Audiobooks narrated by Alex Boyles

Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are

Why are you attracted to a certain "type?" Why are you a morning person? Why do you vote the way you do? From a witty new voice in popular science comes a clever, life-changing look at what makes you you. "I can't believe I just said that." "What possessed me to do that?" "What's wrong with me?" We're constantly seeking answers to these fundamental human questions, and now, science has the answers. The foods we enjoy, the people we love, the emotions we feel, and the beliefs we hold can all be traced back to our DNA, germs, and environment. This witty, colloquial book is popular science at its best, describing in everyday language how genetics, epigenetics, microbiology, and psychology work together to influence our personality and actions. Mixing cutting-edge research and relatable humor, Pleased to Meet Me is filled with fascinating insights that shine a light on who we really are-and how we might become our best selves.

Bill Sullivan (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

EndoMEtriosis: A Guide for Girls

Endometriosis is a physically and mentally debilitating disease that has tortured women for centuries. It currently affects 176 million women of childbearing age worldwide, including one in ten in the US. Despite those startling statistics, this horrific and incurable ailment is still relatively unknown to the general population and medical professionals alike. Symptoms of heavy periods and excruciating pain most often begin in middle school or high school, yet doctors take an average of twelve years to diagnose it in a patient. As a result, these undiagnosed and misdiagnosed women suffer into at least their mid-twenties or early thirties, repeatedly told that the pain is in their minds, that it’s simply part of becoming a woman, or that it’s caused by some other disease or condition. That nonsense must stop, and it must stop now! This guide will explain what endo is in terms that adolescents can understand, along with potential remedies, treatments to avoid, and how to manage the psychological and social effects of the disease. It will also include riveting stories from women in their teens and mid-twenties, and from those closest to them such as mothers, fathers, teachers, and coaches. One of the most terrifying aspects of having endo is feeling like nobody believes the pain is real or severe, which can cause a woman to feel scared, isolated, and depressed. This guide will fully arm her with the truth and knowledge about the disease so that she can overcome her fears and confidently advocate for herself. If her cry for help has been dismissed by anyone, she will be able to educate them so that they can empathize with her and fully support her in her quest for healing.

Tamer Seckin (Author), Alex Boyles, Ann Richardson, Erica Sullivan, Janina Edwards, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Kevin Kenerly, Kyla Garcia, Mirron Willis, Rachel Jacobs, Taylor Meskimen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Black Holes: Going to Extremes

Once dismissed as a mathematical curiosity, black holes are so strange they almost defy belief. Since their existence was confirmed, research into the nature of black holes has opened up new vistas in physics. In this audiobook, we examine some of the most fascinating discoveries about black hole formation and behavior, the new and evolving research in gravitational wave astronomy, theoretical possibilities such as wormholes, and much more.

Scientific American (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

Freely Determined: What the New Psychology of the Self Teaches Us About How to Live

A renowned psychologist argues that free will is not only real but essential to our well-being. It’s become fashionable to argue that free will is a fiction: that we humans are in the thrall of animal urges and unconscious biases and only think that we are choosing freely. In Freely Determined, research psychologist Kennon Sheldon argues that this perception is not only wrong but also dangerous. Drawing on decades of his own groundbreaking empirical research into motivation and goal setting, Sheldon shows us that embracing the ability to choose our path in life makes us happier, healthier, and more fulfilled. He also shows that this insight can help us choose better goals—ones that are concordant with our values and that, critically, we’re more likely to actually see through. Providing listeners insight into how they can live a more self-directed, satisfying life, Freely Determined offers an essential guide for how we might recognize our freedom and use it wisely.

Ken Sheldon (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University

Paper Belt on Fire is the unlikely account of how two outsiders with no experience in finance―a charter school principal and defrocked philosopher―start a venture capital fund to short the higher education bubble. Against the contempt of the education establishment, they discover, mentor, and back the leading lights in the next generation of dropout innovators and in the end make their investors millions. Can such a madcap strategy help renew American creativity? Who would do such a thing? This story is the behind-the-scenes romp of one team that threw educational authorities into a panic. It fuses real-life personal drama with history, science, and philosophy to show how higher education and other institutions must evolve to meet the dire challenges of tomorrow.

Michael Gibson (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

Paul, Big, and Small

A trio of high school outcasts-Paul, Big, and Small-face the complicated world of predators and prey in high school and come to realize that overcoming life's challenges will take more than perseverance. Paul Adams is the shortest kid at his high school, and the school bullies relentlessly pick on him. He spends the entire day wishing school would end so he can escape to his favorite sport of rock climbing. This is the only place where he feels in control, competent, and free, despite the inherent fear. Lily Small is athletic, attractive, and, despite her last name, is actually very tall. Another kid, who looks almost like a grown man, introduces himself with a long Polynesian name, but says everyone calls him "Big," and he seems to like the nickname! As they get to know each other, Paul, Big, and Small discover they have a lot in common as outsiders in their high school. As the trio's friendship forms, their unique personalities are no longer those of misfits, but complement each other. Paul and Lily decide to enter a local competition for climbers, but their plans are abruptly halted by Lily's diagnosis of leukemia. Paul is terrified of what lies ahead in Lily's medical treatment, knowing what happened to his mother who died of cancer a few short years before. He retreats back to rabbit mode and can't even visit her in the hospital. But Lily really wants Paul to go ahead with the competition and advises him to team up with Conor, the student who bullies Paul the most. Reluctantly, Paul agrees to move ahead with Lily's wish, knowing that Conor is a strong climber and their best chance at winning.

David Glen Robb (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

All the Wonder That Would Be: Exploring Past Notions of the Future

It has been argued that science fiction (SF) gives a kind of weather forecast-not the telling of a fortune but rather the rough feeling of what the future might be like. The intention in this audiobook is to consider some of these bygone forecasts made by SF and to use this as a prism through which to view current developments in science and technology. In each of the ten main chapters-dealing in turn with antigravity, space travel, aliens, time travel, the nature of reality, invisibility, robots, means of transportation, augmentation of the human body, and, last but not least, mad scientists-common assumptions once made by the SF community about how the future would turn out are compared with our modern understanding of various scientific phenomena and, in some cases, with the industrial scaling of computational and technological breakthroughs. A further intention is to explain how the predictions and expectations of SF were rooted in the scientific orthodoxy of their day, and use this to explore how our scientific understanding of various topics has developed over time, as well as to demonstrate how the ideas popularized in SF subsequently influenced working scientists.

Stephen Webb (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

HELP! Someone I Love Has Cancer: How You Can Really Make a Difference

In 2015, Joel and Rebekah were married. Seven months later, Joel's dad was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer. A month after that, at the age of twenty-six, Rebekah was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. What do you say? What do you do? These questions and many others are answered in this book. The answers come from real life, learned in the trenches and valleys of fighting cancer and learning to love through it. You will discover how a tragedy can turn into a triumph;how to understand what cancer is and how it's treated;how not to be one of the many Well-Intentioned Dragons;how to really help your loved one through their journey; andhow to implement many practical ideas to love, support, and help.You have more power to help than you may think. If you feel like you don't know what to do or say, this book is for you.

Joel Hughes (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

We're Parents!: The New Dad's Guide to Baby's First Year; Everything You Need to Know to Survive and

A new dad's guide, from birth day to birthday. The pregnancy's over and the baby's here ... what's a dad supposed to do? Put your other new dad books away?We're Parents! is going to help you be the best dad (and partner) you can be. Wondering how to burp your newborn? Not sure how to get them to try solids? Desperate to get them to sleep? Adrian Kulp (a four-time dad himself) offers fast, fun, and easy-to-digest advice that other new dad books don't, making it simple for you to step up and do your part as a brand-new dad. Go beyond most new dad books: Supportive and helpful?Get the scoop on what it's like to be a father from someone who's been there and knows exactly what you need to hear.Quick advice?Key childcare tips are broken into short, convenient guides?unlike other new dad books, there's no reading an entire textbook just to change a diaper.The big moments?Track your baby's development at a glance with charts that lay out the most important milestones in one place.Who needs other new dad books when you have the expert guidance of We're Parents! at hand?

Adrian Kulp (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. "A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape," writes Ben Westhoff. "These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs"?and all-too-often tragically lethal. Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spice?and those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe?were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs' effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world. He tracks down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands, as well as a mysterious drug baron who turned the law upside down in his home country of New Zealand. Westhoff visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China's vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. Poignantly, he chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the US and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand. From its depths, as Westhoff relates, are emerging new strategies that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many.

Ben Westhoff (Author), Alex Boyles (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future

A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world's leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges, like the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book's forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. This book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.

Daniel C. Esty (Author), Alex Boyles, Caroline Shaffer, Erica Sullivan, Kate Mulligan, Kevin Kenerly, Traber Burns, William Hughes (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Girlfriend Stage

In this stand-alone sequel to The Extra, Anna-Marie has never wanted to find love-but love's about to find her. Anna-Marie Halsey loves her job as a regular on the soap opera Southern Heat almost as much as she loves living the LA lifestyle: clubbing and partying and casually dating gorgeous men-most recently powerhouse agent Josh Rios. When Anna-Marie starts feeling more-than-casual about Josh-her signature cue to break things off-she finds a much-needed excuse to get away: a family reunion in small-town Wyoming. In Wyoming, Anna-Marie remembers why she's spent years avoiding her crazy family and claustrophobic hometown-and her ex-boyfriend, up-and-coming rock musician Shane Beckstrom, provides the perfect distraction. But when a Boy Scout troop films them nude in a hot spring, Anna-Marie finds Wyoming even more nerve-wracking than her paralyzing fear of commitment. To make matters worse, Josh Rios appears, and it's clear that commitment is exactly what he's hoping for. Anna-Marie isn't sure what she wants, but being trapped in Everett, Wyoming, with Josh, Shane, and her crazy family when her impromptu sex-tape hits the internet sure isn't it. The Girlfriend Stage is book two in The Extra series, but it stands alone, and can be read first, without missing anything except the backgrounds of the side characters. It features PG-13 rated sexual content, no cliff-hanger, and a swoon-worthy happily ever after.

Janci Patterson, Megan Walker (Author), Alex Boyles, Lauren Ezzo (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Alex Boyles