Peter Larkin has narrated 18 audiobooks on Listento.it by 16 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 142 ratings. The most-rated is A Fire Upon the Deep.
A Fire Upon the Deep
Summary
A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought", but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization. A Fire upon the Deep, which began the Zones of Thought series, is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
©1992 Vernor Vinge (P)2010 Macmillan Audio
A Deepness in the Sky
Summary
After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds. The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches. But first, both groups must wait at the aliens' very doorstep for their strange star to relight and for their planet to reawaken, as it does every 250 years Then, following terrible treachery, the Qeng Ho must fight for their freedom and for the lives of the unsuspecting innocents on the planet below, while the aliens themselves play a role unsuspected by the Qeng Ho and Emergents alike. More than just a great science-fiction adventure, A Deepness in the Sky is a universal drama of courage, self-discovery, and the redemptive power of love. Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky, the second installment of the Zones of Thought series, is a 1999 Nebula Award nominee for Best Novel and the winner of the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
©1999 Vernor Vinge (P)2009 Macmillan Audio
Cauldron of Ghosts
Summary
Sequel to national best sellers Torch of Freedom and Crown of Slaves, book three in the Crown of Slaves-Honor Harrington universe. Secret agent Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat return in this classic tie-in series set in David Weber's Honorverse. Toil and trouble in the cauldron of ghosts The Mesan Alignment: a centuries-old cabal that seeks to impose its vision of a society dominated by genetic rank onto the human race. Now the conspiracy stands exposed by spies Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat - one an agent of Honor Harrington’s Star Kingdom of Manticore, the other a Havenite operative. The outing of the Alignment has turned the galaxy’s political framework topsy-turvy. Old coalitions have disintegrated. New alliances have been born. For starters, the long and hard-fought war between the Republic of Haven and the Star Empire of Manticore is not only over, but these bitter enemies have formed a new pact. Their common foe: the Mesan Alignment itself. But more information is needed to bring the Alignment out of the shadows. Now, defying the odds and relying on genetic wizardry themselves for a disguise, Zilwicki and Cachat return to Mesa - only to discover that even they have underestimated the Alignment’s ruthlessness and savagery. Soon they are on the run in Mesa’s underworld, not only hunted by the Alignment but threatened by the exploding conflict on the planet between Mesa’s overlords and the brutalized slaves and descendants of slaves who have suffered under their rule for so long. But if Zilwicki and Cachat succeed in rooting out the ancient conspiracy, a great evil may be finally removed from the galaxy - and on a long-oppressed planet, freedom may finally dawn.
©2014 Words of Weber, Inc., and Eric Flint (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Papi
Summary
An entertaining, unfiltered memoir by one of the game's greatest, most clutch sluggers and beloved personalities David "Big Papi" Ortiz is a baseball icon and one of the most popular figures ever to play the game. As a key part of the Boston Red Sox for 14 years, David has helped the team win three World Series, bringing back a storied franchise from "never wins" to "always wins". He helped them upend the doubts, the naysayers, and the nonbelievers and captured the imagination of millions of fans along the way, as he launched balls into the stands again and again and again. He made Boston and the Red Sox his home, his place of work, and his legacy. As he put it: This is our f*&#ing city. Now, looking back at the end of his legendary career, Ortiz opens up fully for the first time about his last two decades in the game. Unhindered by political correctness, Ortiz talks colorfully about his journey, from his poor upbringing in the Dominican Republic to when the expansion Florida Marlins passed up a chance to sign him due to what was essentially tennis elbow. He recalls his days in Peoria, Arizona, his first time in the United States; tense exchanges with Twins manager Tom Kelly in Minnesota; and his arrival in Boston. Listeners go behind the scenes for the many milestones of his Red Sox career - from the huge disappointment of the Red Sox losing to the Yankees in 2003, ending the curse in 2004 with the infamous "band of idiots", including his extraordinary clutch hitting to overcome a 3-0 series deficit against the Yankees, to earning a second title in 2007 and a third in 2013. Along the way he was tainted by the infamous banned substances list in 2009; he used his passion and place to fortify a city devastated by the Boston Marathon bombings; and he dominated pitchers right up through his retirement season at age 40. Papi, as he became so affectionately called, gave his fans big hits when they needed them most. He was an even bigger presence: He was a champion who rallied a team, a city, and a sport in a way that no one will ever forget. In Papi, his ultimate memoir, Ortiz opens up as never before about his life in baseball and about the problems he sees in Major League Baseball, about former teammates, opponents, coaches, and executives, and about the weight of expectation whenever he stepped up to the plate. The result is a revelatory, fly-on-the wall story of a career by a player with a lot to say at the end of his time in the game, a game to which he gave so much and which gave so much to him.
©2017 David Ortiz (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
Crown of Slaves
Summary
The Star Kingdom's ally, Erewhon, is growing increasingly restive in the alliance because the new High Ridge regime ignores its needs. Add to that the longstanding problem of a slave labor planet controlled by hostile Mesans in Erewhon's stellar back yard, a problem which High Ridge also ignores. Finally, the recent assassination of the Solarian League's most prominent voice of public conscience indicates the growing danger of political instability in the League - which is also close to Erewhon. In desperation, Queen Elizabeth tries to defuse the situation by sending a private mission to Erewhon led by Captain Zilwicki, accompanied by one of her nieces. When they arrive on Erewhon, however, Manticore's most capable agent and one of its princesses find themselves in a mess. Not only do they encounter one of the Republic of Haven's most capable agents - Victor Cachat - but they also discover that the Solarian League's military delegation seems up to its neck in skullduggery. And, just to put the icing on the cake, the radical freed slave organization, the Audubon Ballroom, is also on the scene - led by its most notorious killer, Jeremy X.
©2005 David Weber (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Discover Your True North
Summary
The leadership classic, Discover Your True North, expanded for today's listeners. Discover Your True North is the best-selling leadership classic that enables you to become an authentic leader by discovering your True North. Originally based on first-person interviews with 125 leaders, this book instantly became a must-hear business classic when it was introduced in 2007. Now expanded and updated to introduce 48 new leaders and new learning about authentic global leaders, this revisited classic includes more diverse, global, and contemporary leaders of all ages. New case studies include Warren Buffett, Indra Nooyi, Arianna Huffington, Jack Ma, Paul Polman, Mike Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others. Alongside these studies, former Medtronic CEO Bill George continues to share his personal stories and his wisdom by describing how you can become the leader you want to be, with helpful exercises included throughout the book. Being a leader is about much more than title and management skills - it's fundamentally a question of who we are as human beings. Discover Your True North offers a concrete and comprehensive program for becoming an authentic leader, and shows how to chart your path to leadership success. Once you discover the purpose of your leadership, you'll find the true leader inside you. This book shows you how to use your natural leadership abilities to inspire and empower others to excellence in today's complex global world. Discover Your True North enables you to become the leader you were born to be, and stay on track of your True North. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2015 Bill George (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Big Data Baseball
Summary
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was old school and stubborn. But after 20 straight losing seasons and his job on the line, he was ready to try anything. So when he met with GM Neal Huntington in October 2012, they decided to discard everything they knew about the game and instead take on drastic "big data" strategies. Going well beyond the number-crunching of Moneyball, which used statistics found on the back of baseball cards to identify market inefficiencies, the data the Pirates employed was not easily observable. They collected millions of data points on pitches and balls in play, creating a tome of reports that revealed key insights for how to win more games without spending a dime. They discovered that most batters struggled to hit two-seam fastballs, that an aggressive defensive shift on the field could turn more batted balls into outs, and that a catcher's most valuable skill was hidden. Hurdle and Huntington got to work trying to convince the entire Pirates organization and disgruntled fans to embrace these unconventional yet groundbreaking methods. All this led to the end of the longest consecutive run of losing seasons in North American pro sports history. The Pirates' 2013 season is the perfect lens for examining baseball's burgeoning big-data movement. Using flawless reporting, award-winning journalist Travis Sawchik takes you behind the scenes to reveal a game-changing audiobook of miracles and math.
©2015 Travis Sawchik (P)2015 Macmillan Audio
Torch of Freedom
Summary
As the slavemasters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, Anton Zilwicki and the notorious Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat set off on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth concerning a wave of mysterious assassinations that have been launched against Manticore and Torch. Most people are sure that the Republic of Haven is behind the assassinations, but Zilwicki and Cachat suspect others of being the guilty party. Queen Berry of Torch was one of the targets of the unknown assassins. The former head of the Ballroom slave liberation organization, Jeremy Xnow one of Torch's top officials, but still considered by many the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxycalls in some past favors owed to him. In response, a security officer from Beowulf arrives in Torch to take charge of Queen Berry's securitya task made doubly difficult by the young monarch's resentment of bodyguards and the security officer's own growing attachment to her. Meanwhile, powerful forces in the Solarian League are maneuvering against each other to gain the upper hand in what they all expect to be an explosive crisis that threatens the very existence of the League itself.
©2009 David Weber and Eric Flint (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
The Second Kind of Impossible
Summary
One of the most fascinating scientific detective stories of the last 50 years, an exciting quest for a new form of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible plays like James Gleick’s Chaos combined with an Indiana Jones adventure. When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardt’s 35-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matter - one that raises the possibility of new materials with never-before-seen properties but that violates laws set in stone for centuries. Steinhardt dubs this new form of matter “quasicrystal”. The rest of the scientific community calls it simply impossible. The Second Kind of Impossible captures Steinhardt’s scientific odyssey as it unfolds over decades, first to prove viability and then to pursue his wildest conjecture - that nature made quasicrystals long before humans discovered them. Along the way, his team encounters clandestine collectors, corrupt scientists, secret diaries, international smugglers, and KGB agents. Their quest culminates in a daring expedition to a distant corner of the Earth, in pursuit of tiny fragments of a meteorite forged at the birth of the solar system. Steinhardt’s discoveries chart a new direction in science. They not only change our ideas about patterns and matter but also reveal new truths about the processes that shaped our solar system. The underlying science is important, simple, and beautiful - and Steinhardt’s firsthand account is an engaging scientific thriller. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Paul J. Steinhardt (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
A Time for War
Summary
From Michael Savage, The New York Times best-selling author of Abuse of Power and radio host of The Savage Nation, comes a powerful new thriller. A Chinook helicopter carrying a squad of Navy Seals suddenly plummets to earth in Afghanistan. A car driven by FBI agents tailing a suspicious vehicle is mysteriously rendered immobile in San Francisco. The body of a Chinese agent is found floating miles from the Golden Gate Bridge after being fed to sharks. In A Time for War, the U.S. is under secret attack and only Jack Hatfield, a popular television host hounded from his position by left-wing forces in the media for speaking the truth, suspects the danger of this lethal conspiracy. With the help of Dover Griffith, an idealistic young woman staffer at the Office of Naval Intelligence, Hatfield pursues a trail leading to a billionaire American electronics entrepreneur who has sold out his own country with the help of officials at the highest level of the American government. As enemy operatives plan a two pronged attack that will disarm the American military and release a deadly toxin killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, Hatfield and Dover race to locate this new Ground Zero and save an unsuspecting county.
©2013 Michael Savage (P)2013 Macmillan Audio
Burning Midnight
Summary
In Burning Midnight, master of the hard-boiled detective novel Loren D. Estleman gives listeners a hot new Amos Walker mystery. Amos Walker knows Detroit, from the highest to the lowest, and that includes the gangs of Mexicantown. When a friend asks Walker to get his son’s brother-in-law out of one of two feuding gangs, Walker gets in trouble fast. First, dead bodies start to pile up; then come suspicious fires and the bottle bombs. Walker is caught in the middle of a gang war. Whether or not a middle-aged gringo like him can cool things off between the Maldados and the Zapatistas, he’s got to try; he did promise his friend. Once he gets involved, he realizes there's something else going on; the specter of an international conspiracy threatens to make this local trouble blow sky-high. And if he ends up dead or in jail for murders he didn’t commit, he might have to put that promise on hold. It’s tough being Amos Walker.
