L.J. Ganser has narrated 48 audiobooks on Listento.it by 41 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 122 ratings. The most-rated is A Million Little Pieces.
A Million Little Pieces
Summary
By the time James Frey enters a drug and alcohol treatment facility, he has so thoroughly ravaged his body that the doctors are shocked he is still alive. Inside the clinic, he is surrounded by patients as troubled as he: a judge, a mobster, a former world-champion boxer, and a fragile former prostitute. To James, their friendship and advice seem stronger and truer than the clinic's droning dogma of "How to Recover". James refuses to consider himself a victim of anything but his own bad decisions. He insists on accepting sole accountability for the person he has been and the person he may become - which he feels runs counter to his counselor's recipes for recovery. He must fight to survive on his own terms, for reasons close to his own heart. And he must battle the ever-tempting chemical trip to oblivion. An uncommon accounting of a life destroyed and reconstructed, and a provocative alternative understanding of the nature of addiction and the meaning of recovery, A Million Little Pieces marks the debut of a bold and talented literary voice.
©2003 James Frey (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
A Bend in the Road
Summary
Miles Ryan's life seemed to end the day his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years ago. Missy had been his first love, and Miles fervently believes she will be his last. As a deputy sheriff in the North Carolina town of New Bern, Miles Ryan not only grieves for Missy, but longs to bring the unknown driver to justice. Then Miles meets Sarah Andrews. The second grade teacher of his son Jonah, Sarah had left Baltimore after a difficult divorce to start over in the gentler surroundings of New Bern. Perhaps it is her own emotional wounds that make her sensitive to the hurt she first sees in Jonah's eyes, and then his father's. Tentatively, Sarah and Miles reach out to each other. Soon, they are both laughing for the first time in years...and falling in love. Neither will be able to guess how closely linked they are to a shocking secret - one that will force them to question everything they ever believed in...and make a heartbreaking choice that will change their lives forever.
©2001 by Nicholas Sparks (P)2001 by Time Warner AudioBooks
Viruses, Plagues, and History
Summary
The story of viruses and humanity is a story of fear and ignorance, of grief and heartbreak, and of great bravery and sacrifice. Michael Oldstone tells all these stories as he illuminates the history of the devastating diseases that have tormented humanity, focusing mostly on the most famous viruses. Oldstone begins with smallpox, polio, and measles. Nearly 300 million people were killed by smallpox in this century alone and the author presents a vivid account of the long campaign to eradicate this lethal killer. Oldstone then describes the fascinating viruses that have captured headlines in more recent years: Ebola, Hantavirus, mad cow disease (a frightening illness made worse by government mishandling and secrecy), and, of course, AIDS. And he tells us of the many scientists watching and waiting even now for the next great plague, monitoring influenza strains to see whether the deadly variant from 1918 - a viral strain that killed over 20 million people in 1918-1919 - will make a comeback. For this revised edition, Oldstone includes discussions of new viruses like SARS, bird flu, virally caused cancers, chronic wasting disease, and West Nile. Viruses, Plagues, and History paints a sweeping portrait of humanity's long-standing conflict with our unseen viral enemies. Oldstone's book is a vivid history of a fascinating field, and a highly reliable dispatch from an eminent researcher on the front line of this ongoing campaign.
©2010 Michael B. A. Oldstone (P)2018 Tantor
Human Errors
Summary
We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often - 200 times more often than a dog does? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? Why is the vast majority of our genetic code pointless? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake. As professor of biology Nathan H. Lents explains in Human Errors, our evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last. The human body is one big pile of compromises. But that is also a testament to our greatness: as Lents shows, humans have so many design flaws precisely because we are very, very good at getting around them. A rollicking, deeply informative tour of humans' four billion year-long evolutionary saga, Human Errors both celebrates our imperfections and offers an unconventional accounting of the cost of our success.
©2018 Nathan H. Lents (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Veil of Shadows
Summary
The number one nationally best-selling Warriors series continues! Discover more epic adventures in the third book in the action-packed Broken Code story arc. After losing one of his nine lives, ThunderClan’s leader, Bramblestar, became intent on rooting out and exiling cats he claims are traitors to the warrior code. But some cats know the truth: This isn’t the real Bramblestar, and their leader’s true spirit is desperate to return to its rightful place before the rising tension among the five Clans erupts into outright war. Packed with action and intrigue, this sixth Warriors series is the perfect introduction for listeners new to the Warriors world, while dedicated fans will be thrilled to discover the new adventures that unfold after the events of A Vision of Shadows.
