General Audiobooks | Science & Technology

Jog On: How Running Saved My Life Audiobook

'Bella's brilliant love letter to running turns into an extraordinarily brave and frank account of her battle with anxiety. A compassionate and important book' Joe Lycett 'Brutally honest and insightful' Jimmy Anderson 'A very relatable book' Philippa Perry Divorced and struggling with deep-rooted mental health problems, Bella Mackie ended her twenties in tears. She could barely find the strength to get off the sofa, let alone piece her life back together. Until one day she did something she had never done of her own free will - she pulled on a pair of trainers and went for a run. That first attempt didn't last very long. But to her surprise, she was back out there the next day. And the day after that. She began to set herself achievable goals - to run 5k in under 30 minutes, to walk to work every day for a week, to attempt 10 push-ups in a row. Before she knew it, her mood was lifting for the first time in years. In Jog On, Bella explains with hilarious and unfiltered honesty how she used running to battle crippling anxiety and depression, without having to sacrifice her main loves: booze, cigarettes and ice cream. With the help of a supporting cast of doctors, psychologists, sportspeople and friends, she shares a wealth of inspirational stories, research and tips that show how exercise often can be the best medicine. This funny, moving and motivational book will encourage you to say 'jog on' to your problems and get your life back on track - no matter how small those first steps may be.

Bella Mackie (Author), Bella Mackie (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sometimes You Have to Cross When It Says Don't Walk: A Memoir of Breaking Barriers

Lesley Visser is living proof that, no matter where you start, if you are motivated and passionate, your dreams can come true. When Lesley was 11, she told her mother that she wanted to be a sportswriter. The job didn’t exist for women in 1964, but her mother—instead of suggesting she become a teacher or a nurse—replied, 'Great! Sometimes you have to cross when it says, 'Don’t walk.'' That answer changed Lesley’s life. Even though no one had done it before, it gave her the strength and self-confidence to try—permission to cross against the light. When Lesley began, the credentials said, 'No Women or Children in the Press Box,' but she didn’t let that stop her. Lesley covered sports for more than 40 years, pioneering women’s journalistic presence in men’s professional sports, from inside the locker room to out on the field. She’s the first and only woman to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and to ever present the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl. And she’s the only sportscaster in history to have worked on the network broadcasts of the Final Four, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Triple Crown, Olympics, U.S. Open, and the World Figure Skating Championship. Lesley currently appears on CBS’s 'We Need to Talk,' the first-ever nationally televised all-female weekly hour-long sports show. Lesley’s had her share of hurdles and stumbles. But with passion, perseverance, and dedication, she found a way to achieve her dream, learning valuable lessons along the way. (Hint: Humor goes further than anger, and no, we can’t all look like Beyoncé.) In Sometimes You Have to Cross When It Says 'Don't Walk,' Lesley Visser shares her historic journey through the world of sports broadcasting with innate wisdom and good humor. For sports fans who grew up with Lesley, her memoir reads like a walk down memory lane, full of behind-the-camera, VIP-access stories involving John Madden, Jerry Jones, Bill Belichick, Joe Torre, and many more famous sports figures. But even those hearing her story for the first time, no matter what their background, will be inspired to chase their dreams, blaze new trails, and pursue the life they want.

Lesley Visser (Author), Lesley Visser (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Jumping Game

As the woman who trained the great Best Mate to win three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups, no one could be better qualified than Henrietta Knight to discover what makes today's top jumps trainers succeed. From eccentric, outspoken Yorkshireman Mick Easterby, to elegant, aristocratic Venetia Williams, from Irish wizard, Willie Mullins, to perfectionist champion trainer, Paul Nicholls and young pretender, Dan Skelton, here is a dazzling cast of extraordinary characters, all with their quirks and foibles, but with one single-minded ambition - finding first-class horses and training them to win big races. Henrietta shares their dramatic journeys, methods and secrets of working in a tough, competitive industry. For the trainers, every win reignites the thrill of the sport and a craving for success that never dies.

