René Ruiz has narrated 32 audiobooks on Listento.it by 34 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 269 ratings. The most-rated is The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching.
The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching
Summary
In The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh introduces us to the core teachings of Buddhism and shows us that the Buddha's teachings are accessible and applicable to our daily lives. With poetry and clarity, Nhat Hanh imparts comforting wisdom about the nature of suffering and its role in creating compassion, love, and joy - all qualities of enlightenment. Covering such significant teachings as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Doors of Liberation, the Three Dharma Seals, and the Seven Factors of Awakening, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching is a radiant beacon on Buddhist thought for the initiated and uninitiated alike.
©2014 Thich Nhat Hanh (P)2014 Random House Audio
Super Thinking
Summary
"You can't really know anything if you just remember isolated facts. If the facts don't hang together on a latticework of theory, you don't have them in a usable form. You've got to have models in your head." (Charlie Munger, investor, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway) The world's greatest problem-solvers, forecasters, and decision-makers all rely on a set of frameworks and shortcuts that help them cut through complexity and separate good ideas from bad ones. They're called mental models, and you can find them in dense textbooks on psychology, physics, economics, and more. Or, you can just listen to Super Thinking, a fun, illustrated guide to every mental model you could possibly need. How can mental models help you? Well, here are just a few examples: If you've ever been overwhelmed by a to-do list that's grown too long, maybe you need the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to help you prioritize. Use the 5 Whys model to better understand people's motivations or get to the root cause of a problem. Before concluding that your colleague who messes up your projects is out to sabotage you, consider Hanlon's Razor for an alternative explanation. Ever sat through a bad movie just because you paid a lot for the ticket? You might be falling prey to Sunk Cost Fallacy. Set up Forcing Functions, like standing meeting or deadlines, to help grease the wheels for changes you want to occur. So, the next time you find yourself faced with a difficult decision or just trying to understand a complex situation, let Super Thinking upgrade your brain with mental models. Includes a PDF of charts, drawings, and cartoons illustrating the mental models of super thinking. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann (P)2019 Penguin Audio
The New Tsar
Summary
The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president - the only complete biography in English - that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief. In a gripping narrative of Putin's rise to power as Russia's president, Steven Lee Myers recounts Putin's origins - from his childhood of abject poverty in Leningrad to his ascension through the ranks of the KGB and his eventual consolidation of rule. Along the way world events familiar to listeners, such as September 11th and Russia's war in Georgia in 2008, as well as the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, are presented from never-before-seen perspectives. This audiobook is a grand, staggering achievement and a breathtaking look at one man's rule. On one hand, Putin's many reforms - from tax cuts to an expansion of property rights - have helped reshape the potential of millions of Russians whose only experience of democracy had been crime, poverty, and instability after the fall of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, Putin has ushered in a new authoritarianism, unyielding in his brutal repression of revolts and squashing of dissent. Still, he retains widespread support from the Russian public. The New Tsar is a narrative tour de force, deeply researched and utterly necessary for anyone fascinated by the formidable and ambitious Vladimir Putin but also for those interested in the world and what a newly assertive Russia might mean for the future.
©2015 Steven Lee Myers (P)2015 Random House Audio
Running to the Edge
Summary
"Gripping...he narrative is smooth and immediate, almost effortless in its detail, if occasionally breathless, like a good fast run..." (The New York Times Book Review) Visionary American running coach Bob Larsen assembled a mismatched team of elite California runners...the start of his decades-long quest for championships, Olympic glory, and pursuit of "the epic run." In the dusty hills above San Diego, Bob Larsen became America's greatest running coach. Starting with a ragtag group of high school cross country and track runners, Larsen set out on a decades-long quest to find the secret of running impossibly fast, for longer distances than anyone thought possible. Himself a former farm boy who fell into his track career by accident, Larsen worked through coaching high school, junior college, and college, coaxing talented runners away from more traditional sports as the running craze was in its infancy in the 60s and 70s. On the arid trails and windy roads of California, Larsen relentlessly sought the "secret sauce" of speed and endurance that would catapult American running onto the national stage. Running to the Edge is a riveting account of Larsen's journey, and his quest to discover the unorthodox training secrets that would lead American runners (elite and recreational) to breakthroughs never imagined. New York Times Deputy Sports Editor Matthew Futterman interweaves the dramatic stories of Larsen's runners with a fascinating discourse of the science behind human running, as well as a personal running narrative that follows Futterman's own checkered love-affair with the sport. The result is a narrative that will speak to every runner, a story of Larsen's triumphs - from high school cross-country meets to the founding of the cult-favorite 70's running group, the Jamul Toads, from national championships to his long tenure as head coach at UCLA, and from the secret training regimen of world champion athletes like Larsen's protégé, American Meb Keflezighi, to victories at the New York and Boston Marathons as well as the Olympics. Running to the Edge is a pause-resister...a relentless crusade to run faster, farther.
©2019 Matthew Futterman (P)2019 Random House Audio
Twelve Slays of Christmas
Summary
Filled with holiday charm and perfect for fans of Leslie Meier, Jacqueline Frost's charming series debut Twelve Slays of Christmas is set at a Christmas tree farm when the jolliest time of the year turns deadly. When Holly White's fiancé cancels their Christmas Eve wedding with less than two weeks to go, Holly heads home with a broken heart. Lucky for her, home in historic Mistletoe, Maine is magical during Christmastime - exactly what the doctor prescribed. Except her plan to drown her troubles in peppermints and snickerdoodles is upended when local grouch and president of the Mistletoe Historical Society, Margaret Fenwick, is bludgeoned and left in the sleigh display at Reindeer Games, Holly's family tree farm. When the murder weapon is revealed as one of the wooden stakes used to identify trees on the farm, Sheriff Evan Grey turns to Holly's father, Bud, and the Reindeer Games staff. And it doesn't help that Bud and the reindeer keeper were each seen arguing with Margaret just before her death. But Holly knows her father and is determined to exonerate him. The jingle bells are ringing, the clock is ticking, and if Holly doesn't watch out, she'll end up on Santa's naughty list.
©2017 Jacqueline Frost (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Getting There: A Book of Mentors
Summary
The path to success is rarely easy or direct, and good mentors are hard to find. In Getting There, 30 leaders in diverse fields share their secrets to navigating the rocky road to the top. In an honest, direct, and engaging way, these role models describe the obstacles they faced, the setbacks they endured, and the vital lessons they learned. They dispense not only essential and practical career advice, but also priceless wisdom applicable to life in general. Getting There is for everyone - from students contemplating their futures to the vast majority of us facing challenges or seeking to reach our potential.
©2015 Gillian Zoe Segal (P)2017 Novel Audio Inc.
Makers
Summary
Wired magazine editor and best-selling author Chris Anderson takes you to the front lines of a new industrial revolution as today’s entrepreneurs, using open source design and 3-D printing, bring manufacturing to the desktop. In an age of custom-fabricated, do-it-yourself product design and creation, the collective potential of a million garage tinkerers and enthusiasts is about to be unleashed, driving a resurgence of American manufacturing. A generation of "Makers" using the Web’s innovation model will help drive the next big wave in the global economy, as the new technologies of digital design and rapid prototyping gives everyone the power to invent - creating "the long tail of things".
©2012 Chris Anderson (P)2012 Random House Audio
Running the Dream
Summary
The best-selling author of 80/20 Running and How Bad Do You Want It? reveals his inspiring and surprising journey to see just how fast he can go. Matt Fitzgerald has already made a name for himself in the endurance-sport community with books like 80/20 Running, How Bad Do You Want It?, and Iron War. He is an accomplished amateur runner, but if he follows the training, nutrition, and lifestyle of an elite runner, just how fast could he go? He is approaching his mid-40s, so the time to do this is now. He at last has the financial means to do nothing but train. He accepts the goodwill of a friend who will let him crash at his apartment in the running mecca of Flagstaff, Arizona, and convinces the coach of Northern Arizona Elite, one of the country's premier professional running teams, to let him train with a roster of national champions and Olympic hopefuls for an entire summer leading in to the Chicago Marathon. The results were astounding.... Filled with a vibrant cast of characters, rigorous and gut-wrenching training, Matt’s knowledgeable yet self-deprecating voice allows us to vicariously live out our own fantasies of having the opportunity to go all the way. Yet for the runners Matt trains with, it’s no mere fantasy, but a calling, and their individual stories enrich this inspiring narrative. Running the Dream is a chance for us all to experience a bit of this rarified and wild world and to take away pieces of this amazing journey to try to achieve our own potential.
