General Audiobooks | Science & Technology

Blessed Life: My Surprising Journey of Joy, Tears, and Tales from Harlem to Hollywood

From "Facts of Life" to "Living Single" to "Dancing with the Stars" to wife and mom, here's the BLESSED LIFE of Kim Fields, veteran actress, TV personality, and star. Kim Fields has lived most of her life with people thinking they know her, which is understandable. From her first job on a Mrs. Butterworth syrup commercial at age 7, she has spent 40 years in the public eye. There were 9 years as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the classic sitcom The Facts of Life, 5 more in her 20s starring as Regine Hunter on the seminal coming-of-age show Living Single, and most recently appearing as herself on Real Housewives of Atlanta and Dancing with the Stars. Behind the camera, she has directed episodes of Kenan & Kel, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and House of Payne, and BET's Let's Stay Together. Between gigs, the pop culture icon's life has included theater, spoken word, music, speaking engagements, and simply being present to the point that she cannot go a day without someone stopping her to say, "When I was a kid, I wanted to be Tootie" or "You were my role model." Flattered and blessed, after four decades in the business, Kim finally understands the role she has played onscreen and off as a successful, outspoken African-American woman. However, for as much as she's been in the public eye, people have really never known her the way they think they have, and that's because she, herself, spent most of her life figuring herself out. Now, at age 48, she is ready to set the record straight. She says, "It's not that I've been misunderstood. It's that I finally feel like I understand me enough to tell the life story that I've been asked to write for years." It will be a chronicle of living, learning, and keen moments of self-discovery as she's journeyed through the many facets and chapters of life. Fields found faith at age 14 and has found God to be right there every step of the way since then.

Kim Fields, Todd Gold (Author), Kim Fields (Narrator)

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Madison Park: A Place of Hope

Welcome to Madison Park, a place of self-determination, hope, and the American dream. And meet Eric Motley, raised in this remarkable Alabama community founded by freed slaves, a place that taught him everything he needed to know on his journey to becoming Special Assistant to President George W. Bush at the Oval Office. Foreword by Walter Isaacson

Brandon Maloney, Eric L. Motley (Author), Brandon Maloney (Narrator)

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Stranger No More: A Muslim Refugee's Story of Harrowing Escape, Miraculous Rescue, and the Quiet Cal

Annahita Parsan, Craig Borlase (Author), Lauren Woodward (Narrator)

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Ascent

Hear Sir Chris Bonington's extraordinary story, read by Gordon Griffin. His memoir Ascent charts not only his many triumphs in the climbing world - such as the Eiger, and the Himalayas - but also the struggles he has faced in his life bringing up a family, and maintaining a successful and loving marriage over the decades of travelling the world to conquer mountains. He has undertaken nineteen Himalayan expeditions, including four to Mount Everest which he climbed in 1985 at the age of fifty, and has made many first ascents in the Alps and greater ranges of the world. Along the way his many adventures have included meeting the mercurial Dougal Haston; the legendary-tough Don Whillans, the philosopher of the rock Stephen Venables, and the enigmatic Doug Scott, plus many more. Ascent is a memoir like no other - a timely and uplifting narrative for anyone who has ever dreamed of adventure.

Chris Bonington (Author), Gordon Griffin (Narrator)

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Growing Up

In this heartfelt memoir by the Masterpiece Theatre host, Pulitzer Prize winner, and groundbreaking New York Times columnist, Russell Baker traces his youth in the mountains of rural Virginia. When Baker was only five, his father died. His mother, strong-willed and matriarchal, never looked back. After all, she had three children to raise. These were Depression years, and Mrs. Baker moved her fledgling family to Baltimore. Baker's mother was determined her children would succeed, and we know her regimen worked for Russell. He did everything from delivering papers to hustling subscriptions for the Saturday Evening Post. As is often the case, early hardships made the man.

Russell Baker (Author), Corey M. Snow (Narrator)

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Brutus: The Noble Connection

Conspirator and assassin, philosopher and statesman, promoter of peace and commander in war, Marcus Brutus (ca. 85-42 BC) was a controversial and enigmatic man even to those who knew him. His leading role in the murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BC, immortalized his name forever, but the verdict on his act remains out to this day. Was Brutus wrong to kill his friend and benefactor, or was he right to place his duty to country ahead of personal obligations? In this comprehensive and stimulating biography Kathryn Tempest delves into contemporary sources to bring to light the personal and political struggles Brutus faced. As the details are revealed-from his own correspondence with Cicero, from the perceptions of his peers, and from the Roman aristocratic values and concepts that held sway in his time-Brutus emerges from legend, revealed to us more surely than ever before.

