John Mawson has narrated 5 audiobooks on Listento.it by 6 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 10 ratings. The most-rated is Tower of Basel.
Tower of Basel
Summary
Tower of Basel is the first investigative history of the world’s most secretive global financial institution. Based on extensive archival research in Switzerland, Britain, and the United States, and in-depth interviews with key decision-makers including Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve; Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England; and former senior Bank for International Settlements managers and officials. Tower of Basel tells the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS): the central bankers’ own bank. Created by the governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930, and protected by an international treaty, the BIS and its assets are legally beyond the reach of any government or jurisdiction. The bank is untouchable. Swiss authorities have no jurisdiction over the bank or its premises. The BIS has just 140 customers but made tax-free profits of $1.17 billion in 20112012.Since its creation, the bank has been at the heart of global events but has often gone unnoticed. Under Thomas McKittrick, the bank’s American president from 19401946, the BIS was open for business throughout the Second World War. The BIS accepted looted Nazi gold, conducted foreign exchange deals for the Reichsbank, and was used by both the Allies and the Axis powers as a secret contact point to keep the channels of international finance open. After 1945 the BIS still behind the scenes for decades provided the necessary technical and administrative support for the trans-European currency project, from the first attempts to harmonize exchange rates in the late 1940s to the launch of the Euro in 2002. It now stands at the center of efforts to build a new global financial and regulatory architecture, once again proving that it has the power to shape the financial rules of our world. Yet despite its pivotal role in the financial and political history of the last century and during the economic current crisis, the BIS has remained largely unknown until now.
©2012 Adam LeBor (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Zero Point
Summary
Earth’s Zero Asset citizens no longer face extermination from orbit. Thanks to Alan Saul, the Committee’s network of control is a smoking ruin and its robotic enforcers lie dormant. But power abhors a vacuum and, scrambling from the wreckage, comes the ruthless Serene Galahad. She must act while the last vestiges of Committee infrastructure remain intact and she has the means to ensure command is hers. On Mars, Var Delex fights for the survival of Antares Base, while the Argus Space Station hurls towards the red planet. And she knows whomever, or whatever, trashed Earth is still aboard. Var must save the base, while also dealing with the first signs of rebellion. And aboard Argus Station, Alan Saul’s mind has expanded into the local computer network. In the process, he uncovers the ghastly experiments of the Humanoid Unit Development, the possibility of eternal life, and a madman who may hold the keys to interstellar flight. But Earth’s agents are closer than Saul thinks, and the killing will soon begin.
©2013 Neal Asher (P)2013 Audible Inc.
The Departure
Summary
The Argus Space Station looks down on a nightmarish Earth. And from this safe distance, the Committee enforces its despotic rule. There are too many people and too few resources, and they need 12 billion to die before Earth can be stabilised. So corruption is rife, people starve, and the poor are policed by mechanised overseers and identity-reader guns. Citizens already fear the brutal Inspectorate with its pain inducers. But to reach its goals, the Committee will unleash satellite laser weaponry, taking carnage to a new level. This is the world Alan Saul wakes to, travelling in a crate destined for the Calais incinerator. How he got there he doesn't know, but he remembers pain and his tormentor's face. He also has company: Janus, a rogue intelligence inhabiting forbidden hardware in his skull. As Janus shows Saul an Earth stripped of hope, he resolves to annihilate the Committee and their regime... once he's discovered who he was, and killed his interrogator.
©2013 Neal Asher (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Great Classic Holiday Stories
Summary
Enjoy the traditions of holidays past with this classic collection of fun and touching stories. Includes selected readings from Charles Dickens' timeless "A Christmas Carol"; the text of the original newspaper editorial "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus", which has become an indelible part of popular Christmas folklore; O. Henry's unforgettable "The Gift of the Magi"; and much more.
©2012 AudioGO (P)2011 AudioGO
Crescent
Summary
Harry Holte is a former British Army Officer determined to move on from his horrific experiences in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan. He has barely begun to build a life for himself in London when a disastrous mistake sees his world torn apart and his only choice is to accept a security role protecting Camp Crescent, an oil exploration outpost in Southern Libya run by the mysterious Trace corporation. Deep in the sand of the Murzuq desert Holte must return to war once again, battling to uncover the truth behind the duplicitous Trace and their presence in Libya and struggling with the UK intelligence services intent on leveraging him for their own ends. Out among the sand dunes, always, is a brutal and ruthless enemy who has vowed to see both him and Crescent destroyed...
©2019 Jonathan Mawson (P)2020 Jonathan Mawson