Allyson Ryan has narrated 118 audiobooks on Listento.it by 101 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 1,124 ratings. The most-rated is No Rules Rules.
No Rules Rules
Summary
Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings reveals for the first time the unorthodox culture behind one of the world's most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies. There has never before been a company like Netflix. It has led nothing short of a revolution in the entertainment industries, generating billions of dollars in annual revenue while capturing the imaginations of hundreds of millions of people in more than 190 countries. But to reach these great heights, Netflix, which launched in 1998 as an online DVD rental service, has had to reinvent itself over and over again. This type of unprecedented flexibility would have been impossible without the counterintuitive and radical management principles that cofounder Reed Hastings established from the very beginning. Hastings rejected the conventional wisdom under which other companies operate and defied tradition to instead build a culture focused on freedom and responsibility, one that has allowed Netflix to adapt and innovate as the needs of its members and the world have simultaneously transformed. Hastings set new standards, valuing people over process, emphasizing innovation over efficiency, and giving employees context, not controls. At Netflix, there are no vacation or expense policies. At Netflix, adequate performance gets a generous severance, and hard work is irrelevant. At Netflix, you don’t try to please your boss, you give candid feedback instead. At Netflix, employees don’t need approval, and the company pays top of market. When Hastings and his team first devised these unorthodox principles, the implications were unknown and untested. But in just a short period, their methods led to unparalleled speed and boldness, as Netflix quickly became one of the most loved brands in the world. Here for the first time, Hastings and Erin Meyer, best-selling author of The Culture Map and one of the world’s most influential business thinkers, dive deep into the controversial ideologies at the heart of the Netflix psyche, which have generated results that are the envy of the business world. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees from around the globe and never-before-told stories of trial and error from Hastings’s own career, No Rules Rules is the fascinating and untold account of the philosophy behind one of the world’s most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies. *Includes a PDF containing examples of Netflix Culture Maps from the book. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Summary
New York Times best seller • National Book Award Longlist "A feminist jeremiad nested inside a brilliant comic novel - a book that makes you laugh so hard you don’t notice till later that your eyebrows have been singed off." (Ron Charles, The Washington Post) Named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by Entertainment Weekly and the New York Public Library and one of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review • Time • The Washington Post • Vanity Fair • Vogue • NPR • Chicago Tribune • GQ • Vox • Refinery29 • Elle • The Guardian • Real Simple • Parade • Good Housekeeping • Marie Claire • Town & Country • Evening Standard • Kirkus Reviews • BookPage • BookRiot • Shelf Awareness A finely observed, timely exploration of marriage, divorce, and the bewildering dynamics of ambition from one of the most exciting writers working today Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost 15 years separated: weekends and every other holiday with the kids, some residual bitterness, the occasional moment of tension in their co-parenting negotiations. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. He had been working so hard to find equilibrium in his single life. The winds of his optimism, long dormant, had finally begun to pick up. Now this. As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation. But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place. A searing, utterly unvarnished debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an insightful, unsettling, often hilarious exploration of a culture trying to navigate the fault lines of an institution that has proven to be worthy of our great wariness and our great hope. Alma’s Best Jewish Novel of the Year "Blisteringly funny, feverishly smart, heartbreaking, and true, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an essential read for anyone who’s wondered how to navigate loving (and hating) the people we choose." (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest) "From its opening pages, Fleishman Is in Trouble is shrewdly observed, brimming with wisdom, and utterly of this moment. Not until its explosive final pages are you fully aware of its cunning ferocity. Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut is that rare and delicious treat: a page-turner with heft." (Maria Semple)
©2019 Taffy Brodesser-Akner (P)2019 Random House Audio
Plutocrats
Summary
