Listen free for 30 days
-
The Reality Bubble
- How Science Reveals the Hidden Truths that Shape Our World
- Narrated by: Ziya Tong
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $29.08
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
An Economist Walks into a Brothel
- And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk
- Written by: Allison Schrager
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether we realize it or not, we all take risks large and small every day. Even the most cautious among us cannot opt out - the question is always which risks to take, not whether to take them at all. What most of us don't know is how to measure those risks and maximize the chances of getting what we want out of life. In An Economist Walks into a Brothel, Schrager equips listeners with five principles for dealing with risk, principles used by some of the world's most interesting risk takers.
-
-
A good introduction to everyday risk
- By Lexloco on 2023-04-20
Written by: Allison Schrager
-
The Indignities of Being a Woman
- Written by: Merrill Markoe, Megan Koester
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Indignities of Being a Woman candidly traces the history of womanhood and investigates how much things have really changed for womankind. By carefully x-raying areas such as body image, marriage, mental illness, fashion, and politics, this audiobook examines what it was like to be a woman in the past versus what it’s like now, when women are constantly told equality between the sexes exists but reality proves otherwise.
-
-
I hate this world more than i presumed possible
- By Holly Arthur on 2018-11-27
Written by: Merrill Markoe, and others
-
The Sixth Extinction
- An Unnatural History
- Written by: Elizabeth Kolbert
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major audiobook about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes. Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on Earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.
-
-
Loved it
- By Bp on 2021-06-09
Written by: Elizabeth Kolbert
-
Rationality
- What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 21st century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for COVID-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing? Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are an irrational species - cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions.
-
-
Dull and Underwhelming .
- By Kindle Customer on 2021-10-21
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
Return of the Primitive
- The Anti-Industrial Revolution
- Written by: Ayn Rand, Peter Schwartz
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1960s and early '70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.
-
-
Eerie
- By C. Schuett on 2020-05-07
Written by: Ayn Rand, and others
-
The Infinite Machine
- How an Army of Crypto-Hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum
- Written by: Camila Russo
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Ethereum begins with Vitalik Buterin, a supremely gifted 19-year-old autodidact who saw the promise of blockchain when the technology was in its earliest stages. He convinced a crack group of coders to join him in his quest to make a super-charged, global computer. The Infinite Machine introduces Vitalik’s ingenious idea and unfolds Ethereum’s chaotic beginnings. It then explores the brilliant innovation and reckless greed the platform has unleashed and the consequences that resulted as the frenzy surrounding it grew.
-
-
Great info, poor narration
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-09-07
Written by: Camila Russo
-
An Economist Walks into a Brothel
- And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk
- Written by: Allison Schrager
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether we realize it or not, we all take risks large and small every day. Even the most cautious among us cannot opt out - the question is always which risks to take, not whether to take them at all. What most of us don't know is how to measure those risks and maximize the chances of getting what we want out of life. In An Economist Walks into a Brothel, Schrager equips listeners with five principles for dealing with risk, principles used by some of the world's most interesting risk takers.
-
-
A good introduction to everyday risk
- By Lexloco on 2023-04-20
Written by: Allison Schrager
-
The Indignities of Being a Woman
- Written by: Merrill Markoe, Megan Koester
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Indignities of Being a Woman candidly traces the history of womanhood and investigates how much things have really changed for womankind. By carefully x-raying areas such as body image, marriage, mental illness, fashion, and politics, this audiobook examines what it was like to be a woman in the past versus what it’s like now, when women are constantly told equality between the sexes exists but reality proves otherwise.
-
-
I hate this world more than i presumed possible
- By Holly Arthur on 2018-11-27
Written by: Merrill Markoe, and others
-
The Sixth Extinction
- An Unnatural History
- Written by: Elizabeth Kolbert
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major audiobook about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes. Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on Earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.
-
-
Loved it
- By Bp on 2021-06-09
Written by: Elizabeth Kolbert
-
Rationality
- What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 21st century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for COVID-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing? Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are an irrational species - cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions.
-
-
Dull and Underwhelming .
- By Kindle Customer on 2021-10-21
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
Return of the Primitive
- The Anti-Industrial Revolution
- Written by: Ayn Rand, Peter Schwartz
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1960s and early '70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.
-
-
Eerie
- By C. Schuett on 2020-05-07
Written by: Ayn Rand, and others
-
The Infinite Machine
- How an Army of Crypto-Hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum
- Written by: Camila Russo
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Ethereum begins with Vitalik Buterin, a supremely gifted 19-year-old autodidact who saw the promise of blockchain when the technology was in its earliest stages. He convinced a crack group of coders to join him in his quest to make a super-charged, global computer. The Infinite Machine introduces Vitalik’s ingenious idea and unfolds Ethereum’s chaotic beginnings. It then explores the brilliant innovation and reckless greed the platform has unleashed and the consequences that resulted as the frenzy surrounding it grew.
-
-
Great info, poor narration
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-09-07
Written by: Camila Russo
-
The House of Morgan
- An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance
- Written by: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gripping history of banking and the booms and busts that shaped the world on both sides of the Atlantic, The House of Morgan traces the trajectory of the J. P.Morgan empire from its obscure beginnings in Victorian London to the crash of 1987. Ron Chernow paints a fascinating portrait of the private saga of the Morgans and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved. Based on extensive interviews and access to the family and business archives, The House of Morgan is an investigative masterpiece.
-
-
legendary book does not disappoint
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-03-28
Written by: Ron Chernow
-
Imperial Twilight
- The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age
- Written by: Stephen R. Platt
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the most potent turning points in the country's modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today's China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to "open" China even as China's imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country's decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China's advantage.
-
-
Well written but not the story I was hoping for
- By Simon on 2022-02-03
Written by: Stephen R. Platt
-
Cultish
- The Language of Fanaticism
- Written by: Amanda Montell
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join - and more importantly, stay in - extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has.
-
-
Lacking insight and value
- By Anonymous User on 2022-06-14
Written by: Amanda Montell
-
A Bridge Too Far
- Written by: Cornelius Ryan
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Bridge Too Far is Cornelius Ryan’s masterly chronicle of the Battle of Arnhem, which marshaled the greatest armada of troop-carrying aircraft ever assembled and cost the Allies nearly twice as many casualties as D-day. In this compelling work of history, Ryan narrates the Allied effort to end the war in Europe in 1944 by dropping the combined airborne forces of the American and British armies behind German lines to capture the crucial bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. Focusing on a vast cast of characters, Ryan brings to life one of the most ill-fated operations of the war.
Written by: Cornelius Ryan
-
Paris 1919
- Six Months That Changed the World
- Written by: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
-
-
Very important book
- By AvidReader on 2023-02-13
Written by: Margaret MacMillan
-
The Guns of August
- Written by: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
-
-
Couldn’t finish it
- By Boscotti_M on 2023-11-06
Written by: Barbara W. Tuchman
-
Biomimicry
- Innovation Inspired by Nature
- Written by: Janine M. Benyus
- Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Biomimicry is rapidly transforming life on earth. Biomimics study nature's most successful ideas over the past 3.5 million years, and adapt them for human use. The results are revolutionizing how materials are invented and how we compute, heal ourselves, repair the environment, and feed the world. Janine Benyus takes listeners into the lab and in the field with maverick thinkers as they: discover miracle drugs by watching what chimps eat when they're sick; learn how to create by watching spiders weave fibers; and many more examples.
Written by: Janine M. Benyus
-
Churchill
- Written by: Roy Jenkins
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 38 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this magisterial book, Roy Jenkins' unparalleled command of the political history of Britain and his own high-level government experience combine in a narrative account of Churchill's astounding career that is unmatched in its shrewd insights, its unforgettable anecdotes, the clarity of its overarching themes, and the author's nuanced appreciation of his extraordinary subject.
Written by: Roy Jenkins
-
Liftoff
- Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX
- Written by: Eric Berger
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX - and Elon Musk - from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.
-
-
Best book about SpaceX
- By Anonymous User on 2021-04-15
Written by: Eric Berger
-
Knowledge and Decisions
- Written by: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This reissue of Thomas Sowell’s classic study of decision making, which includes a preface by the author, updates his seminal work in the context of The Vision of the Anointed. Sowell, one of America’s most celebrated public intellectuals, describes in concrete detail how knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout modern society. He warns that society suffers from an ever-widening gap between firsthand knowledge and decision making—a gap that threatens not only our economic and political efficiency but our very freedom.
-
-
Brilliant. Required material for modern humans
- By Matt on 2018-04-26
Written by: Thomas Sowell
-
You Can Farm
- The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise
- Written by: Joel Salatin
- Narrated by: Joel Salatin
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever desired, deep within your soul, to make a comfortable full-time living from a farming enterprise? Too often people dare not even vocalize this desire because it seems absurd. It's like thinking the unthinkable. After all, the farm population is dwindling. It takes too much capital to start. The pay is too low. The working conditions are dusty, smelly and noisy: Not the place to raise a family. This is all true, and more, for most farmers.
-
-
Self promotional in a huge way, but also very useful, down-to-earth advice about farming.
- By Gavin Hudson on 2024-02-07
Written by: Joel Salatin
-
The Song of the Dodo
- Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
- Written by: David Quammen
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 24 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message - a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment and wonders. In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries.
-
-
Good flow and interesting
- By Anonymous User on 2023-11-28
Written by: David Quammen
Publisher's Summary
WINNER OF THE 2020 LANE ANDERSON AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 RBC TAYLOR PRIZE
From one of the world's most engaging science journalists, a groundbreaking and wonder-filled look at the hidden things that shape our lives in unexpected and sometimes dangerous ways.
Our naked eyes see only a thin sliver of reality.
We are blind in comparison to the X-rays that peer through skin, the mass spectrometers that detect the dead inside the living, or the high-tech surveillance systems that see with artificial intelligence.
And we are blind compared to the animals that can see in infrared, or ultraviolet, or in 360-degree vision. These animals live in the same world we do, but they see something quite different when they look around.
With all of the curiosity and flair that drives her broadcasting, Ziya Tong illuminates this hidden world, and takes us on a journey to examine ten of humanity's biggest blind spots.
First, we are introduced to the blind spots we are all born with, to see how technology reveals an astonishing world that exists beyond our human senses. It is with these new ways of seeing that today's scientists can image everything from an atom to a black hole.
In Section Two, our collective blind spots are exposed. It's not that we can't see, Tong reminds us. It's that we don't. In the 21st century, there are cameras everywhere, except where our food comes from, where our energy comes from, and where our waste goes. Being in the dark when it comes to how we survive makes it impossible to navigate our future.
Lastly, the scope widens to our civilizational blind spots. Here, the blurred lens of history reveals how we inherit ways of thinking about the world that seem natural or inevitable but are in fact little more than traditions, ways of seeing the world that have come to harm it.
This vitally important new book shows how science, and the curiosity that drives it, can help civilization flourish by opening our eyes to the landscape laid out before us. Fast-paced, utterly fascinating, and deeply humane, The Reality Bubble gives voice to the sense we've all had -- that there is more to the world than meets the eye.
What the critics say
“This book will tear through your preconceptions like a meteor through space. Ziya Tong is a wonderfully erudite companion on a tour of reality, from the very smallest to the size of the universe and everything in between. It’s an incredibly illuminating and challenging but ultimately empowering book, and reading it delivers a shock almost on the level as when Neo took the red pill in The Matrix. Prepare to have your bubble well and truly burst.” (Rowan Hooper, New Scientist)
“The Reality Bubble grabs your metaphoric lapels and rattles your mental cage. Page after page, Ziya Tong provides clear lenses for looking at the world, and entertainingly insists we use them - like, now, please. If you don’t want to destabilize your conceptions of space, time, biology, and geography, I suggest you back away slowly.” (Adam Rogers, WIRED)
What listeners say about The Reality Bubble
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nathan Nychyporuk
- 2020-08-28
This is the most important book to hear right now
This book was extremely well written and planned. Everything that is said in the book came from a very factual perspective and is 100% relevant to our current times. It is so important to understand our role on earth and in mankind! There were a few spots in the book where the information was overwhelming, but I'm convinced this was the case because it was challenging my worldviews and asking me to be more open minded about how the world is currently operating. Recommend this to anyone living on earth right now.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Felipe Almeida
- 2020-10-31
very interesting overview
interesting book but a great overview of various topics, from philosophy of science to climate change. Not at all a hard book. Possible a bit boring for those with good overall knowledge in science but with some interesting chapters even for those.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2021-01-05
LOVED this book!
I've listened to this book three times. Not only is it full of interesting and awe-inspiring information about the world, it is exceptionally well-written and the narrator (the author) is the best I've heard in any audible book - expressive, upbeat, beautiful tone to her voice. I loved it and would recommend it to any thinking person who wants to gain a deeper and broader perspective on life and the world around us.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- B
- 2022-03-07
Learned every minute of it
What a fascinating listen. I'll never think the same about electricity, meat, ownership, time, sight, space, pollution and so many other topics of every day life. I got this on sale or included in membership, but would be well worth full price or credit. It's an enlightening education on biological, societal and civilizational blind spots.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-09-28
Exhilarating, depressing, and hopeful
Tong is a brilliant, rollicking storyteller with a mastery of a multitude of topics that she makes sing with urgency. I loved the theme- everything that really matters is hidden in plain sight! Worth every moment of listening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- snickels
- 2022-07-12
A book everyone the world over should read.
Provides a view of our blind spots and a more realistic perspective that is not so erogante. It provides some insight on the worlds true questions we should pose and seek answers to and work towards solving. It also provides an interesting view of science for those that may be skeptical.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gypsymama
- 2019-07-10
this book was a bittersweet and very entertaining
The amount of research is mind boggling. This book is a beautifully packaged reality check for the planet at the eleventh hour.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Noel
- 2019-06-19
A must read for all
Both entertaining and insightful, the Reality Bubble is a great read. Life is not always as you see it, and Ziya Tong does a great job of peeling back the layers of reality. Filled with valuable insights into what’s really going on and why we think the way we do, this book will open your eyes to a whole new reality.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TooGoodToBeTrue
- 2021-10-10
Human senses are limited. Learnings compensate.
Awesome book!
Through evolution, we humans now have the ability to "see", "hear", "taste", "smell" and "touch". These are the only signals that we can detect. Within that spec, we are limited.
Each of these human senses has been optimized for the survival of our species. Any more sensitivity to these signals would go against Darwinian principles.
Our mind allows us to peek beyond our senses. This book does this.
This is the only review / comment on the web that I have ever done.
Aubrey
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ben hawkins
- 2020-06-03
great book
I liked this book a lot. it interesting trough out its chapters. no real slow or boring muddy spots the you find in some books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!