Architecture & Design Audiobooks | Non-Fiction

In Two-Dimensional Man, Paul Sahre shares deeply revealing stories that serve as the unlikely inspiration behind his extraordinary thirty-year design career. Sahre explores his mostly vain attempts to escape his "suburban Addams Family" upbringing and the death of his elephant-trainer brother. He also wrestles with the cosmic implications involved in operating a scanner, explains the disappearance of ice machines, analyzes a disastrous meeting with Steely Dan, and laments the typos, sunsets, and poor color choices that have shaped his work and point of view. Two-Dimensional Man portrays the designer's life as one of constant questioning, inventing, failing, dreaming, and ultimately making. Audiobook includes an interview with the author and the editor.

Paul Sahre (Author), Paul Sahre (Narrator)

Audiobook

Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff

More Style, Less Stuff Cozy Minimalism isn't about going without or achieving a particular new, modern style. Nope. It's simply a mindset that helps you get whatever style YOU LOVE with the fewest possible items. You want a warm, cozy, inviting home, without using more resources, money, and stuff than needed. Why use more if you don't have to? In Cozy Minimalist Home, accidental stylist and bestselling author Myquillyn Smith guides you step by step on making purposeful design decisions for your home. You'll have the tools to transform your home starting with what you already have, and using just enough of the right furniture and decor to create a home you're proud of in a way that honors your personal priorities, budget, and style. No more fretting when it comes to decorating your house! In Cozy Minimalist Home, Myquillyn Smith helps you Realize your role as the curator of your home who makes smart, style-impacting design choicesFinally know what to focus on, and what not to worry about when it comes to your homeDiscover the real secret to finding your unique style-it has nothing to do with those style quizzesUnderstand how to find a sofa you won't hate tomorrowDeconstruct each room and then re-create it step by step with a fail proof processCreate a pretty home with more style and less stuff-resulting in backwards decluttering!Finish your home and have it looking the way you've always hoped so you can use it the way you've always dreamed After reading Myquillyn's first book, The Nesting Place, women everywhere were convinced that it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful and they found real contentment in their homes. But how does a content imperfectionist make actual design decisions? Cozy Minimalist Home is the answer to that question. Written for the hands-on woman who'd rather move her own furniture than hire a designer, this is the guidance she needs to finish every room of her house. With people, priorities and purpose in mind, anyone can create a beautiful home that transcends the trends. A pretty home is nice, but a Cozy Minimalist home goes beyond pretty and sets the stage for connection, relationship, and rest. Follow along as Myquilyn redecorates her home with the photos available in the audiobook companion PDF download.

Myquillyn Smith (Author), Lisa Wright (Narrator)

Audiobook

Creating Things That Matter: The Art and Science of Innovations That Last

Most things we create will not matter. This book is about creating things that do, from a master innovator who brings science and art together in his cutting edge labs. Art and science are famous opposites. Contemporary innovation mostly keeps them far apart. But in this book, David Edwards―world-renowned inventor; Harvard professor of the practice of idea translation; creator of breathable insulin, edible food packaging, and digital scents―reveals that the secret to creating very new things of lasting benefit, including innovations we will need to sustain human life on the planet, lies in perceiving art and science as one. Here Edwards shares how he discovered a way of creating that transcends disciplines and incorporates the principles of aesthetics. He introduces us to cutting-edge artists, musicians, architects, physicists, mathematicians, engineers, chefs, choreographers, and novelists (among others) and uncovers a three-step cycle they all share in creating things that durably matter. This creator cycle looks unlike what we associate with game-changing innovation today, and aligns the most expressive art and the most revolutionary science in a radical reimagining of how we live. David Edwards and the innovators he profiles belong to an emerging grassroots renaissance flourishing in special environments that we all can make in our schools, companies and homes. Creating Things That Matter is a book for anyone wondering what tomorrow might be, and at last half believing that what they do can make a difference.

David Edwards (Author), Timothy Andrés Pabon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness

Designer and TED star Ingrid Fetell Lee explains how to cultivate a happier, healthier life by making small changes to your surroundings. Have you ever wondered why we stop to watch the orange glow that arrives before sunset, or why we flock to see cherry blossoms bloom in spring? Is there a reason that people -- regardless of gender, age, culture, or ethnicity -- are mesmerized by baby animals, and can't help but smile when they see a burst of confetti or a cluster of colorful balloons. We are often made to feel that the physical world has little or no impact on our inner joy. Increasingly, experts urge us to find balance and calm by looking inward -- through mindfulness or meditation -- and muting the outside world. But what if the natural vibrancy of our surroundings is actually our most renewable and easily accessible source of joy? In Joyful, designer Ingrid Fetell Lee explores how the seemingly mundane spaces and objects we interact with every day have surprising and powerful effects on our mood. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and psychology, she explains why one setting makes us feel anxious or competitive, while another fosters acceptance and delight -- and, most importantly, she reveals how we can harness the power of our surroundings to live fuller, healthier, and truly joyful lives.

Ingrid Fetell Lee (Author), Ingrid Fetell Lee (Narrator)

Audiobook

The New Localism: How Cities Can Thrive in the Age of Populism

In their new book, The New Localism, urban experts Bruce Katz and Jeremy Nowak reveal where the real power to create change lies and how it can be used to address our most serious social, economic, and environmental challenges. Power is shifting in the world: downward from national governments and states to cities and metropolitan communities; horizontally from the public sector to networks of public, private and civic actors; and globally along circuits of capital, trade, and innovation. This new locus of power-this new localism-is emerging by necessity to solve the grand challenges characteristic of modern societies: economic competitiveness, social inclusion and opportunity; a renewed public life; the challenge of diversity; and the imperative of environmental sustainability. Where rising populism on the right and the left exploits the grievances of those left behind in the global economy, new localism has developed as a mechanism to address them head on. New localism is not a replacement for the vital roles federal governments play; it is the ideal complement to an effective federal government, and, currently, an urgently needed remedy for national dysfunction. In The New Localism, Katz and Nowak tell the stories of the cities that are on the vanguard of problem solving. Pittsburgh is catalyzing inclusive growth by inventing and deploying new industries and technologies. Indianapolis is governing its city and metropolis through a network of public, private and civic leaders. Copenhagen is using publicly owned assets like their waterfront to spur large scale redevelopment and finance infrastructure from land sales. Out of these stories emerge new norms of growth, governance, and finance and a path toward a more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive society. Katz and Nowak imagine a world in which urban institutions finance the future through smart investments in innovation, infrastructure and children and urban intermediaries take solutions created in one city and adapt and tailor them to other cities with speed and precision.

Bruce Katz, Jeremy Nowak (Author), Tristan Morris (Narrator)

Audiobook

Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs

An insider's account of Apple's creative process during the golden years of Steve Jobs. 'If you've ever wondered what it's like to work in a hotbed of innovation, you'll enjoy this inside view of life at Apple. Ken Kocienda pioneered the iPhone keyboard, and this book gives a play-by-play of their creative process -from generating ideas to doing a demo for Steve Jobs.' Adam Grant Hundreds of millions of people use Apple products every day; several thousand work on Apple's campus in Cupertino, California; but only a handful sit at the drawing board. Creative Selection recounts the life of one of the few who worked behind the scenes, a highly-respected software engineer who worked in the final years of the Steve Jobs era, the Golden Age of Apple. Ken Kocienda offers an inside look at Apple's creative process. For fifteen years, he was on the ground floor of the company as a specialist, directly responsible for experimenting with novel user interface concepts and writing powerful, easy-to-use software for products including the iPhone, the iPad and the Safari web browser. His stories explain the symbiotic relationship between software and product development for those who have never dreamed of programming a computer, and reveal what it was like to work on the cutting edge of technology at one of the world's most admired companies. Kocienda shares moments of struggle and success, crisis and collaboration, illuminating each with lessons learned over his Apple career. He introduces the essential elements of innovation, inspiration, collaboration, craft, diligence, decisiveness, taste, and empathy, and uses these as a lens through which to understand productive work culture. An insider's tale of creativity and innovation at Apple, Creative Selection shows readers how a small group of people developed an evolutionary design model, and how they used this methodology to make groundbreaking and intuitive software which countless millions use every day.

Ken Kocienda (Author), Ken Kocienda (Narrator)

Audiobook

Why Architecture Matters

Why Architecture Matters is not a work of architectural history or a guide to styles or an architectural dictionary, though it contains elements of all three. The purpose of Why Architecture Matters is to 'come to grips with how things feel to us when we stand before them, with how architecture affects us emotionally as well as intellectually' - with its impact on our lives. 'Architecture begins to matter,' writes Paul Goldberger, 'when it brings delight and sadness and perplexity and awe along with a roof over our heads.' He shows us how that works in examples ranging from a small Cape Cod cottage to the 'vast, flowing' Prairie houses of Frank Lloyd Wright, from the Lincoln Memorial to the highly sculptural Guggenheim Bilbao and the Church of Sant'Ivo in Rome, where 'simple geometries... create a work of architecture that embraces the deepest complexities of human imagination.' Based on decades of looking at buildings and thinking about how we experience them, the distinguished critic raises our awareness of fundamental things like proportion, scale, space, texture, materials, shapes, light, and memory. Upon completing this remarkable architectural journey, listeners will enjoy a wonderfully rewarding new way of seeing and experiencing every aspect of the built world. The book is published by Yale University Press.

