Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution
(OverDrive Listen)
Published:
Books on Tape 2012
Format:
OverDrive Listen
Edition:
Unabridged
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
“[An] extraordinarily wide-ranging and engaging book [about] the men who shaped the work of Charles Darwin . . . a book that enriches our understanding of how the struggle to think new thoughts is shared across time and space and people.”—The Sunday Telegraph (London)
Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin received an unsettling letter. He had expected criticism; in fact, letters were arriving daily, most expressing outrage and accusations of heresy. But this letter was different. It accused him of failing to acknowledge his predecessors, of taking credit for a theory that had already been discovered by others. Darwin realized that he had made an error in omitting from Origin of Species any mention of his intellectual forebears. Yet when he tried to trace all of the natural philosophers who had laid the groundwork for his theory, he found that history had already forgotten many of them.
Darwin’s Ghosts tells the story of the collective discovery of evolution, from Aristotle, walking the shores of Lesbos with his pupils, to Al-Jahiz, an Arab writer in the first century, from Leonardo da Vinci, searching for fossils in the mine shafts of the Tuscan hills, to Denis Diderot in Paris, exploring the origins of species while under the surveillance of the secret police, and the brilliant naturalists of the Jardin de Plantes, finding evidence for evolutionary change in the natural history collections stolen during the Napoleonic wars. Evolution was not discovered single-handedly, Rebecca Stott argues, contrary to what has become standard lore, but is an idea that emerged over many centuries, advanced by daring individuals across the globe who had the imagination to speculate on nature’s extraordinary ways, and who had the courage to articulate such speculations at a time when to do so was often considered heresy.
With each chapter focusing on an early evolutionary thinker, Darwin’s Ghosts is a fascinating account of a diverse group of individuals who, despite the very real dangers of challenging a system in which everything was presumed to have been created perfectly by God, felt compelled to understand where we came from. Ultimately, Stott demonstrates, ideas—including evolution itself—evolve just as animals and plants do, by intermingling, toppling weaker notions, and developing over stretches of time. Darwin’s Ghosts presents a groundbreaking new theory of an idea that has changed our very understanding of who we are.
Praise for Darwin’s Ghosts
“Absorbing . . . Stott captures the breathless excitement of an investigation on the cusp of the unknown. . . . A lively, original book.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Stott’s research is broad and unerring; her book is wonderful. . . . An exhilarating romp through 2,000 years of fascinating scientific history.”—Nature
“Stott brings Darwin himself to life. . . . [She] writes with a novelist’s flair. . . . Darwin and the ‘ghosts’ so richly described in Ms. Stott’s enjoyable book are the descendants of Aristotle and Bacon and the ancestors of today’s scientists.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Riveting . . . Stott has done a wonderful job in showing just how many extraordinary people had speculated on where we came from before the great theorist dispelled all doubts.”—The Guardian (U.K.)
“[An] extraordinarily wide-ranging and engaging book [about] the men who shaped the work of Charles Darwin . . . a book that enriches our understanding of how the struggle to think new thoughts is shared across time and space and people.”—The Sunday Telegraph (London)
Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin received an unsettling letter. He had expected criticism; in fact, letters were arriving daily, most expressing outrage and accusations of heresy. But this letter was different. It accused him of failing to acknowledge his predecessors, of taking credit for a theory that had already been discovered by others. Darwin realized that he had made an error in omitting from Origin of Species any mention of his intellectual forebears. Yet when he tried to trace all of the natural philosophers who had laid the groundwork for his theory, he found that history had already forgotten many of them.
Darwin’s Ghosts tells the story of the collective discovery of evolution, from Aristotle, walking the shores of Lesbos with his pupils, to Al-Jahiz, an Arab writer in the first century, from Leonardo da Vinci, searching for fossils in the mine shafts of the Tuscan hills, to Denis Diderot in Paris, exploring the origins of species while under the surveillance of the secret police, and the brilliant naturalists of the Jardin de Plantes, finding evidence for evolutionary change in the natural history collections stolen during the Napoleonic wars. Evolution was not discovered single-handedly, Rebecca Stott argues, contrary to what has become standard lore, but is an idea that emerged over many centuries, advanced by daring individuals across the globe who had the imagination to speculate on nature’s extraordinary ways, and who had the courage to articulate such speculations at a time when to do so was often considered heresy.
