Fred Sanders has narrated 141 audiobooks on Listento.it by 180 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 9,074 ratings. The most-rated is Elon Musk.
Musical Chairs
Summary
“Poeppel has created a story that is well thought out, well plotted, well written, and fully developed. A delightful novel that celebrates the messiness and joy to be found in real life.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) “A hilariously heartfelt, witty novel.” (Woman’s World) The “quick-witted and razor-sharp” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times best-selling author of Daisy Jones & the Six) author of Limelight and Small Admissions returns with a hilarious and heartfelt new novel about a perfectly imperfect summer of love, secrets, and second chances. Bridget and Will have the kind of relationship that people envy: They’re loving, compatible, and completely devoted to each other. The fact that they’re strictly friends seems to get lost on nearly everyone; after all, they’re as good as married in (almost) every way. For three decades, they’ve nurtured their baby, the Forsyth Trio - a chamber group they created as students with their Juilliard classmate Gavin Glantz. In the intervening years, Gavin has gone on to become one of the classical music world’s reigning stars, while Bridget and Will have learned to embrace the warm reviews and smaller venues that accompany modest success. Bridget has been dreaming of spending the summer at her well-worn Connecticut country home with her boyfriend, Sterling. But her plans are upended when Sterling, dutifully following his ex-wife’s advice, breaks up with her over email and her twin 20-somethings arrive unannounced, filling her empty nest with their big dogs, dirty laundry, and respective crises. Bridget has problems of her own: Her elderly father announces he’s getting married, and the Forsyth Trio is once again missing its violinist. She concocts a plan to host her dad’s wedding on her ramshackle property, while putting the Forsyth Trio back into the spotlight. But to catch the attention of the music world, she and Will place their bets on luring back Gavin, whom they’ve both avoided ever since their stormy parting. With her trademark humor, pitch-perfect voice, and sly perspective on the human heart, Amy Poeppel crafts a love letter to modern family life with all of its discord and harmony. In the tradition of novels by Maria Semple and Stephen McCauley, Musical Chairs is an irresistibly romantic story of role reversals, reinvention, and sweet synchronicity.
©2020 Amy Poeppel (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Present Perfect
Summary
A "holy habit" that will change your life! Experience true spiritual transformation. Invite God's presence into your life! Popular author, theologian, and pastor Gregory Boyd shows you how - simply, practically, and effectively - in this thoughtful and accessible book. Discover: How to pray continually What it means to "take every thought captive" How to wake up to God’s ever-present love God is closer to you than the air you breathe. He is present in every given moment. Wake up to his presence! Turn off the mental chatter that keeps you from seeing his glory. Embrace the holy habit of inviting God's presence into your life and be transformed! We long to be transformed. Yet, our minds are filled with endless trivia and self-centered chatter. To-do lists. Worries about the past. Speculation about the future. We forget to live in the present moment...and to invite God to be with us there. After reading classic contemplative authors Brother Lawrence, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, and Frank Laubach, theologian and pastor Gregory Boyd longed to experience the presence of God for himself. For two decades, he's attempted to implement the "practice of the presence of God" in his own life - sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. What he's learned as a fellow pilgrim on his spiritual journey can help you find true spiritual transformation as you begin to practice the discipline of inviting God into every moment. "I've become absolutely convinced that remaining aware of God's presence moment by moment is the single most important task in the life of every follower of Jesus," Boyd writes. "I'm convinced this challenge is implied in our commitment to surrender our life to Christ, for the only real life we have to surrender to him is the one we live moment by moment." Join Boyd on this transformational journey of a lifetime!
©2010 Gregory A. Boyd (P)2010 Zondervan
Who Was Pablo Picasso?
Summary
Over a long, turbulent life, Picasso continually discovered new ways of seeing the world and translating it into art. A restless genius, he went through a blue period, a rose period, and a Cubist phase. He made collages, sculptures out of everyday objects, and beautiful ceramic plates. True Kelley's engaging biography is a wonderful introduction to modern art.
©2016 True Kelley (P)2016 Listening Library
Borges and Me
Summary
An apprentice writer has an entirely unexpected encounter with literary genius Jorge Luis Borges that will profoundly alter his life and work. A poignant and comic literary coming-of-age memoir. "This is a jewel of a book." (Ian McEwan) Jay Parini was an aspiring poet and graduate student of literature at University of St. Andrews in Scotland; he was also in flight from being drafted into service in the Vietnam War. One day his friend and mentor, Alastair Reid, asked Jay if he could play host for a "visiting Latin American writer" while he attended to business in London. He agreed - and that "writer" turned out to be the blind and aged and eccentric master of literary compression and metaphysics, Jorge Luis Borges. About whom Jay Parini knew precisely nothing. What ensued was a seriocomic romp across the Scottish landscape that Borges insisted he must "see", all the while declaiming and reciting from the literary encyclopedia that was his head, and Jay Parini's eventual reckoning with his vocation and personal fate.
©2020 Jay Parini (P)2020 Random House Audio
Man of the Hour
Summary
The remarkable life of one of the most influential men of the greatest generation, James B. Conant - a savvy architect of the nuclear age and the Cold War - told by his granddaughter, New York Times best-selling author Jennet Conant. James Bryant Conant was a towering figure. He was at the center of the mammoth threats and challenges of the 20th century. As a young eminent chemist, he supervised the production of poison gas in WWI. As a controversial president of Harvard University, he was a champion of meritocracy and open admissions. As an advisor to FDR, he led the interventionist cause for US entrance in WWII. During that war, Conant was the administrative director of the Manhattan Project, oversaw the development of the atomic bomb, and argued that it be used against the industrial city of Hiroshima in Japan. Later, he urged the Atomic Energy Commission to reject the hydrogen bomb and devoted the rest of his life to campaigning for international control of atomic weapons. As Eisenhower's high commissioner to Germany, he helped to plan German recovery and was an architect of the United States' Cold War policy. Now New York Times best-selling author Jennet Conant recreates the cataclysmic events of the 20th century as her grandfather James experienced them. She describes the guilt, fears, and, sometimes, regret of those who invented and deployed the bombs and the personal toll it took. From the White House to Los Alamos to Harvard University, Man of the Hour is based on hundreds of documents and diaries and interviews with Manhattan Project scientists, Harvard colleagues, and Conant's friends and family, including her father, James B. Conant's son. This is a very intimate, up-close look at some of the most argued cases of modern times - among them the use of chemical weapons, the decision to drop the bomb, Oppenheimer's fate, the politics of postwar Germany, and the Cold War - the repercussions of which are still affecting our world today.
©2017 Jennet Conant (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Sitting Still Like a Frog
Summary
Mindfulness - the quality of attention that combines full awareness with acceptance of each moment, just as it is - is gaining broad acceptance among mental health professionals as an adjunct to treatment. This little audiobook is a very appealing introduction to mindfulness meditation for children and their parents. In a simple and accessible way, it describes what mindfulness is and how mindfulness-based practices can help children calm down, become more focused, fall asleep more easily, alleviate worry, manage anger, and generally become more patient and aware. The audiobook contains 11 practices that focus on just these scenarios, along with short examples and anecdotes throughout.
©2018 Eline Snel (P)2018 Random House Audio
Scholar Warrior
Summary
In this beautifully illustrated offering of ancient wisdom, Deng Ming-Dao shares the secrets of the spiritual path handed down to him by Kwan Saihung, his Taoist master, as well as by herbalists, martial artists, and other practitioners of the ancient arts. Deng tells how Taoist philosophy and practice may be integrated into contemporary Western lifestyles for complete physical, mental, and spiritual health. He provides an abundance of philosophical and practical information about hygiene, diet, sexuality, physical exercise, meditation, medicine, finding one's purpose in life, finding the right teacher, death, and transcendence.
©1990 Deng Ming-Dao (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Without Precedent
Summary
The remarkable story of John Marshall who, as chief justice, statesman, and diplomat, played a pivotal role in the founding of the United States. No member of America's founding generation had a greater impact on the Constitution and the Supreme Court than John Marshall, and no one did more to preserve the delicate unity of the fledgling United States. From the nation's founding in 1776 and for the next 40 years, Marshall was at the center of every political battle. As Chief Justice of the United States - the longest-serving in history - he established the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the federal Constitution and courts. As the leading Federalist in Virginia, he rivaled his cousin Thomas Jefferson in influence. As a diplomat and secretary of state, he defended American sovereignty against France and Britain, counseled President John Adams, and supervised the construction of the city of Washington, DC. This is the astonishing true story of how a rough-cut frontiersman - born in Virginia in 1755 and with little formal education - invented himself as one of the nation's preeminent lawyers and politicians who then reinvented the Constitution to forge a stronger nation. Without Precedent is the engrossing account of the life and times of this exceptional man, who with cunning, imagination, and grace shaped America's future as he held together the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the country itself.
