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Plight of the Living Dead
- What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World - and Ourselves
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
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Publisher's Summary
A brain-bending exploration of real-life zombies and mind controllers and what they reveal to us about nature - and ourselves.
Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and moose - and even humans.
In Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control. Along the way, he visits a lab where scientists infect ants with zombifying fungi, joins the search for kamikaze crickets in the hills of New Mexico, and travels to Israel to meet the wasp that stings cockroaches in the brain before leading them to their doom.
Nothing Hollywood dreams up can match the brilliant, horrific zombies that natural selection has produced time and time again. Plight of the Living Dead is a surreal dive into a world that would be totally unbelievable if very smart scientists didn’t happen to be proving it’s real, and most troublingly - or maybe intriguingly - of all: how even we humans are affected.
Critic Reviews
"There's a creepy cheerfulness in [Narrator Holter] Graham's voice as he tells listeners how a jewel wasp takes over a roach to host its offspring, for example. It's both humorous and horrifying." (AudioFile)
“Burned out on human interaction? Consider zombies instead.... Matt Simon looks at zombification, brain-altering viruses and parasites, and the myriad ways mind control shows up in the natural world. It’s fun, weird, and fascinating.” (Outside Magazine)
“Spine-tingling... Faced with living (and undead) examples of unimaginable suffering, Simon questions the cruelty of nature, explores the way that mind-controlling viruses have ravaged human society, informs us that one in three humans is strolling around with a zombifying parasite right now, and nearly disproves the existence of free will along the way. It’s a fun read that will haunt you to your very core.” (Gizmodo)
“Surprisingly lively and lighthearted...Simon’s fascination is contagious.... [His] work is easily the most fun one could ever expect to have reading about the mind-controlling insects, insidious fungi, and parasites living alongside humanity.” (Publishers Weekly)
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What listeners say about Plight of the Living Dead
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Azura S
- 11-29-18
Real Life is Terrifying - Brilliant Book
Zombies are real and this book is full of them. No joke, we're talking the takeover of the brain by creatures of another species. It also completely negates the idea of free will. So, don't blame me when you can't sleep after reading this. I love science. This is a brilliant science text. Entertaining, terrifying and genuinely compelling. If they taught science like this in school, nobody would become an artist. Yes, buy this. Then buy it again and give it to a friend, whom you wish sleepless nights on.
2 people found this helpful
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- Chris Halliday
- 08-30-19
Fascinating and more than a little creepy
This is a riveting and highly accessible overview of nature’s incredible parasites and the many ways they can control the minds and behaviour of their hosts. It’s very icky but also fascinating, and viewed through the lens of the zombie movie, a lot of fun. Holster Graham’s reading captures the enthusiasm and passion of the author, making you feel like you’re at the world’s coolest TED Talk.
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Story
Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it's a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the gauge. In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects, seeing the world through their eyes as well as his own.
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An interesting look at stinging insects
- By Colin Mc on 04-13-17
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The Truth About Animals
- Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife
- By: Lucy Cooke
- Narrated by: Lucy Cooke
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Roach meets Sam Kean and Bill Bryson in this uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world. In The Truth About Animals, Lucy Cooke takes us on a worldwide journey to meet everyone from a Colombian hippo castrator to a Chinese panda porn peddler, all to lay bare the secret - and often hilarious - habits of the animal kingdom. Charming and at times downright weird, this modern bestiary is perfect for anyone who has ever suspected that virtue might be unnatural.
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Great listen, highly recommend
- By Thomas on 06-26-18
By: Lucy Cooke
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What's Eating You?
- People and Parasites
- By: Eugene H. Kaplan
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In What's Eating You? Eugene Kaplan recounts the true and harrowing tales of his adventures with parasites, and in the process introduces readers to the intimately interwoven lives of host and parasite.
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Squirm-inducing, horribly fascinating stories
- By Karin W. on 04-03-12
By: Eugene H. Kaplan
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Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
- By: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
- Narrated by: Nick Sagan, Ann Druyan, Clinnette Minnis
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits - self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics - are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.
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Excellent Production
- By Kitty on 09-11-17
By: Carl Sagan, and others
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Undeniable
- Evolution and the Science of Creation
- By: Bill Nye
- Narrated by: Bill Nye
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Sparked by a provocative comment to BigThink.com last fall, and fueled by a highly controversial debate with Creation Museum curator Ken Ham, Bill Nye's campaign to confront the scientific shortcoming of creationism has exploded in just a few months into a national crusade.
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Leasurly read for those who don't want equations
- By AxeanaB on 02-05-15
By: Bill Nye
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Never Home Alone
- From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live
- By: Rob Dunn
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone.
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The most astonishing book I've read this decade!
- By Paula on 04-17-19
By: Rob Dunn
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The Hidden Life of Trees
- What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World
- By: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known. In The Hidden Life of Trees, forester Peter Wohlleben puts groundbreaking scientific discoveries into a language everyone can relate to.
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Tree Hugger
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-19
By: Peter Wohlleben
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Amazingly Amusing A-Z Animal Facts for Kids (and Their Adults!)
- Wildlife Biology with a Humorous Twist!
- By: a Reluctant Mom
- Narrated by: Hilary Buuck
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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There are 1.371 million animal species on Earth, each with their own quirky characteristics. Keep listening to learn some bonkers and hysterical facts about a few of them! People won't protect things they don't love. People won't love things they don't know. Here's your kid's chance to get to know some awesome, amazing, and amusing animals! The world around us is fascinating, as is the wildlife in it. My goal is to inspire a love and respect for this planet that'll make the next generation socially and environmentally conscious and motivate them to protect the earth.
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Very Fun
- By Andrew Hudson on 05-03-22
By: a Reluctant Mom
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Empire of Ants
- The Hidden Worlds and Extraordinary Lives of Earth’s Tiny Conquerors
- By: Susanne Foitzik, Olaf Fritsche
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Ants number in the ten quadrillions, and they have been here since the Jurassic era. Inside an anthill, you'll find high drama worthy of a royal court; and between colonies, high-stakes geopolitical intrigue is afoot. Just like us, ants grow crops, raise livestock, tend their young and infirm, and make vaccines. And, just like us, ants have a dark side: They wage war, despoil environments, and enslave rivals - but also rebel against their oppressors.
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underrated
- By wolfe on 12-29-21
By: Susanne Foitzik, and others
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The Wonder of Birds
- What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future
- By: Jim Robbins
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.
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Stories about birds with something for everyone
- By D on 07-24-17
By: Jim Robbins
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Wicked Bugs
- The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Insects
- By: Amy Stewart
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this darkly comical look at the sinister side of our relationship with the natural world, Stewart has tracked down over one hundred of our worst entomological foes - creatures that infest, infect, and generally wreak havoc on human affairs. From the world's most painful hornet, to the flies that transmit deadly diseases, to millipedes that stop traffic, to the Japanese beetles munching on your roses, Wicked Bugs delves into the extraordinary powers of many-legged creatures
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bunch of little articles
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-01-11
By: Amy Stewart
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An Immense World
- How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
- By: Ed Yong
- Narrated by: Ed Yong
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us.
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If you’ve never read about the wonder of animal sensory capabilities this is for you
- By MediaBaron on 06-27-22
By: Ed Yong