Non-Fiction Audiobooks

The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream

“This is the most important, dynamic book on the cancers of monopoly by giant corporations written in our generation.”—from the foreword by Ralph Nader American monopolies dominate, control, and consume most of the energy of our entire economic system; they function the same as cancer does in a body, and, like cancer, they weaken our systems while threatening to crash the entire body economic. American monopolies have also seized massive political power and use it to maintain their obscene profits and CEO salaries while crushing small competitors. But Thom Hartmann, America's #1 progressive radio host, shows we've broken the control of behemoths like these before, and we can do it again. Hartmann takes us from the birth of America as a revolt against monopoly (remember the Boston Tea Party?), to the largely successful efforts of both Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and other like-minded leaders to restrain corporations' monopolistic urges, to the massive changes in the rules of business starting during the “Reagan Revolution” that have brought us to the cancer stage of capitalism. He shows the damage monopolies have done to so many industries: agriculture, healthcare, the media, and more. Individuals have taken a hit as well: the average American family pays a $5,000 a year “monopoly tax” in the form of higher prices for everything from pharmaceuticals to airfare to household goods and food. But Hartmann also describes commonsense, historically rooted measures we can take—such as revitalizing antitrust regulation, taxing great wealth, and getting money out of politics—to pry control of our country from the tentacles of the monopolists.

Thom Hartmann (Author), Sean Pratt, Thom Hartmann (Narrator)

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The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers

The New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history's greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today's unsettled times. We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a different perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope. Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and global travel in a pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to reconnect with philosophy's original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Simone de Beauvoir and twentieth-century Paris, Weiner's chosen philosophers and places provide important signposts as we navigate today's chaotic times. In The Socrates Express, Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions.

Eric Weiner (Author), Eric Weiner (Narrator)

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The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College

For ten years (and counting), The Naked Roommate has been the #1 go-to guide for your very best college experience! From sharing a bathroom with forty strangers to sharing lecture notes, The Naked Roommate is your behind-the-scenes look at everything you need to know about college (but never knew you needed to know). This essential, fully updated edition is packed with real-life advice on everything from making friends to managing stress. Hilarious, outrageous, and telling stories from students on over 100 college campuses cover the basics, and then some, including topics on college living (dorm dos, don'ts, and dramas); finding people, places, and patience (friend today, gone tomorrow); classes (to go or not to go?); dating (the rules for college love); the party scene (sex, drugs, and safety first); and money (grants, loans, and loose change). In college, there's a surprise around every corner. Luckily, The Naked Roommate has you covered!

Harlan Cohen (Author), Brian Holden (Narrator)

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Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden

Spend a year in an orchard, celebrating its imperilled, overlooked abundance of life. England's ancient orchards, collaborations between people and nature, are sources of hope for the future. Protecting them promises a far richer England for the centuries to come, for wildlife and for us. As the seasons turn, a wealth of animals and plants are revealed: Bumble and solitary bees apartment-hunting in April; spotted flycatchers migrating in May; redstarts, hedgehogs and owls nesting in June; an explosion of life in the summer and the harvest and homespun cider-making in the autumn. And all throughout the year, the orchard’s human and animal inhabitants work together, creating one of the richest ecosystems left in Britain. Explore this unique habitat throughout the course of a year, and marvel at the beauty and strength of nature.

Benedict Macdonald, Nicholas Gates (Author), Mike Grady (Narrator)

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Our Country's Good and The Recruiting Officer: Two BBc Radio full-cast dramatisations

A BBC Radio double bill of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s award-winning drama about a group of 18th-century Australian convicts and their attempts to stage a play, plus the Restoration comedy that the prisoners put on Australia, 1789: A young lieutenant attempts to direct a cast of convicts in the first play ever to be staged in the country. But one of his actors is about to be hanged... Adapted from Thomas Keneally’s novel The Playmaker, Our Country’s Good tells the true story of the convicts and Marines sent to Australia as part of the first penal colony. An eloquent argument for the redemptive power of theatre, Wertenbaker’s classic drama celebrates the beauty of language – in the slang of the criminal classes and the poetry of the play – and at the same time examines how it is used as an instrument of power. In The Recruiting Officer, we hear the play that the prisoners staged. George Farquhar’s popular Restoration comedy is set in Shrewsbury during the War of the Spanish Succession, where wives are recruited while soldiers are wooed. During a lull in the fighting, the womanising Captain Plume comes to town to seduce soldiers into the army, and – if possible – recruit Silvia into marriage. These two captivating radio dramas star many of the same cast, including Paul Higgins, Ralph Ineson, Kate Fleetwood, Jonathan Forbes and Adjoa Andoh. Our Country’s Good Captain Arthur Philip – Nicholas Le Prevost Major Robbie Ross – Stuart McQuarrie Captain David Collins – Paul Moriarty Captain Watkin Tench – Adam Billington Captain Campbell – James Lailey 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Clark – Paul Higgins Reverend Johnson – Simon Bubb Midshipman Harry Brewer – Rikki Lawton Mary Brenham – Francine Chamberlain Robert Sideway – Adam James John Wisehammer – Elliot Levey Liz Morden – Kate Fleetwood Dabby Bryant – Alex Tregear John Arscott – Ralph Ineson Ketch Freeman – Jonathan Forbes Duckling Smith – Adjoa Andoh Produced and directed by Sally Avens Our Country’s Good © Timberlake Wertenbaker, 1988, 1989, 1999, 2015 Based on the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally © 1978 The Serpentine Publishing Company Pty, published by Hodder & Stoughton and Sceptre Timberlake Wertenbaker has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved The Recruiting Officer Captain Plume – Paul Higgins Silvia – Lisa Dillon Sergeant Kite – Ralph Ineson Mr Worthy – Adam James Melinda – Kate Fleetwood Captain Brazen – Elliot Levey Rose – Alex Tregear Bullock – Simon Bubb Justice Balance – Jonathan Forbes Lucy – Adjoa Andoh Appletree – James Lailey Pearman – Adam Billington Bridewell– Rikki Lawton Justice Scale – Paul Moriaty Justice Scruple – Gerard McDermott Produced and directed by Jessica Dromgoole The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar originally published in 1706

George Farquar, Timberlake Wertenbaker (Author), Adam Billington, Adjoa Andoh, Full Cast, Lisa Dillon, Nicholas Le Prevost, Paul Higgins, Paul Moriarty, Ralph Ineson, Stuart Mcquarrie (Narrator)

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Girls on the Edge: Why So Many Girls Are Anxious, Wired, and Obsessed--And What Parents Can Do

A parenting expert reveals the four biggest threats to girls' psychological growth and explains how parents can help their daughters develop a healthy sense of self. In Girls on the Edge, psychologist and physician Leonard Sax argues that many girls today have a brittle sense of self-they may look confident and strong on the outside, but they're fragile within. Sax offers the tools we need to help them become independent and confident women, and provides parents with practical tips on everything from helping their daughter limit her time on social media, to choosing a sport, to nurturing her spirit through female-centered activities. Compelling and inspiring, Girls on the Edge points the way to a new future for today's girls and young women.

Leonard Sax, MD, PhD (Author), Andrew Colford (Narrator)

Audiobook

What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World

A fascinating and provocative new way of looking at the things we use and the spaces we inhabit, and a call to imagine a better-designed world for us all. Furniture and tools, kitchens and campuses and city streets-nearly everything human beings make and use is assistive technology, meant to bridge the gap between body and world. Yet unless, or until, a misfit between our own body and the world is acute enough to be understood as disability, we may never stop to consider-or reconsider-the hidden assumptions on which our everyday environment is built. In a series of vivid stories drawn from the lived experience of disability and the ideas and innovations that have emerged from it-from cyborg arms to customizable cardboard chairs to deaf architecture -Sara Hendren invites us to rethink the things and settings we live with. What might assistance based on the body's stunning capacity for adaptation-rather than a rigid insistence on "normalcy"-look like? Can we foster interdependent, not just independent, living? How do we creatively engineer public spaces that allow us all to navigate our common terrain? By rendering familiar objects and environments newly strange and wondrous, What Can a Body Do? helps us imagine a future that will better meet the extraordinary range of our collective needs and desires.

Sara Hendren (Author), Sara Hendren (Narrator)

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Higher Expectations: Can Colleges Teach Students What They Need to Know in the 21st Century?

In recent decades, cognitive psychologists have cast new light on human development and given colleges new possibilities for helping students acquire skills and qualities that will enhance their lives and increase their contributions to society. In this landmark book, Derek Bok explores how colleges can reap the benefits of these discoveries and create a more robust undergraduate curriculum for the twenty-first century. Prior to this century, most psychologists thought that creativity, empathy, resilience, conscientiousness, and most personality traits were largely fixed by early childhood. What researchers have now discovered is that virtually all of these qualities continue to change through early adulthood and often well beyond. Such findings suggest that educators may be able to do much more than was previously thought possible to teach students to develop these important characteristics and thereby enable them to flourish in later life. In Higher Expectations, Bok identifies the hurdles to institutional change, proposes sensible reforms, and demonstrates how our colleges can help students lead more successful, productive, and meaningful lives.

Derek Bok (Author), William Sarris (Narrator)

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Prepper's Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary

DETER. DELAY. DEFEND! Does your disaster preparation plan include security measures? When civilization fails and the desperate masses begin looting, they will come for your food, water and life-sustaining supplies. This book tells you how to implement a complete plan for operational security and physical defense, including: ● Perimeter security systems and traps ● House fortifications and safe rooms ● Secured and hidden storage ● Firearms and defensive combat techniques ● Gathering intelligence and forming alliances

Jim Cobb (Author), Matthew Boston (Narrator)

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The Nature of Animal Healing: The Definitive Holist Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat

The Nature of Animal Healing is a groundbreaking, inspirational contribution to animal care. Dr. Martin Goldstein, one of the most successful and best-known holistic veterinarians in the country, offers here, for the first time, invaluable insights into how to give our pets a healthy, happy, and long life. Dr. Goldstein--a graduate of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine who runs a renowned clinic in South Salem, New York--begins by explaining his approach to alternative treatment: what it is, how it works, and why it's especially important that animals be treated holistically. Holistic pet care essentially revolves around the notion that the best way to cure an animal who is ill is to help the animal cure itself. We are not the true healers of our pets--they are. By treating the root of the problem instead of its symptoms, holistic medicine enables our pets to regain and maintain their own health. In this comprehensive and accessible book, Dr. Goldstein not only shares his philosophy of how animals should--must--be treated, but also shows us exactly what to do. With moving and often entertaining examples from his years of practice, he offers prescriptive advice for the pet lover of every stripe: why we shouldn't feed our animals commercial pet food; why vaccines can actually do more harm than good; how acupuncture and homeopathic medicine can be used to help our pets; why pets need to experience a "healing crisis" in order to get well; and much, much more. In his practice, Dr. Goldstein has had extraordinary success treating cancer and leukemia. Here, he begins to decipher the riddle of those killer diseases and shows us how best to treat them, as well as how to prevent them from occurring. Included is the exhaustive "Alphabet of Ailments," a list that tackles common afflictions one by one--the most useful guide ever published in a book on animal care. Dr. Goldstein also turns to the spiritual realm, addressing how the emotional bonds we form with our animals have the power to provoke and cure disease. In his smart, helpful, and comforting style, he tells us how to deal with the inevitable death of a pet--both physically and psychologically. Finally, there is an indispensable source guide: a complete listing of pet health-care centers, doctors, and products. So wherever you live, you will be able to act on the advice and recommendations you are sure to take to heart. The Nature of Animal Healing is a revolutionary guide that no pet owner should be without.

D.V.M. Martin Goldstein, Martin Goldstein (Author), Christopher Grove (Narrator)

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Time of the Magicians: The Invention of Modern Thought, 1919-1929

Brought to you by Penguin. The year is 1919. Walter Benjamin flees his overbearing father to scrape a living as a jobbing critic. Ludwig Wittgenstein signs away his inheritance to teach schoolchildren in a provincial Austrian village, seeking spiritual clarity. Martin Heidegger renounces his faith and align his fortunes with the phenomenological school of Edmund Husserl. Ernst Cassirer sketches a new schema of human culture at the back of a cramped Berlin tram. The stage is set for a great intellectual drama, which will unfold over the next decade. The lives and thought of this quartet will converge and intertwine as each gains world historical significance, between them remaking philosophy. Time of the Magicians tells the story of this revolution in Western thought through the remarkable and turbulent lives of its four protagonists, showing philosophy not gifted from on high but worked out in the mess of everyday life, and illuminating their ideas with rare clarity. © Wolfram Eilenberger 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Wolfram Eilenberger (Author), Rhett Samuel Price (Narrator)

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The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed

Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural correlates of consciousness in the brain, the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not, say, the liver? How can the brain, three pounds of highly excitable matter, a piece of furniture in the universe, subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece, give rise to subjective experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative theory that starts with experience and proceeds to the brain. In The Feeling of Life Itself, Koch outlines such a theory, based on integrated information. Koch describes how the theory explains many facts about the neurology of consciousness and how it has been used to build a clinically useful consciousness meter. The theory predicts that many, and perhaps all, animals experience the sights and sounds of life; consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally assumed. Contrary to received wisdom, however, Koch argues that programmable computers will not have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation-it is not a clever hack. Consciousness is about being.

Christof Koch (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

Audiobook