The book lays out a very complicated argument in 13 basically independent chapters. Each chapter by itself is enough to convince the listener of the fact of evolution by natural selection. The author is very smooth at telling you what he's going to tell you, then tell you, and then explain to you what he has just told you.
4) The book is a guidebook on how to lay out an argument and convince others to your viewpoint. He makes sure that he fairly presents criticism that could attack his theory and refutes it masterfully.
5) My favorite reason for having read this book is that my smugness index has gone up. When I come across people who haven't read the book and deny the scientific fact of evolution I can now say that I have listened to the book and smugly add statements like "even a thirteen year old can understand evolution, haven't you even read 'On the Origin of Species'".
10 people found this helpful
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- Dorene Kavanagh
- 09-23-12
Good science, embarrassed for the narrator
What made the experience of listening to On the Origin of Species the most enjoyable?
It is thrilling to consider Darwin's conclusions about life, without the benefit of knowing about DNA, epigenetics, gene linkage, Mendelian genetics, and so on. He was right about so many things.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The pigeons! Just kidding.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
He mispronounced so many words that I am embarrassed for him. There are word substitutions that make the somewhat challenging Victorian prose impossible. That someone can get paid for such unprofessional is a disappointment.
Any additional comments?
Surely there is a better reading of this book out there? Wouldn't it be cool if the most famous biologists would do a recording? One chapter by E. O. Wilson, another by that really nice Darwin scholar/Englishman at Harvard, obviously Dawkins, James Watson...
9 people found this helpful
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- Theo Tsourdalakis
- 11-26-12
DISAPOINTING (AND BORING)
I am highly interested in the Evolution topic and got this book to find the solid evidence behind Evolution. I as significantly disapointed.
I found it really really boring, it was a strugle to go through but I persevered.
The ""mountains of evidence" for Macro evolution that I was hoping to find was not there that I could figure out. I went through it a second time, but still I waded through tons of irrelevant detail but no real tangible evidence to prove the key Evolution assertion that our great ..... great grandfather was a self replicating molecule.
This book has significant historical significance - but I will stuffed if I can see why.
Frankly I am amazed how such a lame book has had the influence that it has.
3 people found this helpful
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- Red Diaper Baby
- 05-26-15
Very inadequate narrator
Having paid for an audiobook which is in the public domain and can be heard from volunteer readers on the web, I expected a really excellent narrator in this version. I feel quite cheated. The reader is passable when he understands what he is reading, but he is unfamiliar with nineteenth century British English and sometimes trips over things that differ from modern American.
More importantly, he is unfamiliar with biological terminology, which he often mispronounces. I was stimulated to write this review by an outrageous howler (which he did not repeat the next time the word occurred, to give him credit).
He read "quadruped" - not a particularly esoteric word - with two syllables, as "quad-roopt" Goodness knows what he was thinking! "I quadrupe, you quadrupe, he quadrupes. . . " What on earth would that mean?
As for the book itself, it is charming and informative, as I expected. Wish I could say the same for the narrator.
2 people found this helpful
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- Luna Fortuna
- 05-11-16
Get the abridged version.
First things first. This book has quite a few charts and pictures that are very handy when reading the paper copy, that just don't translate to a spoken format. It's at best boring and at worst confusing, and I have a degree in biology.
Not to mention, the original published text is over 150 years old. That's some seriously archaic language going on at times. Bill DeWees does a great job enunciating individual words, but the flow of the sentences is missing. The dude sounds like he's reading side effects off the back of a laxative box. Much of the meaning of the book is lost in translation. So just don't bother, and get the abridged copy.
1 person found this helpful
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- G.S. Muse
- 07-22-20
Dated, but good.
There are serious flaws in Darwin’s theory, including in the modern version. He makes a huge leap in logic, claiming that Natural Selection can explain the whole of what we see on Earth. But the onus is on him and his followers to prove such a claim, not on opponents to disprove it. To this day, there are many biologists who debate the validity of this claim.
