Science & Technology Audiobooks

The Earth: A Very Short Introduction Audiobook

Around thirty years ago, two things happened that were to revolutionize the understanding of our home planet. First, geologists realized that the continents themselves were drifting across the surface of the globe and that oceans were being created and destroyed. Secondly, pictures of the entire planet were returned from space. Suddenly, the Earth began to be viewed as a single entity; a dynamic, interacting whole, controlled by complex processes we scarcely understood. This Introduction explores emerging geological research and explains how new advances in the understanding of plate tectonics, seismology, and satellite imagery have enabled us to begin to see the Earth as it actually is: dynamic and ever changing.

Martin Redfern (Author), Diane Cardea (Narrator)

Audiobook

The History of Life: A Very Short Introduction

Here is the extraordinary story of the unfolding of life on Earth, told by Michael J. Benton, a world-renowned authority on biodiversity. Ranging over four billion years, Benton weaves together the latest findings on fossils, earth history, evolutionary biology, and many other fields to highlight the great leaps that enabled life to evolve from microbe to human-big breakthroughs that made whole new ways of life possible-including cell division and multicellularity, hard skeletons, the move to land, the origin of forests, the move to the air. He describes the mass extinctions, especially the Permian, which obliterated 90% of life, and he sheds light on the origins of human beings, and of the many hominids that went before us. He ends by pointing out that studying the past helps us to predict the future: what happens if the atmosphere warms by five degrees? What happens if we destroy much of the biodiversity on Earth? These things have happened before, Benton notes. We need only look to the distant past to know the future of life on Earth.

Michael J. Benton (Author), Peter Larkin (Narrator)

Audiobook

The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction

Why do we measure time in the way that we do? Why is a week seven days long? At what point did minutes and seconds come into being? Why are some calendars lunar and some solar? The organization of time into hours, days, months, and years seems immutable and universal, but is actually far more artificial than most people realize. For example, the French Revolution resulted in a restructuring of the French calendar, and the Soviet Union experimented with five and then six-day weeks. Leofranc Holford-Strevens brings us this fascinating study of time using a range of examples from Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's imposition of the Leap Year to the 1920's project for a fixed Easter. Those interested in time, history, and the development of the calendar will enjoy this absorbing exploration of an aspect of our lives that we all take for granted.

Leofranc Holford-Strevens (Author), Ben Esner (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction

The laws of thermodynamics drive everything that happens in the universe. From the sudden expansion of a cloud of gas to the cooling of hot metal-everything is moved or restrained by four simple laws. Written by Peter Atkins, one of the world's leading authorities on thermodynamics, this powerful and compact introduction explains what these four laws are and how they work, using accessible language and virtually no mathematics. Guiding the listener a step at a time, Atkins begins with Zeroth (so named because the first two laws were well established before scientists realized that a third law, relating to temperature, should precede them-hence the jocular name zeroth), and proceeds through the First, Second, and Third Laws, offering a clear account of concepts such as the availability of work and the conservation of energy. Atkins ranges from the fascinating theory of entropy (revealing how its unstoppable rise constitutes the engine of the universe), through the concept of free energy, and to the brink, and then beyond the brink, of absolute zero.

Peter Atkins (Author), Nick Sullivan (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Primate's Memoir

