General Audiobooks | Science & Technology

Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning Audiobook

From the New York Times best-selling author of Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, a ferocious, sexy, hilarious memoir about going off the rails at midlife and trying to reconcile the girl she was with the woman she has become. Claire Dederer is a happily married mother of two, ages nine and twelve, when she suddenly finds herself totally despondent and, simultaneously, suffering through a kind of erotic reawakening. This exuberant memoir shifts between her present experience as a middle-aged mom in the grip of mysterious new hungers and herself as a teenager--when she last experienced life with such heightened sensitivity and longing. From her hilarious chapter titles ('How to Have Sex with Your Husband of Seventeen Years') to her subjects--from the boyfriend she dumped at fourteen the moment she learned how to give herself an orgasm, to the girls who ruled her elite private school ('when I left Oberlin I thought I had done with them forever, but it turned out ...they also edited all the newspapers and magazines, and wrote all the books'), to raising a teenage daughter herself--Dederer writes with an electrifying blend of wry wit and raw honesty. She exposes herself utterly, and in doing so captures something universal about the experience of being a woman, a daughter, a wife. From the Hardcover edition.

Claire Dederer (Author), Claire Dederer (Narrator)

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Love and Common Sense: Short Stories From Around the World to Challenge Your Mind and Ignite Your Co

"Love and Common Sense" is the the award-winning collection of seventy intriguing short stories. These stories are a blend of business, economics and extravagant compassion that give lucid and dramatic insights into the selfless activities and adventures of Dr. James W. Jackson. Dr. Jackson is a gifted storyteller who draws his unique insights from his millions of miles of travel and his personal visits to over 150 countries. He is trained in business and economics, yet his true wisdom comes from lessons learned while observing and interacting with real people in nearly every corner of the world. Dr. Jackson not only observes and processes anecdotes but has the ability to repaint with poignant words the mental pictures he has collected. Dr. Jackson was working as an international economic consultant in developing nations around the globe when his work led him face-to-face with the needs of the sick and dying. During a trip to Brazil, Dr. Jackson visited a small clinic near Rio de Janeiro. Once inside, he learned that patients were often turned away due to the lack of basic medical supplies and equipment. Jackson was moved to action. He made a promise that he would help provide relief to those people. Dr. Jackson returned to his home in Evergreen, Colorado, and with the assistance of friends in the medical industry he collected approximately $250,000 worth of medical supplies in his garage in about 30 days time. By personally paying the shipping expenses, Dr. Jackson was able to send an ocean-going cargo container to Brazil. Soon after, he and his wife, Dr. AnnaMarie Jackson, founded the non-profit, humanitarian relief organization, Project C.U.R.E. From its humble beginnings in the mountains of Colorado, Project C.U.R.E. expanded to other cities across the United States. Currently, the organization maintains large distribution warehouses in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Tennessee. In addition, Project C.U.R.E. has established many smaller collection centers in other cities around the U.S. where donated items are gathered and then delivered to the distribution warehouses.

Dr. James W. Jackson (Author), Dr. James W. Jackson (Narrator)

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Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams

An intimate portrait of Louisa Catherine Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams, who witnessed firsthand the greatest transformations of her time Born in London to an American father and a British mother on the eve of the Revolutionary War, Louisa Catherine Johnson was raised in circumstances very different from the New England upbringing of the future president John Quincy Adams, whose life had been dedicated to public service from the earliest age. And yet John Quincy fell in love with her, almost despite himself. Their often tempestuous but deeply close marriage lasted half a century. They lived in Prussia, Massachusetts, Washington, Russia, and England, at royal courts, on farms, in cities, and in the White House. Louisa saw more of Europe and America than nearly any other woman of her time. But wherever she lived, she was always pressing her nose against the glass, not quite sure whether she was looking in or out. The other members of the Adams family could take their identity for granted-they were Adamses; they were Americans-but she had to invent her own. The story of Louisa Catherine Adams is one of a woman who forged a sense of self. As the country her husband led found its place in the world, she found a voice. That voice resonates still. In this deeply felt biography, the talented journalist and historian Louisa Thomas finally gives Louisa Catherine Adams's full extraordinary life its due. An intimate portrait of a remarkable woman, a complicated marriage, and a pivotal historical moment, Louisa Thomas's biography is a masterful work from an elegant storyteller.

