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The Book of Charlie
- Narrated by: David Von Drehle
- Length: 7 hrs
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Publisher's summary
One of our nation’s most prominent writers finds the truth about how to live a long and happy life in the centenarian next door.
When a veteran Washington journalist moved to Kansas, he met a new neighbor who was more than a century old. Little did he know that he was beginning a long friendship—and a profound lesson in the meaning of life. Charlie White was no ordinary neighbor. Born before radio, Charlie lived long enough to use a smartphone. When a shocking tragedy interrupted his idyllic boyhood, Charlie mastered survival strategies that reflect thousands of years of human wisdom. Thus armored, Charlie’s sense of adventure carried him on an epic journey across the continent, and later found him swinging across bandstands of the Jazz Age, racing aboard ambulances through Depression-era gangster wars, improvising techniques for early open-heart surgery, and cruising the Amazon as a guest of Peru’s president.
David Von Drehle came to understand that Charlie’s resilience and willingness to grow made this remarkable neighbor a master in the art of thriving through times of dramatic change. As a gift to his children, he set out to tell Charlie’s secrets. The Book of Charlie is a gospel of grit—the inspiring story of one man’s journey through a century of upheaval. The history that unfolds through Charlie’s story reminds you that the United States has always been a divided nation, a questing nation, an inventive nation—a nation of Charlies in the rollercoaster pursuit of a good and meaningful life.
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Story
On March 25, 1911, as workers were getting ready to leave for the day, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York's Greenwich Village. Within minutes it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen who arrived at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders simply weren't tall enough. People on the street watched in horror as desperate workers jumped to their deaths. It was the worst disaster in New York City history.
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Interesting but Loong
- By JAS on 04-21-18
By: David Von Drehle
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The Memory Library
- By: Kate Storey
- Narrated by: Jilly Bond, Imogen Wilde
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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For forty-two years, Sally Harrison has been building a library. Each year, on her daughter’s birthday, she adds a new book to her shelves – with a note in the front dedicated to her own greatest work. But Ella – Sally’s only child – fled to Australia twenty-two years ago after a heated exchange, and never looked back. And though Sally still dutifully adds a new paperback to the shelves every time the clock strikes midnight on July 11th, her hopes of her daughter ever thumbing through the pages are starting to dwindle.
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The heartwarming relationship between mother and daughter
- By Barbara Armstrong on 05-02-24
By: Kate Storey
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American Rust
- By: Philipp Meyer
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation-as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love-that arise from its loss. From local bars to train yards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes.
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A Web of Despair and Desperation
- By Darwin8u on 07-16-12
By: Philipp Meyer
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When Winter Came
- A Country Doctor’s Journey to Fight the Flu Pandemic of 1918
- By: Mary Beth Sartor Obermeyer
- Narrated by: Pete Bradbury, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Sartor wrote an inspiring first-person account of how he treated more than 1,000 patients—and by his reckoning, lost only five—which lay forgotten in a lockbox of family artifacts until it was discovered decades later by his granddaughter, Beth Obermeyer, a journalist and author of three previous books. Beth knew her grandfather through her teenage years and grew up absorbing family stories. Based upon Dr. Sartor’s memoir and her years of research, she vividly reconstructs his life from childhood in Luxembourg to medical school in Chicago, courtship and marriage.
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A marvelous accounting of two remarkable physicians
- By med1pilot on 01-28-24
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Into the Abyss
- An Extraordinary True Story
- By: Carol Shaben
- Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Only four men survived the plane crash. The pilot. A politician. A cop... and the criminal he was shackled to. On an icy night in October 1984, a commuter plane carrying nine passengers crashed in the remote wilderness of northern Alberta. Four survived: the rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a cop, and the criminal he was escorting to face charges. As the men fight through the night to stay alive, the dividing lines of power, wealth, and status are erased, and each man is forced to confront the precious and limited nature of his existence.
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Too long, and it got boring.
- By Simone on 06-30-17
By: Carol Shaben
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The Last Castle
- The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home
- By: Denise Kiernan
- Narrated by: Denise Kiernan
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York's best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness.
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Very factual
- By Jennifer on 11-28-17
By: Denise Kiernan
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Robin
- By: Dave Itzkoff
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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From his rapid-fire stand-up comedy riffs to his breakout role in Mork & Mindy and his Academy Award-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. He often came across as a man possessed, holding forth on culture and politics while mixing in personal revelations - all with mercurial, tongue-twisting intensity as he inhabited and shed one character after another with lightning speed. But as Dave Itzkoff shows in this revelatory biography, Williams’ comic brilliance masked a deep well of conflicting emotions and self-doubt.
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Disappointing but worth a read
- By Joe Moore on 05-18-18
By: Dave Itzkoff
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The Wedding Veil
- By: Kristy Woodson Harvey
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus, Janet Metzger, Rebekkah Ross, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Julia Baxter’s wedding veil, bequeathed to her great-grandmother by a mysterious woman on a train in the 1930s, has passed through generations of her family as a symbol of a happy marriage. But on the morning of her wedding day, something tells her that even the veil’s good luck isn’t enough to make her marriage last forever. Overwhelmed and panicked, she escapes to the Virgin Islands to clear her head.
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Difficulty with one narrator
- By Pamela on 05-06-22
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Daughter of Empire
- My Life as a Mountbatten
- By: Pamela Hicks
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Few families can boast of not one but two saints among their ancestors, a great-aunt who was the last tsarina of Russia, a father who was Grace Kelly's pinup, and a grandmother who was not only a princess but could also argue the finer points of naval law. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born at the very end of the Roaring Twenties.
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Beautifully Impressive Narrative of Aristocracy
- By Robert W Bruso on 08-31-17
By: Pamela Hicks
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American Ramble
- A Walk of Memory and Renewal
- By: Neil King
- Narrated by: Will Tulin
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Neil King Jr.’s desire to walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City began as a whim and soon became an obsession. By the spring of 2021, events had intervened that gave his desire greater urgency. His neighborhood still reeled from the January 6th insurrection. Covid lockdowns and a rancorous election had deepened America’s divides. Neil himself bore the imprints of a long battle with cancer.
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Had Potential Failed to Execute
- By L. Mortensen on 04-15-23
By: Neil King
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The Sin of Certainty
- Why God Desires Our Trust More than Our "Correct" Beliefs
- By: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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With compelling and often humorous stories from his own life, Bible scholar Peter Enns offers a fresh look at how Christian life truly works, answering questions that cannot be addressed by the idealized traditional doctrine of "once for all delivered to the saints".
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Title may mislead the actual content
- By Adam Shields on 05-26-16
By: Peter Enns
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The Greatest Beer Run Ever
- A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
- By: John "Chick" Donohue, J.T. Molloy
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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One night in 1967, 26-year-old John Donohue - known as Chick - was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now, they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves. One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired - some would call it insane - idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer. It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever.
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Really a good book. Brings back memories
- By Bruce on 06-21-21
By: John "Chick" Donohue, and others
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A Man of Iron
- The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland
- By: Troy Senik
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli, Troy Senik
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism.
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Worth the Wait!
- By Brian S Cunningham on 09-21-22
By: Troy Senik
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Wizard
- The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius
- By: Marc J. Seifer
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 22 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology.
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Tesla was a hundred years ahead of his time
- By Jean on 01-28-12
By: Marc J. Seifer
What listeners say about The Book of Charlie
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mike
- 06-10-23
Inspiring
Charlie had a way of approaching life that was inspiring, a take it as it comes and then deal with it.
How interesting to watch a life that lived through the many changes and advances and adventures that were part of his time.
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- Matt
- 06-21-23
Inspiring life story
Charlie’s approach to the challenges and opportunities he faced throughout his life was to embrace each one with confidence and optimism. The author does a wonderful job of describing the technological advances and societal changes that created the backdrop for Charlie’s incredible experiences.
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- A. Heath
- 06-26-23
Real History with Charm
The author tells the story of his neighbor and friend, Charlie. A man who lived 109 years. Through the eyes of this journalist we travel through historical times viewing the amazing discoveries, inventions and cultural changes. Our view is with Charlie in focus. This is a story historians will enjoy very much. If you fall in the category of a “senior citizen”, then you will cherish it more having your own years of life to look back on and to which to look forward. This story is not a downer. Though it is full of “real life” sad episodes, you will find the resilience of Charlie a true life account of an everyday hero. I will not forget the story and the legacy of Charlie.
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- Diane
- 10-24-23
Wonderful story
The story of Charlie is full of wisdom and humor. Full of simple advice to live by. Well done!
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- tlszpiech
- 11-29-23
Fantastic
I liked the book from beginning to end I found it funny, informative, reflective, and made me reflect back on my almost 103 year mother-in-law, the same life as the book of Charlie
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- Donna M. Moore
- 03-21-24
Charlie's attitide, visiting what it was like during the depression years, before penicillin, and before television
Loved the respectful conversational style of the writer and the fact that he read his own book.
Means a lot when they care enough to read their own books.
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- David M. Walton
- 05-30-23
A great read, offering a prescription for success
This is a great book which offers one man’s prescription for successful life I highly recommend it
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- Robert P. Lentz III
- 06-11-23
A wonderful rendition of a life well lived
Would that we all could pass through life as did Charlie ! Lessons that apply to all generations.
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- David Okerberg
- 06-15-23
Loved it
Growing up in Kansas with a wonderful Father born in 1905 - I was connected! With Charlie.
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- Kady D
- 06-28-23
Wisdom to Live by…
This book was amazing. I can only hope to live life to its fullest like Charlie ❤️
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