Brought to you by Penguin. Discover this remarkable account of twenty-one years in remote Kenya with a troop of Savannah baboons from the New York Times bestselling author of Behave. Brooklyn-born Robert Sapolsky grew up wishing he could live in the primate diorama in the Museum of Natural History. At school he wrote fan letters to primatologists and even taught himself Swahili, all with the hope of one day joining his primate brethren in Africa. But when, at the age of twenty-one, Sapolky's dream finally comes true he discovers that the African bush bears little resemblance to the tranquillity of a museum. This is the story of the next twenty-one years as Sapolsky slowly infiltrates and befriends a troop of Savannah baboons. Alone in the middle of the Serengeti with no electricity, running water or telephone, and surviving countless scams, culinary atrocities and a surreal kidnapping, Sapolsky becomes ever more enamoured with his adopted baboon troop - unique and compelling characters in their own right - and he returns to them summer after summer, until tragedy finally prevails. Exhilarating, hilarious and poignant, A Primate's Memoir is a uniquely honest window into the coming-of-age of one of our greatest scientific minds. 'One of the best scientist-writers of our time' Oliver Sacks 'A Primate's Memoir is the closest the baboon is likely to come - and it's plenty close enough - to having its own Iliad' New York Times Review of Books © Robert M Sapolsky 2001 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Robert M Sapolsky, Robert M. Sapolsky (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Relativity: A Very Short Introduction

If you move at high speed, time slows down, space squashes up, and you get heavier. Travel fast enough and you could weigh as much as a jumbo jet, be flattened thinner than a CD without feeling a thing-and live forever! As for the angles of a triangle, they do not always have to add up to 180 degrees. And then, of course, there are black holes. These are but a few of the extraordinary consequences of Einstein's theory of relativity. It is now over a hundred years since he made these discoveries, and yet the general public is still largely unaware of them. Filled with illuminating anecdotes and fascinating accounts of experiments, this book aims to introduce the interested lay person to the subject of relativity in a way which is accessible and engaging and at the same time scientifically rigorous. With relatively few mathematical equations-nothing more complicated than the Pythagoras's Theorem-this VSI packs a lot time into very little space, and for anyone who has felt intimidated by Einstein's groundbreaking theory, it offers the perfect place to start.

Russell Stannard (Author), Nick Sullivan (Narrator)

Audiobook

As a Dog Thinketh: Daily Words of Wisdom for Dog People

Daily reflections, guidance, and sound advice from a top trainer and competitor. Confused by your canine? Monique Anstee believes we have made dog training much too hard, when it really is very simple. Anstee teaches you to think differently, which will help you get out of your mind and into the moment. Monique Anstee trains dogs kindly, but effectively, and her clients love her for her honesty. Now, she has compiled a book of daily wisdom in which she shares her most deeply held values and philosophies, and her most sought-after lessons gleaned from more than 25 years in the business. With her signature no-nonsense approach and wry sense of humour, Anstee shares reflections that will inspire a-ha moments, nurture your confidence, and invite you to be more authentic with yourself and with your dog. When should you reward, and when should you tell him to try harder? How can you create ten moments a day where you can praise your dog sincerely? How can you use your own thoughts, beliefs, and body language to improve communication with your dog? How are we creating reactivity in our dogs? Anstee offers a new and inspiring way to think about your relationship with your dog, tempered with the clear-eyed perspective of one who has seen dogs and their owners find solutions to all kinds of problems. She empowers her listeners to affirm their instincts with their dog, and to believe in the power to change together, each and every day.

Monique Anstee (Author), Rebecca Gallagher (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Science of Jurassic World: The Dinosaur Facts Behind the Films

A tale of some of the most amazing creatures ever to grace this tiny planet—unearth how the science fiction of the Jurassic World franchise inspired the evolution of dinosaur science. It all began in 1993. Jurassic Park was a movie landmark in the development of computer-generated imagery and animatronic visual effects. Jurassic Park became the highest-grossing movie of that year, and the highest-grossing film ever at the time, a record held until the 1997 release of Titanic. The field of dinosaur science has blossomed by leaps and bounds and branched out in recent years, in no small part to this iconic movie series. In The Science of Jurassic World, we experience the amazing story of the birth of the dinosaurs, how they evolved to world dominance, how some became gargantuan in size, how others grew wings and flew, and how the rest of them met an untimely end. Chapters include: - How did Jurassic Park transform dinosaur science? - Was Dr. Alan Grant’s job a walk in the park? - What’s with the giant dinosaur poop? - When will we clone dinosaurs? And so much more! Discover how some of cinema’s most incredible creations do justice to the jaw-dropping evolution of these fantastic creatures.

