John Sackville has narrated 35 audiobooks on Listento.it by 29 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 136 ratings. The most-rated is Conquerors.
Conquerors
Summary
As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of 30 years, a handful of visionary and utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam and take control of world trade. Told with Roger Crowley's customary skill and verve, this is narrative history at its most vivid - an epic tale of navigation, trade and technology, money and religious zealotry, political diplomacy and espionage, sea battles and shipwrecks, endurance, courage and terrifying brutality. Drawing on extensive firsthand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors - men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire - who set in motion 500 years of European colonisation and unleashed the forces of globalisation. Roger Crowley read English at Cambridge. He has had a varied career as a teacher and publisher and is the author of three books on the history of the Mediterranean. He lives in Gloucestershire and now writes full time.
©2015 Roger Crowley (P)2015 Audible, Ltd
Normandy '44
Summary
D-Day, June 6, 1944, and the 76 days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed the Allied landing, have become the defining episode of World War II in the west - the object of books, films, television series, and documentaries. Yet as familiar as it is, as James Holland makes clear in his definitive history, many parts of the OVERLORD campaign, as it was known, are still shrouded in myth and assumed knowledge. Drawing freshly on widespread archives and on the testimonies of eye-witnesses, Holland relates the extraordinary planning that made Allied victory in France possible; indeed, the story of how hundreds of thousands of men, and mountains of materiel, were transported across the English Channel, is as dramatic a human achievement as any battlefield exploit. The brutal landings on the five beaches and subsequent battles across the plains and through the lanes and hedgerows of Normandy - a campaign that, in terms of daily casualties, was worse than any in World War I - come vividly to life in conferences where the strategic decisions of Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery, and other commanders were made, and through the memories of paratrooper Lieutenant Dick Winters of Easy Company, British corporal and tanker Reg Spittles, Thunderbolt pilot Archie Maltbie, German ordnance officer Hans Heinze, French resistance leader Robert Leblanc, and many others. For both sides, the challenges were enormous. The Allies confronted a disciplined German army stretched to its limit, which nonetheless caused tactics to be adjusted on the fly. Ultimately ingenuity, determination, and immense materiel strength - delivered with operational brilliance - made the difference. A stirring narrative by a pre-eminent historian, Normandy ‘44 offers important new perspective on one of history’s most dramatic military engagements and is an invaluable addition to the literature of war.
©2019 James Holland (P)2019 Random House Audiobooks
The Light That Failed
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin. A landmark book that completely transforms our understanding of the crisis of liberalism, from two preeminent intellectuals. Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance? In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only there but also back in the heartland of the West. In this brilliant work of political psychology, Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes argue that the supposed end of history turned out to be only the beginning of an Age of Imitation. Reckoning with the history of the last 30 years, they show that the most powerful force behind the wave of populist xenophobia that began in Eastern Europe stems from resentment at the post-1989 imperative to become Westernised. Through this prism, the Trump revolution represents an ironic fulfilment of the promise that the nations exiting from communist rule would come to resemble the United States. In a strange twist, Trump has elevated Putin's Russia and Orbán's Hungary into models for the United States. Written by two preeminent intellectuals bridging the East/West divide, The Light That Failed is a landmark book that sheds light on the extraordinary history of our Age of Imitation.
©2019 Ivan Krastev, Stephen Holmes (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Frankissstein
Summary
Since her astonishing debut at 25 with Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson has achieved worldwide critical and commercial success as “one of the most daring and inventive writers of our time” (Elle). Her new novel, Frankissstein, is an audacious love story that weaves together disparate lives into an exploration of transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and queer love. Lake Geneva, 1816. Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley is inspired to write a story about a scientist who creates a new life-form. In Brexit Britain, a young transgender doctor called Ry is falling in love with Victor Stein, a celebrated professor leading the public debate around AI and carrying out some experiments of his own in a vast underground network of tunnels. Meanwhile, Ron Lord, just divorced and living with his mom again, is set to make his fortune launching a new generation of sex dolls for lonely men everywhere. Across the Atlantic, in Phoenix, Arizona, a cryogenics facility houses dozens of bodies of men and women who are medically and legally dead...but waiting to return to life. What will happen when homo sapiens is no longer the smartest being on the planet? In fiercely intelligent prose, Jeanette Winterson shows us how much closer we are to that future than we realize. Funny and furious, bold, and clear-sighted, Frankissstein is a love story about life itself.