Henrietta Knight (Author), Jilly Bond (Narrator)

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Problems

Maya's been able to get by in New York on her wits and a dead-end bookstore job for years, but when her husband leaves her and her favorite professor ends their affair, her barely-calibrated life descends into chaos, and she has to make some choices. Maya's struggle to be alone, to be a woman, and to be thoughtful and imperfect and alive in a world that doesn't really care what happens to her is rendered with dead-eyed clarity and unnerving charm. This book takes every tired trope about addiction and recovery, "likeable" characters, and redemption narratives, and blows them to pieces.

Jade Sharma (Author), Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator)

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Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome

A captivating popular history that shines a light on the notorious Julio-Claudian women who forged an empire Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero-these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors' line to continue. Eminent scholar Guy de la Bedoyere, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes-including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina-were the true backbone of the dynasty. De la Bedoyere draws on the accounts of ancient Roman historians to revisit a familiar time from a completely fresh vantage point. Anyone who enjoys I, Claudius will be fascinated by this study of dynastic power and gender interplay in ancient Rome.

Guy De La Bédoyère (Author), Julian Elfer (Narrator)

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Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales

There aren't many books more beloved than The Tale of Peter Rabbit and even fewer authors as iconic as Beatrix Potter. More than 150 million copies of her books have sold worldwide and interest in her work and life remains high. And her characters-Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck, and all the rest-exist in a charmed world filled with flowers and gardens. Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life is the first book to explore the origins of Beatrix Potter's love of gardening and plants and show how this passion came to be reflected in her work. The book begins with a gardener's biography, highlighting the key moments and places throughout her life that helped define her, including her home Hill Top Farm in England's Lake District. Next, the listener follows Beatrix Potter through a year in her garden, with a season-by-season overview of what is blooming that truly brings her gardens alive. The book culminates in a traveler's guide, with information on how and where to visit Potter's gardens today.

Marta Mcdowell (Author), Henrietta Meire (Narrator)

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The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Frontier Landscapes that Inspired the Little House Books

The universal appeal of Laura Ingalls Wilder springs from a life lived in partnership with the land, on farms she and her family settled across the Northeast and Midwest. In this revealing exploration of Wilder's deep connection with the natural world, Marta McDowell follows the wagon trail of the beloved Little House series. You'll learn details about Wilder's life and inspirations, pinpoint the Ingalls and Wilder homestead claims on authentic archival maps, and learn to grow the plants and vegetables featured in the series. Excerpts from Wilder's books, letters, and diaries bring to light her profound appreciation for the landscapes at the heart of her world.

Marta Mcdowell (Author), Donna Postel (Narrator)

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Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope

As her Pappi fights to save his family during the Holocaust, Irene's childhood is lost. Play is restricted. Family and friends disappear. Finally, with the Dutch police at their door comes the reality that Irene's father has not moved his family far enough from Hitler's Germany. By January 1945, the family is struggling to survive a death camp. Irene tends her ailing parents, cares for starving kids, and even helps bring clothes to her Amsterdam neighbor Anne Frank, before her family is offered a singular chance for freedom . . . providing the Nazi doctor says they are healthy enough. After two weeks of heart-lifting miracles and heart-breaking tragedies, Irene arrives in the Algerian desert to journey into redemption and womanhood, without her parents or brother. Irene's first person memoir, Shores Beyond Shores, is an account of how the heart keeps its common humanity in the most inhumane and turbulent of times. Irene's hard-earned lessons are a timeless inspiration.

Irene Butter (Author), Elizabeth Wiley (Narrator)

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Pour que la roue tourne au nom du père: L'histoire d'une hypersensibilité

Un récit autobiographique fort et courageux.Celui d'une femme qui relate un parcours de vie atypique.Celui d'une femme qui malgré un départ plus que chaotique dans la vie a su relever la tête.Adoptée à l'âge de deux ans, elle partage avec nous sa quête d'identité en partie à travers des écrits produits pendant sa psychanalyse.L'histoire d'une femme qui a cherché envers et contre tout à corriger les erreurs dangereuses d'un système de santé incohérent et dominant, pour qui ses problèmes de santé n'étaient qu'une conséquence de l'adoption.Dans ce livre, l'auteur a réfléchi, cherché, interrogé, expérimenté.... pour se sortir de la souffrance tant psychique que physique.Ce qui pouvait commencer par un doute s'est peu à peu et à force de recherches, recoupements, interrogations, expériences diverses....transformé en quasi certitudes...certitudes toujours balayées par une caste médicale qui pense qu'elle détient le savoir absolu.La citation de Gandhi « Nous devons être le changement que nous voulons voir dans le monde » prend toute sa dimension dans ce livre.Comme elle le dit elle-même, il est possible que vous qui souffrez de différents troubles, vous trouviez dans ces pages l'impulsion vers une prise en main différente de votre santé et donc de votre destin.Émouvant et porteur d'espoir pour tous les malades chroniques de toutes sortes que nous sommes.Et ce livre va même au-delà !

