A Book of Five Rings
Summary
This special edition of A Book of Five Rings contains one hour of traditional Japanese flute (shakuhachi) and 43 minutes of music by traditional japanese ensemble. The music appears track by track at the end of the two and a half hour audiobook and is included as wonderful compliment to this dynamic and elegant listening experience. Legendary 17th-century swordsman Miyamoto Musashiâs exposition of sword fighting, strategy, and Zen philosophy. Required listening for any martial artist, business person, or student of strategy.
©2014 Trout Lake Media (P)2014 Trout Lake Media
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Summary
Meditations is former U.S. President Bill Clinton's favorite book. This audio consists of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 AD, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy.
Public Domain (P)2012 Trout Lake Media
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Summary
A mysterious sea monster, theorized by some to be a giant narwhal, is sighted by ships of several nations; an ocean liner is also damaged by the creature. The United States government finally assembles an expedition to track down and destroy the menace. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a noted French marine biologist and narrator of the story, master harpoonist Ned Land, and Aronnax's faithful assistant Conseil join the expedition. After much fruitless searching, the monster is found, and the ship charges into battle. During the fight, the ship's steering is damaged, and the three men are thrown overboard. They find themselves stranded on the "hide" of the creature, only to discover to their surprise that it is a large metal construct. They are quickly captured and brought inside the vessel, where they meet its enigmatic creator and commander, Captain Nemo.
Public Domain (P)2017 Trout Lake Media
1001 Arabian Nights
Summary
Contains the most popular stories:  "The Sultan and His Vow", "The Story of the Merchant and Genie", "The Three Calenders", "The Story of Zobeide and Amina", "The Story of the Three Sisters", "The Story of Aladdin", "The Story of Ali Baba", "The Story of Sinbad the Sailor".  The stories in this collection can be traced back to Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age The works were collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa. Some tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Greek, Indian, Jewish, and Turkish folklore and literature.
Public Domain (P)2019 Trout Lake Media
The Great Gatsby
Summary
When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in the early 1920s, the American Dream was already on the skids. Originally based on the idea that the pursuit of happiness involves not only material success, but moral and spiritual growth, the dream had, by Fitzgerald's time, become increasingly focused on money and pleasure - a phenomenon with which the high-living writer was all too familiar.
Public Domain (P)2012 Trout Lake Media
The Secret Garden
Summary
A classic of English children's literature. An orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle's estate.
Public Domain (P)2021 Trout Lake Media
Anne of Green Gables
Summary
When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, send for a boy orphan to help them out at the farm, they are in no way prepared for the error that will change their lives. The mistake takes the shape of Anne Shirley, a redheaded 11-year-old girl who can talk anyone under the table. Fortunately, her sunny nature and quirky imagination quickly win over her reluctant foster parents. Anne's feisty spirit soon draws many friends - and much trouble - her way. Montgomery wrote the novel in the twilight of the day, sitting at her window and overlooking the fields of Cavendish. Since publication, Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies.
Public Domain (P)2017 Trout Lake Media
Abraham Lincoln
Summary
Abraham Lincoln brought freedom to the slaves, and held the Union together during the Civil War. His profound and poetic speeches are famous around the world, evidence of the greatness of American's most beloved leader. But did you know that the 16th president of the United States was also a backwoods hillbilly from America's western frontier, with a Kentucky accent so thick you could cut it? Or that he liked wrestling matches, dirty jokes, and had a reputation for telling hilarious, R-rated stories that weren't suitable for mixed company? From his childhood working as a virtual slave for an abusive father, to sailing a river raft to New Orleans, to the Illinois General Assembly, Congress, and the White House, the story of Abraham Lincoln's life is the story of America. He mourned the deaths of almost everyone he loved, endured marriage to a wife whose mental health issues made her a domestic abuser, and lost more elections than he won. But Abraham Lincoln believed in one thing above all: that everyone deserved a fair shot at the American dream. Why did John Wilkes Booth really shoot Abraham Lincoln? The truth is as shocking now as it was in 1865.
