Showing results by narrator "P. J. Ochlan" in All Categories

The Book Smugglers is the nearly unbelievable story of ghetto residents who rescued thousands of rare books and manuscripts - first from the Nazis and then from the Soviets - by hiding them on their bodies, burying them in bunkers, and smuggling them across borders. It is a tale of heroism and resistance, of friendship and romance, and of unwavering devotion-including the readiness to risk one's life - to literature and art. And it is entirely true.

On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched a massive surprise attack on the Allies: the Battle of the Bulge had begun. Planned by the Germans with the utmost secrecy, the battle was one of the largest and bloodiest fought by the United States in World War II. Near complete surprise crippled the Allied line early on, but fierce resistance and massive air attacks ultimately gave Allied forces the edge. Had Hitler's gambit succeeded, a German victory in the war would have certainly been possible, if not likely.

Ken Gerhard is a widely recognized cryptozoologist who has traveled the world searching for evidence of mysterious animals including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, el Chupacabra, the Beast of Gevaudan, as well as enigmatic winged creatures. In this essential primer, Gerhard presents the most accurate and indispensable information that's been gathered with regard to the Bigfoot phenomenon.

Brother Lawrence, a 17th century cook and shoe repairman in a monastery in Paris, was known for his peaceful devotion to God. Though not formally educated, his life experiences in war and his humble service in the priory led others to look to him for wise counsel. His words were later collected into this marvelous short audiobook that has inspired Christians for centuries. The Practice of the Presence of God has been of great help to believers such as John Wesley and A.W. Tozer.

Israel's critics in the West insist that no country founded on a single religion or culture can stay democratic and prosperous - but they're wrong. In The Promise of Israel, Daniel Gordis points out that Israel has defied that conventional wisdom. It has provided its citizens infinitely greater liberty and prosperity than anyone expected, faring far better than any other young nation. Israel's "magic" is a unique blend of democracy and tradition, of unabashed particularism coupled to intellectual and cultural openness.

When Mark Kilroy vanished while on spring break in Matamoros, Mexico, the search for the missing pre-med student led to a gruesome discovery on a lonely stretch of land called Rancho Santa Elena: a mass grave containing Mark's mutilated corpse along with the remains of thirteen other people. The investigation uncovered how the victims were brutally killed at the hands of drug trafficker and cult leader Adolpho Constanzo, known by his followers as El Padrino, or The Godfather.

Driven by curiosity, wanderlust, and health crises, David Downie and his wife set out from Paris to walk across France to the Pyrenees. Starting on the Rue Saint-Jacques then trekking 750 miles south to Roncesvalles, Spain, their eccentric route takes 72 days on Roman roads and pilgrimage paths - a 1,100-year-old network of trails leading to the sanctuary of Saint James the Greater. It is best known as El Camino de Santiago de Compostela - "The Way" for short. The object of any pilgrimage is an inward journey manifested in a long, reflective walk. For Downie, the inward journey met the outer one: a combination of self-discovery and physical regeneration.

After the battle in Switzerland, the Fugitive Six find their loyalties torn, splitting them into two factions. Taylor, Nigel and Kopano join Nine to return to the Academy, but nothing is the same. Fear and resentment of the Human Garde has been growing, and the Academy is under siege. The United Nations has decreed that all humans with Legacies must be implanted with inhibitors, a move that will take away their power and their human rights. The team have no choice but to fight back.

A Goddess is stirring up trouble, and Arthur happens to be the one caught up in the action. After an unfortunate encounter, Arthur is given a second chance in a new world. To his surprise, this new world has mechanics that remind him of role-playing games from Earth. He has been given a simple directive from the Goddess, to help the people of the world and spread her name. He quickly discovers this will not be an easy task. The world has been overrun with bandits, who work for the lords of the land and cause all the denizens to live in abject ruin.

