Fact or Fiction
Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths
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Fact or Fiction
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Narrated by:
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Janet Metzger
About this listen
Did NASA really spend millions creating a pen that would write in space? Is chocolate poisonous to dogs? Does stress cause gray hair?
These questions are a sample of the urban lore investigated in this audiobook, Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths. Drawing from Scientific American’s “Fact or Fiction” and “Strange but True” columns, we’ve selected 58 of the most surprising, fascinating, useful, and just plain wacky topics confronted by our writers over the years.
©2017 Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. Scientific American is a registered trademark of Nature America, Inc. (P)2020 Blackstone PublishingRelated to this topic
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- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 63
In this collection of true, quirky history, Steve Silverman provides fascinating tales to astonish and entertain. Covering a wide variety of topics, these stories that have been lost to history highlight the quirks, complexities, and curious nature of our species.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good stories
- By Tyler on 10-21-24
By: Steve Silverman
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Worst Ideas Ever
- A Celebration of Embarrassment
- By: Daniel Kline, Jason Tomaszewski
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3 out of 5 stars 1,074
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 967
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Story3 out of 5 stars 965
From memorable disasters such as New Coke, the XFL, and Tiger Woods’ marriage to less-remembered failures such as Yugo, Cop Rock, and Microsoft’s BOB, Worst Ideas Ever revisits history’s biggest blunders. Whether it’s a pop culture failure or a political one, Worst Ideas Ever uncovers the ridiculous stories behind mistakes so huge, you’ll have to constantly remind yourself that they actually happened.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Wears out quickly
- By Sara on 04-28-14
By: Daniel Kline, and others
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Evolution
- The Human Odyssey
- By: Scientific American
- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 153
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 130
In this audiobook, The Human Odyssey, we explore the evolution of those characteristics that make us human. The first section looks at our family tree and why some branches survived and not others. Swings in climate are emerging as a factor in what traits succeeded and failed; meanwhile, DNA analyses show that Homo sapiens interbred with other human species, which played a key role in our survival.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great selection of human evolution articles (2016)
- By Sulpicia on 11-13-20
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Inconvenient Facts
- The Science That Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know
- By: Gregory Wrightstone
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 804
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 712
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 709
Gregory Wrightstone presents the science to assess the basis of the threatening Thermageddon with 60 "inconvenient facts" from government sources, peer-reviewed literature, or scholarly works. The information will likely challenge your current understanding of many apocalyptic predictions about about our ever dynamic climate, and the very framework of the climate-catastrophe argument will be confronted with scientific fact.
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1 out of 5 stars
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the manifesto of a flailing oil man
- By Megan on 11-30-20
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Ask the Experts: Physics and Math
- The Ask the Experts Series, Book 1
- By: Scientific American
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
For going on two decades, Scientific American’s “Ask the Experts” column has been answering reader questions on all fields of science. We’ve taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to top scientists, professors, and researchers to find out why the sky is blue or whether we really only use 10 percent of our brains. Now, we’ve combed through our archives and have compiled some of the most interesting questions (and answers) into a series of books.
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5 out of 5 stars
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enlightening
- By DnTA on 02-07-23
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Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters
- Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World Forever
- By: Jared Knott
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4 out of 5 stars 43
How often does a single tiny mistake cause an entire civilization to collapse? More often than you think! Listeners of Jared Knott’s book Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters will be amazed at the little things that changed history in a big way.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very, very interesting facts
- By dexter on 11-02-21
By: Jared Knott
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How to Speak Science
- Gravity, Relativity, and Other Ideas That Were Crazy Until Proven Brilliant
- By: Bruce Benamran, Stephanie Delozier Strobel
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 219
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 196
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 192
As smartphones, supercomputers, supercolliders, and AI propel us into an ever more unfamiliar future, How to Speak Science takes us on a rollicking historical tour of the greatest discoveries and ideas that make today's cutting-edge technologies possible. Wanting everyone to be able to "speak" science, YouTube science guru Bruce Benamran explains - as accessibly and wittily as in his acclaimed videos - the fundamental ideas of the physical world: matter, life, the solar system, light, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, and much more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wowzers!
- By Ralph Temblador on 02-15-21
By: Bruce Benamran, and others
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You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News
- Shocking but Utterly True Facts
- By: Cracked.com
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,204
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,098
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,094
You're going to wish you never got this audiobook. Some facts are too terrifying to teach in school. Unfortunately, Cracked.com is more than happy to fill you in. Think you're going to choose whether or not to buy this book? Scientists say your brain secretly makes all your decisions 10 seconds before you even know what they are.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Buenas fabulas de humor
- By Cynthia on 10-27-14
By: Cracked.com
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The Story Behind
- The Extraordinary History Behind Ordinary Objects
- By: Emily Prokop
- Narrated by: Emily Prokop
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4 out of 5 stars 15
Many of us learn about the major inventions that shape our world. But we too often overlook the objects we use every day. In The Story Behind, Emily Prokop, creator of the Webby Award nominated podcast, explores the who, how, and huh? of everything from Band-Aids to bubble gum; hypnosis to Hula Hoops; and lullabies to lead pipes. Along the way, she demonstrates how the major events of history - from wars, plagues and revolutions to historic achievements and discoveries - have influenced some of the world’s most pervasive inventions.
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2 out of 5 stars
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One third of the book is repeated after initial description of subject under “TLDR” ..?
- By Dogs Land on 03-25-24
By: Emily Prokop
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A Million Years in a Day
- A Curious History of Everyday Life from the Stone Age to the Phone Age
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4 out of 5 stars 83
Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A Million Years in a Day reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Super interesting!
- By Brandon on 07-07-16
By: Greg Jenner
What listeners say about Fact or Fiction
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 12-31-23
A fun romp thru lighter weight topics
There is real science here, albeit on less serious yet still fun and interesting subjects. A pleasing pastime.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- renae bushman
- 01-24-23
References
The data shared in this book is supported by references at least 15 years old. It made me wonder what has been discovered since that time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dominique & Chuck Larntz
- 03-22-23
Oldies but goodies
I liked this for light audio reading even though it is older reporting on research. Sometimes I need to listen to snippets of something instead of follow a long plot and this was a good title to go back to for that. Only a few pop culture mythbuster questions felt entirely out of date because this is a prepandemic book :)
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Stephen R. Bolin
- 02-04-24
Out of date
Says it was released in 2020. What I didn’t realize was that it was written in 2007. Some of the material is now grossly out of date.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jim
- 03-19-24
funny
dated but good listen if you need something to listen to in the car.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- J. L. Smith
- 09-14-24
Fun!
Enjoyed this book of science trivia, but the information in it dates from 2005 to 2013, so evaluate it accordingly.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Snow T.
- 01-28-23
Meh
boring, anecdotal, shallow, often unscientific, obnoxious, and not worth finishing. But that's just my opinion.
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