
Burn
New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy
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 $23.31
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
P.J. Ochlan
-
Written by:
-
Herman Pontzer PhD
About this listen
One of the foremost researchers in human metabolism reveals surprising new science behind food and exercise.
We burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we'll lose more weight. Right? Wrong. In this paradigm-shifting book, Herman Pontzer reveals for the first time how human metabolism really works so that we can finally manage our weight and improve our health.
Pontzer's groundbreaking studies with hunter-gatherer tribes show how exercise doesn't increase our metabolism. Instead, we burn calories within a very narrow range: nearly 3,000 calories per day, no matter our activity level. This was a brilliant evolutionary strategy to survive in times of famine. Now it seems to doom us to obesity. The good news is we can lose weight, but we need to cut calories. Refuting such weight-loss hype as paleo, keto, anti-gluten, anti-grain, and even vegan, Pontzer discusses how all diets succeed or fail: For shedding pounds, a calorie is a calorie.
At the same time, we must exercise to keep our body systems and signals functioning optimally, even if it won't make us thinner. Hunter-gatherers like the Hadza move about five hours a day and remain remarkably healthy into old age. But elite athletes can push the body too far, burning calories faster than their bodies can take them in. It may be that the most spectacular athletic feats are the result not just of great training, but of an astonishingly efficient digestive system.
Revealing, irreverent, and always entertaining, Pontzer has written a book that will change how you eat, move, and live.
This audiobook edition contains a downloadable PDF of charts included in the print edition.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Herman Pontzer (P)2021 Penguin AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
The Hungry Brain
- Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat
- Written by: Stephan J. Guyenet Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Aaron Abano
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one wants to overeat. And certainly no one wants to overeat for years, become overweight, and end up with a high risk of diabetes or heart disease--yet two thirds of Americans do precisely that. Even though we know better, we often eat too much. Why does our behavior betray our own intentions to be lean and healthy? The problem, argues obesity and neuroscience researcher Stephan J. Guyenet, is not necessarily a lack of willpower or an incorrect understanding of what to eat.
-
-
Interesting but not very helpful
- By Theodore on 2022-12-23
Written by: Stephan J. Guyenet Ph.D.
-
Super Thinking
- The Big Book of Mental Models
- Written by: Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world's greatest problem-solvers, forecasters, and decision-makers all rely on a set of frameworks and shortcuts that help them cut through complexity and separate good ideas from bad ones. They're called mental models, and you can find them in dense textbooks on psychology, physics, economics, and more. Or, you can just listen to Super Thinking, a fun, illustrated guide to every mental model you could possibly need.
-
-
Jumbled and Too Many Political References
- By Andrew Coates on 2023-05-07
Written by: Gabriel Weinberg, and others
-
The Money Tree
- A Story About Finding the Fortune in Your Own Backyard
- Written by: Chris Guillebeau
- Narrated by: Chris Guillebeau
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like financial classics The Latte Factor and The Richest Man in Babylon, The Money Tree uses a compelling story with captivating characters to share its core insight: You are never at the mercy of fortune as long as you have an appetite for hard work and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone.
-
-
A different way to teach lessons about money!
- By Nyajal on 2021-01-14
Written by: Chris Guillebeau
-
AI Superpowers
- China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
- Written by: Kai-Fu Lee
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.
-
-
Great Insight to the Future
- By Geoff on 2020-09-08
Written by: Kai-Fu Lee
-
Hooked
- Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions
- Written by: Michael Moss
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what to eat are beyond our control? Is it possible that food is addictive, like drugs or alcohol? And to what extent does the food industry know, or care, about these vulnerabilities? In Hooked, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss sets out to answer these questions - and to find the true peril in our food.
-
-
I really enjoyed this book but..
- By Emily Koch on 2021-11-29
Written by: Michael Moss
-
I Have Something to Say
- Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection
- Written by: John Bowe
- Narrated by: Mark Feuerstein
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2010, award-winning journalist John Bowe learned that his cousin Bill, a longtime extreme recluse living in his parents' basement, had, at the age of 59, overcome a lifetime of shyness and isolation - and gotten happily married. Bill credited his turnaround to Toastmasters, the world's largest organization devoted to teaching the art of public speaking.
-
-
Unnecessary accents
- By Cindy Bradshaw on 2020-08-13
Written by: John Bowe
-
The Hungry Brain
- Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat
- Written by: Stephan J. Guyenet Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Aaron Abano
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one wants to overeat. And certainly no one wants to overeat for years, become overweight, and end up with a high risk of diabetes or heart disease--yet two thirds of Americans do precisely that. Even though we know better, we often eat too much. Why does our behavior betray our own intentions to be lean and healthy? The problem, argues obesity and neuroscience researcher Stephan J. Guyenet, is not necessarily a lack of willpower or an incorrect understanding of what to eat.
-
-
Interesting but not very helpful
- By Theodore on 2022-12-23
Written by: Stephan J. Guyenet Ph.D.
-
Super Thinking
- The Big Book of Mental Models
- Written by: Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world's greatest problem-solvers, forecasters, and decision-makers all rely on a set of frameworks and shortcuts that help them cut through complexity and separate good ideas from bad ones. They're called mental models, and you can find them in dense textbooks on psychology, physics, economics, and more. Or, you can just listen to Super Thinking, a fun, illustrated guide to every mental model you could possibly need.
-
-
Jumbled and Too Many Political References
- By Andrew Coates on 2023-05-07
Written by: Gabriel Weinberg, and others
-
The Money Tree
- A Story About Finding the Fortune in Your Own Backyard
- Written by: Chris Guillebeau
- Narrated by: Chris Guillebeau
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like financial classics The Latte Factor and The Richest Man in Babylon, The Money Tree uses a compelling story with captivating characters to share its core insight: You are never at the mercy of fortune as long as you have an appetite for hard work and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone.
-
-
A different way to teach lessons about money!
- By Nyajal on 2021-01-14
Written by: Chris Guillebeau
-
AI Superpowers
- China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
- Written by: Kai-Fu Lee
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the US-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.
-
-
Great Insight to the Future
- By Geoff on 2020-09-08
Written by: Kai-Fu Lee
-
Hooked
- Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions
- Written by: Michael Moss
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what to eat are beyond our control? Is it possible that food is addictive, like drugs or alcohol? And to what extent does the food industry know, or care, about these vulnerabilities? In Hooked, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss sets out to answer these questions - and to find the true peril in our food.
-
-
I really enjoyed this book but..
- By Emily Koch on 2021-11-29
Written by: Michael Moss
-
I Have Something to Say
- Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection
- Written by: John Bowe
- Narrated by: Mark Feuerstein
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2010, award-winning journalist John Bowe learned that his cousin Bill, a longtime extreme recluse living in his parents' basement, had, at the age of 59, overcome a lifetime of shyness and isolation - and gotten happily married. Bill credited his turnaround to Toastmasters, the world's largest organization devoted to teaching the art of public speaking.
-
-
Unnecessary accents
- By Cindy Bradshaw on 2020-08-13
Written by: John Bowe
-
The Power Foods Diet
- The Breakthrough Plan That Traps, Tames, and Burns Calories for Easy and Permanent Weight Loss
- Written by: Neal Barnard, Dustin Harder, Lindsay S Nixon
- Narrated by: Joe Knezevich
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Weight loss is one of our top health concerns, so much so that we keep looking for good ways to lose weight, preferably a way that is easy, effective, and permanent. It turns out that, when properly chosen, certain foods cause weight loss, with no need for the deprivation and planning that most weight-loss regimens require.
