Discover Top 100 Audiobooks in Science & Technology, Environment

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Title: Hurricanes and Floods

Subtitle: The Natural Disasters Series

Author: Anne Schraff

Narrator: The Staff at High Noon Books

Format: Unabridged

Length: 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-15-13

Publisher: High Noon Books

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

Hurricanes and Floods is a tale of the forces of nature that cause more human death than any other. The 1900 disaster in Galveston, Texas, the ordeal of Hurricane Camille, and floods from Johnstown, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California, Listeners will be "swept away" by this fast-paced listen.

Hurricanes and Floods is part of the Natural Disasters non-fiction series that will engage listeners of all ages, including English Language Learners. Nature unleashes its forces without regard to people or property. Blizzards, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, tornadoes, and wildfires are all featured in this nonfiction series that also relates tales of survival and heroism, with a bit of the science behind these natural phenomena.

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Title: The Nuclear Disaster at Chernobyl

Subtitle: The Disaster Series

Author: Robin Cruise

Narrator: The Staff at High Noon Books

Format: Unabridged

Length: 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-15-13

Publisher: High Noon Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

The Chernobyl power plant was the hope for energy in the Ukraine. Years after the 1986 meltdown, Ukraine is still feeling the effects of its radiation.

The Nuclear Disaster at Chernobyl is part of the Disasters series. These moments in history recall the death and destruction caused by both natural and manmade disasters around the world. The Disaster series probes the loss of the space shuttle Challenger's crew, the oil-well fires set in Kuwait by forces of Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the first Gulf War, the Korean airliner shot down by Russia in the Former Soviet Union, the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, and the Mount St. Helens eruption. This High-Interest, non-fiction series engages listeners of all ages.

Members Reviews:

Decent introduction

Pros

- Short well written book.

- Literary style makes it easy to read.

- Covers both the disaster, the immediate response, and the effects of the disaster.

Cons

- Too short. Important parts of the history are intentionally omitted to keep the book brief.

- I particularly missed a technical discussion on how the power plant worked, and why it failed.

Conclusion

Buy it if you don't know almost anything about the Cherobyl disaster. If you want to go further, the publicly available information (e.g. The Wikipedia article about the disaster) covers much more elements.

Incomplete

I could have found all of this information on the Internet. It goes into less detail than Wikipedia about what actually caused the accident.

The Nuclear Disaster at Chernobyl Disasters

I really liked this book because I love to read nonfiction books and this was the perfect book for me. Also I love books about the chernobyl power plant

Shocked and amazed

I couldn't believe the consequences of radiation! I feel really bad for the men,women, and children who suffered during this tragedy

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Title: Let Them Eat Shrimp

Subtitle: The Tragic Disappearance of the Rainforests of the Sea

Author: Kennedy Warne

Narrator: Kevin Young

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

What's the connection between a platter of jumbo shrimp at your local restaurant and murdered fishermen in Honduras, impoverished women in Ecuador, and disastrous hurricanes along America's Gulf coast? Mangroves. Many people have never heard of these salt-water forests, but for those who depend on their riches, mangroves are indispensable. They are natural storm barriers, home to innumerable exotic creatures - from crab eating vipers to man-eating tigers - and provide food and livelihoods to millions of coastal dwellers. Now they are being destroyed to make way for shrimp farming and other coastal development. For those who stand in the way of these industries, the consequences can be deadly.

In Let Them Eat Shrimp, Kennedy Warne takes listeners into the muddy battle zone that is the mangrove forest. A tangle of snaking roots and twisted trunks, mangroves are often dismissed as foul wastelands. In fact, they are supermarkets of the sea, providing shellfish, crabs, honey, timber, and charcoal to coastal communities from Florida to South America to New Zealand. Generations have built their lives around mangroves and consider these swamps sacred.

To shrimp farmers and land developers, mangroves simply represent a good investment. The tidal land on which they stand often has no title, so with a nod and wink from a compliant official, it can be turned from a public resource to a private possession. The forests are bulldozed, their traditional users dispossessed.

The true price of shrimp farming and other coastal development has gone largely unheralded in the U.S. media. A longtime journalist, Warne now captures the insatiability of these industries and the magic of the mangroves. His vivid account will make every listener pause before ordering the shrimp.

Editorial Reviews:

This audiobook begins at a shrimp dinner and ends as an essential environmental manifesto. Journalist Kennedy Warne investigates the links between shrimp farming and the degradation of mangroves. He takes a look at shrimp harvesting across continents, explaining how governments do or do not protect mangroves in those regions.

Like Barry Estrabrook's Tomatoland, this audio focuses on one element of our food system in order to illuminate broader environmental, social, and political problems of today's global economy. The audio raises consciousness about what and how we eat - it forces us to face where our food comes from, and how. Kevin Young is the perfect narrator for the occasion - low, authoritative, patient - it's like getting your favorite public radio host to talk for seven hours straight.

Members Reviews:

It's a sad commentary on our times written with heart and insight

This is a rare look at what has only turned into another "Get rich quick at all cost and cause another ecological disaster" paradigm that seems to be so prevalent on our planet these days. It's a sad commentary on our times written with heart and insight. It was a real eye-opener for me, and I appreciated the up-close look at yet another travesty of our ecology perpetrated by money hungry humans and easily bought out government officials.

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Title: High Tech Trash

Subtitle: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health

Author: Elizabeth Grossman

Narrator: Elisa Carlson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 10-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

The Digital Age was expected to usher in an era of clean production, an alternative to smokestack industries and their pollutants. But as environmental journalist Elizabeth Grossman reveals in this penetrating analysis of high tech manufacture and disposal, digital may be sleek, but it's anything but clean.

Deep within every electronic device lie toxic materials that make up the bits and bytes, a complex thicket of lead, mercury, cadmium, plastics, and a host of other often harmful ingredients. High Tech Trash is a wake-up call to the importance of the e-waste issue and the health hazards involved. Americans alone own more than two billion pieces of high tech electronics and discard five to seven million tons each year. As a result, electronic waste already makes up more than two-thirds of the heavy metals and 40 percent of the lead found in our landfills. But the problem goes far beyond American shores, most tragically to the cities in China and India where shiploads of discarded electronics arrive daily. There, they are "recycled" - picked apart by hand, exposing thousands of workers and community residents to toxics.

As Grossman notes, "This is a story in which we all play a part, whether we know it or not. If you sit at a desk in an office, talk to friends on your cell phone, watch television, listen to music on headphones, are a child in Guangdong, or a native of the Arctic, you are part of this story.

"The answers lie in changing how we design, manufacture, and dispose of high tech electronics. Europe has led the way in regulating materials used in electronic devices and in e-waste recycling. But in the United States many have yet to recognize the persistent human health and environmental effects of the toxics in high tech devices. If Silent Spring brought national attention to the dangers of DDT and other pesticides, High Tech Trash could do the same for a new generation of technology's products.

Editorial Reviews:

Well, this one will certainly scare the bejeezus out of anyone who lives and dies by their cell phone.

High-Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, written by environmental journalist Elizabeth Grossman, and narrated with pointed urgency by Elisa Carlson, is an extremely articulate and argumentally sound investigative report that details all the various ways your favorite trusted digital screen and resourceful cutting-edge device is harming your body.

Not an alarmist study, but rather a window to a real life health crisis thats only getting worse in these current times of sleek technological "innovations".

Members Reviews:

One of today's most underreported environmental problems

"High Tech Trash" by Elizabeth Grossman is an eye-opening account of the mounting environmental costs of living in a technology-dependent society. As Rachel Carson had once sounded the alarm about the dangers of chemical contamination to a prior generation, Ms. Grossman succeeds in exposing one of today's most underreported environmental problems in a persuasive and compelling manner. The author's carefully structured thesis is invigorated with skillful writing and narrative flair, creating both an intelligent and accessible work that should appeal to a wide audience.

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Title: Marvels in the Muck

Author: Doug Nordhielm Wechsler

Narrator: James Jenner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 10-18-13

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

This audiobook reveals the secret lives of salt marshes. Along the coasts, where ocean tides mix salt water with fresh water, nature has created salt marshes - soggy places full of natural wonders. For years, salt marshes were maligned, drained, or filled in. Now salt marshes are valued as the home of fascinating wildlife, including more than twenty different species of birds. Ornithologist and photographer Doug Wechsler takes the reader on a down-and-muddy tour of the year-round activity in these wonderlands. Young readers will marvel at the strange and skillful birds and unusual vegetation, beautifully adapted to live and thrive in salt marshes. Kids will appreciate what has taken so long for us to learn: salt marshes are delicate wetlands, well worth defending.

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Title: Black Bear

Subtitle: North America's Bear

Author: Stephen R. Swinburne

Narrator: Brian Hutchison

Format: Unabridged

Length: 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-18-13

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

Three species of bear inhabit North America: the grizzly, the polar bear, and the black bear. But the American black bear is truly North America's bear, found only in North America. Black bears range from Canada to Mexico, from New England to California. There may be as many as 750,000 black bears roaming the forests and mountains of the continent. With its large population, and with more people moving into black bear territory, it's important that we understand this magnificent animal. Stephen R. Swinburne takes us to where black bears live. He joins biologists in search of bears in the Pennsylvania woods, where a mother bear is examined and her cubs tagged. He visits a "school teacher" for orphaned cubs who teaches them how to survive in the wild. Along the way, he offers his personal observations together with fascinating facts about black bears and their world. (Did you know that in the autumn, black bears consume as much as twenty thousand calories a day? That's equivalent to forty-two hamburgers!) With stunning full-color and archival photographs, this lively book shows how North America's bear behaves and survives.

Members Reviews:

CHILDRENS' BEAR BOOK;

VERY THIN AND HARDLY ANY PHOTOS OF BLACK BEARS. EASY TO READ TEXT FOR KIDS. MY NEW-USED COPY WAS IN EXCELLENT SHAPE INSIDE 2 OUT, VERY CHEAP, AND WAS AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY. I WAS QUITE SAD TO SEE THAT THE PUBLISHER COULDN'T FIGURE OUT THAT A BOOK ON BLACK BEARS COULD USE SOME BLACK-BEAR PHOTOS. HELLO. ANYWAY, NO COMPLAINTS WITH THE BOOKSELLERS....BUT THIS BEAR BOOK IS NOT WORTH GETTING BECAUSE THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH BLACK BEAR PICS TO SEE.

Wow barely 30 pages.......what a rip....

Black Bear: North America's Bear....Not worth 10.00 ....Wow barely 30 pages.......nice pictures...but how crazy it's more a childrens book I will be sending to the public library!~

Three Stars

didn't know it wasa young adult book

Black Bear: North America's Bear

Great book, with good accurate information and very wonderful pictures. I am a black bear lover and follower of the bears in Minnesota. Thank you for a really good book.

Excellent

We live in black bear territory, my grandchildren are very excited about it, and wanted to know about them. The book was wonderful, pictures were great, text was a little hard but I was able to talk them through it.

Thanks

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Title: Coyote

Subtitle: North America's Dog

Author: Stephen R. Swinburne

Narrator: Brian Hutchison

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-18-13

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

From the Arctic Circle to Costa Rica, from Maine to the tip of Baja, California, the coyote thrives like no other animal in North America. It roams the Canadian wilderness and prowls the Arizona deserts and beyond. Over time this highly intelligent animal has learned to adapt to big cities, such as Los Angeles. It has even been sighted in Bronx, New York. But the coyote is not always welcome.

Farmers and cattle ranchers, who lose valuable sheep, chickens, and cows to the hungry dog, view it as a damaging predator. On the other hand, supporters of the coyote argue that, like the wolf, the coyote plays an important role in nature.In this fascinating book, Steve Swinburne draws the reader into the secretive world of the coyote. His balanced and though-provoking text, illustrated with dramatic full-color photographs, examines how the coyote behaves and survives. He considers the past and present history of the coyote and what the future may hold in store for North America's native dog.

Members Reviews:

Steve Did It Again!!! Great Book

Can't say enough about Steve Swineburne books! He is fantastic. Makes my child want to read about animals all the time. She has learned so much from these. Her plan now is to get involved in saving the animals. Love these books! Really Another Must Read!!!!

Informative and excellently written

My children (8 and 11) loved the way the author combined his own adventures with so much information about coyotes in this fine, energetic book. The author's lively prose also helps to make this a wonderful example of the new journalism as it can be applied to children's literature. We need more books like this, and I hope the author can move on from coyote to other cats, like bobcat and tiger, etc. Yesterday, we bought his wolf book, "Once a Wolf," which my son and daughter say is equally fantastic. I'm going to recommend that "Coyote" and "Once a Wolf" be used in our school's curriculum, which at times might be a little heavily weighted toward math and pure science. Glad "Coyote" is in paperback! If the author should read his own reviews at this site, my children want him to know he should keep up the good work.

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Title: Uprising

Author: Phil McKenna

Narrator: Ian Parkinson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-29-13

Publisher: MATTER

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

In an attempt to go green, governments around the world are shunning coal and embracing a supposedly better alternative: natural gas. It's a decision that will shape the future of our planet - but it may not be the right one.

Meet Bob Ackley, former pawn-shop worker and gas company contractor, who has spent years crisscrossing America collecting data on the gas leaks that pepper the country's cities. And what he has found could mean that the fuel may be as damaging to our climate as coal.

How did a community college drop-out and climate change skeptic carve out an unconventional place amongst some of the world's foremost energy experts? Find out as science writer Phil McKenna unpicks the science behind our energy future.

Members Reviews:

An okay read

I really enjoy the Matter stories and was looking forward to this one since I'm interested in green initiatives and conservation. The story started off well and there was some good information but it just ended very abruptly without a smooth ending, imho. Still, I'm really glad the Matter series is going strong.

excellent article

I thought I was up to speed with the problems associated with the Natural Gas Boom. But this article revealed a huge problem that I didn't know about. It's a good read.

Is green a better alternative? Does natural gas less dangerous than the alternative? - Maybe not.