©2016 Michael Crawley (P)2016 Michael Crawley
Peter Pan
Summary
J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan has enchanted audiences for well over a century with its celebration of the promise of an eternal childhood, as well as recognition of the wonder and joys of growing up. In his charming and resonant baritone, Alan Munro performs the timeless tale of Wendy Darling's experience with "the beautiful boy with a beautiful smile", the devil-may-care Peter Pan. This "boy who won't grow up" flies her to his home island of Neverland, introduces her to his gang of Lost Boys, mermaids, Native Americans, fairies, and the infamous pirate Captain Hook.
Public Domain (P)2017 Trout Lake Media
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Summary
A scientist, his nephew and a guide follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center. Classic science fiction!
Public Domain (P)2020 Trout Lake Media
Nikola Tesla
Summary
Nikola Tesla: inventor or magician? Tesla was one of the most famous inventors who ever lived, but after his death, he was nearly forgotten. He was a celebrity during the height of America's Gilded Age. In this book, you will hear about his friendship with Mark Twain, his furious competition with his former employer Thomas Edison, his uneasy relationship with billionaire J.P. Morgan, and his rivalry with Albert Einstein. During his lifetime, Tesla revolutionized the field of electrical engineering with his most famous invention: the induction motor. But that wasn't all he contributed to the world of technology. His coils, turbines, robotic boats, and mysterious "death ray" continue to beguile the imagination and inspire the inventors of the 21st century. But who was Tesla really? This book will take you from his early childhood in Croatia, where he experienced strange optical visions and "luminous phenomenon" that gave him near super-human powers of memory and visualization, to the "War of the Currents", Thomas Edison's bizarre campaign to ruin Tesla's reputation. From trying to fight the Spanish American War with robots, to electrifying the skies of the Colorado desert, to starting an earthquake in the middle of New York City, learn how Nikola Tesla shaped the world we live in today.
©2016 Michael W. Simmons (P)2016 Michael W. Simmons
She
Summary
One of the best-selling books of all time, with over 100 million copies sold in 44 different languages. The novel was extraordinarily popular upon its release and has never been out of print. Follow the journey of Horace Holly and his ward, Leo Vincey, to a lost kingdom in the African interior. There they encounter a primitive race of natives and a mysterious white queen named Ayesha who reigns as the all-powerful "She", or "She-who-must-be-obeyed". In this work, Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the Lost World subgenre, which many later authors emulated. This is the blueprint for the Indiana Jones series.
Public Domain (P)2016 Trout Lake Media
Twelve Years a Slave
Summary
Details of a free man from New York state who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep south. The work was published eight years before the Civil War. The memoir has been adapted into two film versions.
Public Domain (P)2020 Trout Lake Media
Alexander Hamilton
Summary
What did Alexander Hamilton ever do besides get shot in a duel by Aaron Burr? When it comes to the American government, the answer is practically everything. Born in the West Indies, Hamilton was the illegitimate child of a Scottish nobleman who lost a fortune in sugar plantations. Orphaned as a teenager, he came to America in search of an education, a home, and the war that would at last bring him fame and honor. As George Washington's most trusted aide, Hamilton helped to win the American Revolution - but after the war, his enemies lost no time accusing him of trying to sell his country back to the British. He was the most powerful member of Washington's presidential cabinet - so why did Adams and Jefferson hate him so much? In this book, you will learn how the author of the Federalist Papers and the first Secretary of the Treasury nearly ruined his career by fighting duels, seducing women, and getting involved in America's first sex scandal. The duel that killed Alexander Hamilton is the most famous duel in American history, but you'll have to come up with your own answer to its greatest mystery: who shot first, Hamilton or Burr?
©2016 Michael W. Simmons (P)2016 Michael W. Simmons
King Solomon's Mines
Summary
First published in 1885, with billboards and posters around London announcing "The Most Amazing Book Ever Written". It became an immediate best seller. The genesis of the Lost World literary genre! The search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers, led by Allan Quatermain, for a missing brother, lost while searching for the mythical mines of King Solomon. It is the first English adventure novel set in Africa. The novel has been adapted to film at least six times. The first version premiered in 1937.
Public Domain (P)2015 Trout Lake Media
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Summary
The adventures of Dorothy in the Land of Oz. Thanks in part to the 1939 MGM movie, it is one of the best-known stories in American popular culture.
Public Domain (P)2017 Trout Lake Media
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Summary
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is the most famous supernatural wild chase in all of literature. One of the best known American short stories, this tale has been produced countless times for television and film. A Halloween classic!
Public Domain (P)2015 Trout Lake Media
Queen Victoria
Summary
When we think of Queen Victoria, whose reign eclipsed that of every British king and queen before her, we imagine the Widow of Windsor, reclusive in her palace, draped in permanent mourning for her beloved husband, Albert, the Prince Consort, who died in 1861. But this book takes the listener on a journey that starts before her marriage, before she came to be seen as the static icon of the age that bears her name. From her isolated childhood at Kensington Palace, where her daily life was controlled by a man who plotted to one day seize power through her, Victoria emerged shortly after her 18th birthday as a fully-fledged queen, a young woman who gloried in her newfound power and freedom. Over the next 20 years, she fell in love - twice, if the rumors are to be believed - bore nine children, and kept a daily diary which recorded her private, inward struggles: how to reconcile her role as monarch with her duties as a wife and mother, how to protect her country and her throne in an age of revolution. Ultimately, listeners of this book will discover how Queen Victoria redefined the monarchy for her own age - and afterwards.
©2017 Michael W. Simmons (P)2017 Michael W. Simmons
Treasure Island
Summary
Jim Hawkins, a young cabin boy battles the pirate Long John Silver for a buried treasure. One of the most frequently dramatized novels of all time. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen carrying parrots on their shoulders.
Public Domain (P)2013 Trout Lake Media
Mary, Queen of Scots: White Queen, Red Queen
Summary
Mary Stuart became the Queen of Scots when she was only a week old. While she was still a baby, Henry VIII burned and pillaged the Scottish countryside to force her betrothal to his son Edward. The skillful politicking of her mother, Marie de Guise, resulted in Maryâs betrothal to the son of the French king when Mary was five years old. She was sent to France to be educated as a French princess. There, "the little Queen" was adored and admired. But when her husband died a year after succeeding to his fatherâs throne, Mary surrendered to duty and left her beloved France behind to return to the homeland she barely remembered, and be Queen of the Scots in deed as well as in name. Six years, two disastrous marriages, two sordid murders, and one abduction later, Mary Stuart went from being an adored and popular young queen to being the most hated woman in Scotland. Taken captive by her own lords and nobles, she was forced to abdicate the throne. A daring escape in the middle of the night led to a heroic last stand against her enemies. In the end, however, the last queen of Scotland was forced to take refuge with the most dangerous woman in Britain: Elizabeth I.
©2017 Michael W. Simmons (P)2017 Michael W. Simmons
Tarzan of the Apes
Summary
A classic of literature and the author's best-known work. Tarzan has been called one of the best known literary characters in the world. Adapted many times for cinema. Now a major motion picture for summer 2016.
Public Domain (P)2016 Trout Lake Media
The Second Jungle Book
Summary
Sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. First published in 1895, it features five stories about Mowgli and three unrelated stories.
Public Domain (P)2016 Trout Lake Media
Thomas Edison
Summary
Everyone knows that Thomas Edison is America's most famous inventor. But what exactly drove him to invent? Have you ever heard of the phonograph or the kinetoscope? And what made his incandescent light bulb so special anyway? In this book, you will learn about Edison's busy childhood as a young inventor and entrepreneur conducting chemical experiments aboard a moving train car, his nomadic youth as a wandering telegraph operator, and about the five miraculous years of invention that produced the phonograph and the incandescent light bulb, inventions that made Edison the most famous American in history before he was 35 years old. Through the inclusion of primary documents, including letters written by Edison himself, his diary entries, and newspaper articles from the 19th century and after, this book will help you see through the eyes of an ordinary American glimpsing electric light for the first time, or listening to records on the phonograph, or viewing the very first motion pictures. From his friendship with Henry Ford, to his work for the American Navy during World War I, Thomas Edison was the original American hero, lighting all of history with his extraordinary inventions.