-
-
Needs to Get the Science Correct
- By PIST OFF! on 2024-04-23
Written by: Neal Barnard, and others
-
Space Oddities
- The Mysterious Anomalies Challenging Our Understanding of the Universe
- Written by: Harry Cliff
- Narrated by: Harry Cliff
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Something strange is going on in the cosmos. Scientists are uncovering a catalogue of weird phenomena that simply can’t be explained by our long-established theories of the universe. After decades of fruitless searching, could we finally be catching glimpses of a profound new view of our physical world? Or are we being fooled by cruel tricks of the data? In Space Oddities, Harry Cliff, a physicist who does cutting-edge work on the Large Hadron Collider, provides a riveting look at the universe’s most confounding puzzles.
-
-
This was great!!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 2025-01-26
Written by: Harry Cliff
-
A Mind for Numbers
- How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)
- Written by: Barbara Oakley PhD
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively - secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions - you just need the creativity to see them.
-
-
Extremely valuable
- By Luis Jaimes on 2024-08-24
Written by: Barbara Oakley PhD
-
Fast Food Genocide
- How Processed Food Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It
- Written by: Joel Fuhrman, Robert Phillips
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We're eating our way to discomfort, unhappiness, disease, and premature death. Revered nutrition and health expert, PBS personality, and best-selling author of Eat to Live, Super Immunity, and The End of Diabetes, Dr. Joel Fuhrman delivers a hard-hitting, culture-shifting examination of the role fast and processed food plays in our nation's health crisis and offers a program to help us discover a lasting solution, including a two-week meal plan and 80 recipes.
-
-
This boom reference the PDF too often
- By Nicole Atkinson on 2018-04-27
Written by: Joel Fuhrman, and others
-
Pierre Poilievre
- A Political Life
- Written by: Andrew Lawton
- Narrated by: Jeremy Willis
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life, journalist Andrew Lawton chronicles Poilievre's life, career, and his unique brand of conservatism which has galvanized supporters and detractors alike. The portrait that emerges is of a radically authentic yet intensely calculating individual who has been plotting his path to be Canada's prime minister since he was a teenager.
-
-
The rise of a good person
- By Beverly Gallant on 2025-01-14
Written by: Andrew Lawton
-
The Anatomy of Anxiety
- Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response
- Written by: Ellen Vora
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anxiety affects more than forty million Americans—a number that continues to climb in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While conventional medicine tends to view anxiety as a “neck-up” problem—that is, one of brain chemistry and psychology—the truth is that the origins of anxiety are rooted in the body. In The Anatomy of Anxiety, holistic psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora offers nothing less than a paradigm shift in our understanding of anxiety and mental health, suggesting that anxiety is not simply a brain disorder but a whole-body condition.
-
-
Very informative
- By sm on 2022-05-09
Written by: Ellen Vora
-
Life's Edge
- The Search for What It Means to Be Alive
- Written by: Carl Zimmer
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
Written by: Carl Zimmer
-
How We Learn
- Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine...for Now
- Written by: Stanislas Dehaene
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The human brain is an extraordinary machine. Its ability to process information and adapt to circumstances by reprogramming itself is unparalleled and it remains the best source of inspiration for recent developments in artificial intelligence. In How We Learn, Stanislas Dehaene decodes the brain's biological mechanisms, delving into the neuronal, synaptic, and molecular processes taking place. He explains why youth is such a sensitive period, but assures us that our abilities continue into adulthood and that we can enhance our learning and memory at any age.
-
-
Definitely one of the best pop-education books
- By Cal on 2021-04-18
Written by: Stanislas Dehaene
-
A Brief History of Intelligence
- Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
- Written by: Max S. Bennett
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Equal parts Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow.
-
-
Nicely researched.
