Showing results by narrator "Neil Holmes" in All Categories

Attention has become one of the world's scarcest commodities. And most brands are fighting for it the same way: by interrupting people more often, in more places, with more messages. Appreciated Branding offers another way. Drawing on nearly 30 years building brands including H&R Block, Burger King, and Mayo Clinic, Reid Holmes shows how mature brands can escape the Plateau of Indifference by becoming more meaningful to the people they want to attract. The premise is simple: Don't just ask what your brand can say to get attention. Do things that earn appreciation so others talk about you.

While people still romanticize the Wild West, many Americans are still all too familiar with the fate of the Donner Party, a group of 87-90 people that met with disaster in the Sierra Nevada mountain range during the winter of 1846-1847. The party knew the journey would take months, but early snowfalls in the mountains left dozens of people trapped in snow drifts that measured several feet, stranding them in a manner that made it virtually impossible for them to go any further for several weeks.

Appalachia has played a complex and often contradictory role in the unfolding of American history. Created by urban journalists in the years following the Civil War, the idea of Appalachia provided a counterpoint to emerging definitions of progress. Early 20th-century critics of modernity saw the region as a remnant of frontier life, a reflection of simpler times that should be preserved and protected.

It was the summer of 1992 and I was excited to go stay with my grandparents for a few weeks. They lived in a small community called Hell for Certain, located in rural eastern Kentucky. This meant a summer of hiking, hunting, camping, and just being away from the hustle and bustle of life. There was an abundance of wildlife, ranging from venomous snakes to bobcats, mountain lions, and bears. However, that fateful summer, I would find out that there were other creatures that roamed the mountains of my hometown. Could the stories I was told as a kid be real? Has myth became reality?

When American archaeologists discovered a collection of cuneiform tablets in Iraq in the late 19th century, they were confronted with a language and a people who were at the time only scarcely known to even the most knowledgeable scholars of ancient Mesopotamia: the Sumerians.

Few Presidents are remembered for their homes, but Jefferson's Monticello is the greatest exception to that rule, and it is one of the nations most recognizable landmarks.Nobody spent more time in the thick of the Revolutionary era than Thomas Jefferson, one of the most famous and revered Americans. Jefferson was instrumental in all of the debates before the Revolution, authoring the Declaration of Independence, laying out the ideological groundwork of the notion of states' rights, leading one of the first political parties, and overseeing the expansion of the United States during his presidency.

Transportation is the unsung hero in America's story. Stagecoaches, waterways, canals, railways, busses, and airplanes revolutionized much more than just the way people got around; they transformed the economic, political, and social aspects of everyday life. In Transportation and the American People, renowned historian H. Roger Grant tells the story of American transportation from its slow, uncomfortable, and often dangerous beginnings to the speed and comfort of travel today.

Stephen Devereux is convinced that the boogeyman, famous for targeting sleep-deprived souls, is out to get him. After all, it did put his older brother in a wheelchair a few months ago, and now that Stephen's been missing so much sleep, he's the perfect victim. The storm is breaking outside, and Stephen is getting tired. Will he find a way to stay awake, or suffer the wrath of a childhood fable?

A work of genuine social history, After the Black Death leads the listener into the villages and cities of European society. The book begins with an overview of family and community structure, social conflict, and religious beliefs. After describing the fundamental traits of both rural and urban society, it considers the elites, armed rebellion, poverty, criminality, sexual behavior, and marriage practices.

Within the sheltered walls of Cottoncrest, Augustine and Rebecca Chastaine have met their deaths under the same shroud of mystery that befell the former owner who had committed suicide at the end of the Civil War. Locals whisper about the curse of Cottoncrest Plantation, an otherworldly force that has now taken three lives. But Sheriff Raifer Jackson knows that even a specter needs a mortal accomplice, and after investigating the crime scene, he concludes that the apparent murder-suicide is a double homicide with local peddler Jake Gold as the prime suspect.

A hard-luck private detective, just getting by. A mother who refuses to give up on her missing daughter. Can Gavin English find the girl before it's too late? Two teenage girls go missing in the span of one year- both are labeled runaways and forgotten by the system.Forgotten, until Rachel, a determined mother, walks into the office of private investigator, Gavin English. She needs to know for sure what's happened to her daughter, Jennifer. A nice pair of legs and a little cash go a long way, so he's on the case.

The Underground Railroad is one of the topics that young schoolchildren are most often taught. Every American is familiar with the idea of fugitive slaves escaping to Canada and the North with the help of determined abolitionists and even former escaped slaves like Harriet Tubman.

Proving a man's innocence should be easier than proving his guilt, right? Things are going well for private detective, Gavin English, now that everyone in town seems to know his name. He's making good money, people are buying his drinks, and he even has a sexy new receptionist. But when the Reno Police Department brings him in on a homicide case, Gavin doesn't see things as cut-n-dry as everyone else.

This collection includes mostly dark and sometimes humorous poetry, flash fiction, and short stories from the mind of Michelle Kilmer, including "Mirielle", a finalist in the Crypticon 2014 Writing Contest.

How much do you know about that three-pound hunk of tissue in your head - your brain? Its structure and function drive your behavior in profound ways. Scientists are studying the brain and its chemicals to find behavioral patterns, to figure out the sources of good moods and random outbursts, for example. This compilation from Science News for Students turns to brain science to answer all sorts of questions: Can you actually be addicted to your phone? Why is it so hard to sleep away from home?

When an awkward preacher hires Gavin English to find out if a woman is being unfaithful to her husband, the private detective has no way of knowing about the man’s sinister past. A little digging leads Gavin to a happy couple with an open marriage, and points him back to his new client — a stalker with unknown motives. Pastor Timothy Ford has skeletons in his closet, and a Voice in his head, reminding him of the hell that awaits if he doesn’t finish his mission. God has laid sinners in his path, and suffering and death are their only chance at Salvation.

This book goes straight to the core of speed reading and gives you all the tools and hacks you need to change your life forever.

When Denzel and his fellow quest-seekers begin reading the short stories at Summer Bible Camp, they find themselves suddenly involved in these stories as the actual characters. Suddenly they're popping back and forth from the shadow world, where they've lived all of their lives, to the dream realm of the real world.

Modern-day teenager Denzel suddenly finds himself in a world that looks like that of King Arthur's Court. His Bible has become a literal sword, and his faith a shield in his hand. According to the chief knight, he has been in this real world countless times and refers to the world Denzel came from as the shadow world. The knight explains that once someone remembers the shadow world, he will likely not forget it or the real world again. Both worlds affect each other.

This is the only book you'll ever need to drastically improve memory.