©2019 Jeanette Winterson (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Unholy Consult
Summary
The highly anticipated and explosive finale to the master of grimdark R. Scott Bakker's acclaimed high fantasy series. In this shattering conclusion to The Aspect-Emperor books, praised for their "sweeping epic scale and detailed historical world building" (Grimdark Magazine), R. Scott Bakker delivers the series' feverishly harrowing and long-awaited finish. In The Unholy Consult, the Men of the Great Ordeal have been abandoned by Anasurimbor Kellhus, and the grand crusade has dissolved into cannibalism and chaos. When Exalt-General Proyas, the Prince-Imperial Kayutas at his side, attempts to gain control of the lost Men and continue their march to Golgotterath, it rapidly becomes clear that the lost Lord and Prophet is not so easily shaken from the mission.
©2017 R. Scott Bakker (P)2017 Recorded Books
The Book of Secret Wisdom: The Prophetic Record of Human Destiny and Evolution
Summary
In these troubled times, do you wonder about the future and the destiny of humanity? Do you want to know the true purpose of your existence on Earth and in the Universe? The most secret book in the world holds the answers you seek! Named as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People in 2020 by Watkins Mind Body Spirit, Zinovia Dushkova, Ph.D., is one of the few who has gained access to the million-year-old manuscript widely known as the Book of Dzyan, which contains answers to humanity's most pressing questions. Written in the language of the Gods, called Senzar, it is secretly hidden in the heart of the Himalayas, accessible to only a chosen few over the course of human history, including Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ, Pythagoras, Plato, and Helena Blavatsky. Now, for the first time ever, Dr. Dushkova has presented a never-before-seen excerpt from the mysterious Book of Dzyan in The Book of Secret Wisdom to bring new meaning and hope into your life. Beautiful and enlightening, it will reveal not only our past, but also our present and future. To facilitate your understanding of this profound and poetic audio, the book contains a comprehensive glossary gleaned from the supreme sources of wisdom. In The Book of Secret Wisdom, you will discover the answers to these questions: What are the ultimate goal and purpose of human existence? What is the cause of natural disasters, global warming, and epidemics? What really happened in 1999 and 2012? What Great Event occurred invisibly in 2017? When will Armageddon and the Last Judgment occur? What should you expect in the coming decades? Why are people dying, and is there a chance to be immortal? Why does it seem that time is speeding up? What is the famous Philosopher's Stone? and much, much more! The all-embracing and undistorted Truth presented in this book was once accessible only to the privileged initiates of ancient civilizations who spent much of their lives seeking it. But now it is available to you in the chapters of The Book of Secret Wisdom, a book that offers unprecedented access to the world's most ancient mysteries. If you are a spiritual seeker who enjoys expanding the boundaries of your understanding, this book is for you. "This book is an immeasurable treasure of knowledge. Its depth and scope are incredible." (2016 Benjamin Franklin Awards Judge) "It reads beautifully like a storybook, feels like a fable, and reveals valuable lessons of love for this lifetime." (Allyson Gracie, Wellness Specialist, Pilates & Yoga Instructor) "One of the most inspiring, all encompassing, volumes of true truth I have read in all my years of seeking truth." (April Gieseking) Don't wait! Buy The Book of Secret Wisdom now to unveil the future and destiny of humanity!
