Jeffrey Kafer has narrated 589 audiobooks on Listento.it by 175 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 2,468 ratings. The most-rated is Quit Like a Woman.
Quit Like a Woman
Summary
New York Times best seller • The founder of the first female-focused recovery program offers a groundbreaking look at alcohol and a radical new path to sobriety. "You don’t know how much you need this book, or maybe you do. Either way, it will save your life." (Melissa Hartwig Urban, Whole30 co-founder and CEO) We live in a world obsessed with drinking. We drink at baby showers and work events, brunch and book club, graduations and funerals. Yet no one ever questions alcohol’s ubiquity - in fact, the only thing ever questioned is why someone doesn’t drink. It is a qualifier for belonging and if you don’t imbibe, you are considered an anomaly. As a society, we are obsessed with health and wellness, yet we uphold alcohol as some kind of magic elixir, though it is anything but. When Holly Whitaker decided to seek help after one too many benders, she embarked on a journey that led not only to her own sobriety, but revealed the insidious role alcohol plays in our society and in the lives of women in particular. What’s more, she could not ignore the ways that alcohol companies were targeting women, just as the tobacco industry had successfully done generations before. Fueled by her own emerging feminism, she also realized that the predominant systems of recovery are archaic, patriarchal, and ineffective for the unique needs of women and other historically oppressed people - who don’t need to lose their egos and surrender to a male concept of God, as the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous state, but who need to cultivate a deeper understanding of their own identities and take control of their lives. When Holly found an alternate way out of her own addiction, she felt a calling to create a sober community with resources for anyone questioning their relationship with drinking, so that they might find their way as well. Her resultant feminine-centric recovery program focuses on getting at the root causes that lead people to overindulge and provides the tools necessary to break the cycle of addiction, showing us what is possible when we remove alcohol and destroy our belief system around it. Written in a relatable voice that is honest and witty, Quit Like a Woman is at once a groundbreaking look at drinking culture and a road map to cutting out alcohol in order to live our best lives without the crutch of intoxication. You will never look at drinking the same way again.
©2020 Holly Whitaker (P)2020 Random House Audio
Cynical Theories
Summary
Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best seller! Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Have you read that certain people shouldn't practice yoga or cook Chinese food? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only White people can be racist? Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed so quickly to challenge the very logic of Western society? In this probing and intrepid volume, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma that informs these ideas, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Today this dogma is recognizable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media dogpiles, as by its tenets, which are all too often embraced as axiomatic in mainstream media: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play; and language is dangerous. As Pluckrose and Lindsay warn, the unchecked proliferation of these anti-Enlightenment beliefs present a threat not only to liberal democracy but also to modernity itself. While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose and Lindsay break down how this often radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalized communities it claims to champion. They also detail its alarmingly inconsistent and illiberal ethics. Only through a proper understanding of the evolution of these ideas, they conclude, can those who value science, reason, and consistently liberal ethics successfully challenge this harmful and authoritarian orthodoxy - in the academy, in culture, and beyond.
©2020 Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay (P)2020 Pitchstone Publishing
Meat Eater
Summary
“Revelatory.... With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson and a cooking lesson.... Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.” (The New York Times Book Review) Steven Rinella grew up in Twin Lake, Michigan, the son of a hunter who taught his three sons to love the natural world the way he did. As a child, Rinella devoured stories of the American wilderness, especially the exploits of his hero, Daniel Boone. He began fishing at the age of three and shot his first squirrel at eight and his first deer at 13. He chose the colleges he went to by their proximity to good hunting ground, and he experimented with living solely off wild meat. As an adult, he feeds his family from the food he hunts. Meat Eater chronicles Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of 10 hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age 10 and ending as a 37-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska. Through each story, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, the allure of hunting trophies, the responsibilities that human predators have to their prey, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as Americans lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. Hunting, he argues, is intimately connected with our humanity; assuming responsibility for acquiring the meat that we eat, rather than entrusting it to proxy executioners, processors, packagers, and distributors, is one of the most respectful and exhilarating things a meat eater can do. A thrilling storyteller with boundless interesting facts and historical information about the land, the natural world, and the history of hunting, Rinella also includes after each chapter a section of “Tasting Notes” that draws from his 30-plus years of eating and cooking wild game, both at home and over a campfire. In Meat Eater, he paints a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are as humans and as Americans. “Full of empathy and intelligence.... In some sections of the book, the author’s prose is so engrossing, so riveting, that it matches, punch for punch, the best sports writing.” (The Wall Street Journal) “Rinella’s writing is unerringly smart, direct, and sharply detailed.” (The Boston Globe) “A unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from.” (Anthony Bourdain)
©2012 Steven Rinella (P)2020 Random House Audio
Bioshock: Rapture
Summary
It was the end of World War II. FDR's New Deal had redefined American politics. Taxes were at an all-time high. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had created a fear of total annihilation. The rise of secret government agencies and sanctions on business had many watching their backs. America's sense of freedom was diminishing... and many were desperate to take that freedom back. Among them was a great dreamer, an immigrant who'd pulled himself from the depths of poverty to become one of the wealthiest and most admired men in the world. That man was Andrew Ryan, and he believed that great men and women deserved better. So he set out to create the impossible: a utopia free from government, from censorship, and from moral restrictions on science, where what you gave was what you got. He created Rapture - the shining city below the sea. But this utopia suffered a great tragedy. This is the story of how it all came to be... and how it all ended.