Louisa Thomas (Author), Kirsten Potter (Narrator)

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Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Harriet Reisen (Author), Harriet Reisen (Narrator)

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Louisa May Alcott: The Life of a Beloved Author and Storyteller

Susan Cheever (Author), Tavia Gilbert (Narrator)

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Louis D. Brandeis: A Life

The first full-scale biography in twenty-five years of one of the most important and distinguished justices to sit on the Supreme Court-an audio book that reveals Louis D. Brandeis the reformer, lawyer, and jurist, and Brandeis the man, in all of his complexity, passion, and wit. As a lawyer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he pioneered how modern law is practiced. The author of the right to privacy he led the way in creating the role of the lawyer as counselor and pioneered the idea of pro bono publico work by attorneys. Named to the Supreme Court, Brandeis, ranked as one of the nation's leading progressive reformers. He invented savings bank life insurance in Massachusetts and was a driving force in the development of the Federal Reserve Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the law establishing the Federal Trade Commission. As an economist and moralist, Brandeis warned in 1914 that banking and stock brokering must be separate, and twenty years later, during the New Deal, his recommendation was finally enacted into law only to be undone by Ronald Reagan, which led to the savings-and-loan crisis in the 1980s and the world financial collapse of 2008. And at age fifty-eight Brandeis became the head of the American Zionist movement. During the next seven years, Brandeis transformed it from a marginal activity into a powerful force in American Jewish affairs. A huge and galvanizing biography, a revelation of one man's effect on American society and jurisprudence, and the electrifying story of his time.

Melvin I. Urofsky, Melvin Urofsky (Author), Sean Pratt (Narrator)

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Lou Reed era español

Bienvenidos al maravilloso mundo de Manuel Vilas y bienvenidos también a los alucinantes viajes de Lou Reed por España. Porque este libro consta de dos historias montadas en una sola película: la del joven Vilas, que experimenta una revelación, una auténtica epifanía, cuando escucha la voz del músico estadounidense en su Barbastro natal durante los franquistas años 70, y la de Lou Reed, que entre concierto y concierto descubre un país oscuro y luminoso, amable y salvaje. Así, en ágil contrapunto, vemos cómo Vilas madura y se enamora, compra discos, acude a actuaciones y visita ciudades saltando de oca en oca. Reed, mientras tanto, habla de forma demencial con camareros, colegas, guardias civiles o amantes, come platos hispánicos, quema kilómetros y canta… sobre todo canta. ¡Vaya voz! A lo largo de estas páginas se recrean las alocadas aventuras y las entrañables desventuras de un poeta y una estrella del rock cuyos caminos nunca llegan a encontrarse: el primero admira al segundo; el segundo se deja admirar desde la altiva distancia del escenario. Lou Reed era español es poema en prosa y prosa musicada. Es recuerdo, drama y comedia. Es la carta de amor de un escritor que logra construir una mitología española donde conviven Machado o Buñuel con Jim Morrison o, por supuesto, Lou Reed. Su literatura es tradición y ruptura, vida y rock and roll. ¡Que empiece la fiesta con su tristeza abismal y su alegría dionisíaca! ¡Que empiece el viaje! Grabado en español ibérico (España).

Manuel Vilas (Author), Javier Garcia (Narrator)

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Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

