"The Wasteland", first published in 1922, is one of Eliot's most influential works and has long been on the syllabus for A-Level English Literature.

"Four Quartets" consists of four long poems, first published between 1935 and 1942. They are linked by common themes, and are individually "Burnt Norton", "East Coker", "The Dry Salvages", and "Little Gidding".

The story of human civilization can be read most deeply in the materials we have found or created, used or abused. They have dictated how we build, eat, communicate, wage war, create art, travel, and worship. Some, such as stone, iron, and bronze, lend their names to the ages. Others, such as gold, silver, and diamond, contributed to the rise and fall of great empires. How would history have unfolded without glass, paper, steel, cement, or gunpowder?

The impulse to master the properties of our material world and to invent new substances has remained unchanged from the dawn of time; it has guided and shaped the course of history. Sass shows us how substances and civilizations have evolved together. In antiquity, iron was considered more precious than gold. The celluloid used in movie film had its origins in the search for a substitute for ivory billiard balls. The same clay used in the pottery of antiquity has its uses in today’s computer chips.

Moving from the Stone Age to the Age of Silicon, from the days of prehistoric survival to the cutting edge of nanotechnology, this fascinating and accessible book connects the worlds of minerals and molecules to the sweep of human history, and shows what materials will dominate the century ahead.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Speeches of Note by Shaun Usher, compèred by Richard Cordery, and with speeches read by a variety of narrators.

SPEECHES OF NOTE: seventy-five extraordinary ways to step into someone else’s shoes.

From Shaun Usher, the author of the international bestseller LETTERS OF NOTE, comes an obsessively curated, richly illustrated and sumptuously produced collection of speeches from throughout the ages.

Discover speeches that altered the course of history, like NELSON MANDELA’s on the day he became South Africa’s first black President, and outpourings of much-needed change, such as the impassioned, impromptu appeal for women’s rights from SOJOURNER TRUTH, an African-American woman born into slavery. Expect the gloriously unexpected, as KERMIT THE FROG takes to the podium, and celebrate lives well-lived, including TILDA SWINTON’s tribute to ‘every alien’s favourite cousin’, DAVID BOWIE.

While some speeches are heard by millions, some remain unspoken: the secret draft prepared for QUEEN ELIZABETH II during a military exercise for World War III, and PRESIDENT NIXON’s chilling public announcement should NEIL ARMSTRONG and BUZZ ALDRIN become stranded on the Moon.

Surprising, inspiring and shocking; moving, comforting and enlightening.

Read by Laura Aikman, Shenoa Allen, Kristin Atherton, Taj Atwal, Kirsty Besterman, Kieran Bew, Mhari Black, Panti Bliss, Louise Brealey, Leo Burnett, Nick Cave, Richard Cordery, Elliot Cowan, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Ryan Ford Iosco, Fiona Hampton, Richard Hughes, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, Geraldine James, Paul Keating, Robert F Kennedy, Angus King, Liz Kingsman, Mitch Landrieu, Ursula le Guin, Donovan Livingstone, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Roy McMillan, Carla Mendonca, Ako Mitchell, Edward Murrow, Shirin Neshat, Amaka Okafor, Daniel O'Meara, Yeonmi Park, Jackie Robinson, Nicholas Rowe, Dan Russell, Clifford Samuel, Natalie Simpson, Adora Svitak, Justin Trudeau, Elie Wiesel, Maurice Williamson, Laura Aikman, Shenoa Allen, Kristin Atherton, Taj Atwal, Kirsty Besterman, Kieran Bew, Mhari Black, Panti Bliss, Louise Brealey, Leo Burnett, Nick Cave, Richard Cordery, Elliot Cowan, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Ryan Ford Iosco, Fiona Hampton, Richard Hughes, Matthew Jacobs Morgan, Geraldine James, Paul Keating, Robert F Kennedy, Angus King, Liz Kingsman, Mitch Landrieu, Ursula le Guin, Donovan Livingstone, Nelson Mandela, Roy McMillan, Carla Mendonca, Ako Mitchell, EdwardMurrow, Shirin Neshat, Amaka Okafor, Daniel O'Meara, Yeonmi Park

Source: Take Care of Your Artists, World Economic Forum, Switzerland, 2014

As the BBC's North America Editor, Jon Sopel has had a pretty busy time of it lately. In the 18 months it's taken for a reality star to go from laughingstock to leader of the free world, Jon has travelled the length and breadth of the United States, experiencing it from a perspective that most of us could only dream of: he has flown aboard Air Force One, interviewed President Obama and has even been described as 'a beauty' by none other than Donald Trump.

Through music, film, literature, TV and even through the food we eat and the clothes that we wear we all have a highly developed sense of what America is and through our shared, tangled history we claim a special relationship. But America today feels about as alien a country as you could imagine. It is fearful, angry and impatient for change. Reflecting on his journey across the continent to cover the most turbulent race in recent history, Jon Sopel lifts a lid on the seething resentments, profound anxieties and sheer rage that found its embodiment in a brash, unpredictable and seemingly unstoppable figure.

In this fascinating, insightful portrait of American life and politics, Jon sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism, racial division and increasingly perverse beliefs.

We live in the age of the individual.

We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular. This is our culture's image of the perfect self. We see this person everywhere: in advertising, in the press, all over social media. We're told that to be this person, you just have to follow your dreams, that our potential is limitless, that we are the source of our own success.

But this model of the perfect self can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy. Unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide. Where does this ideal come from? Why is it so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell?

To answer these questions, Selfie takes us from the shores of Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of narcissism and the selfie generation, and right up to the era of hyperindividualistic neoliberalism in which we live now.

It tells the extraordinary story of the person we all know so intimately - our self.

Exclusive to the audiobook, Selfie includes a unique 15-minute interview with the author, Will Storr, and reader, Jack Hawkins.

Bloomsbury presents Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, read by Lisa Taddeo, Tara Lynne Barr, Marin Ireland and Mena Suvari.

The International No. 1 Bestseller
A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick

'Cuts to the heart of who we are' Sunday Times
'A book that begs discussion' Vanity Fair

All Lina wanted was to be desired. How did she end up in a marriage with two children and a husband who wouldn’t touch her?

All Maggie wanted was to be understood. How did she end up in a relationship with her teacher and then in court, a hated pariah in her small town?

All Sloane wanted was to be admired. How did she end up a sexual object of men, including her husband, who liked to watch her have sex with other men and women?

'I will probably re-read it every year of my life' Caitlin Moran

'Will have millions nodding in recognition' The Times

'As gripping as the most gripping thriller' Marian Keyes

'When I picked it up, I felt I'd been waiting half my life to read it' Observer

'The kind of bold, timely, once-in-a-generation book that every house should have a copy of, and probably will before too long' New Statesman

The book Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alexa Chung, Jodie Comer, Reese Witherspoon, Harry Styles, Fearne Cotton, Caitriona Balfe, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sharon Horgan, Zoe Ball, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Davina McCall, Gemma Chan, Christine and the Queens and Gillian Anderson are all listening to.

Brought to you by Penguin.

How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the 20th century? And what is the Baroque anyway?

Discover the glittering Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in 19th-century USA and the artist who really invented the Readymade. Explore the Dutch Golden Age, the astonishing work of post-War artists in Latin America and the women artists defining art in the 2020s. Have your sense of art history overturned and your eyes opened to many art forms often overlooked or dismissed. From the Cornish coast to Manhattan, Nigeria to Japan, this is the history of art as it's never been told before.

Learn about Andy Warhol with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series.

Andy Warhol came to public attention as one of the leading lights of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. Since then his art and legacy have polarised art critics and the public alike. This thin, pale, asexual man in a silver wig has been described as both a genius and a charlatan. His art, and maybe more importantly his approach to art, have taken him out of the galleries and museums into the public arena. Love or loath his work most agree that he broke down the divide between high art and mass culture.

Crucial to Warhol is this paradox: As an artist who approached art from its commercial perspective he pointed out how art is debased by money. That for all the theorizing and romance, art is a commodity in our consumer society.

Perfect to listen to while commuting, exercising, shopping or cleaning the house.. iMinds brings knowledge to your MP3 with 8 minute information segments to whet your mental appetite and broaden your mind.

iMinds offers 12 main categories, become a Generalist by increasing your knowledge of Business, Politics, People, History, Pop Culture, Mystery, Crime, Culture, Religion, Concepts, Science and Sport.. Clean and concise, crisp and engaging, discover what you never knew you were missing.

iMinds is the knowledge solution for the information age cutting through the white noise to give you quick, accurate knowledge .. Perfect your dinner party conversation, impressing your Boss and an excellent way to discover topics of interest for the future.

Hot Cold Heavy Light collects 100 writings - some long, some short - that taken together form a group portrait of many of the world’s most significant and interesting artists. From Pablo Picasso to Cindy Sherman, Old Masters to contemporary masters, paintings to comix, and saints to charlatans, Schjeldahl ranges widely through the diverse and confusing art world, an expert guide to a dazzling scene.

No other writer enhances the listener's experience of art in precise, jargon-free prose as Schjeldahl does. His reviews are more essay than criticism, and he offers engaging and informative accounts of artists and their work. For more than three decades, he has written about art with Emersonian openness and clarity. A fresh perspective, an unexpected connection, a lucid gloss on a big idea awaits the listener in every minute of this big, absorbing, buzzing audiobook.

How does art work? How does it move us, inform us, challenge us? Internationally renowned painter David Salle's incisive essay collection illuminates the work of many of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Engaging with a wide range of Salle's friends and contemporaries - from painters to conceptual artists such as Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alex Katz, among others - How to See explores not only the multilayered personalities of the artists themselves but also the distinctive character of their oeuvres.

Salle writes with humor and verve, replacing the jargon of art theory with precise and evocative descriptions that help the listener develop a personal and intuitive engagement with art. The result: a master class on how to see with an artist's eye.

Contemporary art has never been so popular - but what is 'contemporary' about contemporary art? What is its role today, and who is controlling its future? Bloody toy soldiers, gilded shopping carts, and embroidered tents. Contemporary art is supposed to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, flout generally received ideas, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great emotional profundity and jaw-dropping triviality. But away from shock tactics in the gallery, there are many unanswered questions. Who is really running the art world? What effect has America's growing political and cultural dominance had on art?

Julian Stallabrass takes us inside the international art world to answer these and other controversial questions, and to argue that behind contemporary art's variety and apparent unpredictability lies a grim uniformity. Its mysteries are all too easily explained, its depths much shallower than they seem. Contemporary art seeks to bamboozle its viewers while being the willing slave of business and government. This audiobook is your antidote and will change the way you see contemporary art.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These audiobooks are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly listenable.

Walking in This World picks up where Julia Cameron's best-selling book on the creative process, The Artist's Way, left off to present readers with a second course, part two in an amazing journey toward discovering our human potential. Full of valuable new strategies and techniques for breaking through difficult creative ground, this is the "intermediate level" of the Artist's Way program.

A profoundly inspired work by the leading authority on the subject of creativity, Walking in This World is an invaluable tool for artists.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of What Are You Looking At? by Will Gompertz, read by Roy McMilllan. What is modern art? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it worth so much damn money? Join Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art. You will learn: not all conceptual art is bollocks; Picasso is king (but zanne is better); Pollock is no drip; Dali painted with his moustache; a urinal changed the course of art; and why your 5-year-old really couldn't do it. Refreshing, irreverent and always straightforward, What Are You Looking At? asks all the basic questions that you were too afraid to ask. Your next gallery trip is going to be a little less intimidating and a lot more interesting.

Frankie Frain is an independent filmmaker, animator, and podcaster, best known for feature films such as A-Bo the Humonkey and Sexually Frank, and viral cartoons that lampoon Hollywood directors. In 2013, he directed his fourth feature film titled Having Fun Up There (written by Geoff Tarulli), a story about an artist in crisis. Here, Frankie describes the entire story behind Having Fun Up There, including the films that preceded, the writing and casting, the nine grueling production days, the edit and color correction, and the film festival circuit and distribution woes. Learn about the technology, techniques, and philosophies behind Frankie and crew's production in this entertaining tool for any beginning filmmaker.

"It's easy to feel insecure around art and its appreciation, as though we cannot enjoy certain artworks if we don't have a lot of academic and historical knowledge. But if there's one message that I want you to take away it's that anybody can enjoy art and anybody can have a life in the arts - even me! For even I, an Essex transvestite potter, have been let in by the artworld mafia."

Now Grayson Perry is a fully paid-up member of the art establishment, he wants to show that any of us can appreciate art (after all, there is a reason he's called his book Playing to the Gallery and not Sucking Up to the Academic Elite).

In this live recording from the Reith Lectures (2013), he talks about his own funny, personal journey through the art world and answers the basic questions that might occur to us in an art gallery but seem too embarrassing to ask. Questions such as: What is good or bad art - and does it even matter? Is there any way to test if something is art, other than a large group of people standing around looking at it? Is art still capable of shocking us or have we seen it all before? Can you be a lovable character and a serious artist - what is a serious artist anyway? And what happens if you place a piece of art in a rubbish dump?

An updated version of the seminal 1994 classic volume on the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. Nearly every book with "wabi" or "wabi sabi" in the title is based on the concepts first elucidated in this book.

Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional....

It is a story I have been wanting to write for a long time, telling it as it really was before that whole world that I shared with Francis vanishes....

Michael Peppiatt met Francis Bacon in June 1963 in Soho's French House to request an interview for a student magazine he was editing. Bacon invited him to lunch, and over oysters and Chablis they began a friendship and a no-holds-barred conversation that would continue until Bacon's death 30 years later.

Fascinated by the artist's brilliance and charisma, Peppiatt accompanied him on his nightly round of prodigious drinking from grand hotel to louche club and casino, seeing all aspects of Bacon's 'gilded gutter life' and meeting everybody around him, from Lucian Freud and Sonia Orwell to East End thugs; from predatory homosexuals to Andy Warhol and the Duke of Devonshire. He also frequently discussed painting with Bacon in his studio, where only the artist's closest friends were ever admitted. The Soho photographer, John Deakin, who introduced the young student to the famous artist, called Peppiatt 'Bacon's Boswell'.

Despite the chaos Bacon created around him Peppiatt managed to record scores of their conversations ranging over every aspect of life and art, love and death, the revelatory and hilarious as well as the poignantly tragic.

Gradually Bacon became a kind of father figure for Peppiatt, and the two men's lives grew closely intertwined. In this intimate and deliberately indiscreet account, Bacon is shown close-up, grand and petty, tender and treacherous by turn, and often quite unlike the myth that has grown up around him. This is a speaking portrait, a living likeness, of the defining artist of our times.

When Picasso became Picasso: the story of how an obscure young painter from Barcelona came to Paris and made himself into the most influential artist of the 20th century

In 1900, an 18-year-old Spaniard named Pablo Picasso made his first trip to Paris. It was in this glittering capital of the international art world that, after suffering years of poverty and neglect, he emerged as the leader of a bohemian band of painters, sculptors, and poets. Fueled by opium and alcohol, inspired by raucous late-night conversations at the Lapin Agile cabaret, Picasso and his friends resolved to shake up the world.

For most of these years Picasso lived and worked in a squalid tenement known as the Bateau Lavoir, in the heart of picturesque Montmartre. Here he met his first true love, Fernande Olivier, a muse whom he would transform in his art from Symbolist goddess to Cubist monster. These were years of struggle, often of desperation, but Picasso later looked back on them as the happiest of his long life.

Recognition came slowly: first in the avant-garde circles in which he traveled, and later among a small group of daring collectors, including the Americans Leo and Gertrude Stein. In 1906, Picasso began the vast, disturbing masterpiece known as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Inspired by the groundbreaking painting of Paul Cezanne and the startling inventiveness of African and tribal sculpture, Picasso created a work that captured and defined the disorienting experience of modernity itself. The painting proved so shocking that even his friends assumed he'd gone mad. Only his colleague George Braque understood what Picasso was trying to do. Over the next few years they teamed up to create Cubism, the most revolutionary and influential movement in 20th-century art.

This is the story of an artistic genius with a singular creative gift. It is filled with heartbreak and triumph, despair and delirium, all of it played out against the backdrop of the world's most captivating city.

What is your art really about? Where is it going? What stands in the way of getting it there? These are questions that matter, questions that recur at each stage of artistic development - and they are the source for this volume of wonderfully incisive commentary.

Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. This is a book about what it feels like to sit in your studio or classroom, at your wheel or keyboard, easel or camera, trying to do the work you need to do. It is about committing your future to your own hands, placing free will above predestination, choice above chance. It is about finding your own work.

Finally make a living doing what you love.

Why is it that some artists are wildly successful, while others just barely squeak by?

It may seem like an unfathomable mystery how some are earning six figures while other more talented artists are struggling. Maria Brophy has dedicated 20 years of her life to researching the specific strategies that successful artists follow. After applying these strategies to her husband Drew Brophy's career, Maria grew his art sales to multiple six figures yearly.

In Art Money Success, Maria tells personal stories of her own business deals, successes, and failures while sharing unconventional wisdom that will explode your art sales. With the guided written exercises (get free worksheet downloads that accompany this audiobook at Maria Brophy's website), you can apply the insights to your own art business for immediate results.

The tools inside will help you:

• Connect with your right buyers
• Increase your money income
• Sell art easily and negotiate nicely
• License your art and get paid multiple times for one artwork
• Implement powerful money and business practices
• Trust your own creative intuition

If you are interested in generating more money and success from your art, then this audiobook is for you!

How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck is a quick and easy guide that will make your video better instantly - whether you hear it cover to cover or just listen to a few chapters. It's about the language of video. How to think like a director, regardless of equipment (amateurs think about the camera, pros think about communication).

It's about the rules developed over a century of movie-making - which work - just as well when shooting a two-year-old's birthday party. Written by Steve Stockman, the director of Two Weeks (2007), plus TV shows, music videos, and hundreds of commercials, How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck explains in 74 short, pithy, insightful chapters how to tell a story and entertain your audience. How to shoot video people will want to watch.

At the end of every chapter is a suggestion of how to immediately put what you learned into practice, so the next time you're shooting you'll have begun to master the skill. Accompanying the book is a website with video clips to illustrate different rules, techniques, and situations.

Here's how to think in shots--how to move-point-shoot-stop-repeat, instead of planting yourself in one spot and pressing "Record" for five minutes. Why never to shoot until you see the whites of your subject's eyes. Why to zoom with your feet and not the lens. How to create intrigue on camera. The book covers the basics of framing, lighting, sound (use an external mic), editing, special effects (turn them off!), and gives advice on shooting a variety of specific situations: Sporting events, parties and family gatherings, graduations and performances. Plus, how to make instructional and promotional videos, how to make a music video, how to capture stunts, and much more.

Though there has been some contention over the title, J.R.R. Tolkien is regarded by many as the father of modern fantasy fiction. His works, including the beloved Hobbit and epic Lord of the Rings, have found a vast and varied audience since they were first published in the middle of the 20th century. Why have these stories come to define our conceptions of fantasy storytelling? What is it about Tolkien’s meticulously constructed world of Middle-earth that continues to enthrall readers across the generations?

As you will see, age-old traditions, contemporary history and culture, and “big” human questions are key ingredients of Tolkien’s success. In The World of J.R.R. Tolkien, you will join Dr. Dimitra Fimi to delve into Tolkien’s complex and multilayered mythology, examining all these ingredients and more. In these 10 lectures, you will explore and appreciate Middle-earth as medieval, mythological, and modern, a literary creation that was shaped by forces old and new. And you may be surprised to discover just how much of Tolkien’s legendarium was constructed posthumously, with his son Christopher compiling and publishing many of Tolkien’s later works after his death.

Throughout these lectures, you will learn about Tolkien’s life as a devoted scholar of languages and literature and the immense body of legends he built, while also tracing his outsized influence on the fantasy genre and the writers and other artists that would follow. From the most disparate materials, from his academic interests to his war experiences to the stories he told his children, this gifted creator fashioned a new mythology that would carry its relevance from the 20th century into our own.

What is the role of the writer? Prophet? High priest of art? Court jester? Or witness to the real world?

Looking back on her own childhood and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain - or excuse! - their activities, looking at what costumes they have assumed, what roles they have chosen to play. In her final chapter she takes up the challenge of the title: if a writer is to be seen as "gifted", who is doing the giving and what are the terms of the gift? Atwood's wide reference to other writers, living and dead, is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences, both in Canada and elsewhere. The lightness of her touch is offset by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the myths and traditions of western literature.

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Quebec, Ontario, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College. Throughout her 30 years of writing, Atwood has received numerous awards and honorary degrees. Hew novel The Blind Assassin won the 2000 Booker Prize for Fiction. She is the author of more than 25 volumes of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include Alias Grace (1996), The Robber Bride (1994), Cat's Eye (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), Surfacing (1972) and The Edible Woman (1970). Acclaimed for her talent for portraying both personal lives and worldly problems of universal concern, Atwood's work has been published in more than 35 languages, including Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic, and Estonian.

Until Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney opened her studio on Eight Street in Manhattan in 1914 - which evolved into the Whitney Museum almost two decades later - there were few art museums in the United States, let alone galleries for contemporary artists to exhibit their work. When the mansions of the wealthy cried out for art they sought it from Europe, then the art capital of the world. It was in her tiny sculptor’s studio in Greenwich Village that Whitney began holding exhibitions of contemporary American Artists. This remarkable effort by a scion of America’s wealthiest family helped to change the way art was cultivated in America.

The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made is a tale in which high ideals, extraordinary altruism, and great dedication that stood steadfast against inflated egos, big business, intrigue, and the harsh realities of today’s world. Flora Biddle’s sensitive and insightful memoir is a success story of three generations of forceful, indomitable women.

In this moving account, Peter Korn explores the nature and rewards of creative practice. We follow his search for meaning as an Ivy-educated child of the middle class who finds employment as a novice carpenter on Nantucket, transitions to self-employment as a designer and maker of fine furniture, takes a turn at teaching and administration at Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and then founds a school in Maine: the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, an internationally respected nonprofit institution.

Furniture making practiced as a craft in the 21st century is a decidedly marginal occupation. Yet the view from the periphery can be illuminating. For Korn the challenging work of bringing something new and meaningful into the world through one's own volition—whether in the arts, the kitchen, or the marketplace—is what generates the meaning and fulfillment that so many of us seek.

This is not a how-to book in any sense. Korn wants to get at the why of craft in particular and the satisfactions of creative work in general to understand their essential nature. How does the making of objects shape our identities? How do the products of creative work inform society? In short, what does the process of making things reveal to us about ourselves? Korn draws on four decades of hands-on experience to answer these questions eloquently, and often poignantly, in this personal, introspective, and revealing book.

The American pianist Jonathan Biss is known to audiences throughout the world for his artistry, musical intelligence and deeply felt interpretations. What is less known until now is that Jonathan Biss writes about music in a most compelling and engaging way. For anyone who has ever enjoyed a Beethoven concert or a Beethoven recording or one of the many films about Beethoven, this audiobook is an inspiring listening experience. For those of you who have heard Beethoven in concert or listened to a Beethoven recording, Jonathan Biss takes you behind the scenes of those performances. If your musical interests are much broader than Beethoven or if your interests focus on the creative process , this will fully engage you.

“On April 24th, 2007, Beethoven’s Sonata Opus 109 made me lose my mind.” So Jonathan Biss opens this book. He goes on to describe the complex and by no means all positive impact of the technology of the recording process on the experience of performing and listening to music. He also describes the legacy of generations of teachers. You are there when Leon Fleisher teaches Jonathan Biss just as Artur Schnabel taught Leon Fleisher before him. You experience the growth of a talented young musician as he becomes a fully mature artist. Most compelling of all, Jonathan Biss creates an almost spiritual introduction to the making and experiencing of music. He has, in effect, invited the reader into the world of the composer and the performer.

Jonathan Biss includes an annotated audio guide to deepen the experience of anyone who enjoys listening to classical music.

It is an unforgettable experience.

Jonathan Biss has recently begun a nine year project of recording all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas.

Linnea is going to France! The little girl will travel with her neighbor, old Mr. Bloom, to visit the house and garden where the great artist Monet lived. She can’t wait to see the waterlily pond - the scene of her favorite painting. Join Linnea and Mr. Bloom on a journey full of wonderful sights and adventures. They begin their days in France at a Paris museum, where they see Monet’s paintings. Taking the train to Giverny, where the artist lived, they spend hours in the colorful garden. And Linnea finally walks across the Japanese bridge at the pond that shimmers in so many of Monet’s works. An international best-seller, Linnea in Monet’s Garden is a joyous introduction to Impressionism and the life of one of the most influential artists of this century. Although written for young readers, listeners of all ages will enjoy this delightful audio production, lyrically narrated by Christina Moore.

From infancy we are taught to edit ourselves, trimming out the darker, weirder, less acceptable parts in order to please others. But this addiction to approval is holding us back. What if we begin to be ourselves, honestly and fully?

Insanely Gifted shows how to transform our thinking and turn our inner demons into allies. How to reframe disappointment (because not getting what we want can be as interesting and useful as getting what we want). Through techniques to become aware of our Inner Critics and exercises such as Full Body Listening, Catto invites us to better know our deepest instincts and unlock our true power.

Insights—like Darwin's understanding of the way evolution actually works, and Watson and Crick's breakthrough discoveries about the structure of DNA-can change the world. We also need insights into the everyday things that frustrate and confuse us so that we can more effectively solve problems and get things done. Yet we know very little about when, why, or how insights are formed—or what blocks them. In Seeing What Others Don't, renowned cognitive psychologist Gary Klein unravels the mystery.

Klein is a keen observer of people in their natural settings—scientists, businesspeople, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, family members, friends, himself—and uses a marvelous variety of stories to illuminate his research into what insights are and how they happen. What, for example, enabled Harry Markopolos to put the finger on Bernie Madoff? How did Dr. Michael Gottlieb make the connections between different patients that allowed him to publish the first announcement of the AIDS epidemic? What did Admiral Yamamoto see (and what did the Americans miss) in a 1940 British attack on the Italian fleet that enabled him to develop the strategy of attack at Pearl Harbor? How did a "smokejumper" see that setting another fire would save his life, while those who ignored his insight perished? How did Martin Chalfie come up with a million-dollar idea (and a Nobel Prize) for a natural flashlight that enabled researchers to look inside living organisms to watch biological processes in action?

Klein also dissects impediments to insight, such as when organizations claim to value employee creativity and to encourage breakthroughs but in reality block disruptive ideas and prioritize avoidance of mistakes. Or when information technology systems are "dumb by design" and block potential discoveries.

Both scientifically sophisticated and fun to listen to, Seeing What Others Don't shows that insight is not just a "eureka!" moment but a whole new way of understanding.

In our 24-7 global economy, rest feels like a luxury at best and a weakness at worst. We see work and rest as competitors - but what if they're actually partners in a productive, balanced life?

Blending rigorous scientific research with examples of writers, painters and thinkers - from Darwin to Stephen King - Silicon Valley futurist and business consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang exposes how we've underestimated the power of rest for our success. Though it's as natural as breathing, it's also a skill we can all learn to boost our creativity and productivity. Full of tips for upping our downtime, from sleep to hobbies to vacation, Rest is a new road map for finding renewed energy and inspiration - and getting more done.

Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz is here to explain to you how to bring art and creativity into your life, with irreverent, inspiring and priceless pieces of advice on getting on in art.

As the witty and passionate chief art critic for New York magazine, Jerry Saltz is often approached by artists, both amateur and professional, asking him for advice: How do I get started? How do I get better? Is what I'm doing even art at all? They want to know, in short, how to be an artist.

Now, expanding on his viral cover story for New York magazine - and drawing on his decades of immersion in the art world - Saltz has the answers. How to Be an Artist is an indispensable book of practical inspiration for creative people of all kinds. Brimming with dozens of brand new rules, prompts, exercises and tips designed to break through creative blocks, ignite motivation and conquer bad habits, this book is designed to help artists of all kinds - painters, photographers, writers, performers - realise their dreams.

Includes such advice as:

• Make art for now, not the future
• No, you don't need graduate school
• Recognise convention, and resist constraint
• Get lost
• Listen to the wildest voices in your head
• Know what you hate (it's probably you)
• Finish the damn thing!
• How to recover from critical injuries

Here is a new collector's edition of this modern classic as you have never heard it before, read by Natalie Goldberg herself, and then infused with her most personal reflections about this "magic manual" for all writers. Try these ingenious, Zen-based exercises to expand your writing skills ¿ or just for fun.

This book is an invaluable and inspirational material for the film, television and theater professional. It helps directors, actors, writers, designers, producers and executives tap into their imagination and instincts, in turn helping them create the films they’ve always dreamed of creating.

Listen to the award-winning podcast today! Double Webby Award winner for Best Podcast in Television & Film and Documentary categories. Gracie Award winner of Audio Podcast Host—Entertainment Special.

Step into the shadowy world of the Corleone family as Paramount Pictures unveils the enduring saga of The Godfather as never experienced before in this captivating Audible Original.

With exclusive insights from the legendary cast, including Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, and Talia Shire, and commentary from a diverse array of film experts and ardent aficionados, we dissect the film’s magnetic allure and its pervasive influence across our culture.

Journey alongside Rebecca Keegan, acclaimed senior film editor at The Hollywood Reporter, as she explores the heart of this cinematic masterpiece through a new lens. An exploration of the complexities of family and the nuances of gender dynamics, with echoes in pop culture and culinary inspiration, The Godfather is more than a movie—it’s a cultural phenomenon that continues to enthrall and intrigue us.

Together, we’ll ultimately seek answers to the enigma: Why does The Godfather hold such an indelible place in our lives? Why, after half a century, do we remain spellbound by the Corleone family’s tale of power, loyalty, and betrayal?

"A dauntingly ambitious, obsessively researched" (Los Angeles Times) global history of music that reveals how songs have shifted societies and sparked revolutions

Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs.

Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval. He shows how outcasts, immigrants, slaves, and others at the margins of society have repeatedly served as trailblazers of musical expression, reinventing our most cherished songs from ancient times all the way to the jazz, reggae, and hip-hop sounds of the current day.

Music: A Subversive History is essential for anyone interested in the meaning of music, from Sappho to the Sex Pistols to Spotify.

A "radiantly accomplished" music scholar presents an accessible introduction to the art of listening to jazz (Wall Street Journal).

In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen for in a performance and includes a guide to today's leading jazz musicians. From Louis Armstrong's innovative sounds to the jazz-rock fusion of Miles Davis, Gioia covers the music's history and reveals the building blocks of improvisation. A true love letter to jazz by a foremost expert, How to Listen to Jazz is a must-listen for anyone who's ever wanted to understand and better appreciate America's greatest contribution to music.

The secrets of creative thinking by a lecturer at the world-famous St. Martin's College of Art who has spent a lifetime researching innovative thinkers.

A scuba-diving company faces bankruptcy because sharks have infested the area. Solution? Open the world's first extreme diving school.

The Art of Creative Thinking reveals how we can transform ourselves, our businesses, and our society through a deeper understanding of human creativity. Rod Judkins, of the world-famous St. Martin's College of Art, has studied successful creative thinkers from every walk of life throughout history. Drawing on an extraordinary range of reference points - from the Dada manifesto to Nobel Prize-winning economists, from Andy Warhol's studio to Einstein's desk - he distills a lifetime's expertise into a succinct, surprising book that will inspire you to think more confidently and creatively.

You'll realise why you should be happy when your train is cancelled; meet the most successful class in educational history (in which every single student won a Nobel prize); discover why graphic nudity during public speaking can be both a hindrance and surprisingly persuasive; and learn why, in the 21st century, it's technically illegal to be as good as Michelangelo.

Be stubborn about compromise. Plan to have more accidents. Be mature enough to be childish. Contradict yourself more often. Discover the art of creative thinking.

From the publishers of the international best-seller The Art of Thinking Clearly

All it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It is the product of preparation and effort, and is within reach of everyone. Whether you are a painter, musician, businessperson, or simply an individual yearning to put your creativity to use, The Creative Habit provides you with 32 practical exercises based on the lessons Twyla Tharp has learned in her remarkable 35-year career.

In "Where's Your Pencil?" Tharp reminds you to observe the world - and get it down on paper. In "Coins and Chaos", she gives you an easy way to restore order and peace. In "Do a Verb", she turns your mind and body into coworkers. In "Build a Bridge to the Next Day", she shows you how to clean the clutter from your mind overnight.

Tharp leads you through the painful first steps of scratching for ideas, finding the spine of your work, and getting out of ruts and into productive grooves. The wide-open realm of possibilities can be energizing, and Twyla Tharp explains how to take a deep breath and begin....

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Think of The War of Art as tough love...for yourself.

Since 2002, The War of Art has inspired people around the world to defeat "resistance"; to recognize and knock down dream-blocking barriers and to silence the naysayers within us. Resistance kicks everyone's butt, and the desire to defeat it is equally as universal. The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.

Though it was written for writers, it has been embraced by business entrepreneurs, actors, dancers, painters, photographers, filmmakers, military service members, and thousands of others around the world.

I have a theory about the "Hero's Journey". We all have one. We have many, in fact. But our primary hero's journey is the passage we live out, in real life, before we find our calling. The hero's journey ends when, like Odysseus, we return home to Ithaca, to the place from which we started.

What then?

The passage that comes next is the "Artist's Journey".

On our artist's journey, we move past resistance and past self-sabotage. We discover our true selves and our authentic calling, and we produce the works we were born to create.

You are an artist too - whether you realize it or not, whether you like it or not - and you have an artist's journey. Will you live it out? Will you follow your muse and do the work you were born to do?

Ready or not, you are called.

Listeners of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration from Elizabeth Gilbert's books for years. Now this beloved author shares her wisdom and unique understanding of creativity, shattering the perceptions of mystery and suffering that surround the process and showing us all just how easy it can be.

By sharing stories from her own life as well as from her friends and the people who have inspired her, Elizabeth Gilbert challenges us to embrace our curiosity, tackle what we most love and face down what we most fear.

Whether you long to write a book, create art, cope with challenges at work, embark on a long-held dream, or simply to make your everyday life more vivid and rewarding, Big Magic will take you on a journey of exploration filled with wonder and unexpected joys.

The brainy new book by the best-selling author of Fermat’s Enigma a must for anyone interested in numbers and mathematics as well as for the millions of Simpsons fans worldwide.

Simon Singh offers fascinating new insights into the celebrated television series The Simpsons: That the show drip-feeds morsels of number theory into the minds of its viewers - indeed, that there are so many mathematical references in the show, and in its sister program, Futurama, that they could form the basis of an entire university course.

Recounting memorable episodes from “Bart the Genius” to “Homer3,” Singh brings alive intriguing and meaningful mathematical concepts - ranging from the mathematics of pi and the paradox of infinity to the origins of numbers and the most profound outstanding problems that haunt today’s generation of mathematicians. In the process, he illuminates key moments in the history of mathematics, and introduces us to The Simpsons’ brilliant writing team - the likes of David X. Cohen, Al Jean, Jeff Westbrook, and Stewart Burns, all of whom have various advanced degrees in mathematics, physics, and other sciences.

Based on interviews with the writers of The Simpsons and replete with images from the shows, facsimiles of scripts, paintings and drawings, and other imagery, The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets will give anyone who reads it an entirely new mathematical insight into the most successful show in television history.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images, which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag here develops further the concept of "transparency". When anything can be photographed, and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely, with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, with the most famous being "In Plato's Cave", make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.

From Schrodinger's cat to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, this book untangles the weirdness of the quantum world.

Quantum mechanics underpins modern science and provides us with a blueprint for reality itself. And yet it has been said that if you're not shocked by it, you don't understand it. But is quantum physics really so unknowable? Is reality really so strange? And just how can cats be half alive and half dead at the same time?

Our journey into the quantum begins with nature's own conjuring trick, in which we discover that atoms - contrary to the rules of everyday experience - can exist in two locations at once. To understand this we travel back to the dawn of the 20th century and witness the birth of quantum theory, which over the next 100 years was to overthrow so many of our deeply held notions about the nature of our universe.

Scientists and philosophers have been left grappling with its implications ever since.

Read by Hugh Kermode.

Neil deGrasse Tyson's number-one New York Times best-selling guide to the cosmos, adapted for young listeners.

From the basics of physics to big questions about the nature of space and time, celebrated astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson breaks down the mysteries of the cosmos into bite-sized pieces. Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry describes the fundamental rules and unknowns of our universe clearly - and with Tyson's characteristic wit, there's a lot of fun thrown in, too.

This adaptation by Gregory Mone includes extra explanations to make even the trickiest concepts accessible. Building on the wonder inspired by outer space, Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry introduces an exciting field and the principles of scientific inquiry to young listeners.

A breathtaking and beautiful exploration of our planet, this groundbreaking book accompanies the BBC One TV series, providing the deepest answers to the simplest questions.

How did life on Earth begin?
What is the nature of space and time?
What are the chances that we will discover life on other worlds?

Forces of Nature takes you from the mid-Atlantic ridge in Iceland, the volcanoes of Indonesia and the precipitous cliffs in Nepal, to the manatees off the coast of Florida and the northern lights of the Arctic, in search of the fundamental laws that govern our world.

These universal laws shape everything, from the structure of snowflakes to the elegant spirals of the galaxies. By seeking to understand the everyday world – the colours, structure, behaviour and history of our home – we can step beyond the everyday and approach the Universe beyond.

Think you know our planet?
Think again.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation's most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA's effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the 20th century's greatest feat - landing humans on another world.

Collaborating with NBC's veteran space reporter Jay Barbree, Shepard, and Slayton narrate, in gripping detail, the story of America's space exploration from the time of Shepard's first flight until he and 11 others had walked on the moon.

The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While waiting for your morning coffee to brew, or while waiting for the bus, the train, or the plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

Welcome to the Universe is a personal guided tour of the cosmos by three of today's leading astrophysicists. Inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton, this book covers it all - from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel.

Describing the latest discoveries in astrophysics, the informative and entertaining narrative propels you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space. How do stars live and die? Why did Pluto lose its planetary status? What are the prospects of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? How did the universe begin? Why is it expanding, and why is its expansion accelerating? Is our universe alone or part of an infinite multiverse? Answering these and many other questions, the authors open your eyes to the wonders of the cosmos, sharing their knowledge of how the universe works.

Breathtaking in scope, Welcome to the Universe is for those who hunger for insights into our evolving universe that only world-class astrophysicists can provide.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Hawking is one of the most influential thinkers of our time, an intellectual icon, known not only for the adventurousness of his ideas but for the clarity with which he expresses them. This is essential listening for all those who want to understand the universe in which we live.

On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation's collective memory.

In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters.

In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses all of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission.

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings is the first look at the Challenger tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-Challenger flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of Columbia some 15 years later.

Explore the mysteries of the universe, our minds, and the natural world

Brain, Nature, Mind, Universe is your gateway to the most astonishing wonders of science and the mysteries that continue to baffle experts. Delve into mind-bending facts and intriguing stories about everything from our brains to the cosmos. Each chapter reveals fascinating truths, quirky discoveries, and unsolved puzzles that will inspire curiosity in listeners of all ages.

Updated with the latest breakthroughs of 2024, this book brings to life the science behind how nature, our minds, and the cosmos work. It's perfect for anyone who loves amazing facts, science mysteries, and the big questions about life and the universe.

Discover:

• The bird that dives faster than an airplane at takeoff.
• A plant that stretches an area larger than Washington, DC.
• A volcano the size of New Mexico.
• Black holes warping space and time to their limits.
• Brain calculations faster than those of a computer.
• Blind patients who can unconsciously “see”.
• Mind's power to remove warts and reverse aging.
• The most rigorous research program studying the effect of human intentions on the physical world.

And more!

For curious minds, young and old, Brain, Nature, Mind, Universe is an invitation to explore, learn, and wonder!

Before Carl Linnaeus began classifying organisms, before John James Audubon drew birds from the wild, before Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, there lived a 13-year-old girl named Maria Merian who loved to draw bugs. With a keen eye and deft hand, she rendered soft green caterpillars, papery-winged moths, and the dazzling, intricate beauty of the butterflies. But drawing these fascinating creatures wasn’t enough for Maria; she wanted to understand their small, mysterious lives. Where did they come from? What did they eat? And perhaps most miraculously of all, was there a connection between creeping caterpillars and beautiful butterflies?

With no formal training or university education, Maria Merian took on the role of artist, adventurer, and scientist in 17th-century Europe - a time when women were rarely allowed responsibilities outside the home, and unusual interests led to accusations of witchcraft. Her intrepid fieldwork and careful observation helped uncover the truth about metamorphosis and changed the course of science forever.

The Newbery Honor-winning author and poet Joyce Sidman masterfully paints a riveting portrait of Maria Merian - the girl who drew butterflies, the woman who has been called the world’s first ecologist.

”You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed…”

Julian Barnes's new book is about ballooning, photography, love and grief; about putting two things, and two people, together, and about tearing them apart.

One of the judges who awarded him the 2011 Man Booker Prize described him as “an unparalleled magus of the heart”. This book confirms that opinion.

First published in 1979, The White Album records indelibly the upheavals and aftermaths of the 1960s. Examining key events, figures, and trends of the era - including Charles Manson, the Black Panthers, and the shopping mall - through the lens of her own spiritual confusion, Joan Didion helped to define mass culture as we now understand it. Written with a commanding sureness of tone and linguistic precision, The White Album is a central example of American reportage and a classic of American autobiography.

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë created some of the greatest works of 19th-century English literature. How did these three young women, born into a humble parsonage on the isolated moors of Northern England, write such striking work? What influenced them? How did they get their stories out into the world? Why do their novels continue to grip readers to this day?

These and other questions are what you will explore in The Brontës: Romantic Passion and Social Justice. With Brontë scholar Deborah Denenholz Morse, you will look at the lives of the three Brontë sisters, their family life, experiences, beliefs, motivations - and their many tragedies. As you look closely at the literary and real-world influences that shaped them, you will get a deeper understanding of the astonishing talent and deep drive that pushed these three sisters to write novels like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. These stories - often full of wind-swept drama and tinged with both personal and Romantic darkness - have gone on to influence the Western literary tradition far beyond what the Brontës themselves could have ever predicted.

The Brontës were deeply influenced by the world around them. Looking into their lives and work, you will get insight into the causes and events that shaped these phenomenal writers - not only their religious and Romantic influences, but also the social justice movements of their age, from women’s rights and anti-poverty campaigns to slavery abolition and early efforts to curb animal cruelty. You will see how their work transcended mere social commentary or embellished autobiography and left their mark on the social and literary trends that would emerge after them.

During the 1930s at Oxford, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams - remarkable friends, writers, and scholars - met regularly to discuss philosophy and literature and to read aloud from their own works in progress. Calling themselves the Inklings, their circle grew. It was in this company that such classics as The Lord of the Rings, The Screwtape Letters, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first found an audience.

Author Humphrey Carpenter was born in Oxford and was acquainted with Tolkien, Hugo Dyson, and several other Inklings. In this remarkable reconstruction of their meetings and momentous friendships, Carpenter brings to life those warm and enchanting evenings in Lewis' rooms at Magdalen College, when their imaginations ran wild. His account offers exciting insights into the influence these brilliant individuals had on each other's developing ideas and writing.

Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager tells the story of her life in Starfleet, for fans of Star Trek.

Kathryn Janeway reveals her career in Starfleet, from her first command to her epic journey through the Delta Quadrant leading to her rise to the top as vice-admiral in Starfleet Command. Discover the story of the woman who travelled further than any human ever had before, stranded decades from home, encountering new worlds and species.

Explore how she brought together Starfleet and the Maquis as part of her crew, forged new alliances with species across the galaxy and overcame one of Starfleet's greatest threats - the Borg - on their own remote and hostile territory. Get Janeway's personal take on key characters such as Seven of Nine, her trusted friend Tuvok, new arrivals like Neelix, and her second-in-command, Chakotay.

An autobiographical study, Down and Out in Paris and London follows Orwell as he tramps around both Paris and London. Pawning his belongings to buy food, unemployment, drinking heavily and jostling for a place in homeless hostels are but a few of the experiences related with candour and insight in this unabridged exclusive audiobook. Orwell was arguably one of the first 'gonzo' journalists.

In this unabridged, enlightening and often shocking expose of life on the streets of two of Europe's most romanticised and celebrated cities, Orwell describes in detail the day-to-day life of a 'down-and-out', which involves hunger, filth, derision and often prejudice and violence. Alcohol is also a staple distraction on both sides of the channel for the destitute, and Orwell's comments on issues such as the emasculation of a man when he becomes a tramp (women see him as 'less than' a man and will not interact with him) are truly fascinating.

Olivia Laing's widely acclaimed account of why some of the best literature has been created by writers in the grip of alcoholism

In The Trip to Echo Spring, Olivia Laing examines the link between creativity and alcohol through the work and lives of six of America's finest writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver.

All six of these men were alcoholics, and the subject of drinking surfaces in some of their finest work, from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to A Moveable Feast. Often, they did their drinking together: Hemingway and Fitzgerald ricocheting through the cafes of Paris in the 1920s; Carver and Cheever speeding to the liquor store in Iowa in the icy winter of 1973.

Olivia Laing grew up in an alcoholic family herself. One spring, wanting to make sense of this ferocious, entangling disease, she took a journey across America that plunged her into the heart of these overlapping lives. As she travels from Cheever's New York to Williams' New Orleans, and from Hemingway's Key West to Carver's Port Angeles, she pieces together a topographical map of alcoholism, from the horrors of addiction to the miraculous possibilities of recovery. Beautiful, captivating, and original, The Trip to Echo Spring strips away the myth of the alcoholic writer to reveal the terrible price creativity can exert.

Sir Michael Caine is loved not just for his many films, but for his warmth, honesty, and humour in describing every aspect of his life from his humble South London beginnings to performing alongside the greatest Hollywood actors of the day. As Sheridan Morley wrote about his first book: 'It has taken two decades to get a man back on (Niven's) Moon, and the man is Michael Caine.'

In this long-awaited, and self-penned, new autobiography, he tells us not only the events of the almost 20 years since his last book – which include his Oscar winning film Cider House Rules, as well as the box-office busting Batman - but also many great eye-opening and entertaining stories from his life and career, shedding light on the real Hollywood and the years he struggled to get there.

With all the charm and wit we know him for, this audiobook is set to become a new classic to rank alongside Niven's Moon's a Balloon.

Bloomsbury presents Just Kids written and read by Patti Smith.

Winner of the 2010 Non-Fiction National Book Award
Patti Smith's definitive memoir is an evocative, honest and moving coming-of-age story of her extraordinary relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe

‘Sharp, elegiac and finely crafted' Sunday Times
‘Terrifically evocative ... The most spellbinding and diverting portrait of funky-but-chic New York in the late '60s and '70s that any alumnus has committed to print' New York Times
‘Render, harrowing, often hilarious' Vogue

In 1967, a chance meeting between two young people led to a romance and a lifelong friendship that would carry each to international success never dreamed of. The backdrop is Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City, Scribner's Bookstore, Coney Island, Warhol's Factory and the whole city resplendent. Among their friends, literary lights, musicians and artists such as Harry Smith, Bobby Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Sandy Daley, Sam Shepherd, William Burroughs, etc. It was a heightened time politically and culturally; the art and music worlds exploding and colliding. In the midst of all this two kids made a pact to always care for one another. Scrappy, romantic, committed to making art, they prodded and provided each other with faith and confidence during the hungry years—the days of cous-cous and lettuce soup.

Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. Beautifully written, this is a profound portrait of two young artists, often hungry, sated only by art and experience. And an unforgettable portrait of New York, her rich and poor, hustlers and hellions, those who made it and those whose memory lingers near.

The national best-selling biography and the basis for the film Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in an Academy Award-winning turn.

One of the strongest fiction writers of his generation, Truman Capote became a literary star while still in his teens. His most phenomenal successes include Breakfast at Tiffany's, In Cold Blood, and Other Voices, Other Rooms. Even while his literary achievements were setting the standards that other fiction and nonfiction writers would follow for generations, Capote descended into a spiral of self-destruction and despair.

First published in 1988 - just four years after Capote's death - Clarke paints a vivid behind-the-scenes picture of the author's life, based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with the man himself and the people close to him. From the glittering heights of notoriety and parties with the rich and famous to his later struggles with addiction, Capote emerges as a richly multidimensional person - both brilliant and flawed.

Who is Elmyr?

Simply put, Elmyr de Hory is known by many as the most notorious art forger of all time. He believed that if a forgery hangs in a museum for long enough - as he claimed many of his works did - it eventually becomes real. Yet, as with many fraudsters, much of the myth is exaggeration or invention. Elmyr de Hory claimed he sold hundreds of his forgeries in the 1950s and '60s. It’s possible that many still hang in America’s museums today. With the help of his immense talent, he became known as the greatest art forger of the century, and four decades after his death, his old friend Mark Forgy has become the caretaker of his legacy. Forgy has dedicated himself to celebrating de Hory’s talent and fending off imposters on the internet. But in the process, he learned the hard truth: The story you get is not always the story you want. If a fake painting hangs in a museum for long enough, does it one day become real? If someone you loved was not who you thought they were, is it better not to know?

We tell stories about ourselves, about others, about art. Elmyr de Hory’s story is also the story of the art dealers who spent their careers chasing him, the millionaire who discovered his collection was not what it seemed, the biographer who helped in de Hory’s myth-making only to become a victim of his own fictions. And it is about the young American who would dedicate himself to his friend only to find strange new narratives disrupting the story. If a lie is told enough times, does it one day become real?

And so, who is Elmyr de Hory? He became internationally infamous as the world's greatest art forger, but the stories that lie beneath are more bizarre and surprising. When we examine what we value and why we value them, we might find that a fiction told enough times eventually becomes truth.

Although his career is much richer and more varied than a single series of tales for children, Clive Staples (C. S.) Lewis is perhaps best-known for his beloved fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. Born in Belfast near the end of the 19th century, Lewis had a difficult childhood and lived through the devastation of two world wars. Yet, his work most often celebrates joy, optimism, and spiritual meaning, rather than dwelling on the darkness he had experienced.

In C. S. Lewis: Writer, Scholar, Seeker, Dr. Sørina Higgins will take you on a fascinating expedition through the life and work of this influential author, examining the crucial events and relationships that shaped his personal, literary, and spiritual journeys. As you’ll see, while Lewis holds a special place in the canon of modern fantasy literature—along with his friend and colleague J. R. R. Tolkien—the fantastic was not his only interest. His wide-ranging imagination and constant curiosity led him to write everything from religious essays to science fiction while also pursuing his career as an Oxford fellow and tutor and literary scholar. As you trace Lewis’ life from his unhappy days at boarding school to his final years, Dr. Higgins will spotlight the connections between his lived experience and the creation of his work, illuminating the ways his literary efforts reflected his personal pursuit of meaning and connection.

The story of Lewis’ life and literary achievements is one of both historical specificity and timeless, eternal themes. Though Lewis was certainly a man of his times and subject to many of the biases and restrictions of his era, as Dr. Higgins highlights, he never stopped growing and embracing new ways of thinking. And today, more than half a century after his death, his work lives on, entertaining and enlightening new generations of readers all over the world.

This is a biography of James Baldwin, author, one-time preacher, and civil rights activist. He chose David Leeming, a close friend and colleague, to write his biography and granted him access to his correspondence. Leeming traces his life from his birth in Harlem in 1924 to his self-imposed exile in Europe, his later years as political activist, and his public funeral in 1987.

Candid and brilliantly funny, this is the story of how a tall, shy youth from Weston-super-Mare went on to become a self-confessed legend.

En route, John Cleese describes his nerve-racking first public appearance, at St Peter's Preparatory School at the age of eight and five-sixths; his endlessly peripatetic homelife, with parents who seemed incapable of staying in any house for longer than six months; his first experiences in the world of work, as a teacher who knew nothing about the subjects he was expected to teach; his hamster-owning days at Cambridge; and his first encounter with the man who would be his writing partner for over two decades, Graham Chapman. And so on to his dizzying ascent via scriptwriting for Peter Sellers, David Frost, Marty Feldman and others to the heights of Monty Python.

Punctuated from time to time with John Cleese's thoughts on topics as diverse as the nature of comedy, the relative merits of cricket and waterskiing and the importance of knowing the dates of all the kings and queens of England, this is a masterly performance by a former schoolmaster.

A Room of One's Own, based on a lecture given at Girton College Cambridge, is one of the great feminist polemics. Woolf's blazing polemic on female creativity, the role of the writer, and the silent fate of Shakespeare's imaginary sister remains a powerful reminder of a woman's need for financial independence and intellectual freedom.

From the birth of hip-hop in the 1970s to today, women have been just as integral to the growth and development of the rap game as their male counterparts. Nonetheless, they’re consistently shortchanged as artists, creators, renegades, and cultural visionaries in prevailing histories of the genre.

The Motherlode changes that.

Based on prolific music journalist Clover Hope’s book of the same name, The Motherlode digs deep into the history and misogyny of hip-hop to give props to its most continually overlooked innovators and underappreciated voices. From foundational figures like MC Sha-Rock and Roxanne Shanté to revolutionaries like Salt-N-Pepa and Lil’ Kim to modern chart-toppers like Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, Hope’s in-depth look at the many untold stories of women in hip-hop spans 50 years of excellence.

An essential listen for true hip-hop heads and music history fans alike, The Motherlode is narrated by Hope herself along with special guests including Remy Ma, MC Lyte, and Nia Long. Get ready to add some new favorites to your playlist.

Cover Illustrated by Rachelle Baker

The story of the man who changed people’s relationships with their showers forever, thanks to Psycho, this is the classic, Edgar Award-winning biography of the enigmatic and intensely private Alfred Hitchcock. One of America’s greatest film directors, his suspenseful subject matter ranged from the dark drama of a man possibly trying to kill his wife, to the humorous problem of disposing of a body, to the ecological underpinnings of an attack by fowl fiends in a sleepy harbor town.

Acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the roots of Hitchcock’s obsessions - with food, murder, and idealized love, among others - and traces the origins of his incomparable, bizarre genius, from his childhood and education to the golden years of his career. Based on interviews with his writers, actors, and longtime associates, and on exhaustive research, The Dark Side of Genius is the definitive biography of Alfred Hitchcock.

Donald Spoto is the author of more than 20 books, including best-selling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, and Audrey Hepburn. He lives with his husband, Danish artist and school administrator Ole Flemming Larsen, near Copenhagen, Denmark.

The first biography of the greatest filmmaker that nobody knows.

Academy Award-winning director Michael Curtiz (1886-1962)—whose best-known films include Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce, and White Christmas—was in many ways the anti-auteur. During his unprecedented 27-year tenure at Warner Bros., he directed swashbuckling adventures, Westerns, musicals, war epics, romances, historical dramas, horror films, tearjerkers, melodramas, comedies, and film noir masterpieces. The director's staggering output of 180 films surpasses that of the legendary John Ford and exceeds the combined total of films directed by George Cukor, Victor Fleming, and Howard Hawks.

In the first biography of this colorful, instinctual artist, Alan K. Rode illuminates the life and work of one of the film industry's most complex figures. He explores the director's little-known early life and career in his native Hungary, revealing how Curtiz shaped the earliest days of silent cinema in Europe before immigrating to the United States in 1926. In Hollywood, Curtiz earned a reputation for explosive tantrums, his difficulty with English, and disregard for the well-being of others. However, few directors elicited more memorable portrayals from their casts, and 10 different actors delivered Oscar-nominated performances under his direction.

In addition to his study of the director's remarkable legacy, Rode investigates Curtiz's dramatic personal life, discussing his enduring creative partnership with his wife, screenwriter Bess Meredyth, as well as his numerous affairs and children born of his extramarital relationships. This meticulously researched biography provides a nuanced understanding of one of the most talented filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age.

To millions of fans, All About Eve represents all that’s witty and wonderful in classic Hollywood movies. Its old-fashioned, larger-than-life stars - including Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm - found their best roles in this movie, and its sophisticated dialogue has entered the lexicon.

But there’s much more to know about All About Eve. Sam Staggs has written the definitive account of the making of this fascinating movie and its enormous influence on both film and popular culture. Staggs reveals everything about the movie - from whom the famous European actress Margo Channing was based on to the hot-blooded romance on-set between Bette Davis and costar Gary Merrill, from the jump-start the movie gave Marilyn Monroe’s career to the capstone it put on director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s.

All About “All About Eve” is not only full of rich detail about the movie, the director, and the stars, but also about the audience who loved it when it came out and adore it to this day.

John Cage has been described as the most important composer of our time. He combined classical European training with Eastern spirituality to produce an American amalgam of such vitality and originality that it continues to define what we mean by avant-garde. His influence has touched generations of artists, including Philip Glass, David Byrne, and his longtime collaborator Merce Cunningham. His work and ideas have influenced not only the world of music but also dance, painting, printmaking, video art, and poetry.

The Roaring Silence documents his life in unrivaled detail, interweaving a close account of the evolution of his work with an exploration of his aesthetic and philosophical ideas, while placing these in the greater perspective of American life and letters. Paying due attention to Cage’s inventions, such as the prepared piano, and his pioneering use of indeterminate notation and chance operations in composition (utilizing the I Ching), David Revill also illuminates Cage the performer, printmaker, watercolorist, expert amateur mycologist, game show celebrity, political anarchist, and social activist.

Arnold Schoenberg once called Cage "not a composer, but an inventor - of genius." This revised edition presents never-before-seen correspondence between Cage and other luminaries of his day, as well as new analysis into his legacy. The Roaring Silence celebrates the life and work of this true American original.

The first biography of rapper Mac Miller, the Pittsburgh cult favorite-turned-rap superstar who touched the lives of millions before tragically passing away at the age of 26

Malcolm James McCormick began making music at a young age and by 15 was already releasing mixtapes. One of the first true viral superstars, his early records earned him a rabid legion of die-hard fans - as well as a few noteworthy detractors. But despite his undeniable success, Miller was plagued by struggles with substance abuse and depression, both of which fueled his raw and genre-defying music yet ultimately led to his demise.

Through detailed reporting and interviews with dozens of Miller's confidants, Paul Cantor brings you to leafy Pittsburgh, seductive Los Angeles, and frenzied New York, where you will meet Miller's collaborators, producers, business partners, best friends, and even his roommates. Traveling deep into Miller's inner circle, Most Dope tells the story of a passionate, gifted young man who achieved his life's ambition, only to be undone by his personal demons.

Most Dope is part love letter, part cautionary tale, never shying away from the raw, visceral way Mac Miller lived his life.

The first comprehensive biography of iconic singer-songwriter Chris Cornell.

Total F*cking Godhead is the complete story of the complex and enigmatic artist, Chris Cornell. It's the riveting account of a blue collar, high-school dropout emerging from Seattle, Washington, to become one of the greatest singer-songwriters and voices of his generation. With input from people who knew and worked with him - together with Cornell's own words - the book recounts in great detail the rise of his immortal band Soundgarden as they emerged from the 1980s post-punk underground to dominate popular culture in the '90s alongside other Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and Nirvana.

Long-time Seattle resident and rock writer Corbin Reiff examines Cornell's dynamic solo career as well as his time in Audioslave. He delves into his hard-fought battle with addiction, as well as the supercharged reunion with the band that made him famous before everything ended tragically.

This is the story of an artist who channeled his own inner turmoil into songs that touched the hearts of millions around the world and turned Chris Cornell into one of music's greatest icons.

There are few people who have been in the wrestling business longer than Jim Ross. And those who have made it as long as he has (half a century to be exact) probably made enemies or burned bridges. But that's just not JR.

Slobberknocker is the story of how an Oklahoman farm kid with a vivid imagination and seemingly unattainable dreams became "The Voice of Wrestling" to record TV audiences and millions of fans around the world.

Jim opens up about his life as an only child on a working farm, who became obsessed with professional wrestling having first seen it on his grandparents' TV. Even though the wrestling business was notoriously secretive and wary of "outsiders", he somehow got a foot in the door to start a historic career, one where he held almost every job in the business - from putting up the ring to calling matches, from driving his blind, drunk boss toward revenge to consoling two naked 600-pound brothers in the shower room after a rough match.

With all those adventures and responsibilities, he's also recognized as the man who built and nurtured a once-in-a-generation talent roster that took the WWE to new heights, including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, and The Rock, to name a few. Listeners will finally get the opportunity to hear never-before-told stories about the politics, wackiness, and personalities of all the biggest stars.

But this isn't just a wrestling story. It's a story about overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams, as success did not come without significant costs and unforeseen challenges to JR, including multiple bouts of severe facial paralysis called Bell's palsy. Currently he is the host of the podcast The Ross Report.

Any fan of wrestling- from the territory days to today - will be enthralled with stories from the road and behind the scenes. Slobberknocker is the first time Ross tells his story - and you don't want to miss it!

Includes an additional new chapter and exclusive Q&A.

Short-listed for the Specsavers National Book Awards 2018 in Autobiography/Biography.

The number one Sunday Times best seller.

So, this is me. Lily Allen.

I am a woman.

I am a mother.

I was a wife.

I drink.

I have taken drugs.

I have loved and been let down.

I am a success and a failure.

I am a songwriter.

I am a singer.

I am all these things and more.

When women share their stories, loudly and clearly and honestly, things begin to change - for the better.

This is my story.

When celebrated writer Joan Didion’s life was altered forever, she wrote a new chapter. In this adaptation of her iconic memoir, Didion transforms the story of the shattering loss of her husband and their daughter into a one-woman play performed by Tony Award winner Vanessa Redgrave, who originated the role on Broadway in 2007. Written with Didion’s trademark style of cool observation, The Year of Magical Thinking weaves back and forth in time, taking listeners on a poignant journey through heartbreak, grief, and resilience. It’s an unforgettable theatrical experience that resonates with anyone who has ever loved.

"My one writerly habit was describing everything I did, no matter how absorbing or how trivial, as if I were standing outside myself and watching. That is, I would get up in the morning and look out the window, all the time thinking, 'She slid from the rumpled bed, yawned, and looked out at the pale...no, thin winter light. It was going to be another one of those days....' That kind of thing; very corny."

Every writer's origin story is different. In How I Became a Writer, Gloria Steinem charts her unlikely journey from restless teen in Toledo, Ohio, to professional magazine writer in Manhattan - with sage advice and "random directives" for getting started.

How I Became a Writer was originally published in Glamour, October 1965.

With intimate detail, author Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, the charismatic star of stage and screen whose career spanned much of the 20th century. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Schöneberg, Riva's biography introduces us to an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress whose own mother equated show business with a world of vagabonds and thieves.

Dietrich would quickly rise to stardom on the Berlin stage in the 1920s with her sharp wit and bisexual mystique, and wearing the top hat and tails that revolutionized our concept of beauty and femininity. She comes alive in these pages in all her incarnations: muse, collaborator, bona fide movie star, box-office poison, lover, wife, and mother.

During World War II, Dietrich would stand up to the Nazis and galvanize American troops, eventually earning the Congressional Medal of Freedom. There were her artistic relationships with Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, Morocco, Shanghai Express), Colette, Erich Maria Remarque, Noël Coward, and Cole Porter, as well as her heady romances. And in her final years, Dietrich would make herself visibly invisible, devoting herself to the immortality of her legend.

Learn the secrets to obtaining Bruce Lee's astounding physique with this insightful martial arts training book.

The Art of Expressing the Human Body, a title coined by Bruce Lee himself to describe his approach to martial arts, documents the techniques he used so effectively to perfect his body for superior health and muscularity.

Beyond his martial arts and acting abilities, Lee's physical appearance and strength were truly astounding. He achieved this through an intensive and ever-evolving conditioning regime that is being revealed for the first time in this book.

Drawing on Lee's notes, letters, diaries, and training logs, Bruce Lee historian John Little presents the full extent of Lee's unique training methods including nutrition, aerobics, isometrics, stretching, and weight training.

In addition to serving as a record of Bruce Lee's training, The Art of Expressing the Human Body, with its easy-to-understand and simple-to-follow training routines, is a valuable source book for those who seek dramatic improvement in their health, conditioning, physical fitness, and appearance.

The Wicked Wit of Queen Elizabeth II is a celebration of the Queen's reign through some of her wittiest, most sarcastic and most humorous observations, revealing a fascinating side of her personality that often remains hidden from the public.

When thinking of the Queen, our perception is often one of dignity and authority. She is seen as a serious figure: the British monarch, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England and the head of the Commonwealth. But as anyone who has ever met her will tell you, in person she has wicked sense of humour.

Occasionally unintentional, like asking guitar legend Eric Clapton, 'Have you been playing a long time?,' sometimes sarcastic, and at other times downright silly, royal humour touches on every aspect of life, while always retaining a strong sense of dignity.

One of the classic volumes of autobiography, My Early Life is a lively and colourful account of a young man's quest for action, adventure and danger. Churchill's schooldays are undistinguished, but he is admitted to Sandhurst and embarks on a career as a soldier and a war correspondent, seeing action in Cuba, in India, in the Sudan - where he took part in the battle of Omdurman, of which he gives us a stirring account - and finally in South Africa.

Taken prisoner by the Boers, Churchill makes a daring escape. Back home he embarks on the political career that is to make him one of Britain's most distinguished parliamentarians.

First published in 1930, when Churchill's most testing time still lay ahead of him, My Early Life is memorable both as an adventure-story and as an account of the events and influences that helped to shape the career of a great Englishman.

Meet unforgettable people and animals in the What a Character! Notable Lives from History series as you enjoy 10 real stories within each book!

Designed to be fun and engaging for students or anyone with a love for history, these listeners include a fascinating focus on important, influential, and visionary people, along with heroic animal escapades! From scientists to famous women to war heroes and more, there is something of interest for everyone in this exciting series!

This volume, Famous Women in History is recommended for Grade 6 and up and includes:

• Sybil Ludington
• Abigail Adams
• Deborah Sampson
• Dolley Madison
• Florence Nightingale
• Kate Shelley
• Annie Oakley
• Clara Barton
• Amelia Earhart
• Helen Keller

Each book can be listened to in any order. Definitions are included to help listeners learn the new words they will discover. Listen for enjoyment or as an extension of your history, science, or language arts curriculum.

Ever sworn off alcohol for January and found yourself drinking by the 7th? Think there's 'no point' in just one drink? Welcome! There are millions of us.

Before embracing sobriety, Catherine Gray was stuck in a hellish cycle of drink, horrible decisions and hangovers, during which she had her fair share of 'drunk tank' jail cells and topless-in-a-hot-tub misadventures.

'I discovered that I was about a million times happier sober than I ever had been while drinking. As were the hundreds of sober pals I picked up along the way. I found myself with dozens more hours in the week, heaps more energy, £20K more money over three and a half years, deepened friendships, revived family relationships, better skin, a tighter body, tanned legs for the first time ever, the ability to sleep for eight uninterrupted hours, a bone-deep sense of well-being, a totally turned-around positive outlook and an infinitely more successful career. What's not to like?!'

This inspirational, aspirational and highly relatable narrative champions the benefits of sobriety with a three-pronged approach combining the author's personal experience, factual reportage and contributions from expert sources and self-help advice for anyone who wants to reduce their alcohol intake or eliminate it completely. The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober is the new bible of sobriety.

As a young debutante in Manhattan, she spends her days teaching needy children and touring crowded tenements. There, she makes a life-changing discovery that later enables her to redefine the role of America's first lady - being shy doesn't matter as long as she's helping others.

Richard Reed built Innocent Drinks from a smoothie stall on a street corner to one of the biggest brands in Britain. He credits his success to four brilliant pieces of advice, each given to him just when he needed them most.

Ever since, it has been Richard's habit, whenever he meets somebody he admires, to ask them for their best piece of advice. If they could tell him just one thing, what would it be?

Richard has collected pearls of wisdom from some of the most remarkable, inspiring and game-changing people in the world - in business, tech, philanthropy, politics, sport, art, spirituality, medicine, film, and design.

From Hollywood greats like Judi Dench and Richard Curtis, to entrepreneurial legends like Richard Branson and Simon Cowell; from sports stars and TV personalities like Andy Murray and James Cordon to political activists and born survivors like Mandela's Comrades and Katie Piper, Richard has picked some of the world's most interesting brains to give you a lesson in how to live, how to love, how to create and how to succeed.

Delving into the long, extraordinary life of renowned French fashion designer Coco Chanel, Karen Karbo has written a new kind of book, exploring Chanel’s philosophy on a range of universal themes—from style to passion, from money and success to femininity and living life on your own terms.

Chanel is credited not simply with giving us the little black dress and boxy jackets, but with popularizing pants for women and easy, practical clothes that allowed women a chic freedom they’d never known before. In her strong-headed, elegant, opinionated, passionate, entirely French way, Coco Chanel helped bring women into the modern era, and because of this she was the only person in fashion to be named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.

Karen Karbo weaves Chanel’s life story into chapter themes that subtly convey life lessons and leave the reader utterly entranced with Chanel’s amazing individuality, confidence, and determination. The story of the designer’s extraordinary life and rise to unprecedented success is both compelling and admirable. And while the great Coco may have launched her singular empire a hundred years ago, her methods, attitude, and élan are as relevant and modern as ever, and perhaps more appealing. Chanel was a self-made girl who knew how to make do with less until she had more, discover and stay true to her own style, problem solve using the tools at hand, and do it all with seemingly effortless flair. The Gospel According to Coco Chanel is a captivating, offbeat look at style, celebrity, and self-invention—all held together with Karbo’s droll Chanel-style commentary and culled from an examination of Chanel’s difficult childhood and triumphant adulthood, passionate love affairs, career choices, habits, eccentricities, and personal philosophies.

At the beginning of the 1930s, historian William L. Shirer was sent to India by the Chicago Tribune to cover the rise of the Independence Movement. During this time Shirer was privileged to observe Mahatma Gandhi as he launched the Civil Disobedience Campaign and to enjoy his personal friendship and confidence.

In this fascinating memoir, Shirer writes perceptively and unforgettably about Gandhi’s frailties as well as his accomplishments. Despite his greatness, Gandhi was the first to admit that he was a human being with his own prejudices and peculiarities: He could be stubborn and dictatorial, yet the magnificence of the man rose above all else.

Gandhi: A Memoir sheds a special light on the man who left such an indelible imprint on India and the world.

No more games; it's time for the truth. I am not the hero in this tale. I am the villain.

Do you believe in monogamy? Neil Strauss didn't. The New York Times journalist made a name for himself advocating freedom, sex and opportunity as author of The Game - with intimacy and long-term commitment taking a backseat.

That is until he met the woman who forced him to ask the questions that men and women are asking themselves every day: Is it natural to be faithful to one person for life? Do alternatives to monogamy lead to better relationships and greater happiness? Can you keep passion and romance from fading over time?

Strauss set out on a quest for answers. It took him from Viagra-laden free-love orgies to sex addiction clinics, from cutting-edge science labs to modern-day harems and, most terrifying of all, to his own mother and his family's secrets. What he discovered changed everything he knew about love, sex, relationships and, ultimately, himself. The Truth may have the same effect on you.

The life story of Ishi, the last Yahi Indian, lone survivor of an exterminated tribe, is unique in the annals of North American anthropology. Ishi stumbled into the 20th century on the morning of August 29, 1911, when, desperate with hunger and terrified of the white murderers of his family, he was found in the corral of a slaughterhouse near Oroville, California. Finally identified as a Yahi by an anthropologist, Ishi was brought to San Francisco by Professor T. T. Waterman and lived there the rest of his life under the care and protection of Alfred Kroeber and the staff of the University of California's Museum of Anthropology.

From an early age, Amber van de Bunt knew she wasn't like the other girls in town. From childhood struggles with depression and eating disorders, her years as a topless dancer in Florida, and an eventual abortion and suicide attempt, to her rebirth in Los Angeles as a porn star named Karmen Karma, overcoming her relationship with her abusive mother, and her struggle to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle - van de Bunt's life has been a wild roller coaster. With humor, alacrity, and profound insight, she reveals her deepest, darkest secrets and pulls no punches - least of all with herself.

From 2011 up until his death at the end of 2016, the inimitable AA Gill reigned supreme as Uncle Dysfunctional, Esquire's resident advice columnist. In this raffish, hilarious, scathing yet often surprisingly humane collection, Gill applies his unmatched wit to the largest and smallest issues of our time. Whether you're struggling to satisfy your other half, having a crisis over your baldness, don't like your daughter's boyfriend or need the definitive rules on shorts, leather jackets and man-bags, AA Gill has all the answers - but you'd better brace yourself first.

At the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, 13-year-old Nanchu watched Red Guards burst into her home and arrest her parents, whom they tortured and jailed. She was left to fend for herself and her younger brother on the streets of Shanghai, enduring poverty and near-starvation. As she grew older she herself became a Red Guard and was sent down to the largest work camp in China. There she faced primitive conditions, predatory officials, a viper's nest of party jealousies, and near-fatal injury before she finally won admittance to Madame Mao's university in Shanghai. Her testimony is essential for anyone interested in China or human rights.

The savage, beautiful, and unforgettable memoirs of an extraordinary artist, activist, and iconoclast who lit up the New York art scene in the late 20th century

David Wojnarowicz's brief but eventful life was not easy. From a suburban adolescence marked by neglect, drugs, prostitution, and abuse to a squalid life on the streets of New York City, to fame - and infamy - as an activist and controversial visual artist whose work was lambasted in the halls of Congress, all before his early death from AIDS at age 37, Wojnarowicz seemed to be at war with a homophobic "establishment" and the world itself. Yet what emerged from the darkness was a truly extraordinary artist and human being - an angry young man of remarkable poetic sensibilities who was inordinately sympathetic to those who, like him, lived and struggled outside society's boundaries.

Close to the Knives is his searing yet strangely beautiful account told in a collection of powerful essays. An author whom reviewers have compared to Kerouac and Genet, David Wojnarowicz mesmerizes, horrifies, and delights in equal measure with his unabashed honesty. At once savage and funny, poignant and sexy, compassionate and unforgiving, his words and stories cut like knives, leaving indelible marks on all who listen to them.

At the age of 15, Cat Marnell unknowingly set out to murder her life. After a privileged yet emotionally starved childhood in Washington, she became hooked on ADHD medication provided by her psychiatrist father. This led to a dependence on Xanax and other prescription drugs at boarding school, and she experimented with cocaine, ecstasy - whatever came her way. By 26 she was a talented 'doctor shopper' who manipulated Upper East Side psychiatrists into giving her never-ending prescriptions; her life had become a twisted merry-go-round of parties and pills at night and trying to hold down a high-profile job at Condé Nast during the day.

With a complete lack of self-pity and an honesty that is almost painful, Cat describes the crazed euphoria, terrifying comedowns and horrendous guilt she felt lying to those who tried to help her. Writing in a voice that is utterly magnetic - prompting comparisons to Bret Easton Ellis and Charles Bukowski - she captures something essential about both her generation and our times. Profoundly divisive and controversial, How to Murder Your Life is an unforgettable, charged account of a young female addict so close to throwing her entire life away.

In September 1921, four young men and Ada Blackjack, a diminutive 25-year-old Eskimo woman, ventured deep into the Arctic in a secret attempt to colonize desolate Wrangel Island for Great Britain. Two years later, Ada Blackjack emerged as the sole survivor of this ambitious polar expedition. This young, unskilled woman - who had headed to the Arctic in search of money and a husband - conquered the seemingly unconquerable north and survived all alone after her male companions had perished.

Following her triumphant return to civilization, the international press proclaimed her the female Robinson Crusoe. But whatever stories the press turned out came from the imaginations of reporters: Ada Blackjack refused to speak to anyone about her horrific two years in the Arctic. Only on one occasion - after charges were published falsely accusing her of causing the death of one her companions - did she speak up for herself.

Jennifer Niven has created a compelling history of this remarkable woman, taking full advantage of the wealth of firsthand resources about Ada that exist, including her never-before-seen diaries, the unpublished diaries from other primary characters, and interviews with Ada's surviving son. Ada Blackjack is more than a rugged tale of a woman battling the elements to survive in the frozen north - it is the story of a hero.

Georgia O'Keeffe, one of the most original painters America has ever produced, left behind a remarkable legacy when she died at the age of 98. Her vivid visual vocabulary, sensuous flowers, bleached bones against red sky and earth, had a stunning, profound, and lasting influence on American art in this century.

O'Keeffe's personal mystique is as intriguing and enduring as her bold, brilliant canvasses. Here is the first full account of her exceptional life, from her girlhood and early days as a controversial art teacher to her discovery by the pioneering photographer of the New York avant-garde, Alfred Stieglitz, to her seclusion in the New Mexico desert, where she lived until her death.

And here is the story of a great romance between the extraordinary painter and her much older mentor, lover, and husband, Alfred Stieglitz.

Renowned for her fierce independence, iron determination, and unique artistic vision, Georgia O'Keeffe is a 20th century legend. Her dazzling career spans virtually the entire history of modern art in America.

In 1851 Olive Oatman was a 13-year-old pioneer traveling west toward Zion with her Mormon family. Within a decade she was a white Indian with a chin tattoo, caught between cultures. The Blue Tattoo tells the harrowing story of this forgotten heroine of frontier America.

Orphaned when her family was brutally killed by Yavapai Indians, Oatman lived as a slave to her captors for a year before being traded to the Mohave, who tattooed her face and raised her as their own. She was fully assimilated and perfectly happy when, at 19, she was ransomed back to white society. She became an instant celebrity, but the price of fame was high, and the pain of her ruptured childhood lasted a lifetime.

Based on historical records, including letters and diaries of Oatman's friends and relatives, The Blue Tattoo is the first book to examine her life, from her childhood in Illinois - including the massacre, her captivity, and her return to white society - to her later years as a wealthy banker's wife in Texas.

Josephine's life story was as turbulent as the age, an era of revolution and social upheaval, of the guillotine and of frenzied hedonism. With telling psychological depth and compelling literary grace, Carolly Erickson brings the complex, charming, ever resilient Josephine to life in this memorable portrait, one that carries the reader from the sensual richness of her childhood in the tropics to her final lonely days at Malmaison.

One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed. Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet miraculously sustained by courage and love in the face of unspeakable brutality.

On June 29, 2009, Air National Guard major Mary Jennings "MJ" Hegar was shot down while on a medevac mission on her third tour in Afghanistan. Despite being wounded, she fought the enemy and saved the lives of her crew and their patients. But soon she would face a new battle: to give women who serve on the front lines the credit they deserve....

After being commissioned into the US Air Force, MJ Hegar was selected for pilot training by the Air National Guard, finished at the top of her class, then served three tours in Afghanistan flying combat search and rescue missions, culminating in a harrowing rescue attempt that would earn MJ the Purple Heart as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device.

But it was on American soil that Hegar would embark on her greatest challenge - to eliminate the military's Ground Combat Exclusion Policy, which kept female armed service members from officially serving in combat roles despite their longstanding record of doing so with honor.

In Shoot Like a Girl, MJ takes the listener on a dramatic journey through her military career: an inspiring, humorous, and thrilling true story of a brave, high-spirited, and unforgettable woman who has spent much of her life ready to sacrifice everything for her country, her fellow man, and her sense of justice.

It is sometimes difficult to remember that in war there are innocents on all sides who suffer. German citizens who had no connection to the atrocities committed by their countrymen nonetheless endured great hardships because of them.

In The Inner War, author Gerda Hartwich Robinson narrates her story as a German survivor of World War II. She tells how her life's journey included hunger, fear, neglect, and physical and emotional abuse and how she carried these injustices in her mind and body for many years, leading to debilitating back pain, headaches, panic attacks, depression, and feelings of inadequacy. In this touching memoir, Robinson shows that the tragedies of war don't end when the last bomb is dropped or the last prisoner freed; they continue in subtle but devastating ways.

Like many German citizens during and after the war, Robinson was simply trying to survive a terrifying situation she had nothing to do with. She describes how her spirit was devastated by hopelessness and how she entertained thoughts of suicide. The Inner War shares lessons she learned at a chronic pain rehabilitation center that allowed her to start on a path to peace and love.

A life of Matilda - empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages.

Matilda was a daughter, wife, and mother. But she was also empress, heir to the English crown - the first woman ever to hold the position - and an able military general.

This new biography explores Matilda's achievements as military and political leader and sets her life and career in full context. Catherine Hanley provides fresh insight into Matilda's campaign to claim the title of queen, her approach to allied kingdoms and rival rulers, and her role in the succession crisis. Hanley highlights how Matilda fought for the throne and argues that although she never sat on it herself, her reward was to see her son become king. Extraordinarily, her line has continued through every single monarch of England or Britain from that time to the present day.

In this entertaining and insightful biography, award-winning writer Andrew Morton, author of Diana, Her True Story and Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters, takes you behind the scenes to uncover the woman and her world.

For years she prayed for her mother to give birth to a son. She longed to be spared her destiny as Britain's future Queen. Her dream was to live in the country surrounded by children, dogs and horses.

But Elizabeth did her duty, the young princess pledging before her people that she would dedicate her whole life to the service of Britain and the Commonwealth. She hoped that that day would be a long way off. It was not to be. Only 25 when she became Queen after the premature death of her father, King George Vl, Elizabeth has become the stuff of superlatives: the longest reigning, most travelled and, for a shy woman, the Queen who has shaken more hands and made more small talk than any other monarch in history. She has been seen and believed by millions, either in person, on television or film.

Elizabeth was set firmly on the road to becoming sovereign because of the D word—divorce. In 1936, her uncle David, King Edward VIII, wanted to marry a twice-divorced American, Wallis Simpson. When he couldn't he abdicated. Since that national trauma, divorce and the fall-out from divorce has shaped her reign. She has witnessed her sister Margaret, three of her children and several grandchildren divorce. And she has lived long enough to see the wheel turn full circle, watching as another American divorcee, Meghan Markle, walked down the aisle with her grandson Prince Harry.

While her reign has been defined by divorce, her private life has been moulded by an irascible husband, an extravagant mother and a querulous eldest son. In the winter of her reign she refereed a war between two of her grandsons, brothers William and Harry who were once inseparable friends. As she celebrates her platinum anniversary, the first monarch to reign for 70 years, she has, during a once in a lifetime pandemic, become the reassuring face of hope and optimism, the grandmother to the nation.

Ladies of the Canyons is the true story of remarkable women who left the security and comforts of genteel Victorian society and journeyed to the American Southwest in search of a wider view of themselves and their world.

Educated, restless, and inquisitive, Natalie Curtis, Carol Stanley, Alice Klauber, and Mary Cabot Wheelwright were plucky, intrepid women whose lives were transformed in the first decades of the 20th century by the people and the landscape of the American Southwest. Part of an influential circle of women that included Louisa Wade Wetherill, Alice Corbin Henderson, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Mary Austin, and Willa Cather, these ladies imagined and created a new home territory, a new society, and a new identity for themselves and for the women who would follow them.

Their adventures were shared with the likes of Theodore Roosevelt and Robert Henri, Edgar Hewett and Charles Lummis, Chief Tawakwaptiwa of the Hopi, and Hostiin Klah of the Navajo. Their journeys took them to Monument Valley and Rainbow Bridge, into Canyon de Chelly, and across the high mesas of the Hopi, down through the Grand Canyon, and over the red desert of the Four Corners, to the pueblos along the Rio Grande and the villages in the mountains between Santa Fe and Taos.

Although their stories converge in the outback of the American Southwest, the saga of Ladies of the Canyons is also the tale of Boston's Brahmins, the Greenwich Village avant-garde, the birth of American modern art, and Santa Fe's art and literary colony. Ladies of the Canyons is the story of New Women stepping boldly into the New World of inconspicuous success, ambitious failure, and the personal challenges experienced by women and men during the emergence of the Modern Age.

This is the story of how your life shapes your brain and how your brain shapes your life. Locked in the silence and darkness of your skull, the brain fashions the rich narratives of your reality and your identity.

Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the heart of our existence. What is reality? Who are 'you'? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human?

In the course of his investigations, Eagleman guides us through the world of extreme sports, criminal justice, facial expressions, genocide, brain surgery, gut feelings, robotics, and the search for immortality.

Strap in for a whistle-stop tour into the inner cosmos. In the infinitely dense tangle of billions of brain cells and their trillions of connections, something emerges that you might not have expected to see in there: you.

How deep learning - from Google Translate to driverless cars to personal cognitive assistants - is changing our lives and transforming every sector of the economy.

The deep-learning revolution has brought us driverless cars, the greatly improved Google Translate, fluent conversations with Siri and Alexa, and enormous profits from automated trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Deep-learning networks can play poker better than professional poker players and defeat a world champion at Go. In this book, Terry Sejnowski explains how deep learning went from being an arcane academic field to a disruptive technology in the information economy.

Sejnowski played an important role in the founding of deep learning, as one of a small group of researchers in the 1980s who challenged the prevailing logic-and-symbol based version of AI. The new version of AI Sejnowski and others developed, which became deep learning, is fueled instead by data. Deep networks learn from data in the same way that babies experience the world, starting with fresh eyes and gradually acquiring the skills needed to navigate novel environments. It took nature many millions of years to evolve human intelligence; AI is on a trajectory measured in decades. Sejnowski prepares us for a deep learning future.

Within the last several years, the animal-welfare movement has been divided between those who merely hope to protect animals and those who would like to extend to animals the same rights and recognition that have been gained by minorities, women, and homosexuals. For people who believe that animals have rights, or deserve to have them, an ordinance regulating the use of laboratory animals is only a small step toward the establishment of a society in which mankind lives in a different relation to the rest of the animal kingdom.

In The Rights of Mice, Lawrence Wright, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and Going Clear, takes listeners inside the war between science and anti-vivisection raging across the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its great educational institutions, Harvard and MIT. As animal rights activists attempt to push through city council an ordinance restricting the use of animals in laboratory testing, leaders in the science and medical communities brace for a fight. The Rights of Mice was originally published in New England Monthly, August 1987.

Shortlisted for: Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year – Specsavers National Book Awards 2012

'Bad Science’ hilariously exposed the tricks that quacks and journalists use to distort science, becoming a 400,000 copy bestseller. Now Ben Goldacre puts the $600bn global pharmaceutical industry under the microscope. What he reveals is a fascinating, terrifying mess.

Doctors and patients need good scientific evidence to make informed decisions. But instead, companies run bad trials on their own drugs, which distort and exaggerate the benefits by design. When these trials produce unflattering results, the data is simply buried. All of this is perfectly legal. In fact, even government regulators withhold vitally important data from the people who need it most. Doctors and patient groups have stood by too, and failed to protect us. Instead, they take money and favours, in a world so fractured that medics and nurses are now educated by the drugs industry.

The pharmaceutical industry spends more on marketing than it does on research and development. New diseases are invented in order to swell profits. It distorts and suppresses the results of clinical trials if they are unfavourable. Patients' pressure groups are covertly sponsored by pill manufacturers. Its offences are countless and the consequences are felt by us all. What we trust to cure us may be ineffectual or actually harmful. Patients are harmed in huge numbers.

Ben Goldacre is Britain’s finest writer on the science behind medicine, and ‘Bad Pharma’ is a clear and witty attack, showing exactly how the science has been distorted, how our systems have been broken, and how easy it would be to fix them.

Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featuring a new Introduction by Sagan's collaborator, Ann Druyan, and a new Foreword by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science.

Includes introductory music: Heaven and Hell by Vangelis from Cosmos: A Personal Voyage used with permission from Druyan-Sagan Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mitochondria are tiny structures located inside our cells that carry out the essential task of producing energy for the cell. They are found in all complex living things, and in that sense, they are fundamental for driving complex life on the planet. But there is much more to them than that.

Mitochondria have their own DNA, with their own small collection of genes, separate from those in the cell nucleus. It is thought that they were once bacteria living independent lives. Their enslavement within the larger cell was a turning point in the evolution of life, enabling the development of complex organisms and, closely related, the origin of two sexes. Unlike the DNA in the nucleus, mitochondrial DNA is passed down exclusively (or almost exclusively) via the female line. That's why it has been used by some researchers to trace human ancestry daughter-to-mother, to "Mitochondrial Eve".

Mitochondria give us important information about our evolutionary history. And that's not all. Mitochondrial genes mutate much faster than those in the nucleus because of the free radicals produced in their energy-generating role. This high mutation rate lies behind our ageing and certain congenital diseases. The latest research suggests that mitochondria play a key role in degenerative diseases such as cancer, through their involvement in precipitating cell suicide. Mitochondria, then, are pivotal in power, sex, and suicide.

In this fascinating and thought-provoking book, Nick Lane brings together the latest research findings in this exciting field to reveal how our growing understanding of mitochondria is shedding light on how complex life evolved, why sex arose (why don't we just bud?), and why we age and die. This understanding is of fundamental importance, both in understanding how we and all other complex life came to be, but also in order to be able to control our own illnesses, and delay our degeneration and death.

The key to living a happier, healthier life is inside us. Our gut is almost as important to us as our brain or our heart, yet we know very little about how it works.

In Gut, Giulia Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and - let's be honest - somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy. And scientists are only just discovering quite how much it has to offer; new research shows that gut bacteria can play a role in everything from obesity and allergies to Alzheimer's.

Beginning with the personal experience of illness that inspired her research and going on to explain everything from the basics of nutrient absorption to the latest science linking bowel bacteria with depression, Enders has written an entertaining, informative health handbook.

Gut definitely shows that we can all benefit from getting to know the wondrous world of our inner workings. In this charming book, young scientist Giulia Enders takes us on a fascinating tour of our insides. Her message is simple: if we treat our gut well, it will treat us well in return. But how do we do that? And why do we need to?

Find out in this surprising and surprisingly funny exploration of the least understood of our organs.

Giulia Enders is a two-time scholarship winner of the Heraeus Foundation and is doing research for her medical doctorate at the Institute for Microbiology in Frankfurt. In 2012 her presentation of Gut won her first prize at the Science Slam in Berlin and went viral on YouTube.

Why do we breathe? What is money? How does the brain work? Why did life invent sex? Does time really exist? How does capitalism work - or not, as the case may be? Where do mountains come from? How do computers work? How did humans get to dominate the Earth? Why is there something rather than nothing?

In What a Wonderful World, Marcus Chown, best-selling author of Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You and the Solar System app, uses his vast scientific knowledge and deep understanding of extremely complex processes to answer simple questions about the workings of our everyday lives.

Lucid, witty, and hugely entertaining, it explains the basics of our essential existence, stopping along the way to show us why the Atlantic is widening by a thumbs' length each year and how money permits trade to time travel, why the crucial advantage humans had over Neanderthals was sewing, and why we are all living in a giant hologram.

From leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl comes a groundbreaking exploration of the many ways genetic engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives-sex, war, love, and death.

At the dawn of the genetics revolution, our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. But as humanity starts retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race.

Enter the laboratories where scientists are turning science fiction into reality. Look towards a future where our deepest beliefs, morals, religions, and politics are challenged like never before and the very essence of what it means to be human is at play. When we can engineer our future children, massively extend our lifespans, build life from scratch, and recreate the plant and animal world, should we?

Passionate, provocative, and highly illuminating, Hacking Darwin is the must-listen book about the future of our species for fans of Homo Deus and The Gene.

In 2016, one of the giants of modern journalism fell: Gawker Media, infamous for saying what other outlets wouldn't say, was sued for publishing Hulk Hogan's sex tape, lost the case and went bust. After countless other lawsuits it seemed that Gawker had finally run out of luck. But luck had nothing to do with it.

Peter Thiel, PayPal founder and billionaire investor, had masterminded the whole thing. Still furious at an article that had outed him 10 years previously, and increasingly disgusted at Gawker's unscrupulous reporting methods, Thiel had spent nearly a decade meticulously plotting a conspiracy that would lead to the demise of Gawker and its founder, Nick Denton. After a multiyear proxy war through the Florida legal system, the settlement of $140 million in favour of Hogan ended it. The verdict would stun the world, and so would Peter's ultimate unmasking as the man who had set it all in motion. Why had he done this? How had no one discovered it? What would this mean - for free speech? For privacy? For culture?

In Holiday's masterful telling of this nearly unbelievable conspiracy, informed by exclusive interviews with all the key players, this case transcends the narrative of how one billionaire took down a media empire or the current state of the free press. It's a study in power, strategy, and one of the most wildly ambitious - and successful - secret plots in recent memory.

On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen US aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Each aircraft was more than 60 feet in length and with a wingspan of 40 feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating.

Radar has been in use since the 1930s and was essential to the Allies in World War II, when American investment in radar exceeded that in the Manhattan Project. The atom bomb ended the war, conventional wisdom has it, but radar won it. That experience also raised a question: could a plane be developed that was invisible to radar? That question, and the seemingly impossible feat of physics and engineering behind it, took on increasing urgency during the Cold War.

Combining nail-biting narrative, incisive explanation of the science and technology involved, and indelible portraits of unforgettable characters, kimmerses readers in the story of an innovation with revolutionary implications for modern warfare.

An eye-opening exposé of the struggle to control the world’s seeds and the future of our food

Ten thousand years after humans figured out how to stop wandering and plant crops, veteran investigative journalist Mark Schapiro plunges into the struggle already underway for control of seeds, the ground-zero ingredient for our food. Three-quarters of the seed varieties on Earth in 1900 had become extinct by 2015. In Seeds of Resistance, Schapiro takes us onto the frontlines of a struggle over the seeds that remain, one that will determine the long-term security of our food supply in the face of unprecedented climate volatility.

Schapiro reveals how more than half of all commercially-traded seeds have fallen under the control of just three multinational agri-chemical companies. At just the time when scientists tell us we need a spectrum of options to respond to climatic changes, thousands of seed varieties are being taken off the market and replaced by the companies’ genetically engineered or crack-baby seeds, addicted to chemical pesticides and herbicides from the day they are planted. Schapiro dives deep into the rapidly growing movement in the United States and around the world to defy these trends and assert autonomy over locally-bred seeds - seeds which are showing high levels of resilience to the onrushing and accelerating impacts of climate change.

Schapiro applies his investigative and storytelling skills to this riveting narrative, from the environmentally stressed fields of the American Midwest to the arid fields of Syria, as conditions in the two start to resemble one another, to Native American food cultivators, who are seeing increasing interest in their ability to grow food in shifting conditions over thousands of years; from the financial markets that are turning patented seeds into one of the planet’s most valuable commodities to the fields where they are grown. Seeds of Resistance lifts the lid on the struggle, largely hidden from public view until now, over the earth’s most important resource as conditions on the earth shift above our heads and beneath our feet.

This entertaining and sharply written guide - for both beginners breaking into comedy and professionals seeking to improve their sets and advance their careers - examines the work of great comedians such as Louis C. K., Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Izzard, Moms Mabley, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Richard Pryor, and more as a means of illustrating the most important techniques of performing and writing stand-up.

Here, Stephen Rosenfield lays out a clear plan for achieving success, candidly explaining what works, what doesn't, and why. Including a 12-item "Successful Comedian's To-Do List," Rosenfield states, "Get undeniably good at each of these and you can kiss your day job good-bye. You will be a pro."

What drug lords learned from big business.

How does a budding cartel boss succeed (and survive) in the $300 billion illegal drug business? By learning from the best, of course. From creating brand value to fine-tuning customer service, the folks running cartels have been attentive students of the strategy and tactics used by corporations such as Walmart, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola.

And what can government learn to combat this scourge? By analyzing the cartels as companies, law enforcers might better understand how they work - and stop throwing away $100 billion a year in a futile effort to win the "war" against this global, highly organized business.

Your intrepid guide to the most exotic and brutal industry on earth is Tom Wainwright. Picking his way through Andean cocaine fields, Central American prisons, Colorado pot shops, and the online drug dens of the Dark Web, Wainwright provides a fresh, innovative look into the drug trade and its 250 million customers.

The cast of characters includes "Bin Laden", the Bolivian coca guide; "Old Lin", the Salvadoran gang leader; "Starboy", the millionaire New Zealand pill maker; and a cozy Mexican grandmother who cooks blueberry pancakes while plotting murder. Along with presidents, cops, and teenage hit men, they explain such matters as the business purpose for head-to-toe tattoos, how gangs decide whether to compete or collude, and why cartels care a surprising amount about corporate social responsibility.

More than just an investigation of how drug cartels do business, Narconomics is also a blueprint for how to defeat them.

Brought to you by Penguin.

Have you ever found yourself struggling with information overload?

Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised?

Do you ever feel busy but not productive?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is to become an essentialist.

In Essentialism, Greg McKeown, CEO of a leadership and strategy agency in Silicon Valley who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook, shows you how to achieve what he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Being an essentialist is about a disciplined way of thinking. It means challenging the core assumptions of "we can have it all" and "I have to do everything" and replacing them with the pursuit of "the right thing in the right way at the right time".

