Audiobooks by Timothy Ferris

Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record

In August and September 1977, two remarkable spacecraft named Voyager were launched. After exploring Jupiter and Saturn, they left our solar system and now cruise for eons to come through the realms of other stars, other galaxies. Affixed to each craft is a gold-coated phonograph record, a message from Earth to possible extraterrestrial civilizations. By far the most complex and informative of all our attempts to communicate with other intelligences, the record contains, encoded in the audio spectrum, 117 pictures explaining our planet and ourselves; greetings in fifty-four different human languages and greetings from the humpback whales; a representative selection of "the sounds of Earth," from an avalanche to a rocket launching, from an elephant's trumpet to a kiss; and almost ninety minutes of some of the world's greatest music. The chance that the record will ever reach an extraterrestrial is remote, but this by no means diminishes the significance of its presence on Voyager. In this audiobook, the group that was responsible for making the record forty years ago explains how and-still more important-why they did it, and what they feel the record says not only to possible extraterrestrials but to human beings. "No one sends such a message on such a journey without a positive passion for the future. For all the possible vagaries of the message, any recipient could be sure that we were a species endowed with hope and perseverance, at least a little intelligence, substantial generosity and a palpable zest to make contact with the cosmos." -Carl Sagan **Please Contact Customer Service for Additional Documents**

Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan, F. D. Drake, Jon Lomberg, Linda Salzman Sagan, Timothy Ferris (Author), Ann Druyan, F. D. Drake, Jon Lomberg, Nick Sagan, Timothy Ferris (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Science of Liberty

In his most important book to date, award-winning author Timothy Ferris - "the best popular science writer in the English language today" (Christian Science Monitor) - makes a passionate case for science as the inspiration behind the rise of liberalism and democracy. Ferris argues that just as the scientific revolution rescued billions from poverty, fear, hunger, and disease, the Enlightenment values it inspired has swelled the number of persons living in free and democratic societies from less than 1 percent of the world population four centuries ago to more than a third today. Ferris deftly investigates the evolution of these scientific and political revolutions, demonstrating that they are inextricably bound. He shows how science was integral to the American Revolution but misinterpreted in the French Revolution; reflects on the history of liberalism, stressing its widely underestimated and mutually beneficial relationship with science; and surveys the forces that have opposed science and liberalism - from communism and fascism to postmodernism and Islamic fundamentalism. A sweeping intellectual history, The Science of Liberty is a stunningly original work that transcends the antiquated concepts of left and right.

Timothy Ferris (Author), Fred Stella (Narrator)

Audiobook

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman

A Nobel Prize-winning physicist, a loving husband and father, an enthusiastic teacher, a surprisingly accomplished bongo player, and a genius of the highest caliber--Richard P. Feynman was all these and more. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track-collecting over forty years' worth of Feynman's letters-offers an unprecedented look at the writer and thinker whose scientific mind and lust for life made him a legend in his own time. Containing missives to and from such scientific luminaries as Victor Weisskopf, Stephen Wolfram, James Watson, and Edward Teller, as well as a remarkable selection of letters to and from fans, students, family, and people from around the world eager for Feynman's advice and counsel, Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track not only illuminates the personal relationships that underwrote the key developments in modern science, but also forms the most intimate look at Feynman yet available. Feynman was a man many felt close to but few really knew, and this collection reveals the full wisdom and private passion of a personality that captivated everyone it touched. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track is an eloquent testimony to the virtue of approaching the world with an inquiring eye; it demonstrates the full extent of the Feynman legacy like never before. Edited and with additional commentary by his daughter Michelle, it's a must-read for Feynman fans everywhere, and for anyone seeking to better understand one of the towering figures-and defining personalities-of the twentieth century.

Richard P. Feynman, Timothy Ferris (Author), Johanna Parker (Narrator)

Audiobook