Listen free for 30 days
-
Land
- How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 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 $37.28
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...
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- Written by: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
-
good read
- By Anonymous User on 2022-09-12
Written by: Mark Kurlansky
-
Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- Written by: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
-
-
Knowing
- By Paul on 2023-06-23
Written by: Simon Winchester
-
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
-
The Burgundians
- A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day
- Written by: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
Written by: Bart van Loo, and others
-
The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- Written by: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
-
-
Best Listen of my Audible career to date
- By Ed Chinaski on 2021-01-19
Written by: Simon Winchester
-
The Swarm
- A Novel
- Written by: Frank Schatzing
- Narrated by: George Weightman
- Length: 37 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic eyeless crabs poison Long Island’s water supply. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean’s revenge. In this riveting novel, full of twists, turns, and cliffhangers, a team of scientists discovers a strange, intelligent life force called the Yrr that takes form in marine animals in order to wreak havoc on man for his abuses.
-
-
Very Interesting
- By William Dayman on 2023-11-15
Written by: Frank Schatzing
-
Salmon
- A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
- Written by: Mark Kurlansky
- Narrated by: Mark Kurlansky
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.
-
-
good read
- By Anonymous User on 2022-09-12
Written by: Mark Kurlansky
-
Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- Written by: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
-
-
Knowing
- By Paul on 2023-06-23
Written by: Simon Winchester
-
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
-
The Burgundians
- A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day
- Written by: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
Written by: Bart van Loo, and others
-
The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- Written by: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
-
-
Best Listen of my Audible career to date
- By Ed Chinaski on 2021-01-19
Written by: Simon Winchester
-
The Swarm
- A Novel
- Written by: Frank Schatzing
- Narrated by: George Weightman
- Length: 37 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic eyeless crabs poison Long Island’s water supply. Around the world, countries are beginning to feel the effects of the ocean’s revenge. In this riveting novel, full of twists, turns, and cliffhangers, a team of scientists discovers a strange, intelligent life force called the Yrr that takes form in marine animals in order to wreak havoc on man for his abuses.
-
-
Very Interesting
- By William Dayman on 2023-11-15
Written by: Frank Schatzing
-
Don't Trust Your Gut
- Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life
- Written by: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Big decisions are hard. We consult friends and family, make sense of confusing “expert” advice online, maybe we read a self-help book to guide us. In the end, we usually just do what feels right, pursuing high stakes self-improvement—such as who we marry, how to date, where to live, what makes us happy—based solely on what our gut instinct tells us. But what if our gut is wrong? Biased, unpredictable, and misinformed, our gut, it turns out, is not all that reliable. And data can prove this.
-
-
Didn’t always identify the limitations of the data
- By Shane Ison on 2024-02-05
Written by: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
-
The Map That Changed the World
- William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
- Written by: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1793 William Smith, a canal digger, made a startling discovery that was to turn the fledgling science of the history of the earth - and a central plank of established Christian religion - on its head. He noticed that the rocks he was excavating were arranged in layers; more important, he could see quite clearly that the fossils found in one layer were very different from those found in another. And out of that realization came an epiphany.
Written by: Simon Winchester
-
A Most Remarkable Creature
- The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey
- Written by: Jonathan Meiburg
- Narrated by: Jonathan Meiburg
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An enthralling account of a modern voyage of discovery as we meet the clever, social birds of prey called caracaras, which puzzled Darwin, fascinate modern-day falconers, and carry secrets of our planet's deep past in their family history.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Anna Bertagnolli on 2023-04-10
Written by: Jonathan Meiburg
-
The Cold War's Killing Fields
- Rethinking the Long Peace
- Written by: Paul Thomas Chamberlin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a part of a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than 14 million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history.
Written by: Paul Thomas Chamberlin
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- Written by: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 is historian Christopher Clark’s riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself, but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
Written by: Christopher Clark
-
Major Labels
- A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres
- Written by: Kelefa Sanneh
- Narrated by: Kelefa Sanneh
- Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kelefa Sanneh, one of the essential voices of our time on music and culture, has made a deep study of how popular music unites and divides us, charting the way genres become communities. In Major Labels, Sanneh distills a career’s worth of knowledge about music and musicians into a brilliant and omnivorous reckoning with popular music - as an art form (actually, a bunch of art forms), as a cultural and economic force, and as a tool that we use to build our identities.
-
-
loved it!
- By AJ Estridge on 2021-11-22
Written by: Kelefa Sanneh
-
A Brief History of Intelligence
- Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
- Written by: Max 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.
-
-
Delivers!
- By Kindle Customer on 2024-02-04
Written by: Max Bennett
-
English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)
- Written by: C. S. Lewis
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 25 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
C. S. Lewis offers a magisterial take on the literature and poetry of one of the most consequential periods in world history, providing deep insight into some of the greatest writers of the age, including Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, William Tyndale, John Knox, Dr. Johnson, Richard Hooker, Hugh Latimer, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, and Thomas Cranmer.
-
-
Challenging, but so worthwhile.
- By Anonymous User on 2022-11-04
Written by: C. S. Lewis
-
Being You
- A New Science of Consciousness
- Written by: Anil Seth
- Narrated by: Anil Seth
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to “be you” - that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it? There may be no more elusive or fascinating question. Historically, humanity has considered the nature of consciousness to be a primarily spiritual or philosophical inquiry, but scientific research is now mapping out compelling biological theories and explanations for consciousness and selfhood.
-
-
Excellent book!
- By Rob M on 2022-01-09
Written by: Anil Seth
-
Baumgartner
- A Novel
- Written by: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Paul Auster
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Baumgartner’s life had been defined by his deep, abiding love for his wife, Anna, who was killed in a swimming accident nine years earlier. Now 71, Baumgartner continues to struggle to live in her absence as the novel sinuously unfolds into spirals of memory and reminiscence, delineated in episodes spanning from 1968, when Sy and Anna meet as broke students working and writing in New York, through their passionate relationship over the next 40 years, and back to Baumgartner’s youth in Newark and his Polish-born father’s life as a dress-shop owner and failed revolutionary.
-
-
Odd little story
- By Haiku_Queen on 2024-05-01
Written by: Paul Auster
-
The Professor and the Madman
- Written by: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part history, part true-crime, and entirely entertaining, listen to the story of how the behemoth Oxford English Dictionary was made. You'll hang on every word as you discover that the dictionary's greatest contributor was also an insane murderer working from the confines of an asylum.
-
-
Proper Heavy
- By Mentally Guitarded on 2020-04-23
Written by: Simon Winchester
-
Drunk
- How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization
- Written by: Edward Slingerland
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place. Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically grounded explanation for our love of alcohol.
-
-
Great book
- By Scott R on 2023-10-03
Written by: Edward Slingerland
Publisher's Summary
“In many ways, Land combines bits and pieces of many of Winchester’s previous books into a satisfying, globe-trotting whole.... Winchester is, once again, a consummate guide.” (Boston Globe)
The author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and The Perfectionists explores the notion of property - bought, earned, or received; in Europe, Africa, North America, or the South Pacific - through human history, how it has shaped us and what it will mean for our future.
Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.
Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World examines in depth how we acquire land, how we steward it, how and why we fight over it, and finally, how we can, and on occasion do, come to share it. Ultimately, Winchester confronts the essential question: who actually owns the world’s land - and why does it matter?
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.