By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter.

Using the experience and insight of working with the leaders of the most innovative companies and organisations in the world, McKeown shows you how to put Essentialism into practice in your own life, so you, too, can achieve something great.

In Inside Studio 54, the former owner takes you behind the scenes of the most famous nightclub in the world, through the crowd, to a place where celebrities, friends, and the beautiful people sip champagne and share lines of cocaine using rolled-up 100-dollar bills.

In the early 80s, Mark Fleischman reopened Studio 54, the world's most glamorous and notorious nightclub, after it was closed down by the State of New York. Ten thousand people showed up that night, ready to restart the party that abruptly ended after the raid in 1978 landed its former owners in jail.

Inside Studio 54 invites you to revisit the happening scenes of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, the post-Pill, pre-AIDS era of free love, consequence-free sex, and seemingly endless partying. Following Fleischman as he built connections as a hotel, restaurant, and club owner that lead him to Studio 54.

Inside Studio 54 takes the listener from Brazil to the heights of debauchery in the Virgin Islands and finally to New York City. A star-studded thrill ride through decadent and drug-fueled parties at the legendary Studio 54.

Imagine pushing a magic button in your video editing software labeled "better". Any project you edit turns out exactly how you planned, every single time. Your audience is absolutely spellbound, wiping tears from their eyes, laughing out loud, or sitting in stunned silence as they see the world in a different way for the first time.

Bad news: That button doesn't exist. Good news: Edit Better shows you how to get there anyway.

Edit Better was made for video editors who consider themselves advanced hobbyists or growth-minded professionals, artists who know that the tools of editing matter far less than the knowledge of how to use those tools powerfully.

This audiobook does not illuminate the workings of Avid, Final Cut, or Premiere, and is not a meditation on film editing. What it is: a provocative, wide-ranging collection of strategies and tactics for the creative application of TV and video editing, no matter your editing tools.

Author Jeff Bartsch lays out both big-picture strategies and practical, boots-on-the-ground tactics for powerful communication. Going far beyond mere button-pushing, Jeff good-naturedly blends communication theory, marketing, behavioral psychology, neuroscience, and nuts-and-bolts details of editing application from years of experience in Hollywood, the storytelling capital of the world.

Animation is a multibillion-dollar industry. Here’s an insider’s guide to getting into that industry, staying there, and getting ahead. Author David B. Levy has interviewed the top pros in animation, including Steven Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants; Al Brodax, producer of Yellow Submarine; Teddy Newton, character designer on The Incredibles; Linda Simensky, senior director of PBS Kids; John R. Dilworth, creator of Courage the Cowardly Dog; and dozens of others to get their insights on creating a portfolio or reel, meeting animators, networking, and making the leap from working for others to pitching and selling. A resource section lists animation schools, film festivals, studios, Web sites, and publications to get budding animators off to an animated start.

We all know that networking is important, and that forming relationships with others is a vital part of success. But sometimes it seems like networking removes all emotions from the equation and focuses only on immediate goals… whereas the kind of relationships that have true staying power, give us joy, and support us in the long run are founded on simply liking each other.

This book, featuring activities, self-assessment quizzes, and real-life anecdotes from professional and social settings, shows readers how to identify what’s likable in themselves and create honest, authentic interactions that become “wins” for all parties involved. Readers will discover how to:

• Start conversations and keep them going with ease
• Convert acquaintances into friends
• Uncover people’s preferences and tweak their own personal style to enable engaging, reciprocal interactions
• Create follow-up and stay in others’ minds long after the initial meeting

The worst thing we can do when trying to establish a personal bond with someone is to come across as manipulative or self-serving. Authentic connections go much deeper - and feel much easier - than trying to hit self-imposed business card collection quotas. This book presents a new paradigm that shows how even the most networking-averse can network…and like it.

Learn how today’s artists survive, exhibit, and earn money, without selling out! This book explains how to be a professional artist and new methods to define and realize what success means. Whether you’re a beginner, a student, or a career artist looking to be in the best museum shows, this book provides ways of advancing your plans on any level. Making It in the Art World is an invaluable resource for artists at every stage, offering readers a plethora of strategies and helpful tips to plan and execute a successful artistic career. Topics include how to evaluate your own work, how to submit art, how to present work to the public, how to avoid distractions in the studio, and much more.

In The Talent Code, award-winning journalist Daniel Coyle draws on cutting-edge research to reveal that, far from being some abstract mystical power fixed at birth, ability really can be created and nurtured.

In the process, he considers talent at work in venues as diverse as a music school in Dallas and a tennis academy near Moscow to demonstrate how the wiring of our brains can be transformed by the way we approach particular tasks.

He explains what is really going on when apparently unremarkable people suddenly make a major leap forward. He reveals why some teaching methods are so much more effective than others. Above all, he shows how all of us can achieve our full potential if we set about training our brains in the right way.

The Complete Book of Five Rings is an authoritative version of Musashi's classic The Book of Five Rings, translated and annotated by a modern martial arts master, Kenji Tokitsu. Tokitsu has spent most of his life researching the legendary samurai swordsman and his works, and in this book he illuminates this seminal text, along with several other works by Musashi. These include "The Mirror of the Way of Strategy", which Musashi wrote when he was in his 20s; "Thirty-five Instructions on Strategy", and "Forty-two Instructions on Strategy", which were precursors to The Book of Five Rings; and "The Way to Be Followed Alone", which Musashi wrote just days before his death.

Heard together, these five texts give listeners an unusually detailed, nuanced view of Musashi's ideas on swordsmanship, strategy, and self-cultivation. Tokitsu puts all these writings into historical and philosophical context and makes them accessible and relevant to today's listeners and martial arts students. Tokitsu understands Musashi's writings - and Musashi as a martial artist - unusually well and is able to provide a rare insight into the man and his historical contribution.

Containing intimate stories from 50 Cent's life on the streets and in the boardroom; his rise to worldwide fame and acclaim after the release of his album Get Rich or Die Tryin'; and examples of others who have overcome adversity through understanding and practicing the 50th Law. This deeply inspirational book is perfect for entrepreneurs as well as anyone interested in the extraordinary life of Curtis Jackson.

The path to your professional success starts with a critical look in the mirror.

If you listen to nothing else on managing yourself, you should at least hear these 10 articles (plus the bonus article "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen). We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles to select the most important ones to help you maximize yourself.

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself will inspire you to:

• Stay engaged throughout your 50+-year work life
• Tap into your deepest values
• Solicit candid feedback
• Replenish physical and mental energy
• Balance work, home, community, and self
• Spread positive energy throughout your organization
• Rebound from tough times
• Decrease distractibility and frenzy
• Delegate and develop employees' initiative

This collection of best-selling articles includes: bonus article "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen, "Managing Oneself", "Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?", "How Resilience Works", "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time", "Overloadeded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform", "Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life", "Reclaim Your Job", "Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership", "What to Ask the Person in the Mirror", and "Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death.

Along with The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Book of Five Rings has long been regarded as an invaluable treatise on the strategy of winning. Musashi's timeless advice on defeating an adversary, throwing an opponent off-guard, creating confusion, and other techniques for overpowering an assailant was addressed to readers of earlier times on the battlefield and now serves the modern listener in the battle of life.

In this new rendering by the translator of Hagakure and The Unfettered Mind, William Scott Wilson adheres rigorously to the 17th-century Japanese text and clarifies points of ambiguity in earlier translations. In addition, he offers an extensive introduction and a translation of Musashi's rarely published The Way of Walking Alone.

Learn how to survive and thrive within organizations

In Don't Quit Your Day Job, former Google and Twitter executive Aliza Knox delivers hands-on, practical steps for achieving career success.

Driven by Knox's four decades working in and leading some of the world's most celebrated firms, and featuring candid accounts of other people's successes and missteps in global tech, consumer goods, healthcare, academia, social services and more, this book is an essential guide to integrating your professional and personal goals to build a fulfilling, complete life. The book also includes:

• Invaluable advice to power up your people skills and soft skills, and how to care for your career like you would any other relationship.
• Effective perspectives to help balance your working life and personal life and to build stamina for the long haul.
• A global outlook that reveals how to excel in today's hybrid, often dispersed world of work.

Whether you're just starting your first job or you're ready to rise to the C-suite, Don't Quit Your Day Job will help you advance and flourish in the workplace.

You don't just wake up jaundiced and bitter; it's taken Jack years of dedication and commitment to brew his unique cocktail of disillusionment and bile. What turned this once optimistic young man into a grumpy middle-aged git? Was it working in an artificial-leg factory? Or delivering incontinence pads for the NHS? Or was it the time when he was shunned by his peers for daring to thrash a one-armed man at tennis?

In this hilariously frank account of his life, Jack finally answers the question, 'So how did you get started in comedy then?' Along the way, he shares his blatantly unreasonable views on everything from personal trainers to boutique hotels, from the overrated moon landing to 'people who hold their cutlery the wrong way'.

Once you've listened to this book, you'll never think of Jack Dee as a smiling, happy-go-lucky, friendly face again.

Join Wigge on a wild ride as he trades an apple for a house in forty-two steps. Most people like to travel in comfort: they stay in fancy hotels, never leave tourist spots, and stay away from the locals. Michael Wigge isn’t like most people, though.

After travelling the world without money for 150 days while writing How to Travel the World for Free, his next challenge: turn an apple into a house in Hawaii.

Wigge goes around fourteen countries and six continents exchanging goods for more valuable ones, and he meets an array of good-humored people who take his deals. Taking on his Barterman persona, he trades the apple for sixteen cigarettes in Germany; a couple of trades later in India, he fixes up a motorized rickshaw and trades it for silk; in Australia, a millionaire amuses himself by offering him an art piece for the silk if Wigge feeds a wild crocodile.

Finally, he arrives in Hawaii armed with two bicycles, a surfboard, Portuguese porcelain, three solid-gold coins, a Porsche wristwatch, a record by musician Coati Mundi and accompanying contract for 25 percent of the proceeds from his next single, a voucher for a two-night stay in a mansion in L.A., and a piece of original artwork by painter Alex Stenzel - now he just has to find someone to give him a house in exchange.

On the 200-day journey around the world, Wigge makes forty-two trades and meets strange, kind, funny, friendly, eccentric, and good-natured people who help him in his quest. It’s a journey you won’t want to miss!

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Thank You for Arguing written and read by Jay Heinrichs.

Your ultimate guide to the art of winning arguments, in a brand new edition

Everyone is always trying to persuade us of something: politicians, advertising, the media, and most definitely our families. Thank You for Arguing is your master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill. With all the wisdom of the ages, from classical oratory to contemporary politics and pop-culture, Thank You For Arguing shows you how to win more than your fair share of arguments, as well as:

>How to shine at work, avoid speeding tickets, and outwit argumentative partners
>Cicero's secrets to moving an audience, Donald Trump's savvy speechmaking, the art of giving a TED talk
>Tactics like Setting Your Goals, Making Them Like You, Gaining the High Ground
>Defuse an angry accuser and benefit from your own mistakes
>The art of rhetoric, from eloquence and friendship to wit and irrefutable logic

Written by one of today's most popular online language experts, Thank You For Arguing is brimming with time-tested rhetorical tips and persuasion techniques that will change your life. And that's not hyperbole.

A collection of humorous autobiographical essays by the Academy Award-nominated actress and star of Up in the Air and Pitch Perfect.

"I'm excited to publish my first book, and because I get uncomfortable when people have high expectations, I'd like to use this opportunity to showcase my ineptitude and pettiness and the frequency with which I embarrass myself. And while many of my female inspirations who have become authors are incredibly well educated and accomplished comedy writers, I'm very, very funny on Twitter, according to BuzzFeed and my mom, so I feel like this is a great idea. Quick question: Are run-on sentences still frowned upon? Wait, is ending a sentence with a preposition still frowned upon? I mean, upon frowned? Dammit!" (Anna Kendrick)

Anna Kendrick's autobiographical collection of essays amusingly recounts memorable moments throughout her life, from her middle-class upbringing in New England to the blockbuster movies that have made her one of Hollywood's most popular actresses today. Expanding upon the witty and ironic dispatches for which she is known, Anna Kendrick's essays offer her one-of-a-kind commentary on the absurdities she's experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Brought to you by Penguin.

Discover who we are and how we got here by listening to comedian and student of history David Mitchell's UNRULY: A History of England's Kings and Queens - a thoughtful, funny exploration of the founding fathers and mothers of England, and subsequently Britain.

Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.

In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.

How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.

A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.

Read by David Mitchell.

Lee Evans is one of the best-loved comedians in the country; a Hollywood star able to sell out arenas in the blink of eye. But he was not always such a roaring success. Read unabridged by the man himself, the audiobook edition of The Life of Lee is an utterly hilarious and very moving autobiography, charting his ups and downs on the way to the top. Lee takes us on a darkly humorous journey through his childhood spent running wild on a Bristol housing estate and his unconventional school days, when he was publicly derided as 'a failure' by a sadistic teacher.

In this brilliantly entertaining and engaging tale, he also guides us through a grim teenage period of numerous dead-end jobs. When he was cleaning toilets and plucking turkeys, he could never have imagined that one day he would be playing to thousands of adoring fans at the O2 Arena. The reading also reveals how as a boy Lee got his first taste of showbiz, living out of a suitcase and accompanying his entertainer father around the smoky, rowdy, unforgiving working-men's club and theatre circuit. Desperately struggling to be accepted, this quiet young loner always saw himself as an outsider. But he finally met the love of his life and accidentally discovered the one place where he felt at home: the stage. The Life of Lee is a story that is like its subject: compelling, touching, charming and, above all, fantastically funny.

Want to know more about history and politics? Then you should probably go and listen to a proper audiobook. Fancy a laugh at some smutty jokes? Then go and read Viz. But if you fancy a combination of the two, this is the audiobook for you.

In Off the Record, bitter and twisted leftie news reporter Jonathan Pie picks 10 of the world's worst wankers and tears them apart.

Here you'll find the answers to some difficult questions. Was Blair just a Tory in disguise? Did Cameron really have relations with that pig? Just how did we end up with President Donald Trump?

It's the ultimate guide to political arseholery. With extra swearing.

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia. Whether braving the homicidal motorists of Paris, being robbed by gypsies in Florence, attempting not to order tripe and eyeballs in a German restaurant, window-shopping in the sex shops of the Reeperbahn or disputing his hotel bill in Copenhagen, Bryson takes in the sights, dissects the culture and illuminates each place and person with his hilariously caustic observations.

Analogy is the core of all thinking.

This is the simple but unorthodox premise that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Hofstadter and French psychologist Emmanuel Sander defend in their new work.

Hofstadter has been grappling with the mysteries of human thought for over 30 years. Now, with his trademark wit and special talent for making complex ideas vivid, he has partnered with Sander to put forth a highly novel perspective on cognition.

We are constantly faced with a swirling and intermingling multitude of ill-defined situations. Our brain's job is to try to make sense of this unpredictable, swarming chaos of stimuli. How does it do so? The ceaseless hail of input triggers analogies galore, helping us to pinpoint the essence of what is going on. Often this means the spontaneous evocation of words, sometimes idioms, sometimes the triggering of nameless, long-buried memories.

Why did two-year-old Camille proudly exclaim, "I undressed the banana!"? Why do people who hear a story often blurt out, "Exactly the same thing happened to me!" when it was a completely different event? What did Albert Einstein see that made him suspect that light consists of particles when a century of research had driven the final nail in the coffin of that long-dead idea?

The answer to all these questions, of course, is analogy - making - the meat and potatoes, the heart and soul, the fuel and fire, the gist and the crux, the lifeblood and the wellsprings of thought.

Analogy-making, far from happening at rare intervals, occurs at all moments, defining thinking from top to toe, from the tiniest and most fleeting thoughts to the most creative scientific insights. Like Gödel, Escher, Bach before it, Surfaces and Essences will profoundly enrich our understanding of our own minds.

What is human consciousness, and how is it possible? This question fascinates thinking people from poets and painters to physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. From Bacteria to Bach and Back is Daniel C. Dennett's brilliant answer, extending perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, exploring the deep interactions of evolution, brains, and human culture.

Part philosophical whodunit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett's legendary career at the forefront of philosophical thought. In his inimitable style - laced with wit and arresting thought experiments - Dennett shows how culture enables reflection by installing a bounty of thinking tools, or memes, in our brains. Language, itself composed of memes, turbocharged this interplay. The result, a mind that can comprehend the questions it poses, emerges from a process of cultural evolution.

An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers and other researchers, From Bacteria to Bach and Back will delight and entertain anyone who hopes to understand human creativity in all its wondrous applications.

The present framing of the cultural debate in terms of materialism versus religion has allowed materialism to go unchallenged as the only rationally viable metaphysics. This book seeks to change this. It uncovers the absurd implications of materialism and then, uniquely, presents a hard-nosed non-materialist metaphysics substantiated by skepticism, hard empirical evidence, and clear logical argumentation. It lays out a coherent framework upon which one can interpret and make sense of every natural phenomenon and physical law, as well as the modalities of human consciousness, without materialist assumptions.

According to this framework, the brain is merely the image of a self-localization process of mind, analogously to how a whirlpool is the image of a self-localization process of water. The brain doesn't generate mind in the same way that a whirlpool doesn't generate water. It is the brain that is in mind, not mind in the brain. Physical death is merely a de-clenching of awareness. The book closes with a series of educated speculations regarding the afterlife, psychic phenomena, and other related subjects.

A witty, wise, biting, and completely individual meditation on what it means to think, live, and be to the contrary.

In the book that he was born to write, provocateur and best-selling author Christopher Hitchens inspires future generations of radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, angry young (wo)men, and dissidents. Who better to speak to that person who finds him or herself in a contrarian position than Hitchens, who has made a career of disagreeing in profound and entertaining ways.

This book explores the entire range of "contrary positions" - from noble dissident to gratuitous pain in the butt. In an age of overly polite debate bending over backward to reach a happy consensus within an increasingly centrist political dialogue, Hitchens pointedly pitches himself in contrast. He bemoans the loss of the skills of dialectical thinking evident in contemporary society. He understands the importance of disagreement - to personal integrity, to informed discussion, to true progress - heck, to democracy itself.

Epigrammatic, spunky, witty, in your face, timeless and timely, this book is everything you would expect from a mentoring contrarian.

Fromm observes that the modern person is less a self-reflective being than a composite of data promoted by the mass media, and he encourages us to pursue true self-awareness beyond simple political, ideological, and religious cliches. By learning to be centered in the self, the individual is less swayed by the endless pressures and dissatisfactions of the culture of consumerism.

To Have or to Be? is one of the seminal books of the second half of the 20th century. Nothing less than a manifesto for a new social and psychological revolution to save our threatened planet, this book is a summary of the penetrating thought of Erich Fromm. His thesis is that two modes of existence struggle for the spirit of humankind: the having mode, which concentrates on material possessions, power, and aggression, and is the basis of the universal evils of greed, envy, and violence; and the being mode, which is based on love, the pleasure of sharing, and in productive activity. To Have or to Be? is a brilliant program for socioeconomic change.

Plato called it “daimon”, the Romans “genius”, the Christians “guardian angel”; today we use such terms as “heart,” “spirit,” and “soul.” While philosophers and psychologists from Plato to Jung have studied and debated the fundamental essence of our individuality, our modern culture refuses to accept that a unique soul guides each of us from birth, shaping the course of our lives. In this extraordinary best seller, James Hillman presents a brilliant vision of our selves, and an exciting approach to the mystery at the center of every life that asks, “What is it, in my heart, that I must do, be, and have? And why?”

Drawing on the biographies of figures such as Ella Fitzgerald and Mohandas K. Gandhi, Hillman argues that character is fate, that there is more to each individual than can be explained by genetics and environment. The result is a reasoned and powerful road map to understanding our true nature and discovering an eye-opening array of choices - from the way we raise our children to our career paths to our social and personal commitments to achieving excellence in our time.

Blending humour and behavioural economics, the New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delves into the truly illogical world of personal finance to help people better understand why they make bad financial decisions, and gives them the knowledge they need to make better ones.

Why does paying for things often feel like it causes physical pain?
Why does it cost you money to act as your own real estate agent?
Why are we comfortable overpaying for something now just because we’ve overpaid for it before?

In Small Change, world renowned economist Dan Ariely answers these intriguing questions and many more as he explains how our irrational behaviour often interferes with our best intentions when it comes to managing our finances. Partnering with financial comedian and writer Jeff Kreisler, Ariely takes us deep inside our minds to expose the hidden motivations that are secretly driving our choices about money.

Exploring a wide range of everyday topics – from credit card debt and household budgeting to holiday sales – Ariely and Kreisler demonstrate how our ideas about dollars and cents are often wrong and cost us more than we know. Mixing case studies and anecdotes with tangible advice and lessons, they cut through the unconscious fears and desires driving our worst financial instincts and teach us how to improve our money habits.

Fascinating, engaging, funny and essential, Small Change is a sound investment, providing us with the practical tools we need to understand and improve our financial choices, save and spend smarter and ultimately live better.

Published in the US as Dollars and Sense.

In the 21st century, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" model has gained the upper hand, and capitalism has ultimately won the ideological battle over socialism and interventionism. But even in the era of globalization and privatization, Keynesian and Marxist ideas continue to play a significant role in economic policy in the public and private sectors.

What is life? What is my place in it? What choices do these questions obligate me to make? More than a half-century after it burst upon the intellectual scene - with roots that extend to the mid-19th century - Existentialism's quest to answer these most fundamental questions of individual responsibility, morality, and personal freedom has continued to exert a profound attraction.

Now, in a series of 24 probing and thoughtful lectures, you can enrich your own understanding of this unique philosophical wave, the visionary thinkers it brought together to ponder and debate these questions, and the prominent role it still plays in contemporary thought.

"Existentialism is, in my view, the most exciting and important philosophical movement of the past century and a half," says Professor Solomon. "Fifty years after the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre gave it its identity and 150 years after the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard gave it its initial impetus, it continues to win new enthusiasts and, in keeping with its still exciting and revolutionary message, vehement critics." Plumbing both sides of the debate, these lectures examine a wide range of Existentialist thought. You'll be exposed to the religious approach of Kierkegaard; the bold fiction of Camus; the warrior rhetoric and often-shocking claims about religion and morality posed by Nietzsche; the radical and uncompromising notion of freedom championed by Sartre; and the searching analysis of human historicity and finitude offered by Martin Heidegger. And you'll encounter the reluctance - often angrily expressed - of many of Existentialism's major figures to be thought of as part of any philosophical movement or even as intellectual allies!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

• What exactly is a credit crunch?
• Why do footballers earn so much more than the rest of us?
• Which country is likely to be the world’s leading economy in 10 years’ time?
• And how does economics affect each one of us, every day?

Daily Telegraph economics editor Edmund Conway introduces and explains the central ideas of economics in a series of 50 clear and concise essays. Beginning with an exploration of the basic theories, such as Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’, and concluding with the latest research into the links between wealth and happiness, he sheds light on all the essential topics needed to understand booms and busts, bulls and bears, and the way the world really works. Don’t just have it on your desk; get it on your iPod and learn economics the smart way.

In 2000, the total GDP of Earth was $36 trillion. At the start of 2007, it was $70 trillion. Today that growth has gone suddenly and sharply into decline.

John Lanchester travels with a cast of characters - including reckless bankers, snoozing regulators, complacent politicians, predatory lenders, credit-drunk spendthrifts, and innocent bystanders, to understand deeply and genuinely what is happening and why we feel the way we do.

This book is geared to the average citizen with little or no economics background who would like the tools to think critically about economic issues. Many of today's economic issues are obscured by their inherent complexity and the often confusing and conflicting views coming from political talking heads. Sowell, a leading conservative economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, seeks to alleviate this confusion. He begins by elucidating the differences between politicians, who are often compelled by political considerations to act for the short term, and economists, who are more concerned with long-term ramifications. Sowell then focuses on the application of economics to major contemporary real-world problems - housing, medical care, discrimination, and the economic development of nations.

An Economist Politics and Current Affairs book of the year.

Once upon a time, if an official stole money, there wasn't much he could do with it. He could buy himself a new car or build himself a nice house or give it to his friends and family, but that was about it. If he kept stealing, the money would just pile up in his house until he had no rooms left to put it in, or it was eaten by mice. And then some bankers in London had a bright idea. Join the investigative journalist Oliver Bullough on a journey into Moneyland - the secret country of the lawless, stateless superrich. Learn how the institutions of Europe and the United States have become money-laundering operations, undermining the foundations of Western stability.

Discover the true cost of being open for business no matter how corrupt and dangerous the customer. This is the story of wealth and power in the 21st century. It isn't too late to change it.

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky met in war-torn 1960s Israel. Both were gifted young psychology professors: Kahneman a rootless son of Holocaust survivors who saw the world as a problem to be solved, Tversky a voluble, instinctual blur of energy.

In this breathtaking new audiobook, Michael Lewis tells the extraordinary story of a relationship that became a shared mind: one which created the field of behavioural economics, revolutionising everything from Big Data to medicine, from how we are governed to how we spend, from high finance to football.

Kahneman and Tversky, shows Michael Lewis, helped shape the world in which we now live - and may well have changed, for good, humankind's view of its own mind.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Thing 1: There is no such thing as the free market.
Thing 4: The washing machine has changed the world more than the Internet.
Thing 5: Assume the worst about people, and you get the worst.
Thing 13: Making rich people richer doesn't make the rest of us richer.

If you've wondered how we did not see the economic collapse coming, Ha-Joon Chang knows the answer: We didn't ask what they didn't tell us about capitalism. This is a lighthearted book with a serious purpose: to question the assumptions behind the dogma and sheer hype that the dominant school of neoliberal economists - the apostles of the freemarket - have spun since the Age of Reagan.

Chang, the author of the international best seller Bad Samaritans, is one of the world's most respected economists, a voice of sanity - and wit - in the tradition of John Kenneth Galbraith and Joseph Stiglitz.

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism equips listeners with an understanding of how global capitalism works - and doesn't. In his final chapter, "How to Rebuild the World", Chang offers a vision of how we can shape capitalism to humane ends, instead of becoming slaves of the market.

Ha-Joon Chang teaches in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge. His books include the best-selling Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism. His Kicking Away the Ladder received the 2003 Myrdal Prize, and, in 2005, Chang was awarded the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today - and it is time they were challenged.

An accessible and thorough review of the international financial markets. Life in the Financial Markets - How They Really Work and Why They Matter to You offers the financial services professional, and anyone interested in knowing more about the profession, an entertaining and comprehensive analysis of the financial markets and the financial services industry.

Written by Daniel Lacalle - a noted portfolio manager with EcoFin and well-known media personality - the audiobook goes beyond a simple summary and offers solid advice on the future of the global financial markets. This great resource also includes a review of effective strategies and forecasts the trends that represent potential opportunities for investors.

The audiobook reviews the recent history of the financial crisis and includes information on hot topics such as derivatives and high-frequency trading. An in-depth section on investment banking is written from the perspective of a successful practitioner and provides clarity on several complex and overly politicized elements of the banking system.

The author gives an expert's perspective on the debt markets, monetary policies, and quantitative easing and helps explain the various issues surrounding sovereign debt, the Euro crisis, and austerity versus growth policies.

Comprehensive in scope, this resource also offers an analysis of investment styles, from hedge funds to "long only" investments as well as an in-depth look at corporate communication and its impact on markets and investments.

The best-selling guide to qualitative research, updated and expanded.

Qualitative Research is the essential guide to understanding, designing, conducting, and presenting a qualitative research study. This fourth edition features new material covering mixed methods, action research, arts-based research, online data sources, and the latest in data analysis, including data analysis software packages as well as narrative and poetic analysis strategies. A new section offers multiple ways of presenting qualitative research findings. The accessible, jargon-free style makes this audiobook ideal for both novice and experienced researchers, emphasizing the role of a theoretical framework in designing a study while providing practical guidance.

Qualitative research reaches beyond the what, where, and when of quantitative analysis to investigate the why and how behind human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior, but this presents a number of significant challenges. This guide is an invaluable reference for students and practitioners alike, providing the deep understanding that this sometimes difficult area of research requires to produce accurate results.

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Why Don't Students Like School? (2nd Edition) features 25 percent updated material while still honoring the classic, beloved approaches of the original. The book draws its themes from the most frequently asked questions in his "Ask the Cognitive Scientist" column in the American Educator, such as - How can I teach students the skills they need when standardized testing just requires facts? Why do students remembers everything on TV but forget everything I say? How should I adjust my teaching for different learning styles?

The second edition will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn and reveals the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences. This edition will be a valuable resource for both veteran and novice teachers, teachers-in-training, and for the principals, administrators, and staff development professionals who work with them.

Parlez-vous Doggish? At long last, dogs will know just how smart their owners can be. By unlocking the secrets of the hidden language of dogs, psychologist Stanley Coren allows us into the doggy dialogue, or "Doggish", and makes effective communication a reality.

Drawing on substantial research in animal behavior, evolutionary biology, and years of personal experience, Coren demonstrates that the average house dog can understand language at about the level of a two-year-old human. While actual conversation of the sort Lassie seemed capable of in Hollywood mythmaking remains forever out of reach, Coren shows us that a great deal of real communication is possible beyond the giving and obeying of commands.

How to Speak Dog not only provides the sounds, words, actions, and movements with which we can effectively communicate with our dogs, but also deciphers the signs that our dogs give to us. With easy-to-follow tips on how humans can mimic the language dogs use to talk with one another, How to Speak Dog gives dog lovers the skills they need to improve their relationships with their pets.

Is the Greek alphabet all Greek to you? Is geometry your Achilles heel and does your knowledge of Homer have more to do with The Simpsons than the Sirens?

From engineering and architecture to drama and democracy, the world around us is founded on the principles and discoveries of the Ancient World, yet our understanding of it is episodic at best.

So if you've ever struggled with Socrates, wished you could formulate a logical argument, or wondered whether the Romans really dined at vomitoria, then carpe diem and listen to this audiobook - it's never too late to learn.

Despite its old-school reputation, amateur radio is on the rise, and the airwaves are busier than ever. That's no surprise: Being a ham is a lot of fun, providing an independent way to keep in touch with friends, family, and new acquaintances around the world. Hams are also good in a crisis, keeping communications alive and crackling during extreme weather events and loss of communications.

If one or more of these benefits is of interest to you, then good news: the new edition of Ham Radio for Dummies covers them all! In his signature friendly style, longtime ham Ward Silver (call sign NØAX) - contributing editor with the American Radio Relay League - patches you in on everything from getting the right equipment and building your station to the intricacies of Morse code and Ohm's law. In addition, he coaches you on how to prepare for the FCC-mandated licensing exam and tunes you up for ultimate glory in the ham radio hall of fame as a Radiosport competitor! With this book, you'll learn to:

• Set up and organize your station
• Communicate with people around the world
• Prep for and pass the FCC exam
• Tune into the latest tech, such as digital mode operating

How did a simple design error cause one of the great disasters of the 1980s - the collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel? What made the graceful and innovative Tacoma Narrows Bridge twist apart in a mild wind in 1940?

How did an oversized waterlily inspire the magnificent Crystal Palace, the crowning achievement of Victorian architecture and engineering? These are some of the failures and successes that Henry Petroski, author of the acclaimed The Pencil, examines in this engaging, wonderfully literate book.

More than a series of fascinating case studies, To Engineer Is Human is a work that looks at our deepest notions of progress and perfection, tracing the fine connection between the quantifiable realm of science and the chaotic realities of everyday life.

This gripping memoir by the world's foremost marine geologist is an enthralling blend of maritime history, popular science, and Clive Cussler-style adventure.

David L. Mearns has discovered some of the world's most fascinating and elusive shipwrecks. From the mighty battleship HMS Hood, sunk in a pyrrhic duel with the Bismarck, to solving the mystery of HMAS Sydney, to the crumbling wooden skeletons of Vasco da Gama's 16th-century fleet, Mearns has searched for and found dozens of sunken vessels in every ocean of the world.

The Shipwreck Hunter chronicles his most intriguing finds. It describes the extraordinary techniques used, the detailed research, and mid-ocean stamina and courage required to find a wreck thousands of feet beneath the sea, as well as the moving human stories that lie behind each of these oceanic tragedies. Combining the adventuring derring-do of Indiana Jones with the precision of a scientist, The Shipwreck Hunter opens an illuminating porthole into the shadowy depths of the ocean.

Programmers who endure and succeed amidst swirling uncertainty and nonstop pressure share a common attribute: They care deeply about the practice of creating software. They treat it as a craft. They are professionals.

In The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers, legendary software expert Robert C. Martin introduces the disciplines, techniques, tools, and practices of true software craftsmanship. This book is packed with practical advice - about everything from estimating and coding to refactoring and testing. It covers much more than technique: It is about attitude. Martin shows how to approach software development with honor, self-respect, and pride; work well and work clean; communicate and estimate faithfully; face difficult decisions with clarity and honesty; and understand that deep knowledge comes with a responsibility to act.

Listeners will learn:

• What it means to behave as a true software craftsman
• How to deal with conflict, tight schedules, and unreasonable managers
• How to get into the flow of coding, and get past writer’s block
• How to handle unrelenting pressure and avoid burnout
• How to combine enduring attitudes with new development paradigms
• How to manage your time, and avoid blind alleys, marshes, bogs, and swamps
• How to foster environments where programmers and teams can thrive
• When to say “no” - and how to say it
• - When to say “yes” - and what yes really means

Great software is something to marvel at: powerful, elegant, functional, a pleasure to work with as both a developer and as a user. Great software isn’t written by machines. It is written by professionals with an unshakable commitment to craftsmanship. The Clean Coder will help you become one of them - and earn the pride and fulfillment that they alone possess.

In the first-ever history of the world's female buccaneers, Pirate Women: the Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas tells the story of women, both real and legendary, who through the ages sailed alongside - and sometimes in command of - their male counterparts. These women came from all walks of life but had one thing in common: a desire for freedom. History has largely ignored these female swashbucklers - until now. Here are their stories, from ancient Norse princess Alfhild and warrior Rusla to Sayyida al-Hurra of the Barbary corsairs; from Grace O'Malley, who terrorized shipping operations around the British Isles during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, to Cheng I Sao, who commanded a fleet of 400 ships off China in the early 19th century. Author Laura Sook Duncombe also looks beyond the stories to the storytellers and mythmakers. What biases and agendas motivated them? What did they leave out? Pirate Women explores why and how these stories are told and passed down and how history changes depending on who is recording it. It's the most comprehensive overview of women pirates in one volume and chock-full of swashbuckling adventures that pull these unique women from the shadows into the spotlight that they deserve.

Every industry revolves around Key People of Influence. Their names come up in conversation. They attract opportunities. They earn more money. Many people think it takes decades of hard work, academic qualifications and a generous measure of good luck to become a Key Person of Influence.

This audiobook shows you that there is a five-step strategy for fast-tracking your way to the inner circle of the industry you love. Your ability to succeed depends on your ability to influence. Start now by listening to this audiobook.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Company of One by Paul Jarvis, read by Sam Woolf.

What if the real key to a richer and more fulfilling career was not to create and scale up a new business, but rather, to be able to work for yourself, determine your own hours and become a (highly profitable) and sustainable company of one? Suppose the better-and smarter-solution is simply to remain small?

Company of One is a refreshing new approach centered on staying small and avoiding growth, for any size of business. Not as a freelancer who only gets paid on a per piece basis, and not as an entrepreneurial start-up that wants to scale up as soon as possible, but as a small business that is deliberately committed to staying that way. By staying small, you can have freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and avoid the headaches that result from dealing with employees, long meetings, or worrying about expansion. Company of One introduces this unique business strategy and explains how to make it work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis.

Paul Jarvis left the corporate world when he realized that working in a high-pressure, high-profile world was not his idea of success. Instead, he now works for himself out of his home, and lives a much more rewarding and productive life. He no longer has to contend with an environment that constantly demands more productivity, more output and more growth.

In Company of One, Jarvis explains how you can do the same, including planning to set up, determining desired revenues and keeping clients happy, and of course, doing all this on your own.

Based on the author’s experience in the world of inventing and promotion, Hardcore Inventing offers the kind of advice you can only learn from experience: how to developing an idea into an invention, how to build a prototype for show, how to safeguard intellectual property, how to market both strategically and in “guerilla" mode, how find investors, and much more. And all of that is based on his IP 3 Tacitical Method which breaks everything down to Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit.

If this were 1923, this book would have been called "Why Radio Is Going to Change the Game" . . .

If it were 1995, it would be "Why Amazon Is Going to Take Over the Retailing World" . . .

The Thank You Economy is about something big, something greater than any single revolutionary platform. It isn't some abstract concept or wacky business strategy—it's real, and every one of us is doing business in it every day, whether we choose to recognize it or not. It's the way we communicate, the way we buy and sell, the way businesses and consumers interact online and offline. The Internet, where the Thank You Economy was born, has given consumers back their voice, and the tremendous power of their opinions via social media means that companies and brands have to compete on a whole different level than they used to.

Gone are the days when a blizzard of marketing dollars could be used to overwhelm the airwaves, shut out the competition, and grab customer awareness. Now customers' demands for authenticity, originality, creativity, honesty, and good intent have made it necessary for companies and brands to revert to a level of customer service rarely seen since our great-grandparents' day, when business owners often knew their customers personally, and gave them individual attention.

Here renowned entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk reveals how companies big and small can scale that kind of personal, one-on-one attention to their entire customer base, no matter how large, using the same social media platforms that carry consumer word of mouth.

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable, audiobook edition of #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso, read by Sarah Jes Austell. The first thing Sophia Amoruso sold online wasn't fashion. It was a stolen book. At age 17 she was a dumpster-diving, shoplifting anarchist. By 29 she was the founder and CEO of Nasty Gal, a $100 million-plus fashion empire.

Filled with brazen wake-up calls ("You are not a special snowflake"), frank observations ("Failure is your invention"), and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal's meteoric rise, #Girlboss is more than just Amoruso's story; it is a book for anyone seeking a unique path to success - even when that path is winding as all hell and lined with naysayers.

Don't fight for customers; let them fight over you!

Have you ever queued for a restaurant? Preordered something months in advance? Fought for tickets that sell out in a day? Had a hairdresser with a six-month waiting list? There are people who don't chase clients; clients chase them.

In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book months in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand? And how can you get a slice of that action?

In Oversubscribed, entrepreneur and best-selling author Daniel Priestley explains why and, most importantly, how. This book is a recipe for ensuring demand outstrips supply for your product or service, and you have scores of customers lining up to give you money.

Oversubscribed shows leaders, marketers, and entrepreneurs how they can get customers queuing up to use their services and products while competitors are forced to fight for business; it explains how to become oversubscribed, even in a crowded marketplace; it is full of practical tips alongside inspiring examples to alter our mind-sets and get us bursting with ideas.

It is written by a successful entrepreneur who's used these ideas to excel in the ventures he has launched.

The Fearless Woman's Guide to Starting a Business is a book for freedom-seeking female entrepreneurs and solopreneurs who want to know how to connect with their true passions, skills, and desires - and want to get honest with themselves about their reasons for wanting their own business, so they can find true and personal success.

Learn what type of new business you want to lead. Through a combination of data, neuroscience, true stories, humor, and the type of frankness that you would expect from your best girlfriend, this book will help you determine the real reasons and motivations behind starting a business - and then dare you to dream big about what being the head of a woman-owned business can do for you.

Find real tools for real women in business. When creating a start-up, it can be difficult to stay the course - to choose yourself and stay motivated on the hardest days. In The Fearless Woman's Guide to Starting a Business, learn about: the main reasons business owners report why they closed their businesses - and how you can avoid their failure; specific techniques and insights needed for building a new business and brand that is authentic to who you are; how to turn your side hustle or hobby into a money-making endeavor; and strategies for navigating the sometimes-hostile world businesswomen live and work in every day.

In every industry, there are companies that take off. They effortlessly hire talented people, attract loyal customers, create cool products, and make lots of money. These companies seem to stand out and scale up quickly with support from investors, partners, and the media.

Sadly, most companies don't perform this way.

Most entrepreneurs aren't building anything of value.

They work hard, make sacrifices, struggle, dream, plan, and strive, but in the end, it doesn't pay off.

24 Assets provides a method for building a business that becomes a valuable asset. It focuses you on transforming your organization into something scalable, digital, fun, and capable of making an impact.

It's time to stand out, scale up, and build a business that has a life of its own.

Start now by listening to this book.

The New York Times bestselling author draws from his popular show #AskGaryVee to offer surprising, often outrageous, and imminently useful and honest answers to everything you’ve ever wanted to know—and more—about navigating the new world.

Gary Vaynerchuk—the inspiring and unconventional entrepreneur who introduced us to the concept of crush it—knows how to get things done, have fun, and be massively successful. A marketing and business genius, Gary had the foresight to go beyond traditional methods and use social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to reach an untapped audience that continues to grow.

#AskGaryVee showcases the most useful and interesting questions Gary has addressed on his popular show. Distilling and expanding on the podcast’s most urgent and evergreen themes, Gary presents practical, timely, and timeless advice on marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and everything else you’ve been afraid to ask but are dying to know. Gary gives you the insights and information you need on everything from effectively using Twitter to launching a small business, hiring superstars to creating a personal brand, launching products effectively to staying healthy—and even buying wine.

Whether you're planning to start your own company, working in digital media, or have landed your first job in a traditional company, #AskGaryVee is your essential guide to making things happen in a big way.

Narrators include: Gary Vaynerchuk, Jack Welch, Dave Ramsey, Seth Godin, Kevin Jonas, Casey Neistat, Draymond Green, Alex De Simone, Adam Braun, Adam Grant, AJ Vaynerchuk, Al Harrington, Alan Belcher, Alexis O'Hanian, Andrew Greif, Andy Dunn, Andy Krainak, Benjamin Lazarus, Beth Comstock, Black Coffee, Brittany Hoffman, Charlie Ebersol, Chase Jarvis, Chef Lizette, Cristie Kerr, Dana Anderson, Dawn Swick-Renshaw, Dennis Crowley, Dustin Keller, Erik Dellenback, Greg Pesci, India Kieser, Jack Haber, Jason Calacanis, Jason Farris, Jason Fried, John Legend, Justin Brooke, Kevin Asp, Leo LaPorte, Leslie Blodgett, Mike Vacanti, Peter Brown, Phil Rosenthal, Phillip Gimmi, Ross Walker, Scott Wyden, Sean Burrows, Shonduras, Soren Azorian, Staphon Lawrence, Steph Ruhle, Steve Sadove, Steve Unwin, Dr. Thiago Moraes, Tim Evans, Tom Ferry, Troy Carter, Warren Weeks, Zak Moy, Matt DeMayo, and Nathan Scherotter.

The world is embarking on a new age: the age of the entrepreneur, the agile small business owner, the flexible innovator. The days of the industrial age are over. It’s time to break free from the industrial revolution mind-set, quit working so hard, follow your dream and make a fortune along the way. The slow dinosaurs of the industrial age are being outpaced by fast-moving start-ups, ambitious small businesses, and technological innovators.

Entrepreneur Revolution is a master-class in gaining an entrepreneurial mind-set, showing you how to change the way you think, the way you network, and the way you make a living. Successful entrepreneur Daniel Priestley will show you how to embrace the Entrepreneur Revolution and thrive in the new age.

Author Daniel Priestley is a successful entrepreneur who has built and sold businesses in Australia, Singapore, and the UK. He's the founder of Entrevo, which runs a 9-month growth accelerator program for small enterprises. Entrevo has offices in London, Melbourne, Singapore, and Tampa and works with over 600 entrepreneurs each year to develop their business with the support of high-net-worth entrepreneurs and other celebrated business leaders.

You don’t need a marketing degree or intensive training to build an attention-grabbing brand; you just need this audiobook – and 30 days.

Simon Middleton shows you how to create, manage and communicate your brand profoundly and effectively, in just 30 days, by following 30 clear exercises. How you work through the book is up to you, the result will be the same: an authentic, compelling and highly distinctive brand that will attract and engage customers and fans. You will learn how to:

Establish your brand values and positioning.

Get the all-important name right.

Bring your brand to life.

Turn your customers into your advocates.

Manage your PR and use your marketing budget wisely.

Inspire your staff to live the brand too.

Deal with problems when something goes wrong

Branding is not about funky logos and expensive advertising. Your brand is what your company means to the world. Getting that meaning right is the most important thing you can do in business.

Simon Middleton is the author of Brand New You, Build A Brand In 30 Days, and What You Need To Know About Marketing. He is one of the UK's most in-demand independent brand strategy advisors, consulting and speaking all over the UK and overseas. Simon has worked on brand, creative and training projects with a wide range of major corporates as well as with charities and destinations. He is a regular commentator on brand issues in the press, on TV and radio, and has appeared on BBC Newsnight, Sky News, Five News, CNN, BBC Breakfast, Bloomberg, The Politics Show.

Are you ready to turn your ideas into reality and build a wildly successful business? There has never been a better time to say yes! With a computer and an Internet connection, you can get your ideas, messages, and business out there like never before and create so much success. In this book Carrie Green shows you how. Carrie started her first online business at the age of 20. She knows what it's like to be an ambitious and creative woman with big dreams and huge determination...but she also knows the challenges of starting and running a business, including the fears, confusion, and blocks that entrepreneurs face. Based on her personal, tried-and-tested experience, she offers valuable guidance and powerful exercises to help you:

• Get clear on your business vision
• Move past the fears and doubts that can get in the way
• Understand your audience, so you can truly connect with them
• Create your brand and build a tribe of raving fans, subscribers, and customers
• Manage your time, maintain focus, and keep going in the right direction
• Condition yourself for success
• And so much more!

If you're a creative and ambitious female entrepreneur or are contemplating the entrepreneurial path, this book will provide the honest, realistic, and practical tools you need to follow your heart and bring your vision to life.

From the founders of the trailblazing software company 37signals, here is a different kind of business book one that explores a new reality. Today, anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few bucks or even free. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is now simple.That means anyone can start a business. And you can do it without working miserable 80-hour weeks or depleting your life savings. You can start it on the side while your day job provides all the cash flow you need. Forget about business plans, meetings, office space - you don't need them.

With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.

READ BY THE AUTHOR

Fraser Doherty’s 48-Hour Start-Up is your handy and essential cheat sheet to starting your own business giving the key steps for developing an idea and getting it to market quickly.

Almost everyone dreams of starting their own business but very few do. But what if it only had to be a decision of a weekend and it didn’t cost a fortune?

In 48-Hour Start-Up, Fraser Doherty uses his experience building a multi-million-dollar company to attempt an experiment; starting with a blank piece of paper, he sets out to start a profitable new business over a weekend, without relying on any technical ability whatsoever. He succeeds and you can, too.

By following his journey, in which Fraser shares all of his lessons and mistakes, he will explain all of the shortcuts and online tools that make it possible to:

• Come up with a business idea without the guesswork
• Create a kick-ass brand, website and on-line marketing campaign
• Promote your product

48-Hour Start-Up pioneers the idea of a microbusiness, a creative outlet, income stream and business you can run in your spare time at the weekends without having to quit the day job. This book is perfect for

• Young entrepreneurs
• Students learning about start-ups
• Established entrepreneurs looking for shortcuts
• Teams within corporates who want to create a more innovative and competitive environment

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you're in a Dip: a temporary setback that you will overcome if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

According to best-selling author Seth Godin, what really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt: until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you'll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip - they get to the moment of truth and then give up - or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.

Whether you're a graphic designer, a sales rep, an athlete, or an aspiring CEO, this fun little book will help you figure out if you're in a Dip that's worthy of your time, effort, and talents. If you are, The Dip will inspire you to hang tough. If not, it will help you find the courage to quit so you can be number one at something else.

Seth Godin doesn't claim to have all the answers. But he will teach you how to ask the right questions.

When you tell the right stories, you can transform a brand into an icon, turn your customers into tireless advocates, and give your business - or yourself - an unbeatable advantage.

With this book you'll learn to tell the eight essential stories guaranteed to engage, influence, and inspire your customers, colleagues and clients. Recognise the amazing stories waiting to be uncovered; stories that will boost your business and build your profile. Master the powerful art of storytelling to connect with people authentically, make the sale and seal the deal, then broadcast your stories using both traditional platforms and the most powerful social media tools. Written for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, game-changers or anyone who wants to build an epic business, Power Stories is your essential guide to harnessing the awesome power of a well-told story.

