
An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Black Holes, Dwarf Planets, Aliens, and More
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $13.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Bob McDonald
-
By:
-
Bob McDonald
About this listen
Beloved science commentator Bob McDonald takes us on a tour of our galaxy, unraveling the mysteries of the universe and helping us navigate our place among the stars.
How big is our galaxy? Is there life on those distant planets? Are we really made of star dust? And where do stars even come from?
In An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space, we finally have the answers to all those questions and more. With clarity, wisdom, and a great deal of enthusiasm, McDonald explores the curiosities of the big blue planet we call home as well as our galactic neighbors - from Martian caves to storm clouds on Jupiter to the nebulae at the far end of the universe.
So if you're pondering how to become an astronaut, or what dark matter really is, or how an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, look no further. Through a captivating mix of stories and experiments, McDonald walks us through space exploration past and present, and reveals what we can look forward to in the future.
©2019 Bob McDonald (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Trivia and Fun Facts About Space
- Fun and Entertaining Facts About Space, Astronauts, and NASA for Both Adults and Kids
- By: Stanley Burrows
- Narrated by: Andrew Hansen
- Length: 1 hr and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With such a vast universe, there is so much we have learned and much more that we will one day discover. In this book, you will discover new fun facts about space, astronauts, and NASA. You will have the opportunity to test your knowledge with multiple-choice questions.
-
-
A Journey Through Space!
- By casey on 03-24-23
By: Stanley Burrows
-
Journey Through the Solar System
- Explore Everything That Orbits Our Sun and What We Know About Outer Space
- By: Pantheon Space Academy
- Narrated by: Pantheon Space Academy
- Length: 4 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Journey Through The Solar System, you can join the experience of a lifetime without leaving your home. Get ready for an unforgettable space holiday! You're about to launch on a voyage beyond your wildest dreams, touring the marvels of our Solar System (the sun, planets, comets, and asteroids) and the mysteries of the cosmos.
-
-
A fantastic audio book on sci-fact!!
- By Chris Willcox on 04-14-23
-
Project Hail Mary
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
-
-
Bazinga
- By Davidgonzalezsr on 05-04-21
By: Andy Weir
-
Legends Space Trivia: 3 Books in 1
- Fun Facts - 541 Cosmic Quiz Questions
- By: Pantheon Space Academy
- Narrated by: Grant Benker
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today's mission: Challenge your knowledge of planets, comets, stars, and more with this exciting quiz. The three-book series is now all in one! If you're looking for a fun, engaging way to challenge your knowledge of outer space, then you need this fact-filled trivia book! You can quiz friends and family during a galactic trivia night. If a question stumps you, we include the answer and multiple facts with every quiz so you can also brush up on your knowledge.
-
-
Loved this-unique, helpful and wholesome learning
- By Angel dust on 09-06-22
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Red Mars
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 23 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, Red Mars is the first book in Kim Stanley Robinson's best-selling trilogy. Red Mars is praised by scientists for its detailed visions of future technology. It is also hailed by authors and critics for its vivid characters and dramatic conflicts.
For centuries, the red planet has enticed the people of Earth. Now an international group of scientists has colonized Mars. Leaving Earth forever, these 100 people have traveled nine months to reach their new home. This is the remarkable story of the world they create - and the hidden power struggles of those who want to control it.
-
-
very long
- By Dana on 07-17-08
-
Trivia and Fun Facts About Space
- Fun and Entertaining Facts About Space, Astronauts, and NASA for Both Adults and Kids
- By: Stanley Burrows
- Narrated by: Andrew Hansen
- Length: 1 hr and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With such a vast universe, there is so much we have learned and much more that we will one day discover. In this book, you will discover new fun facts about space, astronauts, and NASA. You will have the opportunity to test your knowledge with multiple-choice questions.
-
-
A Journey Through Space!
