Charles Kahlenberg has narrated 20 audiobooks on Listento.it by 18 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 630 ratings. The most-rated is Made to Stick.
Made to Stick
Summary
Mark Twain once observed, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on." His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public-health scares circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas (business people, teachers, politicians, journalists, and others) struggle to make their ideas "stick". Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle head-on these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the "human scale principle", using the "Velcro Theory of Memory", and creating "curiosity gaps". In this indispensable guide, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds (from the infamous "kidney theft ring" hoax to a coach's lessons on sportsmanship, to a new-product vision at Sony) draw their power from the same six traits. Made to Stick is a book that will transform the way you communicate ideas. It includes a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures), such as the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass full of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers, the charities who make use of "the Mother Teresa Effect", and the elementary school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice. Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.
©2006 Chip Heath and Dan Heath (P)2007 Random House, Inc.
Switch
Summary
Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives? The primary obstacle is a conflict thats built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed best seller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems, the rational mind and the emotional mind, that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort but if it is overcome, change can come quickly. In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people - employees and managers, parents and nurses - have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results: The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients. The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping. The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer service In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.
©2010 Chip Heath (P)2010 Random House
Big 4 Management Consultant Confessions: How Not to Screw up a Consulting Project
Summary
You or your company can be screwed if you are hiring consultants without a plan to manage their bid for the sale, statement of work, and overall engagement. Management consulting is supposed to be the practice of helping organizations improve their performance, processes, and efficiencies or to manage risk, mitigate financial threats, and leverage the latest and greatest in technology and human minds.
Reality can be another story. Learn from a seasoned risk and compliance, fraud examiner, and process improvement consultant who has worked for over 12 years in three of the "Big Four" consultancies on how you and your company can mitigate corporate risk when bringing in paid advisors.
This short, anecdotally-based instructional should be required reading for any new consultant company that is considering consulting options or who has consultants in place, project mangers, PPDs, and consulting firm owners. There are risks on both sides that, until now, no-one was talking about. Truths come out in non-disparaging ways, so both parties can better manage their projects. So no one gets screwed.
Learn how to change your consulting engagement habits, manage your project management work more effectively, and guide inexperienced consultants to better productivity for greater success.
©2019 JT Patten Books (P)2019 JT Patten Books
The Locomotive
Summary
A broker wakes up trapped underneath the rubble of a train. It derailed on a dam connecting an island with the mainland. The mud he is lying on is the bottom of the ocean and the high-tide is coming....
The novel was turned into the feature movie Derailed in Canada in 2017. The German novel is published at Weltbild Verlag. And a radio play was produced and published in Germany. The novel has been compared to Edgar Allan Poe and Franz Kafka meeting Haruki Murakami.
©2017 Thorsten Nesch (P)2017 Thorsten Nesch
Armed and Dangerous
Summary
As an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, William Queen must tackle a number of challenging cases, including going undercover to investigate a group of violent skinheads and infiltrating and busting a ring trafficking in high-powered explosives, drugs, and firearms. In the winter of 1985, he faces his toughest mission to date: he must apprehend Mark Stephens, a notorious narcotics trafficker who has been terrorizing the communities around Los Angeles with frequent rampages involving machine guns and hand grenades. A recluse living in the treacherous backwoods outside the city, Stephens is a cunning survivalist. Nobody has been able to catch him, but Queen is determined to take him down. Queen's unique expertise is not taught in any police academy or ATF training seminar; he honed his outdoorsman abilities as a kid. Stephens may have finally met his match in the unwavering Queen, who is adept at hunting and trapping and living for weeks in the wild. Queen will use these skills, along with surveillance, confidential informants, and intelligence gathering as he doggedly tracks his dangerous quarry, a chase that culminates in a gripping showdown high in the San Bernardino Mountains. A fascinating look into the daily life of an ATF agent and a taut portrayal of a month-long manhunt, Armed and Dangerous depicts a classic race against time: lawman versus outlaw in a harrowing true story of life-or-death suspense.
©2007 William Queen and Douglas Century (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.
She Murdered Me with Science
Summary
It's 1953, and disgraced scientist Noel Glass works as a PI to redeem himself for a deadly experiment that cost the lives of six people, including his fiancée's. In walks a rich recluse who offers information that Glass was framed for the deadly accident. As Glass struggles to clear his name, he uncovers an evil organization bent on using his own invention for world domination.
Who can Glass trust when everyone is keeping secrets? His mysterious Japanese sidekick - Wan Lee? The sultry blues singer - Merlot Sterling? The man-mountain bodyguard - Vincent Richmond?
From the desolate streets of Industry City, Colorado, to a showdown in Chi-town, Glass encounters death at every turn. As he's pursued by two Mayan hit men determined to make him history, Glass must rediscover the self he lost years ago and face off against the one ghost he swore he laid to rest.
