Non-Fiction Audiobooks

Accountable: How we Can Save Capitalism Audiobook

Brought to you by Penguin. Capitalism is failing and the tools we are relying on to fix it - corporate social responsibility, divestment, impact investing, and government control - are only making things worse. -Chevron boasts about the $50 million per year it spends on renewable energy whilst it spends 200 times that on oil exploration -Goldman Sachs touts its 10,000 Women initiative but its board ranks 358th out of the Fortune 500 for gender diversity and women earn 55% less than men do on average By focusing on corporations rather than people, we've put our faith in empty trends and brand-focused window-dressing. Why should those responsible for our current crisis be trusted to fix it? In Accountable, authors Michael O'Leary and Warren Valdmanis offer a blueprint for everyone to take responsibility for using their economic power as consumers, as investors, as employees, and as voters to trigger a fundamental shift away from an economy that is unethical, unfair, and destructive to our environment and institutions. Their investigation cuts through the tired dogma of current economic thinking to reveal a hopeful truth: if we can make our corporations accountable to a deeper purpose, we can make capitalism both prosperous and good. Trenchant and gripping, this is an indispensable guide and call to action for citizens to take control of our economic power and hold corporations to a higher standard. © Michael O'Leary, Warren Valdmanis 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Michael O'leary, Warren Valdmanis (Author), Joe Knezevich (Narrator)

Audiobook

Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution

The first and only successful slave revolution in the Americas began in 1791 when thousands of brutally exploited slaves rose up against their masters on Saint-Domingue, the most profitable colony in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Within a few years, the slave insurgents forced the French administrators of the colony to emancipate them, a decision ratified by revolutionary Paris in 1794. This victory was a stunning challenge to the order of master/slave relations throughout the Americas, including the southern United States, reinforcing the most fervent hopes of slaves and the worst fears of masters. But, peace eluded Saint-Domingue as British and Spanish forces attacked the colony. A charismatic ex-slave named Toussaint Louverture came to France's aid, raising armies of others like himself and defeating the invaders. Ultimately Napoleon, fearing the enormous political power of Toussaint, sent a massive mission to crush him and subjugate the ex-slaves. After many battles, a decisive victory over the French secured the birth of Haiti and the permanent abolition of slavery from the land. The independence of Haiti reshaped the Atlantic world by leading to the French sale of Louisiana to the United States and the expansion of the Cuban sugar economy.

Laurent Dubois (Author), Paul Woodson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Magdalena: River of Dreams

Brought to you by Penguin. A captivating new book – from the winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Into the Silence – that illuminates Colombia's complex past, present, and future through the story of the great Río Magdalena. Travellers often become enchanted with the first country that captures their hearts and gives them license to be free. For Wade Davis, it was Colombia. In this masterful new book, he revisits the mighty Magdalena, the river that made possible the nation. Along the way, he finds a people who have overcome years of conflict precisely because of their character, informed by an enduring spirit of place, and a deep love of a land that is home to the greatest ecological and geographical diversity on the planet. Only in Colombia can a traveller wash ashore in a coastal desert, follow waterways through wetlands as wide as the sky, ascend narrow tracks through dense tropical forests, and reach verdant Andean valleys rising to soaring ice-clad summits. Both a corridor of commerce and a fountain of culture, the wellspring of Colombian music, literature, poetry and prayer, the Magdalena has served in dark times as the graveyard of the nation. And yet, always, it returns as a river of life. At once an absorbing adventure and an inspiring tale of hope and redemption, Magdalena gives us a rare, kaleidoscopic picture of a nation on the verge of a new period of peace. Braiding together memoir, history, and journalism, Wade Davis tells the story of the country's most magnificent river, and in doing so, tells the epic story of Colombia. © Wade Davis 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Wade Davis (Author), Wade Davis, Xandra Uribe (Narrator)

Audiobook

How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish

Is it possible to conceive of the American diet without bagels? Or Star Trek without Mr. Spock? Are the creatures in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are based on Holocaust survivors? And how has Yiddish, a language without a country, influenced Hollywood? These and other questions are explored in this stunning and rich anthology of the interplay of Yiddish and American culture, edited by award-winning authors and scholars Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert. It starts with the arrival of Ashkenazi immigrants to New York City's Lower East Side and follows Yiddish as it moves into Hollywood, Broadway, literature, politics, and resistance. We take deep dives into cuisine, language, popular culture, and even Yiddish in the other Americas, including Canada, Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia. The book presents a bountiful menu of genres: essays, memoir, song, letters, poems, recipes, cartoons, conversations, and much more. Authors include Nobel Prize-winner Isaac Bashevis Singer and luminaries such as Grace Paley, Cynthia Ozick, Chaim Grade, Michael Chabon, Abraham Cahan, Sophie Tucker, Blume Lempel, Irving Howe, Art Spiegelman, Alfred Kazin, Harvey Pekar, Ben Katchor, Paula Vogel, and Liana Finck.

