Fit for a Purpose
Does the Anthropic Principle Include Biochemistry?
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Fit for a Purpose
Buy for $19.20
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Lance Smith
-
By:
-
Fazale Rana
About this listen
Blaze a new trail of discovery in biochemistry.
Nearly a half a century after the introduction of the idea that humanity lives in a universe at the just-right location, the just-right time, and with the just-right physical constants, the anthropic principle continues to gain acceptance among astronomers and astrophysicists.
Few scientists question the fine-tuning of the numerical quantities that define the universe. But what about the unexplored areas of chemistry and biochemistry? Do we witness an equal amount of evidence for fine-tuning?
In Fit for a Purpose, biochemist Fazale Rana fearlessly pushes the boundaries of the anthropic principle beyond cosmology. In the process, Rana invites the listener to discover the world of chemical and biochemical fine-tuning, as well as to contemplate this question: If the universe is fit for life, and biochemical systems are fit for their role in life, is it possible that everything is “fit for a purpose”?
©2021 Fazale Rana (P)2021 One AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Designed to the Core
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 22
Are you up for a trip through the ultimate neighborhood? Join astrophysicist Hugh Ross for an insider’s look at our cosmic neighborhood, where you’ll see everything from the largest-scale structure of the universe to Earth’s innermost layers. In Designed to the Core, Ross explains how the most sophisticated scientific instruments reveal exquisite “interior designs” throughout the universe that are ideally suited for human habitation here on Earth right now.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Impressive
- By Bob 2.0 on 12-13-23
By: Hugh Ross
-
Humans 2.0
- Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives on Transhumanism
- By: Fazale Rana, Kenneth R. Samples
- Narrated by: Lance Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5
Unprecedented developments in bioengineering, biotechnology, and biomedicine breakthroughs that could improve the lives of people with debilitating diseases and injuries can also serve as stepping-stones to technologies that can enhance human beings and alter human nature, raising fears about how biotechnologies could be misused.
By: Fazale Rana, and others
-
The Creator and the Cosmos
- How the Latest Scientific Discoveries Reveal God
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Whether you are skeptical of God's existence or seeking scientific support for your faith, The Creator and the Cosmos will enable you to see how the heavens do declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I'm a skeptic.
- By Ryan on 09-12-22
By: Hugh Ross
-
Darwin's Doubt
- The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design
- By: Stephen C. Meyer
- Narrated by: Derek Shetterly
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 568
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 492
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 493
When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the "Cambrian explosion", many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin's Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
A Black Mirror version of science
- By Justin M on 11-28-17
By: Stephen C. Meyer
-
Improbable Planet
- How Earth Became Humanity's Home
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 181
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 177
Most of us remember the basics from science classes about how Earth came to be the only known planet that sustains complex life. But what most people don't know is that the more thoroughly researchers investigate the history of our planet, the more astonishing the story of our existence becomes. The number and complexity of the astronomical, geological, chemical, and biological features recognized as essential to human existence have expanded explosively within the past decade.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful Teaching of Complex requirements for Lif
- By Eric on 09-29-17
By: Hugh Ross
-
Just Six Numbers
- The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe
- By: Martin J. Rees
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
There are deep connections between stars and atoms, between the cosmos and the microworld. Just six numbers, imprinted in the "Big Bang", determine the essential features of our entire physical world. Moreover, cosmic evolution is astonishingly sensitive to the values of these numbers. If any one of them were "untuned", there could be no stars and no life. This realization offers a radically new perspective on our universe, our place in it, and the nature of physical laws.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Old Fine-Tuning Book
- By Michael on 12-16-18
By: Martin J. Rees
-
Designed to the Core
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 22
Are you up for a trip through the ultimate neighborhood? Join astrophysicist Hugh Ross for an insider’s look at our cosmic neighborhood, where you’ll see everything from the largest-scale structure of the universe to Earth’s innermost layers. In Designed to the Core, Ross explains how the most sophisticated scientific instruments reveal exquisite “interior designs” throughout the universe that are ideally suited for human habitation here on Earth right now.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Impressive
- By Bob 2.0 on 12-13-23
By: Hugh Ross
-
Humans 2.0
- Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives on Transhumanism
- By: Fazale Rana, Kenneth R. Samples
- Narrated by: Lance Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 5
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5
Unprecedented developments in bioengineering, biotechnology, and biomedicine breakthroughs that could improve the lives of people with debilitating diseases and injuries can also serve as stepping-stones to technologies that can enhance human beings and alter human nature, raising fears about how biotechnologies could be misused.
