Size
How It Explains the World
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Perring
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By:
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Vaclav Smil
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
100 words: The New York Times bestselling author returns with a mind-opening exploration of how size defines life on Earth.
Explaining the key processes shaping size in nature, society and technology, Smil busts myths around proportions - from bodies to paintings and the so-called golden ratio - tells us what Jonathan Swift got wrong in Gulliver's Travels - the giant Brobdingnagian's legs would buckle under their enormous weight - and dives headfirst into the most contentious issue in ergonomics: the size of aeroplane seats.
It is no exaggeration to say this fascinating and wide-ranging tour de force will change the way you look at absolutely everything.
10 words: Size, an omnipresent scalar, is the measure of all things.
1 word: Size.
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
A Pocket History of Human Evolution brings us up-to-date on the exploits of all our ancient relatives. Paleoanthropologist Silvana Condemi and science journalist François Savatier consider what accelerated our evolution: Was it tools, our "large" brains, language, empathy, or something else entirely? And why are we the sole survivors among many early bipedal humans? Their conclusions reveal the various ways ancient humans live on today - from gossip as modern "grooming" to our gendered division of labor - and what the future might hold for our strange and unique species.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well presented and very informative.
- By Jim Griggs on 11-11-21
By: Silvana Condemi, and others
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Masters of the Planet
- The Search for Our Human Origins
- By: Ian Tattersall
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Fifty thousand years ago - merely a blip in evolutionary time - our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their precursors had done for millions of years. Yet something about our species distinguished it from the pack, and ultimately led to its survival while the rest became extinct. Just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become masters of the planet? Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book, Some Sloppy Editing
- By DB on 11-23-20
By: Ian Tattersall
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Pandora's Seed
- The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
- By: Spencer Wells
- Narrated by: Spencer Wells
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Short and unfocused, but often quite interesting.
- By Alan on 06-23-10
By: Spencer Wells
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Transcendence
- How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time
- By: Gaia Vince
- Narrated by: Gaia Vince
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
How four tools enabled humanity to control its destiny What enabled us to go from simple stone tools to smartphones? How did bands of hunter-gatherers evolve into multinational empires? Listeners of Sapiens will say a cognitive revolution - a dramatic evolutionary change that altered our brains, turning primitive humans into modern ones - caused a cultural explosion. In Transcendence, Gaia Vince argues instead that modern humans are the product of a nuanced coevolution of our genes, environment, and culture that goes back into deep time.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Far too much bias and unsupported conclusions
- By Kurt Leyendecker on 10-01-20
By: Gaia Vince
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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 1,924
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,440
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,436
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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A Series of Fortunate Events
- Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
- By: Sean B. Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean B. Carroll
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 111
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Why is the world the way it is? How did we get here? Does everything happen for a reason, or are some things left to chance? Philosophers and theologians have pondered these questions for millennia, but startling scientific discoveries over the past half century are revealing that we live in a world driven by chance. A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world.
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4 out of 5 stars
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We are for a short time.
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-20
By: Sean B. Carroll
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When Life Nearly Died
- The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time
- By: Michael J. Benton
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 156
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 131
Today it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living. It is far less widely understood that a much greater catastrophe took place at the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago: at least 90 percent of life on earth was destroyed. When Life Nearly Died documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction, but also the recent renewal of the idea of catastrophism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Obscurity to Enlightenment - A Mystery Revealed
- By Dipam on 03-18-21
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Work
- A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
- By: James Suzman
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 331
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 279
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 278
Work defines who we are. It determines our status and dictates how, where, and with whom we spend most of our time. It mediates our self-worth and molds our values. But are we hardwired to work as hard as we do? Did our Stone Age ancestors also live to work and work to live? And what might a world where work plays a far less important role look like? To answer these questions, James Suzman charts a grand history of "work" from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are.
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2 out of 5 stars
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if you like Jared Diamond's work, you'll like this
- By Mark on 04-09-22
By: James Suzman
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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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Overall4 out of 5 stars 112
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Story4 out of 5 stars 72
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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5 out of 5 stars
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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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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
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 131
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 109
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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.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Drexler Rehashes the Past
- By David on 10-19-13
By: K. Eric Drexler
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The Blind Watchmaker
- Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,822
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,442
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,413
The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Challenging textbook more than an enjoyable listen
- By Eric on 01-15-12
By: Richard Dawkins
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On the Future
- Prospects for Humanity
- By: Martin Rees
- Narrated by: Martin Rees, Samuel West
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 131
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 130
Humanity has reached a critical moment. Our world is unsettled and rapidly changing, and we face existential risks over the next century. Various outcomes - good and bad - are possible. Yet our approach to the future is characterized by short-term thinking, polarizing debates, alarmist rhetoric, and pessimism. In this short, exhilarating book, renowned scientist and best-selling author Martin Rees argues that humanity’s prospects depend on our taking a very different approach to planning for tomorrow.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Science, the future, and great wisdom
- By Philomath on 10-29-18
By: Martin Rees
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Unbound
- How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink
- By: Richard L. Currier
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 244
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 215
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Story4 out of 5 stars 214
Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good facts, not much else
- By Joel B. Gordon on 10-30-16
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Ancient Bones
- Unearthing the Astonishing New Story of How We Became Human
- By: Madelaine Böhme
- Narrated by: Aimée Ayotte
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Africa has long been considered the cradle of life - where life and humans evolved - but somewhere west of Munich, Germany, paleoclimatologist and paleontologist Madelaine Böhme and her team make a discovery that is beyond anything they ever imagined: the 12-million-year-old bones of an ancient ape - Danuvius guggenmos - which makes headlines around the world and defies prevailing theories of human history and where human life began.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brave Attempt
- By Bill Treat on 10-15-22
By: Madelaine Böhme
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The Story of the Human Body
- Evolution, Health, and Disease
- By: Daniel Lieberman
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,711
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,465
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,465
In this landmark book of popular science, Daniel E. Lieberman - chair of the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a leader in the field - gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years, even as it shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning this paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Could Have Been Good, but...
- By Trebla on 04-08-18
By: Daniel Lieberman
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Know This
- Today's Most Interesting and Important Scientific Ideas, Discoveries, and Developments
- By: John Brockman
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Dan John Miller
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 232
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 204
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Story4 out of 5 stars 201
Scientific developments radically alter our understanding of the world. Whether it's technology, climate change, health research, or the latest revelations of neuroscience, physics, or psychology, science has, as Edge editor John Brockman says, "become a big story, if not the big story". In that spirit this new addition to Edge.org's fascinating series asks a powerful and provocative question: What do you consider the most interesting and important recent scientific news?
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1 out of 5 stars
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Pete and Repeat and Re-repeat
- By Daniel L on 02-25-18
By: John Brockman
What listeners say about Size
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- andrew
- 05-21-23
Lot of data, no story
It starts off well but quickly becomes tedious. It's mostly a recitation of spreadsheet data, such as "... changed from 1.17 to 1.2 which is markedly within the expected interval of 0.9 to 1.4." the other grievance I had was that it lingered on the Gulliver's travels for a way too long. The author himself points out that the story of Gulliver is a political satire and social criticism, not a scientific study of scaling and sizes. Yet, after the initial proof of how wrong the idea of lilliput or giant people is, he keeps comparing and pointing out the shortcomings of imaginary animals or people for a whole chapter.
Generally, it's a lot of data and might be good for research purposes. There's very little attempt made to relate this beyond the raw data. I felt like I was listening to a lecture and the professor just recited example and data so I could make my own conclusions later. It's a mind numbing barrage of numbers.
I had completely different and much more enjoyable experience with Naked Statistic by C. Wheelan.
So if you're looking for data and examples, this is your book. If you want more story and real world relatability, this is not your book. This is my second book by Smil (How the world really works) and it's going to be my last. I made a mistake thinking the second time might be better, but no. It's been the same style each time, and each time I couldn't finish the book.
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