She Murdered Me with Science blends detective noir with the pulp science fiction of the '40s and '50s. A child science prodigy, Glass uses forensics to solve crimes long before it was considered a legitimate resource for the police. He's part Sherlock Holmes - part Mike Hammer. Through his quest, Glass interacts with historical figures like J. Edgar Hoover, DNA scientist James Watson, and photojournalist Art Shay. The story interweaves true events from the beginnings of the Cold War era with a fictional Armageddon.
Glass also gets drawn into the growing racial tensions of the times, including the Trumple Park Riots, because of his femme fatale, the chanteuse Merlot. Cut from classic females of the era, Merlot takes no prisoners on stage or in the bedroom.
She Murdered Me with Science is laced with the blues, packed with action, and armed to kill.
©1922, 1926, 2017 David Boop. T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do Words and Music By Porter Grainger, Clarence Williams, Jimmy Witherspoon, Everett Robbins, and Robert Prince. Original Copyright (c) 1922 Public Domain Who'll Chop Your Suey (When I'm Gone) Words by Rousseau Simmons Music by Sidney Bechet Copyright (c) 1926 UNIVERSAL MUSIC CORP. Copyright Renewed All Rights Reserved Used by Permission Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard LLC (P)2018 WordFire Press, LLC
Safe Havens: Shadow Masters
Summary
Father, Husband, Shadow Warrior. Target. Sean Havens served the government black ops underworld for over 20 years. He lived and operated through corporate cut-outs and within the dark recesses of humanity to protect the country he loved. But when the family he loved was unprotected by his country, Havens's clandestine double life follows him home colliding two very separate worlds. Shock awaits as he learns who is friend or foe in the obscure domestic battlefield. To find sanctuary, he must navigate the intertwined shadows of underhanded proxy surrogate schemes, staged terrorism, and a long thought to be disbanded CIA rival - The Pond. If Havens survives as both protector and punisher, will his soul be among the body count? Few will find safe haven amidst those seeking revenge and refuge within the twisted wreckage of covert eliminations and set-ups. Enthusiasts of military thrillers and espionage conspiracies from the likes of Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, and Lee Child will enjoy this authentic dark ride, lauded by best-selling authors Dalton Fury, Mark Greaney, and Kevin Maurer. The novel was written by former discrete operations intelligence adviser, "J.T. Patten" who brings an insider's view and voice that those in the know will recognize, and outsiders will appreciate a rare glimpse to a world that few know exists.
©2013, 2014 J.T. Patten Books (P)2014 J.T. Patten Books
The Orion Assignment
Summary
Retired jewel thief Felicity O'Brien travels to her native Ireland to defend her uncle's Catholic parish. With her is her partner, Morgan Stark, a retired mercenary soldier. The job looks easy until they meet Ian O'Ryan, an IRA terrorist who believes he is the reincarnation of Orion the ancient hunter. He is determined to keep the violence alive in Ireland and to spread it throughout the island. To avoid bullets, bombs and beatings, Stark and O'Brien rely on a special gift, a psychic link that alerts them to danger. But against O'Ryan they face danger from an entire army of enemies. Trying to separate patriotic mercenaries from heartless terrorists leads them to a sniper mission on the rocky Irish coast, a deadly high speed motorcycle race in Belgium, and a final confrontation on an island off the coast of France where Stark could die by slow torture if O'Brien doesn't find him in time.
©2006-2076 Intrigue Publishing LLC (P)2018 Intrigue Publishing LLC
Safe Havens: Primed Charge
Summary
A team of CIA contractors travel to Southeast Asia to investigate a series of bombings that have taken the lives of Tier One Advance Force Operators. When the mission fails, intelligence specialist Sean Havens is sent to the jungles of Burma to determine the missing soldiers' whereabouts. On the ground, Havens learns of an unlikely axis of Russia, China, and Iran that may have plans beyond illicit trafficking. But is this a ruse to mask a global financial market manipulation to fund elections and buy alliances? Out of his element and looking to disrupt the looming global threats, Havens struggles to use his adaptability, guile, and tradecraft, as his personal losses wrestle for attention. His actions may have further consequences when the Shadow Masters learn of his meddling, sending Havens again into the deadly game of secret societies and a New World Order. From Chicago and Fayetteville to Burma, Thailand, and New York, death continues to follow Havens and those in his wake.
©2016 JT Patten and JT Patten Books (P)2016 JT Patten and JT Patten Books
Red Rain: Lightning Strikes
Summary
John Hilt's life may look perfect, but his problem is growing; he can't stop killing. And his dead friend, Harry, absolutely loves it. John, lost in this murderous obsession, doesn't see the world collapsing around him. Police officers Alan Tremock and Susan Merchent think they found their man and will do anything to take him down. They're connecting the dots, and realizing wherever John Hilt goes, people die. Only one issue, though: Harry wants John to kill them, too. A life off the rails, John sees nothing but rain falling from the sky: Red Rain, drowning everything in the blood he spills. A thrill-ride like no other! Go deep into the mind of a serial killer and pick up the second book in the Red Rain series today!
