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Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition
- Narrated by: Robert Sapolsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
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Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science
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- Narrated by: The Great Courses
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Understanding our humanity - the essence of who we are - is one of the deepest mysteries and biggest challenges in modern science. Why do we have bad moods? Why are we capable of having such strange dreams? How can metaphors in our language hold such sway on our actions? As we learn more about the mechanisms of human behavior through evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and other related fields, we're discovering just how intriguing the human species is.
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Very interesting book on the brain and being human
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One of the greatest scientific feats of our era is the astonishing progress made in understanding biology-the intricate machinery of life-a progress to which the period we are living in right now has contributed the most.As you read these words, researchers are delving ever deeper into the workings of living systems, turning their discoveries into new medical treatments, improved methods of growing food, and innovative products that are already changing the world.
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narrator made this enjoyable
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good info, an little repititious
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We use DNA routinely - to cure diseases, solve crimes, and reunite families. Yet we've known about it for only 60 years. And what we're continuing to learn about it every day has the potential to transform our health, our nutrition, our society, and our future. But what, exactly is DNA, the self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms?
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"I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa. An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti-for man and beast alike.
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One of the most complicated and advanced computers on Earth can't be purchased in any store. This astonishing device, responsible for storing and retrieving vast quantities of information that can be accessed at a moment's notice, is the human brain. How does such a dynamic and powerful machine make memories, learn a language, and remember how to drive a car? What habits can we adopt in order to learn more effectively throughout our lives? The answers to these questions are merely the tip of the iceberg in The Learning Brain.
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Just what I needed, and nothing I didn't need.
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Being Human: Life Lessons from the Frontiers of Science
- Written by: Robert Sapolsky, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: The Great Courses
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Understanding our humanity - the essence of who we are - is one of the deepest mysteries and biggest challenges in modern science. Why do we have bad moods? Why are we capable of having such strange dreams? How can metaphors in our language hold such sway on our actions? As we learn more about the mechanisms of human behavior through evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and other related fields, we're discovering just how intriguing the human species is.
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Very interesting book on the brain and being human
- By Emma David on 2023-01-28
Written by: Robert Sapolsky, and others
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Biology: The Science of Life
- Written by: Stephen Nowicki, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Stephen Nowicki
- Length: 36 hrs and 38 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the greatest scientific feats of our era is the astonishing progress made in understanding biology-the intricate machinery of life-a progress to which the period we are living in right now has contributed the most.As you read these words, researchers are delving ever deeper into the workings of living systems, turning their discoveries into new medical treatments, improved methods of growing food, and innovative products that are already changing the world.
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narrator made this enjoyable
- By ok on 2018-03-10
Written by: Stephen Nowicki, and others
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Stress and Your Body
- Written by: Robert Sapolsky, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Robert Sapolsky
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Feeling stressed? You're not alone. Stress is an inherent aspect of life that can have tremendous negative effects on your mental and physical health. This makes coping with stress a critical part of how well we live.Once you understand the inner workings of your stress response system, you'll possess powerful knowledge that will help you understand and better deal with this common aspect of your busy life.
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good info, an little repititious
- By Tom on 2018-11-12
Written by: Robert Sapolsky, and others
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Understanding Genetics: DNA, Genes, and Their Real-World Applications
- Written by: David Sadava, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: David Sadava
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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We use DNA routinely - to cure diseases, solve crimes, and reunite families. Yet we've known about it for only 60 years. And what we're continuing to learn about it every day has the potential to transform our health, our nutrition, our society, and our future. But what, exactly is DNA, the self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms?
Written by: David Sadava, and others
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A Primate's Memoir
- A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
- Written by: Robert Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa. An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti-for man and beast alike.
Written by: Robert Sapolsky
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The Learning Brain
- Written by: The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Thad A. Polk PhD Carnegie Mellon University
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most complicated and advanced computers on Earth can't be purchased in any store. This astonishing device, responsible for storing and retrieving vast quantities of information that can be accessed at a moment's notice, is the human brain. How does such a dynamic and powerful machine make memories, learn a language, and remember how to drive a car? What habits can we adopt in order to learn more effectively throughout our lives? The answers to these questions are merely the tip of the iceberg in The Learning Brain.
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Just what I needed, and nothing I didn't need.
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Chemistry and Our Universe: How It All Works is your in-depth introduction to this vital field, taught through 60 engaging half-hour lectures that are suitable for any background or none at all. Covering a year’s worth of introductory general chemistry at the college level, plus intriguing topics that are rarely discussed in the classroom, this amazingly comprehensive course requires nothing more advanced than high-school math. Your guide is Professor Ron B. Davis, Jr., a research chemist and award-winning teacher at Georgetown University.
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Today's psychologist is apt to be very different from the image most people conjure up when asked to picture one - an image that almost always suggests Sigmund Freud or someone like him, complete with leather couch.