©2015 Zinovia Dushkova (P)2019 Radiant Books
The Secret Book of Dzyan
Summary
Have you heard of the secret Book of Dzyan? Generations of Truth-seekers have been searching for this mysterious manuscript of untold antiquity that conceals the entire wisdom of the world, yet only a chosen few have ever gained access to it. Thus, in 2015, Zinovia Dushkova, PhD, published a new excerpt from the Book of Dzyan in The Book of Secret Wisdom that revealed the future and destiny of humanity. At that time, however, she was not allowed to disclose anything more about the Book of Dzyan than Helena Blavatsky had already done in her time. But now, for the first time ever, Dr. Dushkova has been permitted to cast more light on the Book of Dzyan and answer the following questions: Who are the authors of the Book of Dzyan? Where was it stored in the past, and where is it now? What are its structure and contents? When was the Book of Dzyan written? Why is it now of such great significance, even in your own life? In addition, you will also learn about the attempt that the Masters of Wisdom made to enlighten the world in the 20th century and what challenges face humanity in the 21st century. Get this book now to unveil the hidden truth about the oldest manuscript in the world and its divine authors!
©2018 Zinovia Dushkova (P)2019 Radiant Books
Origins
Summary
A New York Times best-selling author explains how the physical world shaped the history of our species When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the southeast United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea. Everywhere is the deep imprint of the planetary on the human. From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the breathtaking impact of the earth beneath our feet on the shape of our human civilizations.
©2019 Lewis Dartnell (P)2019 Hachette Audio
Metropolis
Summary
From a brilliant young historian, a colorful journey through 7,000 years and 26 world cities that shows how urban living has been the spur and incubator to humankind's greatest innovations. In the 200 millennia of our existence, nothing has shaped us more profoundly than the city. Historian Ben Wilson, author of best-selling and award-winning books on British history, now tells the grand, glorious story of how city living has allowed human culture to flourish. Beginning with Uruk, the world's first city, dating to 5000 BC and memorably portrayed in the Epic of Gilgamesh, he shows us that cities were never a necessity but that once they existed their density created such a blossoming of human endeavor - producing new professions, forms of art, worship, and trade - that they kick-started nothing less than civilization. Guiding listeners through famous cities over 7,000 years, he reveals the innovations driven by each: civics in the agora of Athens, global trade in ninth-century Baghdad, finance in the coffeehouses of London, domestic comforts in the heart of Amsterdam, peacocking in Belle Epoque Paris. In the modern age, he studies the impact of verticality in New York City, the sprawl of LA, and the eco-reimagining of 21st-century Shanghai. Lively, erudite, pause-resisting, and irresistible, Metropolis is a grand tour of human achievement.
©2020 Ben Wilson (P)2020 Random House Audio
The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome
Summary
The Asperger's syndrome bible for parents and professionals, newly updated with an introduction explaining the DSM-5. The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome is the definitive handbook for anyone affected by Asperger's syndrome (AS). Now including a new introduction explaining the impact of DSM-5 on the diagnosis and approach to AS, it brings together a wealth of information on all aspects of the syndrome for children through to adults. Drawing on case studies and personal accounts from Attwood's extensive clinical experience, and from his correspondence with individuals with AS, this book is both authoritative and extremely accessible. Chapters examine: Causes and indications of the syndrome The diagnosis and its effect on the individual Theory of mind Social interaction, including friendshipsthers social interaction, including friendships Long-term relationships Teasing, bullying and mental health issues The effect of AS on language and cognitive abilities, sensory sensitivity, movement and co-ordination skills Career development. There is also an invaluable frequently asked questions chapter and a section listing useful resources for anyone wishing to find further information on a particular aspect of AS, as well as literature and educational tools. Essential listening for families and individuals affected by AS as well as teachers, professionals and employers coming in contact with people with AS, this book should be on the bookshelf of anyone who needs to know or is interested in this complex condition. "I usually say to the child, 'Congratulations, you have Asperger's syndrome', and explain that this means he or she is not mad, bad or defective, but has a different way of thinking." (The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome) PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our desktop site.
©2019 Tony Attwood (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Metamorphoses
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Ovid's sensuous and witty poetry brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation - often as a result of love or lust - where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic yet playful, the Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.