There has always been some gap between rich and poor in this country, but in the last few decades what it means to be rich has changed dramatically. Alarmingly, the greatest income gap is not between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, but within the wealthiest 1 percent of our nation - as the merely wealthy are left behind by the rapidly expanding fortunes of the new global super-rich. Forget the 1 percent; Plutocrats proves that it is the wealthiest 0.1 percent who are outpacing the rest of us at break-neck speed. What's changed is more than numbers. Today, most colossal fortunes are new, not inherited - amassed by perceptive businessmen who see themselves as deserving victors in a cut-throat international competition. As a transglobal class of successful professionals, today's self-made oligarchs often feel they have more in common with one another than with their countrymen back home. Bringing together the economics and psychology of these new super-rich, Plutocrats puts us inside a league very much of its own, with its own rules. The closest mirror to our own time is the late 19th century Gilded Age - the era of powerful "robber barons" like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Then as now, emerging markets and innovative technologies collided to produce unprecedented wealth for more people than ever in human history. Yet those at the very top benefited far more than others - and from this pinnacle they exercised immense and unchecked power in their countries. Today's closest analogue to these robber barons can be found in the turbulent economies of India, Brazil, and China, all home to ferocious market competition and political turmoil. But wealth, corruption, and populism are no longer constrained by national borders, so this new Gilded Age is already transforming the economics of the West as well. Plutocrats demonstrates how social upheavals generated by the first Gilded Age may pale in comparison to what is in store for us, as the wealth of the entire globalized world is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Cracking open the tight-knit world of the new global super-rich is Chrystia Freeland, an acclaimed business journalist who has spent nearly two decades reporting on the new transglobal elite. She parses an internal Citigroup memo that urges clients to design portfolios around the international "Plutonomy" and not the national “rest”; follows Russian, Mexican, and Indian oligarchs during the privatization boom as they manipulate the levers of power to commandeer their local economies; breaks down the gender divide between the vast female-managed "middle class" and the world's one thousand billionaires; shows how, by controlling both the economic and political institutions of their nation, the richest members of China's National People's Congress have amassed more wealth than every branch of American government combined - the president, his cabinet, the justices of the Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress. Though the results can be shocking, Freeland dissects the lives of the world's wealthiest individuals with empathy, intelligence, and deep insight. Intelligently written, powerfully researched, and propelled by fascinating original interviews with the plutocrats themselves, Plutocrats is a tour-de-force of social and economic history, and the definitive examination of inequality in our time.
©2012 Chrystia Freeland (P)2012 Tantor
Mercy for Hire Mission Pack 1: Missions 1-4
Summary
The galaxy’s worst bounty hunter just might be its most relentless hero. Esper is a vigilante Samaritian with more moral fiber than business sense. Any bounty hunter worth the title knows three rules: Collect half the money up front. Never get emotionally attached. Don’t ask nosy questions. But with a heart of gold and her companion Kubu by her side, Esper sets out to make the galaxy a better place, preferably making enough money to pay for the fuel to get from one job to the next. But just because she’s not cut out to be ruthless doesn’t mean the galaxy is going to eat her alive. After all, Esper is also a wizard. Mission 1: Wayward Saint A runaway teen needs protection, and Esper takes the job. But a simple rescue and recovery turns ugly when Esper finds herself in the middle of a custody battle with a vicious pirate who’s hired a bounty hunter of his own. Mission 2: Behind Blue Skies On the run from troubles of her own, Esper tries to lie low on a suspiciously Utopian colony planet. Unable to keep out of other people’s troubles, Esper gets a terrifying look into justice on a world where truth is a matter of who you know. Mission 3: House of the Orion Sun Esper’s mission to protect the galaxy’s most vulnerable takes a turn for the seedy when she tracks a trafficking victim. How long can she hold out when her morals are tested at every turn? Mission 4: Break the Chain Esper’s own dark past catches up with her when bounty-hunting wizards corner her. Esper has faced down the galaxy’s worst criminals. Now, she’s going to be forced to stand up to one of the galaxy’s most esteemed institutions - Convocation of Arcane Practitioners.
©2018 J.S. Morin (P)2018 J.S. Morin
Long Bright River
Summary
One of Barack Obama's favorite books of the year Named a Best Book of 2020 By NPR, Parade, Real Simple, and BuzzFeed An instant New York Times best seller A Good Morning America Book Club Pick "[Moore’s] careful balance of the hard-bitten with the heartfelt is what elevates Long Bright River from entertaining page-turner to a book that makes you want to call someone you love." (The New York Times Book Review) "This is police procedural and a thriller par excellence, one in which the city of Philadelphia itself is a character (think Boston and Mystic River). But it’s also a literary tale narrated by a strong woman with a richly drawn personal life - powerful and genre-defying." (People) "A thoughtful, powerful novel by a writer who displays enormous compassion for her characters. Long Bright River is an outstanding crime novel.... I absolutely loved it." (Paula Hawkins, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Girl on the Train) Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn't be more different. Then one of them goes missing. In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the streets in the vise of addiction. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don't speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sibling. Then Kacey disappears, suddenly, at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey's district, and Mickey becomes dangerously obsessed with finding the culprit - and her sister - before it's too late. Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: A gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.
