Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
    Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
    Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
    Audiobook15 hours

    Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

    Written by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

    Narrated by Ann Druyan, Nick Sagan and Clinnette Minnis

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits--self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics--are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals.

    Astonishing in its scope, brilliant in its insights, and an absolutely compelling read, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.

    Introductory music from the original score for COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey composed by Alan Silvestri, used with permission from Cosmos Studios, Inc. and Chappers Music. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Fuzzy Planets, Inc.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 25, 2017
    ISBN9781531888275
    Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
    Author

    Carl Sagan

    Carl Sagan was Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University. He played a leading role in the Mariner, Viking, and Voyager spacecraft expeditions, for which he received the NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement. Dr. Sagan received the Pulitzer Prize and the highest awards of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation for his contributions to science, literature, education, and the preservation of the environment. His book Cosmos was the bestselling science book ever published in the English language, and his bestselling novel, Contact, was turned into a major motion picture.

    More audiobooks from Carl Sagan

    Related to Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

    Related audiobooks

    Biology For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Books

      Mar 25, 2024

      Books
      5 min read

    • Article

      Learning From The Past

      Dec 23, 2020

      Learning From The Past
      5 min read

    • Article

      Our Library

      Oct 28, 2019

      For choices involving dramatically new experiences, we are confronted by the brute fact that we can know very little about our subjective futures. This has serious implications for our decisions. If we make life choices in the way we naturally and in

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Age of the Entangled Self

      May 27, 2022

      The Age of the Entangled Self
      3 min read

    • Article

      Writers’ Circle

      Apr 8, 2020

      Writers’ Circle
      3 min read

    • Article

      Our Library

      Jun 6, 2022

      The concept of superstition has been with us for millennia, and yet today it has no agreed-upon meaning. We tend to know it when we see it – as in the examples above. If it carries a single enduring connotation, it is one of disapproval. From almost

      2 min read

    • Article

      Trial in Absentia

      Mar 1, 2020

      Trial in Absentia
      4 min read

    • Article

      CONSCIOUSNESS v CATASTROPHE

      May 31, 2018

      CONSCIOUSNESS v CATASTROPHE
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Reviews

      Aug 6, 2020

      Book Reviews
      4 min read

    • Article

      Post-Apocalypse Now: The Hard Work of Cli-Fi

      Feb 8, 2019

      What will our future look like? How fast and for how long will things change? Are we mentally and physically prepared to deal with the impacts of these changes on our communities and socioeconomic structures? The post Post-Apocalypse Now: The Hard Wo

      10 min read

    • Article

      Recreating The Wilderness

      Aug 23, 2018

      The science gets ever more dire. The politics runs the other way. We've claimed hold of the planet, but cluelessly, like the sorcerer's apprentice. Welcomed to the Anthropocene: the age of humanity intertwined with nature. "Climate change is not a pr

      4 min read

    • Article

      Have You Seen The Aliens Today?

      Jan 5, 2022

      THE REAL-LIFE X-FILES Three decades ago, when I was young, I undertook the most amazing journey. I had been in Sydney, Australia, and then the Gold Coast to lecture on UFOs, and decided to take the opportunity to embark on a true adventure by plane a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Our Most Effective Weapon Is Imagination

      Apr 28, 2021

      In his Theaetetus, Plato remarks to Socrates: “This pathos is proper to the philosopher: It is the thaumazein. And philosophy has no other point of departure than this.” The word, which contains the root thauma, the same that appears in thaumaturgy,

      9 min read

    • Article

      Humans Are Wired for Goodness

      Aug 22, 2019

      Nicholas Christakis and I are on the same page: We would definitely sacrifice our lives to save a billion strangers, perhaps even several hundred million, plucked at random from Earth’s population. But, for sure, not a thousand strangers, or a millio

      15 min read

    • Article

      Lives Of The Great Occultists

      Sep 10, 2020

      Personally, I blame that Aleister Crowley. If my memory serves me well (which, these days, it seldom does), Hunt Emerson and I more or less drifted into creating ‘Lives of the Great Occultists’ after I told him a couple of my favourite yarns about th

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

    4.5/5

    201 ratings8 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Absolutely brilliant!!!It so sad that so many people are ignorant of the progress of science this days, and for the fact that we keep the research underfunded!Thanks for this beautiful book!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is easily one of the best books i have read. Carl Sagan goes into very interesting depths in trying to understand the origins of our humanity. The questions raised and answers proposed are eye opening. For anyone who would like to understand our evolutionary history more, this book is for you. Additionally, Nick Sagan and Ann Druyan do an excellent reading of this book. This coupled with Sagan's engaging style makes it hard to put this book down.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      What amazing book. First I love the writing style of Carl Sagan very much. I also am everytime and again impressed by his farsightedness. Loved the chapters on the Chimps. I feel I truly got a feeling for what it could be like to be one. Absolutely amazing.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      To my mind, this is a five out of five star book. That despite considering its writing subpar. I found the writing poorly organized, overly verbose, and tortuous, except in the last several chapters.

      Nevertheless, I would recommend the reader hang in there through all the verbosity and extraneous content (to me) in order to fully appreciate the last several chapters. They are the meat of the book that should be absorbed by all that have the open-mindedness and backbone to look at the reality of human existence.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Mostly about monkeys. Nothing controversial, I refuse to believe it was controversial when it was written. Unless you refuse the claim that people are animals.
    • 4/5
      A look at the evolution of humanity, spending quite a bit of time on the mechanisms of evolution, then on the capabilities and social lives of our closest primate relatives. A bit dated in places, such as his plug for group-selection, but overall rather good. Perhaps I find the topic a bit overdone, and so I was never really that enthused by the book. Solid, though, and thought provoking in many places.3.5 oc
    • 5/5
      One of his best books. Thoughtful and to the point. A must read.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating and well-written, this is the book that helped me finally feel like I understand evolution. I think it is the “evolution for dummies” book that everyone should read to understand how we got here and where we came from. Excellent!