Audiobooks narrated by Brian Holden

ADHD and Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table

Blake Taylor's mother first suspected he had ADHD when he, at only three years of age, tried to push his infant sister in her carrier off the kitchen table. As time went by, Blake developed a reputation for being hyperactive and impulsive. He launched rockets (accidentally) into neighbor's swimming pools and set off alarms in museums. Blake was diagnosed formally with ADHD when he was five years old. In ADHD and Me, he tells about the next twelve years as he learns to live with both the good and bad sides of life with ADHD. Blake's memoir offers, for the first time, a young person's account of what it's like to live and grow up with this common condition. Join Blake as he foils bullies, confronts unfair teachers, struggles with distraction and disorganization on exams, and goes sailing out-of-bounds and ends up with a boatload of spiders. It will be an inspiration and companion to the thousands of others like him who must find a way to thrive with a different perspective than many of us. The book features an introduction by psychologist Lara Honos-Webb, author of The Gift of ADHD, and a leading advocate for kids with ADHD.

Blake E.S. Taylor (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

All Laced Up

Everyone loves hockey superstar Pierce Miller. Everyone except Lia Bailey. When the two are forced to teach a skating class to save the rink, Lia's not sure she'll survive the pressure of Nationals and Pierce's ego. Not only can't he remember her name, he signed her bottle of water like she was one of his groupies. Ugh. But if there's one thing Lia knows better than figure skating, it's hockey. Hoping to take his ego down a notch-or seven-she logs into his team website under an anonymous name to give him pointers on his less-than-stellar playing. Turns out, Pierce isn't arrogant at all. And they have a lot in common. Too bad he's falling for the anonymous girl online. No matter how much fun they're starting to have in real life, she's afraid he's going to choose fake-Lia over the real one . . .

Erin Fletcher (Author), Brian Holden, Christa Lewis (Narrator)

Audiobook

Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling

Two dozen tales of future shock and twisted history from an undisputed king of cyberpunk science fiction, including Nebula Award finalists “Sunken Garden” and “Dori Bangs.” Time magazine describes Bruce Sterling as “one of America’s best-known science fiction writers and perhaps the sharpest observer of our media-choked culture working today in any genre.” Sterling’s abilities are on full display in Ascendancies, a collection of speculative fiction from a world-class world-building futurist, alternate historian, and mad prophet operating at the peak of his extraordinary powers. Here are twenty-four stories that span the illustrious career of the author who, along with William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, injected the word cyberpunk into the science fiction lexicon. These tales not only traverse galaxies and employ mind-boggling technologies, they also cut back across the centuries into a richly imagined past with style and a sharp satiric edge. Sterling’s unparalleled imagination and courageous originality carry the reader into the future universe of the warring Shapers and Mechanists, rival sects of exiled humanity with radically opposed views of human augmentation. Several stories feature the questionable adventures of the footloose con man Leggy Starlitz in a somewhat-skewed and still-dangerous post–Cold War world. Sterling explores the cyberpunk trope of technology gone wild and the resultant decline of civilization with appropriate gravity, while presenting parables of strangers stuck in very strange lands in a more whimsical vein. Whether chronicling an alien’s encounter with Crusaders in disputed Palestine, depicting the discovery of the key to immortality in a nineteenth-century Times Square magic shop, or portraying bicycles and bad guys in a near-future Tennessee, Sterling’s stories are smart, surprising, genre bending, bold, and outstanding, one and all.

Bruce Sterling (Author), Brian Holden, Brian Nishii, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Mikael Naramore, Pavi Proczko (Narrator)

Audiobook

Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being

Companies have no idea if collaboration benefits corporate performance, individual productivity, or employee well-being. Collaboration, that seemingly Good Thing all companies encourage, is creating an epidemic of overload and burnout. It crushes our vitality and well-being, prevents us from being innovative, and blocks our companies from being the most successful organizations they could be. To some this is surprising. It's assumed that it's always better to collaborate more-and faster. But the toll of all this collaboration is far more severe than companies know. So, what can be done? Using network analysis, Rob Cross has found the answer to collaborative overload: Precision collaboration. This step-by-step guide will show you the practices that the best collaborators prevent overload from derailing their careers and, often, their lives, including: mobilizing a broad network, creating 'pull' by drawing people and ideas to you, and engaging in renewal activities to promote well-being. Precision collaborators create enormous impact through their networks while, amazingly, spending the least amount of time on collaborative tasks. You can do it, too. And by applying these collaborators' best practices, you can reclaim a whopping 18 percent to 24 percent of your time-a workday every week-to reinvest in activities that contribute to your success and your overall well-being.