©2018 Joel Richard Paul (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Death Is but a Dream
Summary
The first audiobook to validate the meaningful dreams and visions that bring comfort as death nears. Christopher Kerr is a hospice doctor. All of his patients die. Yet, he has cared for thousands of patients who, in the face of death, speak of love and grace. Beyond the physical realities of dying are unseen processes that are remarkably life-affirming. These include dreams that are unlike any regular dream. Described as "more real than real", these end-of-life experiences resurrect past relationships, meaningful events, and themes of love and forgiveness; they restore life's meaning and mark the transition from distress to comfort and acceptance. Drawing on interviews with over 1,400 patients and more than a decade of quantified data, Dr. Kerr reveals that pre-death dreams and visions are extraordinary occurrences that humanize the dying process. He shares how his patients' stories point to death as not solely about the end of life, but as the final chapter of humanity's transcendence. Kerr's audiobook also illuminates the benefits of these phenomena for the bereaved, who find solace in seeing their loved ones pass with a sense of calm closure. Beautifully written, with astonishing real-life characters and stories, this audiobook is at its heart a celebration of our power to reclaim the dying process as a deeply meaningful one. Death Is but a Dream is an important contribution to our understanding of medicine's and humanity's greatest mystery.
©2020 Christopher Kerr, Carine Mardorossian (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Big Fella
Summary
From Jane Leavy, the award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of The Last Boy and Sandy Koufax, comes the definitive biography of Babe Ruth - the man Roger Angell dubbed "the model for modern celebrity." He lived in the present tense - in the camera’s lens. There was no frame he couldn’t or wouldn’t fill. He swung the heaviest bat, earned the most money, and incurred the biggest fines. Like all the new-fangled gadgets then flooding the marketplace - radios, automatic clothes washers, Brownie cameras, microphones, and loudspeakers - Babe Ruth "made impossible events happen". Aided by his crucial partnership with Christy Walsh - business manager, spin doctor, damage control wizard, and surrogate father, all stuffed into one tightly buttoned double-breasted suit - Ruth drafted the blueprint for modern athletic stardom. His was a life of journeys and itineraries - from uncouth to couth, spartan to spendthrift, abandoned to abandon; from Baltimore to Boston to New York, and back to Boston at the end of his career for a finale with the only team that would have him. There were road trips and hunting trips; grand tours of foreign capitals and post-season promotional tours, not to mention those 714 trips around the bases. After hitting his 60th home run in September 1927 - a total that would not be exceeded until 1961, when Roger Maris did it with the aid of the extended modern season - he embarked on the mother of all barnstorming tours, a three-week victory lap across America, accompanied by Yankee teammate Lou Gehrig. Walsh called the tour a "Symphony of Swat." The Omaha World Herald called it "the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, and seven other associated circuses offered their entire performance under one tent." In The Big Fella, acclaimed biographer Jane Leavy recreates that 21-day circus and in so doing captures the romp and the pathos that defined Ruth’s life and times. Drawing from more than 250 interviews, a trove of previously untapped documents, and Ruth family records, Leavy breaks through the mythology that has obscured the legend and delivers the man.
©2018 Jane Leavy (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Death in Dark Blue
Summary
In the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana, Lena London is settling into her dream job, but someone is making her life a nightmare.... Things are beginning to go right for Lena. She's got a new job assisting suspense novelist and friend Camilla Graham. She lives rent-free in Camilla's beautiful, Gothic house. She even has a handsome new boyfriend, Sam West. After being under attack by the media and his neighbors, Sam has recently been cleared of suspicion for murder. Journalists and townsfolk alike are remorseful, and one blogger would even like to apologize to him in person. But when she's found dead behind Sam's house, Lena must dodge paparazzi as she unravels the many mysteries that threaten to darken the skies of her little town and her newfound love with Sam.
