Science & Technology Audiobooks | Biography & Memoir

Keeping the Chattahoochee: Reviving and Defending a Great Southern River

Sally Sierer Bethea was one of the first women in America to become a 'riverkeeper'-a vocal defender of a specific waterway who holds polluters accountable. In Keeping the Chattahoochee, she tells stories that range from joyous and funny to frustrating-even alarming-to illustrate what it takes to save an endangered river. Her tales are triggered by the regular walks she takes through a forest to the Chattahoochee over the course of a year, finding solace and kinship in nature. For two decades, Bethea worked to restore the neglected Chattahoochee, which provides drinking water and recreation to millions of people, habitat for wildlife, and water for industries and farms as it cuts through the heart of the Deep South. Pairing natural and political history with reflective writing, she draws listeners into her watershed and her memories. Bethea's passion for the natural world-and for defending it with a strong, informed voice animates this instructive memoir. Offering lessons on how to fight for our fundamental right to clean water, Bethea and her colleagues take on powerful corporate and government polluters. They strengthen environmental policies and educate children, reviving the great river from a century of misuse.

Sally Sierer Bethea (Author), Rosemary Benson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Huxleys: An Intimate History of Evolution

This momentous biography tells the story of the Huxleys: the Victorian natural historian T. H. Huxley ('Darwin's Bulldog') and his grandson, the scientist, conservationist, and zoologist Julian Huxley. Between them, they communicated to the world the great modern story of the theory of evolution by natural selection. In The Huxleys, celebrated historian Alison Bashford writes about these omnivorous intellects together, almost as if they were a single man whose long, vital life bookended the colossal shifts in world history from the age of sail to the Space Age, and from colonial wars to world wars to the cold war. The Huxleys' specialty was evolution in all its forms-at the grandest level of species, deep time, the Earth, and at the most personal and intimate. They illuminated the problems and wonders of the modern world and they fundamentally shaped how we see ourselves. But perhaps their greatest subject was themselves. Bashford's engaging, brilliantly ambitious book interweaves the Huxleys' momentous public achievements with their private triumphs and tragedies. The result is the history of a family, but also a history of humanity grappling with its place in nature. This book shows how much we owe-for better or worse-to the unceasing curiosity, self-absorption, and enthusiasms of a small, strange group of men and women.

Alison Bashford (Author), Jennifer M. Dixon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Breaking Twitter: Elon Musk and the Most Controversial Corporate Takeover in History

New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich pulls back the curtain on the most volatile, complex, and bizarre corporate takeover in history: Elon Musk's acquisition and subsequent occupation of Twitter. In October 2022, Elon Musk marched through Twitter's front doors carrying a kitchen sink, tweeting a message to his millions of followers: 'let that sink in'. His takeover came with the promise of fundamental changes, but nothing could prepare the company for the chaos to come - brutal, sometimes arbitrary mass firings, an exodus of advertisers and 'blue-tick' celebrities, and a vicious Shakespearean battle for control. With unique access to Twitter employees and Musk's confidants, this is the astonishing story from all sides, revealing a wealth of new details. Follow the darkly comic, self-inflicted, and sometimes frightening events that led Elon into an emotional downward spiral. The whole world was watching. Breaking Twitter provides ringside seats to one of the most dramatic and compelling business stories of our time. Elon Musk didn't break Twitter. Twitter broke Elon Musk. 'Uproarious . . . stimulating enough to keep even an unmedicated narcoleptic awake' - Washington Times on The Accidental Billionaires

Ben Mezrich (Author), Will Collyer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative

Milton Friedman was, alongside John Maynard Keynes, the most influential economist of the twentieth century. His work was instrumental in the turn toward free markets that defined the 1980s, and his full-throated defenses of capitalism and freedom resonated with audiences around the world. It’s no wonder the last decades of the twentieth century have been called “the Age of Friedman”—or that analysts have sought to hold him responsible for both the rising prosperity and the social ills of recent times. In Milton Friedman, the first full biography to employ archival sources, historian Jennifer Burns tells Friedman’s extraordinary story with the nuance it deserves. She provides lucid and lively context for his groundbreaking work on everything from why dentists earn less than doctors to the vital importance of the money supply to inflation and the limits of government planning and stimulus. She traces Friedman’s longstanding collaborations with women, including economist Anna Schwartz, as well as his complex relationships with powerful figures such as Fed Chair Arthur Burns and Treasury Secretary George Shultz. Most of all, Burns explores Friedman’s key role in creating a new economic vision and a modern American conservatism. The result is a revelatory biography of America’s first neoliberal—and perhaps its last great conservative.

Jennifer Burns (Author), Nan Mcnamara (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Mind Set! - Wie wir die Zukunft entschlüsseln

Seit seinem Weltbestseller 'Megatrends', der in 57 Ländern veröffentlicht wurde, steht die Zukunft im Mittelpunkt von John Naisbitts Arbeit als Autor und Redner. Aber was hat es eigentlich mit seinen verblüffend exakten Zukunftsprognosen auf sich? Der Beststellerautor plaudert aus dem Nähkästchen und stellt uns seine erstaunlichen 'Mindsets', seine Denkmuster vor. Dabei verrät er uns auch, wie wir selbst von ihnen Gebrauch machen können und damit ganz entscheidend unsere Zukunft beeinflussen können - beruflich ebenso wie privat.-

John Naisbitt (Author), Johannes Kiebranz (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Turkish] - Bilimin Karanlık Çocuğu - J. Robert Oppenheimer

'Bilimin Karanlık Çocuğu: J. Robert Oppenheimer' - Bilimin aydınlığına ve karanlığına bir yolculuk. J. Robert Oppenheimer, 'atom bombasının babası', bir yandan sıradışı başarılara imza atarken, diğer yandan etiğin karanlık sularında yüzüyor. Bu biyografi, geniş bir zaman aralığında Oppenheimer'ın hayatına, bilimsel araştırmalarına ve en karanlık dönemlerine derinlemesine bir bakış sunuyor. 'Bilimin Karanlık Çocuğu', sadece bir bilim adamının hikayesini anlatmıyor, aynı zamanda bilimin, etiğin ve insan doğasının karmaşık hikayesini de anlatıyor. Oppenheimer'ın kişiliği ve nükleer silahlar hakkındaki çelişkili görüşleri, dönemin politik ve sosyal iklimine dair anlayışımızı derinleştiriyor. Bilim ve insanlık hakkında düşündürücü bir inceleme arayanlar için bu kitap, kaçırılmaması gereken bir eser.

Muhammer Arabaci (Author), Muhammer Arabacı (Narrator)

Audiobook

Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic

From Canada's most accomplished adventurer and storyteller comes a gripping journey into the vastness of Canada's landscape and history. Looking out his porch window one spring morning, Adam Shoalts spotted a majestic peregrine falcon flying across the neighbouring fields near Lake Erie. Each spring, falcons migrate from southernmost Canada to remote arctic mountains. Grabbing his backpack and canoe, Shoalts resolved to follow the falcon's route north on an astonishing 3,400-kilometre journey to the Arctic. Along the way, he faces a huge variety of challenges and obstacles, including storms on the Great Lakes, finding campsites in the urban wilderness of Toronto and Montreal, avoiding busy commercial freighter traffic, gale force winds, massive hydroelectric dams, bushwhacking without trails, dealing with hunger, multiple bear encounters, and navigating white-water rapids on icy northern rivers far from any help. In his signature style, Shoalts roams as much across space as he does time, winding his way through a stunning diversity of landscapes ranging from lush Carolinian forests to lonely windswept mountains, salty seas to trackless swamps, pristine lakes to glittering mega-cities, as well as the sites of long ago battles, shipwrecks, forgotten forts, and abandoned trading posts. Through his travels, he reveals how interconnected wild places are, from the loneliest depths of the northern wilderness to busy urban parks, and the vital importance of these connections. Where the Falcon Flies invites readers on an extraordinary armchair adventure that spans five ecoregions and centuries of fascinating history, and is a masterwork by one of Canada's most successful and audacious authors.

Adam Shoalts (Author), Adam Shoalts (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Hank Show: How a House-Painting, Drug-Running DEA Informant Built the Machine That Rules Our Liv

This program features a prologue read by the author. The bizarre and captivating story of the most important person you've never heard of. The world we live in today, where everything is tracked by corporations and governments, originates with one manic, elusive, utterly unique man—as prone to bullying as he was to fits of surpassing generosity and surprising genius. His name was Hank Asher, and his life was a strange and spectacular show that changed the course of the future. In The Hank Show, critically acclaimed author and journalist McKenzie Funk relates Asher's stranger-than-fiction story—he careened from drug-running pilot to alleged CIA asset, only to be reborn as the pioneering computer programmer known as the father of data fusion. He was the multimillionaire whose creations now power a new reality where your every move is tracked by police departments, intelligence agencies, political parties, and financial firms alike. But his success was not without setbacks. He truly lived nine lives, on top of the world one minute, only to be forced out of the companies he founded and blamed for data breaches resulting in major lawsuits and market chaos. In the vein of the blockbuster movie Catch Me if You Can, this spellbinding work of narrative nonfiction propels you forward on a forty year journey of intrigue and innovation, from Colombia to the White House and from Silicon Valley to the 2016 Trump campaign, focusing a lens on the dark side of American business and its impact on the everyday fabric of our modern lives. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Mckenzie Funk (Author), Eric Jason Martin, Mckenzie Funk (Narrator)

Audiobook

To Boldly Go Where No Book Has Gone Before: A Joyous Journey Through All of Science

Brought to you by Penguin. A spellbinding and often hilarious history of (almost) the entirety of science from world-renowned immunologist Luke O'Neill How did life begin? What does the warping of spacetime in a black hole actually look like? And what's happening on the 4,800 exoplanets beyond our solar system? In our muddled era of conspiracy theories, fake news and groupthink, science's only goal is truth. Like all human pursuits it can go wrong, but it has the great strength of being self-correcting. At its best, what lasts - after much deliberation, rigour and sweat - is the truth. The story of science is how we get there. Standing on the shoulders of giants, world-renowned immunologist Luke O'Neill (aka the People's Immunologist) tells the zigzag story of how we got to this moment in human history, and what the future might hold: from figuring out how the mind really works, space travel (for the sheer fun of it), and the discovery of extra-terrestrial life. With incredible wit and a talent for cutting through the noise, Luke O'Neill tackles some of the great questions of our age, from Artificial Intelligence to the climate catastrophe, with a keen eye on what science might discover next. The result is an awe-inspiring history and map for the future. ©2023 Luke O'Neill (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Luke O'neill (Author), Luke O'neill (Narrator)

Audiobook

Restoring Eden: Unearthing the Agribusiness Secret That Poisoned My Farming Community

All spring, Dr. Elizabeth Hilborn watched as her family fruit farm of many years became increasingly diminished, suffering from a lack of bees. The plentiful wildlife, so abundant just weeks before, was gone. Everything was still, silent. As an environmental scientist trained to investigate disease outbreaks, she rose to the challenge. Despite facing headwinds from skeptical neighbors, environmental experts, and agricultural consultants, she'd assembled information. The chemicals found in her water samples showed beyond any doubt that not only her farm, but her greater farming community, was at risk from toxic chemicals that traveled with rain water over the land and deep within the soil. Even as a scientist, she'd been unaware of the risks to life from some common agricultural chemicals. Her goal was to protect her farm and the animals who lived there. But first she had to convince her rural neighbors of the risk to their way of life, too. A lyrical celebration of nature by a passionate citizen scientist who felt called to advocate for the land, earth, and creatures who don't have a voice, Restoring Eden ultimately offers hope that citizens can create change, that reform is possible.

Elizabeth D. Hilborn (Author), Marnye Young (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Biografías breves - Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla se encuentra entre los inventores más importantes de la historia y, sin embargo, durante mucho tiempo su nombre quedó eclipsado por el de Thomas A. Edison. Nació en el Imperio austriaco en 1856 y, más tarde, se trasladó a Estados Unidos, donde trabajó a las órdenes de Edison y comenzó la rivalidad entre ambos, que se concretaría en la disputa entre la corriente continua, defendida por Edison, y la corriente alterna, propuesta por Tesla, conocida como «la guerra de las corrientes». Tesla quería idear un modo para que la energía gratuita llegase a todo el mundo y su modelo de corriente alterna se impuso finalmente debido a que era más sencillo y barato que el de Edison. Las dificultades financieras de Tesla y los esfuerzos de algunos coetáneos por desprestigiarle no consiguieron evitar, sin embargo, que sus múltiples inventos y avances científicos acabaran por inmortalizarlo. Este audiolibro está narrado en español neutro. - -

Luis Machado (Author), Varios Narradores (Narrator)

Audiobook

Secrets of Nikola Tesla

This audiobook has been recorded using Text to speech (TTS). Nikola Tesla is an enigmatic character. A Serbian-American with a fascinating history. In his own time he was a legend and a dandy of the press. His every word was reported, his every deed surprised. He was a character of his time and a true showman. But today there are secrets and conspiracies coming to light that will make us see this man in a new way. His inventions will now seem even more amazing. We are told his wireless technology captured alien signals and the world was in awe and wanted to know more. That his ideas of wireless power spreading across the planet were so dangerous to the might of the energy companies that he was silenced and starved of finance. That his legacy was ruined and his mental state questioned. The man raised millions and lived the life of royalty. And yet, at the end of his life he was bankrupt. and died in a dirty downtown New York hotel. He had become a character fool for the press who laughed at him. And yet, two days after his death the FBI raided his apartment and took away all of his possessions. We will investigate the man, his origins, his inventions, dreams and fantasies and we will tackle head on the claims surrounding him today. Welcome to the Tesla Enigma.

Raphael Terra (Author), Raphael Terra (Narrator)

Audiobook

Science & Technology Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir