Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race
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Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 556 ratings
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In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, “disturbing, empowering, and essential” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) book about the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing - and endangering - human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale, from renowned epidemiologist Shanna Swan.

In 2017, author Shanna Swan and her team of researchers completed a major study. They found that over the past four decades, sperm levels among men in Western countries have dropped by more than 50 percent. They came to this conclusion after examining 185 studies involving close to 45,000 healthy men. The result sent shockwaves around the globe - but the story didn’t end there. It turns out our sexual development is changing in broader ways, for both men and women and even other species, and that the modern world is on pace to become an infertile one.

How and why could this happen? What is hijacking our fertility and our health? Count Down unpacks these questions, revealing what Swan and other researchers have learned about how both lifestyle and chemical exposures are affecting our fertility, sexual development - potentially including the increase in gender fluidity - and general health as a species. Engagingly explaining the science and repercussions of these worldwide threats and providing simple and practical guidelines for effectively avoiding chemical goods (from water bottles to shaving cream) both as individuals and societies, Count Down is “staggering in its findings” (Erin Brockovich, The Guardian) and “will serve as an awakening” (The New York Times Book Review).

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  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 32 minutes
  2. Author
    Shanna H. Swan, see all
  3. Narrator
    Cynthia Farrell
  4. Audible release date
    February 23, 2021
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Audio
  7. ASIN
    B085G5PRFY
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 32 minutes
Author Shanna H. Swan, Stacey Colino - contributor
Narrator Cynthia Farrell
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date February 23, 2021
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B085G5PRFY
Best Sellers Rank #21,961 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#9 in Developmental Biology (Books)
#38 in Biology (Audible Books & Originals)
#40 in Fertility

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
556 global ratings
Wake Up To Stop Extinction + Climate Change
5 Stars
Wake Up To Stop Extinction + Climate Change
CountDown is a Wake Up Call for Everyone on our Planet.The chemicals in plastic are toxic to humans and animals and the future of us all is dependent on how we respond at this pivotal moment in time. Plastic Pollutes from extraction through manufacturing, production, use and waste management: which is often Incineration, dumping in our environment and shipping to poorer countries. Dr. Swann's research and this book are key- the key to educate us all and to inspire the call to action for the systemic change which much be put in place today!
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Top reviews from the United States

kittyinvogue
5.0 out of 5 stars Advertised as a breakthrough book and exceeds expectations
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021
Verified Purchase
Disclosure: I work at Legacy, a leading fertility company. Our CEO admires the work of Dr. Swan and so purchased the book for each team member to read through.

Countdown is very much an academic work in the style of Orientalism or On the Origin of Species and feels as though its sweeping insights will impact policies, perspectives, world plans. It is as urgent as Silent Spring or The Jungle. Throughout the book, Swan demonstrates that sperm counts and concentrations have been dropping - and not dropping, but dropping cataclysmically, dramatically - over the past 50 years. Her earlier work identified the drop in Western men. Here she lays out a case showing it is impacting not only all men, but all animals, too.

Why is it happening? The core culprit, she submits, are endocrine disruptors. Drugs, plastics, phthlates, 'forever' chemicals that we've been manufacturing and circulating into our environment and bodies since especially World War II. She presents her argument in a highly digestible format with strong evidence, decades of meticulous research, and caution about how to interpret the research. This is how you wish every academic would communicate complicated work to the general public.

The associated arguments that connect out of that far-reaching theory are, frankly, sweeping. The most obvious impact is that fertility rates are not only plummeting because couples are choosing to have children later in life and women are empowered to prioritize careers but also because when they DO try to have children later in their life, it is harder than it would have been at that age just 30 years ago. Lifestyle changes are clashing with biological changes, suggesting fertility rates will continue to plummet in an unsustainable way. The suggested impact is societal instability. What Swan does not state that many in the media have since her book released is that the end state could be a broadly infertile population.

Swan is keen to point out the psychological impact these biological changes are having. Often women take blame and feel self blame when they experience miscarriages. Swan points to growing bodies of evidence that show men's sperm are often responsible for whether there is a miscarriage or not: the higher the DNA fragmentation in a man's semen sample, the more likely there will be a miscarriage.