By: Fazale Rana, and others
-
The Creator and the Cosmos
- How the Latest Scientific Discoveries Reveal God
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Whether you are skeptical of God's existence or seeking scientific support for your faith, The Creator and the Cosmos will enable you to see how the heavens do declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I'm a skeptic.
- By Ryan on 09-12-22
By: Hugh Ross
-
Darwin's Doubt
- The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design
- By: Stephen C. Meyer
- Narrated by: Derek Shetterly
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 568
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 492
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 493
When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the "Cambrian explosion", many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin's Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
A Black Mirror version of science
- By Justin M on 11-28-17
By: Stephen C. Meyer
-
Improbable Planet
- How Earth Became Humanity's Home
- By: Hugh Ross
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 205
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 181
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 177
Most of us remember the basics from science classes about how Earth came to be the only known planet that sustains complex life. But what most people don't know is that the more thoroughly researchers investigate the history of our planet, the more astonishing the story of our existence becomes. The number and complexity of the astronomical, geological, chemical, and biological features recognized as essential to human existence have expanded explosively within the past decade.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful Teaching of Complex requirements for Lif
- By Eric on 09-29-17
By: Hugh Ross
-
Just Six Numbers
- The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe
- By: Martin J. Rees
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
There are deep connections between stars and atoms, between the cosmos and the microworld. Just six numbers, imprinted in the "Big Bang", determine the essential features of our entire physical world. Moreover, cosmic evolution is astonishingly sensitive to the values of these numbers. If any one of them were "untuned", there could be no stars and no life. This realization offers a radically new perspective on our universe, our place in it, and the nature of physical laws.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Old Fine-Tuning Book
- By Michael on 12-16-18
By: Martin J. Rees
-
Unsettled
- What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters
- By: Steven E. Koonin
- Narrated by: Jay Aaseng
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,192
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,025
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,014
When it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is settled." In reality, the long game of telephone from research to reports to the popular media is corrupted by misunderstanding and misinformation. Core questions - about the way the climate is responding to our influence, and what the impacts will be - remain largely unanswered. The climate is changing, but the why and how aren't as clear as you've probably been led to believe.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent science based
- By Russ on 05-08-21
By: Steven E. Koonin
-
The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith
- Exploring the Ultimate Questions About Life and the Cosmos
- By: William A. Dembski, Casey Luskin, Joseph M. Holden, and others
- Narrated by: William Sarris
- Length: 30 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 30
Science and Christianity are often presented as opposites, when in fact the order of the universe and the complexity of life powerfully testify to intelligent design. With this comprehensive resource that includes the latest research, you'll witness how the findings of scientists provide compelling reasons to acknowledge the mind and presence of a creator.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best book on this topic
- By Mendy on 05-25-22
By: William A. Dembski, and others
-
Return of the God Hypothesis
- Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
- By: Stephen C. Meyer
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 759
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 662
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 657
The New York Times best-selling author of Darwin’s Doubt presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Wonderful Culmination of Dr. Meyer’s Work
- By Trevor Rolls on 03-31-21
By: Stephen C. Meyer
-
Darwin Devolves
- The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution
- By: Michael J. Behe
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 299
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 266
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 263
The scientist who has been dubbed the “Father of Intelligent Design” and author of the groundbreaking book Darwin’s Black Box contends that recent scientific discoveries further disprove Darwinism and strengthen the case for an intelligent creator.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
No Nobel Prize Here!