In this irresistible memoir, the New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize Anna Quindlen writes about looking back and ahead and celebrating it all as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets, and more. As she did in her beloved New York Times columns, and in A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen says for us here what we may wish we could have said ourselves. Using her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages, Quindlen talks about Marriage: 'A safety net of small white lies can be the bedrock of a successful marriage. You wouldn 't believe how cheaply I can do a kitchen renovation.' Girlfriends: 'Ask any woman how she makes it through the day, and she may mention her calendar, her to-do lists, her babysitter. But if you push her on how she really makes it through her day, she will mention her girlfriends. Sometimes I will see a photo of an actress in an unflattering dress or a blouse too young for her or with a heavy-handed makeup job, and I mutter, 'She must not have any girlfriends. ' ' Stuff: 'Here 's what it comes down to, really: there is now so much stuff in my head, so many years, so many memories, that it 's taken the place of primacy away from the things in the bedrooms, on the porch. My doctor says that, contrary to conventional wisdom, she doesn 't believe our memories flag because of a drop in estrogen but because of how crowded it is in the drawers of our minds. Between the stuff at work and the stuff at home, the appointments and the news and the gossip and the rest, the past and the present and the plans for the future, the filing cabinets in our heads are not only full, they 're overflowing.' Our bodies: 'I 've finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and in the years to come. It 's like a car, and while I like a red convertible or even a Bentley as well as the next person, what I really need are four tires and an engine.' Parenting: 'Being a parent is not transactional. We do not get what we give. It is the ultimate pay-it-forward endeavor: We are good parents not so they will be loving enough to stay with us but so they will be strong enough to leave us.' From childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age, Quindlen uses the events of her own life to illuminate our own. Along with the downsides of age, she says, can come wisdom, a perspective on life that makes it satisfying and even joyful. Candid, funny, moving, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is filled with the sharp insights and revealing observations that have long confirmed Quindlen 's status as America 's laureate of real life. From the Hardcover edition.

Anna Quindlen (Author), Anna Quindlen (Narrator)

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Lost!: A Harrowing True Story of Disaster at Sea

In July 1973, Bob Tininenko; his wife, Linda; and his brother in-law, Jim Fisher, set sail from Tacoma, Washington, on a thirty-one-foot trimaran down the West Coast to Costa Rica. The journey was expected to take a matter of weeks, but ten days into the cruise, the party encountered a freak storm off the coast of northern California. When gale-force winds and fifty-foot waves capsized their boat, the voyage became a nightmare. For seventy-two days, the trio was lost at sea. Challenged by nature and compromised by a bitter rivalry, their courage and will to live was put to the ultimate test. Jim, the owner and skipper of the boat, was a devout fundamentalist whose recognition of God's will in every event brought him into increasing conflict with his brother-in-law. As the two men battled to take control of a dire situation, Linda kept a secret that would lead to heartrending tragedy. A 'hair-raising' (Houston Chronicle) account of shipwreck and survival and a searing portrait of faith without reason, Lost! is an unforgettable true story from 'a writer of tremendous power and achievement' (Detroit Free Press).

Thomas Thompson (Author), Shawn Compton (Narrator)

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Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the North Woods

In the wilderness, one false step can make the difference between a delightful respite and a brush with death. On a beautiful summer afternoon in 1998, Dan Stephens, a twenty-two-year-old canoeist, was leading a trip deep into Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park. He stepped into a gap among cedar trees to look for the next portage-and did not return. More than four hours later, Dan awakened from a fall with a lump on his head and stumbled deeper into the woods, confused. Three years later, Jason Rasmussen, a third-year medical student who loved the forest's solitude, walked alone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on a crisp fall day. After a two-day trek into a remote area of the woods, he stepped away from his campsite and made a series of seemingly trivial mistakes that left him separated from his supplies, wet, and lost, as cold darkness fell. Enduring days without food or shelter, these men faced the full harsh force of wilderness, the place that they had sought out for tranquil refuge from city life. Lost in the Wild takes listeners with them as they enter realms of pain, fear, and courage, as they suffer dizzying confusion and unending frustration, and as they overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles in a race to survive.

Cary J. Griffith (Author), Roger Wayne (Narrator)

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Lost Destiny: Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London

Alan Axelrod (Author), Tom Perkins (Narrator)

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Lost and Found

Lynda Bellingham is much-loved as the warm and quick-witted panellist on Loose Women. In Lost and Found, Lynda tells the story of how she recovered from two destructive marriages, and many other challenging experiences. Yet her sense of humour has never left her and along with the darker moments she recalls hilarious anecdotes from stage and screen. This is the inspiring story of a survivor.

Lynda Bellingham (Author), Lynda Bellingham (Narrator)

Audiobook

General Audiobooks in Science & Technology