Listen free for 30 days
Light of the Stars
People who bought this also bought...
-
Something Deeply Hidden
- Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927.
-
-
Super position of all relevant texts.
- By Anonymous User on 15-10-19
-
Novacene
- The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence
- By: James Lovelock
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the anthropocene - the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale technologies - is, after 300 years, coming to an end. A new age - the novacene - has already begun.
-
-
Wish I can write such a book at the age of 99!
- By Anonymous User on 31-07-19
-
On the Future
- Prospects for Humanity
- By: Martin Rees
- Narrated by: Martin Rees, Samuel West
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
a must read for our history and our future
- By Gormysta on 14-09-19
-
What Is Real?
- The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics
- By: Adam Becker
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The untold story of the heretical thinkers who challenged the establishment to rethink quantum physics and the nature of reality. Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless.
-
-
excellent history of quantum
- By Hanna on 24-04-19
-
Permanent Record
- By: Edward Snowden
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, 29-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email.
-
-
Superbly written, totally gripping.
- By Pen Name on 18-10-19
-
The Uninhabitable Earth
- A Story of the Future
- By: David Wallace-Wells
- Narrated by: David Wallace-Wells
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is worse, much worse, than you think. The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, perhaps as pernicious as the one that says it isn't happening at all, and if your anxiety about it is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today.
-
-
The most important book you'll listen to this year
- By Josh W. on 13-03-19
-
Something Deeply Hidden
- Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
- By: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927.
-
-
Super position of all relevant texts.
- By Anonymous User on 15-10-19
-
Novacene
- The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence
- By: James Lovelock
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the anthropocene - the age in which humans acquired planetary-scale technologies - is, after 300 years, coming to an end. A new age - the novacene - has already begun.
-
-
Wish I can write such a book at the age of 99!
- By Anonymous User on 31-07-19
-
On the Future
- Prospects for Humanity
- By: Martin Rees
- Narrated by: Martin Rees, Samuel West
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
a must read for our history and our future
- By Gormysta on 14-09-19
-
What Is Real?
- The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics
- By: Adam Becker
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The untold story of the heretical thinkers who challenged the establishment to rethink quantum physics and the nature of reality. Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless.
-
-
excellent history of quantum
- By Hanna on 24-04-19
-
Permanent Record
- By: Edward Snowden
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, 29-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email.
-
-
Superbly written, totally gripping.
- By Pen Name on 18-10-19
-
The Uninhabitable Earth
- A Story of the Future
- By: David Wallace-Wells
- Narrated by: David Wallace-Wells
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is worse, much worse, than you think. The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, perhaps as pernicious as the one that says it isn't happening at all, and if your anxiety about it is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today.
-
-
The most important book you'll listen to this year
- By Josh W. on 13-03-19
-
Lost in Math
- How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
- By: Sabine Hossenfelder
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: Observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria.
-
-
Interesting perspective for a hopeful physicist
- By Michael on 11-12-18
-
Chasing New Horizons
- Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto
- By: Alan Stern, David Grinspoon
- Narrated by: Alan Stern, David Grinspoon
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than three billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long-mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond.
-
-
Incredible
- By Robert Turner on 10-07-19
-
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 31 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.
-
-
I'm a big Neal Stephenson fan, but...
- By Toadjuggler on 08-06-19
-
How Democracy Ends
- By: David Runciman
- Narrated by: David Runciman
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Democracy has died hundreds of times, all over the world. We think we know what that looks like: chaos descends and the military arrives to restore order, until the people can be trusted to look after their own affairs again. However, there is a danger that this picture is out of date. Until very recently, most citizens of Western democracies would have imagined that the end was a long way off, and very few would have thought it might be happening before their eyes as Trump, Brexit and paranoid populism have become a reality.
-
-
Thoughtful and interesting
- By Mr. M. J. Dodd on 29-08-19
-
Forces of Nature
- By: Professor Brian Cox, Andrew Cohen
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor Brian Cox uncovers some of the most extraordinary natural events on Earth and in the universe and beyond. From the immensity of the universe and the roundness of Earth to the form of every single snowflake, the forces of nature shape everything we see. Pushed to extremes, the results are astonishing. In seeking to understand the everyday world, the colours, structure, behaviour and history of our home, we develop the knowledge and techniques necessary to step beyond the everyday.
-
-
Great!
- By Soba Taiwo on 25-01-18
-
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
- How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
- By: Steven Novella
- Narrated by: Steven Novella
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is your guide through this maze of modern life. It covers essential critical thinking skills as well as giving insight into how your brain works and how to avoid common pitfalls in thinking. They discuss the difference between science and pseudoscience, how to recognise common science news tropes, how to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy colleague of yours and how to apply all of this to everyday life. As fascinating as it is entertaining, this enthralling audiobook is your essential guide to seeing through the fake news and media manipulation in our increasingly confusing world.