Master of Thin Air opens with a fall that the author very nearly could not stop down an almost vertical rock ramp leading to a 3,000-foot drop. The qualities that saved him then on K2 - in addition to his mountaineering know-how and sheer good luck - drove his 16-year journey to summit all of the world's 8,000ers, the 14 peaks that exceed 8,000 meters (26,000-plus feet) and take climbers into the death zone. Incredibly, he accomplished that feat without the aid of bottled oxygen for every mountain but one.

There are anxious words to describe being in unfathomable trouble. A feeling of pressure, an emotion of being in over-your-head, and a sense of being smothered. Legion Centurion Alerio Sisera was drowning in the sea and experiencing all of them. From black, to gray, to green water overhead, Alerio transitioned through the ocean layers as he swam upward. Lungs screaming for air, and his chest heaving, his body threatened to take in a breath. It became a competition between the urges of his lungs

This long-awaited translation of Confessions, which Stephen Greenblatt describes as central to the legacy of Adam and Eve, enlivens the beguiling world of late antiquity. No modern, well-versed literature lover can call her education complete without having listened to Augustine’s Confessions. One of the most original works of world literature, it is the first autobiography ever written, influencing writers from Montaigne to Rousseau, Virginia Woolf to Gertrude Stein.

When incidents of food supply contamination dominate the news media, two investigators - Zol Szabo, a public health doctor, and Hamish Wakefield, a young infectious diseases specialist - come under immense pressure to find the cause of a mysterious epidemic before more victims show up on the autopsy table. In a race against the clock, the two doctors must navigate the treacherous political minefields of the medical community and the media while the disease spreads.

It is through first contact with an alien species that humanity learns of the Dream. It is a plane of mental existence where people are able to communicate by their thoughts alone - over distances of thousands of light-years. To ensure that future generations will have this ability, human genetic engineering produces newborns capable of finding and navigating the Dream. They become known as the Silent. Rust is just one planet among many in the Empire of Human Unity.

Palden Gyatso was born in a Tibetan village in 1933 and became an ordained Buddhist monk at 18 just as Tibet was in the midst of political upheaval. When Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950, it embarked on a program of "reform" that would eventually affect all of Tibet's citizens and nearly decimate its ancient culture. In 1967, the Chinese destroyed monasteries across Tibet and forced thousands of monks into labor camps and prisons.

As a Man Thinketh, Allen's most famous book, today is considered a classic self-help book. Its underlying premise is that noble thoughts make a noble person, while lowly thoughts make a miserable person. In As a Man Thinketh, James Allen reveals how our thoughts determine reality. Whether or not we are conscious of it, our underlying beliefs shape our character, our health and appearance, our circumstances, and our destinies. Allen shows how we can master our thoughts to create the life we want.

The idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late 17th century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theater, and even comedy. This book gives listeners access to the real samurai as they lived, fought, and served. Much as they capture the modern imagination, the samurai commanded influence over the politics, arts, philosophy, and religion of their own time, and controlled Japan from the 14th century until their demise in the mid-19th century.

The lush and beautiful forest planet of Bellerophon is home to a cacophony of noises, but its resident psychics are known as the Silent. Previously they could travel to the Dream, a telepathic plane of existence where they could twist the laws of reality. But that time is over... One madman's lust for power tore the Dream asunder. Now only a handful of the Silent can enter it. Kendi Weaver is one of them.

In the great depths surrounding the Lofoten islands in Norway lives the infamous Greenland shark. At 26 feet in length and weighing more than a ton, it is truly a beast to behold. But the shark is not just known for its size alone: Its meat contains a toxin that, when consumed, has been known to make people drunk and hallucinatory.

Social scientists have adopted the practices of more traditional scientists in the past few decades - using randomized trials to design policies aimed at improving educational levels, lowering crime rates, elevating employment rates, and improving living standards among the poor. Andrew Leigh and P.J. Ochlan bring the lives of these radical researchers to life as their experiments to overturn conventional wisdom lead to breakthroughs like finding the cure for scurvy and discovering what policies really improve literacy rates.