©2016 Michael W. Simmons (P)2016 Michael W. Simmons
A Dictionary of American Presidents Vol. 1
Summary
A Dictionary of American Presidents Vol. 1: Presidents 1-24 George Washington to Grover Cleveland offers an introductory glimpse into the background, upbringing, education, and political agendas of every American president from the years following the Revolutionary War to the end of the 19th century and Reconstruction. The first in a two-volume collection, this book offers the reader the opportunity to trace the development of the United States and the office of the Presidency from its inception in 1789 to the brink of the 20th century. This lively, informative examination of the people and events that shaped the first one hundred years of the American presidency answers the question: what sort of person does it take to shepherd a new nation from its rocky, tumultuous beginnings, to an era of increasing international prestige and geographical expansion? From the Founding Fathers and the Era of Good Feelings, to the Civil War and the Gilded Age, from Virginia plantations to log cabins on the western frontier, from self-taught lawyers to storied military heroes, from the Bill of Rights to the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution: the story of the American presidency is neither more nor less than the story of the American nation.
©2018 Michael W. Simmons (P)2018 Michael W. Simmons
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Summary
Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions, for which the novella is still popular amongst mathematics, physics, and computer science students. Several films have been made from the story, including a feature film in 2007 called Flatland. Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and a short film with Martin Sheen titled Flatland: The Movie.
Public Domain (P)2012 Trout Lake Media
Marie Antoinette: Reversal of Fortune
Summary
Three-foot-tall hairdos, "let them eat cake", and the guillotine: this is the sum total of what most people know about Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. The wife of King Louis XVI and the daughter of Maria Teresa, Holy Roman Empress, did indeed wear her hair three feet high, when she wasnât wearing straw bonnets and simple muslin gowns and playing at being a dairymaid at her fantasy retreat of Petit Trianon. But she never said "let them eat cake", nor was she the vain, shallow creature who was said to have drained the coffers of France to pay for her luxuriant amusements. The guillotine was real, however. In this audiobook, you will hear about the life of the woman who was born an insignificant archduchess and defied all expectations for her future by marrying the heir to the throne of France, only to go seven years without consummating her marriage. The victim of a misogynistic, sex-obsessed tabloid pamphlet industry, Marie Antoinette went from being a popular young queen to the most hated woman in France. The national obsession with the foreign-born queen ignited a revolution, destroying a thousand year old monarchy - and the lives of everyone she loved.
©2017 Michael W. Simmons (P)2017 Michael W. Simmons
The Three Musketeers
Summary
"All for one and one for all!" is one of the most memorable lines in all of literature and cinema. Join Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan in this classic adventure. Dumas at his best!
Public Domain (P)2013 Trout Lake Media
The Jungle Book
Summary
The first collection of Kipling's classic tales. Includes "Mowgli's Brothers", "Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack", "Kaa's Hunting", "Road-Song of the Bandar-Log", "Tiger! Tiger!", "Mowgli's Song", "The White Seal", "Lukannon", "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", "Darzee's Chant", "Toomai of the Elephants", "Shiv and the Grasshopper", "Her Majesty's Servants", and "Parade Song of the Camp Animals".
Public Domain (P)2015 Trout Lake Media
Selfishness and Self Absorption: How to Stop It from Ruining Your Relationships
Summary
We all want our relationships to be successful. A great relationship is unlike anything else in life and can contribute a lot to our well-being and happiness. Sadly, many of us struggle in maintaining healthy relationships. Very often our own selfish patterns and behaviors are at the root of our inability to really reach our romantic potential. In this book we will talk about how to overcome selfishness and realize more fulfilling relationships. We will talk about the root causes of selfish behavior so we can better understand ourselves and so better ourselves. The three main causes of self-absorption that we will look at are: Biological: evolutionary causes, from Darwin's On the Origin of Species to Dawkins' selfish gene Psychological: how we think. Selfish, egotistical reasoning versus principled, ethical reasoning. We'll look at Kohlberg's moral development theory and how you can use it to overcome your unconscious selfish instincts. Social: We'll take a look at how contemporary culture puts pressure on us to behave selfishly and how we can change this and live more for others. We will go over specific techniques and practices that you can easily adopt into your everyday life to overcome selfishness and learn how to love unselfishly and unconditionally. We'll talk about: How to develop mutually supportive relationships as partnerships. How to monitor yourself and check your selfish impulses to avoid unnecessary confrontation. How to learn how much space you take up and strategies for stepping up or stepping back to create more equality and fairness in relationships. The importance of giving without receiving. With these tools in hand, you will be well on your way to developing more loving relationships that will allow you to achieve more and be a happier, more compassionate lover and individual.
©2015 Ted Dawson (P)2015 Ted Dawson
John D. Rockefeller
Summary
John D. Rockefeller is held to be one of the wealthiest men who ever lived; he is also one of the most controversial figures in American history. Born of the unlikely union between a strict Baptist matriarch and her husband, a bigamist, alleged rapist, and snake-oil salesman, Rockefeller's early childhood was spent learning how to shoulder an adult's responsibility for his family and turn a deaf ear to the gossip that followed wherever his father went. This book contains highlights from the extraordinarily long life of a man many believed to be little better than a criminal, preying on small business owners to establish the supremacy of the Standard Oil Trust. John D. Rockefeller crushed his competitors and sparked massive public outrage against his businesses. Yet he also saved thousands of lives and helped establish respect for evidence-based medicine in the United States. From his teen years as a bookkeeper in a small commodities trading firm, to his imperial rule over the oil industry, to his early retirement and the decades he spent establishing philanthropic trusts in the fields of education and medicine, you will learn that there is no simple way to pass judgment on John D. Rockefeller's life.
©2017 Michael W. Simmons (P)2017 Michael W. Simmons
Romanov
Summary
The Romanov family ruled as tsars and emperors of all Russia for just over 300 years - 19 men and women in total, some of them brilliant, some of them mad, most of them somewhere in between. The story of the Romanovs begins in Moscow in 1613, and ends in Ekaterinburg in 1918, at the beginning of a revolution, where Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children were slaughtered by a Soviet death squad. In this book, you will learn about the lives and reigns of each Romanov emperor and empress. Hear about Peter the Great, who kept company with peasants and pie sellers but had his own son tortured to death; Catherine the Great, who finally convinced Europe that there was more to be found in the far north than just snow and barbarians; Alexander I, the gallant emperor who famously defeated Napoleon in 1812; Alexander II, who freed the serfs and survived five assassination attempts before perishing in the sixth; and Nicholas II, who ended the Romanov dynasty in 1917 when he abdicated the throne on behalf of himself and his son, the hemophiliac Alexei, who would never be emperor but is now considered a saint.
©2016 Michael W. Simmons (P)2016 Michael W. Simmons
Unlocking the Secrets of Body Language
Summary
Body language is an essential part of all face-to-face communication and is of central importance in determining the way that we connect with and respond to others around us. The secret signs and messages that are conveyed by non-verbal communication have been proven to be more important that the words we say or even the way in which we say them. Why is it then that so many of us are unaware of the signals we are sending and receiving through the complexities of our body language? When the body speaks how well do we really understand what it is trying to say? In Unlocking the Secrets of Body Language you will be guided effortlessly through some of the most important aspects of decoding body language. These valuable insights are applicable and relevant in all types of situations, from meeting a stranger to meeting the love of your life. You will learn how to recognize different hidden signals and how to read a person's true thoughts and feelings through their body language. Not only will these tips allow you to see others for who they really are, you can also use them to enhance the way that others view you. So delve into the secrets of body language today and see the immediate improvements that this precious knowledge is guaranteed to bring to your everyday life.
©2015 Mr.Lee (P)2015 Mr.Lee