©2020 Erin Hunter (P)2020 HarperCollins
Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
Summary
Private eye Eddie Valiant doesn't like Toons - those cartoon characters who live side-by-side with humans. Not the way they look, and especially not the way they talk: word-filled balloons come out of their mouths and then disintegrate, leaving dust all over his rug. Eddie will work for a Toon if his cash supply is low enough. So he reluctantly agrees when Roger Rabbit, a Toon who plays straight man (or should that be straight rabbit) in the Baby Herman cartoon series, asks him to find out who's been trying - unsuccessfully - to buy his contract from the DeGreasy Brothers syndicate. Then Rocco DeGreasy is murdered - and Roger is the prime suspect! The rabbit is also, as Eddie soon discovers, very, very dead. Who censored Roger Rabbit? And who shot Rocco DeGreasy? Was it Roger, or was it Rocco's hot-cha-cha girlfriend, Jessica Rabbit? Why had Jessica - a pretty steamy number for a Toon - ever married a dopey bunny in the first place? And why does everybody want Roger's battered old teakettle? As Eddie combs L.A. from the executive suites of the DeGreasy Brothers to Sid Sleaze's porno comic studio, he uncovers art thefts, blackmail plots...and the cagiest killer he's ever faced.
©1981 Gary K. Wolf (P)2019 Tantor
Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage
Summary
In 1994, Dr. John Gottman and his colleagues at the University of Washington made a startling announcement: Through scientific observation and mathematical analysis, they could predict, with more than 90-percent accuracy, whether a marriage would succeed or fail. The only thing they did not yet know was how to turn a failing marriage into a successful one, so Gottman teamed up with his clinical psychologist wife, Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman, to develop intervention methods. Now the Gottmans, together with the Love Lab research facility, have put these ideas into practice. In Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage, the Gottmans share this vital information so that couples can develop the skills to turn their relationship problems around and create strong, lasting unions. What emerged from the Gottmans' collaboration and decades of research is a body of advice that's based on two surprisingly simple truths: Happily married couples behave like good friends; and they handle their conflicts in gentle, positive ways. The authors offer an intimate look at 10 couples who have learned to work through potentially destructive problems, extramarital affairs, workaholism, parenthood adjustments, serious illnesses, lack of intimacy, and examine what they've done to improve communication and get their marriages back on track. Giving an insider's view of the Love Lab, the Gottmans take the listener step-by-step through the couples' conversations, before and after they are counseled. The authors also provide an analysis of the couples' interactions, identifying their core problems and offering suggestions for resolving them. By "listening" to the discussions in this way, you will learn to detect the most common stumbling blocks of a relationship and, most important, how to avoid them.
©2006 John M. Gottman, Ph.D., and Joan DeClaire (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.
Top Hoodlum
Summary
The press nicknamed him "The Prime Minister of the Underworld". The US Treasury's Bureau of Narcotics described him as "one of the most powerful and influential Mafia leaders in the U.S." But to friends and associates, he was simply "Uncle Frank". Who was Frank Costello really? That's the question Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano sets out to answer in this definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures in the annals of American crime.... Using newly released FBI files, eyewitness accounts, and family mementos, Top Hoodlum takes you inside the Mafia that Frank Costello helped build from the ground up, from small-time bootlegging and gambling to a nationwide racketeering empire. Sometimes shocking, sometimes amusing, and always riveting, these are the stories that have inspired American crime classics like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas, and The Sopranos. This is the man who made the Mafia such a powerful force in our nation's history. This is Top Hoodlum.
©2018 Anthony M. DeStefano (P)2018 Tantor
The Surprising Science of Meetings
Summary
A recent estimate suggests that employees endure a staggering 55 million meetings a day in the United States. This tremendous time investment yields only modest returns. No organization made up of human beings is immune from the all-too-common meeting gripes: those that fail to engage, those that inadvertently encourage participants to tune out, and those that blatantly disregard participants' time. Most companies and leaders view poor meetings as an inevitable cost of doing business. But managers can take heart: Researchers now have a clear understanding of the key drivers that make meetings successful. In The Surprising Science of Meetings, Steven G. Rogelberg, researcher and consultant to some of the world's most successful companies, draws from extensive research, analytics and data mining, and survey interviews with over 5,000 employees across a range of industries to share the proven practices and techniques that help managers and employees enhance the quality of their meetings. For those who lead and participate in meetings, Rogelberg provides immediate direction, guidance, and relief, offering a how-to guide to change your working life starting today.
