Showing results by narrator "Sam Devereaux"

A fierce, mordantly funny and perceptive book, from the author of Ship of Fools, about the act of national self-harm known as Brexit. In exploring the answers to the question 'why did Britain vote leave?', Fintan O'Toole finds himself discovering how trivial journalistic lies became far from trivial national obsessions; how the pose of indifference to truth and historical fact has come to define the style of an entire political elite; and how a country that once had colonies is redefining itself as an oppressed nation requiring liberation.

The 20th century gave us two great theories of physics. The general theory of relativity describes the behavior of very large things, and quantum theory the behavior of very small things. In this landmark audiobook, John Gribbin - one of the best-known science writers of the past 30 years - presents his own version of the Holy Grail of physics, the search that has been going on for decades to find a unified "Theory of Everything" that combines these ideas into one mathematical package.

Early in 2013 Neil Hayward was at a crossroads. He didn't want to open a bakery or whatever else executives do when they quit a lucrative but unfulfilling job. He didn't want to think about his failed relationship with 'the one' or his potential for ruining a new relationship with 'the next one'. And he almost certainly didn't want to think about turning 40. And so instead he went birding. Birding was a lifelong passion. It was only among the birds that Neil found a calm that had eluded him in the confusing world of humans.

Cunning Plans collects several of NYT best-selling author Warren Ellis' lectures on the nature of the haunted future and the secrets of deep history, given in recent years at events in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

At least one battalion of flame-throwers is swinging around like a pack of crazy wild boars. Long, flaming red tongues of fire are hissing from the towers, charring every living thing. From the GPU-prison stream shoals of red prisoners. A barrage of incredible dimensions is hammering down behind the Germans. It seems like the Russians have guessed that they are pondering an escape and want to stop it with an impenetrable wall of fire, spreading as far as the eye can see.

By 2025, China and India will be two of the world's four largest economies. By then, economic ties between them should also rank among the 10 most important bilateral ties worldwide. Their leaders are well aware of these emerging realities. In May 2013, just two months after taking charge, Premier Li Keqiang left for India on his first official trip outside China, a clear signal of China's foreign policy priorities.

In 1156, the sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar brings a mysterious object from Jerusalem to his homeland in the South of France. "The Head of Wisdom", as the strange artifact is called, ensures that the Order achieves unprecedented wealth. But in October 1307, the French king fights against the Templars. All commanderies of the Templars are closed, all members arrested. Templar Commander Lieutenant Gero of Breydenbach is to flee to Germany with the "Head of Wisdom" to keep their secret. A truly fantastic journey begins. Suddenly he finds himself in 2004 - dependent on a fascinating young woman, who might help him to fulfill his mission.

The Mountains Are Calling is the exhilarating story of the runners who go to high places. From its wild origins in the Highlands, hill running in Scotland remains as pure and traditional as sport gets. Jonny Muir explores the history and culture of the sport and meets the legends of hill running, who are revered for their extraordinary endurance. As he discovers the insatiable lure of the hills, a calling leads him to the supreme test of mountain running: Ramsay's Round, a continuous loop of 23 of Scotland highest mountains, to be completed within 24 hours. 

Bloody partisan fights rage in the Balkans. Grenades rain down over the streets. From the rooftops, a heavy machinegun fire strikes down on the hunting battalion. Moaning, the injured soldiers crawl for cover. Molotov cocktails explode with hollow roars, and the burning liquid splash up on humans and materiel. - Partisan, the major stutters terrified and jumps off the vehicle. Porta salutes him with an idiotic smile. - Reporting to the Major that they will probably make it hot for us!

Described by the Duke of Wellington as "the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy and good feeling that I ever saw in one character in my life", George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, later George IV, was a highly controversial figure. He courted both Whigs and Tories in his attempts to establish the Regency during the "madness" of his father, George III.

Rome 174 AD. As the war continues in the north, Marcus Aurelius orders Gaius Maximus and Rufus Atticus to return to Rome. Enemies lurk in the shadows in the capital, spreading propaganda and sowing dissent. The praetorian guards must lure their enemies out - and defeat them. Yet Maximus is returning home for something, or rather someone, else: Aurelia. The soldier will be caught between his duty and his happiness. Rufus Atticus will also be forced to make a choice, between duty and family.

In Policing the City, Harris seeks to explain the transformation of criminal justice between the 1780s and 1830s in the City of London. As utilitarian legal reformers argued that criminal deterrence ought to be based on certain and rational punishment rather than random execution, they also had to control the discretionary authority of enforcement. This meant in theory and practice the centralization of policing in the 1830s, and the end of local policing, which was seen as corrupt, inefficient, and unsuitable for rational criminal justice.

Britain. 179 AD. The centurion Rufus Atticus is intent on finding Gaius Maximus - a fugitive and friend. Whilst doing so, however, Atticus finds trouble - in the form of the brutal Meriadoc clan. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, wants to offer the former praetorian a pardon. Atticus also has important news for Maximus, which will change his life. But as well as offering the soldier a pardon, the Emperor has summoned Maximus to ask him to complete one final mission. He must venture into enemy territory and assassinate Balomar.

If running extreme distances is as much about mental endurance as physical, how do you keep going when your internal monologue turns against you? That was the simple question Ira Rainey faced when the darkness of depression cast its long shadow over his life. It turned out the answer was far from simple.

171 AD. Rome is at war with the northern tribes - and is yet to win a significant battle. The Germanic armies have crossed the Danube and have attacked the Empire, slaughtering thousands. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is losing the support of the people and the Senate. Yet he has formed a plan he believes will change the balance of power in the region. Aurelius has dispatched an officer in the Praetorian Guard, the centurion Gaius Maximus, to escort the son and daughter of a powerful German tribal chief.

In Extreme, Emma Barrett and Paul Martin explore the challenges that people in extreme environments face, including pain, physical hardship, loneliness, and friction between individuals, and the approaches taken to overcome them. Using many fascinating examples and personal accounts, they argue that we can all benefit from the insights gained.

Do you like stories about kings, witches, magic, war, political intrigue, and medieval class warfare? The second part of the Seven Islands saga by author J. D. Morrison. A fast-paced fantasy told in six points of view for adults and teens who enjoyed Game of Thrones. A king, a witch, an engineer, a general, a boy out for revenge, and a governor with an undead son collide in this coming-of-age fantasy novella about swords and sorcery, kings and brutal wars, and prophecies of fire.

Bob Shepton is an ordained minister in the Church of England in his 70s, but spends most of his time sailing into the Arctic and making first ascents of inaccessible mountains. No tea parties for this vicar. Opening with the disastrous fire that destroyed his yacht whilst he was ice-bound in Greenland, the book travels back to his childhood growing up on his family's rubber plantation in Malaysia, moving back to England after his father was shot by the Japanese during the war, boarding school, the Royal Marines, and the church.

Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world. Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-karts and guns, crossbows and booby traps, boats, bikes, or scooters. And then, it was jewelry.

Just then, he heard a roar from atop the island. A roar he had never heard before, nor had any other man for a thousand years. He gazed up at the top of the volcano and saw nothing, but the roar sounded again, only this time it was so loud that it shook nearby treetops. Another roar echoed from a different part of the island and then another from somewhere else. Terrified, he crawled into some brush to hide, as he believed he may have been spotted by whatever was making those noises. There he hid for the rest of the day until nightfall.