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World Affairs

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Lynn
Lynn BEAUMONT, TX, United States Member Since 2005
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1
  • The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood

    "Information in Historical Context"

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    James Gleick in “The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood” seeks to place information in historical context. To accomplish that he opens the book by discussing the advent of drumming, signals, telegraph, telephone and the computer. A most interesting section contains an explanation of how Babbage invented the first computer and how it worked. In the subsequent portion he relates how information theorists worked on the coding, decoding, and re-coding of information. The final chapters link such as DNA , and quantum mechanics to information. It is this last portion of the book that was the most thought provoking for me. This book is wonderful as history, stimulating as philosophy, and a fine introduction to theoretical aspects of the topic. The reading of Rob Shapiro is excellent.

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    The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood

    • UNABRIDGED (16 hrs and 37 mins)
    • By James Gleick
    • Narrated By Rob Shapiro
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (593)
    Performance
    (334)
    Story
    (336)

    James Gleick, the author of the best sellers Chaos and Ge­nius, brings us his crowning work: a revelatory chronicle that shows how information has become the modern era’s defining quality—the blood, the fuel, the vital principle of our world.

    Ethan M. says: "Brilliant book, heroic reader, better in print?"
  • Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit

    ""Have a good 'un""

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    With the extraction of Osama bin Laden, there has been a recent interest in special forces. One of the most engaging of books in this genre is Eric Haney’s Inside Delta Force. Haney, a founding member of the Delta Force, tells the story of how he was recruited, chosen, trained and survived grueling service in the unit. Of particular interest is Haney’s description of the 1980 aborted Iranian hostage rescue attempt. The book is filled with insight, humor, practical information, and great descriptions. This is a wonderfully engaging, positive book. The reading of Robertson Dean is an excellent addition.

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    Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit

    • UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 1 min)
    • By Eric L. Haney
    • Narrated By Robertson Dean
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (811)
    Performance
    (675)
    Story
    (683)

    Delta Force—the US Army’s most elite top-secret strike force. They dominate the modern battlefield, but you won’t hear about their heroics on CNN. No headlines can reveal their top-secret missions, and no book has ever taken readers inside—until now. Here, a founding member of Delta Force takes us behind the veil of secrecy and into the action to reveal the never-before-told story of First Special Forces Operational Detachment-D (Delta Force).

    Darwin8u says: "Informative & Entertaining Memoir >|< Myth"
  • The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack

    "Beware if You Have Preconcieved Not..."

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Published in 2008, I am just now getting around to Ronald Kessler’s The Terrorist Watch. In this book, Kessler brings us up to speed on what has changed in security intelligence since 9/11. Readers are taken inside the FBI and CIA and given glimpses into what has been happening in the White House since then. This is really a revealing and exciting read. Every page has insights fully worth the effort. That said, readers who come to the Bush Administration with preconceived notions about how the War on Terror was carried out during his terms, might feel a little uncomfortable. Kessler’s position on media coverage of the War on Terror also might inflame some. However, the book still has a great deal to say about how we reacted, what the Government is doing to secure our security, and the implications of 9/11. The publication date is 2008, but the book is no less relevant still. The reading of Alan Sklar is well done.

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    The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 56 mins)
    • By Ronald Kessler
    • Narrated By Alan Sklar
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (35)
    Performance
    (5)
    Story
    (5)

    Although it has been over five years since the 9/11 attacks, Americans still do not have a clear sense of how our government is waging the war on terror. In The Terrorist Watch, best-selling author Ronald Kessler takes listeners behind the scenes to reveal exactly how our leaders, charged with protecting the American people, are stopping terrorists.

    Wyatt says: "Valuable information with Republican rantings"
  1. The Information: A Histor...
  2. Inside Delta Force: The S...
  3. The Terrorist Watch: Insi...
    4. .

A Peek at Dr.'s Bookshelf

Helpful
Votes
241
 
Dr.
Lake Oswego, OR, United States 70 REVIEWS / 97 ratings Member Since 2008 29 Followers / Following 0
 
Dr.'s greatest hits:
  • Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
    Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

    "An Antidote for Shantaram"

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Katherine Boo's book is a good antidote for Gregory David Roberts' Shantaran. Whereas Shantaram appears to view its Mumbai slum through some type of fantasy haze that is ultimately used to glorify its author, Boo's Mumbai slum is stark, unadorned, and filled with people who are barely surviving (or in many cases, not surviving). At times, I felt like a car driver who has been mesmerized by an accident on the side of the road - at other times I simply felt sad and wondered what drew me to this story. For me, this book represents another important facet of India - the conflict between Hindus and Muslims, poverty, corruption, and misery - that needs to be appreciated along with all of the other literary efforts to portray India. Although this is a grim story, it also highlights the grit, ingenuity, and perseverance of people who live on the edge.

  • Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
    Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

    "Stranger Than Fiction - and More Interesting"

    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Who would have known. Although I was very interested to learn more about N Korea, I had no idea this story would be so interesting - so captivating. This is very well written expose on one of the world's most unusual societies and repressive regimes. This story follows a handful of people originally from N Korea who eventually lose faith with the regime and out of desperation flee the country and find refuge in S Korea. Along the way, you find out about the differences between northerners and southerners that predated the Korean war. You also learn about Koreans in Japan and China and how these former Koreans play a role in helping their families in N Korea.

    At times, the story is very touching - you learn of people who really believed in the regime only to lose everything. At times, the story is heart breaking as you hear about parents losing children and children losing parents - and how these loses play out over time. Who knew, for example, that there are large bands of orphan children roaming around N Korea. There is no sugar coating these stories. Even life in S Korea isn't always a reprieve - and it is interesting to learn how many refuges have trouble adjusting to their new lives. Parallels with East/West Germans and the type of problems S Korea might face if there is reunification with N Korea are insightful. I highly recommend this book.

    Although the narrator has been criticized, I think this is unfair. In my opinion, her style fit the documentary style of the book and allowed the drama inherent in the lives of the characters to carry the story.

DS
DS NH 02-15-13 Member Since 2012

Say something about yourself!

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  • Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

    "THE CIA AT IT'S BEST"

    1 of 1 helpful votes

    The CIA at it's best -- this is the book on which the award nominated film is based. Makes you proud that in the middle of a bureaucratic mess, there are individuals who think creatively and have the skills and courage to pull of some really audacious stuff to protect us all.

    More

    Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 27 mins)
    • By Antonio Mendez, Matt Baglio
    • Narrated By Dylan Baker
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (192)
    Performance
    (170)
    Story
    (169)

    On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the American embassy in Tehran and captured dozens of American hostages, sparking a 444-day ordeal and a quake in global politics still reverberating today. But there's a little-known footnote to the crisis: six Americans escaped. And a midlevel agent named Antonio Mendez devised an ingenious yet incredibly risky plan to rescue them. Armed with foreign film visas, Mendez and an unlikely team of CIA agents and Hollywood insiders traveled to Tehran....

    Debra Garfinkle says: "Better Than the Movie"

What's Trending in World Affairs:

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  • 4.9 (12 ratings)
    The Crisis of Zionism
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    The Crisis of Zionism
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    • Peter Beinart

    The Crisis of Zionism

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 40 mins)
    • By Peter Beinart
    • Narrated By Lloyd James
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    (11)
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    A dramatic shift is taking place in Israel and America. In Israel, the deepening occupation of the West Bank is putting Israeli democracy at risk. In the United States, the refusal of major Jewish organizations to defend democracy in the Jewish state is alienating many young liberal Jews from Zionism itself. In the next generation, the liberal Zionist dream - the dream of a state that safeguards the Jewish people and cherishes democratic ideals - may die.

    Mushon says: "Urgent call to save the Jewish state from itself!"
  • 4.8 (11 ratings)
    Front Lines: Memorable Reporting From The New Yorker
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    Front Lines: Memorable Reporting From The New Yorker
    ABRIDGED
    • Ken Auletta , Seymour M. Hersh , David Remnick , Jane Mayer

    Front Lines: Memorable Reporting From The New Yorker

    • ABRIDGED (6 hrs and 40 mins)
    • By Ken Auletta, Seymour M. Hersh, David Remnick, and others
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    From the corridors of power in Washington to the prison cells of Guantanamo to the disease-ravaged communities of Africa, The New Yorker takes you directly to the scene of today's biggest stories. Along the way, you'll hear great reporting by such best-selling writers as Malcolm Gladwell, David Remnick, Ken Auletta, and Seymour Hersh.

  • 4.4 (1257 ratings)
    Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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    Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
    UNABRIDGED
    • Barbara Demick

    Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 29 mins)
    • By Barbara Demick
    • Narrated By Karen White
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    Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.

