Audiobooks narrated by Enn Reitel

Demystifying IT: The Language of IT for the CEO

What You Need to Know About IT, In One Concise Package Demystifying IT has been hailed as the one book about information technology that leaders of midsized companies should read. Given the importance of IT in today’s world, it might also be the most timely and valuable business book of any kind to be published recently. The co-authors are masters of leveraging IT for creating sustainable competitive advantages for businesses. They’ve been at it for decades, solving problems that defied other experts, and leading digitization projects which have boosted client companies into new realms of growth and profit. Their core messages in a nutshell are these: Executives on the “business side” of a firm do not have to understand the complex details of information technology. What’s crucial is to grasp the powerful business leverage that digital tech, in its various forms, can provide. Demystifying IT offers a simple diagnostic chart for gauging where your company stands in this race. Then it delivers a roadmap for moving up the scale, step by step. The case stories are about midsized companies the authors have worked with, in industries from retail banking to smart manufacturing. These vividly told stories illustrate the many kinds of opportunities that modern IT can present — along with basic principles and best practices for getting the most bang per buck invested in IT. Last but far from least, Demystifying IT lays out a series of practical steps toward solving a fundamental problem: how to get the business and IT sides of a company working in harmony. Technology is a human creation. Harnessing its powers for business requires human collaboration. This book’s authors are two humans who can help you find a promising path into the future.

Bhopi Dhall, Saurajit Kanungo (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Storied City: The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past

Two tales of a city: The historical race to 'discover' one of the world's most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend. 'A fascinating interweaving of past and present: meticulously researched, powerfully written and riveting.' -Ben Macintyre, author ofRogue HeroesandA Spy Among Friends To Westerners, the name 'Timbuktu' long conjured a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold.Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for'discovery' tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city.But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease. Timbuktu was rich in another way too. A medieval center of learning, it was home to tens of thousands according to some, hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology, and astronomy. When al-Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of these precious documents, a remarkable thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding. Relying on extensive research and firsthand reporting, Charlie English expertly twines these two suspenseful strands into a fraught and fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the myths from which it has become inseparable.

Charlie English (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Tree

There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time Columbus first landed, and pines still alive that germinated around the time humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers, and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field. From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder in all of us, and in The Tree, Colin Tudge travels around the world throughout the United States, the Costa Rican rain forest, Panama and Brazil, India, New Zealand, China, and most of Europe bringing to life stories and facts about the trees around us: how they grow old, how they eat and reproduce, how they talk to one another (and they do), and why they came to exist in the first place. He considers the pitfalls of being tall; the things that trees produce, from nuts and rubber to wood; and even the complicated debt that we as humans owe them. Tudge takes us to the Amazon in flood, when the water is deep enough to submerge the forest entirely and fish feed on fruit while river dolphins race through the canopy. He explains the memory of a tree: how those that have been shaken by wind grow thicker and sturdier, while those attacked by pests grow smaller leaves the following year; and reveals how it is that the same trees found in the United States are also native to China (but not Europe). From tiny saplings to centuries-old redwoods and desert palms, from the backyards of the American heartland to the rain forests of the Amazon and the bamboo forests, Colin Tudge takes the reader on a journey through history and illuminates our ever-present but often ignored companions. A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their future.

Colin Tudge (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

When the Doves Disappeared: A Novel

From the acclaimed author of Purge (“a stirring and humane work of art” —The New Republic) comes a riveting, chillingly relevant new novel of occupation, resistance, and collaboration in Eastern Europe. 1941: In Communist-ruled, war-ravaged Estonia, two men are fleeing from the Red Army—Roland, a fiercely principled freedom fighter, and his slippery cousin Edgar. When the Germans arrive, Roland goes into hiding; Edgar abandons his unhappy wife, Juudit, and takes on a new identity as a loyal supporter of the Nazi regime . . . 1963: Estonia is again under Communist control, independence even further out of reach behind the Iron Curtain. Edgar is now a Soviet apparatchik, desperate to hide the secrets of his past life and stay close to those in power. But his fate remains entangled with Roland’s, and with Juudit, who may hold the key to uncovering the truth . . . Great acts of deception and heroism collide in this masterful story of surveillance, passion, and betrayal, as Sofi Oksanen brings to life the frailty—and the resilience—of humanity under the shadow of tyranny.

Sofi Oksanen (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness f

"Michael Farquhar doesn't write about history the way, say, Doris Kearns Goodwin does. He writes about history the way Doris Kearns Goodwin's smart-ass, reprobate kid brother might. I, for one, prefer it."-Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post columnist Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world's most engaging royal historian chronicles the world's most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity. We meet Catherine the Great, with her endless parade of virile young lovers (none of them of the equine variety); her unhinged son, Paul I, who ordered the bones of one of his mother's paramours dug out of its grave and tossed into a gorge; and Grigori Rasputin, the "Mad Monk," whose mesmeric domination of the last of the Romanov tsars helped lead to the monarchy's undoing. From Peter the Great's penchant for personally beheading his recalcitrant subjects (he kept the severed head of one of his mistresses pickled in alcohol) to Nicholas and Alexandra's brutal demise at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Secret Lives of the Tsars captures all the splendor and infamy that was Imperial Russia.Praise for Secret Lives of the Tsars "An accessible, exciting narrative . . . Highly recommended for generalists interested in Russian history and those who enjoy the seamier side of past lives."- Library Journal (starred review)"An excellent condensed version of Russian history . . . a fine tale of history and scandal . . . sure to please general readers and monarchy buffs alike."- Publishers Weekly "Tales from the nasty lives of global royalty . . . an easy-reading, lightweight history lesson."- Kirkus Reviews"Readers of this book may get a sense of why Russians are so tolerant of tyrants like Stalin and Putin. Given their history, it probably seems normal."- The Washington Post From the Trade Paperback edition.

Michael Farquhar (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Borgias

The startling truth behind one of the most notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of The Tudors and A World Undone. Sweeping aside the gossip, slander, and distortion that have shrouded the Borgias for centuries, G. J. Meyer offers an unprecedented portrait of the infamous Renaissance family and their storied milieu. THE BORGIAS They burst out of obscurity in Spain not only to capture the great prize of the papacy, but to do so twice. Throughout a tumultuous half-century as popes, statesmen, warriors, lovers, and breathtakingly ambitious political adventurers they held center stage in the glorious and blood-drenched pageant known to us as the Italian Renaissance, standing at the epicenter of the power games in which Europe's kings and Italy's warlords gambled for life-and-death stakes. Five centuries after their fall a fall even more sudden than their rise to the heights of power they remain immutable symbols of the depths to which humanity can descend: Rodrigo Borgia, who bought the papal crown and prostituted the Roman Church; Cesare Borgia, who became first a teenage cardinal and then the most treacherous cutthroat of a violent time; Lucrezia Borgia, who was as shockingly immoral as she was beautiful. These have long been stock figures in the dark chronicle of European villainy, their name synonymous with unspeakable evil. But did these Borgias of legend actually exist? Grounding his narrative in exhaustive research and drawing from rarely examined key sources, Meyer brings fascinating new insight to the real people within the age-encrusted myth. Equally illuminating is the light he shines on the brilliant circles in which the Borgias moved and the thrilling era they helped to shape, a time of wars and political convulsions that reverberate to the present day, when Western civilization simultaneously wallowed in appalling brutality and soared to extraordinary heights. Stunning in scope, rich in telling detail, G. J. Meyer's The Borgias is an indelible work sure to become the new standard on a family and a world that continue to enthrall.Praise for The Borgias A vivid and at times startling reappraisal of one of the most notorious dynasties in history . . . If you thought you knew the Borgias, this book will surprise you. Tracy Borman, author of Queen of the Conqueror and Elizabeth's Women The mention of the Borgia family often conjures up images of a ruthless drive for power via assassination, serpentine plots, and sexual debauchery. . . . [G. J. Meyer] convincingly looks past the mythology to present a more nuanced portrait. Booklist Meyer brings his considerable skills to another infamous Renaissance family, the Borgias [and] a fresh look into the machinations of power in Renaissance Italy. . . . [He] makes a convincing case that the Borgias have been given a raw deal. Historical Novels Review Fascinating . . . a gripping history of a tempestuous time and an infamous family. Shelf AwarenessFrom the Hardcover edition.

G. J. Meyer, G.J. Meyer (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

Into the Silence

On June 6, 1924, two men set out from a camp perched at 23,000 feet on an ice ledge just below the lip of Mount Everest's North Col. George Mallory, thirty-seven, was Britain's finest climber. Sandy Irvine was a young Oxford scholar of twenty-two with little previous mountaineering experience. Neither of them returned. In this magisterial work of history and adventure, based on more than a decade of prodigious research in British, Canadian, and European archives, and months in the field in Nepal and Tibet, Wade Davis vividly re-creates British climbers' epic attempts to scale Mount Everest in the early 1920s. With new access to letters and diaries, Davis recounts the heroic efforts of George Mallory and his fellow climbers to conquer the mountain in the face of treacherous terrain and furious weather. Into the Silence sets their remarkable achievements in sweeping historical context: Davis shows how the exploration originated in nineteenth-century imperial ambitions, and he takes us far beyond the Himalayas to the trenches of World War I, where Mallory and his generation found themselves and their world utterly shattered. In the wake of the war that destroyed all notions of honor and decency, the Everest expeditions, led by these scions of Britain's elite, emerged as a symbol of national redemption and hope. Beautifully written and rich with detail, Into the Silence is a classic account of exploration and endurance, and a timeless portrait of an extraordinary generation of adventurers, soldiers, and mountaineers the likes of which we will never see again.

Wade Davis (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Sky-Crasher

Riveting historical account of daredevils, pilots and brutal madmen. Caution Jones is a second-generation ace pilot desperately trying to bury his past and the memories of his father- a daredevil barnstormer who perished trying to wow crowds and killed Caution's mother from the shock. Now Caution has worked his way up the ladder as an ultra-efficient, ultra-conservative general manager of a small airline struggling to make ends meet. When the US Post Office puts its international delivery service up for grabs to the first airline that can successfully circumnavigate the globe and outperform every other airline, Caution's boss presses him into competing for the contract. Against his better judgment, Caution throws his name to the wind, risking the hazards of the round-world air race. Joined by a fiery blonde stunt flyer as his female co-pilot, he begins the journey only to discover that a rival airline is trying to sabotage their every move. "Primo pulp fiction." -Booklist

L. Ron Hubbard (Author), Enn Reitel, Jason Faunt, Jim Meskimen, Shannon Evans, Tait Ruppert (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Enn Reitel