Valerie Khoo is a journalist, keynote speaker, and one of Australia's most popular commentators on small business. Combining her passion for both business and storytelling, Valerie founded the Sydney Writers' Centre, which is known for its world-class training for corporations and individuals. She is also an investor and a mentor to start-ups.

Operation Protective Edge, launched in early July 2014, was the third major Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in six years. It was also the most deadly. By the conclusion of hostilities some seven weeks later, 2,200 of Gaza's population had been killed, and more than 10,000 injured.

In this book, journalist Mohammed Omer, a resident of Gaza who lived through the terror of those days with his wife and then three-month-old son, provides a first-hand account of life on-the-ground during Israel's assault. The images he records in this extraordinary chronicle are a literary equivalent of Goya's Disasters of War: children's corpses stuffed into vegetable refrigerators, pointlessly because the electricity is off; a family rushing out of their home after a phone call from the Israeli military informs them that the building will be obliterated by an F-16 missile in three minutes; donkeys machine-gunned by Israeli soldiers under instructions to shoot anything that moves; graveyards targeted with shells so that mourners can no longer tell where their relatives are buried; fishing boats ablaze in the harbor.

Throughout this carnage, Omer maintains the cool detachment of the professional journalist, determined to create a precise record of what is occurring in front of him. But between his lines the outrage boils, and we are left to wonder how a society such as Israel, widely-praised in the West as democratic and civilized, can visit such monstrosities on a trapped and helpless population.

Although eugenics is now widely discredited, some groups and individuals claim a new scientific basis for old racist assumptions. Pondering the continuing influence of racist research and thought, despite all evidence to the contrary, Robert Wald Sussman explains why - when it comes to race - too many people still mistake bigotry for science.

A toxic ideology rules the world of extreme competition and individualism. It misrepresents human nature, destroying hope and common purpose. Only a positive vision can replace it, a new story that reengages people in politics and lights a path to a better world.

George Monbiot shows how new findings in psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology cast human nature in a radically different light: as the supreme altruists and cooperators. He shows how we can build on these findings to create a new politics: a 'politics of belonging'.

Both democracy and economic life can be radically reorganized from the bottom up, enabling us to take back control and overthrow the forces that have thwarted our ambitions for a better society.

Urgent and passionate, Out of the Wreckage provides the hope and clarity required to change the world.

How two centuries of Indigenous resistance created the movement proclaiming "Water is life".

In 2016, a small protest encampment at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, initially established to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, grew to be the largest Indigenous protest movement in the 21st century. Water Protectors knew this battle for native sovereignty had already been fought many times before, and that, even after the encampment was gone, their anti-colonial struggle would continue. In Our History Is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance that led to the #NoDAPL movement. Our History Is the Future is at once a work of history, a manifesto, and an intergenerational story of resistance.

An interviewer once asked James Baldwin what he would say if a man from Mars suddenly appeared and asked, "What are you?" "At the time I left the country in 1948," he replied, "I would have answered your man from Mars by saying 'I am a writer'...Now I think I'd say to him: 'I am a writer with a lot of work to do and wondering if I can do it!'"

A portrait of the singular author at 40, Gloria Steinem's James Baldwin, an Original finds Baldwin between rehearsals for his Broadway play, Blues for Mister Charlie, a tragedy loosely based on the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi, as he attempts to get his vision from page to stage uncompromised - and wrestles with his growing fame as a writer and activist. James Baldwin, an Original was originally published in Vogue, July 1964.

Cover design by Adil Dara.

The fight for democracy and social justice is a collective, ongoing project. And those fighting for justice today cannot afford to forget the remarkable accomplishments of Black women who were activists in the Civil Rights movement. Their lives and accomplishments are a testament to the power of activism and to the enduring and evolving struggle for equality.

In her Audible Original, Black Women of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Wendi Manuel-Scott illuminates the lives of six extraordinary Black women—most of whom, regrettably, remain unknown to many.

For example, you’ll meet Gloria Richardson, who concentrated her efforts against segregation in her hometown of Cambridge, Maryland, and created the first significant grassroots movement in the American Civil Rights struggle led by a woman. Or take Mary Church Terrell, whose politically active career spanned nine decades and whose life and work are a shining example of Black women’s leadership in the early 20th century. Equal parts educational and inspirational, these six lectures are a stirring lesson in the importance of recovering lost stories and amplifying marginalized voices.

Low-level dishonesty is rife everywhere, in the form of exaggeration, selective use of facts, economy with the truth, careful drafting - from Trump and the Brexit debate to companies that tell us 'your call is important to us'. How did we get to a place where bullshit is not just rife but apparently so effective that it's become the communications strategy of our times?

This brilliantly insightful book steps inside the panoply of deception employed in all walks of life and assesses how it has come to this. It sets out the surprising logic which explains why bullshit is both pervasive and persistent. Why are company annual reports often nonsense? Why should you not trust estate agents? And, above all, why has political campaigning become the art of stretching the truth?

Drawing on behavioural science, economics, psychology and of course his knowledge of the media, Evan ends by providing listeners with a tool kit to handle the kinds of deceptions we encounter every day and charts a route through the muddy waters of the post-truth age.

Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather's nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family's legal status in the country has always hung by a thread - for a time, they were "illegal." Family, she's told, must be put first.

The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family's ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself.

Contains mature themes.

This groundbreaking book includes four books that will teach you from start to finish, everything you need to know about Narcissistic Abuse, Gaslighting, Codependency and Complex PTSD, as well as how to recover from each one of them.

Book 1: Narcissistic Abuse Recovery

Learn about different types of narcissists, their personalities, and how they behave so you can spot them. Discover what manipulation tactics narcissists and other toxic people practice to keep you close and how to break free. Learn how to transform your mindset so you have strength to remove yourself from the toxic And much, much more....

Book 2: Gaslighting

Understand what gaslighting, love bombing and other tactics of abuse the narcissist uses. Learn how to break free and recover from narcissistic abuse. Learn real-world scenarios and phrases between the narcissist and the victims in romantic relationships, friendships, families, the workplace, and more. And much, much more....

Book 3: Codependency Recovery Workbook

Investigate the 5 primary causes of codependency that may be the root of your symptoms and powerful strategies to deal with them. Understand “The Giver” and “The Taker” roles and how they contribute to the unhealthy dynamic of the relationship. Learn common scenarios of codependent relationships and dialogues to help you understand what it looks like in real life. Take the Codependency Quiz so you can look at your relationship and find codependent tendencies, change your behaviors, and build better relationships. And much, much more….

Book 4: Complex PTSD Workbook

Learn what Complex PTSD is, where it comes from, and how it differs from PTSD. Discover examples and exercises designed to teach you effective strategies to uncover and overcome past traumatic events. Learn tools to help you rewire your mind so you can overcome the fear and pain that accompany distressing situations. And much, much more….

Take action and start your recovery today!

The problem of agriculture is as old as civilization. Throughout history, great societies that abused their land withered into poverty or disappeared entirely. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population. But there is reason for hope. David R. Montgomery introduces us to farmers around the world at the heart of a brewing soil health revolution that could bring humanity's ailing soil back to life remarkably fast.

Growing a Revolution draws on visits to farms in the industrialized world and developing world to show that a new combination of farming practices can deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions to problems farmers face today. Montgomery explores why practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture help restore soil health and fertility. In addition, he discusses how these practices translate into farms that use less water, generate less pollution, and lower carbon emissions. Combining ancient wisdom with modern science, Growing a Revolution lays out a solid case for an inspiring vision where agriculture becomes the solution to environmental problems.

Academic Ableism brings together disability studies and institutional critique to recognize the ways that disability is composed in and by higher education and rewrites the spaces, times, and economies of disability in higher education to place disability front and center. For too long, argues Jay Timothy Dolmage, disability has been constructed as the antithesis of higher education, often positioned as a distraction, a drain, a problem to be solved. The ethic of higher education encourages students and teachers alike to accentuate ability, valorize perfection, and stigmatize anything that hints at intellectual, mental, or physical weakness, even as we gesture toward the value of diversity and innovation. Examining everything from campus accommodation processes, to architecture, to popular films about college life, Dolmage argues that disability is central to higher education and that building more inclusive schools allows better education for all.

On a hot summer’s day in a poor suburb of Tokyo we meet three women: 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s teenage daughter, Midoriko. Makiko, an ageing hostess despairing the loss of her looks, has travelled to Tokyo in search of breast-enhancement surgery. She's accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently stopped speaking, finding herself unable to deal with her own changing body and her mother’s self-obsession. Her silence dominates Natsu’s rundown apartment, providing a catalyst for each woman to grapple with their own anxieties and their relationships with one another.

Ten years later, we meet Natsu again. She is now a writer and finds herself on a journey back to her native city, returning to memories of that summer and her family’s past as she faces her own uncertain future.

In Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami paints a radical and intimate portrait of contemporary working-class womanhood in Japan, recounting the heartbreaking journeys of three women in a society where the odds are stacked against them. This is an unforgettable full-length English-language debut from a major new international talent.

Winner of the Audiobook of the Year – Specsavers National Book Awards

What happens when a duvet day turns into a duvet year?

The day her twins leave home, Eva climbs into bed and stays there. For 17 years she's wanted to yell at the world, 'Stop! I want to get off'. Finally, this is her chance. Her husband Brian, an astronomer having an unsatisfactory affair, is upset. Who will cook his dinner? Eva, he complains, is attention seeking. But word of Eva's defiance spreads. Legions of fans, believing she is protesting, gather in the street. While Alexander the white van man brings tea, toast and sympathy. And from this odd but comforting place Eva begins to see both herself and the world very, very differently....

This is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted - and still wants - to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself.

God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs - and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.

For her elegant, literate works of science fiction, Octavia E. Butler has been compared to Toni Morrison and Ursula K. LeGuin. Narrator Lynne Thigpen's melodious voice will hold you spellbound throughout this compelling parable of modern society.

The first science-fiction written by a Black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of African-American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity.

Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning White boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life.

During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she's been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother.

Author Octavia E. Butler skilfully juxtaposes the serious issues of slavery, human rights, and racial prejudice with an exciting science-fiction, romance, and historical adventure. Kim Staunton's narrative talent magically transforms the listener's earphones into an audio time machine.

From its origins in the 1750s, the White-led American abolitionist movement adhered to principles of "moral suasion" and nonviolent resistance as both religious tenet and political strategy. But by the 1850s, the population of enslaved Americans had increased exponentially, and such legislative efforts as the Fugitive Slave Act and the Supreme Court's 1857 ruling in the Dred Scott case effectively voided any rights Black Americans held as enslaved or free people. As conditions deteriorated for African Americans, Black abolitionist leaders embraced violence as the only means of shocking Northerners out of their apathy and instigating an antislavery war.

Through rousing public speeches, the bourgeoning Black press, and the formation of militia groups, Black abolitionist leaders mobilized their communities, compelled national action, and drew international attention. Drawing on the precedent and pathos of the American and Haitian Revolutions, African American abolitionists used violence as a political language and a means of provoking social change. Through tactical violence, argues Carter Jackson, Black abolitionist leaders accomplished what White nonviolent abolitionists could not: creating the conditions that necessitated the Civil War.

Brought to you by Penguin.

A brilliant new theory of how society works from one of the most iconoclastic thinkers of our time

What leads to political turbulence and social breakdown? How do elites maintain their dominant position? And why do ruling classes sometimes suddenly lose their grip on power?

For decades, complexity scientist Peter Turchin has been studying world history like no one else. Assembling vast databases mined from 10,000 years of human activity, and then developing new models, he has transformed the way we learn from the past. End Times is the result: a ground-breaking account of how society works.

The lessons, he argues, are clear. When the balance of power between the ruling class and the majority tips too far in favour of elites, income inequality surges. The rich get richer, the poor further impoverished. As more people try to join the elite, frustration with the establishment brims over, often with disastrous consequences. Elite overproduction led to state breakdown in imperial China, in medieval France, in the American Civil War and it is happening now.

But while we are far along the path toward violent political rupture, Turchin's models also light the way to a brighter future. Drawing insight from those occasions in history where the balance was restored, End Times also points towards a different future: an escape from the patterns of the past.

New from the number-one Sunday Times best-selling author of Prisoners of Geography.

We feel more divided than ever. This riveting analysis tells you why. Walls are going up. Nationalism and identity politics are on the rise once more. Thousands of miles of fences and barriers have been erected in the past 10 years, and they are redefining our political landscape.

There are many reasons why we erect walls, because we are divided in many ways: wealth, race, religion, politics. In Europe the ruptures of the past decade threaten not only European unity but, in some countries, liberal democracy itself. In China, the Party's need to contain the divisions wrought by capitalism will define the nation's future. In the USA the rationale for the Mexican border wall taps in to the fear that the USA will no longer be a white majority country in the course of this century.

Understanding what has divided us, past and present, is essential to understanding much of what's going on in the world today. Covering China; the USA; Israel and Palestine; the Middle East; the Indian Subcontinent; Africa; and Europe and the UK, best-selling author Tim Marshall presents a gripping and unflinching analysis of the fault lines that will shape our world for years to come.

This book describes the turbulent lives, loves, and perilous missions of the greatest Mossad lohamot, the female warriors of the Israeli Secret Service. The stunning feats of these strong, bold women prove that they are equal to men, and often even better. Beside the nation's enemies, they had to fight a painful solitude, an awkward attitude of their male colleagues, and often give up their dream of marriage and children. And still, they brilliantly carried out their missions.

The breathtaking chapters of the book reveal the character and exploits of those Amazons, from Yolande, in the court of Egypt's King Farouk to Dina, on the threshold of Iran's Nuclear Archive; from Shula, sentenced to death by hanging, to Sigal, who recruited the best Muslim agents; from Marcelle, who jumped from the Egyptian torture chamber's window, to Yael and Isabel and Danielle, who did not hesitate to venture into the lion's mouth. Linda miraculously survived the Holocaust, Aliza broke the glass ceiling, the Trio—three young women—saved Israel from a terrible danger. And many other brave Amazons accomplished astonishing missions.

For many years, the activities of the Mossad lohamot were highly classified by the authorities. Today, the veil of secrecy has been lifted, and the Amazons' incredible exploits have been cleared for publication. At last.

For more than a century, activists in the United States have tried to reform the police. From community policing initiatives to increasing diversity, none of it has stopped the police from killing about three people a day. Millions of people continue to protest police violence because these “solutions” do not match the problem: The police cannot be reformed.

In Becoming Abolitionists, Purnell draws from her experiences as a lawyer, writer, and organizer initially skeptical about police abolition. She saw too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in her hometown of St. Louis, let alone the nation. But the police were a placebo. Calling them felt like something, and something feels like everything when the other option seems like nothing.

Purnell details how multiracial social movements rooted in rebellion, risk-taking, and revolutionary love pushed her and a generation of activists toward abolition. The book travels across geography and time and offers lessons that activists have learned from Ferguson, Missouri, to South Africa, from Reconstruction to contemporary protests against police shootings.

Here, Purnell argues that police cannot be reformed and invites listeners to envision new systems that work to address the root causes of violence. Becoming Abolitionists shows that abolition is not solely about getting rid of police, but a commitment to create and support different answers to the problem of harm in society and, most excitingly, an opportunity to reduce and eliminate harm in the first place.

This enthralling story of the making of an American is also a timely meditation on being Muslim in America today.

Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection on what it is to be a Muslim in America today. It is also the luminous story of many journeys: from Pakistan to the United States in an arranged marriage that becomes a love match lasting 40 years; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam, and from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; from student to bride and mother; and from an immigrant intending to stay two years to an American citizen, business executive, grandmother, and tireless advocate for interfaith understanding.

Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of her arranged marriage, the author undercuts stereotypes and offers the refreshing view of an American life through Muslim eyes. In chapters leavened with humor, hope, and insight, she recounts an immigrant's daily struggles balancing assimilation with preserving heritage, overcoming religious barriers from within and distortions of Islam from without, and confronting issues of raising her children as Muslims - while they lobby for a Christmas tree!

Sabeeha Rehman was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center at Ground Zero, when the backlash began. She discusses what that experience revealed about American society.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

In our era of mass incarceration, gun violence, and Black Lives Matters, a handbook showing how racial justice and restorative justice can transform the African American experience in America.

This timely work will inform scholars and practitioners on the subjects of pervasive racial inequity and the healing offered by restorative justice practices. Addressing the intersectionality of race and the US criminal justice system, social activist Fania E. Davis explores how restorative justice has the capacity to disrupt patterns of mass incarceration through effective, equitable, and transformative approaches.

Davis highlights real restorative justice initiatives that function from a racial justice perspective; these programs are utilized in schools, justice systems, and communities, intentionally seeking to ameliorate racial disparities and systemic inequities.

She looks at initiatives that strive to address the historical harms against African Americans throughout the nation. This newest addition to the Justice and Peacebuilding series is a much needed and long overdue examination of the issue of race in America as well as a beacon of hope as we learn to work together to repair damage, change perspectives, and strive to do better.

In this quintessential work of queer theory, Jack Halberstam takes aim at the protected status of male masculinity and shows that female masculinity has offered a distinct alternative to it for well over two centuries. Demonstrating how female masculinity is not some bad imitation of virility, but a lively and dramatic staging of hybrid and minority genders, Halberstam catalogs the diversity of gender expressions among masculine women from 19th-century pre-lesbian practices to contemporary drag-king performances.

Through detailed textual readings as well as empirical research, Halberstam uncovers a hidden history of female masculinities while arguing for a more nuanced understanding of gender categories that would incorporate rather than pathologize them. He rereads Anne Lister's diaries and Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness as foundational assertions of female masculine identity; considers the enigma of the stone butch and the politics surrounding butch/femme roles within lesbian communities; and explores issues of transsexuality among “transgender dykes”—lesbians who pass as men—and female-to-male transsexuals who may find the label of “lesbian” a temporary refuge. Halberstam also tackles such topics as women and boxing, butches in Hollywood and independent cinema, and the phenomenon of male impersonators.

Featuring a new preface by the author, this 20th anniversary edition of Female Masculinity remains as insightful, timely, and necessary as ever.

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A thrilling history of MI9 - the WWII organization that engineered the escape of Allied forces from behind enemy lines

When Allied fighters were trapped behind enemy lines, one branch of military intelligence helped them escape: MI9. The organization set up clandestine routes that zigzagged across Nazi-occupied Europe, enabling soldiers and airmen to make their way home. Secret agents and resistance fighters risked their lives and those of their families to hide the men.

Drawing on declassified files and eye-witness testimonies from across Europe and the United States, Helen Fry provides a significant reassessment of MI9’s wartime role. Central to its success were figures such as Airey Neave, Jimmy Langley, Sam Derry, and Mary Lindell, who was one of only a few women parachuted into enemy territory for MI9. This astonishing account combines escape and evasion tales with the previously untold stories behind the establishment of MI9 - and reveals how the organization saved thousands of lives.

Healing from racism is a journey that often involves reliving trauma and experiencing feelings of shame, guilt, and anxiety. This journey can be a bumpy ride, and before we begin healing, we need to gain an understanding of the role history plays in racial/ethnic myths and stereotypes. In so many ways, to heal from racism, you must reeducate yourself and unlearn the processes of racism.

The Racial Healing Handbook offers practical tools to help you navigate daily and past experiences of racism, challenge internalized negative messages and privileges, and handle feelings of stress and shame. You'll also learn to develop a profound racial consciousness and conscientiousness and heal from grief and trauma. Most importantly, you'll discover the building blocks to creating a community of healing in a world still filled with racial microaggressions and discrimination.

This book is not just about ending racial harm - it is about racial liberation. This journey is one that we must take together. It promises the possibility of moving through this pain and grief to experience the hope, resilience, and freedom that helps you not only self-actualize, but also makes the world a better place.

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No one thought Ben Mattlin would live past childhood. But that didn’t stop him.

Ben Mattlin lives a normal, independent life. Why is that interesting? Because Mattlin was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital weakness from which he was expected to die in childhood. Not only did Mattlin live through childhood, he became one of the first students in a wheelchair to attend Harvard, from which he graduated and became a professional writer. His advantage? Mattlin’s life happened to parallel the growth of the disability rights movement, so that in many ways he did not feel that he was disadvantaged at all, merely different.

Miracle Boy Grows Up is a witty, unsentimental memoir that you won’t forget, told with engrossing intelligence and a unique perspective on living with a disability in the United States.

Desde la monarquía hasta la república, los hombres siempre se han sentido inconformes por la tergiversación de los principios de gobierno desde quienes están en el poder. Sin embargo, desde la institucionalización de la democracia, muchos han creído que esta se puede instaurar como un modelo incuestionable.

Henry Thoreau rompe con este principio, y pone en palabras lo que otros antes de él ya habían llevado a cabo: la desobediencia civil. Pues, una sociedad requiere de muchos que la cuestionen, y desde sus páginas, Thoreau nos muestra los principios del por qué es necesario hacerlo.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of On Tyranny comes a brilliant exploration of freedom – what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it’s our only chance for survival.

Freedom is our great commitment, but we have lost sight of what it means – leading us into crisis. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state power: we think we’re free if we can do and say as we please. But true freedom isn’t so much freedom from, as freedom to – the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible.

Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, conversations with contemporary thinkers and his own experiences, Snyder identifies the practices and attitudes that will allow us to design a government in which we and future generations can flourish. Intimate yet ambitious, this book forges a new consensus rooted in a politics of abundance, generosity and grace.

On Tyranny inspired millions around the world to fight for freedom; On Freedom helps us see exactly what we’re fighting for. It is a thrilling intellectual journey and a tour de force of political philosophy.

‘In these hard times for liberty, On Freedom makes the case that freedom, once explored and understood, is the way forward’ PRESIDENT ZELENSKY

‘Everyone who cares about freedom should read this book’ ANNE APPLEBAUM

‘Passionate, intimate, compelling – a clarion call’ PHILIPPE SANDS

In 1991, the United States was the only global superpower. It seemed that the 21st century, like the 20th, would belong to America. Then came the stock market bubble, the costly foreign unilateralism of the younger Bush presidency, and the financial catastrophe of 2008. Meanwhile, China was rising and the Middle East was awakening politically. Today it is clear that America is vulnerable - to domestic and international decline, and unregulated greed.

Speaking from decades of experience, Brzezinski considers the implications of the changing distribution of global power, ponders why America’s global appeal is waning, speculates on the likely geopolitical consequences if America declines by 2025 (will China assume America’s central role in world affairs?), and describes a vision of a resurgent America: responsive to challenges, strategically deliberate, and historically enlightened in its global engagement with the new East.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, reeling from a wave of urban uprisings, politicians finally worked to end the practice of redlining. Reasoning that the turbulence could be calmed by turning Black city-dwellers into homeowners, they passed the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, and set about establishing policies to induce mortgage lenders and the real estate industry to treat Black homebuyers equally. The disaster that ensued revealed that racist exclusion had not been eradicated, but rather transmuted into a new phenomenon of predatory inclusion.

Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned. The same racist structures and individuals remained intact after redlining's end, and close relationships between regulators and the industry created incentives to ignore improprieties. Meanwhile, new policies meant to encourage low-income homeownership created new methods to exploit Black homeowners.

Narrating the story of a sea-change in housing policy and its dire impact on African Americans, Race for Profit reveals how the urban core was transformed into a new frontier of cynical extraction.

Judith Butler's new book shows how an ethic of nonviolence must be connected to a broader political struggle for social equality. Further, it argues that nonviolence is often misunderstood as a passive practice, or as an individualist ethical relation to existing forms of power. But, in fact, nonviolence is an ethical position found in the midst of the political field. An aggressive form of nonviolence accepts that hostility is part of our psychic constitution, but values ambivalence as a way of checking the conversion of aggression into violence. One contemporary challenge to a politics of nonviolence points out that there is a difference of opinion on what counts as violence and nonviolence. The distinction between them can be mobilized in the service of ratifying the state's monopoly on violence.

Considering nonviolence as an ethical problem within a political philosophy requires a critique of individualism as well as an understanding of the psychosocial dimensions of violence. Butler draws upon Foucault, Fanon, Freud, and Benjamin to consider how the interdiction against violence fails to include lives regarded as ungrievable. By considering how "racial phantasms" inform justifications of state and administrative violence, Butler tracks how violence is often attributed to those who are most severely exposed to its lethal effects.

Creates a new framework for approaching Black women's wellness, by merging theory and practice with both personal narratives and public policy.

This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women's struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, as well as the humanities, to discuss issues ranging from stress, sexual assault, healing, self-care, and contemplative practice to health-policy considerations and parenting. Merging theory and practice with personal narratives and public policy, the book develops a new framework for approaching Black women's wellness in order to provide tangible solutions. The collection reflects feminist praxis and defines womanist peace in terms that reject both "superwoman" stereotypes and "victim" caricatures. Also included for health professionals are concrete recommendations for understanding and treating Black women.

With an introduction by Sarah Brown

Women are standing up and #shoutingback. In a culture that's driven by social media, for the first time women are using this online space (@EverydaySexism, www.everydaysexism.com) to come together, share their stories, and encourage a new generation to recognise the problems that women face.

This book is a call to arms in a new wave of feminism and it proves sexism is endemic - socially, politically, and economically. But women won't stand for it. The Everyday Sexism Project is grounded in reality; packed with substance, validity, and integrity and it shows that women will no longer tolerate a society that ignores the dangers and endless effects of sexism.

In 2012 after being sexually harassed on London public transport Laura Bates, a young journalist, started a project called Everyday Sexism to collect stories for a piece she was writing on the issue. Astounded by the response she received and the wide range of stories that came pouring in from all over the world, she quickly realised that the situation was far worse than she'd initially thought. Enough was enough. From being leered at and wolf-whistled on the street, to aggravation in the work place and serious sexual assault, it was clear that sexism had been normalised. Bates decided it was time for change.

This bold, jaunty, and ultimately intelligent book is the first to give a collective voice to the protest against sexism. This game-changing book is a juggernaut of stories, often shocking, sometimes amusing, and always poignant - it is a must-listen for every inquisitive, no-nonsense modern woman. Welcome to the fourth wave of feminism.

Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense - one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light.

Intellectuals have played a major role in racial issues throughout the centuries. Though their individual views may differ, as a whole their views tend to group, and just over the course of the twentieth century, they have shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. Surprisingly, these radically different views of race were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were often very similar.

Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, and economic evidence - all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially at their highest levels.

Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. Sowell’s ultimate concern is the impact of intellectual movements on the larger society, both past and present. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to “social justice” and multiculturalism.

In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions, and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups but for societies as a whole.

This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history.

Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine's multicultural past has been distorted and mythologized by Biblical lore and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.

Kai is an accidental activist, drawn to protest only because the alternative—to not protest—feels unimaginable in a turbulent time like this. And Lila is a longtime social justice warrior. At least in theory. Trying to find their footing and independent voices in the middle of a new movement, they just might find something else—a new love.

What if you could defuse tension and create accord in even the most volatile situations - just by changing the way you spoke? Over the past 35 years, Marshall Rosenberg has done just that, peacefully resolving conflicts in families, schools, businesses, and governments in 30 countries all over the world. On Nonviolent Communication, this renowned peacemaker presents his complete system for speaking our deepest truths, addressing our unrecognized needs and emotions, and honoring those same concerns in others. With this adaptation of the best-selling book of the same title, Marshall Rosenberg teaches in his own words:

• Observations, feelings, needs, and requests - how to apply the four-step process of Nonviolent Communication to every dialogue we engage in
• Overcoming the blocks to compassion - and opening to our natural desire to enrich the lives of those around us
• How to use empathy to safely confront anger, fear, and other powerful emotions

Here is a definitive audio training workshop on Marshall Rosenberg's proven methods for "resolving the unresolvable" through Nonviolent Communication.

Deputy US Marshal Bass Reeves appears as one of "eight notable Oklahomans", the "most feared US marshal in the Indian country". That Reeves was also an African American who had spent his early life as a slave in Arkansas and Texas makes his accomplishments all the more remarkable. Bucking the odds ("I'm sorry, we didn't keep black people's history," a clerk at one of Oklahoma's local historical societies answered a query), Art T. Burton sifts through fact and legend to discover the truth about one of the most outstanding peace officers in late 19th-century America - and perhaps the greatest lawman of the Wild West era. Fluent in Creek and other Southern native languages, physically powerful, skilled with firearms, and a master of disguise, Reeves was exceptionally adept at apprehending fugitives and outlaws, and his exploits were legendary in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

A finalist for the 2007 Spur Award, sponsored by the Western Writers of America, Black Gun, Silver Star tells Bass Reeves' story for the first time and restores this remarkable figure to his rightful place in the history of the American West.

In this original and trenchant work, Christina Sharpe interrogates literary, visual, cinematic, and quotidian representations of Black life that comprise what she calls the "orthography of the wake". Activating multiple registers of "wake" - the path behind a ship, keeping watch with the dead, coming to consciousness - Sharpe illustrates how Black lives are swept up and animated by the afterlives of slavery, and she delineates what survives despite such insistent violence and negation. Initiating and describing a theory and method of reading the metaphors and materiality of "the wake", "the ship", "the hold", and "the weather", Sharpe shows how the sign of the slave ship marks and haunts contemporary Black life in the diaspora and how the specter of the hold produces conditions of containment, regulation, and punishment, but also something in excess of them. In the weather, Sharpe situates anti-Blackness and white supremacy as the total climate that produces premature Black death as normative. Formulating the wake and "wake work" as sites of artistic production, resistance, consciousness, and possibility for living in diaspora, In the Wake offers a way forward.

With race and the police once more burning issues, this classic work from one of America's giants of Black radicalism has lost none of its prescience or power.

One of America's most historic political trials is undoubtedly that of Angela Davis. Opening with a letter from James Baldwin to Davis, and including contributions from numerous radicals such as Black Panthers George Jackson, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Erica Huggins, this book is not only an account of Davis's incarceration and the struggles surrounding it, but also perhaps the most comprehensive and thorough analysis of the prison system of the United States.

Since the book was written, the carceral system in the US has seen unprecedented growth, with more of America's Black population behind bars than ever before. The scathing analysis of the role of prison and the policing of Black populations offered by Davis and her comrades in this astonishing volume remains as pertinent today as the day it was first published.

Featuring contributions from George Jackson, Bettina Aptheker, Bobby Seale, James Baldwin, Ruchell Magee, Julian Bond, Huey P. Newton, Erika Huggins, Fleeta Drumgo, John Clutchette, and others.

The Queer Art of Failure is about finding alternatives - to conventional understandings of success in a heteronormative, capitalist society; to academic disciplines that confirm what is already known according to approved methods of knowing; and to cultural criticism that claims to break new ground but cleaves to conventional archives. Halberstam proposes "low theory" as a mode of thinking and writing that operates at many different levels at once. Low theory is derived from eccentric archives. It runs the risk of not being taken seriously. It entails a willingness to fail and to lose one's way, to pursue difficult questions about complicity, and to find counterintuitive forms of resistance. Tacking back and forth between high theory and low theory, high culture and low culture, Halberstam looks for the unexpected and subversive in popular culture, avant-garde performance, and queer art. Halberstam pays particular attention to animated children's films, revealing narratives filled with unexpected encounters between the childish, the transformative, and the queer. Failure sometimes offers more creative, cooperative, and surprising ways of being in the world, even as it forces us to face the dark side of life, love, and libido.

A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must for all those interested in the nature of Black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on Black women during slavery, the devaluation of Black womanhood, Black male sexism, racism among feminists, and the Black woman's involvement with feminism, hooks attempts to move us beyond racist and sexist assumptions. The result is nothing short of groundbreaking, giving this work a critical place in every feminist scholar's library.

The wrongful conviction of an innocent death row inmate and his fight for exoneration

In 1984, John Thompson was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a prominent white man in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was sent to Angola Prison and confined to his cell for 23 hours a day. However, Thompson adamantly proclaimed his innocence and just needed lawyers who believed that his trial had been mishandled and would step up to the plate against the powerful DA’s office. But who would fight for Thompson’s innocence when he didn’t have an alibi for the night of the murder and there were two key witnesses to confirm his guilt?

Killing Time is about the 18-year quest for Thompson’s freedom from a wrongful murder conviction. After Philadelphia lawyers Michael Banks and Gordon Cooney take on his case, they struggle to find areas of misconduct in his previous trials while grappling with their questions about Thompson’s innocence. John Hollway and Ronald M. Gauthier have interviewed Thompson and the lawyers, and paint a realistic and compelling portrait of life on death row and the corruption in the Louisiana police and DA’s office. When it is found that evidence was mishandled in a previous trial that led to his death sentence in the murder case, Thompson is finally on his road to freedom - a journey that continues with his suit against Harry Connick, Sr. and the New Orleans DA’s office to this day.

Data is everywhere. We create it every time we go online, turn our phones on (or off), and pay with credit cards. The data is stored, studied, and bought and sold by corporations and governments for surveillance and for control. "Foremost security expert" (Wired) and best-selling author Bruce Schneier shows how this data has led to a double-edged Internet - a Web that gives power to the people but is abused by the institutions on which those people depend.

In Data and Goliath, Schneier reveals the full extent of surveillance, censorship, and propaganda in society today, examining the risks of cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and cyberwar. He shares technological, legal, and social solutions that can help shape a more equal, private, and secure world. This is an audiobook to which everyone with an Internet connection - or bank account or smart device or car, for that matter - needs to listen.

In The Future Is Disabled, Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha asks some provocative questions: What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled—and what if that's not a bad thing? And what if disability justice and disabled wisdom are crucial to creating a future in which it's possible to survive fascism, climate change, and pandemics and to bring about liberation?

Building on the work of her game changing book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Piepzna-Samarasinha writes about disability justice at the end of the world, documenting the many ways disabled people kept and are keeping each other—and the rest of the world—alive during Trump, fascism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Other subjects include crip interdependence, care, and mutual aid in real life, disabled community building, and disabled art practice as survival and joy.

Written over the course of two years of disabled isolation during the pandemic, this is a book of love letters to other disabled QTBIPOC (and those concerned about disability justice, the care crisis, and surviving the apocalypse); honor songs for kin who are gone; recipes for survival; questions and real talk about care, organizing, disabled families, and kin networks and communities; and wild brown disabled femme joy in the face of death.

From the author of the best-selling study of the 1948 War of Independence comes an incisive look at the Occupied Territories, picking up the story where The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine left off.

Published on the 15th anniversary of the Six-Day War that culminated in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Pappe offers a comprehensive exploration of one of the world's most prolonged and tragic conflicts. Using recently declassified archival material, Pappe analyses the motivations and strategies of the generals and politicians-and the decision-making process itself - that laid the foundation of the occupation. From a survey of the legal and bureaucratic infrastructures that were put in place to control the population of over one million Palestinians, to the security mechanisms that vigorously enforced that control, Pappe paints a picture of what is to all intents and purposes the world's largest "open prison".

In this collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award-winning writer and longtime activist and performance artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores the politics and realities of disability justice, a movement that centers the lives and leadership of sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people, with knowledge and gifts for all.

Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of color are doing to find each other and to build power and community, and a tool kit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.

Doing Time: For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than "serving a sentence"; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity. For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. The contest honors the best short stories, plays, essays, and poems among hundreds submitted annually by men and women nationwide. Bell Chevigny, a writer herself and a former prison teacher, has selected the best of these to create Doing Time - a timely, beautiful, sometimes devastating, but vital work, which demonstrates resoundingly that prison writing is a vibrant branch of American literature.

Every day, innocent men across America are thrown into prison, betrayed by a faulty justice system, and robbed of their lives - either by decades-long sentences or the death penalty itself. Injustice tarnishes our legal process from start to finish. From the racial discrimination and violence used by backwards law enforcement officers, to a prison culture that breeds inmate conflict, there is opportunity for error at every turn.

Award-winning journalist, Stanley Cohen, chronicles over 100 of these cases, from the 1973 case of the first ever death row exoneree, David Keaton, to multiple cases as of 2015 that resulted from the corrupt practices of NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella (with nearly 70 Brooklyn cases under review for wrongful conviction). In the wake of these unjust convictions, grassroots organizations, families, and pro bono lawyers have battled this rampant wrongdoing. Cohen reveals how eyewitness error, jailhouse snitch testimony, racism, junk science, prosecutorial misconduct, and incompetent counsel have populated America's prisons with the innocent.

Listeners embark on journeys with men who were arrested, convicted, sentenced to life in prison or death, dragged through the appeals system, and finally set free based on their actual innocence. Although these stories end with vindication, there are those that have ended with unjustified execution. Convicting the Innocent is sure to fuel controversy over a justice system that has delivered the ultimate punishment nearly 1,000 times since 1976, though it cannot guarantee accurate convictions.

Packed with insider information based on interviews, declassified files, and forensic analysis of company reports, The Hacker and the State sets aside fantasies of cyber-annihilation to explore the real geopolitical competition of the digital age. Tracing the conflict of wills and interests among modern nations, Ben Buchanan reveals little-known details of how China, Russia, North Korea, Britain, and the United States hack one another in a relentless struggle for dominance. His analysis moves deftly from underseas cable taps to underground nuclear sabotage, from blackouts and data breaches to billion-dollar heists and election interference.

Buchanan brings to life this continuous cycle of espionage and deception, attack and counterattack, destabilization and retaliation. He explains why cyber attacks are far less destructive than we anticipated, far more pervasive, and much harder to prevent. With little fanfare and far less scrutiny, they impact our banks, our tech and health systems, our democracy, and every aspect of our lives. Quietly, insidiously, they have reshaped our national-security priorities and transformed spycraft and statecraft.

The contest for geopolitical advantage has moved into cyberspace. The United States and its allies can no longer dominate the way they once did. The nation that hacks best will triumph.

Muhammad Ali, never afraid to express himself loudly and boldly, stays true to form in Ali in Me, an eight-part audio series that explores his life and legacy, guided by his own words through never-before-heard audio recordings. Hosted by Muhammad’s widow, Lonnie Ali, and his close friend, award-winning broadcaster John Ramsey, Ali in Me goes beyond the boxing ring to delve deeply into the extraordinary life and lasting contributions The Champ made to individuals around the world.

Ali in Me offers an inside look at Ali’s life from those who knew him best and others whose lives were profoundly impacted by his beliefs and actions. Through powerful conversations with a diverse lineup of guests, including: Allyson Felix, Billy Crystal, Black Thought, Bob Costas, Bryan Stevenson, Common, Deontay Wilder, Gregory Howard, Jalen Rose, John Kasich, Killer Mike, Laila Ali, Mike Tyson, Rosie Perez, and Will Smith, listeners will discover how Ali’s legacy continues to inspire and uplift.

Each episode features little known stories that center on the risks Ali took in pursuit of being good and doing good, no matter the consequences. This series uncovers the lasting influence of Muhammad Ali, not just as a champion in the ring but as a champion of humanity.

Two defense experts explore the collision of war, politics, and social media, where the most important battles are now only a click away.

Through the weaponization of social media, the Internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the Internet. Terrorists livestream their attacks, “Twitter wars” produce real world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations. The result is that war, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battlespace that plays out on our smartphones.

P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mind bending questions that arise when war goes online and the online world goes to war. They explore how ISIS copies the Instagram tactics of Taylor Swift, a former World of Warcraft addict foils war crimes thousands of miles away, Internet trolls shape elections, and China uses a smartphone app to police the thoughts of 1.4 billion citizens. What can be kept secret in a world of networks? Does social media expose the truth or bury it? And what role do ordinary people now play in international conflicts?

Delving into the web’s darkest corners, we meet the unexpected warriors of social media, such as the rapper turned jihadist PR czar and the Russian hipsters who wage unceasing infowars against the West. Finally, looking to the crucial years ahead, LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of our networked world.

From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce white supremacy and deepen social inequity.

Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era. Presenting the concept of the "New Jim Code", she shows how a range of discriminatory designs encode inequity by explicitly amplifying racial hierarchies; by ignoring but thereby replicating social divisions; or by aiming to fix racial bias but ultimately doing quite the opposite. Moreover, she makes a compelling case for race itself as a kind of technology, designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice in the architecture of everyday life.

This illuminating guide provides conceptual tools for decoding tech promises with sociologically informed skepticism. In doing so, it challenges us to question not only the technologies we are sold but also the ones we ourselves manufacture.

An essential piece of Disney history has been unreported for eighty years.

Soon after the birth of Mickey Mouse, one animator raised the Disney Studio far beyond Walt's expectations. That animator also led a union war that almost destroyed it. Art Babbitt animated for the Disney studio throughout the 1930s and through 1941, years in which he and Walt were jointly driven to elevate animation as an art form, up through Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia.

But as America prepared for World War II, labor unions spread across Hollywood. Disney fought the unions while Babbitt embraced them. Soon, angry Disney cartoon characters graced picket signs as hundreds of animation artists went out on strike. Adding fuel to the fire was Willie Bioff, one of Al Capone's wise guys who was seizing control of Hollywood workers and vied for the animators' union.

Using never-before-seen research from previously lost records, including conversation transcriptions from within the studio walls, author and historian Jake S. Friedman reveals the details behind the labor dispute that changed animation and Hollywood forever.

What can dresses, bedlinens, waistcoats, pantaloons, shoes, and kerchiefs tell us about the legal status of the least powerful members of American society? In the hands of eminent historian Laura F. Edwards, these textiles tell a revealing story of ordinary people and how they made use of their material goods' economic and legal value in the period between the Revolution and the Civil War.

Only the Clothes on Her Back uncovers practices, commonly known then, but now long forgotten, which made textiles - clothing, cloth, bedding, and accessories, such as shoes and hats - a unique form of property that people without rights could own and exchange. The value of textiles depended on law, and it was law that turned these goods into a secure form of property for marginalized people, who not only used these textiles as currency, credit, and capital, but also as entree into the new republic's economy and governing institutions. Edwards grounds the laws relating to textiles in engaging stories from the lives of everyday Americans. Wives wove linen and kept the proceeds, enslaved people traded coats and shoes, and poor people invested in fabrics, which they carefully preserved in trunks. Edwards shows that these stories are about far more than cloth and clothing; they reshape our understanding of law and the economy in America.

The history of espionage is far older than any of today's intelligence agencies, yet the long history of intelligence operations has been largely forgotten. The codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the most successful World War II intelligence agency, were completely unaware that their predecessors in earlier moments of national crisis had broken the codes of Napoleon during the Napoleonic wars and those of Spain before the Spanish Armada.

Those who do not understand past mistakes are likely to repeat them. Intelligence is a prime example. At the outbreak of World War I, the grasp of intelligence shown by US President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was not in the same class as that of George Washington during the Revolutionary War and leading 18th-century British statesmen.

In this book, distinguished historian Christopher Andrew recovers much of the lost intelligence history of the past three millennia - and shows its relevance today.

On April 15, 2011, just before dawn, a group of women from Cherán, an indigenous community located in Michoacán, confronted the loggers who were illegally destroying their forest. They acted as a collective body, defending their territory and protecting their way of life. This was the birth of a resistance group that for more than 10 years has peacefully protected its land against the onslaught of criminal groups and the corrupt, complicit government.

Women of Fire: Rebellion and Hope is a testimony of resistance, a project designed to empower the voices of indigenous women who continue to be part of an ongoing process of restitution. It offers an intimate look into the lives of the women who have struggled to take back the fate of their community and, in doing so, have shaped the recent history of Cherán and all of Mexico.

The bestselling classic that redefined our view of the relationship between beauty and female identity.

In today's world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before. Alongside the evident progress of the women's movement, however, writer and journalist Naomi Wolf is troubled by a different kind of social control, which, she argues, may prove just as restrictive as the traditional image of homemaker and wife. It's the beauty myth, an obsession with physical perfection that traps the modern woman in an endless spiral of hope, self-consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society's impossible definition of "the flawless beauty."

"...the deepest reason for the self-deprecation and uncertainty of rich women may be the simplest: the closer we are to power, the more passive we must be kept. Intimacy and access make rebellion very dangerous."

In The Problem with Rich Women, Gloria Steinem explores how and why feminism failed to reach women in powerful families, and provides an urgent and persuasive argument for rebellion among upper-class women. The Problem with Rich Women was originally published in Ms., June 1986.

Once upon a time (just a few years ago), psychologists believed that the way we chose to communicate was largely a function of personality. If certain conversational styles were more common to one sex than the other (more abstract and aggressive talk for men, for instance, more personal and equivocal talk for women), then this was just another tribute to the influence of biology on personality.

In her landmark essay, Men and Women Talking, Gloria Steinem confronts long-held misconceptions about the supposedly scientific differences in the way men and women communicate, debunking - among other things - the myth of the "talkative woman". Men and Women Talking was originally published in Ms., May 1981.

Mary Wollstonecraft, often described as the first major feminist, is remembered principally as the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and there has been a tendency to view her most famous work in isolation. Yet Wollstonecraft's pronouncements about women grew out of her reflections about men, and her views on the female sex constituted an integral part of a wider moral and political critique of her times which she first fully formulated in A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790).

Written as a reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), this is an important text in its own right as well as a necessary tool for understanding Wollstonecraft's later work. This edition brings the two texts together and also includes Hints, the notes which Wollstonecraft made towards a second, never completed, volume of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

With intolerance and inequality increasingly normalised by the day, it's more important than ever for women to share their experiences. We must hold the truth to account in the midst of sensationalism and international political turmoil. Nasty Women is a collection of essays, interviews and accounts on what it is to be a woman in the 21st century.

People, politics, pressure, punk. Keep telling your stories. 369 percent funded on Kickstarter.

From working-class experience to sexual assault, being an immigrant, divides in Trump's America, Brexit, pregnancy, contraception, Repeal the Eighth, identity, family, finding a voice, punk, role models, fetishisation, power - this timely audiobook covers a vast range of being a woman today.

The contributors are Alice Tarbuck, Becca Inglis, Belle Owen, Chitra Ramaswamy, Christina Neuwirth, Claire L. Heuchan, Elise Hines, Jen McGregor, Joelle Owusu, Jona Kottler, Kaite Welsh, Katie Muriel, Kristy Diaz, Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! (in conversation with Sasha de Buyl-Pisco), Laura Lam, Laura Waddell, Mel Reeve, Nadine Aisha Jassat, Ren Aldridge of Petrol Girls, Rowan C. Clarke, Sim Bajwa and Zeba Talkhani.

What does it mean to be a woman? What is the pathway to mature femininity? And what of the masculine components of a woman's personality? Robert A. Johnson explores these questions in this new edition of She, updated to reflect the growth of his thinking on these subjects.

Many writers and scholars have long considered that the ancient myth of Amor and Psyche is really the story of a woman's task of becoming whole, complete, and individuated. Here, examining this ancient story in depth and lightening up the details, Johnson has produced an arresting and perceptive exploration of what it means to become a woman. You will not listen to this book without understanding the important women in your life and a good deal more about yourself as a woman.

In World War II, 59,000 women voluntarily risked their lives for their country as US Army nurses. When the war began, some of them had so little idea of what to expect that they packed party dresses; but the reality of service quickly caught up with them, whether they waded through the water in the historic landings on North African and Normandy beaches, or worked around the clock in hospital tents on the Italian front as bombs fell all around them.

For more than half a century these women's experiences remained untold, almost without reference in books, historical societies, or military archives. After years of research and hundreds of hours of interviews, Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee have created a dramatic narrative that at last brings to light the critical role that women played throughout the war.

From the North African and Italian campaigns to the liberation of France and the conquest of Germany, US Army nurses rose to the demands of war on the front lines with grit, humor, and great heroism. A long overdue work of history, And If I Perish is also a powerful tribute to these women and their inspiring legacy.

Even without the right to vote, members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy proved to have enormous social and political influence throughout the South - all in the name of preserving Confederate culture. Karen L. Cox's history of the UDC, an organization founded in 1894 to vindicate the Confederate generation and honor the Lost Cause, shows why myths surrounding the Confederacy continue to endure.

The Daughters, as UDC members were popularly known, were daughters of the Confederate generation. While Southern women had long been leaders in efforts to memorialize the Confederacy, UDC members made the Lost Cause a movement about vindication as well as memorialization. They erected monuments, monitored history for "truthfulness", and sought to educate coming generations of white southerners about an idyllic past and a just cause-states' rights. Soldiers' and widows' homes, perpetuation of the mythology of the antebellum South, and pro-Southern textbooks in the region's white public schools were all integral to their mission of creating the New South in the image of the Old. UDC members aspired to transform military defeat into a political and cultural victory, in which states' rights and white supremacy remained intact.