Gwénola Le Dref (Author), Gwénola Le Dref (Narrator)

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Road to Tara: The Life of Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell was as complex and compelling as her legendary heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, and her story is as dramatic as anything out of her own imagination. Indeed, it is the basis for the legend she created. Gone with the Wind took the American public by storm and went on to become one of the most popular books and motion pictures of all time. The book was a phenomenon whose success has never been equaled, but it shattered Margaret Mitchell's private life. In Road to Tara, Anne Edwards tells the real story of Margaret Mitchell and the extraordinary novel that has become part of our heritage.

Anne Edwards (Author), Karen Commins (Narrator)

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A Minger's Tale - Beginnings

The eldest of three siblings to Irish working class parents living in Manchester, England. Richard Brian Nicholas Bookmark, a name that is such a mouthful his parents gave him the acronym Ribban (RBN) instead, is a child unable to find his way in life.His near untimely arrival in the bath tub was merely a foretaste of things to come. Fortunately for him his mother did not throw the baby out with the bathwater, but more often than not he wished she had!Poverty is a serious business, making light of hardtimes is not!

Rbn Bookmark (Author), Jonathon Carley (Narrator)

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All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson

The definitive biography of the deeply complex and widely misunderstood matinee idol of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Devastatingly handsome, broad-shouldered and clean-cut, Rock Hudson was the ultimate movie star. The embodiment of romantic masculinity in American film throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, Hudson reigned supreme as the king of Hollywood. As an Oscar-nominated leading man, Hudson won acclaim for his performances in glossy melodramas (Magnificent Obsession), western epics (Giant) and blockbuster bedroom farces (Pillow Talk). In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Hudson successfully transitioned to television; his long-running series McMillan & Wife and a recurring role on Dynasty introduced him to a whole new generation of fans. The icon worshipped by moviegoers and beloved by his colleagues appeared to have it all. Yet beneath the suave and commanding star persona, there was an insecure, deeply conflicted, and all too vulnerable human being. Growing up poor in Winnetka, Illinois, Hudson was abandoned by his biological father, abused by an alcoholic stepfather, and controlled by his domineering mother. Despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Hudson was determined to become an actor at all costs. After signing with the powerful but predatory agent Henry Willson, the young hopeful was transformed from a clumsy, tongue-tied truck driver into Universal Studio’s resident Adonis. In a more conservative era, Hudson’s wholesome, straight arrow screen image was at odds with his closeted homosexuality. As a result of his gay relationships and clandestine affairs, Hudson was continually threatened with public exposure, not only by scandal sheets like Confidential but by a number of his own partners. For years, Hudson dodged questions concerning his private life, but in 1985 the public learned that the actor was battling AIDS. The disclosure that such a revered public figure had contracted the illness focused worldwide attention on the epidemic. Drawing on more than 100 interviews with co-stars, family members and former companions, All That Heaven Allows finally delivers a complete and nuanced portrait of one of the most fascinating stars in cinema history. Author Mark Griffin provides new details concerning Hudson’s troubled relationships with wife Phyllis Gates and boyfriend Marc Christian. And here, for the first time, is an in-depth exploration of Hudson’s classic films, including Written on the Wind, A Farewell to Arms, and the cult favorite Seconds. With unprecedented access to private journals, personal correspondence, and production files, Griffin pays homage to the idol whose life and death had a lasting impact on American culture.

Mark Griffin (Author), Jeremy Arthur (Narrator)

Audiobook

General Audiobooks in Science & Technology