©2015 Lee David Beers IV (P)2016 Lee David Beers IV
Presidential Retreat: A Sean Havens Black Ops Novel
Summary
To beat an assassin, become an assassin. The deep state isn't pleased with the current president. An assassination would put the Vice President in a prime election position - if intelligence specialist Sean Havens doesn't thwart the power players' agenda. Sent undercover to Martha's Vineyard, a historic presidential summer retreat, Havens is tasked to conduct a recovery under the guise of a routine security assessment in advance of POTUS's arrival. A new threat is exposed forcing Havens into action with no backup save for a mysterious colleague, the Man from Orange, code named "Birddog". Unaware of a conspiracy dating back to our forefathers, Sean Havens is forced to trust old enemies in a twisted plot between the CIA, the Pond, and the upcoming presidential election. But is it Havens himself who is in the cross hairs?
©2020 Scott Swanson (P)2020 Scott Swanson
The Hammer Falls
Summary
The next time he dies....
...will be the last.
Can he save the woman he loves before his heart gives out for good?
Horace “The Hammer” Harkness is a gene-modified pit fighter 20 years past his prime. He loves the life of screaming fans and thundering theme music, but too many injuries and resurrections have wrecked his heart. If he loses one more match, game over.
Now his big comeback is in deep, deep trouble. If he fails, how will he repay all the money he borrowed to finance this fiasco?
In a world of blood-drenched circuses and fleeting fame, can a battered pit fighter outsmart the Russian mob before they exact revenge on Lilly? Or will he die trying?
If you love stories with high-tech weapons, high-stakes action, snarky ninjas, and a touch of romance, you'll love The Hammer Falls!
Get it now!
©2019 Travis Heermann (P)2019 Travis Heermann
The Backslider
Summary
Recognized as a Mormon classic 20 years after its release, The Backslider features longstanding Christian conflicts played out in a scenic, sparsely populated area of Southern Utah.
A young ranch hand, Frank Windham, conceives of God as an implacable enemy of human appetite. He is a dedicated sinner until family tragedy catapults him into an arcane form of penitence preached among frontier Mormons. He is saved by an epiphany that has proved controversial among readers, either interpreting it as an extreme impiety or celebrating it as a moving and entirely plausible rendering of a biblical theme in a Western setting.
Frank comes into contact with a host of rural and urban characters. Of central importance is his Lutheran girlfriend, Marianne, whom Frank seduces, begrudgingly marries, and eventually loves. Frank’s extended family is just a generation removed from polygamy and still energized by old-time grudges and deprivations.
Along the way, Frank encounters a closeted secular humanist, a polygamist prophet, a psychiatrist, a mason, government employees, college professors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs - all drawn with heightened realism reminiscent of Charles Dickens or the grotesque forms of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor.
The story engages listeners as it alternates almost imperceptibly between Frank’s naive consciousness and the more informed awareness of its narrator. It can be listened to as a love story, a satiric comedy, or a dark and sobering study of self-mutilation. Shifting from one to another, it builds suspense and elicits complex emotions, among them a profound sense of compassion. More joyous than cynical, it sympathizes deeply with the plight of all of God’s backsliders.
©1986, 1990, 2009, 2012 Signature Books Publishing (P)2019 Signature Books Publishing
Oshenerth
Summary
An epic fantasy that takes place entirely underwater.
Best friends Chachel and Glint, a merson and a cuttlefish, are returning from a shark hunt when they stumble upon an unconscious female demon. Taking her back to their reef community to recover, while they decide what to do with her, they wind up stumbling into a unique friendship, one which will change their lives and community for better as the reef dwellers and the demon together fight to preserve themselves and their way of life in the face of enemies and their blue magic.
In this adventure under the sea, New York Times best-selling author Alan Dean Foster (Alien, Star Wars: Force Awakens) uses his extensive knowledge and experience from diving and traveling to bring to life the mysterious world of reef dwellers under the sea in an imaginative, fascinating new epic fantasy that takes place entirely underwater.
©2015 Alan Dean Foster (P)2018 WordFire Press, LLC
If the Creek Don't Rise
Summary
A Creole beauty. Eccentric sisters and a black rose. One granny woman and a red button. Church suppers and bingo nights. A poet out of his element. Dreams of Mexico. The shadowy world of thoroughbred horse racing.
If the Creek Don't Rise is a collection of hard-used characters, tangled relationships, family angst, and fortitude. Step into the Deep South and experience the lives and hardships, hopes and dreams, of folk who have nothing except grit - and sometimes love - as their currency. Eighteen tales and six postcard vignettes make this collection a skillful and moving exploration of the commonplace, the hidden, and the unforgettable.
