Steve Toner has narrated 6 audiobooks on Listento.it by 6 authors, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 2 ratings. The most-rated is Bad Boyfriends.
A Prehistory of the Cloud
Summary
We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electricity as a midsized town. Even all these data centers are only one small part of the cloud. Behind that cloud-shaped icon on our screens is a whole universe of technologies and cultural norms, all working to keep us from noticing their existence. Hu shows that the cloud grew out of such older networks as railroad tracks, sewer lines, and television circuits. He describes key moments in the prehistory of the cloud, from the game Spacewar as exemplar of time-sharing computers to Cold War bunkers that were later reused as data centers. Countering the popular perception of a new "cloudlike" political power that is dispersed and immaterial, Hu argues that the cloud grafts digital technologies onto older ways of exerting power over a population. But because we invest the cloud with cultural fantasies about security and participation, we fail to recognize its militarized origins and ideology. Moving between the materiality of the technology itself and its cultural rhetoric, Hu's account offers a set of new tools for rethinking the contemporary digital environment.
©2015 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks
Bad Boyfriends
Summary
This book is intended to be a practical guide to using the modern science of attachment and relationships to guide the questioning toward a more fulfilling life. If you were brought up in the Western world, you've been trained on fairy tales of love and relationships that are misleading at best, and at worst have you making mistake after mistake in starting relationships with the wrong kinds of people who will waste your time and keep you from finding a loyal partner. Science has the answer! Or at least a guide to save you the time and effort of discovering for yourself how many wrong types of romantic partners there are. Reading this book will help you recognize the signs of some of the syndromes that prevent people from being good partners. We'll go through those syndromes and point out some of the signs. Those little red flags you sometimes notice when you are getting to know someone? Often they speak loud and clear once you understand the types, and you can decide immediately to run away or approach with caution those who show them. This book outlines the basics (which might be all you need), and points you toward more resources if you want to understand more about your problem partner. If you're wondering if the guy or girl you've been hanging out with might not be quite right, this is the place to match those little red flags you've noticed with known bad types. And by getting out fast, you can avoid emotional damage and wasted time, and get going on finding someone who's really right for you. Study all of the bad types and you'll detect them before even getting involved. Or you could be one of the few people who recognizes their own problems in one of these types. There are study materials and plans of action for you, too. If you've had lots of relationships and they all seem to go wrong, the common factor is you! Your task is to make yourself into a better partner - a goal that even the most evolved of us can always work toward.
©2014 Jeb Kinnison (P)2014 Jeb Kinnison
Mesa Verde: The History of the Ancient Pueblo Settlement
Summary
When the Spanish came into contact with different tribes in the Southwest, they were so intrigued by the structure of the communities that they gave the natives the name Pueblo, a term they used to measure certain sizes for their own settlements. Thus, while most Americans have heard of the Pueblo and Navajo, many remain unfamiliar with distinctions within the tribes. The Spaniards' interest was understandable because the Pueblo fascinated those who came across their settlements, especially those located in desert regions and the sides of cliffs that involved the use of adobe mud, stone, carving homes out of cliffs. One such settlement, Oraibi, was created around AD 1100 and remains one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America, but the most famous of the cliff dwellings can be found at Mesa Verde, which was turned into a national park in the early 20th century, about 1,500 years after the ancient Pueblo established the settlement. Today's Puebloan tribes are descended from tribes known as the Ancestral Puebloan People" one of which was the Anasazi, but anthropologists believe that the Anasazi were a common ancestor of every Pueblo group, so the ancient Pueblo are often referred to simply as the Anasazi. The name Anasazi came from their enemies; it is a Navajo word that means "enemy ancestor". While that name understandably continues to offend the descendants of the Anasazi, it also underscores that there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the history of the Anasazi. In fact, it is still unclear what the Anasazi called themselves, and though they resided near the Four Corners area of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico for more than 700 years, they mysteriously abandoned their settlements shortly after they truly began to flourish around AD 1050-1150.
©2012 Charles River Editors (P)2015 Charles River Editors
The Feynman Imperative
Summary
This book consists of six distinct essays describing how science works, with special attention to how Richard Feynman viewed the scientific method. Chapter one explores the difference between evolution and mysticism's version of intelligent design. Chapter two is entitled The Feynman Imperative and explores a contentious debate over reductionism and its role in the hard sciences, particularly in explaining consciousness. Chapter three details how practical the scientific endeavor is and why science tends to avoid making dogmatic and absolute statements. Other chapters include: The Gravity of Science, Feynman's Flower (and the beauty of physics and biology), and concludes with Shiva Science which illustrates that science is composed of many avenues and not just one. Dr. Lane has taught science and religion courses at California State University, Long Beach for over a decade and is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Mt. San Antonio College where he lectures on quantum theory, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology. He has also produced a number of original mini films dealing with Richard Feynman's philosophy of science.
©2016 David Christopher Lane (P)2016 David Christopher Lane
The Pueblo of Yesterday and Today
Summary
When European settlers - and later American settlers - came into contact with Native American tribes on the continent, they were frequently unable to differentiate between the subcultures within individual tribes. This led to all kinds of misunderstandings. When the Spanish came into contact with different tribes in the Southwest, they categorized several of them as Pueblo. Thus, while most Americans have heard of the Pueblo and Navajo, many remain unfamiliar with distinctions within the tribes. The Pueblo fascinated those who came across their settlements, especially those located in desert regions and the sides of cliffs. One such settlement, Oraibi, was created around AD 1100. It remains one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America. The Spanish were so intrigued by the structure of the communities that they gave the natives the name Pueblo, a term they used to measure certain sizes for their own settlements. Today's Puebloan tribes are descended from tribes known as the "ancestral Puebloan people", one of which was the Anasazi. The name Anasazi came from their enemies; it is a Navajo word that means "enemy ancestor". While that name understandably continues to offend the descendants of the Anasazi, it also underscores that there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the history of the Anasazi. It is still unclear what the Anasazi called themselves, and though they resided near the "Four Corners" area of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico for more than 700 years, they mysteriously abandoned their settlements shortly after they truly began to flourish around AD 1050-1150.
©2012 Charles River Editors (P)2015 Charles River Editors
Los Angeles in Civil War Days, 1860-1865
Summary
Most accounts of California’s role in the Civil War focus on the northern part of the state, San Francisco in particular. In Los Angeles in Civil War Days, John W. Robinson looks to the southern half and offers an enlightening sketch of Los Angeles and its people, politics, and economic trends from 1860 to 1865. Drawing on contemporary reports in the Los Angeles Star, Southern News, and other sources, Robinson shows how the war came to Los Angeles and narrates the struggle between the pro-Southern faction and the Unionists. Los Angeles in the early 1860s was a developing town, lacking many of the refinements of civilization that San Francisco then enjoyed, and was much smaller than the bustling metropolis we know today. The audiobook focuses on the effects of the war on Los Angeles, but Robinson also considers social and economic problems to provide a broader view of the community and its place in the nation. The Conscription Act and devalued greenbacks incited public unrest, and the cattle-killing drought of 1862-64, a smallpox epidemic, and recurrent vigilantism challenged Angelenos as well. California historians and those interested in the city’s historical record will find this audiobook a fascinating addition to the body of California’s Civil War history. Published by University of Oklahoma Press. "Brief, very readable, and important book...." - Thomas F. Andrews, research historian for special collections, Asuza Pacific University
©2013 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks