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    Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
    Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
    Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
    Audiobook6 hours

    Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures

    Written by Ben Mezrich

    Narrated by Ben Mezrich

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and The 37th Parallel tells the fascinating Jurassic Park­-like story of the genetic restoration of an extinct species—the woolly mammoth. “Paced like a thriller…Woolly reanimates history and breathes new life into the narrative of nature” (NPR).

    With his “unparalleled” (Booklist, starred review) writing, Ben Mezrich takes us on an exhilarating and true adventure story from the icy terrain of Siberia to the cutting-edge genetic labs of Harvard University. A group of scientists work to make fantasy reality by splicing DNA from frozen woolly mammoth into the DNA of a modern elephant. Will they be able to turn the hybrid cells into a functional embryo and potentially bring the extinct creatures to our modern world?

    Along with this team of brilliant scientists, a millionaire plans to build the world’s first Pleistocene Park and populate a huge tract of the Siberian tundra with ancient herbivores as a hedge against an environmental ticking time bomb that is hidden deep within the permafrost. More than a story of genetics, this is a thriller illuminating the real-life race against global warming, of the incredible power of modern technology, of the brave fossil hunters who battle polar bears and extreme weather conditions, and the ethical quandary of cloning extinct animals. This “rollercoaster quest for the past and future” (Christian Science Monitor) asks us if we can right the wrongs of our ancestors who hunted the woolly mammoth to extinction and at what cost?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJul 4, 2017
    ISBN9781508243588
    Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures
    Author

    Ben Mezrich

    Ben Mezrich graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. He has sold over ten million copies of his twenty-four published books, including the New York Times Bestsellers The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted into the Academy Award–winning film The Social Network, and Bringing Down the House, which was the basis for the hit movie 21. His current bestseller The Antisocial Network is being adapted into the feature film Dumb Money. Ben has written and produced for the hit TV show Billions on Showtime, and he travels the world speaking to audiences of all ages about writing books and the adventures he has experienced from each of his stories. He lives in Boston with his wife, two kids, and two pugs. 

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    Reviews for Woolly

    4/5

    23 ratings4 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This was a hard read. The level of detail is amazing but it can make the bad choices and resulting Cannibalism heart rending and slightly gory. I didn’t know much about the Donner party and I’m glad I read this. My sympathies go to the Donner Party.
    • 5/5
      It was a fascinating book about genetics and where we are going with this science. Narrative by real protagonists of the story gave additional credibility to this amazing and captivating story. I will recommend it to my children who are much into this new science...
    • 3/5
      The narration was very decent, but I found myself disappointed by the direction this nonfiction book went in. There are tons of interesting facts about biology and genetics on display here - it’s just that you have to get through a couple hundred pages of 1) a lackluster & highly dramatized biography that is SOLELY interested in telling you what a genius Dr. Church is, not a flaw to be acknowledged and 2) several oddly placed and paced scenes that sounded more like a bad disney documentary voiceover than anything (yes I am referring to the opening/ending chapters which are inexplicably set in the near future where this experiment has ‘succeeded’ but are told like stories that have already happened - and they’re even cheesier than you would think!)
      Worst of all is probably the complete lack of nuance or unbiased storytelling when it comes to the ethics of the science Dr. Church and his ‘Revivalists’ are performing. Yes, there is a cursory “not everyone agrees but…” addendum but it is far too short and the rest too quickly glossed over to feel like they are properly addressed by the author. As someone that finds the science AND its moral implications fascinating, the author of this book clearly does not, and was more interested in creating scenes of literal science fiction and then presenting them in a novel labeled as “nonfiction”.” Regardless of what your viewpoint is on the ethics of cloning/dna editing/etc, it’s inarguable that the debate itself is a prominent part of the world we are delving into here, and it feels less like a forgotten segue than a purposeful omission in the quest to prove this is all OBVIOUSLY ethical, and cool as hell by the way, no questions asked.
      Still, it was enjoyable once the science actually became the focal point (about 75% of the way through it felt like) and when the narration stopped being quite so starry-eyed and more fact-based. These are incredible things being done and it IS a fascinating story and one that is still ongoing. I just wish this author understood not everything has to be a blockbuster movie to be interesting.
    • 3/5
      It was a little fantastical for a nonfiction book and I got distracted in the middle but it was good