Dan Woren has narrated 116 audiobooks on Listento.it by 138 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 3,568 ratings. The most-rated is Trillion Dollar Coach.
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher
Summary
Meet the Fletchers. Their year will be filled with new schools, old friends, a grouchy neighbor, hungry skunks, leaking ice rinks, school plays, wet cats, and scary tales told in the dark! There’s Sam, age 12, who’s mostly interested in soccer, food, and his phone; Jax, age 10, who’s psyched for fourth grade and thinks the new neighbor stinks, and not just because of the skunk; Eli, age 10 (but younger than Jax), who’s thrilled to be starting this year at the Pinnacle School, where everyone’s the smart kid; and Frog (not his real name), age six, who wants everyone in kindergarten to save a seat for his invisible cheetah. Also Dad and Papa. WARNING: This book contains cat barf, turtle pee, and some really annoying homework assignments. Perfect for fans of The Penderwicks and James Patterson’s Middle School series, this seriously funny, modern family adventure features two dads, four adopted boys, and a variety of pets.
©2014 Dana Alison Levy (P)2014 Listening Library
This Is How You Die
Summary
If a machine could predict how you would die, would you want to know? This is the tantalizing premise of This Is How You Die, the brilliant follow-up anthology to the self-published best seller, Machine of Death. The machines started popping up around the world. The offer was tempting: with a simple blood test, anyone could know how they would die. But the machines didn't give dates or specific circumstances - just a single word or phrase. Drowned, cancer, old age, choked on a handful of popcorn. And though the predictions were always accurate, they were also often frustratingly vague. Old age, it turned out, could mean either dying of natural causes, or being shot by an elderly, bedridden man in a botched home invasion. The machines held onto that old-world sense of irony in death: you can know how it's going to happen, but you'll still be surprised when it does. This addictive anthology - sinister, witty, existential, and fascinating - collects the best of the thousands of story submissions the editors received in the wake of the success of the first volume, and exceeds the first in every way.
©2013 Matthew Bennardo, David Malki, Ryan North (P)2013 Hachette Audio
Bloody Justice
Summary
The largest mass murder in Canada's history - and how the Canadian court system let a killer go free... On the night of April 7, 2006, eight members of the motorcycle gang the Bandidos were killed execution style and left in a farmer's field near London, Ontario. The brutal slaying, the largest mass killing in Canada's history, was reported as the work of a rival motorcycle gang. The Shedden Massacre instantly made international headlines, as did the sensational murder trial that followed. In Bloody Justice, listeners are taken to the very night of the crime itself, to the key players and perpetrators, to the events leading to the slayings - and inside a trial that let a killer go free. Despite a lengthy, highly publicized trial and the subsequent conviction of six men, author Anita Arvast outlines her startling premise that the Crown's main witness, an informant, lied. Reflecting the author's painstaking research, attendance at the trials, and jailhouse interviews with one of the convicted, Bloody Justice outlines a fascinating case that is very much at odds with the prosecution's. Details how the Crown's case was based upon the testimony of a paid informant. The book dissects the crime scene and court testimony. Offers insightful research on the key players involved, casting actions, evidence and circumstances in a drastically different light than the prosecution. With its eye-opening research and fast-paced narrative, Bloody Justice offers a compelling new look at a shocking crime and its aftermath that will forever change any common notions of justice - on the street or in the courtroom.
©2012 Anita Arvast (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Branch
Summary
In the best-selling tradition of The Nine and The Brethren, The Most Dangerous Branch takes us inside the secret world of the Supreme Court. David A. Kaplan, the former legal affairs editor of Newsweek, shows how the justices subvert the role of the other branches of government - and how we’ve come to accept it at our peril. Never before has the Court been more central in American life. It is now the nine justices who too often decide the biggest issues of our time - from abortion and same-sex marriage to gun control, campaign finance, and voting rights. The Court is so crucial that many voters in 2016 made their choice based on whom they thought their presidential candidate would name to the Court. Donald Trump picked Neil Gorsuch - the key decision of his new administration. The newest justice, Brett Kavanaugh - replacing Anthony Kennedy - is even more important, holding the swing vote over so much social policy. With the 2020 campaign underway, and with two justices in their ’80s, the Court looms even larger. Is that really how democracy is supposed to work? Based on exclusive interviews with the justices, Kaplan provides fresh details about life behind the scenes at the Court: the reaction to Kavanaugh’s controversial arrival, the new role for Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas's simmering rage, Antonin Scalia's death, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's celebrity, Breyer Bingo, and the petty feuding between Gorsuch and the chief justice. Kaplan offers a sweeping narrative of the justices’ aggrandizement of power over the decades - from Roe v. Wade to Bush v. Gore to Citizens United. (He also faults the Court for not getting involved when it should - for example, to limit partisan gerrymandering.) But the arrogance of the Court isn't partisan: Conservative and liberal justices alike are guilty of overreach. Challenging conventional wisdom about the Court's transcendent power, as well as presenting an intimate inside look at the Court, The Most Dangerous Branch is sure to rile both sides of the political aisle.
