Showing results by narrator "Eric Meyers" in All Categories

Grid insiders know how fragile the grid is becoming. Unfortunately, they have no incentive to solve the problem because near-misses increase their profits. Meredith Angwin describes how closed meetings, arcane auction rules, and five-minute planning horizons will topple the reliability of our electric grid. Shorting the Grid shines light on the vulnerabilities of our grid, and includes suggestions for making the grid more dependable.

It's been five years since Carter Blake parted ways with the top-secret government operation Winterlong. They brokered a deal at the time: he'd keep quiet about what they were doing, and in return he'd be left alone. But news that one of Blake's old allies is dead, a man who agreed to the same deal, means only one thing: something has changed and Winterlong is coming for him.

M is a magician of modest wit, dim ability, and few scruples, who would prefer to spend his easy immortality drinking artisanal beer and making eyes at smiling women. Alas, in the infinite nexus of the universe that is New York City, equilibrium is no easy thing to maintain. Canal pirates, drug-induced divinities, pocket steam-punk universes, hipster zombies, ex-girlfriends, and the devil are all taken in easy stride.

When the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered in the Santa Monica Mountains, LAPD detective Jessica Allen knows she's seen this before - two and a half years ago on the other side of the country. A sadistic serial killer has been operating undetected for a decade, preying on lone female drivers whose cars have broken down. The press dub the killer "the Samaritan", but with no leads - and a killer who leaves no traces - the police investigation quickly grinds to a halt.

Fifteen years ago, an unidentified killer terrorised Northern Georgia, killing hikers with two shots from a pistol before disposing of the bodies along the remote trails and in the rivers in the vicinity of Blood Mountain. The killer was never brought to justice. Now, Carter Blake has returned home for the first time in many years. The visit stirs old memories, including a girl from school who vanished without a trace.

Stock market multimillionaire at 26, federal convict at 36, he partied like a rock star, lived like a king, and barely survived his rise and fall as an American entrepreneurial icon. By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and international globe-trotting.

Get Rid of Your Accent is a phenomenon. Both native and non-native English actors, lawyers, brokers, businessmen, and diplomats have flourished with our help. This audiobook is a leading accent reduction training manual with practical exercises to master general American accent. It is fun and to the point. The audiobook contains 10 percent of theory and 90 percent of practice. It is a perfect training manual for both personal study and classroom situations.

Revenge killings, gangland shootouts, brutal executions and drownings - there was no escape from the Mob's hitmen. Mafia Murders details the bloody ends of these infamous gangsters. Since the late 19th century, the Mafia has used intimidation and worse to exert its control over organized crime. Mafia Murders recalls the 100 most important executions by the Mob. In a world where family, turf wars and crime were big business, the relentless murders of rival bosses, stool pigeons, snitches, good cops, and dirty cops became part of everyday life.

More than a decade after Michael Pollan's game-changing The Omnivore's Dilemma transformed the conversation about what we eat, a combination of global diet trends and corporate interests have put American agriculture into a state of 'quiet emergency', from dangerous drought in California - which grows more than 50 percent of the fruits and vegetables we eat - to catastrophic topsoil loss in the 'breadbasket' heartland of the United States.

There's more than bones hidden at the Larson house.... Newlyweds Brett and Emily Larson have just moved into a new home deep in the countryside and are overjoyed when Emily finds out she's pregnant. Then they discover human bones in their garden. As the police start to investigate, three things become clear: The bones are recent. They are not here by accident. They are a message.

The definitive collection from a writer whose transgressive legacy and raw, funny, acutely observant writing has left an enduring mark. Here is Bukowski eating walnuts and scratching his back, rolling a cigarette while listening to Brahms, showering with Linda in the midafternoon. Here is Bukowski knowing that the secret is beyond him, that people who never go crazy live truly horrible lives, that there's a bluebird in his heart that wants to get out.

In this sweeping book, Michael S. Roth narrates a vivid and dynamic history of students, exploring some of the principal models for learning that have developed in very different contexts, from the sixth century BCE to the present. Beginning with the followers of Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus and moving to medieval apprentices, students at Enlightenment centers of learning, and learners enrolled in twenty-first-century universities, he explores how students have been followers, interlocutors, disciples, rebels, and children becoming adults.

A History of the Civil War brings to life the realities of the war and the people who lived through it. It explains how the politics around slavery led to an unbridgeable divide between the North and South, and examines the strategies that led to the Union's eventual victory in 1865.

Eight fantastic stories, brilliantly retold, reaching from Africa to the United Kingdom. Hours of audio fun to keep children entertained while on the move! Introduce your children to a selection of folktales from around the world, written especially for children. Filled with sound effects and fun, these stories will introduce your children to a wider world of classic stories.

Our ‘fight of flight’ response is something hardwired into the primitive part of our brain. Our need to survive, to outlive whatever danger poses, that immediate threat to our lives is little short of a marvel. Everything else is abandoned in order to survive. Whilst in modern times that ability has been somewhat modified and ‘reasoned’ away to an extent, in past years it’s what usually kept you alive. In this volume people struggle valiantly to survive and to exist no matter the extent of the threat they face.

When intrepid investigators Cass and Max-Ernest set out to discover the history of the mysterious Symphony of Smells, they become embroiled in a dastardly experiment involving kidnapped children and the secret of eternal youth. Together they must come up with a plan to rescue their classmate from a hideous fate and escape the eerie pyramid of the Midnight Sun.

Facing the threat of their dark enemies, Gillian must also cope with his inner turmoil, as the madness of his nature threatens to consume his life. He discovers that he is a genetically modified creature whose purpose is to serve the needs of others, and that the course of his destiny is not in his own hands.

Two billion people worldwide watch YouTube. Yet its stars remain a mystery to much of the public and media. What is the secret of their appeal? How do they cope with being in front of the lens? And who is behind them? Wired journalist Chris Stokel-Walker reveals the answers in the first independent in-depth book on YouTube. For three years he has interviewed more than 100 figures connected with the world's biggest video-sharing website, including leading agents, managers and the YouTubers themselves.

NASA’s scientists thought he’d be the PERFECT chimp to send into space. Little did Chump know that he had been selected for a deadly-dangerous mission. If a chimp could orbit Earth, then chances were a human could too. With Chump the chimp at the controls of a spacecraft, what could possibly go wrong? As it turned out, EVERYTHING.

Mafia is an absorbing introduction to the mob's most influential personalities - their lives, loves, and terrible crimes. It also provides an in-depth history of the role of the mob in Sicily and America. For anyone who wants to know the truth about organized crime and understand the violent forces that have shaped it over the last century, this book is an indispensable guide.