Kathryn Tempest (Author), Jennifer M. Dixon (Narrator)

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Beautifully Cruel

Iowa housewife Tracey Pittman Roberts seemed to have it all: natural beauty, three loving children, and a fairy tale second marriage to a wealthy, handsome businessman. But beneath the happy façade was a woman who used lies, manipulation, sex, ugly allegations, blackmail-and even murder-to serve her own selfish ends. On December 12, 2001, police rushed to Tracey's home after a shooting left her vulnerable young neighbor dead. Tracey claimed it was an act of self-defense. Nine gunshot wounds-and a decades-long trail of extortion, fabrication, fraud, and intimidation-said otherwise. Ten years after the crime, Tracey's case finally went to trial in an explosive courtroom showdown. In a searing exploration of the criminal mind, bestselling investigative journalist M. William Phelps traces the saga of a psychopath who hid in plain sight-until her wicked ways caught up with her.

M. William Phelps (Author), Jonathan Yen (Narrator)

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Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man

A remarkably warm-hearted, uplifting and inspiring story of one boy's survival against the odds. Abdi's world fell apart when he was only fifteen and Somalia's vicious civil war hit Mogadishu. Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others,heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps in Kenya - of the group he'd set out with, only five had survived. All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn't stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way - alone, with no money in his pockets - to Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindess of strangers. He was just seventeen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From. Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism. "Powerful and uplifting" Bookseller + Publisher "Aden's odyssey belongs to our time ... Here is a man who counts his blessings and has an inspiring story to tell.'" Sydney Morning Herald

Abdi Aden, Robert Hillman (Author), Abdi Aden, Jacob Warner, Jacob Warner; Abdi Aden (Narrator)

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Planet of the Blind

Blindness in the 195Os was a social stigma. Stephen's mother wanted a normal life for him, so he fought desperately to uphold the illusion of sight. For a child frantic to fit in, each day was an exhausting pretence. He managed to ride a bike, when even reading involved pressing his nose to the page and painfully forcing his eyes to concentrate. Head up, he strode through a carefully memorized labyrinth of streets, hoping to fool passers-by that he could actually see.

Stephen Kuusisto (Author), Brian Keeler (Narrator)

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Try Hard: Tales from the life of a needy overachiever

Funny, feisty and fabulous, Em Rusciano's insights into her world of mayhem, marriage and motherhood are a laugh-out-loud, cry-out-loud balm for the soul.From her exploits at the Miss Sheila Fancypants School of Dance and her efforts to secure a solo at her end-of-year performance, to embracing the spotlight as an Australian Idol contestant and her deep and abiding love for John Farnham, Em Rusciano is a self-confessed bottomless pit of anxiety with a taste for glitter.

Em Rusciano (Author), Em Rusciano (Narrator)

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The Olive Harvest

Returning to their home after an extended absence, Carol and her husband Michel are looking forward to summer together on the farm. Then a shocking blow leaves Carol alone and the future looks uncertain. The Olive Harvest takes us beyond the perimeters of her olive groves to where hunters, poets, bee-keepers, boars and gypsies abide. In search of the language of troubadours, the dark and sometimes barbarous heart of Provence is revealed. Nature and the generosity of the South of France's harvests offer a path to joy and an abundant resolution...

Carol Drinkwater (Author), Carol Drinkwater (Narrator)

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Miller and Max

George Miller made his first film, Mad Max, in 1976 after hiring unknown Mel Gibson and editing it in his kitchen. It would become the most profitable film ever made. Miller and Max is the story of two heroes. One, a globally recognised dystopian warrior. The second, the artist who created him. Written with the cooperation of a role call of cast, crew, family and associates, author Luke Buckmaster gets behind the scenes of both the set and the man: revealing the Max in Miller.

Luke Buckmaster (Author), Paul Johnstone (Narrator)

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General Audiobooks in Science & Technology