©2004 David Raeburn (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Panic Room
Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Panic Room by Robert Goddard, read by Hollie Taylor and John Sackville. Sometimes the danger is on the inside.... High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of dubious background, secretive and alone, currently acting as housesitter. The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable - and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped. But her remote existence is going to be invaded when people come looking for the house’s owner, missing rogue pharma entrepreneur Jack Harkness. Suddenly the whole world wants to know where his money has gone. Soon people are going to come knocking on the door, people with motives and secrets of their own, who will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t - or won’t - want to answer. And will the panic room ever give up its secrets? Panic Room is Robert Goddard at his nerve-shredding best. A sliver of a mystery kicks off a juggernaut of a thriller. Layers of secrets, half truths and lies must be peeled back to reveal what really lies within.
©2018 Robert Goddard (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
The Racer
Summary
What is it really like to be a racer? What is it like to be swept along at 60kmh in the middle of the pack? How does it feel to be reeled in from a solo breakaway metres from the line? What happens to the body during a high-speed chute? What tactics must teams employ to win the day, the jersey, the grand tour? How does a domestique keep going to the end of a stage once his job is done and his body exhausted? How does a time trialist maintain his form when every muscle and sinew is screaming at him to stop? What sacrifices must a cyclist make to reach the highest levels? What is it like on the bus? In the hotels? What camaraderie is built in the confines of a team? What rivalries? How does it feel to be constantly on the road, away from loved ones, tasting one more calorie-counted hotel breakfast? David Millar offers us a unique insight into the mind of a professional cyclist during his last year before retirement. Over the course of a season on the World Tour, Millar puts us in touch with the sights, smells and sounds of the sport - the barked instructions of a road captain in a sprint chain, the silence of a solo training ride. This is a book about youth and age, fresh-faced excitement and hard-earned experience. It is a love letter to cycling.
©2015 David Millar (P)2015 Random House AudioBooks
Noonday
Summary
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Noonday by Pat Barker, read by Juliet Stevenson, Stephen Boxer, John Sackville, Anne Reid & Finlay Robertson. London, the Blitz, autumn 1940. Ambulance drivers Elinor Brooke and Kit Neville ferry injured survivors from bomb sites to hospitals while Elinor's husband, Paul, works as an air-raid warden. Once fellow students at the Slade School of Fine Art, before the First World War destroyed the hopes of their generation, now all three find themselves caught in another war. And as the bombing intensifies, old loves and obsessions resurface until Elinor is brought face to face with an almost impossible choice. Completing the story of Elinor, Paul and Kit that began with Life Class and continued with Toby's Room, Noonday is both a standalone novel and the climax of a trilogy. Pat Barker brings the besieged and haunted city of London into electrifying life in her most powerful novel since the Regeneration trilogy.
©2015 Pat Barker (P)2015 Penguin Books Limited
Gastrophysics
Summary
The science behind a good meal: all the sounds, sights, and tastes that make us like what we're eating - and want to eat more. Why do we consume 35 percent more food when eating with one other person, and 75 percent more when dining with three? How do we explain the fact that people who like strong coffee drink more of it under bright lighting? And why does green ketchup just not work? The answer is gastrophysics, the new area of sensory science pioneered by Oxford professor Charles Spence. Now he's stepping out of his lab to lift the lid on the entire eating experience - how the taste, the aroma, and our overall enjoyment of food are influenced by all of our senses, as well as by our mood and expectations. The pleasures of food lie mostly in the mind, not in the mouth. Get that straight and you can start to understand what really makes food enjoyable, stimulating, and, most important, memorable. Spence reveals in amusing detail the importance of all the "off the plate" elements of a meal: the weight of cutlery, the color of the plate, the background music, and much more. Whether we're dining alone or at a dinner party, on a plane or in front of the TV, he reveals how to understand what we're tasting and influence what others experience. This is accessible science at its best, fascinating to anyone in possession of an appetite. Crammed with discoveries about our everyday sensory lives, Gastrophysics is a book guaranteed to make you look at your plate in a whole new way.
©2017 Charles Spence (P)2017 Penguin Audio
Small Is Beautiful
Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Small Is Beautiful by E. F. Schumacher. How does our economic system impact the way we live? Does it really affect what we truly care about? Oxford economist E. F. Schumacher provides an enlightening study of our economic system and its purpose, challenging the current state of excessive consumption in our society. Offering a crucial message for the modern world struggling to balance economic growth with the human costs of globalisation, Small Is Beautiful puts forward the revolutionary yet viable case for building our economies around the needs of communities, not corporations.
©2019 E. F. Schumacher (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
How to Save a Life
Summary
You can’t have a rainbow, without a little rain.... When a stranger saves Luke’s life, he knows he’s been given a second chance. He’s going to make it count – and, determined to live each day to its fullest, he starts by saying yes to everything life has to offer. Slowly but surely, Luke learns that a little bit of blue-sky thinking can go a long way and things start to look up. But when Luke’s new resolve is tested, will he return to his old ways? Or can one fateful moment truly save a life? A life-affirming story about a man who is given a second chance, perfect for fans of Mike Gayle and Imogen Clark.
©2020 S.D. Robertson (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Hitler and Stalin
Summary
An award-winning historian plumbs the depths of Hitler and Stalin's vicious regimes, and shows the extent to which they brutalized the world around them. Two 20th century tyrants stand apart from all the rest in terms of their ruthlessness and the degree to which they changed the world around them. Briefly allies during World War II, Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin then tried to exterminate each other in sweeping campaigns unlike anything the modern world had ever seen, affecting soldiers and civilians alike. Millions of miles of Eastern Europe were ruined in their fight to the death, millions of lives sacrificed. Laurence Rees has met more people who had direct experience of working for Hitler and Stalin than any other historian. Using their evidence he has pieced together a compelling comparative portrait of evil, in which idealism is polluted by bloody pragmatism, and human suffering is used casually as a political tool. It's a jaw-dropping description of two regimes stripped of moral anchors and doomed to destroy each other, and those caught up in the vicious magnetism of their leadership.
©2020 Laurence Rees (P)2020 PublicAffairs
Parables from Shambhala: The Wisdom of the East for Everyday Life
Summary
The spiritual lessons of this inspirational little book will enable you to make the right decisions in your daily life and to respond with wisdom to the events happening around you. Narrated in 2004 by one Himalayan master of wisdom, 12 short and profound parables will help you comprehend the greatest ancient truths of the East. These truths will be revealed to you through the juxtaposition of opposites: spirit and body, reality and illusion, good and evil, freedom and slavery, life and death, and so on. Buy this book now to have a loyal companion during your journey of self-improvement and spiritual growth!
©2016 Zinovia Dushkova (P)2019 Radiant Books
Titanic Lives
Summary
Marking the centenary of the Titanic, A Shape of Ice is an utterly compelling exploration of the lives on board the most famous ship in history. The RMS Titanic was built as one of the world's largest and most luxurious liners. A marine Ritz, it was a 45,000 ton hotel of thin steel plates, travelling at a speed of 21 knots across the unforgiving ocean.On the night of 14 April 1912, the seemingly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg. It sustained a 300 feet gash and six compartments were wrenched open to the sea. In little over two hours, the palatial Titanic nose-dived to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Terribly mismanaged, there were not enough lifeboats to carry passengers to safety; over 1,500 people died that night.Who were the Titanic's passengers? In this original and timely book, Richard Davenport-Hines examines the great liner as a social portrait of the Edwardian age; above the squalor of steerage, filled with emigrants moving to the New World, were hundreds of second-class passengers buoyed up by their prosperous respectability. Higher up were the hereditary rich and at the pinnacle stood those of inconceivable wealth - Americans like John Jacob Astor IV, who was found with £2000 and $4000 in sodden notes in his pockets.Bringing together over 2,000 passengers and crew from every class and five continents, A Shape of Ice tells their stories, re-creating the complexities, disparities and tensions of life one hundred years ago.
©2012 Richard Davenport-Hines (P)2011 HarperCollins