Rob Cross (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Can Holding in a Fart Kill You?: Over 150 Curious Questions and Intriguing Answers

MORE THAN 200 FUN FACTS-FROM BAFFLING AND BIZARRE TO ENTERTAINING AND ENLIGHTENING This curious, captivating collection of trivia will surprise and intrigue listeners with amazing answers to questions like: ● Is Jurassic Park possible? ● What causes 'the shakes' after drinking a lot of alcohol? ● Why do dogs walk in circles before lying down? ● What makes popcorn pop? The follow-up to the bestselling What Did We Use Before Toilet Paper?, Can Holding in a Fart Kill You? has even more fun and fascinating trivia. Perfect for the ever-curious trivia lover, this book is the ultimate in truly extraordinary information. From silly to serious to outright bizarre, this expansive collection offers surprising answers and unexpected facts on everything from history and science to pop culture and nature. From the everyday to the fantastical-it's all here.

Andrew Thompson (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life

Cut through the noise and make better college and career choices This book is about addressing the college-choosing problem. The rankings, metrics, analytics, college visits, and advice that we use today to help us make these decisions are out of step with the progress individual students are trying to make. They don't give students and families the information and context they need to make such a high-stakes decision about whether and where to get an education. Choosing College strips away the noise to help you understand why you're going to school. What's driving you? What are you trying to accomplish? Once you know why, the book will help you make better choices. The research in this book illustrates that choosing a school is complicated. By constructing more than 200 mini-documentaries of how students chose different postsecondary educational experiences, the authors explore the motivations for how and why people make the decisions that they do at a much deeper, causal level. By the end, you'll know why you're going and what you're really chasing.

Bob Moesta, Michael B. Horn (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Come Tomorrow

One chance meeting. A single act of kindness. Can young soulmates find each other in adulthood, or will hidden truths tear them apart? 1904. Twelve-year-old Luci Quick never forgot the boy who saved her life that fateful Christmas Eve. But when he disappeared without a word after bringing her food, she was forced to focus on raising her baby sister when her mother suddenly died. Now six years later and struggling to make ends meet with an alcoholic and gambling-addicted father, the poverty-stricken woman can't believe her hero has returned ... and he's all grown up. Wesley Ford's world changed after helping the girl who still haunts his dreams. When he was whisked away to boarding school at fourteen, he feared he'd never see her again. But now free to come back following his father's death, the wealthy heir is shocked to discover Luci and her sibling never escaped their rundown shack. With fate dealing her another opportunity for happiness, Luci seizes the day when an offer of help turns into an unexpected proposal. But before they can settle into their future, Wesley must face painful family secrets that could tear them apart forever. Can a Yuletide miracle make a wish for love come true? Come Tomorrow is the first book in the uplifting Castaway Christmas historical romance holiday series. If you like feel-good tear-jerkers, engaging characters, and sweet magical realism, then you'll adore Tess Thompson's Edwardian rags-to-riches story.

Tess Thompson (Author), Brian Holden, Shaina Summerville (Narrator)

Audiobook

Edge of Catastrophe

Return to the Red Planet as the saga of Terraforming Mars continues, in a sweeping science fiction thriller of planetary progress, set in the universe of the award-winning board game In the twenty-sixth century, Mars is thriving: the huge crater made by the crashed moon of Deimos is now a vast domed city, buzzing with industry and a burgeoning Martian-born and immigrant workforce. Ecoline scientist Mel Erdan is at the forefront of vital research to feed and maintain Mars' increasing population. But when her viral enhancer transforms lush green plants into a blackened swathe of dead crops, it triggers a wave of violent unrest across Deimos City, and Mel is accused of deliberately sabotaging Mars' fragile viability. With resources rapidly dwindling, conspiracy theories flying, and criminal gangs rioting, Mel must prove her innocence, uncover the truth, and revitalize Mars' harvest before it's too late-for everyone.

Jane Killick (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Elsewhere (plus bonus short story 'Parlor Trick')

The fate of the world is in the hands of a father and daughter in an epic novel of wonder and terror by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense. Since his wife, Michelle, left seven years ago, Jeffy Coltrane has worked to maintain a normal life for himself and his eleven-year-old daughter, Amity, in Suavidad Beach. It’s a quiet life, until a local eccentric known as Spooky Ed shows up on their doorstep. Ed entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange and dangerous object—something he calls “the key to everything”—and tells Jeffy that he must never use the device. But after a visit from a group of ominous men, Jeffy and Amity find themselves accidentally activating the key and discovering an extraordinary truth. The device allows them to jump between parallel planes at once familiar and bizarre, wondrous and terrifying. And Jeffy and Amity can’t help but wonder, could Michelle be just a click away? Jeffy and Amity aren’t the only ones interested in the device. A man with a dark purpose is in pursuit, determined to use its grand potential for profound evil. Unless Amity and Jeffy can outwit him, the place they call home may never be safe again. Includes an audio-only short story, 'Parlor Trick,' a kind of karmic coda to the novel.

Dean Koontz (Author), Alexander Cendese, Amanda Leigh Cobb, Brian Holden, Edoardo Ballerini, Imani Parks, Josh Bloomberg, Kevin T. Collins, Soneela Nankani (Narrator)

Audiobook

Exit Path: How to Win the Startup End Game

In 2008, Touraj Parang's award-winning startup, Jaxtr, had 10 million users, raised nearly $20 million from top-tier Silicon Valley investors, and seemed poised to sail straight through the Great Recession. But, by January of 2009, Jaxtr's only hope for survival was to find a buyer-sadly, it was too late for that. In Exit Path, Touraj draws on the lessons learned from that chaotic experience and the extraordinary successes that followed once he made creating and executing an exit strategy a top priority. In this comprehensive guide, you'll learn that implementing an exit strategy early will empower you to take charge of your startup's ultimate fate, maximizing its potential for success while mitigating the risks of failure. Exit Path walks you through actionable steps to devise and execute an effective exit strategy, starting with a fresh new perspective on the critical importance of creating a viable sale option for your startup. You'll learn why creating your exit strategy is necessary well before you're contemplating an exit, regardless of the stage of your startup. You'll also discover how to create your own exit plan, how to make your plan a reality through personal and business relationships, and how to approach and negotiate with acquirers for an outcome best aligned with your values and ambitions should the need arise.

Touraj Parang (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

F.A.R.T.: Top Secret! No Kids Allowed!

When a young teen discovers a top-secret parenting manual, it’s kids versus grown-ups in this kooky, illustrated middle grade thriller with nonstop, seat-of-your-pants action that will delight fans of Jarrett Lerner and Stuart Gibbs. When a tween boy [Codename: Furious Popcorn] picks up what he thinks is a cookbook and finds a diabolical parenting manual, his world turns upside down. The Ultimate Guide to Hacking Your Kids was written by an organization called F.A.R.T. (Families Against Rotten Teens), a secret society of grizzled parents whose origins date back to antiquity. FP is determined to get to the bottom of this, but when he begins investigating F.A.R.T., the manual goes missing, his parents deny knowing anything about any kind of book, and—maybe strangest of all—kids at school start listening to their parents and teachers. What kid would ever do that? F.A.R.T. proves to be more than just some gassy acronym and parental rules and regulations when FP and the Only Onlys, his best friends since preschool, discover F.A.R.T.’s grand plan: a brain modem that can turn kids into well-behaved zombies! This wacky crew has no choice but to find out who’s behind the nefarious organization and save young people the world over from total F.A.R.T. domination!

Peter Bakalian (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fire Your Boss: Discover Work You Love Without Quitting Your Job

Fire Your Boss is the disruptive alternative blueprint for charting a new life-giving career path that gives you control, allowing you to set your own rules for your work life. Provocative, liberating, and universally appealing, Fire Your Boss seeks to help listeners resolve the deepest root of workplace unrest-namely, fear and self-preservation. This book upgrades listeners' core belief systems, demonstrates how to liberate their careers forever, and ultimately, join a heretical uprising without becoming an entrepreneur, changing jobs, or simply white-knuckling their way to retirement. Aaron McHugh maps out how to make philosophical, emotional, tactical, and heart-centered shifts at every intersection on the career journey. Firing your boss does not require you to leave to your job. Firing your boss does not require you to start a new business. Firing your boss becomes the life-altering daily mantra that transforms the disengaged into hopeful leaders. Discover how to plot a new course of career freedom and independence, empowerment, and self-reliance. Find your smile again, rekindle your mojo, recapture the art of your work, and start enjoying your work every single day.

Aaron Mchugh (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Brian Holden