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The Sounds of Life by Karen Bakker
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The Sounds of Life

How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants

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Narrator Suzanne Toren

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Length 10 hours 24 minutes
Language English
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This audiobook narrated by Suzanne Toren takes you on an amazing journey into the hidden realm of nature's soundsThe natural world teems with remarkable conversations, many beyond human hearing range. Scientists are using groundbreaking digital technologies to uncover these astonishing sounds, revealing vibrant communication among our fellow creatures across the Tree of Life.At once meditative and scientific, The Sounds of Life shares fascinating and surprising stories of nonhuman sound, interweaving insights from technological innovation and traditional knowledge. We meet scientists using sound to protect and regenerate endangered species from the Great Barrier Reef to the Arctic and the Amazon. We discover the shocking impacts of noise pollution on both animals and plants. We learn how artificial intelligence can decode nonhuman sounds, and meet the researchers building dictionaries in East African Elephant and Sperm Whalish. At the frontiers of innovation, we explore digitally mediated dialogues with bats and honeybees. Technology often distracts us from nature, but what if it could reconnect us instead?The Sounds of Life offers hope for environmental conservation and affirms humanity's relationship with nature in the digital age. After learning about the unsuspected wonders of nature's sounds, we will never see walks outdoors in the same way again.

Karen Bakker (1971โ€“2023) was a professor at the University of British Columbia and earned her PhD from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She received numerous awards throughout her career, including an Annenberg Fellowship (Stanford University), a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Radcliffe Fellowship (Harvard University). Suzanne Toren is an actor who has worked on and off Broadway and in regional theaters. She has narrated hundreds of audiobooks, including Marilynne Robinson's Reading Genesis and Kristin Hannah's novel Magic Hour.

Karen Bakker (1971โ€“2023) was a professor at the University of British Columbia and earned her PhD from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She received numerous awards throughout her career, including an Annenberg Fellowship (Stanford University), a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Radcliffe Fellowship (Harvard University). Suzanne Toren is an actor who has worked on and off Broadway and in regional theaters. She has narrated hundreds of audiobooks, including Marilynne Robinson's Reading Genesis and Kristin Hannah's novel Magic Hour.

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Limited-time offer

Get two free audiobooks!

Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

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Reviews

"Winner of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books for Young Adults" "Finalist for the PROSE Award in Popular Science and Mathematics, Association of American Publishers" "Winner of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, Northland College" "Winner of the Nautilus Book Award, Animals & Nature Section" "Winner of the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, BC and Yukon Book Prizes" Expand reviews
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