    Gohar says: "The man who wants to be GOD"
  • 4.4 (934 ratings)
    The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
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    The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
    UNABRIDGED
    • Lawrence Wright

    The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

    • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 23 mins)
    • By Lawrence Wright
    • Narrated By Alan Sklar
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    This is a sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans, and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.

    John says: "Riveting... Sobering... Chilling..."
  •  
  • 4.3 (811 ratings)
    Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit
    Play Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit
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    Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit
    UNABRIDGED
    • Eric L. Haney

    Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit

    • UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 1 min)
    • By Eric L. Haney
    • Narrated By Robertson Dean
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (811)
    Performance
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    Delta Force—the US Army’s most elite top-secret strike force. They dominate the modern battlefield, but you won’t hear about their heroics on CNN. No headlines can reveal their top-secret missions, and no book has ever taken readers inside—until now. Here, a founding member of Delta Force takes us behind the veil of secrecy and into the action to reveal the never-before-told story of First Special Forces Operational Detachment-D (Delta Force).

    Darwin8u says: "Informative & Entertaining Memoir >|< Myth"
  • 4.3 (720 ratings)
    The Post-American World
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    The Post-American World
    UNABRIDGED
    • Fareed Zakaria

    The Post-American World

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 33 mins)
    • By Fareed Zakaria
    • Narrated By Fareed Zakaria
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    (99)
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    For Fareed Zakaria, the great story of our times is not the decline of America but rather the rise of everyone else - the growth of countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, and many, many more. This economic growth is generating a new global landscape where power is shifting and wealth and innovation are bubbling up in unexpected places.

    Gus says: "The Rise of Chindia"
  • 4.4 (524 ratings)
    The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
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    The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
    ABRIDGED
    • Naomi Klein

    The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

    • ABRIDGED (9 hrs and 1 min)
    • By Naomi Klein
    • Narrated By Jennifer Wiltsie
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    In her ground-breaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism". Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment": losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers.

    Nika says: "You can't be neutral..."
  • 4.5 (392 ratings)
    Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
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    Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
    UNABRIDGED
    • Nicholas D. Kristof , Sheryl WuDunn

    Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 33 mins)
    • By Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
    • Narrated By Cassandra Campbell
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    An old Chinese proverb says "Women hold up half the sky." Then why do the women of Africa and Asia persistently suffer human rights abuses? Continuing their focus on humanitarian issues, journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn take us to Africa and Asia, where many women live in profoundly dire circumstances.

    Ella says: ""Women hold up half the sky""
  •  
  • 4.3 (327 ratings)
    Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
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    Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
    UNABRIDGED
    • Dan Senor , Saul Singer

    Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 24 mins)
    • By Dan Senor, Saul Singer
    • Narrated By Sean Pratt
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    Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel - a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources - produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK?

    morton says: "A Remarkable Audio!"
  • 4.6 (321 ratings)
    Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
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    UNABRIDGED
    • Sean Parnell , John Bruning

    Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 17 mins)
    • By Sean Parnell, John Bruning
    • Narrated By Ray Porter
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    At 24 years of age, U.S. Army Ranger Sean Parnell was named commander of a forty-man elite infantry platoon - a unit that came to be known as the Outlaws - and was tasked with rooting out Pakistan-based insurgents from a mountain valley along Afghanistan's eastern frontier. Parnell and his men assumed they would be facing a ragtag bunch of civilians, but in May 2006 what started out as a routine patrol through the lower mountains of the Hindu Kush became a brutal ambush.

    Chris says: "Great book...Everyone should listen to this book!!"
  • 4.3 (256 ratings)
    At Home: A Short History of Private Life
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    UNABRIDGED
    • Bill Bryson

    At Home: A Short History of Private Life

    • UNABRIDGED (16 hrs and 38 mins)
    • By Bill Bryson
    • Narrated By Bill Bryson
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    Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business. This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, considering how the ordinary things in life came to be.

    Andrew says: "New Speaker Needed acquire within!"
  • 4.4 (208 ratings)
    The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
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    The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
    UNABRIDGED
    • Jake Tapper

    The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

    • UNABRIDGED (22 hrs and 21 mins)
    • By Jake Tapper
    • Narrated By Rob Shapiro
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    At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of October 3, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating was viciously attacked by Taliban insurgents. The 53 U.S. troops, having been stationed at the bottom of three steep mountains, were severely outmanned by nearly 400 Taliban fighters. Though the Americans ultimately prevailed, their casualties made it one of the war's deadliest battles for U.S. forces. And after more than three years in that dangerous and vulnerable valley a mere 14 miles from the Pakistan border, the U.S. abandoned and bombed the camp.

    Jason says: "A must read!"

Best Sellers

(More World Affairs Best Sellers) All World Affairs Best Sellers
  • Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
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    Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
    UNABRIDGED
    • Blaine Harden

    Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 31 mins)
    • By Blaine Harden
    • Narrated By Blaine Harden
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    (239)
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    (208)
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    North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped - but Shin Dong-hyuk did.

    Amanda says: "Worthwhile, but difficult on many levels."
  • Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game
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    Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game
    UNABRIDGED
    • Paul Midler

    Poorly Made in China: An Insider's Account of the Tactics Behind China's Production Game

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 3 mins)
    • By Paul Midler
    • Narrated By Paul Midler
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    (160)
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    (95)
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    (97)

    It was a world gone wrong, one in which manufacturers thought little of manipulating product quality levels in order to save the smallest amounts, where savvy foreign business leaders were made to feel in control while they were taken for a ride by their partners, where entire manufacturing facilities sometimes vanished right into thin air... Welcome to Poorly Made in China!

    John says: "Hours of jaw dropping amazment"
  • Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
    Play Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
    Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
    UNABRIDGED
    • Katherine Boo

    Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 15 mins)
    • By Katherine Boo
    • Narrated By Sunil Malhotra
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    (303)
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    (262)
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    Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption.

    Dr. says: "An Antidote for Shantaram"
  • The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
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    The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
    UNABRIDGED
    • Richard Preston

    The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 5 mins)
    • By Richard Preston
    • Narrated By Richard M. Davidson
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    A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days, 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

    aaron says: "If you love viruses and gore and non-fiction..."
  •  
  • Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
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    Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
    UNABRIDGED
    • Tim Weiner

    Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

    • UNABRIDGED (21 hrs and 25 mins)
    • By Tim Weiner
    • Narrated By Stefan Rudnicki
    Overall
    (1737)
    Performance
    (377)
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    (374)

    This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.

    Michael says: "Flawed but Important"
  • Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
    Play Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
    Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
    UNABRIDGED
    • Daron Acemoglu , James Robinson

    Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

    • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 55 mins)
    • By Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson
    • Narrated By Dan Woren
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    (193)
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    Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

    Joshua Kim says: "Pros and Cons of "Why Nations Fail""
  • The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
    Play The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
    The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
    UNABRIDGED
    • Jake Tapper

    The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

    • UNABRIDGED (22 hrs and 21 mins)
    • By Jake Tapper
    • Narrated By Rob Shapiro
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (208)
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    (184)
    Story
    (182)

    At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of October 3, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating was viciously attacked by Taliban insurgents. The 53 U.S. troops, having been stationed at the bottom of three steep mountains, were severely outmanned by nearly 400 Taliban fighters. Though the Americans ultimately prevailed, their casualties made it one of the war's deadliest battles for U.S. forces. And after more than three years in that dangerous and vulnerable valley a mere 14 miles from the Pakistan border, the U.S. abandoned and bombed the camp.

    Jason says: "A must read!"
  • The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
    Play The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
    The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
    UNABRIDGED
    • Lawrence Wright

    The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

    • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 23 mins)
    • By Lawrence Wright
    • Narrated By Alan Sklar
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (934)
    Performance
    (241)
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    (240)

    This is a sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans, and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.

    John says: "Riveting... Sobering... Chilling..."
  •  
  • Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
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    Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
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    • Nicholas D. Kristof , Sheryl WuDunn

    Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 33 mins)
    • By Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
    • Narrated By Cassandra Campbell
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (392)
    Performance
    (178)
    Story
    (175)

    An old Chinese proverb says "Women hold up half the sky." Then why do the women of Africa and Asia persistently suffer human rights abuses? Continuing their focus on humanitarian issues, journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn take us to Africa and Asia, where many women live in profoundly dire circumstances.

    Ella says: ""Women hold up half the sky""
  • Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
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    Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
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    • Sean Parnell , John Bruning

    Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 17 mins)
    • By Sean Parnell, John Bruning
    • Narrated By Ray Porter
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (321)
    Performance
    (280)
    Story
    (282)

    At 24 years of age, U.S. Army Ranger Sean Parnell was named commander of a forty-man elite infantry platoon - a unit that came to be known as the Outlaws - and was tasked with rooting out Pakistan-based insurgents from a mountain valley along Afghanistan's eastern frontier. Parnell and his men assumed they would be facing a ragtag bunch of civilians, but in May 2006 what started out as a routine patrol through the lower mountains of the Hindu Kush became a brutal ambush.

    Chris says: "Great book...Everyone should listen to this book!!"
  • Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History
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    Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History
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    • Antonio Mendez , Matt Baglio

    Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 27 mins)
    • By Antonio Mendez, Matt Baglio
    • Narrated By Dylan Baker
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (192)
    Performance
    (170)
    Story
    (169)

    On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the American embassy in Tehran and captured dozens of American hostages, sparking a 444-day ordeal and a quake in global politics still reverberating today. But there's a little-known footnote to the crisis: six Americans escaped. And a midlevel agent named Antonio Mendez devised an ingenious yet incredibly risky plan to rescue them. Armed with foreign film visas, Mendez and an unlikely team of CIA agents and Hollywood insiders traveled to Tehran....

    Debra Garfinkle says: "Better Than the Movie"
  • Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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    Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
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    • Barbara Demick

    Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 29 mins)
    • By Barbara Demick
    • Narrated By Karen White
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1257)
    Performance
    (707)
    Story
    (705)

    Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years - a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung and the unchallenged rise to power of his son, Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Taking us into a landscape never before seen, Demick brings to life what it means to be an average Korean citizen, living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today.

    Gohar says: "The man who wants to be GOD"

New Releases

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  • The Polish August
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    The Polish August
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    • Neal Ascherson

    The Polish August

    • UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 37 mins)
    • By Neal Ascherson
    • Narrated By Steven Hoye
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    What has happened in Poland? Poland has erupted four times in the last 25 years, but only the events of 1980 have had comprehensive media coverage. As a result, many questions have been raised in the minds of Western observers. How were such changes possible? What forces lay behind them? In what way did the workers' strike relate to the demands for political democracy? Although a colourful and vivid eye-witness account of the 1980 upheavals, it is to these questions that Neal Ascherson's brilliant and thoughtful analysis mainly addresses itself.

  • The Great Degeneration
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    The Great Degeneration
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    • Niall Ferguson

    The Great Degeneration

    • UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 16 mins)
    • By Niall Ferguson
    • Narrated By Paul Slack
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    Symptoms of decline are all around us today, it seems: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations, anti-social behaviour. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions - the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail - are degenerating. To arrest the degeneration of the West's civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform.

  • Superstorm Sandy: A Diary in the Dark
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    Superstorm Sandy: A Diary in the Dark
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    • William Westhoven

    Superstorm Sandy: A Diary in the Dark

    • UNABRIDGED (3 hrs and 23 mins)
    • By William Westhoven
    • Narrated By Kaleo Griffith
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    Written and published within a month of the worst storm to ever hit the New Jersey-New York area, Superstorm Sandy: A Diary in the Dark is a first-person account of one New Jersey resident's 12 days without power or heat in his North Jersey home. The author, William Westhoven, an award-winning New Jersey journalist and author, mixes personal drama and observations with fact-based reporting and a liberal dose of "you have to laugh or you'll cry" humor. His quick work has resulted in the first book to document the arrival of Superstorm Sandy and the immediate recovery period that followed.

  • Amazing Diving Stories: Incredible Tales from Beneath the Deep Sea
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    Amazing Diving Stories: Incredible Tales from Beneath the Deep Sea
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    • John Bantin

    Amazing Diving Stories: Incredible Tales from Beneath the Deep Sea

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 50 mins)
    • By John Bantin
    • Narrated By Dean Williamson
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    A collection of thrilling diving stories.There's everything from classic tales of wreck discoveries to encounters with beautiful and bizarre creatures beneath the waves. There are stories of death and disaster as well as bravery and triumph. Each tale has been chosen to stoke the fire of divers everywhere and some are illustrated with colour photographs.Take the plunge and read about the diver who discovered how to put sharks in a trance and the marine biologist who lost a limb trying to prove that sharks were safe to swim with.

  •  
  • Worlds Beyond Words
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    Worlds Beyond Words
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    • Alison Stokes

    Worlds Beyond Words

    • UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 4 mins)
    • By Alison Stokes
    • Narrated By Tim Goodman, Antonia Beamish, Penelope Rawlins
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    For the thousands of people who struggle with poor literacy, words can be scary things. Worlds Beyond Words is a selection of inspirational real life stories from people who have improved their lives through better literacy. From successful businessmen and sports stars, redundant factory workers and refugees, their stories offer the key for others to unlock new worlds.

  • Arena
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    Arena
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    • John Pearson

    Arena

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 44 mins)
    • By John Pearson
    • Narrated By Dan Hildebrand
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    In the Year AD 80 the Colosseum opened with quite the longest and most nauseating organized mass orgy in history. It was a mammoth celebration on the grandest scale, a fitting inauguration for an arena built to epitomize all the majesty and power of the Roman Empire, a building which also held the seeds of that Empire's decay and destruction. As well as his vivid account of the erection of the Colosseum, Mr Pearson discusses the origins of death spectacles and their evolution into highly organized games

  • Parthian Words
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    Parthian Words
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    • Storm Jameson

    Parthian Words

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 30 mins)
    • By Storm Jameson
    • Narrated By Joanna Daniel
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    This short audiobook offers the dispassionate but sharp-tongued comments on the novel, by an old fiction hand, a personal exercise of taste and judgment, backed by a life interest in the history and methods of literary criticism. It reviews the evergreen question of the death of the novel, so often and confidently announced; the difficulties, peculiar to our nihilistic and often brutal age, that press on the contemporary novelist; the effect on him and his work of the technological revolution.

  • In My Good Books
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    In My Good Books
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    • V.S. Pritchett

    In My Good Books

    • UNABRIDGED (6 hrs)
    • By V.S. Pritchett
    • Narrated By Graeme Malcolm
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    In Mr. Pritchett's view, rules, regulations and blitzes have brought things to such a pass that the moment will come when only the reader "and the hundred best authors are left in the world and have somehow to shake down together." To prepare for this "unnerving situation" he has re-read and re-assessed some of these authors, and the essays collected in this book are the fruit of his cogitations.

  •  
  • 1939: The Last Season of Peace
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    1939: The Last Season of Peace
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    • Angela Lambert

    1939: The Last Season of Peace

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 27 mins)
    • By Angela Lambert
    • Narrated By Kelly Birch
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    It was called the London Season, and for three centuries it had been a time of fashionable suppers and brilliant balls that introduced England's most aristocratic and eligible girls to society. Though by 1939 the stately gavottes and minuets had long since given way to waltzes and fox-trots, the cream of young womanhood still curtsied low before the Queen and then went out to dance the night away with the young men they would one day marry. But the Season of 1939 was different: it was to be the last.

  • A Notebook on William Shakespeare
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    A Notebook on William Shakespeare
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    • Edith Sitwell

    A Notebook on William Shakespeare

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 49 mins)
    • By Edith Sitwell
    • Narrated By Jane McDowell
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    This book may be described as Dame Edith Sitwell's personal notebook. It consists of essays on the subject of the general aspect of the plays-those great hymns to the principle and the glory of life, in which there are the same differences in nature, in matter, in light, in darkness, in movement, that we find in the universe, and in which the characters are so vast they seem each an element (Water, Hamlet; Air, Romeo and Juliet; Fire, King Lear) and which yet bear the stamp of our common humanity...

  • Bath
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    Bath
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    • Edith Sitwell

    Bath

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 5 mins)
    • By Edith Sitwell
    • Narrated By Helen Lloyd
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    In eighteenth century Bath, where Beau Nash ruled as uncrowned king for so many years, the fashionable members of English society found a splendid justification for improving their health and enjoying themselves at the same time. They took the waters assiduously, gambled excessively, danced away the evenings at cotillion balls, and spent the mornings strolling along the Parades in their elegant finery, and exchanging gossip in the coffee houses.

  • Lasting Impressions
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    Lasting Impressions
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    • V. S. Pritchett

    Lasting Impressions

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 38 mins)
    • By V. S. Pritchett
    • Narrated By Michael Page
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    The essays in Lasting Impressions have never before appeared in book form and together they make up, in the author's own words, a journey through different countries and different generations. The subjects range from Bruce Chatwin and Salmon Rushdie to Simon de Beauvoir and Bernard Shaw, from Lorca and Flaubert to John Updike and Walker Percy, from P. G. Wodehouse and Molly Keane to Andre Malraux and Antoine de Saint-Exupery.