Sam Kean has 6 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 5 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 44 ratings. The most-rated is The Bastard Brigade.
The Bastard Brigade
Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Sam Kean comes the gripping, untold story of a renegade group of scientists and spies determined to keep Adolf Hitler from obtaining the ultimate prize: a nuclear bomb Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely have the secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the middle of building an atomic bomb, the leaders of the Manhattan Project were alarmed to learn that Nazi Germany was far outpacing the Allies in nuclear weapons research; Hitler, with just a few pounds of uranium, would have the capability to reverse the entire D-Day operation and conquer Europe. So they assembled a rough and motley crew of geniuses - dubbed the Alsos Mission - and sent them careening into Axis territory to spy on, sabotage, and even assassinate members of Nazi Germany's feared Uranium Club. No theater of the war, from battlefields to laboratories, was considered off-limits, and for good reason: the entire outcome of the war rested on its shoulders. The details of the mission rival the finest spy thriller, but it's the incredible characters - both heroes and rogues alike - who make this story sing. There's an ex-Major League baseball catcher turned clandestine spy. There's Joe Kennedy Jr., who died trying to out-macho his kid brother, future president John F. Kennedy. There's a Dutch physicist who, while hunting down top German scientists, also needed to save his Jewish parents from the concentration camps. There are Nobel Prize winners like Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, and Irène Joliot-Curie, daughter of Marie Curie. And dozens more. Thrust into the dark world of international espionage, these scientists and soldiers played a vital and largely untold role in turning back one of the darkest tides in human history. "Richly informative.... Once again, Kean proves his mettle as one of science literature's most gifted practitioners." (Booklist) "Riveting.... Kean has a knack for distilling chemistry to its essential elements, using stories and humor.... this is a dose of fresh air. (Library Journal) "Compelling stuff, written with verve and in a style that veers between simple lightheartedness and open jocularity.... Eminently accessible and enjoyable." (Robin McKie, The Guardian)
©2019 Sam Kean (P)2019 Hachette Audio
Caesar's Last Breath
Summary
The fascinating science and history of the air we breathe. It's invisible. It's ever present. Without it, you would die in minutes. And it has an epic story to tell. In Caesar's Last Breath, New York Times best-selling author Sam Kean takes us on a journey through the periodic table, around the globe, and across time to tell the story of the air we breathe, which, it turns out, is also the story of earth and our existence on it. With every breath, you literally inhale the history of the world. On the Ides of March, 44 BC, Julius Caesar died of stab wounds on the Senate floor, but the story of his last breath is still unfolding; in fact you're probably inhaling some of it now. Of the sextillions of molecules entering or leaving your lungs at this moment, some might well bear traces of Cleopatra's perfumes, German mustard gas, particles exhaled by dinosaurs or emitted by atomic bombs, even remnants of stardust from the universe's creation. Tracing the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere, Kean reveals how the alchemy of air reshaped our continents, steered human progress, powered revolutions, and continues to influence everything we do. Along the way we'll swim with radioactive pigs, witness the most important chemical reactions humans have discovered, and join the crowd at the Moulin Rouge for some of the crudest performance art of all time. Lively, witty, and filled with the astounding science of ordinary life, Caesar's Last Breath illuminates the science stories swirling around us every second. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Sam Kean (P)2017 Hachette Audio
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
Summary
The author of the best seller The Disappearing Spoon reveals the secret inner workings of the brain through strange-but-true stories. Early studies of the human brain used a simple method: Wait for misfortune to strike - strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, horrendous accidents - and see how victims coped. In many cases their survival was miraculous, if puzzling. Observers were amazed by the transformations that took place when different parts of the brain were destroyed, altering victims' personalities. Parents suddenly couldn't recognize their own children. Pillars of the community became pathological liars. Some people couldn't speak but could still sing. In The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, Sam Kean travels through time with stories of neurological curiosities: Phantom limbs, Siamese twin brains, viruses that eat patients' memories, blind people who see through their tongues. He weaves these narratives together to create a story of discovery that reaches back to the 1500s and the high-profile jousting accident that inspired this book's title.* With the lucid, masterful explanations and razor-sharp wit his fans have come to expect, Kean explores the brain's secret passageways and recounts the forgotten tales of the ordinary people whose struggles, resilience, and deep humanity made neuroscience possible. *"The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons" refers to the case of French king Henri II, who in 1559 was lanced through the skull during a joust, resulting in one of the most significant cases in neuroscience history. For hundreds of years scientists have gained important lessons from traumatic accidents and illnesses, and such misfortunes still represent their greatest resource for discovery. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2014 Sam Kean (P)2014 Hachette Audio
The Violinist's Thumb
Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Sam Kean come more incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA. In The Disappearing Spoon, best-selling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In The Violinist's Thumb, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA. There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK's bronze skin (it wasn't a tan) to Einstein's genius. They prove that Neanderthals and humans bred thousands of years more recently than any of us would feel comfortable thinking. They can even allow some people, because of the exceptional flexibility of their thumbs and fingers, to become truly singular violinists. Kean's vibrant storytelling once again makes science entertaining, explaining human history and whimsy while showing how DNA will influence our species' future.
©2012 Sam Kean; 2012 Hachette Audio
The Disappearing Spoon: Young Listeners Edition
Summary
A young listeners edition of the New York Times best seller The Disappearing Spoon, chronicling the extraordinary stories behind one of the greatest scientific tools in existence: the periodic table. Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? The periodic table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, greed, betrayal, and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow elements on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. Adapted for a middle-grade audience, the young listeners edition of The Disappearing Spoon offers the material in a simple, easy-to-follow format. Students, teachers, and burgeoning science buffs will love learning about the history behind the chemistry.
©2010 Sam Kean (P)2018 Hachette Audio
Unlocking the Hidden History of DNA
Summary
Locked inside the DNA of every species that ever lived are endless stories - about origins, ancestors, fate, and much more. Until recently, these secrets were completely inaccessible. But with the help of new technologies, scientists are now reading the hidden history of DNA, making remarkable discoveries about ourselves and our fellow species. Your gateway to this treasure trove of information is Unlocking the Hidden History of DNA, 12 informative and accessible lectures delivered by New York Times best-selling author Sam Kean. Assuming the viewer has no prior background in science, these detailed but delightful half-hour lectures cover the fundamental properties of DNA, the techniques that have unraveled its mysteries, the exciting revelations that have resulted, and the very human stories of the scientists involved - many of whom won Nobel Prizes and sparked fierce controversies along the way. You start in the mid-19th century with Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who pioneered the science of genetics with experiments on pea plants, and the almost-forgotten discovery of DNA by Friedrich Miescher. Proceeding briskly through decades when the connection between genes and DNA were pieced together, you learn about the discovery of DNA, the race to determine its structure, and the Human Genome Project, which mapped all three billion base pairs of our DNA. Then you dig deeply into our genome to mine its secrets, including our surprising relationship to Neanderthals, when we first started wearing clothes, genetic influences on language, and our kinship with viruses. You also excavate new historical details about King Tut, Genghis Khan, King Richard III, and Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Warren Harding. Finally, you examine today’s cutting-edge DNA technology, notably a genetic engineering technique called CRISPR heralded as holding the potential for science fiction-like manipulation of our species. Genetics has come a long way since Gregor Mendel’s humble pea plants. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 The Great Courses (P)2022 The Teaching Company, LLC