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  • Darwin's Radio

  • Written by: Greg Bear
  • Narrated by: George Guidall
  • Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (19 ratings)

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Darwin's Radio

Written by: Greg Bear
Narrated by: George Guidall
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Publisher's Summary

Greg Bear's fiction ingeniously combines cutting-edge science and unforgettable characters. It has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and choruses of critical acclaim. Now, with Darwin's Radio, Bear creates a nonstop thriller swirling with provocative ideas about the next step of human evolution.

In a cave high in the Alps, a renegade anthropologist discovers a frozen Neanderthal couple with a Homo sapiens baby. Meanwhile, in southern Russia, the U.N. investigation of a mysterious mass grave is cut short. One of the investigators, molecular biologist Kaye Lang, returns home to the U.S. to learn that her theory on human retroviruses has been verified with the discovery of SHEVA, a virus that has slept in our DNA for millions of years and is now waking up. How are these seemingly disparate events connected? Kaye Lang and her colleagues must race against a genetic time bomb to find out.

Darwin's Radio pulses with intelligent speculation, international adventure, and political intrigue as it explores timeless human themes. George Guidall's masterful performance heightens the excitement and keeps you enthralled until the final fascinating word.

©2000 Greg Bear (P)2000 Recorded Books

What the critics say

  • Winner, 2000 Nebula Award - Best Novel

"Centered on well-developed, highly believable figures who are working scientists and full-fledged human beings, this fine novel is sure to please anyone who appreciates literate, state-of-the-art SF." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Darwin's Radio

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Really interesting science but boring plot

Im a virologist so I was excited as I went through the book. The science was interesting and seemed mostly accurate (and the more "out there" ideas were well thought out and still constrained by scientific principles). It was good hard SF. But like the other Greg bear book I read (forge of God) it had some really interesting ideas and concepts but the plot fell flat and got really boring in the last third of the book. There's all this awesome buildup that leads to a relatively boring plateau for the final 30% of the book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Slow burner to start; turned into an intense story

I started listening to this story once, put it aside for some other books I wanted to tackle, then came back to it later. I'm glad I did! The story is interesting and the plot quite credible. It wasn't as predictable as I originally thought and proceeded realistically. Of course, you wish the best for the protagonists, but life is not all roses for them (as for most people in real life situations). I felt quite strongly for some of the characters. There were some ironic moments which contained both humour and pathos. My only recommendation - be patient; the plot is not going to unfold as you expect it to. I found, at the end, that the characters were much more complex and likeable than I at first thought they would be.

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