Paul Goldberger (Author), Michael Prichard (Narrator)

Audiobook

Ancient Rome: A Captivating Introduction to the Roman Republic, the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empir

The Roman civilization is probably the single most important civilization in the history of the planet. Its expansion defined Europe. Its constitution shaped societies from Russia in the east to the United States and Latin America in the west. Not even its conquerors were immune to the superior Roman culture. In this new captivating history book, you'll learn all you need to know about Roman institutions and politics. But our focus will be on the captivating stories and curious personalities of the Roman emperors, politicians, and generals - from Romulus, Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian to Constantine, Justinian, and Belisarius. Equally important (and perhaps even more interesting) are the stories of influential women - mothers, wives, and lovers, from Cleopatra and Agrippina to Theodora and Zoe with the coal-black eyes - whose schemes often redirected the course of history. Here are some of the topics covered in Ancient Rome: A Captivating Introduction to the Roman Republic, the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire: The Seven Kings of Seven Hills: The Foundation of Rome and Its First RulersThe Early RepublicThe Punic Wars and Mediterranean Dominance: The Middle RepublicDecay, Corruption, and Civil Wars: The Late RepublicGaius Julius Caesar, Crossing the Rubicon, and Death That Shook the CityThe Rise of First Roman EmperorEarly Roman Empire: Princeps Augustus and Julio-Claudian DynastyThe Flavian DynastyThe Nerva-Antonine DynastyLate EmpireThe Empire of ConstantineConstantinian DynastyDecline and Fall of the Western Roman EmpireThe Byzantine MillenniumAnd much, much more!Listen to this audiobook now to learn more about ancient Rome!

Captivating History (Author), Timothy Burke (Narrator)

Audiobook

Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons

Bestselling author Steven Gaines's "richly entertaining" (People) and juicy social history of the Hamptons. As one of America's most fabled communities--long a magnet for artists, celebrities, the very rich, and their respective hangers-on--the Hamptons have been a scene of constant collision among the established old guard, New Money, and the local families who farmed and fished the region for generations. In serving up three centuries of Hamptons history, Steven Gaines introduces a host of colorful characters including Jackson Pollock, Ron Perelman, Lauren Bacall, and the Bouvier Beales of Grey Gardens infamy. Philistines at the Hedgerow is a mesmerizing feat of storytelling--a book that takes us behind the privet hedges and rolling sand dunes and brings vivid life to the curious passions and personalities that animate the Hamptons.

Steven Gaines (Author), Steven Gaines (Narrator)

Audiobook

Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality

In car-clogged urban areas across the world, the humble bicycle is enjoying a second life as a legitimate form of transportation. City officials are rediscovering it as a multi-pronged (or -spoked) solution to acute, twenty-first-century problems, including affordability, obesity, congestion, climate change, inequity, and social isolation. As the world's foremost cycling nation, the Netherlands is the only country where the number of bikes exceeds the number of people, primarily because the Dutch have built a cycling culture accessible to everyone, regardless of age, ability, or economic means. Chris and Melissa Bruntlett share the incredible success of the Netherlands through engaging interviews with local experts and stories of their own delightful experiences riding in five Dutch cities. Building the Cycling City examines the triumphs and challenges of the Dutch while also presenting stories of North American cities already implementing lessons from across the Atlantic. Discover how Dutch cities inspired Atlanta to look at its transit-bike connection in a new way and showed Seattle how to teach its residents to realize the freedom of biking, along with other encouraging examples. Tellingly, the Dutch have two words for people who ride bikes: wielrenner ("wheel runner") and fietser ("cyclist"), the latter making up the vast majority of people pedaling on their streets, and representing a far more accessible, casual, and inclusive style of urban cycling-walking with wheels. Outside of their borders, a significant cultural shift is needed to seamlessly integrate the bicycle into everyday life and create a whole world of fietsers. The Dutch blueprint focuses on how people in a particular place want to move. The relatable success stories will leave listeners inspired and ready to adopt and implement approaches to make their own cities better places to live, work, play, and-of course-cycle.

Chris Bruntlett, Melissa Bruntlett (Author), Christina Delaine (Narrator)

Audiobook

An Unpromised Land

In the 1930s, in the wake of the Nazi ascendancy in Germany, a wave of vicious anti-Semitism swept Europe, as Jews became outcasts in their own lands. As they clamoured to escape persecution, the world turned a blind eye to their plight. One man, Isaac Steinberg, had a vision of leading his people from the holocaust to a new paradise on the other side of the world. His enthusiastic and resolute efforts to realise his vision left large cracks in the smug Anglo-centrism that guarded his unpromised land. This lively account of the little-known Kimberley Jewish settlement scheme provides a fascinating insight into a series of events that came very close to changing the course of Australian history.

Leon Gettler (Author), Leon Gettler (Narrator)

Audiobook

Circle of Time

Based on historical facts, Circle of Time weaves the story of time traveler Bridget Littleton, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Bridget's ancestor Sir John Lyttleton into a dramatic and fascinating tale of love and betrayal.A student of Tudor history for 50 years, author Debra Shiveley Welch tells the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn as she truly believes they were, and unravels the complexities of Henrician politics.When 21-year-old Bridget Littleton decides to borrow her father's yacht and sail off of the tip of Florida toward Bermuda, she discovers that the legends about the Bermuda Triangle are true. After seeing a face in the ocean waves, her next memory is of spinning water and blackness. She awakens in the town of Bristol, England, in the year 1532. Rumors of her beauty reach the court, and soon Bridget, known as Bridge, finds herself in the court of Henry VIII and Lady in Waiting to none other than Anne Boleyn.Will she get out alive? Will she accidentally change the course of history, or is she indeed a part of the history she has studied since she was a little girl?

Debra Shiveley Welch (Author), Tanis Clark (Narrator)

Audiobook

Architecture & Design Audiobooks in Non-Fiction