©2016 Nancy Hartney (P)2018 Nancy Hartney
The Ruin Season
Summary
Jake Leonard has more than his share of trouble. He’s close to 40 now and still suffers from bipolar disorder and the painful memories of the psychotic episodes that derailed his life and sent him behind bars. He lives in the rural South, where he spends his days breaking horses and his nights training dogs in solitude. His 19-year-old girlfriend Nikki is the daughter of the sheriff, and she’s just getting worse with drugs, alcohol, and satanic metal. He does his best to persuade her to ease up on them, but he’s buying weed from her for a friend who’s grown fatally ill. Things go from bad to worse when Nikki has a breakdown and gets involved in heroin and low-budget porn. She no longer wants to see Jake, after a tragedy makes them drift apart. Jake reconnects with his ex-wife Michelle, who he’s never stopped loving, but she’s remarried with a young daughter, so their relationship can’t be more than private flings. Soon, chaos unfolds like a pocketknife. The sheriff takes Jake for an ominous ride into the woods; Michelle’s new husband finds out about their affair; Jake turns violent in an effort to save Nikki from ruthless captors; the whole town erupts in a sea of flames; dogs sink their teeth into flesh; Jake’s murderous history is revealed, and before long, he finds himself spinning toward the inner demons that he’s worked so hard to escape. The novel is similar to the works of Cormac McCarthy, Stewart O' Nan, Daniel Woodrell, or Larry Brown.
©2016 Kristopher Triana (P)2020 Kristopher Triana
Clouds Gathering
Summary
What would you do if you couldn't stop killing? John Hilt lives the American dream. His corner office looks out on Dallas' beautiful skyline. His amazing wife and children love him. His father and sister adore him. John has it all. Except every few years, when Harry shows back up. Harry wants John to kill people. Harry wants to watch the world burn. Murderous thoughts take hold of John, and as flames ignite across his life, the sky doesn't send cool rain water, but blood to feed their hunger. If you love taut, psychological thrillers, grab Red Rain today and prepare to sleep with the lights on! Red Rain is a serial novel and will be in three books.
©2016 David Beers (P)2016 David Beers
Hurricane
Summary
What would you do if the world burned around you while the sky rained down gasoline? John Hilt fled to Mexico, hoping to escape the police investigation centering only on him. If he could get away for a while, perhaps Detectives Tremock and Merchent would look elsewhere. Perhaps the cops' heat on him would dissipate. Perhaps...except Harry fled with him, and Harry isn't nearly done killing. For Tremock and Merchent, it's a race against time to find John Hilt before more people die. For John's family, it's a race against the police to find him first. For John, the race is almost over, one or way or another. The rains have come, and they'll wash away everything, leaving only blood in their wake. The heart-stopping conclusion to the psychological thriller series, Red Rain! Download your copy now!
©2016 David Beers (P)2016 David Beers
Regal Mist
Summary
It's the summer of 2023. An extremist group sponsored by a multinational NGO has launched a violent campaign against technological progress. Centu, a conglomerate of scientific institutions, faces allegations of conducting illegal cloning experiments. The United States’ intelligence and security community has been transformed overnight by a shocking series of events. While the US government is unable to handle the terrorist crisis, more and more civilians fall victim to merciless attacks. A private security firm, Red Star, steps in and uses criminal tactics to stem the escalating violence. Two of Red Star’s new operatives, Liam Kromer and Vicki Prescott, are caught up in the war of ideologies and forced to push their ethical limits during the confrontation. When the extremists’ plan for radical change reaches its pinnacle, a more sinister force is exposed, and a man searching for purpose in the world finds his path to glory.
©2017 Todd Hallbauer (P)2019 Todd Hallbauer
Nightmare Crouton
Summary
The events of September 11, 2001 changed the course of history. When the smoke cleared and the American people realized the scale of the threat facing their country, they demanded action. The government, forced to reconcile for their failings, had an answer. America needed an organization that could protect its citizens from violent actors and prevent future massacres; an organization that was nimble, quiet, and deadly. The Central Intelligence and Defense Force was born. For 20 years, everyone slept soundly knowing that the skilled agents of the CIDF were deployed around the globe. Suddenly, in the spring of 2023, the charismatic leader of a network of environmental extremists orders his followers to launch a bloody campaign. The series of devastating attacks in Seattle shakes the public's faith in the CIDF. Following these failures, a private security firm known as Red Star decides to take on the extremists. They recruit Liam Kromer, a decorated soldier and disgraced law enforcement officer, to help hunt down those responsible for the carnage. When Liam goes undercover for his new employer, he learns that the recent attacks are part of a larger plan. His mysterious foes have a bold vision for the future, and they’ve spent decades preparing for war.
©2016 Todd Hallbauer (P)2019 Todd Hallbauer