- By Marian on 04-22-19
By: Michael J. Behe
-
First Life: Discovering the Connections between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began
- By: David Deamer
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 47
This pathbreaking book explores how life can begin, taking us from cosmic clouds of stardust, to volcanoes on Earth, to the modern chemistry laboratory. Seeking to understand life's connection to the stars, David Deamer introduces astrobiology, a new scientific discipline that studies the origin and evolution of life on Earth and relates it to the birth and death of stars, planet formation, interfaces between minerals, water, and atmosphere, and the physics and chemistry of carbon compounds.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not for the faint of heart
- By Gary on 03-30-13
By: David Deamer
-
Chemistry and Our Universe
- How It All Works
- By: Ron B. Davis, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Ron B. Davis
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 517
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 410
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 406
Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught through 60 engaging half-hour lectures that are suitable for any background or none at all. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great Professor, Hard to Follow.
- By Jen on 05-14-19
By: Ron B. Davis, and others
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,041
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
The Singularity Is Near
- When Humans Transcend Biology
- By: Ray Kurzweil
- Narrated by: George Wilson
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 439
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 349
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 350
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: The union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
RUINED audio.
- By Fred on 06-25-21
By: Ray Kurzweil
-
God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?
- By: John C. Lennox
- Narrated by: William Crockett
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 173
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 142
If we are to believe many modern commentators, science has squeezed God into a corner, killed and then buried him with its all-embracing explanations. Atheism, we are told, is the only intellectually tenable position, and any attempt to reintroduce God is likely to impede the progress of science. In this audiobook, John Lennox invites us to consider such claims very carefully. Is it really true, he asks, that everything in science points towards atheism? Has science buried God? God's Undertaker is an invaluable contribution to the debate about science's relationship to religion.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book. Terrible narration.
- By Brandon on 10-12-18
By: John C. Lennox
-
Signature in the Cell
- DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design
- By: Stephen C. Meyer
- Narrated by: Derek Shetterly
- Length: 19 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 523
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 461
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 456
Named one of the top books of 2009 by the Times Literary Supplement (London), this controversial and compelling audiobook from Dr. Stephen C. Meyer presents a convincing new case for intelligent design (ID) based on revolutionary discoveries in science and DNA. Along the way Meyer argues that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as expounded in The Origin of Species did not, in fact, refute ID.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Intelligent Design vs Chance
- By Nevin on 03-03-17
By: Stephen C. Meyer
-
Power, Sex, Suicide
- Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 239
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 195
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 197
In this fascinating and thought-provoking book, author Nick Lane brings together the latest research findings in the exciting field of mitochondria research to reveal how our growing understanding of mitochondria is shedding light on how complex life evolved, why sex arose (why don't we just bud?), and why we age and die. This understanding is of fundamental importance, both in understanding how we and all other complex life came to be, but also in order to be able to control our own illnesses, and delay our degeneration and death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Possibly the heaviest Nick Lane book I've read
- By Mic Mises on 05-20-19
By: Nick Lane
-
Darwin's Black Box
- The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
- By: Michael J. Behe
- Narrated by: Marc William
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 147
Naming Darwin's Black Box to the National Review's list of the 100 most important nonfiction works of the 20th century, George Gilder wrote that it "overthrows Darwin at the end of the 20th century in the same way that quantum theory overthrew Newton at the beginning". Discussing the book in the New Yorker in May 2005, H. Allen Orr said of Behe, "He is the most prominent of the small circle of scientists working on intelligent design, and his arguments are by far the best known."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The masterpiece that launched the ID movement
- By CKDexter on 11-25-19
By: Michael J. Behe
Related to this topic
-
What Is Life?
- How Chemistry Becomes Biology
- By: Addy Pross
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 643
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 562
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 560
Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrdinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: What is life?. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and ever since. Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Profound & Life Changing...
- By Daegan Smith on 04-06-15
By: Addy Pross
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,041
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
Life’s Ratchet
- How Molecular Machines Extract Order from Chaos
- By: Peter M. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 386
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 381
The cells in our bodies consist of molecules, made up of the same carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms found in air and rocks. But molecules, such as water and sugar, are not alive. So how do our cells - assemblies of otherwise "dead" molecules - come to life, and together constitute a living being? In Life’s Ratchet, physicist Peter M. Hoffmann locates the answer to this age-old question at the nanoscale.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
For biologists to learn single molecule biophysics
- By A Synthetic Biologist on 09-04-14
By: Peter M. Hoffman
-
The Equations of Life
- How Physics Shapes Evolution
- By: Charles S. Cockell
- Narrated by: Ian Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
In The Equations of Life, biologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution's outcomes predictable. If we were to find something very much like a lady bug eating something very much like an aphid on a distant planet, we shouldn't be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and, as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too many equations, not enough insights
- By Alec Drumm on 09-24-18
-
Creation
- How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 43
What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Goldilocks book on what is life
- By Gary on 07-11-13
By: Adam Rutherford
-
Origins
- The Scientific Story of Creation
- By: Jim Baggott
- Narrated by: Neil Scott-Barbour
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know? There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and travelling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting book, but WOW, the narrator ...
- By UH on 01-10-17
By: Jim Baggott
-
What Is Life?
- How Chemistry Becomes Biology
- By: Addy Pross
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 643
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 562
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 560
Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrdinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: What is life?. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and ever since. Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Profound & Life Changing...
- By Daegan Smith on 04-06-15
By: Addy Pross
-
The Vital Question
- Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
- By: Nick Lane
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,041
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,030
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Ouch!
- By Mark on 06-24-16
By: Nick Lane
-
Life’s Ratchet
- How Molecular Machines Extract Order from Chaos
- By: Peter M. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 447
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 386
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 381
The cells in our bodies consist of molecules, made up of the same carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms found in air and rocks. But molecules, such as water and sugar, are not alive. So how do our cells - assemblies of otherwise "dead" molecules - come to life, and together constitute a living being? In Life’s Ratchet, physicist Peter M. Hoffmann locates the answer to this age-old question at the nanoscale.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
For biologists to learn single molecule biophysics
- By A Synthetic Biologist on 09-04-14
By: Peter M. Hoffman
-
The Equations of Life
- How Physics Shapes Evolution
- By: Charles S. Cockell
- Narrated by: Ian Porter
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
In The Equations of Life, biologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution's outcomes predictable. If we were to find something very much like a lady bug eating something very much like an aphid on a distant planet, we shouldn't be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and, as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too many equations, not enough insights
- By Alec Drumm on 09-24-18
-
Creation
- How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself
- By: Adam Rutherford
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 44
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 43
What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Goldilocks book on what is life
- By Gary on 07-11-13
By: Adam Rutherford
-
Origins
- The Scientific Story of Creation
- By: Jim Baggott
- Narrated by: Neil Scott-Barbour
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
What is the nature of the material world? How does it work? What is the universe and how was it formed? What is life? Where do we come from and how did we evolve? How and why do we think? What does it mean to be human? How do we know? There are many different versions of our creation story. This book tells the version according to modern science. It is a unique account, starting at the Big Bang and travelling right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting book, but WOW, the narrator ...
- By UH on 01-10-17
By: Jim Baggott
-
Life on the Edge
- The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology
- By: Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Pete Cross
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 395
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 342
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 340
Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: Nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation?
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More woo than new
- By Gary on 09-09-15
By: Johnjoe McFadden, and others
-
The Deeper Genome
- Why There Is More to the Human Genome than Meets the Eye
- By: John Parrington
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 92
Over a decade ago, as the Human Genome Project completed its mapping of the entire human genome, hopes ran high that we would rapidly be able to use our knowledge of human genes to tackle many inherited diseases, and understand what makes us unique among animals. But things didn't turn out that way.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Great Scientific Writing/ Wrong Narrator
- By Richard on 11-24-15
By: John Parrington
-
Science and the Akashic Field
- An Integral Theory of Everything
- By: Ervin Laszlo
- Narrated by: Tom Pile
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 313
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 263
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 261
Mystics and sages have long maintained that there exists an interconnecting cosmic field at the roots of reality that conserves and conveys information, a field known as the Akashic record. Recent discoveries in vacuum physics show that this Akashic field is real and has its equivalent in science's zero-point field that underlies space itself. This field consists of a subtle sea of fluctuating energies from which all things arise: atoms and galaxies, stars and planets, living beings, and even consciousness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A must-read about ultimate nature of reality
- By Alexandra Hopkins on 04-15-18
By: Ervin Laszlo
-
Life's Engines
- How Microbes Made Earth Habitable
- By: Paul G. Falkowski
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 327
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 287
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 286
Paul Falkowski looks "under the hood" of microbes to find the engines of life, the actual working parts that do the biochemical heavy lifting for every living organism on Earth. With insight and humor, he explains how these miniature engines are built - and how they have been appropriated by and assembled like Lego sets within every creature that walks, swims, or flies. Falkowski shows how evolution works to maintain this core machinery of life, and how we and other animals are veritable conglomerations of microbes.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best Science Book Ever Written. Period.