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I am not a psychology Student
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From the celebrated neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior, both good and bad, and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: He starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy.
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Overall Excellent, But Maybe Overly Broad in Scope
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Neuroscience of Everyday Life
- Written by: The Great Courses
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Your nervous system is you. All the thoughts, perceptions, moods, passions, and dreams that make you an active, sentient being are the work of this amazing network of cells. For many centuries, people knew this was true. But no one was sure how it happened. Now, thanks to the exciting new field of neuroscience, we can chart the workings of the brain and the rest of the nervous system in remarkable detail to explain how neurons, synapses, neurotransmitters, and other biological processes produce all the experiences of everyday life, in every stage of life.
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unable to find the images of the brain structures
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Understanding the Secrets of Human Perception
- Written by: Peter M. Vishton, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Peter M. Vishton
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Your senses aren't just a part of you-they define you. Nothing you experience would be possible without the intricate power of your senses. But how much about them do you really know? Your ability to sense and perceive the world around you is so richly detailed and accurate as to be miraculous.
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Amazing
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Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior
- Written by: Mark Leary, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Mark Leary
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
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Every day of your life is spent surrounded by mysteries that involve what appear to be rather ordinary human behaviors. What makes you happy? Where did your personality come from? Why do you have trouble controlling certain behaviors? Why do you behave differently as an adult than you did as an adolescent?Since the start of recorded history, and probably even before, people have been interested in answering questions about why we behave the way we do.
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Decent overview, but unsurprising and unoriginal
- By Anonymous User on 2020-02-02
Written by: Mark Leary, and others
Publisher's Summary
When are we responsible for our own actions, and when are we in the grip of biological forces beyond our control? What determines who we fall in love with? The intensity of our spiritual lives? The degree of our aggressive impulses?
These questions fall into the scientific province of behavioral biology, the field that explores interactions between the brain, mind, body, and environment that have a surprising influence on how we behave. In short, how our brains make us the individuals we are.
In this series of 24 fascinating lectures by a prominent neurobiologist, zoologist, and MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant recipient, you'll investigate how the human brain is sculpted by evolution, constrained or freed by genes, shaped by early experience, modulated by hormones, and otherwise influenced to produce a wide range of behaviors, some of them abnormal. And you'll learn how little can be explained by thinking about any of these factors alone, because some combination of influences is almost always at work.
Professor Sapolsky includes a provocative exploration of the implications of our emerging understanding of the origins of individual differences, considering such questions as: How much do these insights threaten our own sense of self and individuality? Where do we draw the line between the essence of the person and the biological abnormalities? What counts as being ill? Who is biologically impaired, and who is just different? As more and more subtle abnormalities of neurobiology are understood, how much should we worry about the temptation to label people as "abnormal"? And what happens when we each have a few of these labels?
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Douglas
- 2013-08-31
Perfect Follow Up
for the Great Courses lectures Philosophy Of Mind and The Secrets Of Perception. This lecture series by Robert Sapolsky really ties together the ideas presented in these two other courses by uniting the physiology of the brain and the mysteries of individuality and consciousness. It is wonderfully rich in scientific detail and yet is presented with dynamic metaphor and example so as to make it readily accessible to the layman. The one bad rating for this book is unfair, in that it faults the series for not including the lecture notes and guides. For one, this is clearly stated in the Audio description, and for another, anyone who wants to pay attention to this series will get along just fine without the guides. (Many of the references can be looked up on the internet on the fly, anyway.) This series of lectures will prepare one for the works of Ramachandran, Gazzaniga and Seung, all of which I heartily endorse for further, more in-depth neurological texts.
47 people found this helpful
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- Rebecca
- 2015-09-05
Important & beautifully conveyed
Sapolsky's stated approach of mixing "buckets" of knowledge - genetics, neurobiology, anthropology, ethology, etc. - works beautifully to create non-simplistic explanations of human behavior and to counter all sorts of popular science attempts to oversimplify why we act the we do and why we turn out the way we do.
The bottom line is that "it is both nurture and nature!" - but with sophistication and erudition about the exact mechanisms that are at play, and attention to the limits of how nurture can modify nature, and to the limits of nature's ability to fully determine anything. Perhaps it is more correct to say that, ultimately, Sapolsky really undoes the nature/nurture dichotomy altogether, because nature is never "un-nurtured", so it only takes expression in particular environments -- hormonal, environmental, social, etc. At the same time, there is always a biological substrate there that "nurture" has to work with. This is basic at one level, but Sapolsky explains beautifully the details of how this happens at different levels of brain chemistry and, as important, how we know this.
He does an especially good job of explaining the basics of neurons, neurochemistry, and brain anatomy -- not so easy without a blackboard, but he manages!
For me this course hit the sweet spot in terms of avoiding politicization of issues and letting the science and specific experiments speak, however "right" or "left" friendly the results.
It seems like I should try to come up with some criticisms so here goes: Since Sapolsky cites by name many important scientists, it seems he could have given Carol Gilligan her due for challenging the male-oriented Kohlberg theory of human development; which, incidentally still seemed to color his version of how kids mature (Kohlberg, not Gilligan). Also, some of his riffs on child-rearing talked as if punishment of children is a given feature of all childrearing, which in Sweden where I live it is not. No one in Sweden would recognize the form of childrearing with rewards and punishments he seemed to take for granted.
This course is not a lazy-day kind of listen. I listened while on long walks, and let's just say I didn't manage to notice much of the nature around me while listening. The course is intense, but fabulous!
Audible -- is there a way one could get the slides that go along with these lectures? They aren't 100 % necessary to following along, but would be nice to have.
31 people found this helpful
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- S-C
- 2014-03-26
The best story teller on biology and life, ever!
I first attended Prof. Sapolsky's seminar on "Aging" in Santa Rosa California, almost 20 years ago. I was so fascinated by his story telling that I spent the next 20 years trying to learn as much as I could on neuroscience and human behavior, even though it's not related to my profession. I read all his books, and I enjoyed all his audio lectures. This is what a great teacher can do, inspiring audience to explore a new subject with passion and interest. This audio book, "Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality", is by far the best one, synthesizing nuggets of knowledge from his many other lectures, beautifully.
18 people found this helpful
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- Ian
- 2016-12-20
Very interesting course but mistitled
The course focuses on aggression and not individuality. The course is very interesting, though, and we'll worth the time.
10 people found this helpful
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- Jose
- 2013-08-07
NO Companion Outline mentioned and referenced.
What would have made Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition better?
If visual material (outline) referenced in the audio continuously would be part of the program it would deserve 5 stars.
When purchasing, there is no mention of the requirement suggested by the Teaching Company. This turns the Program into a simple audio product w/out study material and no possibility of following the excitement the lectures generate.
Professor Sapolsky is always worth listening to, but if you want to study and reflect on his lectures this is NOT your product. Turn to the Teaching Company and buy the DVD.
Being a Platinum member I am disappointed. First and last time I will purchase a Great Teachers program.
9 people found this helpful
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- Lu
- 2013-08-13
Fascinating; only wish it were longer...
Would you listen to Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition again? Why?
Yes, the information presented in the course is accessible and fascinating, but there is simply so much of it...
Which character – as performed by Professor Robert Sapolsky – was your favorite?
Professor Sapolsky did not perform any "characters," as would be expected in a course like this. But his tone was always engaging and sometimes humorous. This book was never dry and always informative.
One small caveat: He spends a large section toward the end of the book focusing on the biology of aggression. I do wish he had devoted more time to other topics more--certain mental disorders, the neurobiology of mood in a resting state, etc. But there are only so many hours in a day, I realize.
All in all, this series is just wonderful.
Any additional comments?
I'm not sure why another reviewer gave this series a low rating because some supplemental/print materials are not present with the course. There's a disclaimer in bold right beneath the publisher's summary.
I didn't feel that my experience of the series was lessened in the slightest by not having these "extra" materials, and I started listening with only some (very) basic familiarity with neuroscience.
The only thing I see being a potential snag is visualizing a nerve cell, but that's easy to google.
8 people found this helpful
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- Jeen-Yis
- 2014-12-01
Brilliant!
Where does Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Does this lecturer even breathe? He is funny, brilliant and chock full of info. Great understanding and did I mention brilliant?!?
7 people found this helpful
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- Pro EFT Bill
- 2014-12-09
The PDF guidebook is not available
Would you try another book from The Great Courses and/or Professor Robert Sapolsky?
The course is great. The PDF of the slides Sapolsky uses are not available on Audible. They are available at the Great Courses website, who is the publisher. For about twice what we pay for a credit, you can get the PDF, or for about twice what we pay for a credit, you can buy it from Great Courses instead. You are not getting the whole course, on Audible.
6 people found this helpful
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- K Donohue
- 2017-01-10
This guy is great
I love listening to Dr Sapolski. he's entertaining and educational. I listened to his talk on stress and its short and long term effects on the body before this. probably going to listen to both again sometime this year. He makes the information simple to digest, but I want to make sure I didn't miss anything important.
4 people found this helpful
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- Derek
- 2016-09-11
Incredible.
I have no words to describe this book. I will probably end up listening this book again at least 5 times. What an amazing resource for anyone who want to know how we work. And the author/narrator... WOW!
4 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2018-05-27
wonderful
so grateful for this course. Prof. Sapolsky is taking different aspects and angles in each of his lectures who are never borring. I enjoyed every minute of it.