-
-
A vital and timely guide to critical thinking
- By Jason Hehir on 17-10-19
-
Pale Blue Dot
- A Vision of the Human Future in Space
- By: Carl Sagan
- Narrated by: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time.
-
-
First Time Read and Disappointed
- By Sarah on 20-02-18
-
How to Change Your Mind
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of How to Change Your Mind, written and read by Michael Pollan. When LSD was first discovered in the 1940s, it seemed to researchers, scientists and doctors as if the world might be on the cusp of psychological revolution. It promised to shed light on the deep mysteries of consciousness as well as offer relief to addicts and the mentally ill. But in the 1960s, with the vicious backlash against the counterculture, all further research was banned. In recent years, however, work has quietly begun again on the amazing potential of LSD, psilocybin and DMT. Could these drugs in fact improve the lives of many people?
-
-
life changing
- By Amazon Customer on 11-07-18
-
America Before
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock
- Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The concluding volume of the Fingerprints of the Gods trilogy. Could shattering secrets about the deep past of humanity await discovery in North America? Until very recently there was almost universal agreement amongst scientists that human beings first entered the Americas from Siberia around 13,000 years ago by walking into Alaska across the Bering landbridge. Thanks to scientific advances, and to archaeological and geological discoveries, we now know that the Americas were populated by humans for tens of thousands of years before the previously accepted date.
-
-
No photos
- By Amazon Customer on 06-05-19
-
Calculating the Cosmos
- How Mathematics Unveils the Universe
- By: Ian Stewart
- Narrated by: Dana Hickox
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Calculating the Cosmos, Ian Stewart presents an exhilarating guide to the cosmos, from our solar system to the entire universe. He describes the architecture of space and time, dark matter and dark energy, how galaxies form, why stars implode, how everything began, and how it's all going to end. He considers parallel universes, the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life, what forms extraterrestrial life might take, and the likelihood of life on Earth being snuffed out by an asteroid.
-
-
great book, spoiled by narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 05-09-17
-
Brief Answers to the Big Questions
- By: Stephen Hawking, Professor Kip Thorne - foreword
- Narrated by: Ben Whishaw, Garrick Hagon - foreword, Lucy Hawking - afterword
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The final book from Professor Stephen Hawking, the best-selling author of A Brief History of Time and arguably the most famous scientist of our age, Brief Answers to the Big Questions is a profound, accessible and timely reflection on the biggest questions in science. Professor Hawking was a brilliant theoretical physicist, an influential author and thinker and a great popular communicator. Throughout his career he was asked questions by business leaders, politicians, entrepreneurs, academics and the general public on a broad range of subjects, from the origins of the universe to the future of the planet.
-
-
Look up to the stars, not down at your feet.
- By Heisenberg on 16-10-18
-
The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality
- By: Don Lincoln, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Don Lincoln
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of his career, Albert Einstein was pursuing a dream far more ambitious than the theory of relativity. He was trying to find an equation that explained all physical reality - a theory of everything. Experimental physicist and award-winning educator Dr. Don Lincoln takes you on this exciting journey in The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality. Suitable for the intellectually curious at all levels and assuming no background beyond basic high-school math, these 24 half-hour lectures cover recent developments at the forefront of particle physics and cosmology.
-
-
For those who seek science truth
- By P on 02-05-19
Summary
Light of the Stars is science at the grandest of scales, and it tells a radically new story about what we are: one world in a universe awash in planets. Building on his widely discussed scientific papers and New York Times op-eds, astrophysicist Adam Frank shows that not only is it likely that alien civilizations have existed many times before, but also that many of them have driven their own worlds into dangerous eras of change.
He explains how dust storms on Mars, the greenhouse effect on Venus, Gaia Theory, the threat of nuclear winter, and efforts to prove or disprove the plurality of worlds from Aristotle to Copernicus to Carl Sagan have contributed to our understanding of our place in the universe and the growing challenge of climate change. And he raises what may be the largest question of all: If there has been life on other worlds, what can its presence tell us about our own fate?
More from the same
Narrator
What members say
Average customer ratings
Overall
-
-
5 Stars8
-
4 Stars4
-
3 Stars1
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Performance
-
-
5 Stars9
-
4 Stars3
-
3 Stars1
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
-
5 Stars7
-
4 Stars5
-
3 Stars1
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TD
- 09-05-19
Incredible book
It's a must read for anybody who cares about what will happen to us as a civilization and what possibly could be done to consciously mitigate the worse. Explained in clear and easy for non-scientists to understand based on scientific research that I wouldn't think was carried out.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 26-09-18
Great review of the space exploration history
The author describes the matters with good depth and understanding.
The narrator did a fabulous job and kept me comming back to the book even in its less interesting parts.
Overall a great experience
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- Stowmarket, United Kingdom
- 09-08-18
Essential reading go anyone concerned with the future of mankind
This timely book, not too long, not too short, not too highbrow not too lowbrow, brings together the latest work on the effects that advanced civilisations have on their home planets. It paints a necessarily honest picture of what we need to do to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Every world leader should read and digest this book.
I only have one small comment on the narrator. I’ve given Kevin Parisesu 5 stars for his work. His voice is very clear and easy on the ear but for an English listener the American pronunciation can be a little confusing sometimes.
It took me a little while to realise that what I took to be the word error was in fact era.
There are other examples but please don’t let that stop you listening to this very important work.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- karl
- 27-06-18
Nice take
This book makes you think by putting pen to paper and working out some scenarios for our coevolution with our planet. This part was naturally a little dry listening. I’m an engineer so I enjoyed the nuts and bolts. Performance was good.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David
- 25-11-18
First steps only
If you have some familiarity with Drake's equation, give this a pass. Nothing really new here. Its only contribution is yet another relatively arbitrary classification of as-yet-to-be-discovered alien civilizations. I was hoping for some updates on exo-biology, but no.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- DVB22
- 27-10-18
This is our story
This book is so relevant and so important for everyone to read. Especially the climate change deniers. The narrator draws you in perfectly and the story....well it’s OUR beautiful, yet fragile story. Gives us hope as a species yet realistically grounds you as the important problems we will face in the near future.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall

- Sean Dooley
- 10-10-18
Road map for navigating the Anthropocene
i really loved this book. Heard an interview with Adam on the Probably Science podcast and had to get my hands on a copy. Adam is able to recontexualize problems that are and will continue to threaten our civilization by stepping away and taking the larger cosmic perspective. i found the thoughts and information in here to be both consumable and engaging. i will be listening to "Light of the Stars" again very soon.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- David Goings
- 10-09-18
Great content
Wish the book had been read by the author. Great read though, just think more passion would be conveyed by the author.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Zach
- 17-08-18
Should be read by everyone.
What an inspiring book! Instead of going with a doom and gloom perspective on a changing climate, Adam Frank dives into the facts with a realistic view outside of the normal human perspective. If we are going to have a chance at a thriving civilization deep into the future, more people need this kind of view point. Recommended to everyone.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- The Saint
- 18-07-18
A New Look into the Fermi (SETI) Paradox
Light of the Stars casts a new light on the puzzle that is the Fermi Paradox; if extra-terrestrial life is likely so common, why do we find no evidence of it? The careful analysis demonstrates that we may be coming up upon an evolutionary choke point common to advanced technological societies spread over entire planets. It reaches beyond the choices playing out today, as for instance in the substitution of renewables for fossil fuels, to suggest that it is the planet-spanning thermodynamic activity of the entire civilization as part of a larger biosphere which drives the planet to states which are either stable or unstable. In that case, it is less the energy source used in the activity and more the nature and quantum of the activity itself over which we must exert agency if we are to see a way past the thermodynamic choke point. The book stops a chapter or two short of direct confrontation with the Paradox - if there is no evidence of alien civilization, does that imply that the choke point is an unavoidable cul de sac which no civilization has overcome? Hoping that we might be the first is surely faint hope indeed! J. A. (Canada) for WildDogs Foundation - wilddogsfoundation@gmail.com
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Steve Dahlman
- 02-06-19
Magnificent!
Adam Frank has distilled the work of scientists and philosophers into a cogent analysis of evolutionary thought, research and policy. The ramifications of mankind’s effects upon the earth are presented in exceptional detail, but, remarkably, not judgmental. Ending on a very positive light, the reader is not left with a post-apocalyptic hell, but a blueprint for the future. “We are the planet.” Yes, we are. We are also the galaxy and the universe.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Don
- 29-04-19
Our place among the stars
An accessible story of our planet, our solar system , our galaxy and us. A very clearly expressed discussion of where we are in our planetary maturity and how we need to grow up, face our follies,and reach for a more sustainable human presence.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Stash
- 11-07-18
One of the best books I’ve listen to, maybe ever
This was a fascinating story in a great way to reposition the human race with regard to climate change. If you look at who we are in the grand scheme of the planets we become less of a scorch on the planet dragging it down and more of a quart of force. It’s up to us to listen to her counterpart earth figure out how to code test. I really really enjoyed this book.