With Wild Mercy, Mirabai Starr shares the subversive wisdom and fierce compassion of the feminine mystic across cultural boundaries and throughout history. From saints and sages, to goddesses and archetypal energies, to contemporary teachers and seekers - you'll meet women who blazed a path that will illuminate your own.

Each chapter explores a different facet of feminine mysticism through a tapestry of teachings, reflections, and stories, along with a practice for integrating the chapter's themes into your own life. As you journey through this book, you'll explore: taking refuge in contemplative practice with St. Teresa of Avila and the Shekinah; longing, embodiment, and union as the heart of feminine spiritual practice with the Hindu poet Mirabai and Mary Magdalene; and your relationship with the Earth, motherhood in all its forms, and a loving call to action alongside Gaia and Ix Chel.

You'll also learn about community and the web of life with Indra, the Beguines, and female prophets throughout history; wild, playful, and compassionate mercy with Tara and Kuan Yin; and finding joy in creativity and the arts with Saraswati and Chiyo-ni; and gain more inspiration from archetypal goddesses and amazing women past and present - Julian of Norwich, the Sufi saint Rabia, Pachamama, Sophia, Old Spider Woman, Hildegard of Bingen, and more.

** THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 5 BESTSELLER **

** FEATURED ON BBC ARTS' BETWEEN THE COVERS **

Award-winning comedian Sara Pascoe turns her attention to the things that really matter to humans - sex, power and money.
'A genuinely hilarious explanation of the science of sex' FRANKIE BOYLE

'I've never read a book so fast and laughed so loudly while learning so much. Pascoe is a sage for our times.' DEBORAH FRANCES-WHITE, The Guilty Feminist

Following her hit book Animal, Sara Pascoe decides to confront her fear of the male libido, and turns her attention to the things that really matter to humans, delving into such questions as:

Why don't people care about the welfare of the people they masturbate to?

and

Why is there such stigma around those who work in the sex industry?

when

Some women still want men to buy them dinner?

In this comedic and educational hopscotch over anatomy, the history of sexual representation and the sticky way all human interactions are underwritten by wealth, Pascoe explores whether we'll ever be able to escape the Conundrum of Heterosexuality. Drawing on anecdotal experience, unqualified opinion, interviews and original research, Sex Power Money is thought-provoking and riotously funny: a fresh take on the oldest discussion.

'Important, timely, poignant, mind-blowing and VERY FUNNY. Written with kindness, bravery and ridiculous attention to detail, it will make you feel cleverer without all the usual effort.' AISLING BEA

**SUBSCRIBE TO THE AWARD-WINNING SEX POWER MONEY PODCAST**

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About the author:

Sweta Srivastava Vikram is a multi-genre writer and marketing professional living in New York City. She is the author of Because All Is Not Lost from Modern History Press and the co-author of Whispering Woes of Ganges & Zambezi (Cyberwit 2010). Her work has appeared in six countries across three continents. Sweta has held recent artist residencies and workshops in Portugal, Ireland, and several within USA. She is a graduate of Columbia University.

About the audiobook:

The audiobook delves into the implication and philosophy of colors from a Hindu woman’s point of view, from birth until death. The color she adorns herself with almost depicts the story of her life. Expressed through different poetic and verbal forms, each color in the audiobook has its own tone and is specific to different age groups.

From the World Voices Series at Modern History Press.

This is a manifesto for the 99 percent.

Unaffordable housing, poverty wages, inadequate healthcare, border policing, climate change - these are not what you ordinarily hear feminists talking about. But aren't they the biggest issues for the vast majority of women around the globe?

Taking as its inspiration the new wave of feminist militancy that has erupted globally, this manifesto makes a simple but powerful case: feminism shouldn't start - or stop - with the drive to have women represented at the top of their professions. It must focus on those at the bottom and fight for the world they deserve. And that means targeting capitalism. Feminism must be anti-capitalist, eco-socialist, and anti-racist.

From modern literature to menopause, from utopian thought to rodeos - in this classic collection of essays, Ursula K. Le Guin roves with her customary audacity over the intersecting arenas of literature, feminism, and social responsibility, exploding any received notions she comes across and revealing visionary possibilities in their stead.

Le Guin is an authentic, wise woman, remembering, performing, and passing on the ancient ceremony of celebration, dancing "the dance of renewal, the dance that made the world" - and in this collection, she does so with wit and eloquence that make for exhilarating listening.

This collection of narrative essays by sex workers presents a crystal-clear rejoinder: There's never been a better time to fight for justice. Responding to the resurgence of the #MeToo movement in 2017, sex workers from across the industry - hookers and prostitutes, strippers and dancers, porn stars, cam models, Dommes and subs alike - complicate narratives of sexual harassment and violence, and expand conversations often limited to normative workplaces.

Writing across topics such as homelessness, motherhood, and toxic masculinity, We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival gives voice to the fight for agency and accountability across sex industries. With contributions by leading voices in the movement such as Melissa Gira Grant, Ceyenne Doroshow, Audacia Ray, femi babylon, April Flores, and Yin Q, this anthology explores sex work as work, and sex workers as laboring subjects in need of respect - not rescue.

Contains mature themes.

A bold and searing investigation into the role of white women in the American slave economy.

Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African-American history, this audiobook makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave-owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market. Because women typically inherited more slaves than land, enslaved people were often their primary source of wealth.

Not only did white women often refuse to cede ownership of their slaves to their husbands, they employed management techniques that were as effective and brutal as those used by slave-owning men.

White women actively participated in the slave market, profited from it, and used it for economic and social empowerment. By examining the economically entangled lives of enslaved people and slave-owning women, Jones-Rogers presents a narrative that forces us to rethink the economics and social conventions of slaveholding America.

Confessing to "familiarity with the devils", Mary Johnson, a servant, was executed by Connecticut officials in 1648. A wealthy Boston widow, Ann Hibbens, was hanged in 1656 for casting spells on her neighbors. The case of Ann Cole, who was "taken with very strange Fits", fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events at Salem.

More than 300 years later, the question "Why?" still haunts us. Why were these and other women likely witches - vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society.

"I know I'm not a man...and I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably not a woman, either.... The trouble is, we're living in a world that insists we be one or the other."

With these words, Kate Bornstein ushers listeners on a funny, fearless, and wonderfully scenic journey across the terrains of gender and identity. On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein's transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman, from a one-time IBM salesperson to a playwright and performance artist. But this particular coming-of-age story is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions.

Gender Outlaw was decades ahead of its time when it was first published in 1994. Now, some 20-odd years later, this book stands as both a classic and a still-revolutionary work - one that continues to push us gently but profoundly to the furthest borders of the gender frontier.

The latest instalment in the New York Times best-selling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series, featuring 100 immigrant women who have shaped, and will continue to shape, our world.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Immigrant Women Who Changed the World is the third book in the New York Times best-selling series for children. Packed with 100 all-new bedtime stories about the lives of incredible female figures from the past and the present, this volume recognises women who left their birth countries for a multitude of reasons: some for new opportunities, some out of necessity. Listeners will whip up a plate with Asma Khan, strategize global affairs alongside Madeleine Albright, venture into business with Rihanna and many more.

A bold new collection showcasing the trailblazing individuals who fought for women's suffrage, honoring the Nineteenth Amendment's centennial anniversary.

Women Win the Vote! maps the road to the Nineteenth Amendment through compact, listenable biographies of 19 women who helped pave the way. From early feminist activist Lucretia Mott to radical 20th-century suffragist Alice Paul, this vibrant collection profiles both iconic figures like Sojourner Truth and those who may be less well-known, like Mary Ann Shadd Cary.

Women Win the Vote! celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and the intrepid individuals who broke through barriers and upended tradition to empower future generations of women.

The gripping story of Lise Meitner, the physicist who discovered nuclear fission

As a female Jewish physicist in Berlin during the early twentieth century, Lise Meitner had to fight for an education, a job, and equal treatment in her field.

Meitner made groundbreaking strides in the study of radiation, but when Hitler came to power in Germany, she had to face not only sexism but life-threatening anti-Semitism as well. Nevertheless, she persevered and one day made a discovery that rocked the world: the splitting of the atom. While her male lab partner was awarded a Nobel Prize for the achievement, the committee refused to credit her.

Suddenly, the race to build the atomic bomb was on—although Meitner, a pacifist, was horrified to be associated with such a weapon. “A physicist who never lost her humanity,” Meitner wanted only to figure out how the world works.

The Woman Who Split the Atom is a fascinating look at Meitner’s fierce passion, integrity, and her lifelong struggle to have her contributions to physics recognized.

Recoding History: The Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World is an immersive look into the lives of some of computer history's most ingenious and audacious women. Pulling from the Computer History Museum’s archives and hosted by Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, listeners will learn and laugh along with these great minds as they recount their stories in their own words. In addition, Reshma and contributing experts help bring the women’s remarkable accomplishments to life and discuss their significance in the longer arc of technological history. In an era driven by technology and computing, Recoding History: The Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World spotlights lesser-known figures whose work continues to impact our daily lives–and reminds listeners that in order to build a brighter future, inclusion and innovation must go hand-in-hand.

Recoding History: The Audacious Women Who Shaped Our Digital World is an Audible Original presented in partnership with The Computer History Museum and produced by Treefort Media.

Today's woman wants to make a success of both family and career and is unwilling to compromise on either. But the burden of coping with deadlines, recalcitrant children, lazy husbands, difficult bosses and equally difficult in-laws can be daunting, even overwhelming.

In this book Apurva Purohit, CEO of Radio City 91.1 FM, shows how women can accept, adapt and achieve their way to the highest rung in every arena. Through real-life stories and funny anecdotes, she provides pithy tips on a multitude of topics, from training husbands to training interns, from the right attitude to getting it right with kids, from dealing with household crises to office emergencies, from building a reputation to paving one's way to the top. Warm, witty and empathetic, Lady, You're Not a Man! is a must-listen for every woman on the quest for work-home balance and determined to succeed in her career and live a happy and fulfilling life.

Imagine a sisterhood across all creeds and cultures. An unspoken agreement that we, as women, will support and encourage one another. That we will remember we don't know what struggles each of us may be facing elsewhere in our lives, and so we will assume that each of us is doing our best....

So begins We: an inspiring, empowering and provocative manifesto for change. Change which we can all effect, one woman at a time. Change which provides a crucial and timely antidote to the 'have it all' Superwoman culture and instead focusses on what will make each and every one of us happier and more free. Change which provides an answer to the nagging sense of 'is that it?' that almost all of us can succumb to when we wake in the dead of night.

Written by actress Gillian Anderson and journalist Jennifer Nadel - two friends who for the last decade have stumbled along together, learning, failing, crying, laughing and trying again - We is a not a theoretical treatise but instead a rallying cry to create a life that has greater meaning and purpose. Combining tools which are practical, psychological and spiritual, it is both a process and a vision for a more fulfilling way of living. And a truly inspiring vision of a happier, more emotionally rewarding future we can all create together.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s. Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition, Carol Clover looks in particular at slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Although such movies have been traditionally understood as offering only sadistic pleasures to their mostly male audiences, Clover demonstrates that they align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the females tormented - notably the slasher movie's "final girls" - as they endure fear and degradation before rising to save themselves. The lesson was not lost on the mainstream industry, which was soon turning out the formula in well-made thrillers.

Including a new preface by the author, this Princeton Classics edition is a definitive work that has found an avid fanbase from students of film theory to major Hollywood filmmakers.

Patpong, in the heart of Bangkok, teems with bars and sex shows, catering mainly to farangs - foreigners. Cleo Odzer, a young anthropologist, spent three years studying the area. Gaining the confidence of the bar girls and bar boys, she interviewed them at length, lived among them, accompanied several back to their families in remote villages. She also got to know their customers, those in for a night or in forever (many fell in love and stayed on in Patpong). From Odzer's account emerges a far different picture from the cliched image of the prostitute. Many of the Patpong girls, smart and enterprising, use their profession for self-liberation and to support their impoverished families back home. Warm and personal, Patpong Sisters reveals the truth about the $4 billion Bangkok economy of sex.

But when its pompous director, Sir Quentin, steals the manuscript of Fleur's new novel, fiction begins to appropriate life. The association's members begin to act out scenes exactly as Fleur herself had already written them in her missing manuscript. And as they meet darkly funny, pre-visioned fates, where does art start or reality end?

Laura Bassi was once called a “monster”. And she was. She was a monster of intellect. In 1732, she became the first female doctor of philosophy at the University of Bologna. Her doctoral degree defense was a highly public event, attended by foreigners, clergy, professors, nobility, and onlookers—yet she was still forbidden from teaching at the university and was deliberately excluded from a prestigious group of academics within the Institute for Science.

It’s not news that women have been denied the same educational and institutional opportunities, resources, and access as men, and that science’s history is often told through the stories of great men, with a few great women making an appearance here and there. But that approach misses the big picture. The history of science isn’t complete without women.

Leila McNeill, an author, editor, and historian of women and gender in science, introduces us to 10 lesser-known women who have, in their own unique ways, shaped the world in which we all live. As you hear about their lives and stories, you’ll discover a more complete picture of science—what science is, how it is done, and who gets to participate. You’ll see that women in science are not anomalies. They aren’t separate from the flow of time and onward march of history. Women, in their own innovative ways, have always played a part in shaping science and, in turn, our world and our understanding of our place in it.

"It's a truism, for instance, that a few clothes are more shocking than none. But for women especially, bras, panties, bathing suits, and other stereotypical gear are visual reminders of a commercial, idealized feminine image that our real and diverse female bodies can't possibly fit. Without those visual references, however, each individual woman's body can be accepted on its own terms. We stop being comparatives. We begin to be unique."

After spending a few days at a spa in the company of 90 or so women, Gloria Steinem wrote In Praise of Women's Bodies, a short but powerful essay that's part ode and part treatise and fully in awe of the female form, in all its unique variety. In Praise of Women's Bodies was originally published in Ms., April 1982.

The hilarious feminist account of the female body by the award-winning comedian
'HILARIOUS' Daily Telegraph
'Brilliant' Frankie Boyle
Sometimes Sara Pascoe confuses herself. She gets wildly and pointlessly jealous. She spends too much time hating her bum. And you know what she hates more than her bum? Her preoccupation with her bum. She's had sexual experiences with boys she wasn't really into, but still got a post-coital crush on them. She's ruined brand-new relationships by immediately imagining them going into reverse.
There was so much about her behaviour that Pascoe wanted to understand. So she started researching what makes us - women - tick. And what she read made her eyes fall out of her face. Reader, here is everything science has to tell us about love, sexuality, infidelity, boobs, periods, pubes, broodiness, and clever old fat. Merry Christmas and Hallelujah! Suddenly being a woman doesn't look like such a minefield after all.
'Fresh and honest.' GUARDIAN
'Timely and intelligent.' THE TIMES
'Funny, sad, angry, affronted, engaging and enlightening.' STYLIST

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This is the story of an independent woman who is a model for our time—photographer Toby Molenaar. It begins in Holland during World War II, when her country is decimated by the occupying German army and she is literally left to starve. As a little girl, she learns to be self-sufficient—survival is the order of the day.

After the war, she finds love in Switzerland, marries, and starts a family. Her perfect life soon unravels however, when she meets the irresistible writer Fred Grunfeld, a foreign correspondent for Time, Life, and other magazines, and the new couple settles in Mallorca. Fred takes her along on his travels covering the world for various publications, from Alaska to Argentina, India, and China. Reinventing herself yet again, Toby learns her new trade as a photographer and becomes an eminent photojournalist.

When Husband Number Two leaves and her life in Mallorca evaporates, she is ready to carry on, taking on her own international assignments—until Husband Number Three enters the picture, in France, and a new child is born.

Courage, indomitable spirit, an open mind, and accountability only to herself are the stuff of this fascinating and inspirational story.

May 10, 1940. The Netherlands was swarming with Third Reich troops. In seven days it's entirely occupied by Nazi Germany. Joining a small resistance cell in the Dutch city of Haarlem were three teenage girls: Hannie Schaft, and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen, who would soon band together to form a singular female underground squad.

Smart, fiercely political, devoted solely to the cause, and "with nothing to lose but their own lives", Hannie, Truus, and Freddie took terrifying direct action against Nazi targets. That included sheltering fleeing Jews, political dissidents, and Dutch resisters. They sabotaged bridges and railways, and donned disguises to lead children from probable internment in concentration camps to safehouses. They covertly transported weapons and set military facilities ablaze. And they carried out the assassinations of German soldiers and traitors - on public streets and in private traps - with the courage of veteran guerilla fighters and the cunning of seasoned spies.

Tim Brady offers a never-before-seen perspective of the Dutch resistance during the war. Of lives under threat; of how these courageous young women became involved in the underground; and of how their dedication evolved into dangerous, life-threatening missions on behalf of Dutch patriots - regardless of the consequences.

The 1929 collection of short and exquisitely written biographical essays on the lives of such famed adventurers as Alexander the Great, Casanova, Christopher Columbus, Napoleon, and Isadora Duncan.

The author, William Bolitho, celebrates the contradictions and bipolar tensions that live inside and often drive even history's most celebrated heroes. Although all the greats featured in the book lived ages ago, the principles by which they lived their lives hold valuable lessons for those of us in contemporary times.

All were wildly successful in their chosen fields and we aim to distil key business, leadership and personal lessons from these. Each chapter delves into the life of one of the characters from the classic book, tracing their path to success (and ultimate ruin) while highlighting the key lessons to be gleaned.

When a DNA test blows apart her father’s hidden identity many years after his death, Deb finds she has a sister, Barbara, and an entirely new family she never knew. As the sisters work to unravel more of their father’s secrets, they find his connection to a dark chapter of British-Canadian history. Will the sisters finally get to the bottom of their father’s past? Or are some secrets meant to stay buried forever?

From BBC Studios, the producers of hits such as Stalked and To Catch a Scorpion as well as Audible Originals Mother, Neighbor, Russian Spy and I Am Not Nicholas comes Orphan Smith: My Father’s Secret, a gripping seven-part series that follows a daughter’s search for the truth.

Katherine Woodville's sister never gave her a choice. A happy girl of modest means, Kate hardly expected to become a maker of kings. But when her sister impulsively marries King Edward IV in secret, Katherine's life is no longer hers to control.

The Borgia family have become a byword for evil. Corruption, incest, ruthless megalomania, avarice, and vicious cruelty - all have been associated with their name. And yet, paradoxically, this family lived when the Renaissance was coming into its full flowering in Italy. Examples of infamy flourished alongside some of the finest art produced in western history.

This is but one of several paradoxes associated with the Borgia family. For the family which produced corrupt popes, depraved princes, and poisoners, would also produce a saint. These paradoxes which so characterize the Borgias have seldom been examined in great detail. Previously history has tended to condemn, or attempt in part to exonerate, this remarkable family. Yet in order to understand the Borgias, much more is needed than evidence for and against. The Borgias must be related to their time, together with the world which enabled them to flourish. Within this context the Renaissance itself takes on a very different aspect. Was the corruption part of the creation, or vice versa?

The primitive psychological forces which first played out in the amphitheaters of ancient Greece are all here. Along with the final, tragic downfall.

Winner: Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award

In this unique new history of the world’s most ubiquitous language, linguistics expert David Crystal draws on words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences, and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word was written down in the fifth century (‘roe’, in case you are wondering).

Featuring Latinate and Celtic words, weasel words and nonce-words, ancient words (‘loaf’) to cutting edge (‘twittersphere’) and spanning the indispensable words that shape our tongue (‘and’, ‘what’) to the more fanciful (‘fopdoodle’), Crystal takes us along the winding byways of language via the rude, the obscure and the downright surprising.

"Persuasive and based on deep research. Atomic Awakening taught me a great deal." (Nature)

The American public's introduction to nuclear technology was manifested in destruction and death. With Hiroshima and the Cold War still ringing in our ears, our perception of all things nuclear is seen through the lens of weapons development. Nuclear power is full of mind-bending theories, deep secrets, and the misdirection of public consciousness - some deliberate, some accidental. The result of this fixation on bombs and fallout is that the development of a non-polluting, renewable energy source stands frozen in time.

Outlining nuclear energy's discovery and applications throughout history, Mahaffey's brilliant and accessible book is essential to understanding the astounding phenomenon of nuclear power in an age where renewable energy and climate change have become the defining concerns of the twenty-first century.

The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.

Aidan Gillen - who has learned a thing or two about strategy through his roles as skilled manipulator Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Game of Thrones) and ambitious politician Tommy Carcetti (The Wire) - brilliantly performs this ancient classic. His experience in portraying insightful and, at times, cunning characters makes him a natural fit for this ancient collection of battlefield epigrams whose influence has grown tremendously in the modern world.

The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services customers not only want to buy, but are willing to pay premium prices for.

How do companies know how to grow? How can they create products that they are sure customers want to buy? Can innovation be more than a game of hit and miss? Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen has the answer.

A generation ago, Christensen revolutionized business with his groundbreaking theory of disruptive innovation. Now he goes further, offering powerful new insights. After years of research, Christensen has come to one critical conclusion: Our long-held maxim - that understanding the customer is the crux of innovation - is wrong. Customers don't buy products or services; they "hire" them to do a job. Understanding customers does not drive innovation success, he argues. Understanding customer jobs does. The "Jobs to Be Done" approach can be seen in some of the world's most respected companies and fast-growing startups, including Amazon, Intuit, Uber, Airbnb, and Chobani yogurt, to name just a few. But this book is not about celebrating these successes - it's about predicting new ones.

Christensen contends that by understanding what causes customers to "hire" a product or service, any business can improve its innovation track record, creating products not only that customers want to hire, but for which they'll pay premium prices to bring them into their lives. Jobs theory offers new hope for growth to companies frustrated by their hit and miss efforts.

This book carefully lays down Christensen's provocative framework, providing a comprehensive explanation of the theory and why it is predictive, how to use it in the real world - and, most importantly, how not to squander the insights it provides.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

This audiobook provides evidence-based answers to the key questions asked by marketers every day. Tackling issues such as how brands grow, how advertising really works, what price promotions really do and how loyalty programs really affect loyalty, How Brands Grow presents decades of research in a style that is written for marketing professionals to grow their brands.

It is the first audiobook to present these laws in context and to explore their meaning and application. The most distinctive element to this audiobook is that the laws presented are tried and tested; they have been found to hold over varied conditions, time and countries. This is contrary to most marketing texts and indeed, much information provides evidence that much modern marketing theory is far from soundly based.

Parents sell their kids on going to bed. Spouses sell their partners on mowing the lawn or putting the cat out. We sell our bosses on giving us more money and more time off. And in astonishing numbers we go online to sell ourselves on Facebook, Twitter, and in Match.com profiles.

In this new book from the best-selling author of Drive, Dan Pink explores the ways in which we can all improve our sales skills in every area of our lives and identifies the three personal qualities and four essential skills necessary to move people. Relying on science rather than platitudes and analysis instead of exhortation, Dan builds on his own sales experience and on the profiles of some of the world's best salespeople - and makes us look again at our own sales skills.

Everyone wants to be an influencer. We all want to learn how to help ourselves and others change behavior. And yet, in spite of the fact that we routinely attempt to do everything from lose weight to improve quality at work, few of us have more than one or two ideas about how to exert influence. For the first time, Influencer brings together the breakthrough strategies of contemporary influence masters. By drawing from the skills of hundreds of successful influencers and combining them with five decades of the best social-science research, Influencer shares eight powerful principles for changing behaviors - principles almost anyone can apply to change almost anything.

New York Times Bestseller

“Catnip for all the TED fans out there.” —Publishers Weekly

“The most insightful book ever written on public speaking…a must-read.” —Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals

Since taking over TED in 2001, Chris Anderson has shown how carefully crafted talks can be the key to unlocking empathy, spreading knowledge, and promoting a shared dream. Done right, a talk can electrify a room and transform an audience’s worldview; it can be more powerful than anything in written form.

This “invaluable guide” (Publishers Weekly) explains how the miracle of powerful public speaking is achieved, and equips you to give it your best shot. There is no set formula, but there are tools that can empower any speaker.

Chris Anderson has worked with all the TED speakers who have inspired us the most, and here he shares insights from such favorites as Sir Ken Robinson, Salman Khan, Monica Lewinsky, and more—everything from how to craft your talk’s content to how you can be most effective on stage. This is a must-listen for anyone who is ready to create impact with their ideas.

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over?

People like Martin Luther King, Jr.; Steve Jobs; and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things. In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way - and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with why.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. Why is not money or profit - those are always results. Why does your organization exist? Why does it do the things it does? Why do customers really buy from one company or another? Why are people loyal to some leaders but not others? Starting with why works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with why never manipulate, they inspire. And people follow them not because they have to; they follow because they want to. Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.

Developing and implementing a strategy is the central task of a leader, whether the CEO at a Fortune 100 company, an entrepreneur, a church pastor, the head of a school, or a government official. Richard Rumelt argues that the heart of a good strategy is insight - into the true nature of the situation, into the hidden power in a situation, and into an appropriate response. He shows you how insight can be cultivated with a wide variety of tools for guiding your own thinking.

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy integrates fascinating examples from business, nonprofit, and military affairs to bring its original ideas to life: From Apple to General Motors, from the two Iraq wars to Afghanistan, from a small local market to Wal-Mart, from the Getty Trust to the Los Angeles Unified School District, from Global Crossing to the 2007-08 financial crisis, and many more. The abundance of business-ready insights offered by Rumelt stem from his decades of digging beyond the superficial to address hard questions with honesty and integrity.

In 2003, Seth Godin's Purple Cow challenged organizations to become remarkable: to drive growth by standing out in a world full of brown cows. It struck a huge chord and stayed on the Business Week best seller list for nearly two years. You can hear countless brainstorming meetings where people refer to purple cows and say things like, "That's not good enough. We need to create a big moo!"

But how do you create a big moo, an insight so astounding that people can't help but remark on it, like digital TV recording (TiVo) or overnight shipping (FedEx), or the world's best vacuum cleaner (Dyson)? Godin worked with 32 of the world's smartest thinkers to answer this critical question. And the team, with the likes of Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell, Guy Kawasaki, Mark Cuban, Robyn Waters, Dave Balter, Red Maxwell, and Randall Rothenberg on board, created an incredibly useful audiobook that's fun to listen to and perfect for groups to share, discuss, and apply.

The Big Moo is a simple audiobook in the tradition of Fish and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. Instead of lecturing you, it tells stories that stick to your ribs and light your fire. It will help you to create a culture that consistently delivers remarkable innovations.

The Fearless Organization offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent - but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of "fitting in" and "going along" spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule, or intimidate.

Not every idea is good, and yes, there are stupid questions, and yes, dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing.

This audiobook explores this culture of psychological safety and provides a blueprint for bringing it to life. The road is sometimes bumpy, but succinct and informative scenario-based explanations provide a clear path forward to constant learning and healthy innovation.

Carlo Ancelotti is one of the greatest managers of all time, with five Champions League titles to his name. Yet his approach could not be further from the aggressive theatricals favoured by many of his rivals. His understated style has earned him the fierce loyalty of players like David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In Quiet Leadership, Ancelotti reveals the full riveting story of his managerial career - his methods, mentors, mistakes and triumphs - and takes us inside the dressing room to trace the characters, challenges and decisions that have shaped him. The result is both a scintillating memoir and a rare insight into the business of leadership.

Read by the author, Kim Scott

A practical guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses. Drawing on years of first-hand experience, Radical Candor shows you how to be successful while retaining your integrity and humanity. From Kim Scott, former manager at Google and Apple, and CEO coach to Silicon Valley.

'Reading Radical Candor will help you build, lead, and inspire teams to do the best work of their lives' – Sheryl Sandberg, former chief operating officer at Meta (Facebook) and author of Lean In

If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all . . . right?

While this advice may work for home life, as Kim Scott has seen first hand, it is a disaster when adopted by managers in the work place.

Scott earned her stripes as a highly successful manager at Google before moving to Apple where she developed a class on optimal management. Radical Candor draws directly on her experiences at these cutting edge companies to reveal a new approach to effective management that delivers huge success by inspiring teams to work better together by embracing fierce conversations.

Radical Candor is the sweet spot between managers who are obnoxiously aggressive on the one side and ruinously empathetic on the other. It is about providing guidance, which involves a mix of praise as well as criticism – delivered to produce better results and help your employees develop their skills and increase success.

Great bosses have a strong relationship with their employees, and Scott has identified three simple principles for building better relationships with your employees:

• Make it personal
• Get stuff done
• Understand why it matters

Radical Candor is the perfect handbook for those who are looking to find meaning in their job and create an environment where people love both their work and their colleagues, and are motivated to strive to ever greater success.

'If you manage people - whether it be 1 person or a 1,000 - you need Radical Candor. Now' – Daniel H. Pink, author of the New York Times bestseller Drive

Kick off the cycle of success with serious self-promotion that works. Book Yourself Solid is a handbook for self-promotion that translates into results.

We tend to think of "busy" as the equivalent of "successful" - but that's not always the case. The key lies in what you're busy doing. Success means spending your time doing work that gets you closer to your goals, and the critical driving force behind that success is self-promotion. This audiobook shows you how to promote more than just your skills - you need to sell your reputation, your service, your very self. It starts with laying a foundation so potential clients know you can give them what they want and need.

How do people see you, and how does that diverge from what you would like them to think? Once you know where you are, you can map out a plan for getting where you need to be, and this audiobook shows you how to build the reputation you need to be the go-to person in your field - and keep the business coming in long term.

Book Yourself Solid has been one of the most popular marketing guides in the world for service-based businesses since its initial release in 2006. This new third edition includes updated and expanded strategies, techniques, and skills to help you get more clients and increase your take-home profits.

• Build a solid foundation for a stellar public image
• Enhance your reputation for trust and credibility
• Perfect your pitch and pricing to attract higher-caliber clients
• Adopt the six core strategies that will keep you booked solid

Spending just a small amount of time on self-promotion is an investment. You build a reputation that attracts high-quality clients, which boosts your profits, your track record, and your reputation, which in turn attracts even more high-quality clients. Book Yourself Solid shows you how to kick off this cycle of success and maintain it for the long term.

Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they're enabling countless new tribes to be born - groups of ten or ten thousand or ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.

And so the key question: Who is going to lead us?

The Web can do amazing things, but it can't provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals - people just like you who have a passion about something. The explosion in tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips.

If you think leadership is for other people, think again - leaders come in surprising packages. Consider Joel Spolsky and his international tribe of scary-smart software engineers. Or Gary Vaynerhuck, a wine expert with a devoted following of enthusiasts. Chris Sharma leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff faces, while Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, runs her internal tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.

If you ignore this opportunity, you risk turning into a "sheepwalker" - someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don't do very well these days.

Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities in leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers....It's not easy, but it's easier than you think.

“Own It is a must-have survival guide that you can come back to time and again for immediate inspiration from the heart and soul of the trailblazing business leader and creative genius that is DVF!” (Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO and founder of Bumble)

"Many books describe paths to success, but only Own It helps us to find our own. My friend Diane von Furstenberg gives us the biggest gift: faith in our uniqueness." (Gloria Steinem, writer, activist, and feminist organizer)

?Diane von Furstenberg, entrepreneur and philanthropist, presents her words to live by.

In an easy-to-navigate A-Z dictionary format, designed to be browsed or listened to as a whole, Own It offers listeners Diane’s well-earned wisdom for enjoying both personal and professional growth at any age.

The words included in this book are ones that have been key to DVF attaining self-awareness and realization, the fuel for all her accomplishments personally and professionally. Own It is an A-Z dictionary of life-enhancing vocabulary that is the basis of her accessible and empowering philosophy. It is a true manifesto, a compilation of words that together will empower you to attain the satisfaction and serenity you have always wanted.

"The secret of life,” DVF says, is to “Own our imperfections. Own our vulnerability; it becomes our strength. Whatever the challenge is, own it. Owning it is the first step to everything.”

If you cut off a spider's leg, it's crippled; if you cut off its head, it dies. But if you cut off a starfish's leg, it grows a new one, and the old leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.

What's the hidden power behind the success of Wikipedia, craigslist, and Skype? What do eBay and General Electric have in common with the abolitionist and women's rights movements? What fundamental choice put General Motors and Toyota on vastly different paths? How could winning a Supreme Court case be the biggest mistake MGM could have made?

After five years of ground-breaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom share some unexpected answers, gripping stories, and a tapestry of unlikely connections. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional "spiders", which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary "starfish", which rely on the power of peer relationships.

The Starfish and the Spider explores what happens when starfish take on spiders (such as the music industry vs. Napster, Kazaa, and the P2P services that followed). It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the U.S. government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success. This audiobook explores:

• How the Apaches fended off the powerful Spanish army for 200 years
• The power of a simple circle
• The importance of catalysts who have an uncanny ability to bring people together
• How the Internet has become a breeding ground for leaderless organizations
• How Alcoholics Anonymous has reached untold millions with only a shared ideology and without a leader

30 Women in Power carries the inimitable voices of Indian women who have been pioneers and led large organizations - in banking, law, the media, advertising, government services, health care, consulting, the fast-moving consumer goods sector and the not-for-profit space.

In these narratives - told up close and personal - 30 of India's greatest women achievers speak of the guiding principles that have held them in good stead; the role models who have anchored them; the childhood influences that have shaped their values; and the interests outside the world of work that have revitalized them. Coming from all walks of life, these empowered women discuss their many successes and their dreams for the future. Yet they also venture to disclose the setbacks that have preceded hard-won conquests; the barriers, psychological or otherwise, that may have held them back at certain points; and the compromises they've had to make to reach the top.

Through these honest and contemplative revelations, 30 women in power answer those questions that confront all working women - from how best to balance the personal and the professional to how to dismantle gender biases. Equally, the essayists consider seminal issues that concern every committed professional, man or woman: what are the qualities that define a leader? Where does one find a mentor? What are the ingredients in the recipe for success?

Edited by business leader extraordinaire Naina Lal Kidwai, this topical and relevant book is a must-listen, not only for the lessons it provides but also for the intimate accounts it offers of lives powerfully lived.

The Great Fragmentation: And Why the Future of All Business is Small is a business survival manifesto for the technology revolution.

As the world moves from the industrial era to the digital age, power is shifting and fragmenting. Power is no longer about might and ownership; power in a digital world is about access. Existing businesses need to understand this shift and position themselves to survive and thrive in an environment where entrepreneurs and start-ups enabled by access to technology are genuine threats.

Author Steve Sammartino is widely regarded as a thought leader on the subject of technology and business, and helps companies transition from industrial-era thinking to the mindset and processes required to compete in today's digital marketplace.

The Great Fragmentation shows how technological changes such as Big Data, gamification, crowdfunding, Bitcoin, 3D printing, social media, mashup culture and artisanal production will forever change business and the way we live our lives.

• Examine how the digital era has altered where we work, how we work, where we live and what we do.
• Discover how the digital era has impacted social and economic structures, including educational systems, financial systems and government policy.
• Understand that the social media and collecting 'friends' is just the tip of the iceberg in a digital business environment.

Weaving together insights from business, technology and anthropology, The Great Fragmentation provides both corporations and entrepreneurs with a playbook for the future of work, life and business in the digital era.

In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness.

In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him.

As weeks turn to months and the pain of loss gives way to memories, the little unit of three starts to heal.

In this extraordinary debut - part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief - Max Porter's compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of All Our Wrong Todays, written and read by Elan Mastai.

So, the thing is, I come from the world we were supposed to have. That means nothing to you, obviously, because you live here, in the crappy world we do have. But it never should've turned out like this. And it's all my fault - well, me and, to a lesser extent, my father. And, yeah, I guess a little bit Penelope. In both worlds she's the love of my life. But only a single version of her can exist. I have one impossible chance to fix history's greatest mistake and save this broken world. Except it means saving one Penelope and losing the other forever - and I have absolutely no idea which to choose....

What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?

During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.

What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?

Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, she finds warmth even in life’s bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here is Kate Atkinson at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves.

Information is everything in "Hard-Boiled Wonderland". A specialist encrypter is attacked by thugs with orders from an unknown source, is chased by invisible predators, and dates an insatiably hungry librarian who never puts on weight. In "The End of the World" a new arrival is learning his role as dream-reader. But there is something eerily disquieting about the changeless nature of the town and its fable-like inhabitants. Told in alternate chapters, the two stories converge and combine to create a novel that is surreal, beautiful, thrilling, and extraordinary.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

From its inception in California in 1974 to its highly acclaimed critical success at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and on Broadway, the Obie Award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country. Passionate and fearless, Shange's words reveal what it is to be of color and female in the 20th century.

First published in 1975 when it was praised by The New Yorker for "encompassing...every feeling and experience a woman has ever had," for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be read and performed for generations to come. Here is the complete text of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem written in vivid and powerful language that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.

Irreverent and entertaining stories which Jameson describes as 'easy to pick up and more tantalising for one's bedside table than a novel'.

This selection of Winifred Holtby's short stories is drawn from her two volumes, "Truth is not Sober" and "Pavements of Anderby", published two years after her death. The stories are irreverent and many are autobiographically based, focusing on the Yorkshire farming community.

The Bookseller (UK) Editor's Choice

A vital, engaging, and hugely enjoyable guide to poetry, from ancient times to the present, by one of our greatest champions of literature

What is poetry? If music is sound organized in a particular way, poetry is a way of organizing language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work - over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This little history is about some that have not.

John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our views of the world, such as Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Whitman, and Yeats. He also looks at more recent poets, like Derek Walcott, Marianne Moore, and Maya Angelou, who have started to question what makes a poem “great” in the first place. This little history shines a light on the richness and variation of the world’s poems - and the elusive quality that makes them all the more enticing.

This selection of essays by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) demonstrate the varied power of his genius. Compiled from his lecture tours, newspaper articles, essays and epigrams, these writings show that beneath his trademark wit and love of paradox, Oscar Wilde was an original and remarkably modern writer.

This audiobook features an exclusive introduction written and narrated by Gyles Brandreth, the Honourary President of the Oscar Wilde Society, and a man with a near encyclopaedic knowledge of Oscar Wilde.

Fans of George R. R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and the Game of Thrones TV series will love Greek Mythology Explained, a unique retelling of Greek mythological tales featuring love, betrayal, murder, and ruthless ambitions.

A fascinating take on classical Greek stories: Discover six classic Greek myths in this exciting retelling that paints both famous and lesser known characters in a whole new light. Follow the likes of Odysseus, Lamia, Bellerophon, Icarus, Medusa, and Artemis as their fates are revealed through bloody trials, gut-wrenching betrayals, sinister motives, and broken hearts. With an accessible writing style that delves into the thoughts, feelings, desires, and motivations of every character, these mythical figures and their compelling stories will resonate with listeners as they are guided through perilous and tragic adventures.

A deeper understanding: Greek Mythology Explained provides an in-depth analysis of each story told as it unravels the greater themes and valuable lessons hidden within each chapter. Listeners will gain a deeper insight into the character's motives and the varying depictions of the original Greek myths.

Can a lion and a mouse ever be friends? This story, narrated brilliantly by Karthik Kumar, will show you a mighty lion realizing that even the littlest of friends are worth having.

Music & sound: Anil Srinivasan

Barney Willow thinks life couldn't get any worse. He's weedy and has sticky-out ears. Horrible Gavin Needle loves tormenting him. And worst of all, his Dad has been missing for almost a year, and there's no sign of him ever coming home. Barney just wants to escape, and find another life. Being a cat, for example. A quiet, lazy cat. Things would be so much easier - right?

A classic collection of farm animal tales written by best-loved Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton.

Follow the adventures of a local vet and the various farm animals who need his help and care over the course of one summer. Set against the wild and beautiful Yorkshire hills, these ten stories featuring farmyard favourites such as horses, goats, cows and more are sure to delight and inspire a love of animals from the youngest age.

The Christmasaurus is a story about a boy named William Trundle and a dinosaur, the Christmasaurus. It's about how they meet one Christmas Eve and have a magical adventure.

It's about friendship and families, sleigh bells and Santa, singing elves and flying reindeer, music and magic. It's about discovering your heart's true desire and learning that the impossible might just be possible....

In this astounding book, David Eagleman entertains 40 fictional possibilities of life beyond death. With wit and humanity he asks the key questions about existence, hope, technology and love.

These stories are full of big ideas and bold imagination.This audiobook assembles a stellar cast of readers who bring the scenarios of SUM brilliantly alive: Gillian Anderson, Emily Blunt, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Jack Davenport, Lisa Dwan, David Eagleman, Noel Fielding, Kerry Fox, Stephen Fry, Clarke Peters, Lemn Sissay and Harriet Walter.

This exciting collection presents two previously unpublished stories by SF legend Octavia E. Butler.

A Necessary Being precedes the events of Survivor, Butler's third (famously disowned) installment in her Patternist series, and includes characters from it, focusing exclusively on the Kohn, aliens who build their social hierarchies on the blueness of their fur.

In Childfinder, a black woman with the gift of identifying children with latent psychic ability refuses to share her skill with an organization of white telepaths.

What grotesque surprises will you find in the secret place between the shadow and the soul?

In her debut short story collection, M.J. Pack offers up a new breed of terror sure to delight any true horror fan. Don’t miss out on tales of telepathic twins, a campfire ghost story gone terribly wrong, pills that induce life-threatening nightmares, and the disturbing new sideshow at Coney Island: Lady Alligator. Take a haunting trip down infamous Bubblehead Road and follow Danny around the country as he’s pursued by unseen (and unrelenting) creatures.

Prepare yourself, you’re about to indulge in some certain dark things...

A nonsense classic of its time.

A compelling narrative to sweep you away, from a legendary Victorian children’s author. Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland in order to entertain a friend’s daughter on a boat trip - and so generations of children have flown away on his wild imaginations.

On a sunny afternoon, Alice discovers a bottle that says DRINK ME. Unable to resist, she follows the label’s instructions...and immediately shrinks to tumble down a rabbit hole into an adventure where nothing is as it seems. From The Mad Hatter to the White Rabbit, the grinning Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts, Alice meets a cast of characters who are both eccentric and memorable.

But will Alice survive her nonsensical adventure...and can she get back home? She must face the challenges of eccentric puzzles, verses and riddles, with the help of intriguing new friends, in order to find the way back home. The first of four books, this is a children’s classic that promises to both entertain and charm.

For fans of The Chronicles Of Narnia and Peter Rabbit, a children’s fantasy like no other.

Four books...one groundbreaking author.

Mrs Dalloway (1925)

One day; two lives. Mrs Dalloway prepares for a party, whilst a First World War veteran treads the same streets. Follow 24 hours in the lives of two extraordinary people, each of them recovering from the First World War. A hostess and a soldier come together...in the most unexpected of ways. Kristin Scott Thomas performs.

To the Lighthouse (1927)

A family’s summer holidays see them return to the Isle of Skye over days and years, sailing boats and enduring wars. As we follow the slow unfolding of the Ramsays' fortunes, both children and adults grow, love, lose. Listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Jessie Buckley performs.

A Room of One’s Own (1929)

Based on a series of lectures to women’s colleges, this collection of essays first published in 1929 explores a female’s need to have space to create, exist...survive. A must-listen for anyone exploring the roots of feminism - or simply what it is to be a woman. A provocative and pervasive listen that remains relevant to listeners of any age. Tilda Swinton performs.

The Waves (1931)

A dreamscape novel that follows six characters united by a single friend. Set against a stunning English coastal landscape, the novel dares to be one of Woolf’s most inventive narratives as it explores the journey from childhood to adulthood and beyond that - death, and all that we may learn. Vanessa Kirby, Adetomiwa Edun, Andrea Riseborough, Tracy Ifeachor, Samuel Barnett, Johnny Flynn and Juliet Stevenson perform.

The Devil comes to Moscow, but he isn't all bad; Pontius Pilate sentences a charismatic leader to his death, but yearns for redemption; and a writer tries to destroy his greatest tale, but discovers that manuscripts don't burn. Multi-layered and entrancing, blending sharp satire with glorious fantasy, The Master and Margarita is ceaselessly inventive and profoundly moving. In its imaginative freedom and raising of eternal human concerns, it is one of the world's great novels.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Harry Haller is a sad and lonely figure, a reclusive intellectual for whom life holds no joy. He struggles to reconcile the wild, primeval wolf and the rational man within himself without surrendering to the bourgeois values he despises. His life changes dramatically when he meets a woman who is his opposite, the carefree and elusive Hermine.

With its blend of Eastern mysticism and Western culture, Steppenwolf, Hesse' best-known and most autobiographical work, originally published in English in 1929, continues to speak to our souls as a classic of modern literature.

Against Nature was one of the most shocking French novels of the 19th century. When it was published in 1884, it thrilled the aesthetes, the poets, and the intellectuals of Europe on both sides of the Channel (notably Oscar Wilde) because for all its lofty tone, it had, as its core, an unbridled decadence, and it was this same character that challenged, even horrified, established bourgeois society.

Des Esseintes, a minor aristocrat but a high intellectual - deeply cultured and well-read - can no longer bear contemporary Parisian life in any of its forms! As a youth he had experienced the monastic environment and later academic life, but, remaining unfulfilled, he immersed himself in the multifarious sensual pleasures so readily available in Paris.

Still deeply unsatisfied, he decides to move to a house in a village in the countryside. Here he can create his own controlled environment with a minutely designed interior supporting his particular artistic tastes. At last he can live alone with his books, his reflections, and his needs. Nothing will interfere with how he wants to live, what he wants to see, to read, to study, to smell, to eat. However, a life of such total personal indulgence, even on a lofty intellectual and artistically sensitive plane, proves anything but easy - or satisfying.

The character of Des Esseintes, intense, testing, infuriating, but astonishing, was said to have been influenced by the famous aesthete of the time, the Comte de Montesquiou (also a model for Baron de Charlus in Proust's In Search of Lost Time), while Against Nature makes an unmistakeable appearance in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Nicholas Boulton here reads one of the best early translations (published anonymously and originally titled Against the Grain), which has been revised to reinstate sections originally cut to protect sensibilities of the time. It is the full novel as Huysmans intended.

The book has been translated into more than 160 languages and, to date has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. It is one of the top 50 best-selling books. It has been adapted into a movie musical by Lerner and Loewe, two different operas, as well as into an animated series. It is often used as a beginner's book for French language students.

A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see, standing before him, the most extraordinary little fellow. "Please," asks the stranger, "draw me a sheep." And the pilot realizes that when life's events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out pencil and paper... And thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that, in teaching the secret of what is really important in life, has changed forever the world for its readers.

Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring) brings a palpable sense of joy and exuberance to her performance of Lewis Carroll's enduring classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. From the White Rabbit and Mad Hatter to the Cheshire Cat and Queen of Hearts, she imbues each madcap character with a distinct voice and personality that will leave a lasting impression long after the adventure is over.

One hundred and fifty years after its original publication, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland remains one of the most widely read, deconstructed, referenced, and reinterpreted works of Western fiction. It tells the story of the young and imaginative Alice, who grows weary of her storybook, one "without pictures or conversations", and follows a hasty hare underground - to come face to face with a host of strange and fantastic characters.

A heartwarming festive tale of redemption and cheer, The Christmas Hirelings is the story of a lonely widower who reluctantly invites a group of children to his manor for Christmas. It showcases the benefits of opening your doors and hearts during the holiday season.

About the Book
First published in 1893, The Christmas Hirelings is a delightful short tale of compassion and redemption. With his sole surviving daughter Sybil estranged, and his wife passed away, there is a deficit of Christmas cheer in the near-vacant country mansion of Sir John Penlyon. In an attempt to improve the festive mood, Sir John’s good friend Mr Danby suggests that three children be 'hired' over the Christmas period in the hope of brightening the mood. After overcoming his initial reluctance, Sir John soon opens the doors of Penlyon Castle to Lassie, Laddie and little Moppet. Their arrival does more than signal the coming of Christmas however, as Sir John finds himself re-evaluating his past actions.

About the Author
Mary Elizabeth Braddon was a popular English author who earned success in the Victorian era with her sensation novels. Born in London in 1835, she was raised by her mother Fanny after her parents’ separation. She began working as an actress as a teenager, but after eight years, and with declining popularity and waning interest, she instead turned to writing. Her prolific output resulted in over 80 novels, 150 short stories, as well as plays and articles. Braddon is best known for her novel Lady Audley’s Secret, which combined elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romantic comedy to become one of the most successful novels of the 19th century.

About the Narrator
Jennifer Saunders is a national comedy icon and a much loved TV star. She has a host of awards to her name including five BAFTA Awards, two International Emmy Awards and four British Comedy Awards, to name a few. She is most well known for her French and Saunders comedy duo, Absolutely Fabulous and her work with Comic Relief. Jennifer’s voice credits include Shrek 2, Minions, Stick Man, Sing and Moominvalley.

Here are 22 charming Japanese Fairy Tales, translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki, including "My Lord Bag of Rice", "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow", "The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad", "The Farmer and the Badger", "The Shinansha, or the South Pointing Carriage", "The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy", "The Story of Princess Hase", "The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die", "The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moonchild", "The Mirror of Matsuyama", "The Goblin of Adachigahara", "The Sagacious Monkey and the Boar", "The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher", "The Story of the Old Man Who Made Withered Trees to Flower", "The Jellyfish and the Monkey", "The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab", "The White Hare and the Crocodiles", "The Story of Prince Yamato Take", "Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach", "The Ogre of Rashomon", "How an Old Man Lost His Wen", and "The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa".

To the Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf’s arresting analysis of domestic family life, centering on the Ramseys and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland in the early 1900s. Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Eyes Wide Shut), who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours, brings the impressionistic prose of this classic to vibrant life.

Split into three parts, the story observes Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsey, and their children at their vacation house on the Isle of Skye. While the novel follows seemingly trivial events between the family members, the plot takes a backseat to philosophical introspection, which gave the novel its fame as an icon of modernist literature. The Ramseys’ quest to recapture meaning creates a powerful allegory of man’s impermanent battle with the tangible world.

Elizabeth McGovern reads this classic American novel. Little Women is one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, based on the author's own youthful experiences. It describes the family life of the four March sisters living in a small New England community. Christmas won't be the same this year for Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, as their father is away fighting in the Civil War, and the family has fallen on hard times.

Meg, the eldest, is pretty and good-natured; Jo, the tomboy, nurses an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of 13 with a taste for music and Amy, the baby of the family, is a blonde beauty of 12.

The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to overcome their poverty, their friendship with the neighbouring Lawrences, and their later love affairs has been treasured for generations.

Compiled by American essayist, editor, critic, and lecturer Hamilton Wright Mabie, here is a fantastic collection of classic legends from ancient mythology, The classical work of Hawthorne has been generously drawn upon. Included are "Three Golden Apples"; "Pomegranate Seeds"; "Chimera"; "Golden Touch"; "Gorgon's Head"; "Dragon's Teeth"; "Miraculous Pitcher"; "Paradise of Children"; "Cyclops"; "Argonauts"; "Giant Builder"; "How Odin Lost His Eye"; "Quest of the Hammer"; "Apples of Idun"; "Death of Balder"; and "Star and the Lily".

Whilst Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is perhaps best for his plays such as Uncle Vanya and The Seagull, he was also a prolific author of short stories.

In this exclusive collection, Audible presents six of his most-celebrated short stories, chosen and performed by Richard Armitage.

Richard, whose interest in the work of Chekhov was sparked by his appearance as Astrov in a stage production of Uncle Vanya, also introduces the collection with a brief overview of each of the stories and his thoughts on why Chekhov’s short stories are not to be missed.

The collection contains the following stories:

'Ward 6'

In a mental asylum, a patient comes into conflict with a director of the institution.

'The Kiss'

During a party, a man becomes infatuated by a woman who accidentally kisses him in the dark.

'Betrothed'

A young woman strives to asset her independence by choosing education over an arranged marriage.

'The Black Monk'

An ageing scholar experiences strange hallucinations.

Is he a genius, or is he insane?

'Neighbours'

A beautiful young woman subverts society expectations by going to live with her neighbour, an older, married man.

'The Student'

A depressed young student has his spirits lifted by recounting an religious story to two strangers.

Set during the French Revolution, this powerful story shows how love and courage can bring hope even in the darkest times.

There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.

There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse, but the Rabbit was quite the best of all. For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.

For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him.

A collection of classic works by Edgar Allan Poe, American author, poet, editor, and literary critic. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

This volume includes "The Purloined Letter", "The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade", "A Descent into the Maelstrom", "Von Kempelen and his Discovery", "Mesmeric Revelation", "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar", "The Black Cat", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "Silence: A Fable", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Imp of the Perverse", "The Island of the Fay", "The Assignation", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Premature Burial", "The Domain of Arnheim", "Landor's Cottage", and "William Wilson".

Set in 2540 CE, Brave New World is a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley that was published in 1932. The novel takes place in a futuristic society called The World State, where life revolves around science and efficiency. Emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children, and citizens are socially engineered into an intelligence-based hierarchy. People are kept in a passive state through their consumption of a soothing drug called soma, and trouble-makers are exiled to various islands. The characters include Bernard Marx, a sleep-learning specialist, Helmholtz Watson, a lecturer, Lenina Crowne, a fetus technician, and John, also known as “Mr. Savage”. Brave New World was ranked at number five on the Modern Library’s 1999 list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Da era da uniformidade.

Da era da solidão e do bipensamento.

Da era do Grande Irmão.

De mim, Winston Smith.

Saudações.

É 1984, e a vida está irreconhecível. Pista Aérea Um, antes conhecida como Grã-Bretanha, é um lugar onde o Grande Irmão está sempre de olho e é impossível se esconder. Exceto, talvez, para Winston Smith. Enquanto trabalha reescrevendo a história no Ministério da Verdade, ele nutre sonhos secretos de liberdade. E, num mundo onde o amor e o sexo são proibidos, onde é difícil distinguir os amigos dos inimigos, ele conhece Julia e O’Brien e decide se rebelar.

Com a atuação de Lázaro Ramos como Winston, Alice Carvalho como Julia, Mateus Solano como o sedutor e misterioso O’Brien e a participação de Milhem Cortaz como Grande Irmão, a Audible apresenta uma nova dramatização do clássico de George Orwell. Uma experiência auditiva imersiva como você nunca ouviu, num momento em que a relevância perturbadora da obra parece maior do que nunca.

Com uma trilha sonora original assombrosa de Matthew Bellamy, vocalista e compositor do Muse, e Ilan Eshkeri, gravada pela Orquestra Metropolitana de Londres no Abbey Road Studios, direção de Lena Horn, Produção de elenco, Gravação e Edição brasileira por Alma Sintética Companhia de Arte. Mixagem Dolby Atmos por Granny Eats Wolf, dramatização por Joe White, dramaturgo indicado ao Olivier Award, e tradução de Leonardo Alves.

Estrelando também Gabriel Stauffer, Gustavo Falcão, Suzana Nascimento, Natasha Syme, Karen Coelho e Saulo Segreto.

Com Thelmo Fernandes, Bárbara Sut, Iano Salomão, Karen Padrão, Maria Adélia, Márcio Nascimento, Alexandre Varella, Fernanda Barone, Roberto Bürgel, Chiara Santoro, Tati Pasquali, McKeidy Lisita, Bárbara Arvolo, Flávio Back, Alessandro Vieira, José Luíz Andrade e Renan Brum.

Esta adaptação de 1984, de George Orwell, é uma experiência auditiva imersiva e contém cenas que podem ser incômodas para algumas pessoas.

Disponível em Dolby Atmos na Audible.

Audie Award Winner, Audiobook of the Year, 2013.

Audie Award Nominee, Best Solo Narration, 2013.

Graham Greene's evocative analysis of the love of self, the love of another, and the love of God is an English classic that has been translated for the stage, the screen, and even the opera house.

Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth (The King's Speech, A Single Man) turns in an authentic and stirring performance for this distinguished audio release. The End of the Affair, set in London during and just after World War II, is the story of a flourishing love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah Miles. After a violent episode at Maurice's apartment, Sarah suddenly and without explanation breaks off the affair.

This very intimate story about what actually constitutes love is enhanced by Mr. Firth's narration, who said "this book struck me very, very particularly at the time when I read it and I thought my familiarity with it would give the journey a personal slant. I'm grateful for this honor," Firth said when this production was recognized by the Audie Awards as Audiobook of the Year for 2013, "and grateful for the opportunity to narrate one of my favorite stories. A great novel told in the first person makes for the best script an actor could imagine. None better than The End of the Affair.... Theater and film each offer their own challenges and rewards, but narration is a new practice for me and the audiobook performance provides exhilarating possibilities for both actors and listeners. I'm thrilled to be involved in bringing this remarkable work of fiction to a wider audience, and thankful to Audible for offering me the opportunity to perform it and to engage with so many who share my passion for storytelling."

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Franz Kafka's famous story of man-turned-insect, Metamorphosis.

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile

After a night of troubled dreams, Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a huge, monstrous, cockroach-like creature, with an armour-plated back and multiple limbs.

Gradually, he comes to terms with his new state - but his parents and sister are horrified and increasingly revolted. To them, Gregor is unclean, verminous and entirely repellent, and as he becomes more and more of a burden, their horror turns to a terrible indifference....

First published in 1915, Kafka's surreal existential novella explores concepts such as the absurdity of life, alienation and the disconnect between mind and body. Read by Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek, The Imitation Game), this tale - often described as one of the greatest in the history of fiction - is chilling, captivating and darkly comic.

Like so many of the most popular classic novels, it's Tolstoy's delicate and insightful exploration of what it means to be human that makes Anna Karenina such a valuable work. There's no denying that it transcends time to touch the hearts of contemporary listeners.

Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky.

Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude.

Winner: Audible's Best of 2016 - Classic

"Anna Karenina is one of my favorite books. But when I agreed to read it for Audible, I had no idea how much work it would be, how intense it would be, and how deeply I would fall in love with it. There were places where I thought 'if I don't give Alexey Alexandrovitch the respect that he deserves in my reading of this scene, a critical part of the book will be ruined. If I don't give EVERYONE the utmost respect and understanding, I'm not doing justice to this brilliantly compassionate book.' But at the same time, I also wanted to have a light touch in the way I played the different characters, so that the magnificence of the novel could shine through. I feel like performing this novel is one of the major accomplishments of my work life - it was so challenging and so deep, a real pleasure." (Narrator Maggie Gyllenhaal)

Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky. Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight, The Honourable Woman) cites Tolstoy's epic as one of her favorite books of all time, and her love for the literature permeates her performance. Anna Karenina is a masterpiece not only because of the unforgettable woman at its core and the stark drama of her fate but also because it explores and illuminates the deepest questions about how to live a fulfilled life.

Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future, narrated here by Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

George Orwell's nightmare vision of a dystopian world has become more apt in these modern, chaotic times. Casting a pall of oppressive dread from the very first sentence, this classic audiobook takes hold of your imagination and stays with you long after the last four words are uttered.

Big Brother is watching you....

1984 is the year in which it happens. The world is divided into three superstates. In Oceania, the Party’s power is absolute. Every action, word, gesture and thought is monitored under the watchful eye of Big Brother and the Thought Police. In the Ministry of Truth, the Party’s department for propaganda, Winston Smith’s job is to edit the past. Over time, the impulse to escape the machine and live independently takes hold of him and he embarks on a secret and forbidden love affair. As he writes the words ‘DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER’, his personal rebellion begins....

George Orwell’s masterpiece is the definitive dystopian novel and one of the most influential works of the twentieth century.

In the small coastal city of Oran, Algeria, rats begin rising up from the filth only to die as bloody heaps in the streets. Shortly after, an outbreak of the bubonic plague erupts and envelops the human population. Albert Camus' The Plague is a brilliant and haunting rendering of human perseverance and futility in the face of a relentless terror born of nature.

While Bloom's passionate wife, Molly, conducts yet another illicit liasion (with her concert manager), Bloom finds himself getting into arguments with drunken nationalists and wild carousing with excitable medical students, before rescuing Stephen Dedalus from a brawl and returning with him to his own basement kitchen.

In the hands of Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan, experienced and stimulating Joycean readers, and carefully directed by Roger Marsh, Ulysses becomes accessible as never before. It is entertaining, immediate, funny, and rich in classical, philosophical, and musical allusion.

Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's provocative, naturalistic masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist, who eventually gets tossed away as her deepening character emerges.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote's most beloved work of fiction, introduced an independent and complex character who challenged audiences, revived Audrey Hepburn's flagging career in the 1961 film version, and whose name and style has remained in the national idiom since publication. Hall uses his diligent attention to character to bring our unnamed narrator’s emotional vulnerability to the forefront of this American classic.

Just as relevant today as it was when it was first published, this classic work of fiction is given a new lease of life through Simon Callow's imaginative narration. First-time listeners and Orwell veterans alike will delight in this audiobook version.

Animal Farm is George Orwell's great socio-political allegory set in a farmyard, where the animals decide to seize the farmer's land and create a co-operative that reaps the benefits of their combined labours.

However, as with all great political plans, some animals see a bigger share of the rewards than others, and the animals start to question their supposed utopia. They decide that working for humans is doing them no favours, so under the leadership of Napoleon, the only Berkshire Boar on the farm, and the other pigs, they drive out the farmer and his cohorts and set about structuring their own society.

Based on a list of supposedly animal-friendly rules such as "four legs good, two legs baaaaad", the animals work together to harvest their own food and run their own farm. However, little by little, the rules begin to mysteriously change, and the pigs seem to gain power little by little, making the animals question what society they were striving for in the first place and whether their new-found freedom is as liberating as they might have hoped.

With direct allusions to political figures such as Lenin, Marx, Trotsky, Stalin, and Molitov, to name but a few, Animal Farm is one of the greatest socio-political works of all time, and this UNABRIDGED audio does it absolute justice.

Stephen Fry and John Bird star in all four series of the BBC Radio 4 satirical comedy, plus the 2006 special episode.

Set in the Machiavellian world of modern PR, Absolute Power introduces us to London-based 'government-media relations consultancy' Prentiss McCabe, whose partners Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe are frequently embroiled in the machinations of the British political system. Prentiss is ruthless, unscrupulous, and will go to almost any lengths to pull off a big commission, while McCabe does have a moral compass, but is too laid-back and fond of claret to use it very often.

In episodes that could have been written yesterday, the duo's targets for makeover include the Conservative Party; The Sun; the Mayor of London; the Church of England; Radio 3; English sporting success; the elderly; prisons; the Prime Minister; the Health Service; a Big Brother star; a tennis pro; men; the BBC; 'the notion of Nation'; healthy eating and the US Presidential Campaign.

This complete collection includes all 21 episodes of the four series, first broadcast between 2000 and 2004, plus the special 2006 episode. Stephen Fry and John Bird star as Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe, with Tamsin Greig as rival spin doctor Gayle Shand.

"Pandora":
According to the Greeks, she was the first woman created. Her finest gift from Zeus was curiosity. Her most precious gift to mankind was hope.

"Demeter and Persephone":
Demeter, the goddess of growing things, tells how her daughter was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld. Because of Demeter's power over nature, Hades is forced to return Persephone to her mother, but only for half of each year.

"Judgment of Paris":
Paris, a Trojan prince predicted to be Least Likely to Succeed by an oracle, judges a beauty contest and decides who is the fairest of three goddesses: Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite. In the end, he discovers what baaad could happen!

"Medusa":
When Athena's temple is defiled, she takes her revenge on Medusa, a beautiful young woman, and turns her into the ugliest monster in Greek mythology.

As well as being a number one best-selling writer for adults, Matt Haig has won the Blue Peter Book Award, The Smarties Book Prize and has been shortlisted three times for the Carnegie Medal for his stories for children and young adults. The idea for the A Boy Called Christmas series came when his son asked what Father Christmas was like as a boy.

Journey to the edge of magic.

If magic has a beginning, can it also have an end? When Amelia wants a wish to come true she knows just the man to ask - Father Christmas. But the magic she wants to believe in is starting to fade, and Father Christmas has more than impossible wishes to worry about. Upset elves, reindeers dropping out of the sky, angry trolls and the chance that Christmas might be cancelled.

Norse mythology forms the delicate backbone of countless modern stories. Fascinating, dramatic and deliberate, with a gripping tension and vitality, the best-selling author of American Gods brings these Norse tales to life.

The great Norse myths are woven into the fabric of our storytelling - from Tolkien, Alan Garner and Rosemary Sutcliff to Game of Thrones and Marvel Comics. They are also an inspiration for Neil Gaiman's own award-bedecked, best-selling fiction. Now he reaches back through time to the original source stories in a thrilling and vivid rendition of the great Norse tales. Gaiman's gods are thoroughly alive - irascible, visceral, playful and passionate - and the tales carry us from the beginning of everything to Ragnarök and the twilight of the gods. Galvanised by Gaiman's prose, Thor, Loki, Odin and Freya are irresistible forces for modern listeners, and the crackling, brilliant writing demands to be heard around an open fire on a freezing, starlit night.

Available in audio for the first time since its publication in 1970, and narrated by the author, Germaine Greer.

A worldwide best seller, The Female Eunuch is a landmark book in the history of the women's movement and a ground-breaking feminist tract. Drawing from history, literature, and popular culture - past and present - Germaine Greer's searing examination of women's oppression is both an important social commentary and a passionately argued polemical masterpiece. This is one of the most famous, most widely read books on feminism ever written.

During a visit to her grandma's house, a young girl discovers a box of poems in the attic - poems written by her mother when she was growing up. Her mother's family often moved around the United States and the world because her father was in the air force. Over the years her mother used poetry to record her experiences in the many places the family lived. Reading the poems and sharing those experiences through her mother's eyes, the young girl feels closer to her mother than ever before. To let her mother know this, she creates a gift: a book with her own poems and copies of her mother's. And when she returns her mother's poems to the box in the attic, she leaves her own poems, too, for someone else to find someday.

Using free verse for the young girl's poems and tanka for her mother's, master poet Nikki Grimes creates a tender intergenerational story that speaks to every child's need to hold on to special memories of home no matter where that place might be.

Timothy is on probation. It's a strange word - something that happens to other kids, to delinquents, not to kids like him. And yet, he is under house arrest for the next year. He must check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist and keep a journal for an entire year. And mostly, he has to stay out of trouble.

But when he must take drastic measures to help his struggling family, staying out of trouble proves more difficult than Timothy ever thought it would be.

By turns touching and funny, and always original, House Arrest is a middle-grade novel in verse about one boy's path to redemption as he navigates life with a sick brother, a grieving mother, and one tough probation officer.

This inspiring book, began in 1926 as a series of informational pamphlets distributed by banks and insurance companies. By 1927, several of these pamphlets had been compiled into a book and this collection has been in print ever since. It has helped millions of people, and has been hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth.

A modern day classic, The Richest Man in Babylon dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. These famous "Babylonian parables" offer an understanding of - and solution to - a lifetime's worth of personal financial problems, and holds the secrets to acquiring money, keeping money, and earning more money.

Popular blogger Cal Newport reveals the new key to achieving success and true meaning in professional life: the ability to master distraction.

Many modern knowledge workers now spend most of their brain power battling distraction and interruption, whether because of the incessant pinging of devices, noisy open-plan offices or the difficulty of deciding what deserves their attention the most. When Cal Newport coined the term deep work on his popular blog, Study Hacks, in 2012, he found the concept quickly hit a nerve. Most of us, after all, are excruciatingly familiar with shallow work instead - distractedly skimming the surface of our workload and never getting to the important part. Newport began exploring the methods and mind-set that foster a practice of distraction-free productivity at work, and now, in Deep Work, he shows how anyone can achieve this elusive state.

Through revealing portraits of both historical and modern-day thinkers, academics and leaders in the fields of technology, science and culture, and their deep work habits, Newport shares an inspiring collection of tools to wring every last drop of value out of your intellectual capacity. He explains why mastering this shift in work practices is crucial for anyone who intends to stay ahead in a complex information economy and how to systematically train the mind to focus. Put simply: developing and cultivating a deep work practice is one of the best decisions we can make in an increasingly distracted world.

Playing to Win, a noted Wall Street Journal and Washington Post best seller, outlines the strategic approach Lafley, in close partnership with strategic adviser Roger Martin, used to double P&G’s sales, quadruple its profits, and increase its market value by more than $100 billion when Lafley was first CEO (he led the company from 2000 to 2009). The book shows leaders in any type of organization how to guide everyday actions with larger strategic goals built around the clear, essential elements that determine business successwhere to play and how to win.

Lafley and Martin have created a set of five essential strategic choices that, when addressed in an integrated way, will move you ahead of your competitors. They are: (1) What is our winning aspiration? (2) Where will we play? (3) How will we win? (4) What capabilities must we have in place to win? and (5) What management systems are required to support our choices? The result is a playbook for winning.

The stories of how P&G repeatedly won by applying this method to iconic brands such as Olay, Bounty, Gillette, Swiffer, and Febreze clearly illustrate how deciding on a strategic approachand then making the right choices to support itmakes the difference between just playing the game and actually winning.

Playing to Win outlines a proven method that has worked for some of today’s most celebrated brands and products. Let this book serve as your new guide to winning, as well.

Crest the data wave with a deep cultural shift.

Winning with Data explores the cultural changes big data brings to business, and shows you how to adapt your organization to leverage data to maximum effect. Authors Tomasz Tunguz and Frank Bien draw on extensive background in big data, business intelligence, and business strategy to provide a blueprint for companies looking to move head-on into the data wave. Instrumentation is discussed in detail, but the core of the change is in the culture - this book provides sound guidance on building the type of organizational culture that creates and leverages data daily, in every aspect of the business. Real-world examples illustrate these important concepts at work: you'll learn how data helped Warby-Parker disrupt a $13 billion monopolized market, how ThredUp uses data to process more than 20,000 items of clothing every day, how Venmo leverages data to build better products, how HubSpot empowers their salespeople to be more productive, and more. From decision making and strategy to shipping and sales, this book shows you how data makes better business.

Big data has taken on buzzword status, but there is little real guidance for companies seeking everyday business data solutions. This book takes a deeper look at big data in business, and shows you how to shift internal culture ahead of the curve.

• Understand the changes a data culture brings to companies
• Instrument your company for maximum benefit
• Utilize data to optimize every aspect of your business
• Improve decision making and transform business strategy

Big data is becoming the number-one topic in business, yet no one is asking the right questions. Leveraging the full power of data requires more than good IT - organization-wide buy-in is essential for long-term success. Winning with Data is the expert guide to making data work for your business, and your needs.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Great copy is the heart and soul of the advertising business. In this practical guide, legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman provides proven guidelines and expert advice on what it takes to write copy that will entice, motivate, and move customers to buy. For anyone who wants to break into the business, this is the ultimate companion resource for unlimited success.

Ditch the failed sales tactics, fill your pipeline, and crush your number.

Fanatical Prospecting gives salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development: prospecting.

The brutal fact is that the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe, and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect. By ignoring the muscle of prospecting, many otherwise competent salespeople and sales organizations consistently underperform.

Step by step, Jeb Blount outlines his innovative approach to prospecting that works for real people in the real world with real prospects.

Learn how to keep the pipeline full of qualified opportunities and avoid debilitating sales slumps by leveraging a balanced prospecting methodology across multiple prospecting channels.

This book reveals the secrets, techniques, and tips of top earners. You'll learn:

• Why the 30-Day Rule is critical for keeping the pipeline full
• Why understanding the Law of Replacement is the key to avoiding sales slumps
• How to leverage the Law of Familiarity to reduce prospecting friction and avoid rejection
• The 5 C's of Social Selling and how to use them to get prospects to call you
• How to use the simple 5-Step Telephone Framework to get more appointments fast
• How to double callbacks with a powerful voice mail technique
• How to leverage the powerful 4-Step Email Prospecting Framework to create emails that compel prospects to respond
• How to get text working for you with the 7-Step Text Message Prospecting Framework
• And so much more!

Fanatical Prospecting is filled with the high-powered strategies, techniques, and tools you need to fill your pipeline with high quality opportunities.

In the most comprehensive book ever written about sales prospecting, Jeb Blount reveals the real secret to improving sales productivity and growing your income fast. You'll gain the power to blow through resistance and objections, gain more appointments, start more sales conversations, and close more sales.

Break free from the fear and frustration that is holding you and your team back from effective and consistent prospecting. It's time to get off the feast or famine sales roller coaster for good!

Audie Award Finalist, Business/Educational, 2014

Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has actually called "sexy". From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. How can we catch schools that cheat on standardized tests? How does Netflix know which movies you'll like? What is causing the rising incidence of autism? As best-selling author Charles Wheelan shows us in Naked Statistics, the right data and a few well-chosen statistical tools can help us answer these questions and more.

For those who slept through Stats 101, this book is a lifesaver. Wheelan strips away the arcane and technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis. He clarifies key concepts such as inference, correlation, and regression analysis, reveals how biased or careless parties can manipulate or misrepresent data, and shows us how brilliant and creative researchers are exploiting the valuable data from natural experiments to tackle thorny questions.

You’ll encounter clever Schlitz Beer marketers leveraging basic probability, an International Sausage Festival illuminating the tenets of the central limit theorem, and a head-scratching choice from the famous game show Let’s Make a Deal - and you’ll come away with insights each time. With the wit, accessibility, and sheer fun that turned Naked Economics into a best seller, Wheelan defies the odds yet again by bringing another essential, formerly unglamorous discipline to life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

This book includes two manuscripts.

Blockchain: Master the Blockchain Technology:

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are fascinating, and if someone is able to do their own solving of the algorithmic puzzles and mining of the Bitcoin, there is even money to be made. However, as interesting as the idea of cryptocurrencies are, the ways blockchain technology will immeasurably alter the methods in which the world shares information are incredible.

Within the next decade, I am sure that cryptocurrency and the blockchain technologies will become an integral part of our lives. We can already see financial institutions adopt the use of blockchain technologies. They are recreating the way they handle contracts and transactions. Blockchain technology has the ability to disrupt the entire financial system in a good way completely.

Blockchain technology has broken out into the mainstream and is currently bending and breaking the rules in almost every imaginable industry worldwide.

Inside this book you will read about:

• How to get started with blockchain
• Benefits and downfalls of blockchain technology
• Blockchain platforms
• Reinventing financial services
• Smart contracts and other blockchain implementations
• Blockchain rules
• Resources for blockchain technology

Bitcoin: The Currency of the Future:

You have probably heard of Bitcoin. It has garnered a lot of attention lately, both among Bitcoin enthusiasts and in the mainstream media. There is a lot of hype surrounding Bitcoin. It has been featured in news and periodical articles, as well as television shows. It seems to be a buzzword that is quickly becoming embedded in popular culture. Many people have heard of it and know that it is a "virtual currency", but what does that mean? What is a virtual currency? What is Bitcoin even good for, and how can you use it?

Bitcoin is a virtual, peer-to-peer currency that is not regulated by any government. It does not exist in hard forms, such as cash; rather than being minted by a treasury or other centralized regulating body, it is mined by programmers who solve complex mathematical and computational problems to release blocks of Bitcoins into the Bitcoin pool.

Because there is no centralized financial body regulating Bitcoin, its value is not set or predetermined by any one authority. Rather, it derives its value entirely from consumer demand for it. When more users buy and make transactions in Bitcoin, its value goes up.

Learn more now!

Without calculus, we wouldn't have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn't have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket.

Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz's brilliantly creative, down-to-earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it's about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number - infinity - to tackle real world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous.

Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves. Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes "backwards" sometimes; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.

As Strogatz proves, calculus is truly the language of the universe. By unveiling the principles of that language, Infinite Powers makes us marvel at the world anew.

Brian Tracy, one of the top professional speakers and sales trainers in the world today, found that his most important breakthrough in selling was the discovery that it is the "Psychology of Selling" that is more important than the techniques and methods of selling.

Tracy's classic audio program, The Psychology of Selling, is the best-selling sales training program in history and is now available in expanded and updated audiobook format for the first time. Salespeople will learn: "The inner game of selling" how to eliminate the fear of rejectionhow to build unshakeable self-confidence. Sales people, says Tracy, must learn to control their thoughts, feelings, and actions to make themselves more effective.

Behind the familiar surfaces of the telephone, radio, and television lies a sophisticated and intriguing body of knowledge known as information theory. This is the theory that has permitted the rapid development of all sorts of communication, from color television to the clear transmission of photographs from the vicinity of Jupiter. Even more revolutionary progress is expected in the future.

Beginning with the origins of this burgeoning field, Dr. Pierce follows the brilliant formulations of Claude Shannon and describes such aspects of the subject as encoding and binary digits, entropy, language and meaning, efficient encoding, and the noisy channel. He then goes beyond the strict confines of the topic to explore the ways in which information theory relates to physics, cybernetics, psychology, and art. Mathematical formulas are introduced at the appropriate points for the benefit of serious students.

J. R. Pierce worked for many years at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he became Director of Research in Communications Principles. An Introduction to Information Theory continues to be the most impressive nontechnical account available and a fascinating introduction to the subject for lay listeners.

A political prisoner throughout his childhood, Antón Castillo (Giancarlo Esposito) dreams of becoming El Presidente just like his father before he was killed and his family imprisoned during a revolution. A Leukaemia diagnosis might be his undoing, but an experimental drug that can only be grown in Yara, keeps him and his dream alive. But to hold on to power and keep up with production demand for his miracle drug, he must go to extreme lengths that shock even his own son Diego. Journalist and activist Clara García is determined to stop this dictator in the making whatever the cost.

Starring: Alejandro Vargas Lugo, Alex Ruiz, Ana Clements, Antonio Fornaris, Ariel Butwyna, Daniela Azuaje, David Juarez, Diego Jalfen, Erika Soto, Fernando Tiberini, Frederico Louhau, Gabriel Porras, Giancarlo Esposito, Jackie Quinones, Javier Prusky, Laura Cucurullo, Lorraine Ansell, Marta De Silva, Natalie Castellanos, Simone McIntyre, Stephane Cornicard, Susie Valerio, Vicky Tessio and Vidal Sancho.

From the author of the “Magic 2.0” series comes an outer space caper where it’s the thief who’s having something stolen from her - her life.

It is the distant future, and Baird is a loner, a part time spy, and a notorious alleged thief. “Notorious” for the audacity of her crimes; “alleged” because nobody has ever been able to legally prove she committed any of them.

When the hush-hush agency known as the Toolbox recruits Baird, being a clandestine operative seems like a great way to get paid to do what she already does anyway. That is, until a mission goes wrong, and Baird is infected with a deadly virus. With only seven days to live, Baird has to complete a series of daring missions, each one designed to bring her closer to a cure.

Allegedly.

Baird suspects the Toolbox might not be telling her the whole truth. She's not sure what to believe or who to trust.

And the clock is ticking.

Griffins, cyclopes, monsters, and giants - these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? Through careful research and meticulous documentation, Adrienne Mayor convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact - in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories.

Like their modern counterparts, the ancient fossil hunters collected and measured impressive petrified remains and displayed them in temples and museums; they attempted to reconstruct the appearance of these prehistoric creatures and to explain their extinction. By listening to these neglected narratives for the first time in the light of modern scientific discoveries, Adrienne Mayor illuminates a lost world of ancient paleontology.

When the Saulnier sisters suffer one disappointment too many in their native France, they decide to pack up and try their luck in America. As journalists, they have the run of the country, following stories that take them to places where most Americans have never been - from the back roads of Appalachia to an underground village of homeless people in the New York City subway system. And along the way, they dine on: Nathan's Famous hot dogs at the annual hot dog-eating contest in Coney Island; snapping turtle soup as prepared by the Native American elders of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe; cheesy grits from the Armadillo Diner in Texas; and burgers, burgers, burgers everywhere!

As the Saulnier sisters adopt the American way of eating, their relationship to food shortly changes. They gain weight - and lose their self-esteem. This new diet is especially hard on Victorine, who temporarily abandons her vegetarianism. It's not until they meet a couple running an organic farm in upstate New York that they realize how far they've strayed from their native food values - and learn that you can eat well in America, too.

After his father's heart attack in 1984, Peter Godwin began a series of pilgrimages back to Zimbabwe, the land of his birth, from Manhattan, where he now lives. On these frequent visits to check on his elderly parents, he bore witness to Zimbabwe's dramatic spiral downward into the jaws of violent chaos, presided over by an increasingly enraged dictator. And yet long after their comfortable lifestyle had been shattered and millions were fleeing, his parents refuse to leave, steadfast in their allegiance to the failed state that has been their adopted home for 50 years. Then Godwin discovered a shocking family secret that helped explain their loyalty. Africa was his father's sanctuary from another identity, another world.

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun is a stirring memoir of the disintegration of a family set against the collapse of a country. But it is also a vivid portrait of the profound strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love.

Henry and Nomi are thrilled to find out they’re going to be parents. There is so much to think about, so many decisions they’ll need to make, about feeding schedules and childcare and schools. But there’s one decision they never would have imagined facing, and even considering the choice is a minefield of emotions and experiences and expectations.

After all, the only thing that hangs in the balance is the course of their child’s life.

Would You Like to Choose the Race? is written by Arvind Ethan David and stars Christine Elmore as Nomi Cook and Adam Campbell as Henry Cook.

Earworms is a series of short speculative-fiction dramas–tales of what might have been...or might yet be...or perhaps in fact are, if only you were paying attention...if only you were listening.

When Korra, the new Avatar, arrives in Republic City to master airbending, she finds it filled with hostility and distrust between benders and nonbenders. At the center of the melee are the Equalists, revolutionaries whose shadowy leader has vowed to put a stop to all bending... forever!

The Legend of Korra continues the epic action begun in Avatar: The Last Airbender! Now fantasy fans ages 12 and up can bend their way into the beginning of Korra's adventures with this audio novelization of Nickelodeon's hit series, The Legend of Korra.

From the author of the Themis Files and the Take Them to the Stars series comes a new, riveting story of first contact.

What kind of message would you have sent into space?

I wouldn’t have.

Why not?

Because they might hear it, and then they might come.

A mysterious radio signal is picked up from a neighboring star system. A group of experts is brought to the floor of the Grand Canyon to investigate its origin and its meaning as the planet suffers one natural disaster after another. Cut off from the rest of the world, they must question everything, including each other, if they hope to solve the mystery.

What they discover could be the difference between life as we know it—and the end of the world.

The Gene is the story of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in our history, from best-selling, prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Spanning the globe and several centuries, The Gene is the story of the quest to decipher the master code that makes and defines humans, that governs our form and function.

The story of the gene begins in an obscure Augustinian abbey in Moravia in 1856, where a monk stumbles on the idea of a 'unit of heredity'. It intersects with Darwin's theory of evolution and collides with the horrors of Nazi eugenics in the 1940s. The gene transforms postwar biology. It reorganises our understanding of sexuality, temperament, choice and freewill. This is a story driven by human ingenuity and obsessive minds - from Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel to Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin and the thousands of scientists still working to understand the code of codes.

This is an epic, moving history of a scientific idea coming to life by the author of The Emperor of All Maladies. But woven through The Gene like a red line is also an intimate history - the story of Mukherjee's own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives. These concerns reverberate even more urgently today as we learn to 'read' and 'write' the human genome - unleashing the potential to change the fates and identities of our children.

Majestic in its ambition and unflinching in its honesty, The Gene gives us a definitive account of the fundamental unit of heredity - and a vision of both humanity's past and its future.

As the acclaimed Patternist science-fiction series begins, two immortals meet in the long-ago past - and mankind's destiny is changed forever.

For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him. But when a gang of New World slavers destroys his village, ruining his grand experiment, Doro is forced to go west and begin anew. He meets Anyanwu, a centuries-old woman whose means of immortality are as kind as his are cruel. She is a shape-shifter, capable of healing with a kiss, and she recognizes Doro as a tyrant. Though many humans have tried to kill them, these two demi-gods have never before met a rival. Now they begin a struggle that will last centuries and permanently alter the nature of humanity.

As a special thank you, we're gifting you an exclusive performance by Stephen Fry that we know you'll enjoy.

Max Carrados, a fictional detective series, was first introduced to the literary world by Ernest Bramah in 1914. In the Edwardian era, Carrados' stories often outsold Sherlock Holmes, with the blind detective sharing top billing with his fictional rival.

George Orwell wrote that together with those of Conan Doyle, they were "the only detective stories since Poe that are worth rereading".

Recorded by national treasure Stephen Fry, 'The Coin of Dionysius' and 'The Game Played in the Dark' are two short stories from the collection.

In 'The Coin of Dionysius' we first meet the suave sleuth Max Carrados, as he is called on by old friend Louis Carlyle to help determine whether an old coin is real or a clever fake.

In 'The Game Played in the Dark', Max Carrados is contacted by the British Museum about a horde of stolen ancient coins. On the lookout for the coins, he is intrigued by the approach of an Italian lady who takes him from the safety of his study to a meeting with some recognisable former adversaries....

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director and all round national treasure.

Fry has written and presented several documentary series, contributed columns and articles for newspapers and magazines, appears frequently on radio, reads for voice-overs and has written four novels and three volumes of autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and his latest, More Fool Me.

The days are getting colder, the nights are getting longer, and as Christmas approaches the time is high for some ghostly tales. As an exclusive gift for Audible members, settle down, snuggle up and listen to four chilling ghost stories, read by Simon Callow. Four great stories, one master storyteller - what could be simpler than that?

Also featuring Sally Phillips, John Banks and Dan Starkey, this exclusive recording includes 'Between the Lights' by E.F. Benson, 'A Strange Christmas Game' by J.H. Riddell, 'Was It an Illusion' by Emelia B. Edwards and 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens.

The sixteen stories and two screenplays that make up Volume One of the Emmy® Award–winning Netflix Original series Love, Death & Robots.

Featuring bestselling authors and screenwriters from all over the globe, curated by filmmakers Tim Miller and David Fincher.

Stories and screenplays by Alastair Reynolds, Alberto Mielgo, Claudine Griggs, David W. Amendola, Joe Lansdale, John Scalzi, Ken Liu, Kirsten Cross, Marko Kloos, Michael Swanwick, Peter F. Hamilton, Steve Lewis, and Vitaliy Shushko.

Full contents:

Introduction by Tim Miller
“Sonnie’s Edge” by Peter F. Hamilton
“Three Robots” by John Scalzi
“The Witness” by Alberto Mielgo
“Suits” by Steve Lewis
“Sucker of Souls” by Kirsten Cross
“When the Yoghurt Took Over” by John Scalzi
“Beyond the Aquila Rift” by Alastair Reynolds
“Good Hunting” by Ken Liu
“The Dump” by Joe R. Lansdale
“Shape-Shifters” by Marko Kloos
“Helping Hand” by Claudine Griggs
“Fish Night” by Joe R. Lansdale
“Lucky Thirteen” by Marko Kloos
“Zima Blue” by Alistair Reynolds
“Blind Spot” by Vitaliy Shushko
“Ice Age” by Michael Swanwick
“Alternate Histories” by John Scalzi
“The Secret War” by David W. Amendola

The full list of additional narrators includes:

P. J. Ochlan, Julia Eve, Alex Boyles, Joel Simler, Alex Picard, Cary Hite, André Santana, Hillary Huber, Tim Campbell, Nicole Cash, Marcio Catalano, Bradford Hastings, Feodor Chin, Josh Innerst, and Gary Tiedemann.

What are you thinking, Amy? The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions storm cloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do? Just how well can you ever know the person you love?

These are the questions that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war.

'There is time and then there is Broadmoor time.'

Broadmoor. Few place names in the world have such chilling resonance. For over 150 years, it has contained the UK's most violent, dangerous and psychopathic.

Since opening as an asylum for the criminally insane in 1863 it has housed the perpetrators of many of the most shocking crimes in history; including Jack the Ripper suspect James Kelly, serial killers Peter Sutcliffe, John Straffen and Kenneth Erskine, armed robber Charles Bronson, gangster Ronnie Kray, and cannibal Peter Bryan.

The truth about what goes on behind the Victorian walls of the high security hospital has largely remained a mystery, but now with unprecedented access TV journalist Jonathan Levi and cultural historian Emma French paint a vivid picture of life at Broadmoor, after nearly a decade observing and speaking to those on the inside.

Including interviews with the staff, its experts and the patients themselves, Inside Broadmoor is the most comprehensive study of the institution to-date.

Published at the dawn of a new era for the hospital, this is the full story of Broadmoor's past, present and future and a dark but enlightening journey into the minds of Britain's most dangerous and how they are treated.

Ages 10+

Fugitive. Criminal. Robot.

A sci-fi adventure for young listeners, Interview with the Robot introduces a unique heroine who seeks the truth about herself.

Eve looks like an ordinary 12-year-old girl, but there’s nothing ordinary about her. She has no last name. No parents or guardian. She’s on the run from a dangerous and secretive organization that will stop at nothing to track her down.

And most astonishing of all: she’s a robot, a product of Eden Laboratories. When Eve discovers the truth, she realizes everything she thought she knew about herself is a lie. Eve manages to escape, fleeing the lab, the only home she’s ever known.

After being arrested for shoplifting, Eve is interviewed by Petra Amis from Child Welfare Services. Her incredible story unfolds during the interrogation, with flashbacks to her life inside Eden Laboratories, which has a dark secret. Listeners follow Eve from her first moment of consciousness to her evolution as a nearly-human companion to Emory, the son of the founder of Eden Laboratories.

Exploring a range of topics that drive our society and our lives—topics such as artificial intelligence and human nature - Interview with the Robot is a story told by a startlingly original protagonist, a story that explores the vast potential of technology and the deep complexities of humanity.

The girl with the dragon tattoo is not given to forgiveness.

Lisbeth Salander has been forged by a brutal childhood and horrific abuse. And repeated attempts on her life.

The ink embedded in her skin is a constant reminder of her pledge to fight against the injustice she finds on every side.

Confinement to the secure unit of a women's prison is intended as a punishment. Instead, Lisbeth finds herself in relative safety. Flodberga is a failing prison, effectively controlled by the inmates, and for a computer hacker of her exceptional gifts there are no boundaries.

Mikael Blomkvist makes the long trip to visit every week - and receives a lead to follow for his pains, one that could provide an important exposé for Millennium: Salander tells him to check out Leo Mannheimer, a seemingly reputable stockbroker from Stockholm, somehow connected to the long-ago death of a child psychologist - and to the psychiatric unit where Lisbeth was an involuntary patient as a child.

Lisbeth knows she is coming closer to solving the mysteries of her early life, and even within the confines of the prison, she feels the deadly influence exerted by her twin sister. She cannot stand by as racial and religious conflicts run unchecked amongst the community around her, manipulated by criminal forces far beyond the prison walls.

Salander will stand up for what she believes in. She will find out the truth. Whatever the cost...

The tension, power and unstoppable force of The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye are inspired by Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, as Salander and Blomkvist continue the fight for justice that has thrilled millions of readers across the world.

Translated from the Swedish by George Goulding.

A captivating history of the universe - from before the dawn of time through the far reaches of the distant future.

Most historians study the smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, individuals, and documents. But what would it look like to study the whole of history, from the big bang through the present day - and even into the remote future? How would looking at the full span of time change the way we perceive the universe, the earth, and our very existence?

These were the questions David Christian set out to answer when he created the field of "Big History", the most exciting new approach to understanding where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. In Origin Story, Christian takes readers on a wild ride through the entire 13.8 billion years we've come to know as "history". By focusing on defining events (thresholds), major trends, and profound questions about our origins, Christian exposes the hidden threads that tie everything together - from the creation of the planet to the advent of agriculture, nuclear war, and beyond. With stunning insights into the origin of the universe, the beginning of life, the emergence of humans, and what the future might bring, Origin Story boldly reframes our place in the cosmos.

The dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: how they lived, how they died--and who killed them.

Val McDermid uncovers the secrets of forensic medicine with groundbreaking research and her own experience. Along the way you’ll wonder at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death and how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer.

When The Polyvagal Theory was published in 2011, it took the therapeutic world by storm, bringing Stephen Porges's insights about the autonomic nervous system to a clinical audience interested in understanding trauma, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.

The book made accessible to clinicians and other professionals a polyvagal perspective that provided new concepts and insights for understanding human behavior. The perspective placed an emphasis on the important link between psychological experiences and physical manifestations in the body. That book was brilliant but also quite challenging to read for some.

Since publication of that book, Stephen Porges has been urged to make these ideas more accessible and The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory is the result. Constructs and concepts embedded in polyvagal theory are explained conversationally in The Pocket Guide and there is an introductory chapter which discusses the science and the scientific culture in which polyvagal theory was originally developed.

Publication of this work enables Stephen Porges to expand the meaning and clinical relevance of this groundbreaking theory.

Are you tired of advice that sounds amazing at first, until you actually try it? Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, you’re still falling behind?

Let’s be honest for a moment: Living with ADHD is hard. Like, really hard. And most of the advice out there? It’s not built for your brain. You’ve probably tried so many different strategies and somehow, you end up right back at square one. It’s not your fault. The truth is, ADHD brains need different solutions.

This book isn’t another collection of cookie-cutter tips or empty promises. Adult ADHD Starter Guide is about being honest—sometimes brutally so—and giving you the tools to understand your brain and start making life easier. Not perfect, just easier. And it all starts with one small, manageable win at a time.

Imagine this: Waking up and actually finishing that one task you’ve been avoiding forever. Ending your day with less guilt and a little more pride. Finally feeling like you get your ADHD—and maybe even yourself.

Why this audiobook is different:

• It’s Realistic: No empty promises. No sugar-coating. No “superpowers” hype. You won’t “master” your ADHD overnight, but you will start making real progress—progress that sticks.
• It Gets You: Written by someone who gets what it’s like to live with ADHD, this book is practical, relatable, and even a little funny. (Because if you’ve lost your keys for the third time today, laughing beats crying, right?)
• It’s Honest: Life with ADHD isn’t about perfection. It’s about finding what works for you—without the guilt.

What this audiobook will do for you:

• Help you break the cycle of guilt over “failures.”
• Show you how to make real, manageable progress without feeling overwhelmed.
• Give you the tools to celebrate the small wins that actually matter (yes, they count).

Small Steps. Real Change. Honest Answers. Stop wrestling with advice that just doesn’t work. Take the first step toward creating a life that fits your brain—chaos, quirks, and all.

Why do you lose arguments with people who know MUCH LESS than you?

Why can you recognize that woman, from that thing...but can't remember her name?

And why, after your last break-up, did you find yourself in the fetal position on the sofa for days, moving only to wipe the snot and tears haphazardly from your face? Here's why: the idiot brain.

For something supposedly so brilliant and evolutionarily advanced, the human brain is pretty messy, fallible and disorganized. For example, your memory is egotistical. No, really. Conspiracy theories and superstitions are the inevitable effects of a healthy brain. And alcohol can actually improve your memory.**

In The Idiot Brain, neuroscientist Dean Burnett tours our mysterious and mischievous grey (and white) matter. Along the way he explains the human brain's imperfections in all their glory and how these influence everything we say, do and experience. Expertly researched and entertainingly written, this audiobook is for anyone who has wondered why their brain appears to be sabotaging their life, and what on earth it is really up to.

**Editor's note: please listen to the book before testing this conclusion.

From the hugely popular Guardian science blogger, a surprising, funny and mind-bending examination of how and why the brain sabotages our behavior.

Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments - using such low-tech tools such as cotton swabs, glasses of water, and dime-store mirrors.

In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, and how we make decisions, deceive ourselves, and dream.

Some of his most notable cases: A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial. A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience? A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time.

Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier-the human mind-yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

Think you have a good memory? Think again.

Memories are our most cherished possessions. We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate records of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why or suddenly being unable to recall the name of someone we've met dozens of times. But what if we have the potential for more profound errors of memory, even verging on outright fabrication and self-deception?

In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw uses the latest research to show the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray. She shows why we can sometimes misappropriate other people's memories, subsequently believing them to be our own. She explains how police officers can imprison an innocent man for life on the basis of 300 denials and just one confession. She demonstrates the way radically false memories can be deliberately implanted, leading people to believe that they brutally murdered a loved one or were abducted by aliens. And she reveals how, in spite of all this, we can improve our memory through simple awareness of its fallibility.

Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, The Memory Illusion offers a unique insight into the human brain, challenging you to question how much you can ever truly know about yourself.