- By casey on 03-24-23
By: Stanley Burrows
-
Journey Through the Solar System
- Explore Everything That Orbits Our Sun and What We Know About Outer Space
- By: Pantheon Space Academy
- Narrated by: Pantheon Space Academy
- Length: 4 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Journey Through The Solar System, you can join the experience of a lifetime without leaving your home. Get ready for an unforgettable space holiday! You're about to launch on a voyage beyond your wildest dreams, touring the marvels of our Solar System (the sun, planets, comets, and asteroids) and the mysteries of the cosmos.
-
-
A fantastic audio book on sci-fact!!
- By Chris Willcox on 04-14-23
-
Project Hail Mary
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
-
-
Bazinga
- By Davidgonzalezsr on 05-04-21
By: Andy Weir
-
Legends Space Trivia: 3 Books in 1
- Fun Facts - 541 Cosmic Quiz Questions
- By: Pantheon Space Academy
- Narrated by: Grant Benker
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today's mission: Challenge your knowledge of planets, comets, stars, and more with this exciting quiz. The three-book series is now all in one! If you're looking for a fun, engaging way to challenge your knowledge of outer space, then you need this fact-filled trivia book! You can quiz friends and family during a galactic trivia night. If a question stumps you, we include the answer and multiple facts with every quiz so you can also brush up on your knowledge.
-
-
Loved this-unique, helpful and wholesome learning
- By Angel dust on 09-06-22
-
Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
-
-
Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Red Mars
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 23 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, Red Mars is the first book in Kim Stanley Robinson's best-selling trilogy. Red Mars is praised by scientists for its detailed visions of future technology. It is also hailed by authors and critics for its vivid characters and dramatic conflicts.
For centuries, the red planet has enticed the people of Earth. Now an international group of scientists has colonized Mars. Leaving Earth forever, these 100 people have traveled nine months to reach their new home. This is the remarkable story of the world they create - and the hidden power struggles of those who want to control it.
-
-
very long
- By Dana on 07-17-08
-
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts
- By: Andrew Chaikin
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 23 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, History/Biography, 2016. On the night of July 20, 1969, our world changed forever when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Based on in-depth interviews with 23 of the 24 moon voyagers, as well as those who struggled to get the program moving, A Man on the Moon conveys every aspect of the Apollo missions with breathtaking immediacy and stunning detail.
-
-
Long, comforting book on moon exploration
- By Mark on 06-17-16
By: Andrew Chaikin
-
What If?
- Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
- By: Randall Munroe
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have a large and passionate following. Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there were a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last?
-
-
Hope You got an A in Math and Physics...
- By Rod on 09-13-14
By: Randall Munroe
-
Death by Black Hole
- And Other Cosmic Quandaries
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neil deGrasse Tyson has a talent for guiding readers through the mysteries of outer space with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. This collection of his essays from Natural History magazine explores a myriad of cosmic topics. Tyson introduces us to the physics of black holes by explaining what would happen to our bodies if we fell into one; he also examines the needless friction between science and religion, and notes Earth's status as "an insignificantly small speck in the cosmos".
-
-
Well worth the time
- By Sarda on 04-19-07
-
How To
- Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems
- By: Randall Munroe
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally complex, excessive, and inadvisable that no one would ever try it. How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole.
-
-
Bad Ideas So BAD They Are NEARLY Irresistable! 🤓
- By C. White on 09-03-19
By: Randall Munroe
-
Aurora
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Ali Ahn
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A major new novel from one of science fiction's most powerful voices, Aurora tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system. Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers.
-
-
The Future is Limited, Get Used to It
- By Martin Lesser on 08-20-15
-
The Magic of Reality
- How We Know What's Really True
- By: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Dawkins, the world’s most famous evolutionary biologist, presents a gorgeously lucid, science book examining some of the nature’s most fundamental questions both from a mythical and scientific perspective. Science is our most precise and powerful tool for making sense of the world. Before we developed the scientific method, we created rich mythologies to explain the unknown. The pressing questions that primitive men and women asked are the same ones we ask as children. Who was the first person? What is the sun? Why is there night and day?