== Summary ==

Bob Ackley travels across America looking for gas leaks and, lo and behold, he has found way too many. This is an investigation on his findings, its implications, his history and trustworthiness. Phil McKenna does a good work on unveiling the green alternative and how companies might be covering up fatal and dangerous gas leaks across America.

== Pros ==

* Very interesting murder story

* Based on a true story

* Do you believe the FSB (former KGB) is not operative anymore? Rethink your beliefs.

* Have an insight on Russia and the fall of the USSR

== Cons ==

* I found it somewhat boring, but this is a subject I personally don't like much so it might be due to my lack of interest on this subject

== Conclusion ==

* If you like green alternatives or is pro natural gas, read it

* If you are intrigued by how much gas can leak throughout America, read it

* If you want to read about how Bob Ackley had found so many leaks and what the gas companies tell about it, read it

* If you don't like biographies or investigative journalism this book is not for you

Great read - raises a lot of questions about natural gas

This is a great article from what seems to be a new publisher trying to make long form, high quality journalism sustainable. So there are two great things worth checking out here if you like to better understand the world. It's a good story showing how real people are doing boots on the ground work to fact check everyone's assumption that natural gas is clean. This isn't a piece about the dangers of exotic new fracking techniques. It's a piece about the world underneath our cities that hasn't changed in decades and isn't as crisp, clean and green as you might imagine.

Beantown Leaks Gas!

If you have an opinion on the coal vs gas debate for future fuels in the US, you need to read this article. Leaking natural gas is an environmental issue that has received little attention, but has the potential to significantly impact the fuel debate.

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Title: Environmental Psychology

Author: Steven G. Carley

Narrator: Catherine Force

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-02-13

Publisher: SGC Publishing

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

Environmental psychology consists of varied approaches and requires research just as any other form of psychology. The stress of the environment can possess of a profound effect on behavior. This may result from violations of privacy, personal space, or territory. The world surrounding us and the structures thereof affect how we act and react to the environment. It may be the sustainable development of today can help to assure a better future for tomorrow's generation. Learn just how environmental psychology differs from its other forms.

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Title: The Doomsday Machine

Subtitle: The High Price of Nuclear Energy, the World's Most Dangerous Fuel

Author: Martin Cohen

Narrator: David Rapkin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-28-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Environment

Publisher's Summary:

Today, there are over 100 nuclear reactors operating in our backyards, from Indian Point in New York to Diablo Canyon in California. Proponents claim that nuclear power is the only viable alternative to fossil fuels, and due to rising energy consumption and the looming threat of global warming, they are pushing for an even greater investment.

Here, energy economist Andrew McKillop and social scientist Martin Cohen argue that the nuclear power dream being sold to us is pure fantasy. Debunking the multilayered myth that nuclear energy is cheap, clean, and safe, they demonstrate how landscapes are ravaged in search of the elusive yellowcake to fuel the reactors, and how energy companies and politicians rarely discuss the true costs of nuclear power plants - from the subsidies that build the infrastructure to the unspoken guarantee that the public will pick up the cleanup cost in the event of a meltdown, which can easily top $100 billion dollars.

Members Reviews:

Absolutely woeful - do not buy

This book is a waste of time - I really tried, but gave up after an hour or so.

This was one of a few books on nuclear technology that I bought (also Command and Control, and Atomic Accidents - both excellent books), but it quickly degenerated into a hyperbolic, highly opinionated piece of trash talk with little fact or supporting arguments for the opinion. I was hoping for some serious analysis of the problems of nuclear energy but ended up glib throw away lines that meandered more than a babbling brooke! I think author's main intention was to trash nuclear technology without much analysis, effort or detail. With more supporting facts, analysis and credible 3rd party opinion it would be greatly improved as the concept of the book is good.

The performance wasn't much better. Although the vocal performance was good, the read kept descending into side notes, foot notes and other excerpts that were poorly performed and integrated. The performer (possibly from the authors text) kept swapping between a matter or fact / factual style of presentation to something you'd expect from a beer conversation at a local bar.

I have a high tolerance for bad audio books and would have let either the poor performance or content go, but with everything being so bad, it was infuriating and a waste of my time.

This is the only book I've considered asking Audible for a refund of and I have a lot of books from them.

Can nuclear power be a bedtime story?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd recommend this for listening while travelling - say on a long road trip. But not as 'bedtime reading', no.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Doomsday Machine?

The book makes a rather unnatural transiton to audio. But nonetheless, the style is simple and there are plenty of color details. It's definitely not for the casual reader, but for those interested in the topic - is nuclear energy the soltuion tothe world's energy crisis? Is it as safe as we're continually told? it's a friendly voice, giving thoughtful and careful insights.

Did David Rapkin do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

We,, there are no 'characters', but he's certainly got a very suitable voice for the main 'techno-future' theme.