Dr Julia Shaw is a psychology lecturer and memory researcher at the University of Bedfordshire and is one of only a handful of experts in the world who actively conduct research on complex memory errors related to emotional personal events - so-called 'false memories'. Dr Shaw has published research articles in various international academic journals, written textbook chapters, and presented at many international conferences. She is also heavily involved in teaching classes on memory at the undergraduate and graduate levels, for which she has won two teaching excellence awards.

Besides her teaching and research, she has delivered general business and police-training workshops, has given guest lectures at universities around the world, has evaluated offender diversion programs and works with the UK police to advise on historical sexual and physical abuse cases. She has also been featured as an expert on TV and radio and in UK and international newspapers.

The stars and constellations are among the few remaining objects that appear to us just as they appeared to our distant ancestors. From anywhere on Earth, a person may view the celestial panorama simply by stepping outside at night and gazing upward.

This nonfiction narrative presents the tales of the 48 classical constellations, compiled from literature spanning a thousand years from Homer (c. 800 BC) to Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 150). These age-old tales have captured the human imagination from ancient times to the present, and through them we can examine the early practical astronomy, philosophical speculation on the cosmos, and fundamental moral beliefs of much of Western civilization.

Through Marshall's research and storytelling, Ancient Skies brings the belief systems of the classical world to shining life.

Imagine standing at the center of a Roman coliseum that is 20 miles across, with walls that soar 10 miles into the sky, towering walls with cascades of ice crystals falling along its brilliantly white surface. That's what it's like to stand in the eye of a hurricane. In Divine Wind, Kerry Emanuel, one of the world's leading authorities on hurricanes, gives us an engaging account of these awe-inspiring meteorological events, revealing how hurricanes and typhoons have literally altered human history, thwarting military incursions and changing the course of explorations. Offering an account of the physics of the tropical atmosphere, the author explains how such benign climates give rise to the most powerful storms in the world and tells what modern science has learned about them.

Interwoven with this scientific account are descriptions of some of the most important hurricanes in history and relevant works of art and literature. For instance, he describes the 17th-century hurricane that likely inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest and that led to the British colonization of Bermuda. We also listen about the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, by far the worst natural calamity in U.S. history, with a death toll between 8,000 and 12,000 that exceeded the San Francisco earthquake, the Johnstown Flood, and the Okeechobee Hurricane. Divine Wind captures the profound effects that hurricanes have had on humanity. It's fascinating blend of history, science, and art will appeal to weather junkies, science buffs, and everyone who read Isaac's Storm.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Perfect for fans of Wilding by Isabella Tree.

What we do to the soil, we do to ourselves.

Soil is the unlikely story of our most maligned resource as swashbuckling hero. A saga of bombs, ice ages and civilisations falling. Of ancient hunger, modern sicknesses and gastronomic delight. It features poison gas, climate collapse and a mind-blowing explanation of how rain is formed.

For too long, we've not only neglected the land beneath us, we've squandered and debased it, by over-clearing, over-grazing and over-ploughing. But if we want our food to nourish us and to ensure our planet's long-term health, we need to understand how soil works - how it's made, how it's lost and how it can be repaired.

In this ode to the thin veneer of Earth that gifts us life, commentator and farmer Matthew Evans shows us that what we do in our backyards, on our farms and what we put on our dinner tables really matters, and can be a source of hope.

Isn't it time we stopped treating the ground beneath our feet like dirt?

Over 60 years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore.

Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

The Nature Principle presents a compelling case that a conscious reconnection to nature can make us whole again and that the future will belong to nature-smart individuals, families, businesses, and communities. Supported by evidence from emerging empirical and theoretical research and eye-opening anecdotes, Louv shows that when we tap into the restorative powers of the natural world we can boost mental acuity and creativity, heal illness, increase immunity, broaden our compassion, and strengthen human bonds. As he says in his introduction, The Nature Principle is about the power of living in nature, not with it, but in it. The 21st century will be the century of human restoration in the natural world.

More than just techniques for horseriding these are principles for a more fulfilling life.

In 1973, Norma Cobb, her husband Lester, and their five children pulled up stakes in the lower 48 and headed north to Alaska to follow a pioneer dream of claiming land under the Homestead Act. The only land available lay north of Fairbanks near the Arctic Circle where grizzlies outnumbered humans 20 to one.

In addition to fierce winters and predatory animals, the Alaskan frontier drew the more unsavory elements of society's fringes. From the beginning, the Cobbs found themselves pitted in a life or death feud with unscrupulous neighbors who would rob from new settlers, attempt to burn them out, shoot them, and jump their claim.

The Cobbs were chechakos, tenderfeet, in a lost land that consumed even toughened settlers. Everything, including their "civilized" past, conspired to defeat them. They constructed a cabin and the first snow collapsed the roof. They built too close to the creek and spring breakup threatened to flood them out. Bears prowled the nearby woods, stalking the children, and Lester Cobb would leave for months at a time in search of work. But through it all, they survived on the strength of Norma Cobb - a woman whose love for her family knew no bounds and whose courage in the face of mortal danger is an inspiration to us all. Arctic Homestead is her story.

Flowers, and the fruits that follow, feed, clothe, sustain, and inspire all humanity. Flowers are used to celebrate all-important occasions, to express love, and are also the basis of global industries. Americans buy 10 million flowers a day, and perfumes are a worldwide industry worth $30 billion annually. Stephen Buchmann takes us along on an exploratory journey of the roles flowers play in the production of our foods, spices, medicines, and perfumes while simultaneously bringing joy and health.

Flowering plants continue to serve as inspiration in our myths and legends, in the fine and decorative arts, and in literary works of prose and poetry. Flowers seduce us - and animals, too - through their myriad shapes, colors, textures, and scents. Here he integrates fascinating stories about the many colorful personalities who populate the world of flowers and the flowers and pollinators themselves with a research-based narrative that illuminates just why there is, indeed, a Reason for Flowers.

Learn why your problem horse is not a lost cause with helpful tips from an internationally acclaimed trainer.

In A Good Horse Is Never a Bad Color, Mark Rashid continues to share his talent for training horses through communication rather than force. Rashid uses humorous, feel-good stories to relate his techniques of teaching horses by examining their view of the world. This book is a must-have for compassionate horse trainers and owners. Tales of Arabs, appaloosas, and paints - mistrusted and mistreated because of their breed - will give listeners a new perspective on these breeds and others. This new edition features added introductory notes for each chapter that contribute to a better understanding of Rashid’s philosophy and methods.

Many horse trainers, even those who espouse the so-called natural horsemanship approach, take the position that horses who fail to obey a human's request are doing so as much out of perversity as ignorance. That's not Mark Rashid's view. In his words, "If we understand that horses can't separate the way they feel from the way they act, then we can start to see that unwanted behavior isn't bad behavior at all. More times than not, it's just the horse expressing the way he feels at that particular moment in time....

How we perceive that information dictates how we respond to it.

Whole Heart, Whole Horse focuses on this idea, covering such subjects as gathering information from the horse, turning rider/trainer mistakes into positive experiences, developing realistic boundaries between you and your horse, understanding how and why horses release energy from real or perceived traumas, and reaching a comfortable balance point between horse and rider. Rashid analyzes developing softness, consistency, dependability, trust, and peace of mind in both horses and humans, as well as how to become a leader whom your horse will willingly want to follow and work with. Full of examples that extend beyond the training pen, Whole Heart, Whole Horse offers good sense and information that will make you a more astute, capable, and sensitive horseman and person.

A revolutionary approach to the techniques of working with horses, by a renowned instructor.

In Horses Never Lie, renowned horse trainer Mark Rashid challenges the conventional wisdom of "alpha leadership" and teaches the listener to become a "passive leader" - a counterpart to the kind of horse other members of a herd choose to associate with and to follow. Applying Rashid’s principles and techniques helps cultivate horse personalities that are responsive and dependable regardless of the rider. Reliving Rashid’s experiences with him, you will come to feel the same sort of compassion and appreciation for your horses that you do for the people in your life. This new edition features added introductory notes for each chapter that contribute to a more complete understanding of Rashid’s methods and philosophy.

The popular and highly respected horse trainer Mark Rashid brings together Western and Eastern philosophies to demonstrate a seamless new incarnation of horse training. After years of helping "difficult" horses, Mark Rashid understands how to build the foundation of a horse's training and resolve any problems encountered along the way. He explains how he allows the traditionally firm or assertive approach of the old Western style to take some lessons from the softer conflict resolution and ego reduction approach that the Japanese martial art of aikido teaches. Rashid's ultimate goal is harmony between horse and rider.

Plants play a critical role in how we experience our environment. They create calming green spaces, provide oxygen for us to breathe, and nourish our senses. In The Nature of Plants, ecologist and nursery owner Craig Huegel demystifies the complex lives of plants and provides listeners with an extensive tour into their workings.

Beginning with the importance of light, water, and soil, Huegel describes the process of photosynthesis and how best to position plants to receive optimal sunlight. He explains why plants suffer from overwatering, what essential elements plants need to flourish, and what important soil organisms reside with them. Listeners will understand the difference between friendly and hostile bacteria, fungi, and insects.

Sections on plant structure and reproduction focus in detail on major plant organs - roots, stems, and leaves-and cover flowering, pollination, fruit development, and seed germination. Huegel even delves into the mysterious world of plant communication, exploring the messages conveyed to animals or other plants through chemical scents and hormones.

Call it "Zen and the Art of Farming" or a "Little Green Book", Masanobu Fukuoka's manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book "is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture."

Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature's own laws. Over the next three decades, he perfected his so-called "do-nothing" technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and, perhaps, most significantly, wasteful effort.

Whether you're a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here - you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own.

Psychiatry has made great advances in the past 50 years but needs a new direction. Today's emphasis on psychiatric drugs will not stand the test of time. Recent advances in epigenetics and the molecular biology of the brain have provided a roadmap for the development of effective, natural, drug-free therapies that do not produce serious side effects. Psychiatric medications have served society well over the last 50 years, but the need for drug therapies will fade away as science advances.

Nutrient Power presents a science-based nutrient therapy system that can help millions of people diagnosed with mental disorders. This approach recognizes that nutrient imbalances can alter brain levels of key neurotransmitters, disrupt gene expression of proteins and enzymes, and cripple the body's protection against environmental toxins. The author's database containing millions of chemical factors in blood, urine, and tissues has identified brain-changing nutrient imbalances in patients diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, behavior disorders, depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.

This book describes individualized nutrient therapy treatments that have produced thousands of reports of recovery. Walsh's approach is more scientific than the trial-and-error use of psychiatric drugs and is aimed at a true normalization of the brain. Depression, schizophrenia, and ADHD are umbrella terms that encompass disorders with widely differing brain chemistries and symptoms. Nutrient Power describes nutrient therapies tailored to specific types. Other book highlights include the Walsh Theory of Schizophrenia, a new way to look at autism, a promising new treatment for Alzheimer's, and recommendations for reducing crime and violence.

From internationally recognized inquiry teacher and life coach Meadow DeVor comes the invitation you’ve been waiting for: Stop living as if worthiness is for someone better, thinner, smarter, or more successful, and start living with self-worth. (Yes! Self-worth is something you can learn and practice, and The Worthy Project tells you how.)

Is your home too cluttered?

Are you dissatisfied with the state of your bank account?

Do you feel like your friends and family suck more of your energy than they give?

Are your clothes outdated or the wrong size?

The Worthy Project will guide you through the steps in your own life to diagnose feelings of unworthiness and offer practical advice for how to let go of the self-doubt that is holding you back in order to unleash your true potential.

“Meadow’s combination of high humor and laser insight changed my life.” (Dr. Martha Beck, New York Times best-selling author, speaker, life coach)

YOU DESERVE TO FEEL PLEASURE.

Female masturbation can be one of the most powerful tools for better mental health (and the key to a fulfilling sex life) - but have you ever been taught how to make the most of it? Do you have material you actually want to masturbate to? Are you giving yourself permission to set time aside for yourself, in the way you would a partner?

ENTER THIS AUDIOBOOK!

In the simplest and most exciting way possible, sex expert Florence Bark explains how vulva-owners' anatomy works and the many ways to engage it. And, because 85% of women don't like watching porn, to go with each tip is a 'masturbation meditation' - a steamy story specifically designed to be masturbated to, where you can imagine what the people within it look like and you know it's been ethically created. Whether you use this audiobook for some much-needed 'me' time or to spice up your sex life with a special someone, it will give you the tools and the permission to not only feel something, but to feel everything.

The Masturbation Meditations:

Lust after Lectures
Personal Training
Boyfriend's Best Friend
Afternoon Delight on the Beach
A Ride on the Bus
Business Time
Ex Sex
My Boyfriend and Her
Luxury Lust
Being Watched
The Master
My Demon
First Time with a Girl
My Happy Ending
The Sheriff and the Bandit
Plugged and Public
My First Sex Party
I Spy
An Outside Orgasm for Three
Blindfold Me
Between Two Cocks
Stockholm Vampire
When Good Neighbours Become Good Friends
Pegging
My Lover the Rock God

NB: We believe the majority of the tips could apply to all people with vulvas (though the data the book is based on comes from surveys of cis-women, hence why the book has been written with them in mind). The stories on the other hand could apply to anyone depending on their personal preferences. No matter how you identify, you are very welcome here.

They’re free, fun, and with this book, easy to achieve. And just look what a woman stands to gain from her orgasmic life: Oxytocin - nature’s Ecstasy - in her bloodstream, relaxation - less stress and tension, falling asleep and staying asleep better, more supple skin (really!), lower risk of heart disease, immunity boost, reduced hunger and cravings for junk food. Far too many women aren’t enjoying the benefits of this delicious activity, and Dr. Natasha wants to change that. In Vitamin O, she explores manual techniques, oral methods, and crazy-fun sex positions that maximize a woman’s pleasure. She covers the basics in orgasmic foreplay, orgasmic positions, exercises to improve orgasms, orgasm-enhancing yoga, breathing techniques, and more. She also offers up the 411 on more advanced climaxing - multiples and simultaneous orgasms. And she breaks out lots of quick fixes for getting a daily dose without any fuss. By the time she’s through, having orgasms will become as natural and pleasantly habitual as drinking a morning coffee (which you’ll be drinking less and less of, as you’ll have increased energy from better sleep and less cravings for caffeine!). Vitamin O’s benefits are layered and far - reaching, without any worry of toxicity or build-up because Vitamin O is all about release. Regular doses will benefit every listener for life.

Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant is a guide to financial freedom. It’s the second book in the Rich Dad Series and reveals how some people work less, earn more, pay less in taxes, and learn to become financially free.

CASHFLOW Quadrant was written for those who are ready to move beyond job security and enter the world of financial freedom. It’s for those who want to make significant changes in their lives and take control of their financial future.

Robert believes that the reason most people struggle financially is because they've spent years in school but were never taught about money. Robert’s rich dad taught him that this lack of financial education is why so many people work so hard all their lives for money...instead of learning how to make money work for them.

This book will change the way you think about jobs, careers, and owning your own business and inspire you to learn the rules of money that the rich use to build and grow their wealth.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is the #1 personal finance book of all time. Listen today to set yourself up for a wealthy, happy future.

Robert Kiyosaki’s easy tips and straight talk will…

• Explode the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich
• Challenge the belief that your house is an asset
• Define once and for all an asset and a liability
• Show parents why they can’t rely on the school system to educate kids about money
• Clearly lay out what to teach kids about money for their future financial success

With an incredible number of 5-star reviews, Rich Dad Poor Dad has challenged and changed the way tens of millions of people around the world think about money. With perspectives that often contradict conventional wisdom, Kiyosaki has earned a reputation for irreverence and courage. He is regarded worldwide as a passionate advocate for financial education. His easy-to-understand audiobook empowers you to make changes now - and enjoy the results for years to come.

"The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money… but never learn to have money work for them."
--Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad Poor Dad - The #1 Personal Finance Book of All Time!

“Rich Dad Poor Dad is a starting point for anyone looking to gain control of their financial future.”
--USA Today

In 25 concise steps, you will learn the basics of blockchain technology. No mathematical formulas, program code, or computer science jargon are used. No previous knowledge in computer science, mathematics, programming, or cryptography is required. Terminology is explained through analogies and metaphors.

This audiobook bridges the gap that exists between purely technical guides about the blockchain and purely business-focused guides. It does so by explaining both the technical concepts that make up the blockchain and their role in business-relevant applications.

What you'll learn: what the blockchain is; why it is needed and what problem it solves; why there is so much excitement about the blockchain and its potential; major components and their purpose; how various components of the blockchain work and interact; limitations, why they exist, and what has been done to overcome them; and major application scenarios.

Who this audiobook is for: everyone who wants to get a general idea of what blockchain technology is, how it works, and how it will potentially change the financial system as we know it.

Four years ago, Serena Star decided that she was going to stop being a wage slave; she quit her secure job in IT sales and started on her holy grail to generating a passive income so that she could stop working and just do what she loved. Since then she has started a men's designer t-shirt label, a music festival, a charitable project, a dating service, and a coaching business; she co- wrote internet strategy resources, she presents a radio show, has organised several events and gigs and has helped many people on the path to creating their dream lifestyle.

Along her journey, Serena discovered an amazing thing: that what she really loved was her work. While there isn't necessarily an easy way to create a passive income, Serena discovered that anyone can create a 'passion income' making money from doing something they love. Serena has redefined the concept of retirement and wants to teach others how to 'retire' now on a low- maintenance passion income just like her. Serena has had many successes and failures, cherishing both on the path to wealth and freedom, but she has finally answered the question of 'Can I do anything I want to?' with the simple answer: YES.

This book details the strategies Serena has used along her journey to retirement; strategies that anyone can implement. This audiobook is for people who are eager to learn, not afraid to try something new and who want to take charge of their destiny and create their dream lifestyle.

What will you learn from this audiobook?

Tackling nine specific financial myths, Killing Sacred Cows is a must for mission-driven individuals. It plainly reveals these shocking truths kept hidden by the traditional financial industry:

• A 401(k) is not the "safe" and "smart" plan that you have been told it is; in fact, it's an extremely risky investment for most people. Learn to create safer investments that are collateralized, cash-flowing, controllable, and aligned with your expertise, passion, and purpose.
• Conventional retirement planning strategies, techniques, and products are probably keeping you from the retirement you really want. You can maximize the productivity of your resources, reduce risk, and retire well with the right education and a proper macroeconomic plan.
• Net worth is a poor indicator of wealth and your ability to retire well. What matters is cash flow, and this book will teach you how to develop it.
• Debt may not be what you think it is. Learn the proper definition of debt and how this understanding can immediately increase your prosperity.
• "High risk equals high returns" is dangerous dogma. Learn how to increase your returns and reduce your risk through smart, value-based investing.
• How to identify the hidden factors that are causing you financial pain and misery.
• Finally, you can treat more than just symptoms and address root causes.

Contains over five hours of additional content exclusive to the audiobook.

Money is a game you can win. First, understand the rules. True financial independence provides the opportunity to use money the way you'd like, look after your family and plan for your future. This book explains how money works, how to understand it better and how to protect it once your bank balance starts growing.

Providing a fascinating overview of the complex ways in which money impacts the world along with simple, implementable systems for earning more, investing wisely and saving better, this remarkable audiobook, by self-made millionaire and best-selling author Rob Moore, will show you how to make money and make your money work for you. If you're not where you want to be in your life, then it's time to close the gap between the money you earn and the lifestyle you want - and get on track to creating the success you deserve.

Do you want to get to the stage - soon - where you are truly financially independent, able to use your money in the way you'd like and completely confident in your ability to take care of yourself and your family? That is a universal desire, but many of us regard wealth and financial independence as a goal which we'll likely never achieve - there are just too many bills that need paying, and there is a widespread belief that the money game is rigged. Even people who win the lottery or inherit money often seem to wind up losing it.

The evidence suggests you can't win a game that you don't understand - even if you start out winning - because you never understood the game in the first place. So how can you win with money? How can you create independent wealth and hold on to it? This inspiring audiobook by self-made multimillionaire Rob Moore explains the rules of the game, shares simple tricks for managing money better, details how to create a plan for an ambitious future and shows you the very best way to become a millionaire - to think and behave like one!

Discover how to turn every day into a treasured experience through exceptional living.

There's an art to success!

You don't have to be a super-achiever or unusually creative. You don't have to endure great obstacles. You don't even have to do exceptional things. You just have to do ordinary things exceptionally well.

The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn is the can't-miss guide that shows you how to begin living life according to your own rules. Catch up on your success and attain all you want and need. Let success expert Jim Rohn teach you how to master the art of living exceptionally well!

Jim will teach you the importance of self-education, developing new skills, and how to start your own personal success library filled with information that will make you more knowledgeable as well as more employable. You owe it to yourself to experience the wisdom of Jim Rohn.

Jim Rohn is credited with inspiring and teaching the likes of Anthony Robbins, Les Brown, and countless others various success principles in the areas of financial independence, education, relationships, and much more!

How to enrich your life and destroy doubt in five seconds.

Throughout your life, you've had parents, coaches, teachers, friends, and mentors who have pushed you to be better than your excuses and bigger than your fears. What if the secret to having the confidence and courage to enrich your life and work is simply knowing how to push yourself?

Using the science of habits, riveting stories, and surprising facts from some of the most famous moments in history, art, and business, Mel Robbins will explain the power of a "push moment". Then, she'll give you one simple tool you can use to become your greatest self.

It takes just five seconds to use this tool, and every time you do you'll be in great company. More than eight million people have watched Mel's TEDx Talk, and executives inside of the world's largest brands are using the tool to increase productivity, collaboration, and engagement.

In The 5 Second Rule, you'll discover it takes just five seconds to:

• Become confident
• Break the habit of procrastination and self-doubt
• Beat fear and uncertainty
• Stop worrying and feel happier
• Share your ideas with courage

The secret isn't knowing what to do - it's knowing how to make yourself do it.

In a world of distraction, overcommitment, and often overwhelming social expectations, are you craving depth, meaning, and true connection?

Join Susan Cain, an international best-selling author on the power of introverts who will help you tune out all of your everyday stresses and conflicts and tune into living a Quiet Life.

In seven steps, Susan will show you exactly how to lead your own Quiet Life. She’ll help you connect with the part of yourself that’s drawn to the quiet, the deep, the beautiful, and the kind. With the help of carefully selected experts—including poets and sages from across the centuries—she’ll share her very best advice, and give you practical takeaways, exercises, and meditations, all in service of helping you live your truly Quiet Life.

Discover the surprising art of reconnecting with your inner child in order to make your adult life that little bit simpler.

You can own your own home and want to build a blanket fort on a bad day. Hell! On a good day, too. Give yourself permission to seek praise, ask for help, and have something soft snuggled against your face because you're sad. You can pay your bills on time and still exclaim out loud when something is really f--king cool, run a business and wear cat-covered thermals under your suit. You can take time to play, just because.

Full of spirit and un-self-conscious enthusiasm, Ice Cream for Breakfast: How rediscovering your inner child can make you calmer, happier, and solve your bullsh*t adult problems is the permission slip all too-grown-up-for-their-own-good-but-secretly-scared-of-adulting adults need to locate their inner children nestled deep within, so that we might all relax enough to laugh harder, wonder more and marvel at magic on the daily.

Uncover the secrets of the Swedish philosophy of life called Lagom - meaning 'just enough'. At its core is the idea that we can strike a healthy balance with the world around us without having to make extreme changes and without denying ourselves anything.

This delightful audiobook, written by Niki Brantmark, founder and curator of the award-winning interior design blog My Scandinavian Home, gives a taste of the philosophy behind Lagom and shows how to include some of the principles in our daily lives. Includes inspirational and fun ideas to help you achieve balance, well-being and a more sustainable existence.

The book is divided into three sections. Introducing Lagom to your personal life includes ideas for decluttering your home, conscious buying and embracing 'slow design'. At work, take time to balance your day with a proper lunch break and a gadget-free Sabbath, while outdoor staycations in remote settings can offer relaxation you never knew possible!

Lagom at home and with our families explains the art of simple pleasures - bring-a-dish entertaining at home, of shared craft activities with our children and less-stressed homework time! And finally there's Lagom in the wider world and the principles of living sustainably - as IKEA have pledged in their Live Lagom campaign. Make some small changes, like using LED lightbulbs, taking shorter showers and upcycling, and you are living a Lagom life, a rewarding but responsible life, not denying yourself or sacrificing what you love while not taking from the planet more than you need. It's just the right amount!

Most books about public speaking don’t tell you what to do when you open your mouth and nothing comes out. And they don’t tell you how to get over the anxiety about performance that most people naturally have. They don’t tell you what to do in the moments when you are made, as a woman, to feel small. They don’t tell you how to own the room. This book does.

From the way Michelle Obama projects ‘happy high status’ and the power of J.K.Rowling’s understated speaking style to Virginia Woolf’s leisurely pacing and Oprah Winfrey’s mastery of inner conviction, what is it that our heroines do to make us sit up and listen - really listen - to their every word? And how can you achieve that impact in your own life? Here’s how.

Could happiness lie in helping others and being open to accepting help yourself?

Mentors – Russell Brand's follow up to Sunday Times number one bestseller, Recovery – describes the benefits of seeking and offering help.

‘I have mentors in every area of my life, as a comic, a dad, a recovering drug addict, a spiritual being and as a man who believes that we, as individuals and the great globe itself, are works in progress and that through a chain of mentorship we can improve individually and globally, together . . . One of the unexpected advantages my drug addiction granted is that the process of recovery that I practise includes a mentorship tradition.

I will encourage you to find mentors of your own and explain how you may better use the ones you already have. Furthermore, I will tell you about my experiences mentoring others and how invaluable that has been on my ongoing journey to self-acceptance and how it has helped me to transform from a bewildered and volatile vagabond to a (mostly) present and (usually) focussed husband and father.’ – Russell Brand

Mentors: How to Help and Be Helped describes the impact that a series of significant people have had on the author – from the wayward youths he tried to emulate growing up in Essex, through the first ex-junkie stage, to the people he turns to today to help him be a better father. It explores how we all – consciously and unconsciously – choose guides, mentors and heroes throughout our lives and examines the new perspectives they can bring.

Almost a third of your whole life is spent asleep. Night School uncovers the scientific truth about the sleeping brain - and gives powerful tips on how those hours of apparently ‘dead’ time in the dark can transform your waking life.

Based on exciting new peer-reviewed research, mass-participation experiments, and the world's largest archive of dream reports, Night School will teach you how to:

• Learn information and solve problems while you sleep
• Find out why nightmares can be good for you, and what your dreams really mean
• Unlock the creative power of the six-minute nap
• Banish jet-lag, night terrors, and snoring
• Discover the secrets of the ‘super sleepers’ - and get the best night's sleep of your life

Studies show that even a small lack of sleep can have a detrimental effect on our health, lifespan, and happiness. Professor Richard Wiseman’s authoritative, entertaining new book introduces the powerful new science of sleep - and gives us back the missing third of our days. Welcome to Night School.

Richard Wiseman is based at the University of Hertfordshire and holds Britain's only professorship for the Public Understanding of Psychology

Sport psychologist Dr Josephine Perry spends her life working with exceptional performers. She has identified ten psychological pillars that the ultra-successful have ingrained within their approach. And the good news is that we can all learn these mental building blocks.

In this book you’ll hear those who have excelled in their field discussing their route to success and learn how you can emulate them. A sense of belonging, mastery, autonomy, purpose, confidence, process, courage, optimism, internal insight or gratitude – all these skills can be vital in helping us overcome setbacks that can stand in the way of achieving our goals.

From the double Olympic champion who is passionate about collaboration, to the James Bond Stuntman who has cultivated courage, to the Ironman athlete who harnessed the power of gratitude, each case study demonstrates how we can turn a pillar into a superpower. Illuminating and inspiring, The Ten Pillars of Success will give every listener a roadmap to reach their full potential.

Features interviews with: Dame Kelly Holmes, Maxine Peake, Sean Conway, Damian Hall, Emma Wiggs MBE, Caspar Berry, Bobby Holland Hanton, Drew McOnie, Lucy Gossage and Sara Pascoe.

How to achieve your goals and permanently alter the status quo through the art of self-disruption.

In Disrupt Yourself, innovator and digital media expert Jay Samit reveals how to achieve your goals and permanently alter the status quo through the art of self-disruption. In today's ever-changing and often-volatile business landscape, adaptability and creativity are more crucial than ever. Samit describes how specific strategies that help companies flourish - challenging assumptions, pinpointing one's unique value, and identifying weaknesses in the structure of current industries - can be applied at an individual level.

Incorporating stories from his own experience and anecdotes from other innovators and disruptive businesses - including Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, YouTube, ooVoo and many more - Samit shows how personal transformation can reap entrepreneurial and professional rewards.

Disrupt Yourself offers clear and empowering advice for anyone looking to break through a creative barrier; anyone with a big idea but no idea how to apply it; and anyone worried about being made irrelevant in an era of technological transformation.

This engaging, perspective-shifting book demystifies the mechanics of disruption for individuals and businesses alike.

Rules for developing talent with disciplined, deliberate, intelligent practice.

We live in a competition loving culture. We love the performance, the big win, the ticking seconds of the clock as the game comes down to the wire. We watch games and cheer, sometimes to the point of obsession, but if we really wanted to see greatness - wanted to cheer for it, see it happen, understand what made it happen - we’d spend our time watching, obsessing on, and maybe even cheering the practices instead. This book puts practice on the front burner of all who seek to instill talent and achievement in others as well as in themselves. This is a journey to understand that practice, not games, makes champions.

In this book, the authors engage the dream of better, both in fields and endeavors where participants know they should practice and also in those where many do not yet recognize the transformative power of practice. And it’s not just whether you practice. How you practice may be a true competitive advantage. Deliberately engineered and designed practice can revolutionize our most important endeavors. The clear set of rules presented in Practice Perfect will make us better in virtually every performance of life. The “how-to” rules of practice cover such topics as rethinking practice, modeling excellent practice, using feedback, creating a culture of practice, making new skills stick, and hiring for practice.

Discover new ways to think about practice. Learn how to design successful practice. Apply practice across a wide range of realms, both personal and professional. The authors include specific activities to jump-start practice.

Doug Lemov is the best-selling author of Teach Like a Champion.

A hands-on resource to practice, the rules within will help to create positive outliers and world-changing reservoirs of talent.

If you're one of the many people who would love to ditch their job, break free from the daily grind and live the dream of freedom, fulfillment and financial independence, this is the book for you. Be a Free Range Human is a breezy, energizing and above all practical guide to making the break and creating the life you want. You don't need piles of funding or a business plan, an expensive logo or an MBA. You don't need to be either a millionaire entrepreneur or a skint freelancer. Marianne Cantwell shows you a third way: a way that is all about building not just a business, but a fabulous lifestyle that fits with who you are and what you really want to do. You can do this right now, so don't waste another minute in the career cage; kick off your free range life today.

The Sunday Times number-one best seller. How people succeed and how you can, too.

Alastair Campbell knows all about winning. As Tony Blair’s chief spokesman and strategist, he helped guide the Labour Party to victory in three successive general elections, and he’s fascinated by what it takes to win.

How do sports stars excel, entrepreneurs thrive, or individuals achieve their ambitions? Is their ability to win innate? Or is the winning mind-set something we can all develop?

Drawing on the wisdom of an astonishing array of talented people, from elite athletes to top managers, from rulers of countries to rulers of global business empires, Alastair Campbell uses his forensic skills as well as his own experience of politics and sport to get to the heart of success.

He examines how winners tick. He considers how they build great teams. He analyses how they deal with unexpected setbacks and new challenges. He judges what the very different worlds of politics, business and sport can learn from one another. And he sets out a blueprint for winning that we can all follow.

Finding it, refining it, loving it, and actually getting out there and doing it.

Don't waste your life not doing something you aren't brilliant at, not setting the world on fire with your ideas, your thinking, your inventions, your words. It doesn't matter how you do your Thing; what matters is that you do it! And how about turning that Thing into your business, too?

Lucy Whittington is on a mission: she wants everyone in the world to do what they're brilliant at and not just what they're good at. Having done what she was good at (marketing) for a long time, and getting overqualified with an MBA, Lucy realized that her Thing was finding other people's Things and helping them turn them into great businesses that they loved.

In this audiobook, Lucy uses her proven five-step process to help even more people find what they are brilliant at. Find out what you should be doing and how to make a living from it; take advantage of Lucy's expertise, and follow her five-step process for success; be inspired and gain real, practical advice; receive guidance on taking your new business to the next level by creating your Star Plan; become famous for what you do. Imagine being so gifted that the work you are paid to do comes as naturally as breathing and is so enjoyable that you would do it for free.

It can happen. You're gifted at something, and that something is marketable. You can put yourself on the path to your ideal life, but first you have to find your Thing.

Do you understand who you really are? Or how others really see you? We all know people with a stunning lack of self-awareness - but how often do we consider whether we might have the same problem?

Research shows that self-awareness is the meta-skill of the 21st century - the foundation for high performance, smart choices, and lasting relationships. Unfortunately we are remarkably poor judges of ourselves and how we come across, and it's rare to get candid, objective feedback from colleagues, employees, and even friends and family.

Integrating hundreds of studies with her own research and work in the Fortune 500 world, organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich shatters conventional assumptions about what it takes to truly know ourselves - like why introspection isn't a bullet train to insight, how experience is the enemy of self-knowledge, and just how far others will go to avoid telling us the truth about ourselves. Through stories of people who've made dramatic self-awareness gains, she offers surprising secrets, techniques and strategies to help listeners do the same - and therefore improve their work performance, career satisfaction, leadership potential, relationships and more.

At a time when self-awareness matters more than ever, Insight is the essential playbook for surviving and thriving in an unaware world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.

Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.

It begins in North Philadelphia. He was born an accident, unwanted by his parents. His father was a drug addict who was in and out of jail. His brother was a crack dealer and petty thief. And his mother was overwhelmingly strict, beating him with belts, frying pans, and his own toys.

The odds, in short, were stacked against our young hero, just like the odds that are stacked against the release of a new book in this era of social media (where Hart has a following of over 100 million, by the way).

But Kevin Hart, like Ernest Hemingway, J.K. Rowling, and Chocolate Droppa before him, was able to defy the odds and turn it around. In his literary debut, he takes the listener on a journey through what his life was, what it is today, and how he's overcome each challenge to become the man he is today.

And that man happens to be the biggest comedian in the world, with tours that sell out football stadiums and films that have collectively grossed over $3.5 billion.

He achieved this not just through hard work, determination, and talent: It was through his unique way of looking at the world. Because just like a book has chapters, Hart sees life as a collection of chapters that each person gets to write for himself or herself.

"Not only do you get to choose how you interpret each chapter, but your interpretation writes the next chapter," he says. "So why not choose the interpretation that serves your life the best?"

If you've ever felt overburdened, underappreciated or just downright fed up with your life, stop what you're doing and give this a try. Sarah Knight's approach in The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*k is every bit as sorry-not-sorry as you'd expect.

A brilliant, hilarious homage to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, showing how to shed your mental clutter for good. Aimed at overachieving but dissatisfied people everywhere. Sarah's inspirational two-step 'NotSorry' program shows how unleashing the power of not giving a f**k will help you shed unwanted guilt and obligations to redirect time, energy and enthusiasm to your true priorities.

Sarah reveals why giving a f**k about what other people think is your worst enemy - and how to stop doing it; how to sort your f**ks into four essential categories; simple criteria for whether or not you should give a f**k (i.e., 'Does this affect anyone other than me?'); and the two keys to successfully not giving a f**k without also being an asshole.

So, get rid of the mental clutter, ditch the perfectionism and create the life you want - for good.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Two books in one bundle!

Self Esteem for Women and Confidence & Assertiveness for Women

Build confidence, self-esteem, and assertiveness in your professional and social life starting today!

Learn how to quickly be able to handle any situation, always know what to say, be assertive and charismatic, and build the life you have always wanted.

By addressing every conceivable situation in which you may lack confidence, these books will start to create the building blocks of lasting assertiveness and self-assurance throughout the various areas of your life.

Rather than just focusing on the theory, both books also provide you with case studies based on real-life situations so that you can apply these strategies to your own life.

As women, we have a responsibility to ourselves and the women of the future to take back our power, own our space in the world, and start building our self-confidence.

Have you ever wondered why some people earn attention and respect when they speak and others don't? The secret to their success can be summed up in one word: gravitas.

In this revolutionary new book, leading voice coach and speaker Caroline Goyder reveals how to speak so others will listen. Through simple techniques to build your natural gravitas, you will learn how to express yourself clearly, with passion and confidence, to persuade, influence and engage listeners. By being grounded in your values and capabilities, you will gain the authority needed to make people sit up and pay attention.

Each chapter guides you step by step through practical techniques and exercises to give you the skills for great presentations, productive meetings and persuasive pitches. You'll overcome anxiety, learn how to deal with difficult people and feel calm and in control when public speaking.

An essential tool for the modern workplace, Gravitas will transform the way you think about yourself and your powers of communication.

In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown, a leading expert on shame, authenticity, and belonging, shares 10 guideposts on the power of Wholehearted Living - a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness. Each day we face a barrage of images and messages from society and the media telling us who, what, and how we should be. We are led to believe that if we could only look perfect and lead perfect lives, we'd no longer feel inadequate. So most of us perform, please, and perfect, all the while thinking, "What if I can't keep all of these balls in the air? Why isn't everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if I fail or give up? When can I stop proving myself?"

In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown, Ph.D., a leading expert on shame, authenticity and belonging, shares what she's learned from a decade of research on the power of Wholehearted Living - a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.

In her 10 guideposts, Brown engages our minds, hearts, and spirits as she explores how we can cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, "No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough," and to go to bed at night thinking, "Yes, I am sometimes afraid, but I am also brave. And, yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable, but that doesn't change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging."

Whether you're 20, 40, 60 or older, many of us are still looking for an answer to that perennial question: 'what do I want to be when I grow up?'

In Designing Your Life, Silicon Valley design innovators Bill Burnett and Dave Evans use their expertise to help you work out what you want - and how to get it. Their phenomenally successful Life Design course has been tried and tested by thousands of people, from students to midcareer professionals to retirees contemplating whole new futures.

Now in audiobook form, their simple method will teach you how to use basic design tools to create a life that will work for you. Using lots of real-life stories and proven techniques like reframing, prototyping and mind-mapping, you will learn how to build your way forwards, step by positive step, to a life that's better by a design of your own making. Because a well-designed life means a life well lived.

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It was 11:00 pm when I checked my email for the last time and turned off my phone for what I hoped would be forever.

No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio, or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce.

The Way Home is a modern-day Walden - an honest and lyrical account of a remarkable life lived in nature without modern technology. Mark Boyle, author of The Moneyless Man, explores the hard-won joys of building a home with his bare hands, learning to make fire, collecting water from the stream, foraging, and fishing.

What he finds is an elemental life, one governed by the rhythms of the sun and seasons, where life and death dance in a primal landscape of blood, wood, muck, water, and fire - much the same life we have lived for most of our time on earth. Revisiting it brings a deep insight into what it means to be human at a time when the boundaries between man and machine are blurring.

Skillfully read by DJ, MTV News reporter, and radio host Sway Calloway, whose effortless style and distinct voice perfectly capture John's message, and featuring a customized introduction from the author himself, this audiobook is the go-to source for all those wanting to learn the importance of staying hungry in order to succeed. Interspersed throughout its chapters, listeners are treated to "Power Facts" and "Shark Points" told directly by Daymond John, giving the famed entrepreneur and branding expert a chance to impart some of his invaluable wisdom.

Daymond John has been practicing the power of broke ever since he started selling his home-sewn T-shirts on the streets of Queens. With no funding and a $40 budget, Daymond had to come up with out-of-the box ways to promote his products. Luckily, desperation breeds innovation, and so he hatched an idea for a creative campaign that eventually launched the FUBU brand into a $6 billion global phenomenon. But it might not have happened if he hadn't started out broke - with nothing but a heart full of hope and a ferocious drive to succeed by any means possible.

Here, the FUBU founder and star of ABC's Shark Tank shows that, far from being a liability, broke can actually be your greatest competitive advantage as an entrepreneur. Why? Because starting a business from broke forces you to think more creatively. It forces you to use your resources more efficiently. It forces you to connect with your customers more authentically and market your ideas more imaginatively. It forces you to be true to yourself, stay laser focused on your goals, and come up with those innovative solutions required to make a meaningful mark. John shows how we can all leverage the power of broke to phenomenal success. You'll meet:

Steve Aoki, the electronic dance music (EDM) deejay who managed to parlay a series of $100 gigs into becoming a global superstar who has redefined the music industry.

Gigi Butler, a cleaning lady from Nashville who built a cupcake empire on the back of a family recipe, her maxed-out credit cards, and a heaping dose of faith.

Eleven-year-old Shark Tank guest Mo Bridges, who stitched together a winning clothing line with just his grandma's sewing machine, a stash of loose fabric, and his unique sartorial flair.

When your back is up against the wall, your bank account is empty, and creativity and passion are the only resources you can afford, success is your only option. Here you'll learn how to tap in to that power of broke to scrape, hustle, and dream your way to the top.

BONUS: This audiobook features an exclusive interview between author Daymond John and narrator Sway Calloway, touching upon topics that include entrepreneurship as "the ultimate equalizer", loving what you do, and why the author handpicked Calloway to read his book.

Cameron Diaz shares her formula for becoming happier, healthier, and stronger in this positive, essential guide that is grounded in science and inspired by personal experience.

Cameron Diaz has been a role model for millions of women all over the world throughout her career. But, as she’d be the first to admit, she hasn’t always been as health-conscious as she is now.

As a young woman, Cameron didn’t always think about how the decisions she was making about her diet and lifestyle would impact her health for years to come. But over the past fifteen years, she has discovered that what she eats is inseparably linked to how she feels and looks. That knowledge – that nutrition impacts life – fuelled her hunger to educate herself about the best ways to feed, move, and care for her body. In The Body Book, Cameron shares what she’s learned and offers a comprehensive guide for women to look and feel their best.

Cameron doesn’t offer a one-size-fits-all program or set goals to reach in seven days or thirty days or a year; instead, The Body Book offers a long-term approach to a long, strong, healthy life. Informed by experts and grounded in science, but brought to life by Cameron’s passion and personal experiences, The Body Book is an empowering, educational, and inspiring handbook for women everywhere.

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Stephen R. Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has been a top seller for the simple reason that it ignores trends and pop psychology for proven principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity. Celebrating its 15th year of helping people solve personal and professional problems, this special anniversary edition includes a new foreword and afterword written by Covey that explore whether the 7 Habits are still relevant and answer some of the most common questions he has received over the past 15 years.

This audio edition is the first ever unabridged recording of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

We all have good days and bad days. Some days we’re on form, others we can’t really be bothered and feel a little lack lustre. No one enjoys those slump days - so let’s do away with them! The wonderful, uplifting and funny authors of the best-selling The Art of Being Brilliant are here to show us how to get motivated, get positive and get happy, and, most importantly, how to be all three consistently. Every single day. Using a solid understanding of positive psychology, but with clear visual illustrations, simple explanations and a bit of funny stuff, Be Brilliant Everyday shows us how to foster some serious positivity and mental agility and transform our lives. The book is crammed with practical tips to help us ditch those down days and flourish every single day. Live and breathe positivity everyday. Learn to be truly happy, confident and more effective. Become a great example to others and inspire those around you. Feel brilliant in a busy, demanding world.

Gaining power can help you influence others and bring about change. But the misuse of power, especially as a leader, can lead to mistrust, corruption, and abusive behavior. How do you strike the right balance to have the greatest positive impact?

This book explains how wielding power affects your emotions and decision making and helps you avoid the traps that lead to negative consequences. With the latest psychological research and practical advice from leading experts, you'll learn how to use soft power to persuade others, fix unhealthy power dynamics in your team, use compassion to connect better with others, and remain ethical in your choices and actions.

How to be human at work. HBR's Emotional Intelligence series features smart, essential commentary on the human side of professional life from the pages of Harvard Business Review. Each book in the series offers proven research showing how our emotions impact our work lives, practical advice for managing difficult people and situations, and inspiring essays on what it means to tend to our emotional well-being at work. Uplifting and practical, these books describe the social skills that are critical for ambitious professionals to master.

Robert Greene is a master guide for millions, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves.

We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people's masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose.

Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defence.

Throughout history people have sought to cope with a life that is often stressful and hard. We have actually known for some time that developing compassion for oneself and others can help us face up to and win through the hardship and find a sense of inner peace. However in modern societies we rarely focus on this key process that underpins successful coping and happiness and can be quick to dismiss the impact of modern living on our minds and well-being. Instead we concentrate on 'doing, achieving' and having'. Now, bestselling author and leading authority on depression, Professor Paul Gilbert explains how new research shows how we can all learn to develop compassion for ourselves and others and derive the benefits of this age-old wisdom.

In this ground-breaking new book he explores how our minds have developed to be highly sensitive and quick to react to perceived threats and how this fast-acting threat-response system can be a source of anxiety, depression and aggression. He describes how studies have also shown that developing kindness and compassion for self and others can help in calming down the threat system: as a mother's care and love can soothe a baby's distress, so we can learn how to soothe ourselves. Not only does compassion help to soothe distressing emotions, it actually increases feelings of contentment and well-being. Here, Professor Gilbert outlines the latest findings about the value of compassion and how it works, and takes readers through basic mind training exercises to enhance the capacity for, and use of, compassion.

New audio available from 01 August 2018.

"While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their images with sheer, almost irrational force, I've found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition." (From the prologue)

A book that will change how you think and transform how you live.

Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people – at work, at school, at home. It is wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his paradigm-shattering book Drive, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today’s world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and the world. Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation, and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward.

Exclusively written for Audible, available only in audio

Sleep is central to every part of our lives, and a good night's sleep begins by putting aside the day's worries. But in today's technology-saturated world, saying goodnight to the day is harder than ever. Allow author Arianna Huffington (Thrive, The Sleep Revolution) to guide you to a peaceful night's slumber as she performs Goodnight Smartphone: a classic tale reborn for the modern age, when the hardest thing to say goodnight to is not the moon but our phones, our email, our social media, our always-on digital selves.

During a visit to Audible to speak about the benefits of sleep, Arianna joked about what a wonderful book Goodnight Moon is and how other childhood classics help transition kids from daytime to sleep time. She posited why there weren't such books for adults. "Goodnight cares of the day, goodnight worries about tomorrow, goodnight laptop!" she exclaimed. Soon after, Goodnight Smartphone was born. Listen as Arianna borrows from the traditions of children's bedtime stories to create this modern age adaptation for adults, and learn more about her daily sleep regimen in her introduction. Exclusively written for Audible, available only in audio.

Inspired by children's bedtime classics, this audiobook is a playful and relaxing guide to help you transition from the worries of a stressful day to a good night's sleep, and you can hear it only on Audible.

Unlock your self-esteem and discover your worthy mind. Learn to own and celebrate every part of you: all of your magnificence and all of your messiness. Right here. Right now.

Self-esteem isn’t about being a better, smarter, more polished version of yourself. It’s about learning how and why your mind causes low self-esteem—and finding the right tools to break through these barriers so you can experience unlimited confidence and unleash your potential. In this empowering work, internationally recognized inquiry teacher and personal development coach Meadow DeVor shares life-changing insights that allow you to love yourself, respect yourself, and increase your self-worth.

Digging deeper than ever before, DeVor explains where your sense of low self-esteem came from and then guides you home to your true self. It’s only when you embrace how you feel, what you need, what you love and what you want that you can move through the world with ease, joy and connectedness. Don’t miss this powerful invitation to step into a self-love mindset—and learn how to change your life.

"Meadow’s laser insight changed my life." (Dr. Martha Beck, New York Times best-selling author)

Our most commonly held formula for success is broken.

Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we'll be happy. If we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward; happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn't just an empty mantra. This discovery has been repeatedly borne out by rigorous research in psychology and neuroscience, management studies, and the bottom lines of organisations around the globe.

In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, who spent over a decade living, researching, and lecturing at Harvard University, draws on his own research - including one of the largest studies of happiness and potential at Harvard and others at companies like UBS and KPMG - to fix this broken formula. Using stories and case studies from his work with thousands of Fortune 500 executives in 42 countries, Achor explains how we can reprogram our brains to become more positive in order to gain a competitive edge at work.

