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  • The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being

  • Evolution and the Making of Us
  • By: Dr Alice Roberts
  • Narrated by: Dr Alice Roberts
  • Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (8 ratings)

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The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being

By: Dr Alice Roberts
Narrated by: Dr Alice Roberts
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Publisher's Summary

The presenter of the BBC's The Incredible Human Journey gives us a new and highly accessible look at our own bodies and into the past to uncover the evolutionary secrets hidden in all of us.

Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.

Alice Roberts takes you on the most incredible journey, revealing your path from a single cell to a complex embryo to a living, breathing, thinking person. It's a story that connects us with our distant ancestors and an extraordinary, unlikely chain of events that shaped human development and left a mark on all of us.

Alice Roberts uses the latest research to uncover the evolutionary history hidden in all of us, from the secrets found only in our embryos and genes - including why as embryos we have what look like gills - to those visible in your anatomy. This is a tale of discovery, exploring why and how we have developed as we have. This is your story, told as never before.

©2014 Alice Roberts (P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited

Critic Reviews

"From your brain to your fingertips, you emerge from her book entertained and with a deeper understanding of yourself." (Richard Dawkins)

"A masterful account of why our bodies are the way they are...this book really shines.... Roberts's lightness of touch is joyous, and celebratory." (Observer)

"Witty, personal and above all informed by passion and deep knowledge, this is the story of you, not just from conception onwards but from the millions of years of evolution that have shaped the way we are today." (Adam Rutherford)

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Fascinating

Really enjoyed listening learnt heaps. Looking forward to listening again to reinforce and find out what I missed!

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Facts, beautifully packaged and understood 😌

I thoroughly enjoyed Alice reading to me on my beach walks.
Cleared away many cobwebs
Excellent 👍

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Easy listening makes for easy learning

Whilst the evolutionary story told is not in itself new, Roberts smoothly delivers a readily understood and entertaining narrative. I can’t believe how quickly the time past whilst immersed in this wonderful audiobook.

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Excellent

A thoroughly entertaining and informative book, just as you’d expect from Dr Alice Roberts. Well worth listening.

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Another great Alice Roberts book

Once again ive thoroughly enjoyed listening to Professor Alice Roberts narrate this book, fascinating look into the human body and how we have come to be

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  • DR GREGORY N LOW
  • 11-06-2023

Just superb

Whenever I listen to one of Alice's presentations, I'm struck by how much I've learned, how much more I now realise that I don't know, and by her extraordinary abilities. This book is so much more than I could have imagined. I'm glad Alice read it herself. It is clear and understandable. I saw one comment saying they didn't understand her accent well. I could not disagree with that comment more.

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  • Mark
  • 15-04-2023

Audio is lacking.

I'm enjoying this book's subject matter. Embryology is fascinating. The narrator speaks with a heavy British accent complete with all the different pronunciations and that coupled with a great deal of new biological terms has me constantly trying to understand her. The audio quality is just not there. Audible tells me that the quality of all the books is now the same and they provide the best on each purchase.

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  • toby oxford
  • 29-03-2023

Fascinating story of Us

This was another fantastic book from Alice, and great that she was the narrator too as I find it adds something extra to the reading. The story of our development as humans and the evolution that got us to where we are today never ceases to amaze. Alice has a way of making this complicated process very enjoyable to listen to and describes processes and developments in scientific understanding easy to relate to and remember. I enjoyed this book a great deal and look forward to the next one.

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  • veyza
  • 26-03-2023

Ambitious and exhaustive

This book summarizes a huge amount of material as it takes us on an often fascinating journey through the human body and its development both anatomically and evolutionarily. It is a little dry in places near the start but it definitely rewards perseverance.

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  • Mrs. Jasmine Simeone
  • 18-03-2023

Astonishing, clear account

I am completely in awe of Alice Roberts for producing such a clear and concise account of hitherto unknown accounts of what we are and how we came to be. I am pleased that she does not put definitive spin on the development of man in the context of other beings but instead makes it clear that what we know can change at any time. Fascinating and well worth reading!

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  • Salbal
  • 07-09-2023

Brilliant book

So enjoyed listening to this fascinating account of how human beings came to be. And Alice Roberts is a very good narrator. Might have to buy the print copy as well!

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  • Kevin B.
  • 06-08-2023

Fascinating

Completely fascinating book. The level of detail the author goes into is incredible, she has a wonderful way of making the mind blowing reality of our evolution very simple understandable.



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  • Jacimac
  • 29-05-2023

Excellent scientific story plainly & simply explained

From palaeontology to detailed and fascinating description of current human embryonic evolution, this is such an easy to read book with many surprising facts clearly and concisely explained by Alice Roberts herself.
Highly recommended.

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  • Prof
  • 06-05-2023

Interesting but a bit descriptive

I’ve loved Alice’s other books and this is good too with a sprinkle of fascinating insights on the connection our DNA and body parts with those found in other animals. However large parts of the book are descriptions of human body parts which feels a bit like someone talking you through a picture without showing the picture

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  • Anonymous User
  • 29-04-2023

good listen

very good and well read , I learnt a lot about being me and how we all got here.

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