©2018 David A. Kaplan (P)2018 Random House Audio
Keep It Pithy
Summary
From the best-selling author of Killing Lincoln and host of Fox News' top show The O'Reilly Factor, the best of Bill O’Reilly’s provocative writing - reflecting his ideas, wisdom, and core values. Bill O’Reilly is one of the most recognized and talked-about journalists of our time. With an unparalleled track record as an author and with the number-one-rated Fox News show The O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly has become a veritable institution of political insight and keen advice. In Keep It Pithy, O’Reilly offers a classic collection of the most memorable writings from his best-selling books, and looks back at how his opinions and ideas have been proven right or wrong by the passage of time. With his trademark candor and no-nonsense approach, each chapter focuses on a core theme as it gathers O’Reilly’s thoughts on the most compelling issues of our time and provides listeners an illuminating guide to the American cultural landscape. A spirited and personal book, Keep It Pithy is the perfect addition to an O’Reilly fan’s library, or the best introduction for the few left uninitiated.
©2013 Bill O'Reilly (P)2013 Random House Audio
Moon Rush
Summary
A veteran space journalist digs into the science and technology - past, present, and future - central to our explorations of Earth's only satellite, the space destination most hotly pursued today. In this rich audiobook, veteran science journalist Leonard David explores the moon in all its facets, from ancient myth to future "Moon Village" plans. David offers inside information about how the United States, allies, and competitors, as well as key private corporations like Moon Express and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, plan to reach, inhabit, and even harvest the moon in the decades to come. Spurred on by the Google Lunar XPRIZE - $30 million for the first to get to the moon and send images home - the 21st-century space race back to the moon has become more urgent, and more timely, than ever. Accounts of these new strategies are set against past efforts, including stories never before told about the Apollo missions and Cold War plans for military surveillance and missile launches from the moon. Timely and fascinating, this book sheds new light on our constant lunar companion, offering reasons to gaze up and see it in a different way than ever before.
©2019 Leonard David (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Mission of a Lifetime
Summary
Former award-winning investigative reporter Basil Hero chronicles the lives and lessons of the 12 remaining Apollo astronauts. Only 24 human beings have traveled to the moon. Theirs were the most daring voyages in mankind's history, and their view of Earth from the moon changed them and the way we see our home planet. Now in their emeritus years, the 12 remaining lunar explorers for the first time reveal the true source of courage, leadership, and the quiet patriotism that it took to accomplish their missions. Their voyages to the moon led them to the most incredible discovery of all: our home planet and its precious place in the universe. "The Eagles", as author Basil Hero calls them, fear for Earth's future and offer sensible solutions to its mounting crises and the path to future space exploration. In The Mission of a Lifetime, the Eagles share their wisdom and urge us to reframe our view of Earth to theirs: no identifiable nations, borders, or races; just Earthlings working together as a collective civilization. Hero begins each chapter with key life lessons that listeners can gain from these honorable men - from overcoming fear to finding gratitude and practicing humility in all that you do. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Basil Hero (P)2019 Hachette Audio
Young Benjamin Franklin
Summary
In this new account of Franklin's early life, Pulitzer finalist Nick Bunker portrays him as a complex, driven young man who elbows his way to success. From his early career as a printer and journalist to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth, he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world, where he fought many battles with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of 41, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Bunker goes behind the legend to reveal the sources of his passion for knowledge. Always trying to balance virtue against ambition, Franklin emerges as a brilliant but flawed human being, made from the conflicts of an age of slavery as well as reason. With archival material from both sides of the Atlantic, we see Franklin in Boston, London, and Philadelphia as he develops his formula for greatness. A tale of science, politics, war, and religion, this is also a story about Franklin's forebears: the talented family of English craftsmen who produced America's favorite genius.