-
-
Audio version is superb for us grown-ups
- By Michael Dowd on 10-10-11
By: Richard Dawkins
-
What If? 2
- Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
- By: Randall Munroe
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The millions of people around the world who loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on an erupting geyser? Okay, if you insist.
-
-
Interesting book, horrible narrator
- By Peter on 02-18-24
By: Randall Munroe
-
World of Ptavvs
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Bradford Hastings
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing quite prepared telepath Larry Greenberg for mind-to-mind contact with an alien. In the interest of science, Larry tapped the mind of Kzanol - and that was his first mistake. Kzanol was a thrint from a distant galaxy. He had been trapped on Earth in a time-stasis field for two billion years. Now he was on the loose, and Larry knew everything he was thinking. Thrints lived to plunder and enslave lesser planets - and what the planet Kzanol had in mind was Earth!
-
-
How annoying!
- By 1phsteacher on 11-22-20
By: Larry Niven
-
Space at the Speed of Light
- The History of 14 Billion Years for People Short on Time
- By: Dr. Becky Smethurst
- Narrated by: Dr. Becky Smethurst
- Length: 2 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oxford University astrophysicist and popular YouTube personality Dr. Becky Smethurst presents everything you need to know about the universe in 10 accessible and engaging lessons. In Space at the Speed of Light: The History of 14 Billion Years for People Short on Time, she guides you through fundamental questions, both answered and unanswered, posed by space scientists. Why does gravity matter? How do we know the big bang happened?
-
-
informative and well presented
- By Lenny Newball on 03-22-21
-
213 Facts About Space
- By: Nyla Styles
- Narrated by: Samantha Novak
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I don’t think many people know that the moon is not actually a perfect sphere; it is in fact shaped slightly like a lemon with bulges on both sides. Or that a day on Mercury lasts longer than a year. These are just a few of the many interesting facts that you will discover about space in this audiobook. If you’re like me, anything space related will fascinate you; there is just something exciting about the big wide world out there beyond Earth, the many unknowns, and the interesting facts that are being discovered on a daily basis.
-
-
Highly entertaining audiobook!
- By Tyler Simpson on 11-25-22
By: Nyla Styles
-
Madness from the Inconstant Moon
- A Collection of Short Works from Larry Niven
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Madness from the Inconstant Moon is a collection of early short science fiction works by Larry Niven, the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series. This classic collection includes "The Inconstant Moon", the basis for a forthcoming film by The Arrival producer Shawn Levy.
-
-
A Collection of Gems
- By devilinlaw79 on 09-12-21
By: Larry Niven
-
Our Universe
- An Astronomer’s Guide
- By: Jo Dunkley
- Narrated by: Jo Dunkley
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most of us have heard of black holes and supernovas, galaxies and the big bang. But few of us understand more than the bare facts about the universe we call home. What is really out there? How did it all begin? Jo Dunkley begins in Earth's neighborhood, explaining the nature of the solar system, the stars in our night sky, and the Milky Way. She then moves out past nearby galaxies - and back in time - to the horizon of the observable universe, which contains over a hundred billion galaxies, each with billions of stars, many orbited by planets, some of which may host life.
-
-
Really good
- By SEB24 on 11-01-24
By: Jo Dunkley
What listeners say about An Earthling's Guide to Outer Space
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- paro
- 09-02-23
Great intro and overview
Great intro and overview, excellent icebreaker for children and young adults, but it worked for me too
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-28-23
A Great Listen
This book is educational, and very interesting. It explains how to become an astronaut, what the future of space will likely be like, and has some very funny chapters. The book writer is an absolute genius! The narrator was a bit hard to listen to. He has a slightly scratchy voice, though still pretty good for listening. It was a little more for kids, but still a great listen. I highly recommend this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!