Perhaps the freshest perspective here is Swan's argument that endocrine disruptors are wreaking hormonal havoc on fetuses in the womb, leading to hormonal imbalances that result in children being born in to the wrong sex. Swan makes this argument considerately and somewhat convincingly. And although it's not an apples to apples comparison, she points to the increase of sexual dimorphism among animals who have been affected by these same 'forever' chemicals that the changes happening to our bodies are happening to all life on this planet as well. The implications of our having placed nature out of balance, much like we have with climate change, are troubling.

I left this book, unfortunately, very cynical. I appreciated the information on lifestyle changes that can result in my sperm performing better. But I worry about our societal ability to act on the research that effectively invisible chemicals we've begun using everywhere are resulting in life's hormonal ruin. We have been slow to act on climate change, whose impact, relatively speaking, has been invisible and slow, but whose solutions are well understood. The solutions for eliminating our environment of endocrine disruptors are far less understood, the urgency from the public to act is far smaller (I didn't know this was a problem!), and their invisible rate of change on our bodies has been, relatively speaking, far faster. It worries me about where we'll be as a society 25 years from now.
74 people found this helpful
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cait
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening & insightful
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2024
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A much needed book in today’s environment full of endocrine disruption. The book is well-cited with scholarly sources. It cries a call to action while still echoing a resounding hope.
One person found this helpful
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Tim Connors
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening!
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2021
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Based on four decades of research, this book describes the havoc being wreaked on the reproductive systems of humans and other species throughout the world by toxic, human-made chemicals present in our everyday environments. Evidence indicates that the damage is also being unwittingly passed down to future generations, imperiling populations and the planet itself. Dr. Swan presents her evidence with clarity and wit, drawing in the lay reader as well as the scientist. The news is daunting, and the wake-up call is urgent. Luckily, the author also gives us many doable action steps to reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals, and she gives us hope that policy changes for more stringent chemical testing can go a long way toward improving this situation, hopefully before it is too late. A must-read for anyone who cares about their own health, that of their progeny, and the future of our planet.
11 people found this helpful
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SailorBob
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting science, a few [ages of recommendations in the second to last chapter.
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2022
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It's been posited for awhile that the rise in various forms of sexual dysfunction among humans might be due to environmental pollutants. The average earlier age of puberty among girls, lower sperm counts and smaller genitals among men, the explosion of gender confusion and gay frogs! The environment has been polluted for decades with various chemicals, some called EDCs, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, many of which mimic the biological action of estrogen and other hormones. The majority of the book is dedicated to the science behind these phenomenons. Very interesting if you're into that kind of thing. As far as actionable material, the second to last chapter has about 10 pages of recommendations for protecting yourself and your unborn children, while the last chapter is a call to action for a change to the systems by which man made chemicals are regulated. Very informative, although I would have liked more detail in the actionable recommendations, thus the four starts.
11 people found this helpful
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Teafree
5.0 out of 5 stars Infertility issues? Everyone needs to read this book.
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2023
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This is a must read for everyone, not just those wanting to start a family and having issues with infertility.
It is imperative that we educate ourselves about what we are giving up by allowing plastics in our lives. We need much, much more oversight and testing into the thousands of chemicals that are being introduced yearly in our environment and our bodies.

Fertility rates are decreasing by 1% a year! Sperm banks are having more and more difficulty finding donors with high enough sperm counts to donate.