©2018 Nick Bunker (P)2018 Random House Audio
Zika
Summary
A gripping narrative about the Zika virus from the New York Times science reporter covering the outbreak. Until recently, Zika virus - once considered a mild disease - was hardly a cause for global panic. But as early as August 2015, doctors in Brazil's northeast region began to notice a trend: Many mothers who had recently experienced Zika symptoms were giving birth to babies with microcephaly, a serious disorder characterized by unusually small heads and brain damage. By the beginning of 2016, Zika was making headlines as evidence mounted, and eventually confirmed, that microcephaly is a direct result of the virus, which can be contracted through mosquito bites or sexually transmitted. As reported cases inch northward, the question of the moment has become: How far will the epidemic spread? In Zika, New York Times science reporter Donald G. McNeil, Jr. sets the facts straight in a fascinating exploration of Zika's origins, how it's spreading, the race for a cure, and what we can do to protect ourselves now.
©2016 Donald G. McNeil (P)2016 Random House Audio
Ninja Innovation
Summary
In Ninja Innovation, Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association, answers the universal question - What leads to success? - revealing how everyone can use the ninja way to create a killer strategy that will help them achieve their own goals. "Ninja Innovation" is his ultimate how-to for envisioning, executing, and maintaining a successful innovation-based strategy like those utilized in the technology world.
©2012 Gary Shapiro (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers
Where Is Walt Disney World?
Summary
Building the most magical place on earth was no fairy tale. Learn the story behind the creation of Walt Disney World. In 1964, when Walt Disney and his brother Roy decided to build a second theme park in the Florida swamplands, they kept it super hush-hush. Why? Well, if word got out that they planned to buy up lots of land, the price would have skyrocketed. So the Disneys cleverly covered up their trail, avoiding the Orlando airport and even using made-up names, like Walt and Roy Davis, for their flights. The deception worked. In covering the history of the "Most Magical Place On Earth", Joan Holub takes listeners both behind the scenes and underneath the park (there are secret employee-only tunnels that form one big circle under the Magic Kingdom). Loaded with fun facts, this book is a great companion to Who Was Walt Disney?
©2018 Joan Holub (P)2018 Listening Library
Power Wars
Summary
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage's penetrating investigation of the Obama presidency and the national security state. Barack Obama campaigned on a promise of change from George W. Bush's "global war on terror". Yet from indefinite detention and drone strikes to surveillance and military tribunals, Obama ended up continuing - and in some cases expanding - many policies he inherited. What happened? In Power Wars, Charlie Savage looks inside the Obama administration's national security legal and policy team in a way that no one has before. Based on exclusive interviews with more than 150 current and former officials and access to previously unreported documents, he lays bare their internal deliberations, including emotional debates over the fates of detainees held on torture-tainted evidence and acts of war that lacked congressional authorization. He tells the inside stories of how Obama came to order the killing of an American citizen, preside over an unprecedented crackdown on leaks, and keep a then-secret National Security Agency program that collected records of every American's phone calls. Savage also pieces together the first comprehensive history of how American surveillance secretly developed over the past 35 years, synthesizing recent revelations and filling in gaps with new reporting. And he provides lucid explanations of legal dilemmas in a way that nonlawyers can understand. Highlighted by new information about the pivotal aftermath to the failed Christmas underwear bombing and the planning for the Osama bin Laden raid, Savage's own eyewitness reporting at Guantánamo, and detailed accounts of closed-door meetings at the highest levels of government, Power Wars equips listeners to understand the legacy of Obama's presidency.