©2012 Loren D. Estleman (P)2012 Macmillan Audio
Countdown to Mecca
Summary
From The New York Times best-selling author of Abuse of Power and A Time for War and radio host of The Savage Nation comes a powerful thriller, Countdown to Mecca A plane bound for Amman, Jordan goes down in the Caspian Sea. The crash yields no survivors - save the Russian mercenary who hijacked the flight - and a cask containing an agent of unprecedented destructive potential is missing from the wreckage. A carefully plotted terrorist attack has been put into motion, and the resulting chaos might be enough to push America toward another costly war. The one man who might be able to stop the attack is Jack Hatfield, a freelance reporter who has never shied away from controversy. After making a politically incorrect statement about Islamic extremists, he has been discredited as a journalist and left to pick up the pieces of his career. But when his half-brother Sammy calls him, saying that his neighbor Ana overheard something she shouldn't have and now both their lives are in danger, Jack realizes he's stumbled upon a conspiracy to destroy Mecca. Now he, and a group of likeminded friends on the fringes of the law, must uncover who is behind the plot and stop them - or else witness the collapse of the world into a war of mutually assured global destruction. Michael Savage's Countdown to Mecca is a gripping story that takes listeners on a journey where even the seemingly innocent aren't always innocent, the loyal aren't always loyal, and that even those counted on to serve their country, cannot always be counted on to protect it. With the threat of a third world war looming, Jack Hatfield must stop the destruction...before somebody can stop him.
©2015 Michael Savage (P)2015 Macmillan Audio
Abuse of Power
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host comes a high-intensity debut thriller, the story of a smeared network journalist who uncovers a chilling terrorist plot. Jack Hatfield is a hardened former war correspondent who rose to national prominence for his insightful, provocative commentary. But after being smeared as a bigot and extremist by a radical leftist media-watchdog group, he ultimately loses his job and finds himself working in obscurity as a freelance news producer in San Francisco. One afternoon, Hatfield is on a ride - along with the SFPD bomb squad - when a seemingly routine carjacking turns deadly, after police find several pounds of military-grade explosives in the jacked car. And when the FBI urges Hatfield to stay out of it, he knows he’s onto something big. This event will open up a shadowy trail that leads Hatfield from San Francisco to Tel Aviv, London, Paris, and back again, as he works with a stunning Yemeni intelligence agent and a veteran Green Beret to expose a terrorist group known as the Hand of Allah - and a plot within the highest corridors of power that will dwarf 9/11. In this lightning-paced first thriller, spanning the globe from Europe and Israel to the back alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown, a reporter must make the choice between protecting his own life and investigating a terrorist cell whose goal is nothing less than total political control - no matter what the cost.
©2011 Michael Savage (P)2011 Macmillan Audio
Soldiers of Reason
Summary
The first-ever popular history of the RAND Corporation, written with full access to its archives, Soldiers of Reason is a page-turning chronicle of the rise of the secretive think tank that has been the driving force behind American government for 60 years. Born in the wake of World War II as an idea factory to advise the air force on how to wage and win wars, RAND quickly became the creator of Americas anti-Soviet nuclear strategy .A magnet for the best and the brightest, its ranks included Cold War luminaries such as Albert Wohlstetter, Bernard Brodie, and Herman Kahn, who arguably saved us from nuclear annihilation and unquestionably created Eisenhowers military-industrial complex.In the Kennedy era, RAND analysts became McNamaras Whiz Kids and their theories of rational warfare steered our conduct in Vietnam. Those same theories drove our invasion of Iraq 45 years later, championed by RAND affiliated actors such as Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and Zalmay Khalilzad. But RANDs greatest contribution might be its least known: rational choice theory, a model explaining all human behavior through self-interest. Through it RAND sparked the Reagan-led transformation of our social and economic system but also unleashed a resurgence of precisely the forces whose existence it denied religion, patriotism, tribalism.With Soldiers of Reason, Alex Abella has rewritten the history of Americas last half century and cast a new light on our problematic present.
