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Audiobooks Narrated by Asa Siegel
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"Discover the darker side of Texas history in this collection of chilling local lore!
Hidden in the dense brush and around oxbow lakes of the Rio Grande Valley wait sinister secrets, unnerving vestiges of the past, and wraiths of those claimed by the winding river.
The spirit of a murdered student in Brownsville paces the locker room where she met her end. Tortured souls of patients lost in the Harlingen Insane Asylum refuse to be forgotten. Guests at the LaBorde Hotel in Rio Grande City report visions of the Red Lady, who was spurned by the soldier she loved and driven to suicide.
In this book, David Bowles explores these and more of the most harrowing ghost stories from Fort Brown to Fort Ringgold and all the haunted hotels, chapels and ruins in between."
"What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order depends? In this provocative book, the award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch—a lifelong atheist—reckons candidly with both the shortcomings of secularism and the corrosion of Christianity. Thin Christianity, as Rauch calls the mainline church, has been unable to inspire and retain believers. Worse, a Church of Fear has distorted white evangelicalism in ways that violate the tenets of both Jesus and James Madison. What to do? For answers, Rauch looks to a new generation of religious thinkers, as well as to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has placed the Constitution at the heart of its spiritual teachings.
In this timely critique Rauch addresses secular Americans who think Christianity can be abandoned, and Christian Americans who blame secular culture for their grievances. The two must work together to confront our present crisis. He calls on Christians to recommit to the teachings of their faith that align with Madison, not MAGA, and to understand that liberal democracy, far from being oppressive, is uniquely protective of religious freedom. At the same time, he calls on secular liberals to understand that healthy religious institutions are crucial to the survival of the liberal state."
"AI is going to change brand strategy and marketing forever. Are you ready?
What does the rapid rise and astonishing rate of improvement of AI mean for brands in the next five years? Listen to what OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told authors Adam Brotman and Andy Sack when he met them: 'It will mean that 95 percent of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today will easily, nearly instantly, and at almost no cost be handled by AI. No problem.'
Upon hearing that astonishing statement, the authors began a journey of discovery to understand what the transition to an AI first world would mean. You'll hear from a who's who of tech visionaries who spoke with the authors, including Altman himself, Bill Gates, and Reid Hoffman, sharing how they're thinking of the transition to the new reality. You'll also hear from practitioners bold enough to be surfing this tidal wave of change, including one who audaciously mandated experimentation with AI for all his employees.
It's time to get ready for a brand-new world. Start here."
"Efficiently and effectively assess employees' performance.
Are your employees meeting their goals? Is their work improving over time? Understanding where your employees are succeeding—and falling short—is a pivotal part of ensuring you have the right talent to meet organizational objectives.
In order to work with your people and effectively monitor their progress, you need a system in place. The HBR Guide to Performance Management provides a multi-step, cyclical process to help you keep track of your employees' work, identify where they need to improve, and ensure they're growing with the organization.
You'll learn to set clear employee goals that align with company objectives; monitor progress and check in regularly; close performance gaps; understand when to use performance analytics; create opportunities for growth, tailored to the individual; and overcome and avoid burnout on your team.
Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges."
"It may seem hard for younger Christians to believe that people over 50 were raised during an era when 90 percent of Americans identified as Christian. These older believers were once part of a majority group that understood the mission of the church was to take control of our culture to halt its evils. At the same time, Christians under 50 have lived their entire lives perceiving themselves as a minority that needs to make credible their faith to a secular, pluralistic culture.
These distinct experiences and perceptions have a profound impact on the priorities different generations have for church ministry. It's no wonder that younger and older believers don't always see eye to eye! But imagine what could be accomplished in the name of Christ if we could better understand each other and turn that understanding into shared purpose and aligned priorities?
Backed by thorough research, this eminently practical and hopeful book from pastor and scholar Bryan Chapell shows you how to open the lines of communication, appreciate the experiences that shaped each generation in your church, and unite in one mission to impact your community and the world."
"A revolutionary guide to catalyzing multi-system change and planetary healing.
We are living in a time of unprecedented crisis and breakdown. But amid the chaos, small 'islands of coherence' are emerging—localized pockets of pioneering thought leaders taking action to begin to catalyze multi-system transformation.
Incorporating proven frameworks like Social Fields and the Collective Evolutionary Mirror, the authors share transformative real-world stories of these islands of coherence from the frontlines of change across the globe. You'll go inside the experiences of paradigm-shifting change makers and gain powerful practices for sensing and actualizing the future that wants to emerge.
This book outlines seven critical contributions for elevating our civilization, including becoming aware, generative listening, dialogue and co-sensing, presencing, ecosystem leadership, co-creating across boundaries, and building unity.
With this holistic guide, you'll discover how your local actions can cascade into a planetary movement for human and ecological flourishing. The next renaissance is emergent—be a part of birthing it into reality."
"When we think about whether we are good people leading a good life, we usually think about actions. Bad people do bad things that hurt others. Good people do good things that help others, and they avoid doing bad things. Simple.
