Download Best Sellers Audiobooks in Science & Technology, Astronomy

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Title: Cycles of Time

Subtitle: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe

Author: Roger Penrose

Narrator: Bruce Mann

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-03-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 114 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

From the best-selling author of The Emperors New Mind and The Road to Reality, a groundbreaking book that provides new views on three of cosmologys most profound questions: What, if anything, came before the Big Bang? What is the source of order in our universe? What is its ultimate future?

Current understanding of our universe dictates that all matter will eventually thin out to zero density, with huge black holes finally evaporating away into massless energy. Roger Penroseone of the most innovative mathematicians of our timeturns around this predominant picture of the universes heat death, arguing how the expected ultimate fate of our accelerating, expanding universe can actually be reinterpreted as the Big Bang of a new one.

Along the way to this remarkable cosmological picture, Penrose sheds new light on basic principles that underlie the behavior of our universe, describing various standard and nonstandard cosmological models, the fundamental role of the cosmic microwave background, and the key status of black holes. Ideal for both the amateur astronomer and the advanced physicistwith plenty of exciting insights for eachCycles of Time is certain to provoke and challenge.

Intellectually thrilling and accessible, this is another essential guide to the universe from one of our preeminent thinkers.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

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Title: Nasa Voyager Space Sounds (Complete)

Author: ABN

Narrator: uncredited

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-18-11

Publisher: ABN

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 41 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

Although space is a virtual vacuum, this does not mean there is no sound. Sound exists as electromagnetic vibrations. The specially designed instruments aboard the space probes were designed to pick up and record electromagnetic vibrations. This information, when sent back to Earth and decoded, can be heard as intriguing and beautiful sounds from space. The real music of the spheres.

The sounds you hear are from decoded information on interactions of the solar ionic wind, the planet's magnetosphere, plasma wave phenomena and interactions between the planet's ionosphere and magnetosphere.

These vibration frequency recordings are all within the range of human hearing (20-20,000 cycles per second). These recordings have been specially processed, filtered, and spacially mastered in 3-D sound with frequencies for achieving deep states of relaxation.In order to achieve the best possible quality in audio reproduction, these tapes are processed on special high-end chrome tape, Coherence Technology™ for removing all extraneous noise, HX Pro for super high fidelity, 3-D sound processing using the BASE System™, and our own BMR Processing™.The epic space flights of Voyager I and II soar across our Solar System. This unique series of recordings is created from original Voyager recordings of the electromagnetic "voices" of the planets and moons in our Solar System.

Although space is a virtual vacuum, this does not mean there is no sound in space. Sound does exist in electronic vibrations. The specially designed instruments on board the Voyagers performed special experiments to pick up and record these vibrations, all within the range of human hearing. Hear the beautful songs of the planets. The complex interactions of the cosmic plasma of the universe, charged electromagnetic particles from the solar wind, planetary magnetosphere, rings and moons create vibration "soundscapes" which are at once utterly alien and deeply familiar to the human ear. Some of these sounds are hauntingly like human voices singing, giant Tibetan bowls, wind, waves, birds and dolphins.

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Title: The Hidden Reality

Subtitle: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos

Author: Brian Greene

Narrator: Brian Greene

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-25-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1210 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

There was a time when universe meant all there is. Everything. Yet, in recent years discoveries in physics and cosmology have led a number of scientists to conclude that our universe may be one among many. With crystal-clear prose and inspired use of analogy, Brian Greene shows how a range of different multiverse proposals emerges from theories developed to explain the most refined observations of both subatomic particles and the dark depths of space: a multiverse in which you have an infinite number of doppelgängers, each reading this sentence in a distant universe; a multiverse comprising a vast ocean of bubble universes, of which ours is but one; a multiverse that endlessly cycles through time, or one that might be hovering millimeters away yet remains invisible; another in which every possibility allowed by quantum physics is brought to life. Or, perhaps strangest of all, a multiverse made purely of mathematics.

Greene, one of our foremost physicists and science writers, takes us on a captivating exploration of these parallel worlds and reveals how much of realitys true nature may be deeply hidden within them.

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Title: The 4 Percent Universe

Subtitle: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

Author: Richard Panek

Narrator: Ray Porter

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-10-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1389 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

Over the past few decades, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only four percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet. The rest is completely unknown.

Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of the quest to find this dark matter and an even more bizarre substance called dark energy. This is perhaps the greatest mystery in all of science, and solving it will bring fame, funding, and certainly a Nobel Prize. Based on in-depth reporting and interviews with the major playersfrom Berkeleys feisty, excitable Saul Perlmutter and Harvards witty but exacting Robert Kirshner to the doyenne of astronomy, Vera Rubinthe book offers an intimate portrait of the bitter rivalries and fruitful collaborations, the eureka moments and blind alleys, that have fueled their search, redefined science, and reinvented the universe.

The stakes couldnt be higher. Our view of the cosmos is profoundly wrong, and Copernicus was only the beginning: not just Earth, but all common matter is a marginal part of existence. Paneks fast-paced narrative, filled with original reporting and behind-the-scenes details, brings this epic story to life for the very first time.

Critic Reviews:

Its the biggest mystery of all: why is the universe expanding at an accelerated rate? At its heart is a search for what forces and particles make up reality. It baffled Einstein, and it now obsesses a cadre of fascinating cosmologists. By brilliantly capturing their passions and pursuits, Richard Panek has made this cosmic quest exciting and understandable. (Walter Isaacson, New York Times best-selling author of Einstein: His Life and Universe)

A superior account of how astronomers discovered that they knew almost nothing about 96 percent of the universe. Panek delivers vivid sketches of scientists, lucid explanations of their work, and revealing descriptions of the often stormy rivalry that led to this scientific revolution, usually a media cliché, but not in this case. (Kirkus Reviews)

Science journalist Panek offers an insiders view of the quest for what could be the ultimate revelation.... This lively story of big personalities, intellectual competitiveness, and ravenous curiosity is as entertaining as it is illuminating. (Publishers Weekly)

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Title: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

Author: Mike Brown

Narrator: Ryan Gesell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-10

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 619 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a 10th planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of its resulting in one more planet being added to our solar system, Brown's find ignited a firestorm of controversy that riled the usually sedate world of astronomy and launched him into the public eye. The debate culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of "dwarf" planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters - all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about.

Filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is Mike Brown's engaging first-person account of the most tumultuous year in modern astronomy - which he inadvertently caused. As it guides readers through important scientific concepts and inspires us to think more deeply about our place in the cosmos, it is also an entertaining and enlightening personal story: While Brown sought to expand our understanding of the vast nature of space, his own life was changed in the most immediate, human ways by love, birth, and death. A heartfelt and personal perspective on the demotion of everyone's favorite farflung planet, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of exploring the universe - and who among us hasn't?

Critic Reviews:

"Finally I have someone to whom I can forward the hate mail I get from schoolchildren. After all these years, the real destroyer of Pluto has confessed. Part memoir and part planetary saga, How I Killed Pluto invites you into planetary scientist Mike Brown's office, his home, and his head as he tells the story of how his research on the outer solar system led directly to the death of Pluto, the planet." (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium and author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet)

Romance, intrigue, laughter, skullduggery, and most of all: science! Mike Brown has done more than anyone to reshape our view of the solar system, and this first-person account of his discoveries is an irresistible page-turner. Youll have so much fun, you wont even notice how much youre learning. (Sean Carroll, author of From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time)

Science is at its best when it shakes up our thinking, and when it comes to planets, Mike Brown has grabbed on with both hands. Whether you think Pluto is a planet or just another ice ball, youll find Browns tale of exploring the outer solar system a charming and even endearing read. If Pluto is indeed dead, then its sacrifice was not in vain. (Philip Plait, author of Death from the Skies!)

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Title: Horizons of Cosmology

Subtitle: Exploring Worlds Seen and Unseen

Author: Joseph Silk

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-01-10

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 31 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

Highly esteemed astrophysicist Joseph Silk explores the vast mysteries and speculations of the field of cosmology in a way that balances an accessible style for the general reader and enough technical detail for advanced students and professionals.

Indeed, while the physical laws and origins of the universe can be endlessly complex, even Einstein once mused that they could be explained simply enough to be grasped by nonspecialists. To that end, Silk begins by introducing the basic story of the major discoveries in cosmology over the past century - wherin we learned that we live in an expanding universe populated with galaxies and stars. The middle chapters examine a number of contemporary puzzles, such as dark matter and dark energy. The last third of the book looks at the human side of cosmology and moves to the more philosophical frontiers of the field, such as concepts of multiverses and time travel - areas of exploration where some crossover into speculative territory becomes unavoidable.

In the past century alone, our understanding of the universe has expanded exponentially, and it will be fascinating to see what discoveries the next hundred years hold. Few books will provide such a thorough understanding of where we have been and what might lie ahead as Horizons of Cosmology. The book is published by Templeton Press.

Critic Reviews:

"If you want to plunge into the complex and intriguing issues that engage modern cosmologists, rather than skim the surface of easy description, take this journey with Joseph Silk, who will lead you on a tour through dark matter, dark energy, black holes, galaxy formation, and the inflating and accelerating universe. Professor Silk, who knows these topics intimately from his long research career, does not hesitate to take his readers to the heart of the matter, allowing full comprehension to those who travel with him." (Donald Goldsmith, coauthor of Four Hundred Years of the Telescope)

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Title: The Secret Life of Dust

Subtitle: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Consequences of Little Things

Author: Hannah Holmes

Narrator: Eliza Foss

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-28-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 40 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

A mesmerizing expedition around our dusty world.

Some see dust as dull stuff, useless at best, and sneeze-inducing at worst. But in the hands of writer Hannah Holmes, dust becomes a dazzling and mysterious force. As Holmes says, dust is a messenger, and air is its medium. And by the end of this fascinating journey through The Secret Life of Dust, we cannot help but agree.

Humble dust, we discover, built the very planet we walk upon. It tinkers with the weather and it spices the air we breathe. Billions of tons of tiny particles rise into the air annually - the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, sea salt, leaf fragments, scales from butterfly wings, shreds of T-shirts, and fireplace soot. And eventually, of course, all this dust must settle.

The story of restless dust begins among exploding stars, then treks through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, digs into Antarctic glaciers - and probes the dark underbelly of the living-room couch. And there is good company on this journey: Holmes gathers for us a delightful, and, by necessity, highly inventive, cast of characters - the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side: how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendants are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles; still others venture into the microscopic jungle of the bedroom carpet. Like The Secret Life of Dust, all of them unveil the mayhem - and the magic - wrought by little things.

Critic Reviews:

"You will never again look disparagingly upon dust. Hannah Holmes has written my favorite kind of bookone that takes a seemingly mundane subject and trumpets its significance in our lives not only on Earth, but in the Heavens." (Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson, Director, Hayden Planetarium and author of One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos)

"Hannah Holmes is a science writer to watch. Who ever thought dust could so shine?" (Kirkus Reviews)

"Eliza Foss has a clear, likable voice and a good sense of pacing. Her genial tone helps maintain interest and makes the information easier to absorb." (AudioFile)

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Title: How It Ends

Subtitle: From You to the Universe

Author: Chris Impey

Narrator: Richard Ferrone

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-28-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 48 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

The fascinating science behind the eventual end to everything - from the individual to all existence. Although we may try to keep it tucked at the back of our minds, most of us are aware of our own mortality. But few among us know what science, with the help of insights yielded from groundbreaking new research, has to say about death on a larger scale. Enter astronomer Chris Impey, who chronicles the death of the whole shebang: individual, species, biosphere, Earth, Sun, Milky Way, and, finally, the entire universe.

With a healthy dose of humor, How It Ends illuminates everything from the technologies of human life extension and the evolutionary arms race between microbes and men to the inescapable dimming of the sun and the ultimate "big rip", giving us a rare glimpse into a universe without us.

Critic Reviews:

"Delivering bad news with a bemused touch, Impey entertains as he informs about the facts of life and death." (Booklist)

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Title: The Eerie Silence

Subtitle: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence

Author: Paul Davies

Narrator: George K. Wilson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-30-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 138 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

Fifty years ago, a young astronomer named Frank Drake pointed a radio telescope at nearby stars in the hope of picking up a signal from an alien civilization. Thus began one of the boldest scientific projects in history, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). But after a half century of scanning the skies, astronomers have little to report but an eerie silence---eerie because many scientists are convinced that the universe is teeming with life. The problem, argues leading physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies, is that we've been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way. Davies should know. For more than three decades, he has been closely involved with SETI and now chairs the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, charged with deciding what to do if we're confronted with evidence of alien intelligence. In this extraordinary book, he shows how SETI has lost its edge, then offers a new and exciting road map for the future.

Davies believes that our search so far has been overly anthropocentric: we tend to assume an alien species will look, think, and behave like us. He argues that we need to be far more expansive in our efforts, and in this book he completely redefines the search, challenging existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact. A provocative and mind-expanding journey, The Eerie Silence will thrill fans of science and science fiction alike.

Critic Reviews:

"Paul Davies has written a most delightful book, perhaps the most thoughtful, thorough, and comprehensive book ever published on the key question: are we alone in the universe? Davies addresses one of the most pivotal questions facing humanity, and does it with wit, style, and rigor.

The Eerie Silence will satisfy the curiosity of anyone interested in big cosmic questions about intelligence in the universe." (Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics and author of

Physics of the Impossible, Hyperspace, and

Parallel Worlds)

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Title: Faint Echoes, Distant Stars

Subtitle: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth

Author: Ben Bova

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-11-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 49 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Astronomy

Publisher's Summary:

Our neighboring planets may have the answer to this question. Scientists have already identified ice caps on Mars and what appear to be enormous oceans underneath the ice of Jupiter's moons. The atmosphere on Venus appeared harsh and insupportable of life, composed of a toxic atmosphere and oceans of acid - until scientists concluded that Earth's atmosphere was eerily similar billions of years ago.

An extraterrestrial colony, in some form, may already exist, just awaiting discovery. But the greatest impediment to such an important scientific discovery may not be technological, but political. No scientific endeavor can be launched without a budget, and matters of money are within the arena of politicians. Dr. Ben Bova explores some of the key players and the arguments waged in a debate of both scientific and cultural priorities, showing the emotions, the controversy, and the egos involved in arguably the most important scientific pursuit ever begun.

Critic Reviews:

"This book will excite science buffs while being accessible to general readers hoping to one day meet our extraterrestrial relations." (Publishers Weekly)

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