40 Weeks cover art

40 Weeks

A Human Pregnancy and 81 Other Ways to Reproduce

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pre-order: Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

40 Weeks

By: Anna Blix, Nichola Smalley - translator
Pre-order: Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Pre-order Now for £24.99

Pre-order Now for £24.99

Confirm Pre-order
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

It takes 40 weeks to grow a human baby.

And the relationship between a foetus and a pregnant woman is like a little that of a parasite and its host. One takes and takes, while the other continues to give, risking their health in the process.

Is there a better way?

The Komodo dragon can reproduce via pathogenesis - fertilising its own eggs, so no male is needed.

The Surinam toad harbours live babies in craters under its skin - until they're ready to burst out into the world.

And the hyena . . . Well, best not mention the hyena . . .

Anna Blix takes the reader on a fascinating journey through her own pregnancy, introducing us in each of the 40 weeks to other creatures who have just delivered their next generation into the world.

This fun, informative and personable book provides evolutionary comfort throughout the long haul of pregnancy, and an explanation as to how we ended up here: as the smartest species with a tiresome, but perhaps not so bad way to reproduce. It could always be worse. Just ask the hyena.

Translated from the Norwegian by Nicola Smalley©2025 Anna Blix (P)2025 Quercus Editions Limited
Biographies & Memoirs Evolution Sexual & Reproductive Health
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

'Highly entertaining and educational . . . A joy to read . . . Blix is a master at making complex science understandable to regular people' (Klassekampen)

What listeners say about 40 Weeks

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.