But while our actions certainly have consequences, today our inactions have far greater and far graver consequences. Bad actions can result in the suffering of a few or several dozen others; inaction can result in the extreme misery of thousands.
For nearly our entire history as a species, we lived in small groups with minimal resources, leaving our ability to help others limited. Thanks to massive global populations, huge wealth disparities, and modern technologies, the average person now has more power to improve the lives of others than nearly anyone who has ever lived. But the flip side of that great power is the dizzyingly high cost of inaction, in which lives can hang in the balance with each dollar and hour of time we spend.
This is a book about what we don't do. It's about our failures to act and the suffering others endure as a result. It's also about the incredible good that can be achieved when we cultivate an internal drive to do more."
"This book is a profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devices. In this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories of ritual and symbolic healing to speculate about future developments in artificial intelligence.
Charting the history of the placebo effect through medieval healing, shamanism, and early psychoanalytic practices, Bartra posits that consciousness is not simply the province of the mind but something equally shaped by external systems and objects. He finds evidence of this 'exocerebrum'—the extension of our brains outside the body—in the shamanistic concept of the placebo, in which external objects heal our bodies, and in modern technical devices like prostheses or robots, whose development of a mechanical consciousness would have to mimic, and in turn elucidate, the processes involved in the creation of consciousness in humans. Through this radical concept, he analyzes digital media's relationship to the functions of the human brain and probes the possibility of artificial consciousness."
"'Sad, honest, hopeful, funny, instructive. . . . the very best of a memoir' (Mike Cope, author of Megan's Secrets)
When we grow up Christian, it is always in a small place. At first, we don't even know it is a small place. It's just our place, and it feels like home. We launch out from this small place, and we discover that the Christian way is longer and richer than we ever knew.
Noted theologian Leonard Allen's story begins at age eight in his father's bookroom—and with an emerging cluster of questions about the faith he inherited. The search for answers led him on a long journey, including a harrowing desert season, then a season of newness he had not imagined.
You will recognize the characters in this story. You will smile, laugh, and feel some of the grief along the way. You'll get glimpses into the rich texture of our lives—the power of memory, the struggles with selfhood, the need for forgiveness, the surprises of grace."
"A book for those who think they know Jesus and for those who know they don't.
Can anyone in our high-tech world truly understand someone who lived two thousand years ago? Can we get through twenty centuries of tradition to the real person who started it all? Andreas Köstenberger shows that the Gospels, the four earliest records about Jesus, do just that. These writings, named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, alongside key facts about the ancient world, bring Jesus's life, his words, and his legacy into focus.
Introducing Jesus gets to the heart of what was—and is—important about Jesus. Köstenberger uses succinct prose to address these questions:
● What did each gospel writer intend to convey about Jesus?
● What historical backgrounds help us understand Jesus better?
● What aspects of Jesus's life and teaching do the Gospels emphasize?
● What does Jesus mean to people living today?"
"Ronald Reagan declares the Soviet Union an Evil Empire. The Apple Macintosh personal computer makes its debut. Michael Jackson's Thriller dominates the charts. And Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics capture the NBA championship over the Los Angeles Lakers. It was 1984, and for the NBA and the nation, the year was full of milestone moments.
In Dynasty Restored, Thomas J. Whalen explores this dramatic season. The NBA had been struggling, seen as a minor sports league and suffering from poor attendance, lagging ratings, and drug scandals. The Celtics were beset by locker room turmoil, disruptive coaching, ownership changes, and underperforming stars. But Whalen reveals how that all changed when Bird and his fellow 'Big Three' teammates Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, along with newcomer Dennis Johnson, banded together to lift the franchise to its fifteenth world championship and helped transform the league into a global entertainment brand.
Dynasty Restored offers insight into the barriers Larry Bird had to overcome to achieve NBA stardom, discusses the tensions that existed between Bird and McHale, and gives a probing analysis of the unique pressures Black Celtics players faced in a post-Boston Busing Crisis environment. And it shows how this singular season turbocharged the Celtics and the professional game to unprecedented heights."
"Imagine the dangerous life of an early Christian. You've embraced your newfound faith in Christ but fear the risk of persecution or death at the hands of the pagans living around you. Then a trusted friend tells you about some of Jesus' followers who secretly meet. He whispers into your ear, 'Look for a fish carved in a paving stone' by a certain home on the Via Tiburtina. You smile in gratitude.
Still today, modern society recognizes those Christian symbols that kept the early Christians safely connected: they appear on churches, bumper stickers, mugs—even mints and stuffed animals. Yet we are often ignorant of the rich meaning of these symbols: their origins in Scripture, in ancient culture, and in the preaching of the Church Fathers.
In this book, noted author Mike Aquilina conducts an intriguing and insightful tour of the symbols that expressed the life and devotion of the Church through the first four centuries of its existence. He explains how Christians freely borrowed pagan and Jewish symbols, giving them new, distinctly Christian meanings. Recover the zeal of our spiritual ancestors as you learn to read their symbolic language—and discover the impact the symbols still have on your life today."