Jon Chase, Mark Brake (Author), David Doersch (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Relativistic Universe: Exploring The Einstein Concepts of Our Cosmology

From a time beyond the dawn of history, humanity has been seeking to explain the universe. At first, the effort did not concern itself further than to make a supposition as to the causes of the various phenomena presented to the senses. As knowledge increased, first by observation and later by experiment also, the ideas as to these causes passed progressively through three stages—the theological (the causes were thought to be spirits or gods); the metaphysical (the causes were thought in this secondary or intermediate stage to be some inherent, animating, energizing principles); and the scientific (the causes were finally thought of as simply mechanical, chemical, and magneto-electrical attractions and repulsions, qualities or characteristics of matter itself, or of the thing of which matter is itself composed.) With an increase of knowledge and the inquiry as to the nature of causes, there arose an inquiry into reality. What was the essential nature of the stuff of which the universe was made, what was the matter, what were things in themselves, what were the noumena (the realities), lying back of the phenomena (the appearances)? Gradually ideas explaining motion, force, and energy were developed. At the same time, an inquiry was made as to the nature of man, the working of his mind, the nature of thought, the relation of his concepts (ideas) to his perceptions (knowledge gained through the sense), and the relations of both to the noumena (realities).

Henry Romano (Author), Robbie Smith, Ryan Moorhen (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Healthcare Mandate: How to Leverage Disruptive Innovation to Heal America's Biggest Industry

Despite being the wealthiest nation on earth, the United States spends much of its healthcare money and resources pursuing the wrong goal: curing people after they get sick. In this provocative book, Nicholas J. Webb charts a bold new path that puts the focus not on reactionary treatment but on anticipation and prevention. Emerging digital technologies now make it possible to collect, analyze, and act upon the enormous quantities of health-related data that every individual generates every day. This data often foreshadows disease and can alert the healthcare provider to the existence of a life-threatening condition before there are any outward symptoms, thereby enabling caregivers to pivot from treatment after the fact to anticipation, prevention, and, when necessary, reduced treatment to correct a smaller problem. This is The Healthcare Mandate-a powerful and illuminating guide to the new tools that healthcare professionals can start using right now to: see their clients not only as patients to be cured but as constituents to keep healthy; identify and respond to emerging health problems as early as possible; access and share constituent data with other healthcare providers; navigate the increasingly complex world of patient data rights; address constituent lifestyle choices that lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease; and more.

Nicholas Webb (Author), Emmanuel Chumaceiro (Narrator)

Audiobook

Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales

From the bestselling author of On Gratitude and On the Move. In this spirited volume, Oliver Sacks examines the many passions of his own life – both as a doctor engaged with the central questions of human existence, and as a polymath conversant in all the sciences. Why do humans need gardens? How, and when, does a physician tell his patient she has Alzheimer's? What is social media doing to our brains? In several of the compassionate case histories collected here, Sacks considers for the first time the enigmas of depression, psychosis, and schizophrenia, and in others he returns to conditions that have long fascinated him: Tourette’s syndrome, ageing, dementia, and hallucinations. In counterpoint to these elegant investigations of what makes us human, this volume also includes pieces that celebrate Sacks’s love of the natural world – and his last meditations on life in the twenty-first century. Everything in Its Place gives us an intimate portrait of a master writer and thinker at work.

Oliver Sacks (Author), Dan Woren (Narrator)

Audiobook

Computer Science Beginners Crash Course: Coding Data, Python, Algorithms & Hacking

The world of computers is growing at an unrecordable rate every day. Computers are the most influential tools in our lives. They are our present and future. Most users see a computer at the front and use the graphical user interfaces. The first time I used a computer, it intrigued me to know how these interfaces work. In this book, you will learn the same way I did.

Ian Batantu (Author), David Bray (Narrator)

Audiobook