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Audiobooks Narrated by Liam Gerrard
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How did 'the West' come to be used as a collective self-designation signaling political and cultural commonality? Was the idea handed down from the ancient Greeks, or coined by nineteenth-century imperialists? Neither, writes Georgios Varouxakis in The West, his ambitious and fascinating genealogy of the idea. 'The West' was not used by Plato, Cicero, Locke, Mill, or other canonized figures of what we today call the Western tradition. It was not first wielded by empire-builders. It gradually emerged as of the 1820s and was then, Varouxakis shows, decisively promoted in the 1840s by the French philosopher Auguste Comte. The need for the use of the term 'the West' emerged to avoid the confusing or unwanted consequences of the use of 'Europe.'
After examining the origins, Varouxakis traces the many and often astonishingly surprising changes in the ways in which the West has been understood, and the different intentions and consequences related to a series of these contested definitions. While other theories of the West consider only particular aspects of the concept and its history (if only in order to take aim at its reputation), Varouxakis's analysis offers a comprehensive account that reaches to the present day, exploring the multiplicity of current, and not least, prospective future meanings.
Striking where the enemy is weakest and melting away into the darkness before he can react. Never confronting a stronger force directly, but using audacity and surprise to confound and demoralize an opponent. Operations driven by good intelligence, area knowledge, mobility, speed, firepower, and detailed planning, and executed by a few specialists with indigenous warriors—this is unconventional warfare.
T. E. Lawrence was one of the earliest practitioners of modern unconventional warfare. His tactics and strategies were used by men like Mao and Giap in their wars of liberation. Both kept Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom close at hand. This book examines the creation of the 'Hedgehog' force, looks at the formation of armored car sections and other units, and focuses on the Hejaz Operations Staff, the Allied officers and men who took Lawrence's idea and prosecuted it against the Ottoman Turkish army, assisting Field Marshal Allenby to achieve victory in 1918.
Stejskal concludes with an examination of how Hedgehog influenced special operations and unconventional warfare, including Field Marshal Wavell, the Long Range Desert Group, and David Stirling's SAS.
The relationship between science and religion has long been a heated debate and is becoming an ever more popular topic. The scientific capacity to manipulate and change humans and their environment through genetic engineering, life extension, and AI is going to take a huge leap forward in the twenty-first century, provoking endless debates around humans 'playing God.'
But what do we mean by this? Asking this question is surprisingly hard work. Attempts to 'essentialize' science, let alone religion, quickly run into trouble. Where are the boundaries? Whose definition of science is definitive? Which concept of religious is the authoritative one?
Ultimately, neither 'science' nor 'religion' can be pinned down to one single meaning or definition. Rather, they encompass a family of definitions that relate to one another in a complex web of shifting ways. Drawing on extensive research with over a hundred leading thinkers in the UK—including Martin Rees, Brian Cox, Susan Greenfield, A. C. Grayling, Ray Tallis, Linda Woodhead, Steve Bruce, Adam Rutherford, Robin Dunbar, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, and Iain McGilchrist—The Landscapes of Science and Religion takes the much-needed step of asking what science and religion actually are, before turning to the familiar question of how they relate to one another.
In the ever-evolving world of project management, The Lazy Project Manager has been a guiding light for those seeking efficiency through unconventional strategies as well as honesty and a whole lot of fun. With The Lazy Winner, Peter Taylor brought his straightforward and humorous approach to personal productivity and success. Now, he has combined these two books to ensure a comprehensive guide for professionals seeking both project management excellence and personal fulfillment—the goal of a great work/life balance. But this book goes beyond evergreen principles, adding rich content on: the effectiveness of the productive lazy approach in harnessing the power of AI, demonstrating that project managers and individuals alike can leverage this technology; ways to manage projects remotely and strategies for individuals to thrive in virtual work environments, all using the productive lazy approach; new and updated case studies showcasing how the productive lazy approach has been successfully implemented in project management scenarios and personal development journeys; and the preferences and strengths of the new generations within the workforce, and how the productive lazy approach aligns with their expectations and work styles.
Project management professionals worldwide will welcome the latest insights and tested strategies from a project management legend.
An unparalleled practical training tool for investment analysis, On the Hunt for Great Companies helps listeners move beyond using rules of thumb for companies or investment hypotheses based on broad-level pattern recognition. Listeners will learn how to assess all the essential traits of a good business, including passionate management, staying power, abnormal reinvestment options, low dependency risk, and to identify emerging quality.
This book is supported by a wealth of real-world examples, both contemporary and historical, and true business stories and anecdotes from investor and former comedian Simon Kold. In this book, listeners will learn about:
● Elements of intense and durable competitive advantage such as scale economies, switching costs, network effects, brands, proprietary resources, and modest value extraction
● Methods to formulate falsifiable test statements and empirically test those predictions, rather than relying on heuristics or box-checking
Detailed, sophisticated, and highly actionable, On the Hunt for Great Companies is an essential for professional investors of all sizes, in all industries, in both public and private markets.
Join Moss Matthey as he recounts his uplifting journey from the confines of a fundamentalist Christian cult to an empowering Pagan coven. Weaving his lived experiences with a gentle introduction to Witchcraft, Moss explores what differentiates Paganism from cults and high-control religions, inviting you to shed oppressive spiritual experiences and find support.
Through his story of self-searching and religious liberation, Moss teaches that spiritual pursuits should be freeing and presents Paganism as one such path. He invites you to dip your toe in the waters of Witchcraft with a sampling of exercises and journal prompts inspired by Welsh and German traditions. A celebration of culture, authenticity, and spiritual recovery, this book will inspire you to question restrictive ideologies and develop a healthy practice of your own.
An indispensable guide showing IT leaders the way to balance the needs of innovation and exploration with exploitation and operational reliability
In The Accidental CIO, veteran software developer-turned-executive Scott Millett delivers an essential playbook to becoming an impactful, strategic leader at any stage of your IT leadership journey. You'll find a wealth of hands-on advice for tackling the many challenges and paradoxes that face technology leaders, from creating an aligned IT strategy, defining a target architecture, designing a balanced operating model, and leading teams and executing strategy.
After the foreword from Simon Wardley, The Accidental CIO will help you:
● Understand problem contexts you will face using the Cynefin decision making framework and how the philosophies of agile, lean, and design thinking can help manage them.
● Design an adaptive and strategically aligned operating model by applying the appropriate ways of working and governance approaches depending on each unique problem context.
● Develop and deploy an effective and aligned IT strategy using Wardley mapping based on a deep knowledge of your business architecture.
● And more
During the Age of Discovery a little-known public servant in the Venetian government, Giovambattista Ramusio, anonymously assembled and edited three volumes - over two million words - that revealed our world as never before. It was, to use a current expression, the biggest Wikileak of the Renaissance.
In an enthralling narrative, Andrea di Robilant brings to vivid life the man who used all his political skill, along with the help of conniving diplomats and spies, to ferret out a remarkable collection of journals, private letters and classified government reports, which, when taken together, showed how the world was much larger than anyone previously imagined.
In The Happiness Index: Why Today's Employee Emotions Equal Tomorrow's Business Success, cofounder and CEO of The Happiness Index Matthew Phelan delivers a fascinating dive into data from over 100 countries and 2 million human beings that helps us understand what really drives our engagement and happiness at work.
In the book, you'll learn that 'engagement' is what our brains need, and 'happiness' is what our hearts need. You'll discover what we need to thrive and succeed in work and life, as well as:
● A step-by-step approach to learning from real-world data about happiness
● Practical lessons applicable to any organization that will help both individuals and groups succeed
● Case studies from recognizable firms around the world and interviews with executives to help bring the data to life
A simultaneously inspirational and hands-on treatment of a subject of singular importance to everyone in the working world, The Happiness Index will benefit executives, managers, and other business leaders, as well as founders, business owners, and anyone else interested in helping the people around them flourish.
A mind-bending, brain-expanding cornucopia of facts for curious minds from the bestselling author of Why Don't Penguin's Feet Freeze?
Own the room with this hilarious collection of fact-tastic myth-busters and jaw-dropping trivia exploring science, history, sport and lesser-known facts from across the universe.
Did you know that the Moon has a Bishop? That ostriches DON'T bury their heads in the sand? And that powdered rice was used as cement in the Great Wall of China?
What do souls weigh? What can't 60% of the human population smell? And what on earth is rhinotillexomania?
And the big one . . . are farts actually invisible?
The answers to these questions are all here.
Challenge your brain, turn your world upside down and relish the irresistible mix of wit and wisdom. It's also a perfect gift for the brainiac in your life.
For a medieval English king, delegation was a necessary evil; and nowhere more necessary – nor more potentially disastrous – than on the Anglo-Welsh borders. The Marcher lords first empowered by William I were relied upon by subsequent Norman and Plantagenet kings to protect the dangerous frontiers of the realm.
In Wales, as in Ireland, the smaller size and military weakness of divided neighbouring states encouraged conquest, with the seized lands enhancing the power of the aggressive English lords. They were granted ever greater authority by the monarch, to the point where they believed they ruled like kings. They intermarried, schemed for extra lands and snatched power in a complex and often violent political process. Owing to their resources and unparalleled military effectiveness, they soon came to overawe kings and dominate national events.
The strength of the Marcher lords would come to the fore at numerous times in the nation's history in the shape of notorious figures such as Simon de Montfort and Roger Mortimer. The civil war of King Stephen's reign, the baronial resistance to King John, the overthrow of Edward II and Richard II; all of these crises turned upon the involvement of the lords of the Marches. Timothy Venning explores their mentality and reveals the dramatic careers both of those who prospered from their loyalty to the king and those whose power was gained by treachery – from the Norman Conquest to the beginnings of the Tudor dynasty.
A concise, star-studded retelling of Italy's past, from Caesar and Augustus to da Vinci and Michelangelo, tracing the story of a country with prodigious global influence-from a foremost author of historic Italy.
The calendar. The Senate. The university. The piano, the heliocentric model, and the pizzeria. It's hard to imagine a world without Italian influence-and easy to assume that inventions like these could only come from a strong, stable peninsula, sure of its place in the world. In this breakneck history, bestselling author Ross King dismantles this assumption, uncovering the story of a land rife with inner uncertainty even as its influence spread.
As the Italian tale unfolds, prosperity and power fluctuate like the elevation in the Dolomites. If Rome's seven hills could talk, they might speak of the glorious time of Trajan-or bemoan the era of conquest and the Bubonic Plague that decimated Rome's population. Episodes of wealth like the First Triumvirate and the time of the Medicis are given fresh life alongside descriptions the Middle Ages, the early days of Venice, the invasion of Napoleon, and the long struggle for unification. King paints a colorful, fascinating portrait of a country that remains compelling not just to tens of millions of Italian Americans, but to the millions of Americans who visit Italy every year.