- By serine on 07-28-15
-
Exoplanets
- Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar Planets, and the New Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System
- By: Michael Summers
- Narrated by: Jon Bennett
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 145
Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler satellite has discovered more than 2,000 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. More exoplanets are being discovered all the time, remarkable in their variety. Astronomer Michael Summers and physicist James Trefil explore these remarkable recent discoveries: planets revolving around pulsars, planets made of diamond, planets that are mostly water, and numerous rogue planets wandering through the emptiness of space.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
FINALLY, an Attention-Grabbing Planet Book!
- By aaron on 05-11-17
By: Michael Summers
-
Knocking on Heaven's Door
- How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World
- By: Lisa Randall
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 152
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 156
The latest developments in physics have the potential to radically revise our understanding of the world: its makeup, its evolution, and the fundamental forces that drive its operation. Knocking on Heaven's Door is an exhilarating and accessible overview of these developments and an impassioned argument for the significance of science. There could be no better guide than Lisa Randall.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Too Political
- By Allan on 12-14-11
By: Lisa Randall
-
The Logical Leap
- Induction in Physics
- By: David Harriman
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 163
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 81
Beginning with a detailed discussion of the role of mathematics and experimentation in validating generalizations in physics-looking closely at the reasoning of scientists such as Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Lavoisier, and Maxwell-Harriman skillfully argues that the inductive method used in philosophy is in principle indistinguishable from the method used in physics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Quite refreshing
- By Eric on 10-12-10
By: David Harriman
-
Radical Abundance
- How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization
- By: K. Eric Drexler
- Narrated by: Tim Pabon
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 131
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 109
K. Eric Drexler is the founding father of nanotechnology - the science of engineering on a molecular level. In Radical Abundance, he shows how rapid scientific progress is about to change our world. Thanks to atomically precise manufacturing, we will soon have the power to produce radically more of what people want, and at a lower cost. The result will shake the very foundations of our economy and environment.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Drexler Rehashes the Past
- By David on 10-19-13
By: K. Eric Drexler
-
Arrival of the Fittest
- Solving Evolution's Greatest Puzzle
- By: Andreas Wagner
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 355
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 299
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 300
In Arrival of the Fittest, renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner draws on over 15 years of research to present the missing piece in Darwin's theory. Using experimental and computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined, he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance, but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation would take.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Robustness makes for an interesting life and book
- By Gary on 11-29-14
By: Andreas Wagner
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,754
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,725
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
ABSOLUTE MUST READ!
- By serine on 05-12-16
By: Sean Carroll
-
Until the End of Time
- Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
- By: Brian Greene
- Narrated by: Brian Greene
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,537
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,283
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,278
Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Uneven
- By NJ on 03-03-20
By: Brian Greene
-
13 Things That Don't Make Sense
- The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time
- By: Michael Brooks
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,565
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,560
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,564
Science starts to get interesting when things don't make sense. Science's best-kept secret is that there are experimental results and reliable data that the most brilliant scientists can neither explain nor dismiss. If history is any precedent, we should look to today's inexplicable results to forecast the future of science. Michael Brooks heads to the scientific frontier to meet 13 modern-day anomalies and discover tomorrow's breakthroughs.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
10 interesting chapters-read epiloge first
- By Stephen on 06-10-09
By: Michael Brooks
What listeners say about Fit for a Purpose
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- lexxfuchs
- 05-19-22
Excellent in-depth analysis of living systems
I have read about 20 books on Intelligent Design. Many of them have overlapping arguments and information. Fit for a Purpose had the most new information in support of Intelligent Design than I have read in a long time. Very compelling book, and I appreciate that Dr. Rana didn't try to dumb it down. I want that detail even if the jargon is tough sometimes.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!