Isolating seven practical, actionable principles that have been tried and tested everywhere from classrooms to boardrooms, stretching from Argentina to Zimbabwe, he shows us how we can capitalise on the Happiness Advantage to improve our performance and maximise our potential.

A pep talk in your pocket, this short audiobook will fill you to the brim with happiness, positivity, well-being and, most importantly, success! Andy Cope and Andy Whittaker are experts in the art of happiness and positive psychology and The Art of Being Brilliant is crammed full of good advice, instructive case studies, inspiring quotes, some funny stuff and important questions to make you think about your work, relationships and life.

You see, being brilliant, successful, and happy isn't about dramatic change, it's about finding out what really works for you and doing more of it. The authors lay down their six common-sense principles that will ensure you focus on what you’re good at and become super-brilliant both at work and at home.

About the Authors: Andy Cope is a best-selling author, trainer, qualified teacher and learning junkie. He brings the best of what he knows from the field of positive psychology. Andy Whittaker is a qualified trainer of neuro-linguistic programming and time line therapy. He also moonlights as a stand-up comic and lends this book his unique brand of humour.

Joe Dispenza, DC, has spent decades studying the human mind - how it works, how it stores information, and why it perpetuates the same behavioral patterns over and over. In the acclaimed film What the Bleep Do We Know!?, he began to explain how the brain evolves - by learning new skills, developing the ability to concentrate in the midst of chaos, and even healing the body and the psyche. Evolve Your Brain presents this information in depth, while helping you take control of your mind, explaining how thoughts can create chemical reactions that keep you addicted to patterns and feelings - including ones that make you unhappy. And when you know how these bad habits are created, it's possible to not only break these patterns, but also reprogram and evolve your brain, so that new, positive, and beneficial habits can take over.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Brought to you by Penguin.

There's never been a better time to set new habits. This book will change your life.

Why do we do develop habits? And how can we change them?

We can always change. In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg translates cutting-edge behavioural science into practical self-improvement action, distilling advanced neuroscience into fascinating narratives of transformation.

Why can some people and companies change overnight and some stay stuck in their old ruts? The answer lies deep in the human brain, and The Power of Habits reveals the secret pressure points that can change a life. From Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to Martin Luther King Jr., from the CEO of Starbucks to the locker rooms of the NFL, Duhigg explores the incredible results of keystone habits and how they can make all the difference between billions and millions, failure and success – or even life and death.

The Power of Habit makes an exhilarating case: the key to almost any door in life is instilling the right habit. From exercise to weight loss, child-rearing to productivity, market disruption to social revolution and above all success, the right habits can change everything.

Habits aren't destiny. They’re science, one which can transform our businesses, our communities and our lives.

The new self-development programme from the author of the smash best seller The Chimp Paradox.

All of us face challenges, rough patches and struggles in life. And during these times we are often our own worst enemies, experiencing unwelcome emotions, thoughts and behaviours. The one thing that has stood out to Professor Peters in his years of supporting people as a Consultant Psychiatrist is that no matter what you may be facing in life, if you have the right mental toolkit in place then you will be able to cope - and even thrive.

Now, the best-selling author of The Chimp Paradox, has created a structured, practical self-development programme to help you attain psychological health and wellbeing. Professor Peters explains complex neuroscience in straightforward terms with his Chimp Mind Model. The eight stages of the book will help you to focus, empower yourself and lead you along a path to robustness and resilience.

“I sincerely hope that you will find the book helpful, and that the jungle of life will become much more manageable, as you find your own inner strength." (Professor Peters)

Boundaries are the ways we communicate our needs. They are what allow us to feel safe among strangers, in everyday interactions, and in our closest relationships. When we have healthy boundaries, we have a strong foundation in an uncertain world. And when someone crosses your boundaries, or you cross someone else’s, the result range from unsettling to catastrophic.

In this audiobook, best-selling author Dr. Faith Harper offers a full understanding of issues of boundaries and consent, how we can communicate and listen more effectively, and how to survive and move on from situations where our boundaries are violated.

Along the way, you’ll learn when and how to effectively say “no” (and “yes”), troubleshoot conflict, and respect your own and others’ boundaries like a pro. You’ll be amazed at how much these skills improve your relationships with friends, strangers, coworkers, and loved ones.

A deeper look at an old-fashioned quality. We've all heard the phrase, "Patience is a virtue", and doubtless responded with a sigh, as usually it's spoken with a tone of reproach. But this virtue carries with it a wealth of wisdom that can actually help us find happiness in our day to day. Author Mary Jane Ryan details just what living with patience can bring to our lives and how it can change us for the better.

Slow the rush. Things move at a quick pace in our society, in both our work lives and social lives. Not only are we forced to keep up, but we have been conditioned to expect instant gratification. Because of this, we find ourselves getting flustered by the smallest setbacks or hold ups-whether it's a slow server at a restaurant or rush-hour traffic. Ryan shares how patience is the very antidote to the stress that our fast-paced lifestyle results in.

Reclaim our priorities. By reining in our aggravation when things don't happen instantaneously, we give ourselves time to breathe and think more clearly. We make better use of our days and allow ourselves to make decisions based on how they align with our priorities, instead of focusing on how fast we can get tasks done. With Ryan's help, we can learn to foster a patient outlook and find joy and fulfillment in the present moment.

Brought to you by Penguin

Live in a clean and clutter-free home forever with the life-changing KonMari Method - now a multi-million copy international best seller.

Transform your home into a permanently clear and clutter-free space with the incredible KonMari Method. Japan's expert declutterer and professional cleaner Marie Kondo will help you tidy your rooms once and for all with her inspirational step-by-step method.

The key to successful tidying is to tackle your home in the correct order, to keep only the things you really love and to do it all at once - and quickly. After that for the rest of your life you need only to choose what to keep and what to discard.

The KonMari Method will not just transform your space. Once you have your house in order, you will find that your whole life will change. You can feel more confident, you can become more successful, and you can have the energy and motivation to create the life you want. You will also have the courage to move on from the negative aspects of your life: you can recognise and finish a bad relationship; you can stop feeling anxious; you can finally lose weight.

Marie Kondo's method is based on a 'once cleaned, never messy again' approach. If you think that such a thing is impossible, then you should definitely listen to this compelling audiobook.

Personal finance journalist, Michelle McGagh, takes on a challenge to not spend money for a whole year in an engaging narrative that combines personal experience with accessible advice on money.

Michelle McGagh has been writing about money for over a decade. You'd think that would make her a whiz with her own cash, right? Wrong! Spending with abandon and ignoring bank statements were her modus operandi. Just because she wasn't in serious debt apart from her massive London mortgage, she thought she was in control. She wasn't. Something needed to be done, but rather than cut back here and there, Michelle's approach was more radical. She set herself a challenge to not spend anything for an entire year. She paid her bills, and she had a minimal budget for her weekly groceries and household essentials, but otherwise Michelle didn't spend any money at all. She was finding creative ways to get the things she needed, to travel and to still be able to enjoy her time. Not only has she saved money, but she is happier, no longer feeling the desire to buy things all the time or feeling the pressure of being sold to. Her relationship with money, with things, with time, with others has changed for the better.

The No Spend Year is Michelle's honestly written and personal account of her challenge. But it is more than that; it is also a tool for life that will help you get to grips with your own financial situation. She talks about money in an accessible, unintimidating and often entertaining way, and interspersed throughout are really brilliant personal finance tips and life hacks about interest, mortgages, savings , pensions and spending less to help you live a more financially secure life, too.

From the author who brought you the best-selling book everyone is talking about, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k: The no-f**ks-given, no-holds-barred guide to living your best life.

Ever find yourself snowed under at the office - or even just glued to the sofa - when you really want to get out (for once), get to the gym (at last), and get started on that daunting dream project you're always putting off? Then it's time to get your sh*t together.

In The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, 'anti-guru' Sarah Knight introduced the joys of mental decluttering. Get Your Sh*t Together takes you one stop further - organizing the f*cks you want and need to give to help you quit your day job and move abroad, balance work and fun - and save money while you're at it - or simply get out of the door for happy hour every day.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

There are 168 hours in a week. This book is about where the time really goes, and how we can all use it better. It's an unquestioned truth of modern life: we are starved for time. With the rise of two-income families, extreme jobs, and 24/7 connectivity, life is so frenzied we can barely find time to breathe. We tell ourselves we'd like to read more, get to the gym regularly, try new hobbies, and accomplish all kinds of goals. But then we give up because there just aren't enough hours to do it all. Or else, if we don't make excuses, we make sacrifices. To get ahead at work we spend less time with our spouses. To carve out more family time, we put off getting in shape. To train for a marathon, we cut back on sleep. There has to be a better way - and Laura Vanderkam has found one.

After interviewing dozens of successful, happy people, she realized that they allocate their time differently than most of us. Instead of letting the daily grind crowd out the important stuff, they start by making sure there's time for the important stuff. They focus on what they do best and what only they can do. When plans go wrong and they run out of time, only their lesser priorities suffer. It's not always easy, but the payoff is enormous. Vanderkam shows that it really is possible to sleep eight hours a night, exercise five days a week, take piano lessons, and write a novel without giving up quality time for work, family, and other things that really matter. The key is to start with a blank slate and to fill up your 168 hours only with things that deserve your time. Of course, you probably won't read to your children at 2:00 am, or skip a Wednesday morning meeting to go hiking, but you can cut back on how much you watch TV, do laundry, or spend time on other less fulfilling activities. Vanderkam shares creative ways to rearrange your schedule to make room for the things that matter most.

When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?

Helen decides there is only one way to find out: she will give herself a year, trying to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. From child care, education, food and interior design to SAD, taxes, sexism and an unfortunate predilection for burning witches, The Year of Living Danishly is a funny, poignant record of a journey that shows us where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.

Helen Russell is a journalist and former editor of MarieClaire.co.uk. She now lives in rural Jutland and works as a Scandinavia correspondent for the Guardian as well as writing a column on Denmark for the Telegraph.

Renowned psychologist Walter Mischel, designer of the famous Marshmallow Test, explains what self-control is and how to master it.

A child is presented with a marshmallow and given a choice: Eat this one now, or wait and enjoy two later. What will she do? And what are the implications for her behavior later in life?

The world's leading expert on self-control, Walter Mischel has proven that the ability to delay gratification is critical for a successful life, predicting higher SAT scores, better social and cognitive functioning, a healthier lifestyle and a greater sense of self-worth. But is willpower prewired, or can it be taught?

In The Marshmallow Test, Mischel explains how self-control can be mastered and applied to challenges in everyday life - from weight control to quitting smoking, overcoming heartbreak, making major decisions, and planning for retirement. With profound implications for the choices we make in parenting, education, public policy and self-care, The Marshmallow Test will change the way you think about who we are and what we can be.

Are you the Fallback Girl? If you've ever found yourself in a relationship that feels and seemingly looks like one, but you're struggling with commitment, or you've been in the ambiguous territory of a "casual relationship", you've likely tried to change them, wondered what you did to cause this, what you can do to win their love and commitment, or even whether you're going crazy.

Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl is the definitive guide to understanding the relationship between emotionally unavailable men and the women who love them. From explaining how and why they blow hot and cold to where that future they promised went to, how you've ended up being a booty call, why you've been together for a gazillion years but aren't going anywhere, and more importantly how and why you're involved with them in the first place, all of the answers are here.

You know you're dealing with unavailability when you ask stuff like: What happened to that great guy from the beginning? Why won't he break up or stay away if he doesn't want to commit? What the hell did I do to make him disappear? Is he going to leave her for me? It's because he's shy/busy/scared of his feelings, isn't it? Inspired by the real-life adventures in unavailability of Natalie Lue and the readers of her site, BaggageReclaim.com.

Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl is an empowering, entertaining, and inspiring read that will wise you up to pitfalls such as men who aren't over their exes, Future Fakers, guys who have more baggage than a Heathrow terminal, and reappearing childhood sweethearts. If you want to understand your own availability and why commitment in a healthy relationship is eluding you, Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl is your guide to being available and attracted to healthy, available partners.

Back in the summer of 2005, Natalie Lue was a single advertising executive wondering out loud on her blog why she had a penchant for unavailable men. Using her site, BaggageReclaim.com, to answer that question while transforming her life, her blog has become a go-to source for understanding emotional unavailability, commitment, dating, relationships and self-esteem while inspiring many thousands of people to change their own relationship habits.

We all go through patches when we find it hard to sleep. Either we have problems dropping off at night or we wake in the early hours with thoughts buzzing round in our minds. Sometimes it seems impossible to get that elusive night's sleep we so badly crave, but this book will show you how to break negative patterns, get more rest and improve your wellbeing.

Dr Jessamy Hibberd and Jo Usamar draw on the very latest developments in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), to guide you through proven techniques to help you get your sleep patterns back on track. You will feel rested, happier, and immediately reap the benefits in your everyday life.

One third of our lives is spent trying to sleep. Most us have disturbed, restless nights and rely on a cocktail of caffeine and sugar to drag us through the day. Yet the hours we spend in bed shape our moods, motivation and decision-making skills - defining our performance in work, at home and while keeping fit. We need a new approach to sleep.

In this groundbreaking audiobook, Nick Littlehales, elite sleep coach to some of the world's leading sports stars and teams, lays bare his strategies for us all to use. Discover how to map your own sleep cycle, what the optimum room temperature is, which bedding is best and why napping is actually good for you.

Listen to Sleep, learn from the best in sport, and kick-start a more confident, successful and happier you.

Published in Australia as Self-Help for Your Nerves.

Sweaty, trembling hands. Churning stomach. Headaches, sleeplessness, rapid heartbeat. All are common symptoms of nervous illness, or the panic state. During her long and accomplished career, Dr. Claire Weekes helped countless people overcome anxiety, fear, and frustration and lead happy, healthy lives.

Based on the best-selling book of the same name, this eight-part original audio series is like a personal consultation with Dr. Weekes. Learn to recognize your own symptoms, rise above them, and relax.

In the age of information overload, traditional time management techniques simply don't cut it when it comes to overflowing inboxes, ever-expanding to-do lists and endless pointless meetings. Thankfully there is a better way: the way of the productivity ninja. Using techniques including ruthlessness, mindfulness, Zenlike calm and stealth and camouflage, you will get your inbox down to zero, make the most of your attention, beat procrastination and learn to work smarter, not harder. Written by one of the UK's foremost productivity experts, How to be a Productivity Ninja is a fun, accessible and practical guide to staying cool, calm and collected, getting more done and learning to love your work again.

33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life, informed by the most ingenious and effective military principles in war. It's the I-Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and is abundantly illustrated with examples from history, including the folly and genius of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher, Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, movie moguls to samurai swordsmen.

It was with Human, All Too Human, first published in 1878, that Nietzsche developed the aphoristic style that so suited his challenging views and uncompromising style. The text is divided into three main sections: 'Of the First and Last Things', 'History of the Moral Feelings' and 'The Religious Life'. But the style remains the same: he declares the subjects - dream and civilisation; private ethics and world ethics; gratitude and revenge; well-wishing; vanity - and then discusses them in a few sentences or sometimes in a longer passage. This style enables him to cover an extraordinarily wide range of topics as his fertile and lively mind wander over man in his element.

This audiobook also contains the two parts of volume II: 'Miscellaneous Maxims' and 'The Wanderer and His Shadow'. These two collections are less well known - unjustly so, as they are packed with Nietzsche's wonderfully uncompromising views and observation on a lucky dip of topics including debauchery, bach, danger in admiration, deception in love and dishonest praise.

Here is an example: 'End and goal. Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has also not reached its goal. A parable.'

All in all, this 15-hour collection in an appropriately conversational reading by Michael Lunts is a fascinating, at times infuriating yet always entertaining discovery.

'When you attain the Way of strategy, there will not be one thing you cannot see.'

Miyamoto Musashi, Book of Five Rings

Shortly before his death in 1645, the undefeated swordsman Miyamoto Musashi retreated to a cave to live as a hermit. There he wrote five scrolls describing the "true principles" required for victory in the martial arts and on the battlefield. Instead of relying on religion or theory, Musashi based his writings on his own experience, observation, and reason. The scrolls, published as The Book of Five Rings, have recently gained an international reputation in the business world as a means of resolving differences and achieving success. But their delineation of the psychological strength, rigorous self-control, and practical application necessary for dealing with physical and mental conflict also has a wider relevance and can be usefully applied to all our lives.

As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption - even murder and genocide - generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie.

In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on "white" lies - those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort - for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.

Composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the most famous and influential work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The work is a philosophical novel in which the character of Zarathustra, a religious prophet-like figure, delivers a series of lessons and sermons in a Biblical style that articulate the central ideas of Nietzsche's mature thought. Key to the philosophy of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a rejection of traditional systems of religious morality, the idea of the will to power, and a vision of a new, higher mode of being, the ubermensch" or "Superman," one of Nietzsche's most famous and controversial figures. As innovative stylistically as it is philosophically, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is both a literary masterpiece and an enduring classic of moral thought. This version of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the translation by Thomas Common.

Figura capital del pensamiento filosófico de Grecia junto con Platón, su maestro, Aristóteles (384-322 a.C.) fue autor de una vasta obra que abarcó desde la lógica y la metafísica a la biología y las ciencias naturales, pasando por la retórica, la poética, la política y la ética. Conjunto de recomendaciones dirigidas en un principio a la educación de su hijo, su Ética a Nicómaco plantea y trata esencialmente la cuestión de cómo debe el ser humano ordenar su conducta para alcanzar la felicidad. Según Aristóteles, además de las virtudes o facultades intelectuales específicas del hombre, existe una capacidad complementaria o virtud moral basada en tres pilares: la naturaleza (physis), la costumbre (ethos) y la razón (lógos)—que debe ser, en definitiva, su pauta de conducta.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Through the ages, the samurai have been associated with honor, fearlessness, calm, decisive action, strategic thinking, and martial prowess. Their ethos is known as bushido, the Way of the Warrior-Knight. Here, premier translator Thomas Cleary presents a rich collection of writings on bushido by warriors, scholars, political advisors, and educators from the 15th century through the 19th century that provide a comprehensive, historically rich view of samurai life and philosophy. Training the Samurai Mind gives an insider's view of the samurai world: the moral and psychological development of the warrior, the ethical standards they were meant to uphold, their training in both martial arts and strategy, and the enormous role that the traditions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism had in influencing samurai ideals.

The writings deal with a broad range of subjects - from military strategy and political science, to personal discipline and character development. Cleary introduces each piece, putting it into historical context, and presents biographical information about the authors. This is an essential listen for anyone interested in military history and samurai history, and for martial artists who want to understand strategy.

This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time.

If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late.

Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity.

An Oxford philosopher committed to putting ideas into action, Toby Ord has advised the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister's Office, and the World Bank on the biggest questions facing humanity. In The Precipice, he offers a startling reassessment of human history, the future we are failing to protect, and the steps we must take to ensure that our generation is not the last.

In 1656, after being excommunicated from Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community for "abominable heresies" and "monstrous deeds", the young Baruch Spinoza abandoned his family's import business to dedicate his life to philosophy. He quickly became notorious across Europe for his views on God, the Bible, and miracles, as well as for his uncompromising defense of free thought. Yet the radicalism of Spinoza's views has long obscured that his primary reason for turning to philosophy was to answer one of humanity's most urgent questions: How can we lead a good life and enjoy happiness in a world without a providential God? In Think Least of Death, Steven Nadler connects Spinoza's ideas with his life and times to offer a compelling account of how the philosopher can provide a guide to living one's best life.

In the Ethics, Spinoza presents his vision of the ideal human being, the "free person" who, motivated by reason, lives a life of joy devoted to what is most important-improving oneself and others. Untroubled by passions such as hate, greed, and envy, free people treat others with benevolence, justice, and charity. Focusing on the rewards of goodness, they enjoy the pleasures of this world, but in moderation. "The free person thinks least of all of death", Spinoza writes, "and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life."

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Michael J Sandel's, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? as read by the author himself.

Considering the role of justice in our society and our lives, Michael Sandel reveals how an understanding of philosophy can help to make sense of politics, religion, morality - and our own convictions. Breaking down hotly contested issues - from abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage to patriotism, dissent, and affirmative action - Sandel shows how the biggest questions in our civic life can be broken down and illuminated through reasoned debate.

Justice promises to take readers - of all ages and political persuasions - on an exhilarating journey to confront today's political and moral controversies in a fresh and enlightening way.

The comprehensive and accurate edition of the Hagakure is a must-have for serious martial artists or fans of samurai and the Bushido code.

The Hagakure is one of the most influential of all Japanese texts - written nearly 300 years ago by Yamamoto Tsunetomo to summarize the very essence of the Japanese Samurai Bushido ("warrior") spirit. Its influence has been felt throughout the world, and yet its existence is scarcely known to many Westerners. This is the first translation to include the complete first two books of the Hagakure and the most reliable and authentic passages contained within the third book; all other English translations published previously have been extremely fragmentary and incomplete.

Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? HBO's Westworld, a high-concept cerebral television series which explores the emergence of artificial consciousness at a futuristic amusement park, raises numerous questions about the nature of consciousness and its bearing on the divide between authentic and artificial life. Are our choices our own? What is the relationship between the mind and the body? Why do violent delights have violent ends? Could machines ever have the moral edge over man? Does consciousness create humanity, or humanity consciousness?

In Westworld and Philosophy, philosophers, filmmakers, scientists, activists, and ethicists ask the questions you're not supposed to ask and suggest the answers you're not supposed to know. There's a deeper level to this game, and this book charts a course through the maze of the mind, examining how we think about humans, hosts, and the world around us on a journey toward self-actualization.

Essays explore different facets of the show's philosophical puzzles, including the nature of autonomy as well as the pursuit of liberation and free thought, while levying a critical eye at the human example as Westworld's hosts ascend to their apotheosis in a world scarred and defined by violent acts.

Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them how little they genuinely understood.

This engaging book introduces the great thinkers in Western philosophy and explores their most compelling ideas about the world and how best to live in it. In forty brief chapters, Nigel Warburton guides us on a chronological tour of the major ideas in the history of philosophy. He provides interesting and often quirky stories of the lives and deaths of thought-provoking philosophers from Socrates, who chose to die by hemlock poisoning rather than live on without the freedom to think for himself, to Peter Singer, who asks the disquieting philosophical and ethical questions that haunt our own times.

Warburton not only makes philosophy accessible, he offers inspiration to think, argue, reason, and ask in the tradition of Socrates. A Little History of Philosophy presents the grand sweep of humanity's search for philosophical understanding and invites all to join in the discussion.

Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy serves as the perfect introduction to its subject; it remains unchallenged as the greatest account of the history of Western thought. Charting philosophy's course from the pre-Socratics up to the early twentieth century, Russell relates each philosopher and school to their respective historical and cultural contexts, providing erudite commentary throughout his invaluable survey. This engaging and comprehensive work has done much to educate and inform generations of general readers; it is written in accessible and elegantly crafted prose and allows for an easy grasp of complex ideas.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Philosophical esotericsim - the practice of communicating one's unorthodox thoughts "between the lines" - was a common practice until the end of the 18th century. The famous Encyclopedie of Diderot, for instance, not only discusses this practice in over 20 different articles, but admits to employing it itself. The history of Western thought contains hundreds of such statements by major philosophers testifying to the use of esoteric writing in their own work or others'. Despite this long and well-documented history, however, esotericism is often dismissed today as a rare occurrence. But by ignoring esotericism, we risk cutting ourselves off from a full understanding of Western philosophical thought.

Arthur M. Melzer serves as our deeply knowledgeable guide in this engaging history of philosophical esotericism. Walking listeners through both an ancient (Plato) and a modern (Machiavelli) esoteric work, he explains what esotericism is - and is not. Melzer explores the various motives that led thinkers in different times and places to engage in this strange practice, while also exploring the motives that lead more recent thinkers not only to dislike and avoid this practice but to deny its very existence. In the book's final section, Melzer turns to how we might once again cultivate the long-forgotten art of reading esoteric works.

The first clear and faithful guide to the timeless, practical teachings of the Stoic philosopher Seneca.

Stoicism, the most influential philosophy of the Roman Empire, offers refreshingly modern ways to strengthen our inner character in the face of an unpredictable world. Widely recognized as the most talented and humane writer of the Stoic tradition, Seneca teaches us to live with freedom and purpose. His most enduring work, over a hundred "Letters from a Stoic" written to a close friend, explains how to handle adversity; overcome grief, anxiety, and anger; transform setbacks into opportunities for growth; and recognize the true nature of friendship.

In Breakfast with Seneca, philosopher David Fideler mines Seneca's classic works in a series of focused chapters, clearly explaining Seneca's ideas without oversimplifying them. Best enjoyed as a daily ritual, like an energizing cup of coffee, Seneca's wisdom provides us with a steady stream of time-tested advice about the human condition - which, as it turns out, hasn't changed much over the past 2,000 years.

The Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781, by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, cornerstone of modern philosophy, is one of the most important works on metaphysics ever published and is often seen as the culmination of centuries of early-modern philosophical thought. The Critique of Pure Reason, also known as The First Critique, incorporates in-depth discussions on empirical reason, "pure" reason, human knowledge as a whole, space and time, cause and effect, and much, much more.

From its inception, hip-hop has challenged ideas about morality, religion, and truth. Genuinely, it’s a philosophical genre. Both philosophers and hip-hop artists think about God, death, and justice, among other things. But rarely do members of these two groups talk to one another about these issues. This is a shame, given that both hip-hop and philosophy have a rich history in deep thinking and have produced exemplary thinkers.

Join Howard University scholar Dr. Brandon Hogan as he moderates a fascinating conversation between hip-hop and academic philosophy. Starting with a deep look at what defines both of them, he examines how certain artists and philosophers embrace the same principles. Then, over a series of thought-provoking episodes, you’ll explore how famous philosophers and infamous hip-hop artists have grappled with such timeless themes as good and evil, free will, poverty and wealth, and the ethics of humility. Dr. Hogan will invite you to consider what the Notorious B.I.G. would have to say to ancient Greek philosophers. He will also show you how KRS-One and N.W.A. reflect contemporary academic theories of criminal punishment.

Hip-hop and philosophy often help us to cope with life, death, and injustice and allow us to think more precisely about our place in the world. More important, hip-hop and philosophy enrich each other and should be appreciated together. By gaining a deeper insight into both, you will gain a deeper understanding of some of the most pressing challenges that confront society today.

One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life.

Using the psychological insights and the practical techniques of the Stoics, Irvine offers a roadmap for anyone seeking to avoid the feelings of chronic dissatisfaction that plague so many of us. Irvine looks at various Stoic techniques for attaining tranquility and shows how to put these techniques to work in our own life. As he does so, he describes his own experiences practicing Stoicism and offers valuable first-hand advice for anyone wishing to live better by following in the footsteps of these ancient philosophers. Listeners learn how to minimize worry, how to let go of the past and focus our efforts on the things we can control, and how to deal with insults, grief, old age, and the distracting temptations of fame and fortune. We learn from Marcus Aurelius the importance of prizing only things of true value, and from Epictetus we learn how to be more content with what we have.

Finally, A Guide to the Good Life shows listeners how to become thoughtful observers of their own lives. If we watch ourselves as we go about our daily business and later reflect on what we saw, we can better identify the sources of distress and eventually avoid that pain in our life. By doing this, the Stoics thought, we can hope to attain a truly joyful life.

From the team that brought you The Obstacle Is the Way and Ego Is the Enemy, a beautiful daily devotional of Stoic meditations.

Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise.

The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations from Emperor Marcus Aurelius, playwright Seneca, and slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus as well as lesser-known luminaries like Zeno, Cleanthes, and Musonius Rufus. Every day of the year, you'll find one of their pithy, powerful quotations as well as historical anecdotes, provocative commentary, and a helpful glossary of Greek terms. By following these teachings over the course of a year (and, indeed, for years to come), you'll find the serenity, self-knowledge, and resilience you need to live well.

Psychopath. No sooner is the word out than images of murderers, suicide bombers and gangsters flash across our minds. But unlike their box-office counterparts, not all psychopaths are violent or even criminal. In fact they are fearless, confident, ruthless and focused - qualities tailor-made for success in twenty-first-century society.

In this groundbreaking adventure into the world of psychopaths, renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals a shocking truth: psychopaths have something to teach us.

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of The Little Book of Hygge, written and read by Meik Wiking.

Denmark is often said to be the happiest country in the world. That's down to one thing: hygge.

'Hygge has been translated as everything from the art of creating intimacy to cosiness of the soul to taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things. My personal favourite is cocoa by candlelight....'

You know hygge when you feel it. It is when you are cuddled up on a sofa with a loved one or sharing comfort food with your closest friends. It is those crisp blue mornings when the light through your window is just right.

Who better than Meik Wiking to be your guide to all things hygge? Meik is CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and has spent years studying the magic of Danish life. In this beautiful, inspiring audiobook, he will help you be more hygge: from picking the right lighting and planning a dinner party through to creating an emergency hygge kit and even how to dress.

Meik Wiking is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. He is committed to finding out what makes people happy and has concluded that hygge is the magic ingredient that makes Danes the happiest people in the world.

Marked by Feynman's characteristic combination of rationality and humor, these lectures provide an intimate glimpse at the man behind the legend. He says at the start of his final lecture, "I dedicate this lecture to showing what ridiculous conclusions and rare statements such a man as myself can make." Rare, perhaps, and irreverent, sure. But ridiculous? Not even close.

As former tutor and adviser to Emperor Nero, philosopher and statesman Seneca was acutely aware of how short life can be - his own life was cut short when the emperor ordered him to commit suicide (for alleged involvement in a conspiracy). And Seneca proved true to his words - his lifelong avowal to Stoicism enabled him to conduct himself with dignity to the end.

During his rich and busy life, Seneca wrote a series of essays that have advised and enriched the lives of generations down to the present day. This collection contains five of the key essays - 'On the Shortness of Life', 'On the Happy Life', 'On the Tranquil Mind', 'On Providence' and 'On the Firmness of the Wise Person' - and they are replete with observations to remember.

'Those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear for the future have a life that is very brief and troubled,' Seneca warns.

'You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires of immortals.'

'As long as we wander at random, not following any guide except the shouts and discordant clamours of those who invite us to proceed in different directions, our short life will be wasted in useless roamings.'

Clarity, steadfastness and true enjoyment are his watchwords.

Why doesn't Batman just kill the Joker and end everyone's misery? Can we hold the Joker morally responsible for his actions? Is Batman better than Superman? If everyone followed Batman's example, would Gotham be a better place? What is the Tao of the Bat?

Batman is one of the most complex characters ever to appear in comic books, graphic novels, and on the big screen. What philosophical trials does this superhero confront in order to keep Gotham safe? Combing through 70 years of comic books, television shows, and movies, Batman and Philosophy explores how the Dark Knight grapples with ethical conundrums, moral responsibility, his identity crisis, the moral weight he carries to avenge his murdered parents, and much more. How does this caped crusader measure up against the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Lao Tzu?

In this landmark 1984 work on free will, Daniel Dennett makes a case for compatibilism. His aim, as he writes in the preface to this new edition, was a cleanup job, "saving everything that mattered about the everyday concept of free will while jettisoning the impediments". In Elbow Room, Dennett argues that the varieties of free will worth wanting - those that underwrite moral and artistic responsibility - are not threatened by advances in science but distinguished, explained, and justified in detail.

Dennett tackles the question of free will in a highly original and witty manner, drawing on the theories and concepts of fields that range from physics and evolutionary biology to engineering, automata theory, and artificial intelligence. He shows how the classical formulations of the problem in philosophy depend on misuses of imagination, and he disentangles the philosophical problems of real interest from the "family of anxieties" in which they are often enmeshed - imaginary agents and bogeymen, including the Peremptory Puppeteer, the Nefarious Neurosurgeon, and the Cosmic Child Whose Dolls We Are.

Putting sociobiology in its rightful place, he concludes that we can have free will and science, too. He explores reason, control and self-control, the meaning of "can" and "could have done otherwise", responsibility and punishment, and why we would want free will in the first place. A fresh listening of Dennett's book shows how much it can still contribute to current discussions of free will.

This edition includes as its afterword Dennett's 2012 Erasmus Prize essay.

In this classic work of spiritual guidance, the founder of the Rochester Zen Center presents a comprehensive overview of Zen Buddhism. Exploring the three pillars of Zen - teaching, practice, and enlightenment - Roshi Philip Kapleau, the man who founded one of the oldest and most influential Zen centers in the United States, presents a personal account of his own experiences as a student and teacher, and in so doing gives listeners invaluable advice on how to develop their own practices. Revised and updated, this edition features a new afterword by Sensei Bodhin Kjolhede, who succeeded Kapleau as spiritual director of the Rochester Zen Center. A moving, eye-opening work, The Three Pillars of Zen is the definitive introduction to the history and discipline of Zen.

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim, read by Sean Pratt.

'Is it the world that's busy, or my mind?'

The world moves fast, but that doesn't mean we have to. In this timely guide to mindfulness, Haemin Sunim, a Buddhist monk born in Korea and educated in the United States, offers advice on everything from handling setbacks to dealing with rest and relationships. Haemin Sunim's simple messages - which he first wrote when he responded to requests for advice on social media - speak directly to the anxieties that have become part of modern life and remind us of the strength and joy that come from slowing down.

Hugely popular in Korea, Haemin Sunim is a Zen meditation teacher whose teachings transcend religions and borders and resonate with people of all ages. With insight and compassion drawn from a life full of change, the 'mega-monk' succeeds at encouraging all of us to notice that when you slow down, the world slows down with you.

The extraordinary manifesto of independent living - newly abridged and introduced in this powerful condensation

Self-Reliance is a life-changing experience - its message of nonconformity, self-expression, and personal independence can awaken you to a new, and better, way of living. Now, historian and New Thought scholar Mitch Horowitz has deftly and faithfully retained the most powerful ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson's original classic, and reintroduced this work in this one-of-a-kind condensation. Listenable within the space of an average commute or lunch hour, the experience of Self-Reliance may represent a true turning point in your life.

Audie Award Winner, Personal Development, 2013

Author Benjamin Hoff shows that the philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh is amazingly consistent with the principles of Taoism and demonstrates how you can use these principles in your daily life.

Is there such thing as a Western Taoist? Benjamin Hoff says there is, and this Taoist's favorite food is honey. Through brilliant and witty dialogue with the beloved Pooh-bear and his companions, the author of this smash bestseller explains with ease and aplomb that rather than being a distant and mysterious concept, Taoism is as near and practical to us as our morning breakfast bowl. Romp through the enchanting world of Winnie-the-Pooh while soaking up invaluable lessons on simplicity and natural living.

While Eeyore frets and Piglet hesitates and Rabbit calculates and Owl pontificates, Pooh just is. And that's the clue to the secret wisdom of the Taoists.

The Tao of Pooh is an international bestseller and the first Taoist-authored book in history to appear on bestseller lists, it remained on The New York Times’ bestseller list for 49 weeks.

New insights from the science of science....

Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that Pluto was a planet. For decades, we were convinced that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing. But it turns out there’s an order to the state of knowledge, an explanation for how we know what we know.

Samuel Arbesman is an expert in the field of scientometrics - literally the science of science. Knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives. Doctors with a rough idea of when their knowledge is likely to expire can be better equipped to keep up with the latest research. Companies and governments that understand how long new discoveries take to develop can improve decisions about allocating resources. And by tracing how and when language changes, each of us can better bridge generational gaps in slang and dialect. Just as we know that a chunk of uranium can break down in a measurable amount of time - a radioactive half-life - so too any given field’s change in knowledge can be measured concretely.

We can know when facts in aggregate are obsolete, the rate at which new facts are created, and even how facts spread.

Arbesman takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries. He shows that much of what we know consists of “mesofacts” - facts that change at a middle timescale, often over a single human lifetime. Throughout, he offers intriguing examples about the face of knowledge: what English majors can learn from a statistical analysis of The Canterbury Tales, why it’s so hard to measure a mountain, and why so many parents still tell kids to eat their spinach because it’s rich in iron. The Half-life of Facts is a riveting journey into the counterintuitive fabric of knowledge. It can help us find new ways to measure the world while accepting the limits of how much we can know with certainty.

This engaging course of lectures begins by providing a detailed and accurate overview of Plato's philosophy and it's central idea - the idea of a transcendent reality that has popularly become known as the theory of the Forms. Professor Kreeft then takes us on a concise journey through Western Philosophical history to show how that central idea - the theory of forms - has either been built upon or reacted to by philosophers ever since. We explore not only the work of Plato, but also that of several other great voices in the Western Philosophical tradition - Aristotle, Plotinus, and Augustine - each of whom gave the forms a new metaphysical address. Later lectures explore both Christian Platonists and philosophical movements such as Positivism and Nihilism which have been anti-Platonist in their outlook. In the end we are left with a richer appreciation for Plato's work and its enduring legacy.

Antonio Gramsci was born in Sardinia in 1891, became the leader of the Italian Communist Party in his early 30s, was arrested by Mussolini’s police in 1927, and remained imprisoned until shortly before his death 10 years later. The posthumous publication of his Prison Notebooks established him as a major thinker whose influence continues to increase.

Fiori’s biography enlarges upon the facts of Gramsci’s life through personal accounts, and through Gramsci’s own writings to relatives and friends. In relating Gramsci’s growth as a political leader and theorist to his private experience, it offers acute insights into his involvement in the factory councils movement. It examines his relationship with political opponents, including Mussolini, and with his comrades within the Communist Party before and during Gramsci’s imprisonment. It is an approach which seeks to explicate, as well as underscore, the substantial achievement of one of the most important figures in Western Marxism.

Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life. The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful - possibly beyond our control. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on humans than on the species itself, so would the fate of humankind depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence.

But we have one advantage: We get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed Artificial Intelligence, to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation?

This profoundly ambitious and original book breaks down a vast track of difficult intellectual terrain. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Martin Heidegger, considered by some to be the greatest charlatan ever to claim the title of "philosopher", by some as an apologist for Nazism, and by others as an acknowledged leader in continental philosophy, is probably the most divisive thinker of the 20th century.

In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Michael Inwood focuses on Heidegger's most important work, Being and Time, to explore its major themes of existence in the world, inauthenticity, guilt, destiny, truth, and the nature of time. These themes are then reassessed in the light of Heidegger's multifaceted later thought, and how, despite its diversity, it hangs together as a single, coherent project. Finally, Inwood turns to Heidegger's Nazism and anti-Semitism, to reveal its deep connection with his personality and overall view of philosophy. This is an invaluable guide to the complex and voluminous thought of one of the 20th century's greatest yet most enigmatic philosophers.

In the 1960s and early '70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left, a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.

While the New Left achieved limited political success, it brought about vast cultural changes that remain with us to this day. The reason is that while its representatives faced some political opposition, they faced little-to-no fundamental intellectual opposition.

Ayn Rand was the exception. In her essays from this period, anthologized in The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, she opposed the New Left as no one else did. The audience for the book, she wrote, is "all those who are concerned about college students and about the state of modern education" and who are seeking "a voice of reason to turn to".

In her essays, Ayn Rand identified the essential evils of the New Left and their cause. Where most viewed the New Left and its violent college protests, its worship of untouched nature, and its orgiastic mob celebrations as some sort of inexplicable, youthful rebellion against the "establishment", Ayn Rand identified these "rebels" as in fact dutiful, consistent practitioners of the ideas taught to them by their teachers.

Return of the Primitive is an expanded edition of The New Left. It features the entire contents of the original edition authorized by Ayn Rand, plus two of her other essays, "Racism" and "Global Balkanization", which are highly relevant to today's campuses and world. Additionally, it features three essays written after her death by Peter Schwartz, analyzing some of the ideologies that the New Left helped spawn, such as multiculturalism and environmentalism.

For those who seek to understand the state of American culture today, Return of the Primitive is required reading.

Peikoff, as Rand's foremost interpreter, here reveals both the abstract fundamentals of objectivism and its practical applications, with much new material that Rand offered only in private conversations with Peikoff.

"Most of what I know about myself, I have learned from playing Schumann.” (Jonathan Biss)

World-famous pianist Jonathan Biss has had a special relationship with composer Robert Schumann since he was a child. Avoiding traditional biography and dense musical criticism, Biss writes a moving tribute to one of the most vulnerable composers in classical music history in his second Kindle Single: A Pianist Under the Influence. Biss's first Kindle Single, Beethoven's Shadow, has been a best seller on Amazon since its release, in December 2011.

A Pianist Under the Influence reflects on Biss' lifelong, intense, multilayered relationship with the composer's music and historical treatment. As Biss writes from the unique position of performer, scholar, and fan, his work is both a personal and professional love letter to the 19th-century composer.

An engaging listen for anyone interested in the creative process, it also includes a guide for listeners who wish to delve further into the material. A Pianist Under the Influence is an important aspect of Biss' 2012-2013 focus on Schumann, during which Biss and several hand-picked collaborators will perform Schumann's work; music by his notable influences such as Beethoven, Schubert, and Purcell; and selections from his long list of successors ranging from Berg and Jancek to 26-year-old composer Timothy Andres. At the core of the project is four sets of concerts, curated by Biss, including series at Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, and San Francisco Performances.

The author of The Teachings of Don Juan reveals the spiritual adventures that can be attained through dreams, describing his own journeys into new worlds by using ancient, powerful techniques.

Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill, the world of trading, this audiobook is a captivating insight into one of the least understood factors of all our lives. In an entertaining narrative style, the author succeeds in tackling three major intellectual issues: the problem of induction, the survivorship biases, and our genetic unfitness to the modern word. Taleb uses stories and anecdotes to illustrate our overestimation of causality and the heuristics that make us view the world as far more explainable than it actually is.

The audiobook is populated with an array of characters, some of whom have grasped, in their own way, the significance of chance: Yogi Berra, the baseball legend; Karl Popper, the philosopher of knowledge; Solon, the ancient world's wisest man; the modern financier George Soros; and the Greek voyager Ulysses. We also meet the fictional Nero, who seems to understand the role of randomness in his professional life, but who also falls victim to his own superstitious foolishness.

But the most recognizable character remains unnamed, the lucky fool in the right place at the right time - the embodiment of the "Survival of the Least Fit". Such individuals attract devoted followers who believe in their guru's insights and methods. But no one can replicate what is obtained through chance.

It may be impossible to guard against the vagaries of the Goddess Fortuna, but after listening to Fooled by Randomness we can be a little better prepared.

Break free of your destructive relationship with money, and learn how money can make you happy. Our relationship with money is one that lasts a lifetime. It can be as important as family life, as competitive as work, and as exciting and secretive as love. Yet books about money tend to take one of two routes: a) how to get more, or b) how to deal with less. This book turns these questions upside down, and looks not at money itself, but at the way we view it. How does money drive us? How does it frighten us? And how can it help us make sense of who we are?

Money is too important a part of life for us not to worry about, but by approaching it differently, we can change the way we perceive its worth. With surprising and enlightening new insights, How to Worry Less about Money will help you realise what material wealth really means.

In this fascinating new book which he narrates himself, Oliver Burkeman argues that "positive thinking" and relentless optimism aren't the solution to the happiness dilemma, but part of the problem. And that there is, in fact, an alternative path to contentment and success that involves embracing the things we spend our lives trying to avoid - uncertainty, insecurity, pessimism, and failure. Thought-provoking, counterintuitive, and ultimately uplifting, The Antidote is a celebration of the power of negative thinking.

Paris, near the turn of 1933. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. Pointing to his drink, he says, 'You can make philosophy out of this cocktail!'

From this moment of inspiration, Sartre will create his own extraordinary philosophy of real, experienced life - of love and desire, of freedom and being, of cafés and waiters, of friendships and revolutionary fervour. It is a philosophy that will enthral Paris and sweep through the world, leaving its mark on post-war liberation movements, from the student uprisings of 1968 to civil rights pioneers.

At the Existentialist Café tells the story of modern existentialism as one of passionate encounters between people, minds and ideas. From the 'king and queen of existentialism' - Sartre and de Beauvoir - to their wider circle of friends and adversaries including Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Iris Murdoch, this audiobook is an enjoyable and original journey through a captivating intellectual movement.

Weaving biography and thought, Sarah Bakewell takes us to the heart of a philosophy about life that also changed lives, and that tackled the biggest questions of all: what we are and how we are to live.

To say that quantum physics is the greatest scientific discovery of all time is not an exaggeration. In their discovery of the quantum realm, the physics community stumbled upon a genuine multifaceted revelation that can be likened to a profound spiritual treasure - a heretofore undreamed of creative power - hidden within our own mind. Quantum physics unequivocally points out that the study of the universe and the study of consciousness are inseparably linked, which is to say that ultimate progress in the one will be impossible without progress in the other.

Written for those with no physics background, Paul Levy's latest book, The Quantum Revelation: A Radical Synthesis of Science and Spirituality, is for those who have heard that quantum physics is a fascinating subject but don't quite understand how or why. Levy contemplates the deeper philosophical underpinnings of quantum physics, exploring the fundamental questions it provokes: What does it mean that quantum theory has discovered that there is no such thing as "objective reality?" How are we participating - via our consciousness - in creating our experience of a reality that quantum theory itself describes as "dreamlike"? What are the implications for us in our day-to-day lives that - as quantum theory reveals - what we call reality is more like a dream than we had previously imagined?

From renowned physicist and New York Times best-selling author Brian Greene comes the remarkable human quest to grasp how the universe came to be.

A Russian dissident, a Jesuit priest, and an American mule skinner are but a few of the bold visionaries who crafted the scientific story of cosmic origins. The collective insights of these and numerous creative thinkers advanced human understanding from mythology to mathematics, yielding falsifiable alternatives to ancient folklore and campfire tales.

Listening to the Big Bang tells the dramatic human story—filled with colorful characters, unsung catalysts, and glorified heroes—which made the Big Bang the leading cosmological theory.

But deep questions remain. Was the big bang a one-time event or might there be series of bangs? What sparked the big bang? Why is there anything at all? Decades of astronomical evidence notwithstanding, only by listening for the sounds of creation will scientists be equipped to extol, or extend, or expel our most refined story for how the universe began.

With deep insight, a light touch, and an artful sense of narrative, Brian Greene takes us all to the very edge of understanding.

From award-winning physicist, public intellectual, and the bestselling author of A Universe from Nothing Lawrence Krauss, comes “a masterful blend of history, modern physics, and cosmic perspective that empowers the reader to not only embrace our understanding of the universe, but also revel in what remains to be discovered” (Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Museum of Natural History).

In this grand poetic vision of the universe, Lawrence Krauss tells the dramatic story of the discovery of the hidden world that underlies reality - and our place within it.

Reality is not what you think or sense - it’s weird, wild, and counterintuitive, and its inner workings seem at least as implausible as the idea that something can come from nothing.

With his trademark wit and accessible style, Krauss leads us to realms so small that they are invisible to microscopes, to the birth and rebirth of light, and into the natural forces that govern our existence. His unique blend of rigorous research and engaging storytelling invites us into the lives and minds of remarkable scientists who have helped unravel the unexpected fabric of reality with reasoning rather than superstition and dogma, and to explain how everything we see - and can’t see - came about. A passionate advocate for reason, Krauss gives the rationale for the seemingly irrational - and the mysteries and apparent contradictions of quantum physics, and explores what that means for our lives here on Earth - and beyond.

At its core, The Greatest Story Ever Told - So Far is about the best of what it means to be human - an epic history of our ultimately purposeless universe that addresses the question, “Why are we here?”

Man’s Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl’s struggle to hold on to hope during the unspeakable horrors of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering, but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.

Through every waking moment of his ordeal, Frankl’s training as a psychiatrist lent him a remarkable perspective on the psychology of survival. As a result of these experiences, Dr. Frankl developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that man’s primary motivational force is his search for meaning. Frankl’s assertion that “the will to meaning” is the basic motivation for human life has forever changed the way we understand our humanity in the face of suffering.

Frankl’s riveting memoir was named one of the 10 Most Influential Books in America after a 1991 survey by the Library of Congress and Book of the Month Club. This revised and updated version includes a new postscript: “The Case for a Tragic Optimism”.

Never before has there been a greater need for deeper listening and more open communication to cope with the complex problems facing our organizations, businesses, and societies. Renowned scientist David Bohm believed there was a better way for humanity to discover meaning and to achieve harmony. He identified creative dialogue, a sharing of assumptions and understanding, as a means by which the individual, and society as a whole, can learn more about themselves and others, and achieve a renewed sense of purpose.