©2011 Take-Two Interactive Software, Incorporated (P)2012 Tantor
The Elephant in the Brain
Summary
Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus, we don't like to talk, or even think, about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain". Such an introspective taboo makes it hard for us to think clearly about our nature and the explanations for our behavior. The aim of this book, then, is to confront our hidden motives directly - to track down the darker, unexamined corners of our psyches and blast them with floodlights. Then, once everything is clearly visible, we can work to better understand ourselves: Why do we laugh? Why are artists sexy? Why do we brag about travel? Why do we prefer to speak rather than listen? Our unconscious motives drive more than just our private behavior; they also infect our venerated social institutions such as art, school, charity, medicine, politics, and religion. In fact, these institutions are in many ways designed to accommodate our hidden motives, to serve covert agendas alongside their "official" ones. The existence of big hidden motives can upend the usual political debates, leading one to question the legitimacy of these social institutions, and of standard policies designed to favor or discourage them. You won't see yourself - or the world - the same after confronting the elephant in the brain.
©2018 Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson (P)2018 Tantor
To Fire Called
Summary
A dead ship returns to the Deep Dark with a live crew. Captain Ishmael Wang finally gets the Chernyakova out of the yard and embarks on a voyage into the Toe-Holds where the Confederated Planets Joint Committee on Trade has no authority. Where the law is whatever you say it is as long as you can enforce it. Where he learns that some will do anything to hide their secrets and everybody has a secret.
©2017 Nathan Lowell (P)2017 Podium Publishing
NPC
Summary
Is your life real or is the world you live in a simulation? Are the people you call friends and neighbors living beings with inalienable rights, or are they NPCs - Non-Player Characters - whose soulless path through life is predetermined? Samael Crane, a brilliant scientist, believes NPCs are all around us. And he can prove it. When a body is discovered in the bay off Essex, Massachusetts, small town pastor and former Marine plagued by doubts, Ezekiel Ford finds himself called in to identify the deceased. His history is unknown. His full name is a mystery. No one knows where he came from. In fact, Ezekiel seems to be the only person in town who ever really noticed him, living on the fringe of reality, and sometimes in the homeless shelter supported by his church. Ezekiel’s involvement in the case doesn’t go unnoticed by Samael, who has set out to prove - through deadly means - that NPCs exist, that reality is simulated, and that ‘God’ is a coder with a grudge. The two men’s missions become inextricably entwined, leading them down a path through the gray area between good and evil, science and religion, and reality and simulation, barreling toward a truth that will change the world and humankind’s place in it forever. New York Times and number one Audible.com best-selling author Jeremy Robinson takes listeners on a journey that is not only action-packed, but full of scientific and philosophical intrigue. In his most mind-bending story since Infinite and Alter, Robinson blends genres, belief systems, and bold prose into an unputdownable tale exploring the nature of reality. In the audiobook edition he is joined by number one Audible.com best-selling narrators, R.C. Bray and Jeffrey Kafer, creating a truly one-of-a-kind listening experience.
©2020 Jeremy Robinson (P)2020 Jeremy Robinson
In Ashes Born
Summary
An old friend. A new course. A deadly ship with a secret cargo. Ishmael Wang returns to Port Newmar, but ghosts from his past have followed him. His old shipmate, Phillip Carstairs, offers him the opportunity to track down the man who killed his lover. The catch? He must take command of the Chernyakova, a ship that still stinks of death and haunts Ishmael's nightmares. Together Phillip and Ismael begin a journey into unknown reaches of the Deep Dark to bring back the man who killed Greta.
©2015 Nathan Lowell (P)2016 Podium Publishing
Starship's Mage Omnibus
Summary
In a galaxy tied together by the magic of the elite Jump Magi, Damien Montgomery is a newly graduated member of their number. With no family or connections to find a ship, he is forced into service on an interstellar freighter known to be hunted by pirates. When he takes drastic action to save the Blue Jay from their pursuers, he sets in motion a sequence of events beyond his control and attracts enemies on both sides of the law.
©2014 Glynn Stewart (P)2015 Tantor
By Darkness Forged
Summary
Profits. Coffee. Extortion. All in a day's work. When Ishmael takes the Chernyakova back into Toe-Hold space, he finds a lot more than profit. A quick pass through the Telluride system reveals the answer to one question but leaves him docked without a cargo until the owner of Dark Knight Station makes him an offer he can't refuse.
©2018 Nathan Lowell (P)2019 Podium Publishing
The Books of Blood, Volume 1
Summary
The Books of Blood combine the ordinary with the extraordinary while radiating the eroticism that has become Barker's signature. Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist. Never one to shy away from the unimaginable or the unspeakable, Clive Barker breathes life into our deepest, darkest nightmares, creating visions that are at once terrifying, tender, and witty. The Books of Blood confirm what horror fans everywhere have known for a long time: We will be hearing from Clive Barker for many years to come. This first volume contains the short stories : "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "The Yattering and Jack," "Sex, Death, and Starshine," and "In the Hills, the Cities."
©1984 Seraphim Films (P)2013 David N. Wilson
Hand of Mars
Summary
Three years ago, as ship's mage of the starship Blue Jay, Damien Montgomery was pursued to the edge of human space by both the agents and enemies of the mage-king of Mars before being brought in from the cold. Now, trained in new skills by the mage-king himself, Damien has been sent to the planet Ardennes alongside Alaura Stealey, hand of the king. A rebel movement there has destroyed cities fighting a governor seemingly lost to corruption. But not all on Ardennes is as it seems. As allies become enemies and an entire world comes apart in chaos around him, Damien will find both his skills and integrity tested to the utter limit.
©2015 Glynn Stewart (P)2015 Tantor
Origins of a D-List Supervillain
Summary
Even D-list supervillains have to start somewhere. Follow Cal Stringel's misadventures as he climbs to the lowest levels of supervillany in the prequel to the smash hit, Confessions of a D-List Supervillain. Angry that he wouldn't be known as the engineer who made Ultraweapon's force blasters, Cal resigns to chase after a bigger, better paycheck. However, the Promethia Corporation isn't going to let him go that easily and sets out to make his life a living hell. Fed up at being pushed around by a company with an endless supply of lawyers and litigation, Cal sets out to build his own version of Ultraweapon's powered armor and take his revenge! What Cal doesn't count on is just how hard this is going to be. Along the way, he will make both friends and enemies and discover how hard hitting rock bottom can feel. Whether Cal is trying to smooth talk his way out of the prison for supervillains, haggle with nefarious employers over the price of his inventions, or battle with the Gulf Coast Guardians, he's in for one wild ride! He'll need to learn that when money is tight that everything has a price - from the cost of making weapons for a psychotic speedster to how much to charge for taking the blame for a drunken rampage through Las Vegas.
©2014 James Steven Bernheimer (P)2014 James Steven Bernheimer
UnArcana Stars
Summary
A humanitarian mission into unfriendly stars. A training cruise under the watch of a fortified fleet base. The closing jaws of a trap years in the making. It has been over a year since the UnArcana Worlds of the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars seceded, shattering the unity of the human race. The new Republic of Faith and Reason has raised new banners in defiance of the power of the Protectorate's Mage aristocracy. Now, Hand Damien Montgomery commands a relief mission to a Republic world ravaged by famine. His humanitarian mission collides with a newborn military beginning to flex its muscles - and a newborn nation prepared to accept no violations of its sovereignty, regardless of their needs. Elsewhere, disaster strikes the Nia Kriti Fleet Base as an earthquake shatters their only communication with the rest of the Protectorate. Officer-in-training Roslyn Chambers is in the middle of the recovery effort when she realizes Nia Kriti is under attack. The Republic is done with peace. They are coming for the Protectorate - and they will see the fleets of Mars break!
©2018 Faolan's Pen Publishing (P)2019 Podium Publishing
Magic Stars
Summary
From award-winning author Ilona Andrews, an original novella set in the New York Times number-one best-selling Kate Daniels world and featuring fan favorites Derek, Curran, and Kate's very independent ward, Julie. Scarred, solitary Derek Gaunt has separated from his Pack and is truly a lone wolf. With no family, he answers to no one but is fiercely loyal to a chosen few. So when several of those close to him are murdered, he'll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through the magic-drenched streets of Atlanta. Never one to be left on the sidelines and equally determined - some might say stubborn - Julie Lennart-Olsen soon joins in his pursuit, and what began as revenge turns into a race to save the city. Their search pits them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.
©2015 Ilona Andrews, Inc. (P)2016 Ilona Andrews, Inc
The Gates of Athens
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin. Devour the latest epic tale of ancient Greece and Sunday Times top five best seller from the author of War of the Roses. On the plains of Marathon an army of slaves gathers.... Under Darius the Great, King of Kings, the mighty Persian army - swollen by 10,000 Immortal warriors - have come to subjugate the Greeks. In their path stands an army of freeborn Athenians and among them is fearsome and cunning soldier-statesman, Xanthippus. Knowing defeat means slavery lends keenness to his already sharp blade.... Yet people soon forget that freedom is bought with blood. Ten years later, Xanthippus watches helplessly as Athens succumbs to the bitter politics of factionalism, when the Persians cross the Hellespont in ever greater numbers to raze Athens to the ground. Facing overwhelming forces by land and sea, the Athenians call on their Spartan allies for assistance - to delay the Persians at the treacherous pass of Thermopylae....
©2020 Conn Iggulden (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Confessions of a D-List Supervillain
Summary
Exploding from the pages of Horror, Humor, and Heroes, Volume One - it’s the full length adventures of the one and only Mechani-Cal! So grab your battlesuit and prepare to get a little nasty. "Being a supervillain means never having to say you’re sorry - unless it’s to the judge or the parole board. Even then, you don’t really have to. It’s not like it’s going to change the outcome or anything." Those are the words of Calvin Matthew Stringel, better known as Mechani-Cal. He’s a down-on-his-luck armored villain. Follow his exploits as he gets swept up in a world domination scheme gone wrong and ends up working for these weak willed, mercy loving heroes. Immerse yourself in epic battles and see what it’s like to be an outsider looking in at a world that few have ever experienced. Climb into Cal’s battlesuit and join him on his journey. Will he avoid selling out his principles for a paycheck and a pardon? Can he resist the camaraderie of being on a super team? Does he fall prey to the ample charms of the beautiful Olympian Aphrodite? How will he survive the jealous schemes of Ultraweapon, who wears armor so powerful it makes Cal’s look like a museum piece? See the world of “righteous do-gooders” through the eyes of someone who doesn’t particularly care for them. Revel in his sarcasm and hang on for one wild ride! Just remember: losing an argument with a group of rioters isn’t a good excuse to start lobbing tear gas indiscriminately at them. You’ve only got so many rounds and it’s going to be a long day, so make sure you get as many as possible with each one.
©2011 Jim Bernheimer (P)2011 Jeffrey Kafer
Judgment of Mars
Summary
The destruction of the secret archive of the Royal Order of Keepers on Mars has left Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King, with his enemies defeated, his lover dead - and his questions unanswered. When he seeks out the remaining Keepers for answers, he discovers only violence and death in their strongholds. Someone else is hunting down the survivors to make sure they never answer Damien's questions - or anyone else's. As a wave of murder sweeps Mars and the consequences of the Keepers' conspiracy sink home, Damien is summoned before the Council of the Protectorate to answer for the deaths of two other Hands. In the political heart of the Protectorate of Mars, he finds he may be forced to choose between honoring the oaths he swore and preserving the survival of the Protectorate itself.
©2017 Glynn Stewart (P)2017 Tantor
Christmas Every Day
Summary
When Jenny inherits her estranged grandmother’s cottage in Sherwood Forest, she has nothing to lose - no money, no job, no friends, no family to speak of, and zero self-respect. Things can only get better.... Her grumpy but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting. Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love and learning to bake to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways. Warm, wise, funny and utterly uplifting. What one thing would you change in your life before Christmas comes around?
©2019 Beth Moran (P)2019 Boldwood Books Ltd
Rise of a D-List Supervillain
Summary
Cal Stringel returns in the fourth volume of the D-List Supervillain series! One of the few heroes he respects has been captured, and now, Cal must rely on his wit, technical skills, and a healthy dose of The Big Lie, to pull off a daring rescue from inside a villain's base. Along the way, he and his team of New Renegades will have to worry about an imposter, human/animal Manglermal hybrids, a naked woman, an evil scientist, a terrifying plan, and the ever intrusive presence of Big Brother. Can Cal keep the fact that he's really alive a secret? What hidden truths has Aphrodite been holding onto and how will it change their relationship? All these questions await Cal, but, most importantly, why are you still reading the description? You should already be listening to chapter one!
©2017 James Steven Bernheimer (P)2017 James Steven Bernheimer