Showing results by narrator "John Nelson" in All Categories

Nazca, once only an isolated settlement in the midst of the Peruvian desert, is today the meeting place for archaeologists from around the world. From here you can fly over the celebrated Nazca pampa and appreciate the massive scale of the extraordinary markings on the surrounding landscape. Some of these lines are over twenty kilometers long! Drawing on over thirty years of study, Erich von Daniken examines the various theories that attempt to explain the Nazca phenomena in terms of religious ritual, ancient roads, and astrological symbols.

Nearly a decade after Spain's conquest of Mexico, the future of Christianity on the American continent was very much in doubt. Confronted with a hostile colonial government and Native Americans wary of conversion, the newly-appointed bishop-elect of Mexico wrote to tell the King of Spain that, unless there was a miracle, the continent would be lost.

What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world's most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will revolutionize the way you think about yourself and the world.

What do Apple CEO Steve Jobs, comedian Chris Rock, prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, the story developers at Pixar films, and the Army Chief of Strategic Plans all have in common? Best-selling author Peter Sims found that all of them have achieved breakthrough results by methodically taking small, experimental steps in order to discover and develop new ideas.

If you have tried to lose weight and failed, or lost weight and failed to keep it off, you're not alone. Two out of three Americans are overweight, many with between thirty and one hundred pounds to lose. Now Dr. James W. Anderson, a professor of medicine and clinical nutrition at the University of Kentucky, shares his groundbreaking, scientifically based nutritional plan that has already helped thousands of Americans lose weight-sometimes more than one hundred pounds-and keep it off permanently.

A great recurring character in a series you love becomes an old friend. You learn about their strange quirks and their haunted pasts and root for them every time they face danger. But where do some of the most fascinating sleuths in the mystery and thriller world really come from? What was the real-life location that inspired Michael Connelly to make Harry Bosch a Vietnam vet tunnel rat? Why is Lee Child's Jack Reacher a drifter?

In April 1864, the Union garrison at Fort Pillow was composed of almost 600 troops, about half of them black. The Confederacy, incensed by what it saw as a crime against nature, sent its fiercest cavalry commander, Nathan Bedford Forrest, to attack the fort with about 1,500 men. The Confederates overran the fort and drove the Federals into a deadly crossfire. Only 62 of the colored Union troops survived the fight unwounded.

Since the dawn of time, when the first smitten caveboy tried to woo the object of his affections by shoving her into the mud, men have demonstrated that when it comes to women, they are profoundly stupid. And when it comes to men, women---no matter how intelligent or mature---are completely crazy. Based on this simple yet groundbreaking insight, comedy writers and real-life couple Howard J. Morris and Jenny Lee have devised a relationship guide that is refreshingly honest.

For the past three decades, America has steadily become a nation of haves and have-nots. Our incomes are increasingly unequal. This steady growing apart is often mentioned as a troubling indicator by scholars and policy analysts, though seldom addressed by politicians. What economics Nobelist Paul Krugman terms "the Great Divergence" has till now been treated as little more than a talking point, a rhetorical club to be wielded in ideological battles. But this Great Divergence may be the most important change in this country during our lifetimes.

This is a true story of war, the story of one man's transformation as he retraces the mine-strewn roads of a land itself transformed by mankind's most shockingly inhuman practice. It is the firsthand account of a member of one of the United States Army's three-man Tactical Psychological Operations Teams, groups of men tasked with winning the hearts and minds of Iraq's civilian population through leaflets, loudspeakers, conversation, and bribery.

Jonathan Lethem's new collection of stories is a feast for his fans and the perfect introduction for new listeners: a smorgasbord of fantastic, amusing, poignant tales written in a dizzying variety of styles. Lethem is a trailblazer of a new kind of literary fiction, sampling high and low culture to create fictional worlds that are utterly original.

Carl Safina has been hailed as one of the top 100 conservationists of the 20th century (Audubon Magazine) and A Sea in Flames is his blistering account of the months-long manmade disaster that tormented a region and mesmerized the nation. Traveling across the Gulf to make sense of an ever-changing story and its often-nonsensical twists, Safina expertly deconstructs the series of calamitous misjudgments that caused the Deepwater Horizon blowout, zeroes in on BP’s misstatements, evasions, and denials, reassesses his own reaction to the government’s crisis handling, and reviews the consequences of the leak.

Sixteen of America's favorite author-anglers spin tales of mystery and fishing in this collection. From the tragic to the comic with many stops in between, these stories reflect the authors' passions for both making stories and catching fish. Michael Connelly, Ridley Pearson, John Lescroart, Don Winslow, Melodie Johnson Howe, Victoria Houston, and others all share a mysterious affection for things piscatorial when not busy writing best-selling books.

This book clearly explains the highly successful portfolio management system used by the authors to protect their clients' wealth as well as garner substantial gains - by participating in profitable market opportunities when they occur. Divided into several informative and engaging sections, The Evergreen Portfolio reveals how you can use hedges to protect the long portion of your portfolio when the market starts to go down. It covers the tactical and technical methodologies needed to protect and grow your assets at a time when many investors are getting wiped out.

This hands-on guide covers topics unique to this segment, including cost justification, prospecting and lead generation, matching tools to the sales funnel, building, B2B search engine optimization, social media monitoring, social media policy development, long-term client relationships, gaining stakeholder support, building a more transparent organization, and what's coming next.

Buy bank-owned properties at fire-sale prices! Banks and lending institutions today own more than one million foreclosed properties, more are in the foreclosure pipeline. Banks desperately want to get these properties off their balance sheets, but there aren't enough buyers. The result is a soft real estate market with prices investors and homeowners may not see again in their lifetime. 

When Logan goes searching for the Perfect Monster Wave, he doesn't expect his former best friend to be killed by it. Add to this a deadbeat dad who bankrupted his family and the possibility of college going down the drain, and Logan is suddenly in a tailspin.

On the same day that reporter Jeffrey Kaye visited the Tondo hospital in northwest Manila, members of an employees association wearing hospital uniforms rallied in the outside courtyard demanding pay raises. The nurses at the hospital took home about $261 a month, while in the United States, nurses earn, on average, more than fifteen times that rate of pay. No wonder so many of them leave the Philippines. Between 2000 and 2007, nearly 78,000 qualified nurses left the Philippines to work abroad, but there's more to it than the pull of better wages....

Beautiful Emma meets and marries Doctor Charles Bovary. He's happy for the first time in his life - but Emma is distraught that her marriage lacks the passion and romance of her fantasies. Dazzled by the splendour of a marquis’ ball, she longs for excitement and soon becomes infatuated with a young solicitor, Léon Dupuis. But when Dupuis moves away, her memories of him lead her to despair - and into the arms of wealthy landowner Rodolphe Boulanger. As she moves from one illicit liaison to another, Emma’s complicated life begins to unravel. 

Xena and Xander Holmes are back....and so is a mysterious beast from Sherlock's casebook! Xena and Xander have been looking forward to their vacation in the peaceful country village of Blackslope. But when a huge monster begins to terrorize the town, the young detectives are faced with a mystery that seems impossible to solve. Sherlock Holmes, Xena's and Xander's famous ancestor, investigated the case of a horrible beast in Blackslope, but that was nearly a hundred years ago....