©2019 Steven G. Rogelberg (P)2019 Gildan Media
Ship Wrecked: Stranded on an Alien World
Summary
A wicked snowstorm had blown in from the north and the roads were a mess. Recently split from his one-time girlfriend, there was now nothing holding Cameron Decker here in the little backwater mountain town of Larksburg Stand. Time to get back to college, back to Stanford. Seeing a guy knee-deep in slush at the side of the road, he pulled to the curb and waved him over. The guy smacked his head getting in - knocked his watch cap askew. Only then did Cameron notice - noticed that the individual couldn't possibly be human. Cameron decided to help his stranded passenger - a decision he'd soon come to regret. Along with his rust-bucket of a pickup truck, he was soon heading deep into space aboard an interstellar spacecraft. After the vessel crash-landed onto an alien world, he would now have to contend with a murderous droid and a slew of strange alien life forms. But it is the 45-foot tall killer beast - a Minal Loth - that will impact is life the most. Marooned, Cameron must keep his wits to survive long enough to find a way to return home - back to that little mountain town, and that girl, who he should never have left in the first place.
©2017 Mark Wayen McGinnis (P)2017 Mark Wayne McGinnis
Scrapyard Legacy
Summary
Better buckle up...the Scrapyard Ship gang is back for a new interstellar romp! Over the past year, things have been relatively peaceful within the Planetary Alliance. Captain Jason Reynolds is looking forward to a fishing trip in the deep wilderness on Alantia Dastile with Michael, his six-year-old son. His wife, Dira, and his father, the Fleet Omni, are away on a diplomatic mission to the Sommis of Adriark. It's the perfect time for an interstellar getaway. Or is it? Jason just needs to check on one thing first - a flurry of mechanical issues recently plaguing the Parcical, the Omni's Rogue Class spacecraft - something about a Zoo habitat using increasing amounts of the vessel's memory, that and a flurry of malfunctions with onboard Caldurian technologies. Caught off guard, it's soon discovered; a different kind of war is coming. The Alliance is not prepared. The US Fleet is not prepared. A new enemy rears its ugly head and quickly becomes the dominant force within the sector. For those who survive the coming rampage - the coming war - everything will change. The Scrapyard Ship gang unites one more time for this action-packed adventure. Together, they will endeavor to give the Planetary Alliance a fighting chance against almost certain devastation that's heading toward the Sol system.
©2017 Mark Wayne McGinnis (P)2017 Mark Wayne McGinnis
Star Watch
Summary
Join the Star Watch crew on their first mission to the planet of Trom, where hostile Pharlom invaders have appropriated high altitude cloud-ports as prisoner of war camps. As a fierce battle in space ensues, fragmented warships fall into Trom's atmosphere and head right for a populated cloud-port. From best-selling author Mark Wayne McGinnis comes the highly anticipated Scrapyard Ship spin-off series, Star Watch. The Craing War is now over... the enemy defeated. As planetary systems around the galaxy try to bring normalcy back to their existence, one thing becomes crystal clear... without the Craing around to keep everyone in line, space has become a far more dangerous place. With tens of thousands of warships idle, along with hundreds of thousands of Allied crew personnel sitting on their hands, it's up to Admiral Perry Reynolds whether or not to send the combatants home, and mothball most of the ships. But as more and more requests for prompt Allied assistance come in from the farthest reaches of outer space (i.e. for minor incursions into sovereign territory; or others, more serious - including barbaric planetary invasions), Admiral Reynolds is compelled to introduce a new stellar over-watch program. With his own career winding down, one of his final directives will be in the formation of a special intergalactic marshaling service... Star Watch. The admiral has the perfect ship lined up for the task - the most advanced warship in the known galaxy: the mile-long Caldurian vessel - the Minian. Next he needs to outfit the ship with a captain and crew he can trust to get this far-range venture initiated properly. Across the galaxy, young Boomer, daughter of Captain Jason Reynolds, begins her training in the ancient fighting methods of the Kahill Callan, and prepares to battle against Lord Vikor Shakrim - leader of the dreaded Sahhrain warriors.