With each chapter focusing on an early evolutionary thinker, Darwin’s Ghosts is a fascinating account of a diverse group of individuals who, despite the very real dangers of challenging a system in which everything was presumed to have been created perfectly by God, felt compelled to understand where we came from. Ultimately, Stott demonstrates, ideas—including evolution itself—evolve just as animals and plants do, by intermingling, toppling weaker notions, and developing over stretches of time. Darwin’s Ghosts presents a groundbreaking new theory of an idea that has changed our very understanding of who we are.
Praise for Darwin’s Ghosts
“Absorbing . . . Stott captures the breathless excitement of an investigation on the cusp of the unknown. . . . A lively, original book.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Stott’s research is broad and unerring; her book is wonderful. . . . An exhilarating romp through 2,000 years of fascinating scientific history.”—Nature
“Stott brings Darwin himself to life. . . . [She] writes with a novelist’s flair. . . . Darwin and the ‘ghosts’ so richly described in Ms. Stott’s enjoyable book are the descendants of Aristotle and Bacon and the ancestors of today’s scientists.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Riveting . . . Stott has done a wonderful job in showing just how many extraordinary people had speculated on where we came from before the great theorist dispelled all doubts.”—The Guardian (U.K.)
Formats
OverDrive Listen
Need Help?
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
More Details
Street Date:
06/12/2012
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780449010952
Reviews from GoodReads
Loading GoodReads Reviews.
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)
Rebecca Stott. (2012). Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution. Unabridged Books on Tape.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Rebecca Stott. 2012. Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution. Books on Tape.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Rebecca Stott, Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution. Books on Tape, 2012.
MLA Citation (style guide)Rebecca Stott. Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2012.
Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
| East Hampton Public Library | 0 | 0 |
There is 1 hold on this title.
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
8e45a90b-b1a3-6e20-16ee-a08fb2963e73
API Extraction Dates
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Mar 01, 2018 14:18:51
Date Updated:
Dec 08, 2020 13:17:05
Last Metadata Check:
Dec 31, 2024 05:52:32
Last Metadata Change:
Nov 18, 2024 21:37:44
Last Availability Check:
Dec 31, 2024 05:52:36
Last Availability Change:
Dec 31, 2024 05:52:36
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Jan 01, 2025 22:21:22
OverDrive Product Record
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1191-1/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1191-1/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1191-1/3D9/8B9/B6/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1191-1/3D9/8B9/B6/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- formats
- identifiers:
- type: 8
- value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780449010938
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780449010952
- name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
- id: audiobook-mp3
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: 8
- value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780449010938
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780449010952
- name: OverDrive Listen
- id: audiobook-overdrive
- identifiers:
- mediaType
- Audiobook
- primaryCreator
- role: Author
- name: Rebecca Stott
- title
- Darwin's Ghosts
- dateAdded
- 2012-08-27T12:14:26.967-04:00
- contentDetails
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=242&titleID=654751
- type: text/html
- account:
- name: LION: Libraries Online (CT)
- id: 1354
- sortTitle
- Darwins Ghosts The Secret History of Evolution
- crossRefId
- 654751
- subtitle
- The Secret History of Evolution
- id
- 3d98b9b6-1a77-4a06-8059-8f71403eff8c
- starRating
- 3.9
OverDrive MetaData
- isPublicDomain
- False
- formats
- duration: 13:41:12
- fileName: DarwinsGhostsTheSecretHistoryofEvolution-57070
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 394183987
- identifiers:
- audience: retailer
- type: 8
- value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780449010938
- audience: library
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780449010952
- name: OverDrive Listen
- isReadAlong: False
- id: audiobook-overdrive
- onSaleDate: 6/12/2012
- samples:
- source: Part 1
- formatType: audiobook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- creators
- role: Author
- fileAs: Stott, Rebecca
- bioText: Rebecca Stott is a professor of English literature and creative writing at the University of East Anglia and an affiliated scholar at the department of the history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University. She is the author of several books, including Darwin and the Barnacle and the novels Ghostwalk and The Coral Thief. She lives in Cambridge, England.
- name: Rebecca Stott
- role: Narrator
- fileAs: Gilpin, Jean
- name: Jean Gilpin
- imprint
- Random House Audio
- publishDate
- 2012-06-12T00:00:00Z
- edition
- Unabridged
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- Darwin's Ghosts
- fullDescription
- A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
“[An] extraordinarily wide-ranging and engaging book [about] the men who shaped the work of Charles Darwin . . . a book that enriches our understanding of how the struggle to think new thoughts is shared across time and space and people.”—The Sunday Telegraph (London)
Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin received an unsettling letter. He had expected criticism; in fact, letters were arriving daily, most expressing outrage and accusations of heresy. But this letter was different. It accused him of failing to acknowledge his predecessors, of taking credit for a theory that had already been discovered by others. Darwin realized that he had made an error in omitting from Origin of Species any mention of his intellectual forebears. Yet when he tried to trace all of the natural philosophers who had laid the groundwork for his theory, he found that history had already forgotten many of them.
Darwin’s Ghosts tells the story of the collective discovery of evolution, from Aristotle, walking the shores of Lesbos with his pupils, to Al-Jahiz, an Arab writer in the first century, from Leonardo da Vinci, searching for fossils in the mine shafts of the Tuscan hills, to Denis Diderot in Paris, exploring the origins of species while under the surveillance of the secret police, and the brilliant naturalists of the Jardin de Plantes, finding evidence for evolutionary change in the natural history collections stolen during the Napoleonic wars. Evolution was not discovered single-handedly, Rebecca Stott argues, contrary to what has become standard lore, but is an idea that emerged over many centuries, advanced by daring individuals across the globe who had the imagination to speculate on nature’s extraordinary ways, and who had the courage to articulate such speculations at a time when to do so was often considered heresy.
With each chapter focusing on an early evolutionary thinker, Darwin’s Ghosts is a fascinating account of a diverse group of individuals who, despite the very real dangers of challenging a system in which everything was presumed to have been created perfectly by God, felt compelled to understand where we came from. Ultimately, Stott demonstrates, ideas—including evolution itself—evolve just as animals and plants do, by intermingling, toppling weaker notions, and developing over stretches of time. Darwin’s Ghosts presents a groundbreaking new theory of an idea that has changed our very understanding of who we are.
Praise for Darwin’s Ghosts
“Absorbing . . . Stott captures the breathless excitement of an investigation on the cusp of the unknown. . . . A lively, original book.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Stott’s research is broad and unerring; her book is wonderful. . . . An exhilarating romp through 2,000 years of fascinating scientific history.”—Nature
“Stott brings Darwin himself to life. . . . [She] writes with a novelist’s flair. . . . Darwin and the ‘ghosts’ so richly described in Ms. Stott’s enjoyable book are the descendants of Aristotle and Bacon and the ancestors of today’s scientists.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Riveting . . . Stott has done a wonderful job in showing just how many extraordinary people had speculated on where we came from before the great theorist dispelled all doubts.”—The Guardian (U.K.) - popularity
- 380
- links
- self:
- href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BPQEAAA20/products/3d98b9b6-1a77-4a06-8059-8f71403eff8c/metadata
- type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
- shareInLibby:
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/share?q=n_0JADHmp90
- type: text/HTML
- self:
- id
- 3d98b9b6-1a77-4a06-8059-8f71403eff8c
- starRating
- 3.9
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1191-1/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1191-1/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1191-1/3D9/8B9/B6/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1191-1/3D9/8B9/B6/{3D98B9B6-1A77-4A06-8059-8F71403EFF8C}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- isPublicPerformanceAllowed
- False
- languages
- code: en
- name: English
- subjects
- value: History
- value: Science
- value: Sociology
- value: Nonfiction
- publishDateText
- 06/12/2012
- mediaType
- Audiobook
- shortDescription
- A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
“[An] extraordinarily wide-ranging and engaging book [about] the men who shaped the work of Charles Darwin . . . a book that enriches our understanding of how the struggle to think new thoughts is shared across time and space and people.”—The Sunday Telegraph (London)
Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin received an unsettling letter. He had expected criticism; in fact, letters were arriving daily, most expressing outrage and accusations of heresy. But this letter was different. It accused him of failing to acknowledge his predecessors, of taking credit for a theory that had already been discovered by others. Darwin realized that he had made an error in omitting from Origin of Species any mention of his intellectual forebears. Yet when he tried to trace all of the natural philosophers who had laid the groundwork for his... - sortTitle
- Darwins Ghosts The Secret History of Evolution
- crossRefId
- 654751
- subtitle
- The Secret History of Evolution
- publisher
- Books on Tape
- bisacCodes
- code: SCI027000
- description: Science / Life Sciences / Evolution
- code: SCI034000
- description: Science / History
- code: SOC002010
- description: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social