That said, the way Darwin presents his argument is refreshing. He is usually tentative in his claims, and he urges readers to investigate all sides of this issue. Beyond that, he is very interesting to read as a naturalist. I especially liked his thoughts on migration and on how living things colonize new regions.
This book is an excellent read for anyone.
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- Thor
- 03-17-18
Great, but this is an abridged version!
I don't know how abridged, I just know they removed "by the creator" from the last poem of the book.
Which worries me, what else did they remove /edit?
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- Gianna Aiello
- 08-25-17
Needs Diagrams
The performance was great, but Audible should try to do attachments or something so you have the option to look at the diagrams it mentions.
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- David
- 06-20-16
Entertaining and informative
The narrator wasn't that great he mispronounced some words but other than that it was a great experience.
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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- or, The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The Origin of Species sold out on the first day of its publication in 1859. It is the major book of the 19th century and one of the most readable and accessible of the great revolutionary works of the scientific imagination. Though, in fact, little read, most people know what it says—at least they think they do. The Origin of Species was the first mature and persuasive work to explain how species change through the process of natural selection. Upon its publication, the book began to transform attitudes about society and religion.
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For aficionados only.
- By Ary Shalizi on 01-11-12
By: Charles Darwin
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The Origin of Species
- By: Charles Darwin
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most famous and influential books of its (or any) time, The Origin of Species is, surprisingly, little read. True enough, most people know what it says, or think they do, at any rate. The first comprehensive statement of the theory of natural selection, it does, indeed, provide the basic argument and demonstration of what we think of as Darwinism.
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Case is tedious
- By Suzanne McGaugh on 03-05-08
By: Charles Darwin
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Origins
- The Search for Our Prehistoric Past
- By: Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In Origins, Frank H. T. Rhodes explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. Rhodes argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies.
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poorly written overview of evolutionary biology
- By Corvin Rok on 09-06-20
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The Greatest Show on Earth
- The Evidence for Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The Greatest Show on Earth is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design," explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument". Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence: from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics.
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Back to His Strong Suit
- By Dalton on 09-23-09
By: Richard Dawkins
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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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The Ancestor's Tale
- A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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In The Ancestor's Tale, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey, Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and riveting in its telling.
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Please do an unabridged version!
- By MovieExpertise on 09-29-16
By: Richard Dawkins
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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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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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As great as everyone says it is
- By Joseph on 12-01-10
By: Jerry A. Coyne
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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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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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Too much minutiae, please get to the point already!
- By D. Hellmann on 07-22-17
By: Henry Gee
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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.
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Very good but has some weaknesses
- By Anonymous User on 06-23-19
By: Brian Switek
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Charles Darwin
- Destroyer of Myths
- By: Andrew Norman
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Charles Darwin did not deliberately set out to be the destroyer of mythical beliefs,” some of which, in his early days as a young Christian, he had previously espoused. He was a modest man who liked to avoid controversy of any kind, yet paradoxically, he was to be the cause of the greatest controversy in the history of science and religion.When Darwin embarked on the HMS Beagle in late December 1831, bound for the southern hemisphere, he could not have imagined that the experience would lead him to formulate a theory that would totally revolutionize the way in which we viewed the natural world.
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Really enjoyed the first part, but.....really?
- By Bonnie P. Harris on 04-22-18
By: Andrew Norman
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Improbable Destinies
- Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution
- By: Jonathan B. Losos
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos' insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.
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Too much trivia.
- By Anthony W. Shallin on 07-08-18
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The Making of the Fittest
- DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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DNA is the genetic material that defines us as individuals. Over the last two decades, it has emerged as a powerful tool for solving crimes and determining guilt and innocence. But, very recently, an important new aspect of DNA has been revealed: it contains a detailed record of evolution. That is, DNA is a living chronicle of how the marvelous creatures that inhabit our planet have adapted to its many environments, from the freezing waters of the Antarctic to the lush canopy of the rain forest.
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Be prepared...
- By RVT3 on 09-22-07
By: Sean B. Carroll