©2015 Charlie Savage (P)2015 Hachette Audio
Their Backs Against the Sea
Summary
In the midst of the largest banzai attack of the war, US Army Lt. Col. William O'Brien, grievously wounded and out of ammunition, grabbed a sabre from a fallen Japanese soldier and flailed away at a small army of assailants, screaming to his men, "Don't give them a damn inch!" When his body was recovered the next day, 30 dead enemies were piled around him. The Battle of Saipan lasted 25 hellish days in the summer of 1944, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. If Japan lost possession of the island, all hope for victory would be lost. For the Americans, its capture would result in secure air bases for the new B-29s that would put them within striking distance of the Japanese homeland. The outcome of the war in the Pacific lay in the balance. In this gritty, vivid narrative, award-winning author Bill Sloan fuses fresh interviews, oral and unit histories, and unpublished accounts to describe one of the war's bloodiest and most overlooked battles of the Pacific theater. Combining grunt's-view grit with big picture panorama (and one of the ugliest interservice controversies of the war), Their Backs Against the Sea is the definitive dramatic story of this epic battle - and an inspiring chronicle of some of the greatest acts of valor in American military history. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Bill Sloan (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Someone Is Out to Get Us
Summary
From UFOs to Dr. Strangelove, LSD experiments to Richard Nixon, author Brian Brown investigates the paranoid, panicked history of the Cold War. In Someone Is Out to Get Us, Brian T. Brown explores the delusions, absurdities, and best-kept secrets of the Cold War, during which the United States fought an enemy of its own making for over 40 years - and nearly scared itself to death in the process. The nation chose to fear a chimera, a rotting communist empire that couldn't even feed itself, only for it to be revealed that what lay behind the Iron Curtain was only a sad Potemkin village. In fact, one of the greatest threats to our national security may have been our closest ally. The most effective spy cell the Soviets ever had was made up of aristocratic Englishmen schooled at Cambridge. Establishing a communist peril but lacking proof, J. Edgar Hoover became our Big Brother, and Joseph McCarthy went hunting for witches. Richard Nixon stepped into the spotlight as an opportunistic, ruthless Cold Warrior; his criminal cover-up during a dark presidency was exposed by a Deep Throat in a parking garage. Someone Is Out to Get Us is the true and complete account of a long-misunderstood period of history during which lies, conspiracies, and paranoia led Americans into a state of madness and misunderstanding, too distracted by fictions to realize that the real enemy was looking back at them in the mirror the whole time. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Brian Brown (P)2019 Twelve
The Real Romney
Summary
Mitt Romney has masterfully positioned himself as the front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Even though he's become a household name, the former Massachusetts governor remains an enigma to many in America, his character and core convictions elusive, his record little known. Who is the man behind that sweep of dark hair, distinguished white sideburns, and high-wattage smile? He often seems to be two people at once: a savvy politician, and someone who will simply say anything to win. A business visionary, and a calculating dealmaker. A man comfortable in his faith and with family, and one who can have trouble connecting with average voters. In this definitive, unflinching biography by Boston Globe investigative reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, listeners will finally discover the real Romney. The book explores Romney's personal life, his bond with his wife and how they handled her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, and his difficult years as a Mormon missionary in France, where a fatal car crash had a profound effect on his path. It also illuminates Romney's privileged upbringing in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; his rejection of the 1960s protest culture; and his close but complicated relationship with his father. Based on more than five years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The Real Romney includes a probing analysis of Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, one of the world's leading private-investment firms, where staggering profits were won through leveraged buyouts that helped create jobs but also destroyed them. This penetrating portrait offers important new details, too, on Romney's failed Senate race against Ted Kennedy, his role leading the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics, and his championing of universal health care in Massachusetts. Drawing on previously undisclosed campaign memos, emails, and interviews with key players, Kranish and Helman reveal the infighting and disagreement that sunk Romney's 2008 White House bid and his conscious decision to switch tactics for his 2012 run. In The Real Romney, Kranish and Helman delve searchingly into the psyche of a complex man now at his most critical juncture - the private Romney whom few people see. They show the remarkable lengths to which Romney has gone in order to succeed in politics and business, shrewdly shifting identities as needed, bringing tough-minded strategy to every decision, and always carefully safeguarding his public image. For the first time, readers will gain a full understanding of the kind of man Romney is - the kind of man who may be running their country.
©2012 The Boston Globe (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers
Killing the Planet
Summary
In Killing the Planet: How A Financial Cartel Doomed Mankind, best-selling authors Rodney Howard-Browne and Paul L. Williams investigate the true motives and consequences of the Pilgrim Society. Early members of the Society included J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Paul Warburg, Mortimer I. Schiff, Otto Kahn, and John D. Rockefeller. Although the Pilgrim Society and the powerful men involved are often praised for their philanthropic actions, Howard-Browne and Williams show that the Society was self-serving and subjected the American people to a brutal system of economic tyranny, one which is still in place today. As a sequel to The Killing of Uncle Sam, Killing the Planet is a thoroughly documented and impeccably researched book, with over 1,500 footnotes. It shows how mankind has become enslaved within the Luciferian world system that is managed and controlled by the world’s wealthiest families. The book is not full of conspiracy theories but instead, unfortunately for all of humanity, full of gut-wrenching facts.