Ilan Stavans (editor), Josh Lambert (editor) (Author), Steven Jay Cohen (Narrator)

Audiobook

You Belong: A Call for Connection

'A POWERFUL WORK OF SPIRITUALITY AND ANTI-RACISM'—Publishers Weekly 'IF YOU READ ONE BOOK IN 2020, MAKE IT THIS ONE.'—Tricycle From much-admired meditation expert Sebene Selassie, You Belong is a call to action, exploring our tangled relationship with belonging, connection, and each other You are not separate. You never were. You never will be. We are not separate from each other. But we don’t always believe it, and we certainly don’t always practice it. In fact, we often practice the opposite—disconnection and domination. From unconscious bias to “cancel culture,” denial of our inherent interconnection limits our own freedom. In You Belong, much-admired meditation expert Sebene Selassie reveals that accepting our belonging is the key to facing the many challenges currently impacting our world. Using ancient philosophy, multidisciplinary research, exquisite storytelling, and razor-sharp wit, Selassie leads us in an exploration of all the ways we separate (and thus suffer) and offers a map back to belonging. To belong is to experience joy in any moment: to feel pleasure, dance in public, accept death, forgive what seems unforgivable, and extend kindness to yourself and others. To belong is also to acknowledge injustice, reckon with history, and face our own shadows. Full of practical advice and profound revelations, You Belong makes a winning case for resisting the forces that demand separation and reclaiming the connection—and belonging—that have been ours all along. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Sebene Selassie (Author), Sebene Selassie (Narrator)

Audiobook

Haunted Japan: Exploring the World of Japanese Yokai, Ghosts and the Paranormal

Japanese folklore is abundant with tales of ghostly creatures and the supernatural. In Haunted Japan, author Catrien Ross reveals the legends that have been passed down for generations and continue to terrify us today. To research this book on the country's ghosts, demons and paranormal phenomena, Ross collected accounts from across Japan including: ● Sacred Mount Osore, a Japanese gateway to the land of the dead, where people gather to contact those who have passed on ● The Tokyo grave of the samurai Taira no Masakado, where passersby regularly witnessed his ghost until prayers finally laid him to rest ● The mummified remains of the monk Tetsumonkai at the Churenji Temple on Mount Yudono-a place where bizarre happenings are common ● The ruins of Hachioji Castle in Tokyo, which was abandoned for many years because of its many hauntings The result is an unparalleled insight into the dark corners of the Japanese psyche-a world filled with horrifying creatures including Oni (demons with fierce and ghastly appearances), Yurei (Japanese ghosts who inhabit the world of the living), and Yokai (supernatural monsters).

Catrien Ross (Author), Ruth Urquhart (Narrator)

Audiobook

Growing Sustainable Together: Practical Resources for Raising Kind, Engaged, Resilient Children

Tips, tools, advice, and activities for raising eco-friendly kids while nurturing compassion, resilience, and community engagement. Drawing from cutting-edge social-science research, parent interviews, and experiential wisdom, science writer and parenting blogger Shannon Brescher Shea shows how green living and great parenting go hand in hand to teach kids kindness, compassion, resilience, and grit--all while giving them the lifelong tools they need to be successful, engaged, and independent. Growing Sustainable Together is packed with easy tips, expert parenting advice, and practical hands-on activities for the toddler years up through the early teens. The enriching activities, resource guides, and recommended book lists in each chapter distill core sustainablility knowledge, like: • Understanding energy efficiency and renewables • Instilling anti-waste and anti-consumerist values • Learning where our food comes from • Developing a lifelong love for environmental activism, volunteering, and community engagement The book concludes with a practical appendix that gives talking points for engaging teachers, school systems, and fellow parents in eco-friendly activities.

Shannon Brescher Shea (Author), Raechel Wong (Narrator)

Audiobook

Concentration: Staying Focused in Times of Distraction

How to concentrate in a world of beeping smartphones, channel surfing, live-tweeting, pop-up ads, and other distractions. We are in the midst of an attention crisis-caused in large part by our smartphones. There's a constant stream of information that we are powerless to withstand because it shows up in our notifications. More and more of us are finding it harder and harder to concentrate. The good news, attention expert Stefan Van der Stigchel reports, is that we now know more about brain and behavior than ever before, and he draws on the latest scientific findings in his account of concentration. He explains, among other things, that the battle for our attention began long before the digital era; why our phones are so addictive; the importance of working memory (responsible for executing complicated tasks) and how to increase its capacity; and why multitasking is bad for our concentration, but attention rituals help it. He describes the 2017 Oscars debacle (when the Best Picture presenter was given the wrong card) as a failure of multitasking and shows that the presence of a passenger in a car reduces the risk of an accident. He explains the positive effects of taking 'tech breaks', meditation, and even daydreaming. We can win the battle for our attention, Van der Stigchel argues, if we have the knowledge and the tools to do it.

Stefan Van Der Stigchel (Author), Perry Daniels (Narrator)

Audiobook

Extraordinary Parenting: The Essential Guide to Parenting and Educating at Home

The Peaceful Home approach to parenting during a pandemic. We are living through an unprecedented and stressful time, and many parents around the world have been asked to care for and educate their children at home. This presents unique challenges, especially for parents trying to work and oversee their children during long days at home. Extraordinary Parenting offers authoritative, calm, credible advice that is easy to digest and put into practice straight away, as parents learn to navigate unthinkable circumstances. Central to this quick, informative book is a guide to building strong, flexible family rhythms. Written by a homeschooling expert with the current Covid-19 crisis in mind, Extraordinary Parenting will have lasting appeal for any family dealing with a sudden change in circumstances-or even just those families who want to rethink the way their household and parenting is structured. What emerges, through Rickman's Montessori- and Waldorf-influenced approach, is a peaceful parenting style that fosters a slow childhood and a holistic family way of being in the world.

Eloise Rickman (Author), Gemma Dawson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Queen of Fucking Everything - So bekommst du das großartige Leben, das zu dir passt (Autorinnenlesun

'Und jetzt bin ich mal dran!' - dieser Impuls trifft das Lebensgefühl vieler Frauen. Sie haben viel geleistet, viel geschultert und viel eingesteckt. Nun wächst der Wunsch nach einem freien, selbstbestimmten Leben. Aber wie gelingt es, negative Gefühle wie Enttäuschung, Wut und Frustration in positive Energie umzusetzen, die die Kraft für Veränderungen liefert? Sabine Asgodom weiß, was es heißt, die eigenen Bedürfnisse hintanzustellen und vor allem zu funktionieren. Offen spricht sie über die Umbrüche in ihrem Leben. Doch sie weiß auch, wie es glückt, den Schalter umzulegen. In ihrem Lern-Mach-Lösungs-Hörbuch führt sie uns konsequent zu unseren Zielen.

Sabine Asgodom (Author), Sabine Asgodom (Narrator)

Audiobook

Electric Blue

Paul Verhoeven's ex-cop dad, John, spent years embroiled in some of the seediest, scariest intrigue and escapades imaginable. One day John offered Paul the chance of a lifetime: he'd spill his guts on tape. What unfolded in Loose Units was a goldmine of true-crime stories, showcasing John's dramatic experience of policing in Sydney in the 1980s and brilliantly twisted sense of humour. But what happened next in John's career was twice as weird. Electric Blue spans the final years of John's stint in the New South Wales police force, when he took up an offer to move into the grimy, analytical world of forensics. Paul unpicks his father's most terrible cases. There was the case of a rapist hiding in the walls of shower block, a body that was quite literally cooked, and the bizarre copycat suicides. But what's it actually like to have a heroic ex-cop as a Dad? Paul and John delve into their unique father-son relationship and how they ended up so different to each other. They figure out how to deal with the choices they've made ... or wish they'd made. And Paul's mum, Christine, reveals what it was like to be a pioneering female cop in the eighties when misogyny was rife in the force. Thrilling, fascinating and unexpectedly laugh-out-loud funny, Electric Blue is another high-octane adventure in policing, integrity and learning what family is really all about.

Paul F. Verhoeven (Author), John Verhoeven, Paul Verhoeven (Narrator)

Audiobook

Getting Started with Sourdough: From Flour to Levain to One Great Loaf

Learn the basics of wild yeast bread baking in a mini master class from Chad Robertson, world-renowned inventor of Tartine bread, and Tartine head baker Jennifer Latham If you've always been intrigued by the idea of baking beautiful, post-worthy loaves of bread from your own sourdough starter but have found the process confusing or intimidating, this is your easy entry into producing incredible loaves at home. Chad Robertson and Jennifer Latham have taught legions of professional bakers to bake bread with a deeply flavorful crust and a custardy crumb. Now they've simplified those lessons to talk you through their process. In just a few hours of listening, you'll learn: • how and why natural yeast makes the most delicious, healthy, and versatile bread • what to know about flour (and the farmers and millers who produce it) • how to establish and tend to your starter • how to use your starter to reliably bake a spectacular rustic loaf at home from just four ingredients: natural leaven, flour, water, and salt

Chad Robertson, Jennifer Latham (Author), Chad Robertson, Jennifer Latham (Narrator)

Audiobook