©2015 Mark Wayne McGinnis (P)2015 Mark Wayne McGinnis
The Trump Card
Summary
From the daughter of business mogul Donald Trump and a rising star in the Trump organization, this New York Times best seller is a business book for young women on how to achieve success in any field, based upon what Ivanka Trump has learned from her father and from her own experiences. Inspiration. Success. Confidence. Passion. No one is born with these qualities, but they are the key ingredients for reaching goals, building careers, or taking a blueprint and turning it into a breathtaking skyscraper. In The Trump Card, Ivanka Trump recounts the compelling story of her upbringing as the ultimate Apprentice, the daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump, and shares the life lessons and hard-won insights that have made her a rising star in the business world. Whether it's landing that first job, navigating the workplace, or making a lasting impact, Ivanka's valuable, practical advice for young women shows how to: Use uncertainty to your advantage - thrive in any environment Step up and get noticed at work - focus and efficiency will open doors Create a strong and consistent identity - your name and reputation are your best assets Know what you want - get the most out of any negotiation Ivanka also taps in to the wisdom of today's leaders, including Arianna Huffington, Russell Simmons, and Cathie Black, with "Bulletins" from her BlackBerry. "We've all been dealt a winning hand," she writes, "and it is up to each of us to play it right and smart."
©2009 Ivanka Trump (P)2009 Recorded Books, Inc.
Glory for Sea and Space
Summary
An advanced enemy fleet, comprised of thousands of Sahhrain Vastma-class warships, is headed toward the Sol System - a fleet that can in no way be matched by the US fleet's current assets. Omni Jason Reynolds, head of the entire Allied force defense, also learns his daughters, Boomer and Mollie, have ventured into the multiverse to deal with the murderous Rom Dasticon once and for all. He soon discovers it was a one-way trip - marooned, the girls have no way to return home - unless he can somehow find them one. To discover key answers about the Caldurians and their multiverse technology, Jason and Dira return to the scrapyard where his father, Admiral Perry Reynolds, now semi-retired, resides. Here, long-held secrets of the past are unearthed - the real story of the discovery of The Lilly and Ricket, once trapped hundreds of feet below ground. But, as they will learn, the story began many years before that, when young Captain Perry Reynolds was commissioned to skipper a secret 1940s-era Iowa-class battleship, the USS Montana. His days spent on that great warship - as well as his subsequent defeat and dishonor - mold the man Perry Reynolds ultimately becomes. As ramifications from past events converge into the present, Jason will be faced with three prominent Star Watch crewmembers meeting their untimely, and emotionally devastating, end.
©2016 Mark Wayne McGinnis (P)2016 Mark Wayne McGinnis
The Chicken Doesn't Skate
Summary
Sixth-grader Milo Neal plans to do a science project on "The Complete Life Cycle of a Link in the Food Chain". But when he brings his specimen - a baby chick - to class, everyone falls in love with the cute ball of fluff. Soon she has a name: Henrietta. Not only is Henrietta the class pet, she's even chosen as mascot for the school hockey team! How can Milo finish his project, which calls for frying up his specimen and serving it to the judges of the science fair? Each day, as Henrietta gets bigger, so does Milo’s dilemma. And students are hatching plans to rescue their feathered friend. Gordon Korman, author of more than 20 books for middle school and young adult audiences, based this hilarious story on his own experiences while visiting a middle school classroom. Through the talented narrators’ performances, Henrietta’s adventures will have you cackling with laughter.
©1996 Gordon Korman (P)1999 Recorded Books
Outside the Box
Summary
From the acclaimed author of The Box, a new history of globalization that shows us how to navigate its future. Globalization has profoundly shaped the world we live in, yet its rise was neither inevitable nor planned. It is also one of the most contentious issues of our time. While it may have made goods less expensive, it has also sent massive flows of money across borders and shaken the global balance of power. Outside the Box offers a fresh and lively history of globalization, showing how it has evolved over two centuries in response to changes in demography, technology, and consumer tastes. Marc Levinson, the acclaimed author of The Box, tells the story of globalization through the people who eliminated barriers and pursued new ways of doing business. He shows how the nature of globalization changed dramatically in the 1980s with the creation of long-distance value chains. This new type of economic relationship shifted manufacturing to Asia, destroying millions of jobs and devastating industrial centers in North America, Europe, and Japan. Levinson describes how improvements in transportation, communications, and computing made international value chains possible but how globalization was taken too far because of large government subsidies and the systematic misjudgment of risk by businesses. As companies began to account properly for the risks of globalization, cross-border investment fell sharply and foreign trade lagged long before Donald Trump became president and the coronavirus disrupted business around the world. In Outside the Box, Levinson explains that globalization is entering a new era in which moving stuff will matter much less than moving services, information, and ideas.
©2020 Marc Levinson (P)2020 Recorded Books
Unrigged
Summary
A revelatory account by the best-selling author of Ratf--ked that will give you hope that America's fragile democracy can still be saved. Following Ratf--ked, his “extraordinary timely and undeniably important” (New York Times Book Review) expose of how a small cadre of Republican operatives rigged American elections, David Daley emerged as one of the nation's leading authorities on gerrymandering. In Unrigged, he charts a vibrant political movement that is rising in the wake of his and other reporters' revelations. With his trademark journalistic rigor and narrative flair, Daley reports on Pennsylvania's dramatic defeat of a gerrymander using the research of ingenious mathematicians and the Michigan millennial who launched a statewide redistricting revolution with a Facebook post. He tells the stories of activist groups that paved the way for 2018's historic blue wave and won crucial battles for voting rights in Florida, Maine, Utah, and nationwide. In an age of polarization, Unrigged offers a vivid portrait of a nation transformed by a new civic awakening and provides a blueprint for what must be done to keep American democracy afloat.
©2020 David Daley (P)2020 Kalorama
The Marriage Clinic
Summary
Here one will find not only a wide range of succinct and useful assessment procedures, but also a highly specific, research-based, and modularized treatment program. In addition, there are dozens of questionnaires and interview protocols to be used in both assessment and intervention. In prospective, long-term research with over 700 couples, Gottman has discovered certain factors that distinguish happy, stable couples from both unstable, ultimately divorcing couples and stable but unhappy couples. These findings, which are explained here in understandable, nontechnical language, form the basis of his Sound Marital House theory of marriage, which guides the new therapy. This therapy has two goals: changing the marital friendship and teaching couples to regulate conflict. Gottman compares his clinic to a restaurant, where clients are offered a menu of treatment formats, from psychoeducation for specific issues to extended therapy to repair a badly damaged marital friendship. Therapists, too, can choose among the questionnaires and strategies for those that fit the needs of particular couples. Whatever their choice, they will find that their practice is greatly enriched by the scientifically-based offerings of The Marriage Clinic.
©1999 John M. Gottman (P)2020 Tantor
Warnings
Summary
Warnings is the story of the future of national security, threatening technologies, the US economy, and possibly the fate of civilization. In Greek mythology Cassandra foresaw calamities, but was cursed by the gods to be ignored. Modern-day Cassandras clearly predicted the disasters of Katrina, Fukushima, the Great Recession, the rise of ISIS, and many more. Like the mythological Cassandra, they were ignored. There are others right now warning of impending disasters, but how do we know which warnings are likely to be right? Through riveting explorations in a variety of fields, the authors - both accomplished CEOs and White House National Security Council veterans - discover a method to separate the accurate Cassandras from the crazy doomsayers. They then investigate the experts who today are warning of future disasters: the threats from artificial intelligence, bio-hacking, mutating viruses, and more, and whose calls are not being heeded. Clarke's and Eddy's penetrating insights are essential for any person, any business, or any government that doesn't want to be a blind victim of tomorrow's catastrophe.
©2017 Richard A. Clarke and Randolph P. Eddy (P)2017 Tantor
1901
Summary
The year is 1901. Germany's navy is the second largest in the world; their army, the most powerful. But with the exception of a small piece of Africa and a few minor islands in the Pacific, Germany is without an empire. Kaiser Wilhelm II demands that the United States surrender its newly acquired territories: Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. President McKinley indignantly refuses, so with the honor and economic future of the Reich at stake, the Kaiser launches an invasion of the United States, striking first on Long Island. Now the Americans, with their army largely disbanded, must defend the homeland. When McKinley suffers a fatal heart attack, the new commander in chief, Theodore Roosevelt, rallies to the cause, along with Confederate general James Longstreet. From the burning of Manhattan to the climactic Battle of Danbury, American forces face Europe's most potent war machine in a blazing contest of will against strength.
©1995 Robert Conroy (P)2020 Tantor