Major Transitions in Evolution
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Major Transitions in Evolution
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Narrated by:
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Anthony Martin
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John Hawks
About this listen
Imagine a world without bees, butterflies, and flowering plants. That was Earth 125 million years ago. Turn back the clock 400 million years, and there were no trees. At 450 million years in the past, even the earliest insects had not yet developed. And looking back 500 million years, the land was devoid of life, which at that time flourished in a profusion of strange forms in the oceans.
These and other major turning points are the amazing story of evolution. Given the broad scope of the subject, this course is taught by two professors: Anthony Martin, a paleontologist and geologist at Emory University, and John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each is an outstanding teacher in his field, adept at making the subject interesting and accessible no matter what your background in science.
In 24 lavishly illustrated lectures, you will learn about Earth’s major transitions, each of which brought forth new possibilities for life. You will study the conditions that led to the first complex cells, flying insects, flowering plants, mammals, modern humans, and many other breakthroughs. And in the process of studying the past, you will gain a powerful understanding of the present world.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2010 The Great Courses (P)2010 The Teaching Company, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Major Transitions in Evolution
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sebastian Meiser
- 05-02-20
Interesting journey through evolution
I'm almost halfway in; so far I've only heard the first presenter.
The story of evolution and (a small selection of) it's major transitions is very interesting. I found some of the steps eye opening and very cool. The presenter does a good job in explaining what's going on and his voice is clear, pleasant and professional.
My main criticism of the book so far is that it wastes a tremendous amount of potential by spending at least 50% of it's energy on (in my ignorant eyes) irrelevant information: the professor might be excited by who found which fossil in which deposit of an age named after which region and how was it classified or misclassified, but in my eyes that time could have been spent better. While classification, which seems often to be done by some superficial aspect, can really help in finding out the lineage of the individual fossiles, I would have preferred more attention on what and how they actually evolved. Who cares what name was given to a specimen and where people drew the exact boundaries between one category of animal and another? I found the parts that actually explained or attempted to explain how and why specific parts evolved so much more interesting, e.g., the development of eggs to carry a small microcosm of a pond.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Bear
- 19-02-23
A Journey Through Life
I had been looking for an overview of evolution and came across these lectures, took a deep breath, inserted headphones and was transported back 3.7 billion years ago. For the most part I really enjoyed the lectures, they give a general account of early life on Earth, both plants and animals, through to human lineage. I imagine these lectures worked slightly better live accompanied with slides to give visual imagery to many of the species mentioned but google is our best friend. This audiobook has been a great precursor to my next studies which will focus much more closely on the Mesozoic Era.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-05-22
excellent
Really interesting, well narratored..even for a layman like me, I learnt loads. recommended 5 stars.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 28-04-24
Engaging and accessible
A fascinating, well structured and smartly told walk thru the history of evolution. Learned a lot. Thanks
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Federico
- 22-07-21
Amazing travel to the past!
This has been an amazing audiobook that has really changed my view on paleontology, in fact now I have more questions than before and I’ll be digging deeper in this field.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gerald Kelly
- 01-04-22
Well worth a listen
One of the best courses I've listened to and I have thousands of hours invested into audible listening, especially when the course has a second expert join the course for primate/ hormed evolution.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jean
- 23-10-19
Brilliant!
Loved the lectures, so interesting and just at the right level for me (animal biology graduate) and I am away to listen to them again!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- L M Simon
- 18-11-20
Acessibility
The course has given me insights into a subject of which I thought I had some knowledge. Both lecturers are excellent. The course is worth re-auditing
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. R. D. Cox
- 17-10-20
Don't say "like this"
Don't say "like this", and demonstrate the way an animal would have moved; demonstrations don't work for audio books.
I learned much, but the cretatious extinction was over simplistic and didn't explore the possibilities.
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1 person found this helpful