©2020 Liz Moore (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Heirs and Graces
Summary
Audie Award Finalist, Mystery, 2014 As 35th in line for the throne, Lady Georgiana Rannoch may not be the most sophisticated young woman, but she knows her table manners. It's forks on the left, knives on the right - not in His Majesty's back…. "Here I am thinking the education I received at my posh Swiss finishing school would never come in handy. And while it hasn't landed me a job, or a husband, it has convinced Her Majesty the Queen and the Dowager Duchess to enlist my help. I have been entrusted with grooming Jack Altringham - the Duke's newly discovered heir fresh from the Outback of Australia - for high society. The upside is I am to live in luxury at one of England's most gorgeous stately homes. But upon arrival at Kingsdowne Place, my dearest Darcy has been sent to fetch Jack, leaving me stuck in a manor full of miscreants…none of whom are too pleased with the discovery of my new ward. And no sooner has the lad been retrieved than the Duke announces he wants to choose his own heir. With the house in a hubbub over the news, Jack's hunting knife somehow finds its way into the Duke's back. Eyes fall, backs turn, and fingers point to the young heir. As if the rascal wasn't enough of a handful, now he's suspected of murder. Jack may be wild, but I'd bet the crown jewels it wasn't he who killed the Duke…."
©2013 Janet Quin-Harkin (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Reborn on the Run
Summary
Aside from her rock star looks, Catra Corbett is a standout in the running world on her accomplishments alone. Catra is the first American woman to run over 100 miles or more on more than 100 occasions and the first to run 100 and 200 miles in the Ohlone Wilderness, and she holds the fastest known double time for the 425-miles long John Muir Trail, completing it in 12 days, four hours, and 57 minutes. And, unbelievably, she's also a former meth addict. After two years of addiction, Catra is busted while selling, and a night in jail is enough to set her straight. She gives up drugs and moves back home with her mother, abandoning her friends, her boyfriend, and the lifestyle that she came to depend on. Her only clean friend pushes her to train for a 10K with him, and surprisingly, she likes it and decides to run her first marathon after that. In Reborn on the Run, the listener keeps pace with Catra as she runs through difficult terrain and extreme weather, is stalked by animals in the wilderness, and nearly dies on a training run but continues on, smashing running records and becoming one of the world's best ultrarunners.
©2018 Catra Corbett and Dan England (P)2018 Tantor
Tending Roses
Summary
From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Book of Lost Friends and Before We Were Yours comes a heartfelt novel about the bonds of family and the power of second chances. When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother’s Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who’s become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart. Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandma’s journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of stories that celebrate the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Kate see her life - and her grandmother - in a completely new way...
©2003 Lisa Wingate (P)2018 Penguin Audio
No One Tells You This
Summary
If the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child, what then? This question plagued Glynnis MacNicol on the eve of her 40th birthday. Despite a successful career as a writer, and an exciting life in New York City, Glynnis was constantly reminded she had neither of the things the world expected of a woman her age: a partner or a baby. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about this. After all, single women and those without children are often seen as objects of pity, relegated to the sidelines, or indulgent spoiled creatures who think only of themselves. Glynnis refused to be cast into either of those roles and yet the question remained: What now? There was no good blueprint for how to be a woman alone in the world. She concluded it was time to create one. Over the course of her 40th year, which this memoir chronicles, Glynnis embarks on a revealing journey of self-discovery that continually contradicts everything she’d been led to expect. Through the trials of family illness and turmoil, and the thrills of far-flung travel and adventures with men, young and old (and sometimes wearing cowboy hats), she is forced to wrestle with her biggest hopes and fears about love, death, sex, friendship, and loneliness. In doing so, she discovers that holding the power to determine her own fate requires a resilience and courage that no one talks about, and is more rewarding than anyone imagines. Intimate and timely, No One Tells You This is a fearless reckoning with modern womanhood and an exhilarating adventure that will resonate with anyone determined to live by their own rules.