©2017 Julia Buckley (P)2018 Tantor
Restored
Summary
Can a reformed player ever truly play by someone else's rules? Sam Walsh has finally put an end to decades of self-destruction, turned over a healthy new leaf, and now he's ready to call himself a married man. But love and marriage are only the beginning, and life is about to get much more complicated. Will tying the knot tie down a free spirit? Tiel Desai never imagined herself getting married again, and before she can blink, she's swept up into the Walsh wedding whirlwind. If that chaos isn't enough, she's also busy winning over her future in-laws, grappling with a bumpy adjustment to her new job, and staying afloat when a string of disappointments hit. They're building a future, but can they ever fully demolish the past? Sam and Tiel beat back their demons and learned to love each other, but love might not be enough to solve every problem that crawls their way.
©2016 Kate Canterbary (P)2020 Kate Canterbary
Run for Something
Summary
From the email marketing director of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the cofounder of Run for Something comes an essential and inspiring guide that encourages and educates young progressives to run for local office, complete with contributions from elected officials and political operatives. You've been depressed since the night of November 8, 2016. You wore black to work the next morning. You berated yourself for your complacency during the Obama years. You ranted on Twitter. You deleted Twitter. You sent emails to your friends saying, "How can we get more involved?" You listened to Pod Save America. You knitted a pussyhat. You showed up to the Women's March on Washington. You protested Donald Trump's executive orders. You called your congressman. You called other people's congressmen. You set up monthly donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. You reactivated Twitter (begrudgingly). Here's what you do next: Run for something. To be specific: Run for local office and become the change you want to see in the world. Forget about Congress. Forget about the Senate. Focus on the offices that get the real sh*t done: state legislatures, city councils, school boards, and mayors. It doesn't matter if you're not a white man over 60 with an Ivy League law degree. (In fact, it's better if you're not!) It doesn't matter if you don't understand the first thing about running for office, or never even imagined you would. That's what this book is for. Amanda Litman, experienced in hard-fought state and national election campaigns, is here to give you guidance as well as wisdom and insight from elected officials and political operatives she interviewed for this book. There are half a million elected officials in the United States. Why can't you be one of them?
©2017 Amanda Litman. All rights reserved (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved
Icebound
Summary
In the best-selling tradition of Hampton Sides’ In the Kingdom of Ice, a riveting and cinematic tale of Dutch polar explorer William Barents and his three harrowing Arctic expeditions - the last of which resulted in a relentlessly challenging yearlong fight for survival. The human story has always been one of perseverance - often against remarkable odds. The most astonishing survival tale of all might be that of 16th-century Dutch explorer William Barents and his crew of 16, who ventured farther north than any Europeans before and, on their third polar exploration, lost their ship off the frozen coast of Nova Zembla to unforgiving ice. The men would spend the next year fighting off ravenous polar bears, gnawing hunger, and endless winter. In Icebound, Andrea Pitzer masterfully combines a gripping tale of survival with a sweeping history of the great Age of Exploration - a time of hope, adventure, and seemingly unlimited geographic frontiers. At the story’s center is William Barents, one of the 16th century’s greatest navigators whose larger-than-life ambitions and obsessive quest to chart a path through the deepest, most remote regions of the Arctic ended in both tragedy and glory. Journalist Pitzer did extensive research, learning how to use 400-year-old navigation equipment, setting out on three Arctic expeditions to retrace Barents’ steps, and visiting replicas of Barents’ ship and cabin. “A visceral, thrilling account full of tantalizing surprises” (Andrea Barrett, author of The Voyage of the Narwhal), Pitzer’s reenactment of Barents’ ill-fated journey shows us how the human body can function at 20 degrees below, the history of mutiny, the art of celestial navigation, and the intricacies of building shelters. But above all, it gives us a firsthand glimpse into the true nature of human courage.
©2021 Andrea Pitzer. All rights reserved (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Where the Water Goes
Summary
A brilliant, eye-opening account of where our water comes from and where it all goes. The Colorado River is a crucial resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado's headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes listeners on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the US-Mexico border where the river runs dry. Water problems in the western United States can seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made ecosystem that is far more complex and more interesting than the headlines let on. The story Owen tells in Where the Water Goes is crucial to our future: how a patchwork of engineering marvels, byzantine legal agreements, aging infrastructure, and neighborly cooperation enables life to flourish in the desert, and the disastrous consequences we face when any part of this tenuous system fails.
©2017 David Owen (P)2017 Penguin Audio
Bloodsuckers
Summary
The Vampire Archives is the scariest, hungriest, undeadliest collection of vampire stories ever assembled. Dark, stormy, and delicious, once you’re in its clutches there's no escape. From the first to last bite, it's a bloody good entertainment. Including Stephen King, Tanith Lee, Dan Simmons, Bram Stoker, and many, many more Featuring: The macabre dens of the immortal Unexpected guests Shadowy figures Ancient mysteries
©2010 Otto Penzler (P)2010 Random House
Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy
Summary
Inequality is a choice. The United States bills itself as the land of opportunity, a place where anyone can achieve success and a better life through hard work and determination. But the facts tell a different story - the US today lags behind most other developed nations in measures of inequality and economic mobility. For decades, wages have stagnated for the majority of workers while economic gains have disproportionately gone to the top 1 percent. Education, housing, and health care - essential ingredients for individual success - are growing ever more expensive. Deeply rooted structural discrimination continues to hold down women and people of color, and more than one-fifth of all American children now live in poverty. These trends are on track to become even worse in the future. Some economists claim that today's bleak conditions are inevitable consequences of market outcomes, globalization, and technological progress. If we want greater equality, they argue, we have to sacrifice growth. This is simply not true. American inequality is the result of misguided structural rules that actually constrict economic growth. We have stripped away worker protections and family support systems, created a tax system that rewards short-term gains over long-term investment, offered a de facto public safety net to too-big-to-fail financial institutions, and chosen monetary and fiscal policies that promote wealth over full employment.
©2015 Joseph E. Stiglitz (P)2015 Random House Audio
Fans
Summary
The New York Times best-selling author of Real Food/Fake Food delivers a highly entertaining game changer that uses cutting-edge research to show us why being a sports fan is good for us. There are thousands of books about sports. This book is about sports fans. Citing fascinating new studies on sports fandom, Larry Olmsted makes the case that the more you identify with a sports team, the better your social, psychological, and physical health is; the more meaningful your relationships are; and the more connected and happier you are. Fans maintain better cognitive processing as their gray matter ages; they have better language skills; and college students who follow sports have higher GPAs, better graduation rates, and higher incomes after graduating. And there’s more: On a societal level, sports help us heal after tragedies like 9/11 and the Las Vegas mass shooting, providing community and hope when we need it most. Even now, the greatly altered games during the COVID-19 pandemic provide socially distanced joy. Fans is the perfect gift for anyone who loves sports or anyone who loves someone who loves sports.
©2021 Larry Olmsted (P)2021 Workman Publishing
How to Write a Mystery
Summary
From the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries - from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers - a must-have for every aspiring mystery writer. Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is known for providing unparalleled resources on the craft, art, and business of storytelling, helping writers of all levels improve their skills for nearly a century. Now, this new handbook helps authors navigate the ever-shifting publishing landscape - from pacing, plotting, the business side of publishing, to the current demand for diversity and inclusivity across all genres, and more. Featuring essays by a new generation of best-selling experts on various elements of the craft and shorter pieces of crowd-sourced wisdom from the MWA membership as a whole, the topics covered can be categorized as follows: Before writing (rules; genres; setting; character; research; etc.) While writing (outlining; the plot; dialogue; mood; etc.) After writing (agents; editors; self-pub; etc.) Other than novels (short stories; true crime; etc.) Other considerations (diverse characters; legal questions; criticism) Also included is a collection of essays from MWA published authors - including Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, and Charlaine Harris - selected by best-selling authors Lee Child and Laurie King, and arranged thematically, answering, “What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d had at the beginning of your career?” Highly anticipated and incredibly useful, this new and trusted guide from MWA’s experts provides practical, current, easily digestible advice for new and established authors alike.
©2021 Mystery Writers of America, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Guinness World Records: Fun with Food
Summary
A brand-new Guinness World Records book for kids! We hope you're hungry! Fun with Food has plenty of options to whet your appetite: the largest grilled cheese, the tallest cake, the most expensive hot dog, and more. This audiobook will make learning about exciting topics fun for beginning listeners.
©2016 Christy Webster (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers