Audiobooks narrated by Kirsten Potter

The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O'Connor, America's first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O'Connor's archives-by the New York Times bestselling author Evan Thomas. "She's a hero for our time, and this is the biography for our time."-Walter Isaacson She was born in 1930 in El Paso and grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona. At a time when women were expected to be homemakers, she set her sights on Stanford University. When she graduated near the top of her law school class in 1952, no firm would even interview her. But Sandra Day O'Connor's story is that of a woman who repeatedly shattered glass ceilings-doing so with a blend of grace, wisdom, humor, understatement, and cowgirl toughness. She became the first ever female majority leader of a state senate. As a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, she stood up to corrupt lawyers and humanized the law. When she arrived at the United States Supreme Court, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, she began a quarter-century tenure on the Court, hearing cases that ultimately shaped American law. Diagnosed with cancer at fifty-eight, and caring for a husband with Alzheimer's, O'Connor endured every difficulty with grit and poise. Women and men who want to be leaders and be first in their own lives-who want to learn when to walk away and when to stand their ground-will be inspired by O'Connor's example. This is a remarkably vivid and personal portrait of a woman who loved her family, who believed in serving her country, and who, when she became the most powerful woman in America, built a bridge forward for all women. Advance praise for First "A great storyteller has found his greatest subject in trailblazer Sandra Day O'Connor. Evan Thomas has written one of the most insightful and thoroughly captivating biographies I have ever read: A clear and compelling illumination of Sandra Day O'Connor's unique voice and place in American history is told through her remarkable life's journey from a rancher's daughter to the first woman appointed to the highest court in the land."-Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Leadership: In Turbulent Times "A vivid, humane, and inspiring portrait of an extraordinary woman and how she both reflected and shaped an era."-Drew Faust, president emerita, Harvard University

Evan Thomas (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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The Segonian

Eliana is hurtling through space on board a Lasaran battleship and getting to know not one but two alien races. It's the most exciting adventure of her long life . . . until the ship is unexpectedly attacked. Amid the chaos, she valiantly helps everyone she can before an explosion renders her unconscious. When Eliana awakens, she finds herself alone, floating in space, clad only in a spacesuit, with no ship in sight. Commander Dagon and the crew of the Segonian battleship Ranasura respond to a distress call from their Lasaran allies and join a massive Alliance-wide search-and-rescue mission. He quickly achieves communication with a lone Earthling female and races toward her. Every time they speak, he becomes more desperate to reach her before her oxygen supply runs out. Her strength, bravery, and humor entice him, even more so when she defies all odds and they meet in person. As he and Eliana embark upon a quest to find her missing friends, a bond swiftly grows between them. But they are not the only ones searching for Earthling survivors. When Eliana herself becomes the hunted and their enemies begin to close in, can the two of them fight their way to victory? Contains mature themes.

Dianne Duvall (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Broken Dawn

Nick Belanger can't stop thinking about the single mother who lives next door. She's smart. She's funny. She's so beautiful he can't stare at her too long for fear his eyes will start to glow. But Kayla thinks he's just an ordinary guy who works in security. Finding out he instead is a powerful immortal warrior who hunts and slays psychotic vampires for a living may not go over well, particularly since she has a daughter she doesn't want to endanger. Kayla Dorman can keep neither her gaze nor her thoughts from straying to the man next door. Who can blame her really? He is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome with smart, charming, and honorable thrown in. He's also a few years younger than her and surely would not be interested in a single mom who hasn't dated since her divorce. At least that's what she thinks until an accident nearly takes her life and Nick risks all to save her. The dynamics of their relationship swiftly change. The friendship they've developed over the years deepens into love as the two spend every minute they can together, laughing and teasing, never suspecting a threat may lurk in the shadows. Contains mature themes.

Dianne Duvall (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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The Unthinkable

It lurks in the corner of our imagination, almost beyond our ability to see it: the possibility that a tear in the fabric of life could open up without warning, upending a house, a skyscraper, or a civilization. Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? Will our upbringing, our gender, our personality'anything we've ever learned, thought, or dreamed of'ultimately matter? Amanda Ripley, an award-winning journalist for Time magazine who has covered some of the most devastating disasters of our age, set out to discover what lies beyond fear and speculation. In this magnificent work of investigative journalism, Ripley retraces the human response to some of history's epic disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in 1917'one of the biggest explosions before the invention of the atomic bomb'to a plane crash in England in 1985 that mystified investigators for years, to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Then, to understand the science behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts, formal and informal, from a Holocaust survivor who studies heroism to a master gunfighter who learned to overcome the effects of extreme fear. Finally, Ripley steps into the dark corners of her own imagination, having her brain examined by military researchers and experiencing through realistic simulations what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the ocean or to escape a raging fire. Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain's fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain's ability to do much, much better, with just a little help. The Unthinkable escorts us into the bleakest regions of our nightmares, flicks on a flashlight, and takes a steady look around. Then it leads us home, smarter and stronger than we were before.

Amanda Ripley (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Indelible

In a clash of light and darkness, can courage prevail? Rescuing a toddler from the jaws of a mountain lion, Trevor MacDaniel, a high-country outfitter, sets in motion events he can't foresee. His act of bravery entwines his life with gifted sculptor Natalie Reeve—and attracts a grim admirer. Trevor's need to guard and protect is born of tragedy, prompting his decision to become a search and rescue volunteer. Natalie's gift of sculpting comes from an unusual disability that seeks release through her creative hands. In each other they see strength and courage as they face an incomprehensible foe. When a troubled soul views Trevor as archangel and adversary, Redford's peaceful mountain community is threatened. Together with Police Chief Jonah Westfall, Trevor presses his limits to combat the menace who targets the most helpless and innocent.

Kristen Heitzmann (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village

A delightful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study, this is an account of Elizabeth Warnock Fernea's two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem woman. This volume gives a unique insight into a part of the Midddle Eastern life seldom seen by the West.

Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Wanted: Sisters of the Heart, Book 2

For a split second, Katie feels certain she's about to receive everything she's ever wanted' Twenty-year-old Katie Brenneman has always quietly fancied Jonathan Lundy. So when the brokenhearted widower asks her to help him take care of his two young girls, Katie knows it will be a trying time'yet she cannot pass up a golden opportunity to get to know this man better. Just as she's settling into her new life, a message arrives from Katie's past, threatening to expose her darkest secrets. During her rumspringa, her running-around years, she experimented with activities forbidden in the Amish way of life. Frightened by how far she'd strayed from her values, Katie ran back home, vowing to cut all ties with the outside world. Now her transgressions are coming back to haunt her, just as Jonathan seems willing to welcome her into his heart. Will the past destroy Katie's chances for love? Or will Katie allow herself to accept God's love, forgive her past, and receive everything she's ever wanted? 'Shelley Shepard Gray writes with honesty, tenderness, and depth. Her characters are admirable, richly layered, and impossible to forget long after the story is done.''Jillian Hart

Shelley Shepard Gray (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us

"Can you believe what Donald Trump said?" In Gaslighting America, Amanda Carpenter breaks down Trump's formula, showing why it's practically foolproof, playing his victims, the media, the Democrats, and the Republican fence-sitters perfectly. She traces how this tactic started with Nixon, gained traction with Bill Clinton, and exploded under Trump. Where some people see lies, Trump's fierce followers see something different. A commitment to winning at all costs; there is nothing he could say that would erode their support at long as it's in the name of taking down his political enemies. His opponents on the left and right continue to act as if his fake narratives and conspiracy theories will bring him down, when in fact, they are the ruses that raised him up. As a conservative former staffer to a competing presidential campaign, Amanda Carpenter witnessed her fellow Republicans fall in line behind Trump. As a political commentator, she was publicly smeared by one of his supporters on live television without a shred of evidence supporting the allegations. Slowly, she watched her entire party succumb to Trump and become defenders of his tactics, and Gaslighting America may be the only hope to bring them back to reality.

Amanda Carpenter (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures

Noted science writer Virginia Morell explores the frontiers of research on animal cognition and emotion, offering a surprising and moving exploration into the hearts and minds of wild and domesticated animals. Did you know that ants teach, earthworms make decisions, rats love to be tickled, and chimps grieve? Did you know that some dogs have thousand-word vocabularies and that birds practice songs in their sleep? That crows improvise tools, blue jays plan ahead, and moths remember living as caterpillars? Animal Wise takes us on a dazzling odyssey into the inner world of animals, from ants to elephants to wolves, and from sharp-shooting archerfish to pods of dolphins that rumble like rival street gangs. With 30 years of experience covering the sciences, Morell uses her formidable gifts as a story-teller to transport us to field sites and laboratories around the world, introducing us to pioneering animal-cognition researchers and their surprisingly intelligent and sensitive subjects. She explores how this rapidly evolving, controversial field has only recently overturned old notions about why animals behave as they do. She probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of recognizing that even "lesser animals" have cognitive abilities such as memory, feelings, personality, and self-awareness--traits that many in the twentieth century felt were unique to human beings. By standing behaviorism on its head, Morell brings the world of nature brilliantly alive in a nuanced, deeply felt appreciation of the human-animal bond, and she shares her admiration for the men and women who have simultaneously chipped away at what we think makes us distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities come from. "[A] delightful exploration of how animals think....Morell makes a fascinating, convincing case that even primitive animals give some thought to their actions." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "After you read this book, you will be convinced that many different animal species have true thoughts and emotions. You will take a journey to the center of the animal mind." - Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human

Virginia Morell (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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The Afterlives

"Ridiculously good" (The New York Times) author Thomas Pierce's debut novel is a funny, poignant love story that answers the question: What happens after we die? (Lots of stuff, it turns out). Jim Byrd died. Technically. For a few minutes. The diagnosis: heart attack at age thirty. Revived with no memory of any tunnels, lights, or angels, Jim wonders what--if anything--awaits us on the other side. Then a ghost shows up. Maybe. Jim and his new wife, Annie, find themselves tangling with holograms, psychics, messages from the beyond, and a machine that connects the living and the dead. As Jim and Annie journey through history and fumble through faith, they confront the specter of loss that looms for anyone who dares to fall in love. Funny, fiercely original, and gracefully moving, The Afterlives will haunt you. In a good way.

Thomas Pierce (Author), Kirsten Potter, Thomas Pierce (Narrator)

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It's the Manager

Packed with 52 discoveries from Gallup’s largest study on the future of work, It’s the Manager shows leaders how to adapt their organizations to rapid change, ranging from new workplace demands to managing remote employees, a diverse workforce, the rise of artificial intelligence, gig workers, and attracting – and keeping – today’s best employees. Who is the most important person in your organization to lead your teams through these changes? Gallup research reveals: It’s your managers. While the world’s workplace has been going through extraordinary historical change, the practice of management has been stuck in time for more than 30 years. The new workforce -- especially younger generations -- wants their work to have deep mission and purpose, and they don’t want old-style command-and-control bosses. They want coaches who inspire them, communicate with them frequently and develop their strengths. Who is the most important person in your organization to lead your teams through these changes? Decades of global Gallup research reveal: It’s your managers. They are the ones who make or break your organization’s success. When you have great managers who can maximize the potential of every team member, you will see organic revenue and profit growth, and you will give every one of your employees what they most want today: a great job and a great life. This is the future of work. It’s the Manager includes exclusive content from Gallup Access -- Gallup’s new workplace platform, chock full of additional content, tools and solutions for business. Your book comes with a code for the CliftonStrengths assessment, which reveals your top five strengths.

Jim Clifton, Jim Harter (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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The Laird And I

Scotland is known for bringing reluctant hearts together . . . Last summer, when Sophie Munro met Hugh McGillivray for the first time, she liked him instantly. But the dashing young Laird behaved as if she didn't exist . . . even though she was Summer Sophie-sunny and cheerful. Now in the dead of winter, Winter Sophie has arrived, and she's one despondent lass without her therapy lamp! When Sophie receives a cryptic email from Hugh-Can you house sit for me while I'm away?-she's surprised, but agrees on one condition. While she's there, she wants to learn the ancient art of kiltmaking at his woolen mill. But mischief is afoot. The quilters of Gandiegow and Whussendale have plotted to bring the pair together, thinking they would make the perfect match. But Hugh isn't so sure. Although . . . Sophie has become indispensable as the kiltmaker's apprentice. And even the dogs like her best! The Laird starts to realize Sophie's presence is healing his grieving heart, and he's doing his best to bring sunshine into her dark winter days. Will the Laird allow Sophie to leave when her time at Kilheath Castle is up? Or will he take a risk and keep her there forever?

Patience Griffin (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Kirsten Potter