- By Amazon Customer on 2024-05-31
Written by: Max S. Bennett
-
Projections
- A Story of Human Emotions
- Written by: Karl Deisseroth
- Narrated by: Karl Deisseroth, Natalie Naudus, Karen Chilton
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Karl Deisseroth has spent his life pursuing truths about the human mind, both as a renowned clinical psychiatrist and as a researcher creating and developing the revolutionary field of optogenetics, which uses light to help decipher the brain’s workings. In Projections, he combines his knowledge of the brain’s inner circuitry with a deep empathy for his patients to examine what mental illness reveals about the human mind and the origin of human feelings - how the broken can illuminate the unbroken.
-
-
So disappointing
- By Innate on 2021-09-16
Written by: Karl Deisseroth
-
Metabolical
- The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine
- Written by: Robert H. Lustig
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author of Fat Chance explains the eight pathologies that underlie all chronic disease, documents how processed food has impacted them to ruin our health, economy, and environment over the past 50 years, and proposes an urgent manifesto and strategy to cure both us and the planet.
-
-
Excellent Book full of life changing insights
- By David on 2023-07-24
Written by: Robert H. Lustig
-
The Secret Teachings of All Ages
- An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy
- Written by: Manly Hall
- Narrated by: Matthew Schmitz
- Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like no other book of the 20th century, Manly P. Hall's legendary The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a codex to the ancient occult and esoteric traditions of the world. Students of hidden wisdom, ancient symbols, and arcane practices treasure Hall's magnum opus above all other works.
-
-
...................
- By mass G on 2023-05-05
Written by: Manly Hall
What the critics say
"A wide-ranging romp through evolutionary biology, physiology, and anthropology, Burn will make you question what you think you know about metabolism and your waistline." (Stephan Guyenet, PhD, author of The Hungry Brain)
"Burn is science writing at its best: big ideas, wild and often hilarious stories from the field, and deft explanations. The result will reshape what you thought you knew about how our metabolisms work." (Alex Hutchinson, New York Times best-selling author of Endure)
"An absorbing, instructive lesson for anyone concerned about their health." (Kirkus starred review)
What listeners say about Burn
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nicole Price
- 2021-08-01
very interesting read/listen. well narrated
very interesting read/listen. well narrated and an interesting take on key contributors to human evolution and of our future sustainability. one key item to note for listeners is that this book focuses on most people's general metabolic processes and only lightly touches on sustainable metabolic changes for fat burning in the endurance athletes studies (as it was outside it's scope of study) so Dr Maffetone and Attia's work with usuing MAF as a guide for building fat burning endurance may be an excellent supplementary read. all being said, this is very informative and a well laid out way to become educated in the complexities of our bodies and adaptive basal metabolic rates, as well as probably the best explanation of the cause of our obesity epidemic I've encountered yet.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Robinson
- 2021-04-02
on fire!
this wasn't the book I thought it would be. it was better! I liked the science and context. I liked the connection between energy and climate. in some ways this book was reminiscent of "Guns, Germs and Steel" but about kilocalories.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- venuko
- 2021-06-22
This book must be a mandatory read in schools.
The energy expenditure is an objective way for understanding our past, making the right decisions in today's life and planning our future survival as species. The author has done an amazing job explaining how it all works.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amy Zell
- 2024-04-09
verbose and poorly narrated
Did not finish. Author clearly had a word count to meet, which meant excessive filler that detracted from effective conveyance of key topics. Book was narrated in know-it-all science-educator-voice (you know the one) which made it difficult to listen to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joseph Mroue
- 2024-12-20
Average
Nothing concrete to learn or build from. Disapproving many theories without really providing any concrete evidence on what works or how you should truly approach your health routine.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Mairin Brennan
- 2022-02-01
what a freekin' rigamaroo
pay attention to calories. that's it. this book is incredibly longwinded. its like listening to grandpa Simpson trying telling a story.
i enjoy anthropology and thinking alternatively about nutrition, but this book only provides a curnal of new information and rehashes it six ways from Sunday.
just eat high quality whole food and monitor your calories baised on wether you want to lose weight or not. thats it. there you go. save your money.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful