Showing results by narrator "René Ruiz" in All Categories

Do you have a dream you must pursue, but everyone says it's unrealistic? Or that you're not qualified? Too old, too out of shape? Or you don't have the "right experience?" Glenn Damato was a 41-year-old software instructor who sought to exceed the bounds of his comfortable but humdrum existence. He embarked on an adventure for which he was miserably unprepared. Why did he do this? How did he answer the ancient human question: how do we jump-start growth in our lives? We become something we were not.

Pizza and Taco love music! They make lists, and they have tryouts to get more band members. They think they have all the ingredients to rock the scene. But maybe this garage band should stay in the garage!!

This book offers a new model for creating inclusive organizations and illuminates the vital role that diversity plays in developing solutions to the critical social, environmental, and leadership challenges we face. While many companies are focusing on DEI efforts, what we need is to take inclusion to the next level. Our massive social, economic, and environmental challenges can only be solved only when organizations and institutions embrace complete inclusion.

Historians have long asserted that during and after the Hannibalic War, the Roman Republic's need to conscript men for long-term military service helped bring about the demise of Italy's small farms and that the misery of impoverished citizens then became fuel for the social and political conflagrations of the late republic. Nathan Rosenstein challenges this claim, showing how Rome reconciled the needs of war and agriculture throughout the middle republic.

A fifteen-year-old girl is found crucified in a suburb on the outskirts. Miren Triggs, an investigative reporter for the Manhattan Press, unexpectedly receives a mysterious envelope. Inside: a Polaroid picture of another gagged and bound teenager, with a simple caption: "GINA PEBBLES, 2002”. Miren Triggs and Jim Schmoer, her former journalism professor, follow the trail of the girl in the image while they investigate the crucifixion in New York. They will be led deep into a religious institution with strange rituals, and immersed in a dark secret that, if revealed, could change everything.

We all know math is important: We live in the age of big data, our lives are increasingly governed by algorithms, and we're constantly faced with a barrage of statistics about everything from politics to our health. But what might be less obvious is how math factors into your daily life and what memorizing all of those formulae in school had to do with it. Math prodigy Stefan Buijsman is beginning to change that through his pioneering research into the way we learn math.

It's Squish - a graphic novel series, now adapted for audio, about a comic book-loving, twinkie-eating grade school amoeba trying to find his place in the world (or at least trying to make it through a school day). Inspired by his favorite comic book hero, Super Amoeba!, Squish has to navigate school (bullies! detention! Principal Planaria!), family (dad: Hates to wear a tie. Secretly listens to heavy metal in the car), and friends (Peggy-rainbows! happy all the time! and Pod...who's...well, you just have to meet him).

He's baa-ack! It's a brand new school year for everyone's favorite amoeba! Will Squish finally get to sit with the cool kids at lunch? Will Pod stop the giant asteroid from destroying the world? Will the leeches be the end of Super Amoeba? And what makes cafeteria nachos so delicious anyway? Find out the answers to these questions and more in Squish's second electrifying, fast-paced adventure!

Cozy is the softest musk ox in Alaska, with the warmest fur you ever did feel. When a storm hits while he's separated from his family, he starts to feel lonely — but not for long. As the snow piles up, animals start to notice just how warm and cozy Cozy really is! One mama lemming has a bright idea...maybe the best place to spend the winter is under Cozy's fur!

Aaron and Grace Templeton will never forget the 1998 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The day their daughter Kiera got lost in the crowd. Investigative journalist Miren Triggs has spent years trying to help the Templetons find her. But with no leads, Miren fears there's nothing more she can do. Until Kiera's 8th birthday, when a video arrives showing Kiera alive and well, playing in a bedroom. Miren can't believe it - finally, a lead she can follow. Until another video arrives. It's the same bedroom. But Kiera is gone.

Clive Thompson’s Coders is a delightful place to begin to understand this vocation, which is both a profession and a way of life and which essentially didn’t exist little more than a generation ago, but now is considered just about the only safe bet we can make about what the future holds. Thompson takes us close to some of the great coders of our time and unpacks the surprising history of the field, beginning with the first great coders, who were women.

New backpacks? Check! Besties Pizza and Taco are ready to head back to school, but are they ready to meet the cool new kid? B.L.T. wears sunglasses—even in school! He's not even worried about being late to class. SO COOL! I mean, "whatever." Pizza and Taco quickly pick up on what's cool—and what's not—by watching B.L.T.'s every move. Will that spell t-r-o-u-b-l-e for Pizza and Taco with their teacher, Mr. Apple?

Pizza and Taco have the oh-so-relatable problem of not knowing what to do when boredom strikes. The answer? Throw a party! They have a location, a guest list, and decorations. Everything is perfect . . . until it isn't. In fact, it's kind of a DISASTER! Ice Cream has a meltdown, and who knew Hamburger was lactose intolerant? (Who invited Cheeseburger anyway?) Well, now they know how NOT to throw a party!!

It's soccer season! But the Waterfleas (Hey, it could be worse - Okay, maybe it couldn't.) are getting pummelled game after game. Squish knows winning isn't everything, but it's something right? Can Squish turn the losing streak around when he becomes team captain? Will Pod figure out how to harness the power of lightning? And how can amoebas play soccer when they don't have any feet? Find out in the electrifyingly funny Squish, Book 4: Captain Disaster - saving the world, one cell at a time!

It was only a wish. Connor Sullivan was painfully average. The very highlight of his existence was going to school, doing homework, and playing video games. He thought nothing would ever change that. Unfortunately, homework usually screws everything up. A cut, some blood, and a hastily scrawled promise to sell his soul for his fondest wish...and all hell breaks loose. Literally. The Demons take him up on his offer.

Pizza and Taco aren't afraid! To prove it, they dare each other to be scared. Dark closets and scary movies are a piece of cake—kind of. They're ready for the ultimate test—Ghost Pepper hunting! Pizza and Taco are sure they won't get scared...they made a list, after all!

Uh-oh! Squish’s friend Pod just hasn’t been himself lately. One minute he’s happy-dancing; the next he’s sobbing in his soup. What’s going on? (Hint: “mitosis” is the process that splits single-celled organisms. That’s right, splits.) It is truly Pod vs. Pod - and may the best Pod, umm, win?

Uh-oh! A deadly disease is spreading through Small Pond! People are dropping like flies! And yikes - it looks like Squish is patient number one. Will this epic epidemic be the end of everyone’s favorite amoeba? (And if it is, who will he leave his comic collection to?) Find out the answers in the seventh hilarious Squish adapted-for-audio novel: Deadly Disease of Doom!  

School's out! Everyone's favorite amoeba is headed to summer camp! But instead of super awesome fun, Squish's summer is turning out to be super awesome terrifying! For one thing, Squish can't swim. And to make matters worse, his new camp friend is a Hydra (scientific fact: A hydra's tentacles can paralyze you!). Will Squish sink or will he swim this summer? (And what's up with Pod and black holes anyways??)

After conducting a unique global study of over 9,000 people, analysts at the world-leading sales research firm Gartner identified four distinct types of manager. Incredibly, they found one type consistently performs far better than the rest, and it wasn’t the one they were expecting. Connector Managers understand that it’s not enough for managers to just encourage and teach employees themselves, and that providing constant coaching to employees can actually be detrimental to their independent development.