©2008 Alex Abella (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
Gusher of Lies
Summary
A surprising, irreverent, and scrupulously reported deconstruction of today's fashions in energy policy. Everybody is talking about "energy independence". But is it really achievable? Is it actually even desirable? In this controversial, meticulously researched book, Robert Bryce exposes the false promises behind the rhetoric while blasting nearly everybody - Republicans, Democrats, environmentalists, and war-mongering neoconservatives - for misleading voters about our energy needs. Gusher of Lies explains why the idea of energy independence appeals to voters while also showing that renewable sources like wind and solar cannot meet America's growing energy demand. Along the way, Bryce eviscerates the ethanol scam. Whether the issue is cost, water consumption, or food prices, corn ethanol is one of the longest-running robberies ever perpetrated on American taxpayers. Consumers concerned about peak oil and the future of global energy supplies need to understand that energy security depends on embracing free markets and the realities of interdependence. Gusher of Lies is illuminating and vital.
©2008 Robert Bryce (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Putin's Gambit
Summary
From TV broadcaster Lou Dobbs and award-winning author James O. Born comes Putin's Gambit, an international financial thriller about a KGB plot to use a series of terrorist attacks as cover for a Russian military incursion into Estonia. Adjusting to civilian life has not been easy for former Marine Derek Walsh. As he navigates a brutal job on Wall Street and a challenging romance, he wonders if he could be doing more with his life. When an inexplicable $200 million money transfer is made on his computer, he is thrust into the world of international terror, and the global economy is knocked off its hinges. On the other side of the Atlantic, a dangerous alliance has formed. Radical Islamists and Russian extremists have set the wheels in motion for Russia to assert its power in Europe. The US president has proven to be weak on foreign policy, the military is stretched too thin, and Vladimir Putin judges this to be the time for Russia to regain its Soviet Empire. Troops mass on the Estonian border, waiting for the order to move. The FBI believes Walsh was involved in the money transfer, and a group of Russians are intent on killing him. As New Yorkers are outraged upon learning of the illegal money transfer, and the world economy crashes after a series of terrorist attacks, Walsh and his Marine buddies are the only ones that can keep the world from spinning off its axis.
©2017 Lou Dobbs and James O. Born (P)2017 Macmillan Audio
Big Coal
Summary
Long dismissed as a relic of a bygone era, coal is back -- with a vengence. Coal is one of the nation's biggest and most influential industries -- Big Coal provides more than half the electricity consumed by Americans today -- and its dominance is growing, driven by rising oil prices and calls for energy independence. Is coal the solution to America's energy problems?On close examination, the glowing promise of coal quickly turns to ash. Coal mining remains a deadly and environmentally destructive industry. Nearly 40 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year comes from coal-fired power plants. In the last two decades, air pollution from coal plants has killed more than half a million Americans. In this eye-opening call to action, Goodell explains the costs and consequences of America's addiction to coal and discusses how we can kick the habit.
©2007 Jeff Goodell (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
Canticle
Summary
It is nine months after the end of Lamentation. Many noble allies have come to the Ninefold Forest for a Feast in honor of General Rudolfo's first-born child. Jin Li Tam, his wife and mother of his heir, lies in childbed. As the feast begins, the doors of the hall fly open and invisible assassins begin attacking. All of Rudolfo's noble guests are slain, including Hanric, the Marsh Queen's Shadow. And on the Keeper's Gate, which guards the Named Lands from the Churning Waste, a strange figure appears with a message for Petronus, the Hidden Pope. Thus begins the second movement of The Psalms of Isaak, Canticle.
©2009 Kenneth G. Scholes (P)2009 Macmillan Audio