©2020 Matt Fitzgerald (P)2020 Recorded Books
This View of Life
Summary
It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly - to everything associated with the words “human,” “culture,” and “policy.” In a series of engaging and insightful examples - from the breeding of hens to the timing of cataract surgeries to the organization of an automobile plant - Wilson shows how an evolutionary worldview provides a practical tool kit for understanding not only genetic evolution but also the fast-paced changes that are having an impact on our world and ourselves. What emerges is an incredibly empowering argument: If we can become wise managers of evolutionary processes, we can solve the problems of our age at all scales - from the efficacy of our groups to our well-being as individuals to our stewardship of the planet Earth. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 David Sloan Wilson (P)2019 Random House Audio
The Launch Pad
Summary
Twice a year in the heart of Silicon Valley, a small investment firm called Y Combinator selects an elite group of young entrepreneurs from around the world for three months of intense work and instruction. Their brand-new two- or three-person start-ups are given a seemingly impossible challenge: to turn a raw idea into a viable business, fast. Each YC session culminates in a demo day, when investors and venture capitalists flock to hear pitches from the new graduates. Any one of them might turn out to be the next Dropbox (class of 2007, now valued at $5 billion) or Airbnb (2009, $1.3 billion). Randall Stross is the first journalist to have fly-on-the-wall access to Y Combinator. He tells the full story of how Paul Graham started this ultra exclusive institution, how it chooses among hundreds of aspiring Mark Zuckerbergs, and how it teaches them to go from concept to profitability in record time.
©2012 Randall Stross (P)2012 Random House Audio
Breaking Seas
Summary
Do you have a dream you must pursue, but everyone says it's unrealistic? Or that you're not qualified? Too old, too out of shape? Or you don't have the "right experience?" Glenn Damato was a 41-year-old software instructor who sought to exceed the bounds of his comfortable but humdrum existence. He embarked on an adventure for which he was miserably unprepared. Why did he do this? How did he answer the ancient human question: how do we jump-start growth in our lives? We become something we were not. The "something" Damato strived to become was neither easy nor simple: an ocean sailing skipper. Overweight and without boating experience of any kind, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of sailing around the world on his own vessel. Reckless? Dangerous? Idiotic? Call it what you will, Damato was determined to make the voyage a reality despite the obstacles.
©2012 Glenn Michael Damato (P)2013 Glenn Michael Damato
Getting There
Summary
The path to success is rarely easy or direct, and good mentors are hard to find. In Getting There, 30 leaders in diverse fields share their secrets to navigating the rocky road to the top. In an honest, direct, and engaging way, these role models describe the obstacles they faced, the setbacks they endured, and the vital lessons they learned. They dispense not only essential and practical career advice, but also priceless wisdom applicable to life in general. Getting There is for everyone - from students contemplating their futures to the vast majority of us facing challenges or seeking to reach our potential.
©2015 Gillian Zoe Segal (P)2017 Novel Audio Inc.
Survival of the Friendliest
Summary
A powerful new theory of human nature suggests that our secret to success as a species is our unique friendliness. “Brilliant, eye-opening, and absolutely inspiring - and a riveting read. Hare and Woods have written the perfect book for our time.” (Cass R. Sunstein, author of How Change Happens and co-author of Nudge) For most of the approximately 300,000 years that Homo sapiens have existed, we have shared the planet with at least four other types of humans. All of these were smart, strong, and inventive. But around 50,000 years ago, Homo sapiens made a cognitive leap that gave us an edge over other species. What happened? Since Charles Darwin wrote about “evolutionary fitness”, the idea of fitness has been confused with physical strength, tactical brilliance, and aggression. In fact, what made us evolutionarily fit was a remarkable kind of friendliness, a virtuosic ability to coordinate and communicate with others that allowed us to achieve all the cultural and technical marvels in human history. Advancing what they call the “self-domestication theory”, Brian Hare, professor in the department of evolutionary anthropology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University and his wife, Vanessa Woods, a research scientist and award-winning journalist, shed light on the mysterious leap in human cognition that allowed Homo sapiens to thrive. But this gift for friendliness came at a cost. Just as a mother bear is most dangerous around her cubs, we are at our most dangerous when someone we love is threatened by an “outsider.” The threatening outsider is demoted to sub-human, fair game for our worst instincts. Hare’s groundbreaking research, developed in close coordination with Richard Wrangham and Michael Tomasello, giants in the field of cognitive evolution, reveals that the same traits that make us the most tolerant species on the planet also make us the cruelest. Survival of the Friendliest offers us a new way to look at our cultural as well as cognitive evolution and sends a clear message: In order to survive and even to flourish, we need to expand our definition of who belongs.
©2020 Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods (P)2020 Random House Audio
Through Two Doors at Once
Summary
One of Smithsonian's favorite books of 2018. One of Forbes' 2018 best books about astronomy, physics, and mathematics. One of Kirkus' best books of 2018. The intellectual adventure story of the "double-slit" experiment, showing how a sunbeam split into two paths first challenged our understanding of light and then the nature of reality itself - and continues to almost 200 years later. Many of science's greatest minds have grappled with the simple yet elusive "double-slit" experiment. Thomas Young devised it in the early 1800s to show that light behaves like a wave, and in doing so opposed Isaac Newton. Nearly a century later, Albert Einstein showed that light comes in quanta, or particles, and the experiment became key to a fierce debate between Einstein and Niels Bohr over the nature of reality. Richard Feynman held that the double slit embodies the central mystery of the quantum world. Decade after decade, hypothesis after hypothesis, scientists have returned to this ingenious experiment to help them answer deeper and deeper questions about the fabric of the universe. How can a single particle behave both like a particle and a wave? Does a particle exist before we look at it, or does the very act of looking create reality? Are there hidden aspects to reality missing from the orthodox view of quantum physics? Is there a place where the quantum world ends and the familiar classical world of our daily lives begins, and if so, can we find it? And if there's no such place, then does the universe split into two each time a particle goes through the double slit? With his extraordinarily gifted eloquence, Anil Ananthaswamy travels around the world and through history, down to the smallest scales of physical reality we have yet fathomed. Through Two Doors at Once is the most fantastic voyage you can take.
©2018 Anil Ananthaswamy (P)2018 Penguin Audio
American Serial Killers
Summary
Fans of Mindhunter and true crime podcasts will devour these chilling stories of serial killers from the American "Golden Age" (1950-2000). With books like Serial Killers, Female Serial Killers and Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky has established himself as the foremost expert on the history of serial killers. In this first definitive history of the "Golden Age" of American serial murder, when the number and body count of serial killers exploded, Vronsky tells the stories of the most unusual and prominent serial killings from the 1950s to the early 21st century. From Ted Bundy to the Golden State Killer, our fascination with these classic serial killers seems to grow by the day. American Serial Killers gives true crime junkies what they crave, with both perennial favorites (Ed Kemper, Jeffrey Dahmer) and lesser-known cases (Melvin Rees, Harvey Glatman).
©2020 Peter Vronsky (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Man Who Wasn't There
Summary
In the tradition of Oliver Sacks, here is a tour of the latest neuroscience of schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's disease, ecstatic epilepsy, Cotard's syndrome, out-of-body experiences, and other disorders - revealing the awesome power of the human sense of self, from a master of science journalism. Anil Ananthaswamy's extensive, in-depth interviews venture into the lives of individuals who offer perspectives that will change how you think about who you are. These individuals all lost some part of what we think of as our self, but they then offer remarkable, sometimes heart-wrenching insights into what remains. One man cut off his own leg. Another became one with the universe. We are learning about the self at a level of detail that Descartes ("I think therefore I am") could never have imagined. Recent research into Alzheimer's illuminates how memory creates your narrative self by using the same part of your brain for your past as for your future. But wait, those afflicted with Cotard's syndrome think they are already dead; in a way they believe that "I think therefore I am not." Who - or what - can say that? Neuroscience has identified specific regions of the brain that, when they misfire, can cause the self to move back and forth between the body and a doppelganger or to leave the body entirely. So where in the brain or mind or body is the self actually located? As Ananthaswamy elegantly reports, neuroscientists themselves now see that the elusive sense of self is both everywhere and nowhere in the human brain.
©2015 Anil Ananthaswamy (P)2015 Penguin Audio
Shake Free
Summary
Based on the story of the apostle Paul's near catastrophic shipwreck (see Acts 27-28), this is a call to individuals to "shake off" problems and disasters in life and move forward to new health and wholeness. Some days you feel as if you take one step forward only to fall back two - or 10 - steps. You struggle and push through one obstacle after another. You know God is present, but when is he going to rescue you from all the storms, shipwrecks, and snakes surrounding you? The apostle Paul faced a great crisis such as this on his epic voyage to Rome, which ended with a disastrous shipwreck - yet every person aboard was saved by grasping broken pieces of wood. In Shake Free, Samuel Rodriguez issues a powerful call for you to shake off your problems. He writes, “When the storm breaks in your life, you will be driven by: The past or the future The pathetic or the prophetic Problems or promises Nightmares or dreams The flesh or the Spirit Google searches or godly churches The drama of the storm or God’s destiny for your life Rather than merely surviving circumstances, you can discover how to navigate through life’s challenges to truer wholeness and bigger victories from God. “Shake Free...will help you break free of emotional, mental, and spiritual burdens....This book is necessary for all those who are ready to take back control of their lives!” (DeVon Franklin, producer and New York Times best-selling author) “In Shake Free Samuel Rodriguez explains that God’s way is not just the best way; it’s the only way....This book...will change your life!” (Robert Morris, founding senior pastor of Gateway Church and best-selling author of The Blessed Life and The God I Never Knew)
©2018 Samuel Rodriguez (P)2018 Random House Audio
5 Day Weekend
Summary
Add three more days to your weekend. You want more. You know there's a better way to live your life. You have hopes and dreams. You want out of the box - the financial squeeze - living by other people's rules. The best way to achieve your goal hasn't been clear. Now, there's a way. Five Day Weekend is more than inspiration - it's a plan. It shows you how to build multiple streams of passive, independent income. More than a concept - it's used in the real world. People's stories and cases give examples and guidance. More than money - it's purpose. It opens up your world to more and better choices. You can leave your eight-to-five job behind and achieve your grandest goals. Is it time for you to get unstuck? Are you ready to move forward to a lifestyle rich with freedom and purpose? Five Day Weekend is your doorway. The strategy is to build multiple streams of income that don't require you to work eight to five in a company where you have little control of your time and compensation. The core money parts - keep more money, make more money, and grow more money - focus on ways to tighten your finances, increase your income, and develop passive investment strategies. The goal is to build regular, independent cash flow until they match your standard of living. Then you're no longer captive. Your independent income is enough to sustain you - to free you. The personal freedom chapters are purpose, choice, productivity, simplicity, adventure, peace, and generosity - ways to live your life to the fullest. In "Power Up!", you strengthen your mind-set, build your inner circle, fortify your habits, and amplify your energy - tools to support and realize your new goals. In "Push the Boundaries", Nik Halik shares his remarkable journey and challenges you to achieve your own five-day weekend. New York Times best-selling author Garrett B. Gunderson offers his savvy financial expertise.
©2018 Nik Halik Family Trust (P)2019 Nik Halik Family Trust
The 5 Disciplines of Inclusive Leaders: Unleashing the Power of All of Us
Summary
Diversity initiatives are falling short. This audiobook shows leaders how to develop the skills needed to build sustainably inclusive organizations using a tested, research-based model developed by the global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry. According to the journal Human Resource Management, companies are spending more than eight billion dollars a year on diversity programs. Yet today, the senior leadership teams at Fortune 500 companies are far from mirroring the diversity of its workforce and its customers. Andrés Tapia and Alina Polonskaia, senior leaders at Korn Ferry, argue that to build sustainable diversity and inclusion, organizations need to have inclusive leaders at all levels. In this audiobook, Tapia and Polonskaia draw on Korn Ferry’s massive database of three million leadership assessments to reveal the essential qualities of inclusive leaders. They discuss the personality traits these leaders share and detail how to develop what they call the five disciplines of inclusive leadership: building interpersonal trust, integrating diverse perspectives, optimizing talent, applying an adaptive mindset, and achieving transformation. Tapia and Polonskaia also outline the competencies behind each discipline, describe individual and organizational exemplars of inclusive leadership, and show how the five disciplines enable leaders to unleash the power of all people and to build both structurally and behaviorally inclusive organizations. This audiobook will help leaders foster the skills to deal with today’s complex challenges and create a more inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous future for all of us.
©2020 Korn Ferry (P)2020 Korn Ferry
Hawke's Fury
Summary
Border patrol agents are being ambushed along the Big Bend region of West Texas, a notorious drug corridor running east and west across the Lone Star State. They’re not the only targets. A film production depicting human trafficking in the area has been attacked by a brutal drug cartel. Into this lawless frontier steps Texas Ranger Sonny Hawke, ready and willing to dispense his own brand of justice. It’s an all-out war with the thinnest line separating the good from the bad. Sonny knows the only way out is to aim straight and stand your ground....
©2020 Reavis Wortham (P)2020 Recorded Books