©2019 Rodney Howard-Browne (P)2019 Rodney Howard-Browne
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?
Summary
Now available in Ecco's Art of the Story series: a never-before-published collection of stories from a brilliant yet little known African American artist and filmmaker - a contemporary of revered writers including Toni Cade Bambara, Laurie Colwin, Ann Beattie, Amy Hempel, and Grace Paley - whose prescient work has recently resurfaced to wide acclaim. Humorous, poignant, perceptive, and full of grace, Kathleen Collins' stories masterfully blend the quotidian and the profound in a personal, intimate way, exploring deep, far-reaching issues - race, gender, family, and sexuality - that shape the ordinary moments in our lives. In "The Uncle", a young girl who idolizes her handsome uncle and his beautiful wife makes a haunting discovery about their lives. In "Only Once", a woman reminisces about her charming daredevil of a lover and his ultimate - and final - act of foolishness. Collins' work seamlessly integrates the African American experience in her characters' lives, creating rich, devastatingly familiar, full-bodied men, women, and children who transcend the symbolic, penetrating the listener's head and heart. Both contemporary and timeless, Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? is a major addition to the literary canon and is sure to earn Kathleen Collins the widespread recognition she is long overdue.
©2016 The Estate of Kathleen Conwell Prettyman (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
The Internet of Us
Summary
We used to say "seeing is believing"; now googling is believing. With 24/7 access to nearly all of the world's information at our fingertips, we no longer trek to the library or the encyclopedia shelf in search of answers. We just open our browsers, type in a few keywords, and wait for the information to come to us. Indeed, the Internet has revolutionized the way we learn and know as well as how we interact with each other. Yet this explosion of technological innovation has also produced a curious paradox: Even as we know more, we seem to understand less. While a wealth of literature has been devoted to life with the Internet, the deep philosophical implications of this seismic shift have not been properly explored until now. Demonstrating that knowledge based on reason plays an essential role in society and that there is much more to "knowing" than just acquiring information, leading philosopher Michael Patrick Lynch shows how our digital way of life makes us overvalue some ways of processing information over others and thus risks distorting what it means to be human. With far-reaching implications, Lynch's argument charts a path from Plato's cave to Shannon's mathematical theory of information to Google Glass, illustrating that technology itself isn't the problem, nor is it the solution. Instead it will be the way in which we adapt our minds to these new tools that will ultimately decide whether or not the "Internet of Things" - all those gadgets on our wrists, in our pockets, and on our laps - will be a net gain for humanity. Along the way, Lynch uses a philosopher's lens to examine some of the most urgent issues facing digital life today, including how social media is revolutionizing the way we think about privacy; why a greater reliance on Wikipedia and Google doesn't necessarily make knowledge more democratic; and the perils of using big data alone to predict cultural trends. Promising to modernize our understanding of what it means to be human in the digital age, The Internet of Us builds on previous works by Nicholas Carr, James Gleick, and Jaron Lanier to give us a necessary guide on how to navigate the philosophical quagmire that is the Information Age.
©2016 Michael P. Lynch (P)2016 Random House Audio
City of Dust
Summary
The destruction of New York's World Trade Center unleashed one of the gravest environmental catastrophes in U.S. history. Now, former New York Times Ground Zero reporter Anthony DePalma presents a full accounting of the disaster that followed 9/11. He separates myths from reality, reveals decisions that destroyed public trust, shares victims untold stories - and helps us to ensure that this never happens again.
©2010 Anthony DePalma (P)2010 Audible, Inc
Shoedog
Summary
Like the kind of cars they don't make anymore and the kind of songs they don't sing, the novels of George Pelecanos have the style, rhythm and muscle of classics. Shoedog is vintage Pelecanos: a tale that throbs with soul and pulsates with menace. Constantine was born in D.C., and has been traveling the world ever since-finding everything but a home. Randolph has stayed in this city every day, selling shoes in a downtown store, taking care of ladies who lie about their sizes and sometimes fit him into their beds. Now these two strangers, one white, one black, have come together in a criminal's audacious plan. With five partners and the hit ready to go down, Constantine doesn't understand the treacheries, feuds and fantasies swirling around him-and he's fallen for a woman who only doubles his risk. But Randolph, a self-confessed "shoedog," can smell trouble a mile away. And when the shooting starts, he'll give Constantine a chance to live-or die where he was born.
©2008 George Pelecanos (P)2008 Hachette Audio