It is an eye opening book.
7 people found this helpful
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Ron D.
5.0 out of 5 stars If you want kids, read this.
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021
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Count Down
I have only heard a few sound bites on the news about declining sperm counts. I was shocked by some of the claims in this book, so I Googled (DuckDucked) the author to see where she was coming from. Dr. Shanna Swan is one of the world’s leading experts on health / environmental research.
Any couple desiring to have a family should read this book. You don’t need a medical degree or medical dictionary to understand this presentation. Dr. Swan uses familiar words if they convey the meaning.
Declining male sperm count is only one of the many factors in successful conception and having healthy children. It is also interesting how the decreasing fertility problems are linked to many of our other environmental, nutrition and pollution problems.
Dr. Swan admits that many details about human conception are not yet known, but she points to possible research needs and offers some solutions to reduce the problems.
The answer to global over-population might be the falling birth rates but it might also lead to human extinction if other problems don’t kill us off first.
Yes we live in a dangerous time considering the climate, nukes, financial disparity, government corruption, chemical pollution, etc. Some issues can be at least slowed down while we try to find solutions.
27 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Kaleem
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book, good quality
Reviewed in Canada on December 19, 2021
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Good quality good book
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Vik
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading 100%
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2023
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This book is highly recommended for future generations as it provides valuable insights into the detrimental impact of chemical usage on fertility. It offers an eye-opening perspective on the severity of this issue and is definitely worth reading to understand the profound effects chemicals have on fertility
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victorluis
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesante para el interesado
Reviewed in Spain on June 16, 2023
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Estoy estudiando e investigando sobre este tema. Es una aportación actual y buena para mi trabajo.
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M Schober
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most acute and relevant books for humankind
Reviewed in Germany on July 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
I just finished COUNT DOWN by Shanna Swan. It's easily one of the most acute and relevant books for everyone especially 18, 19 year old and twentysomething men and women, everyone who wants to have children at one day, every thought leader, business leader, politician, policy maker and judges. The younger you read this the better. This book is a wake up call. We must do something. The first step is to buy and read this book and recommend it to everyone you know.

This book is about a dramatically dropping sperm count (yes, this is a problem [not only in humans]), how chemicals are affecting (and destroying) our fertility and creating gender fluidity.
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M Schober
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most acute and relevant books for humankind
Reviewed in Germany on July 3, 2021
I just finished COUNT DOWN by Shanna Swan. It's easily one of the most acute and relevant books for everyone especially 18, 19 year old and twentysomething men and women, everyone who wants to have children at one day, every thought leader, business leader, politician, policy maker and judges. The younger you read this the better. This book is a wake up call. We must do something. The first step is to buy and read this book and recommend it to everyone you know.

This book is about a dramatically dropping sperm count (yes, this is a problem [not only in humans]), how chemicals are affecting (and destroying) our fertility and creating gender fluidity.
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3 people found this helpful
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Clydesdale
5.0 out of 5 stars Profound information.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2022
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Countdown is one of those IMPORTANTLY PROFOUND books which should be in every public and school library and should be compulsory reading for every industrial and government official worldwide.

I along with some other world citizens and governments initially became aware of similar content mentioned in this book back in August 1993 via a UK TV programme, which won 'The Documentary of the Year Award' and was considered so important that the American Congress asked for a private screening.

The additional information from this book has confirmed to me that we as a species are basically poisoning and polluting our own nest by past and present manufactured products, the effluent from some of those manufacturing processes and the way in which we ourselves contribute to that by our way of living and thereby surviving on this planet.

Some Governments are tackling this problem head on such as the European Union some 20yrs after the UK TV programme was shown by issuing a Directive to all EU Member States that by a certain time period, around about now, they should have in situ supplementary filtration systems to facilitate the extraction of Synthetic Oestrogens from Domestic Sewage Works prior to the fluids being discharged into the adjacent river systems.

However the legacy of our contributed contamination which we all have sustained from the water and food chains plus the environment is such that our present and future health will continue to be affected resulting in various physiological and psychological anomalies affecting all life on this planet. Long term this will significantly affect the reproductive ability of our and other species which if not effectively challenged by Government Legislation and also hopefully by voluntary and collective action by industrial executives worldwide may result in the possibility of the encroachment of species extinction over the next few hundred years, it is that serious.

My only serious criticism is why such additional information mentioned in this book has taken almost 30 years since 1993 to be made available to the general public in this form and why taking into consideration the continued worldwide scant ignorance of this subject that the media are not shouting out loud to have worldwide legislation past to counter this scandalous situation.
3 people found this helpful
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