©2017 Glynnis MacNicol (P)2018 Simon & Schuster
When Katie Met Cassidy
Summary
"A film-ready rom-com about finding love when you least expect it." (Elle) "My favorite romantic book of recent memory." (Emma Straub) "The delightful, sexy, queer rom-com of the summer...[with] all the makings of a Nora Ephron classic." (Vogue.com) One of NPR's best books of 2018. One of Washington Post's 50 notable works of fiction in 2018. From the acclaimed author of The Assistants comes another gutsy book about the importance of women taking the reins - this time, when it comes to love, sex, and self-acceptance. When it comes to Cassidy, Katie can't think straight. Katie Daniels, a 28-year-old Kentucky transplant with a strong set of traditional values, has just been dumped by her fiancé when she finds herself seated across a negotiating table from native New Yorker Cassidy Price, a sexy, self-assured woman wearing a man's suit. At first neither of them knows what to make of the other, but soon their undeniable connection will bring into question everything each of them thought they knew about sex and love. When Katie Met Cassidy is a romantic comedy about gender and sexuality and the importance of figuring out who we are in order to go after what we truly want. It's also a portrait of a high-drama subculture where barrooms may as well be bedrooms and loyal friends fill in the spaces absent families leave behind. Katie's glimpse into this wild yet fiercely tight-knit community begins to alter not only how she sees the larger world but also where exactly she fits in.
©2018 Camille Perri (P)2018 Penguin Audio
'Twas the Knife Before Christmas
Summary
A Christmas delight, 'Twas the Knife Before Christmas will charm the stockings off fans of Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier. It's out of the cupcake tin, into the fire for Holly White's best friend, Caroline. Can Holly clear Caroline's name in time to go caroling? When a body turns up in the dumpster behind Caroline's Cupcakes, Holly White is horrified to learn her best friend, Caroline, is the main suspect. Everyone in town, including Mistletoe, Maine's sheriff, saw Caroline fighting with the victim on the night of his death. Worse, Caroline's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, a custom-designed marble rolling pin. Now, just 10 days before Christmas, Holly's up to her jingle bells in holiday shenanigans and in desperate need of a miracle. Juggling extra shifts at her family's Christmas tree farm and making enough gingerbread jewelry to satisfy the crowd is already more than she can handle - and now she has to find time to clear her best friend of murder. Add in her budding relationship with the sheriff and run-ins with an ex-fiance looking to make amends, and Holly's ready to fly south until springtime. But her Sherpa-lined mittens come off when Caroline is taken into custody. Can Holly wrap up the case in time for Christmas...even after she gains the true killer's attention? Find out in 'Twas the Knife Before Christmas, Jacqueline Frost's second pine-scented Christmas Tree Farm mystery.
©2018 Jacqueline Frost (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Twelve Slays of Christmas
Summary
Filled with holiday charm and perfect for fans of Leslie Meier, Jacqueline Frost's charming series debut Twelve Slays of Christmas is set at a Christmas tree farm when the jolliest time of the year turns deadly. When Holly White's fiancé cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. Lucky for her, home in historic Mistletoe, Maine is magical during Christmastime - exactly what the doctor prescribed. Except her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society, Margaret Fenwick, is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly's family tree farm. When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly's father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn't help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father and is determined to exonerate him. The jingle bells are ringing, the clock is ticking, and if Holly doesn't watch out, she'll end up on Santa's naughty list.
©2017 Jacqueline Frost (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Lost Letter
Summary
“A gorgeous and thrilling novel.... Perfect for book clubs and fans of The Nightingale.” (PopSugar) A historical novel of love and survival inspired by real resistance workers during World War II Austria and the mysterious love letter that connects generations of Jewish families. A heartbreaking, heartwarming story for fans of The Women in the Castle, Lilac Girls, and Sarah's Key. Author of the forthcoming In Another Time. Austria, 1938. Kristoff is a young apprentice to a master Jewish stamp engraver. When his teacher disappears during Kristallnacht, Kristoff is forced to engrave stamps for the Germans and simultaneously works alongside Elena, his beloved teacher's fiery daughter, and with the Austrian resistance to send underground messages and forge papers. As he falls for Elena amidst the brutal chaos of war, Kristoff must find a way to save her, and himself. Los Angeles, 1989. Katie Nelson is going through a divorce, and while cleaning out her house and life in the aftermath, she comes across the stamp collection of her father, who recently went into a nursing home. When an appraiser, Benjamin, discovers an unusual World War II-era Austrian stamp placed on an old love letter as he goes through her dad's collection, Katie and Benjamin are sent on a journey together that will uncover a story of passion and tragedy spanning decades and continents, behind the just fallen Berlin Wall. A romantic, poignant, and addictive novel, The Lost Letter reveals the lasting power of love.
©2017 Jillian Cantor (P)2017 Penguin Audio
Good to Go
Summary
An eye-opening, myth-busting exploration of how the human body can best recover and adapt to sports and fitness training In recent years "recovery" has become a sports and fitness buzzword. Anyone who works out or competes at any level is bombarded with the latest recovery products and services: from drinks and shakes to compression sleeves, foam rollers, electrical muscle stimulators, and sleep trackers. In Good to Go, acclaimed FiveThirtyEight science writer Christie Aschwanden takes listeners on an entertaining and enlightening tour through this strange world. She investigates whether drinking Gatorade or beer after training helps or hinders performance, she examines the latest trends among athletes - from NFL star Tom Brady's infrared pajamas to gymnast Simone Biles' pneumatic compression boots to swimmer Michael Phelps' "cupping" ritual - and she tests some of the most controversial methods herself, including cryochambers, floatation tanks, and infrared saunas. At a time when the latest recovery products and services promise so much, Good to Go seeks answers to the fundamental question: Do any of them actually help the body recover and achieve peak performance?
©2019 Christie Aschwanden (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Books Can Be Deceiving
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Cupcake Bakery Mysteries comes the start of a series about a library where the mysteries refuse to stay in the fiction section.... Lindsey is getting into her groove as the director of the Briar Creek Public Library when a New York editor visits town, creating quite a buzz. Lindsey's friend Beth wants to sell the editor her children's book, but Beth's boyfriend, a famous author, gets in the way. When they go to confront him, he's found murdered - and Beth is the prime suspect. Lindsey has to act fast - before they throw the book at the wrong person.
©2011 Jenn McKinlay (P)2015 Penguin Audio
Word to the Wise
Summary
When a town newcomer who's gotten a bit too close to Lindsey ends up dead outside of the library, it's up to Lindsey to find the killer before it's too late.
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Baby-Led Weaning, Completely Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition
Summary
Baby-led weaning is the healthy, natural way to start your baby on solid foods - no stress, no fuss, no mush! Ten years ago, Baby-Led Weaning ended the myth that babies need to be spoon-fed purees. In fact, at about six months, most babies are ready to discover solid food for themselves. Today, baby-led weaning (BLW) is a global phenomenon - and this 10th anniversary edition of the definitive guide explains all its benefits: Baby participates in family meals right from the start, and learns to love a variety of foods. Nutritious milk feedings continue while Baby transitions to solids at his or her own pace. By self-feeding, Baby develops hand-eye coordination, chewing skills - and confidence! Plus, this edition is updated with the latest research on allergy prevention and feeding Baby safely, a guide to using BLW at daycare, and much more. Here is everything you need to know about teaching your child healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.
©2008, 2010, 2019 Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett (P)2019 Tantor
Due or Die
Summary
Answering tricky reference questions is excitement enough for library director Lindsey Norris...until a murder is committed in her cozy hometown of Briar Creek, Connecticut, and the question of who did it must be answered before someone else is checked out - for good.
©2012 Jenn McKinlay (P)2015 Penguin Audio
Read It and Weep
Summary
William Shakespeare is credited with inventing how many words?* Answering Shakespeare trivia comes with the job description for library director Lindsey Norris. But when the Briar Creek Community Theater mounts their newest production of the Bard, she has no intention of leaving the stacks for the stage. Unfortunately a villain is waiting in the wings… Former Broadway actress Violet La Rue is holding auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream - and everyone from the sour spinster librarian Ms. Cole to Lindsey’s youthful library pages are trying out for parts. Brought in to play the mischievous Puck is the flirtatious professional actor Robbie Vine, who seems to have eyes for Lindsey. Before her blush has faded, the Bard’s dream turns into a nightmare - when one of the cast is poisoned. Now Lindsey and her crafternooners must take center stage to unmask the culprit before the final curtain call… *Over 17,000
©2013 Jenn McKinlay (P)2015 Penguin Audio
Hitting the Books
Summary
When a stack of library materials is found at the scene of a hit-and-run, library director Lindsey Norris finds herself dragged into the investigation as the police try to link the driver of the stolen car to the person who borrowed the books. Before Lindsey can delve into the library's records, the victim of the hit-and-run, Theresa Houston, suffers another accident, and the investigation shifts from driver negligence to attempted homicide. A clue surfaces in the confiscated library materials that could crack open the case, and it's up to Lindsey to piece it all together. But things are not as they seem in the sleepy town of Briar Creek. When the driver of the stolen car turns up dead, Lindsey, her staff, and her library friends have to hit the books before the murderer gets the last word....
©2018 Jenn McKinlay (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC