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Summary: Changing the world one chapter at a time!

Podcasts:

 The Scarecrow – Michael Connelly | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:01:53

Starred Review. Bestseller Connelly comments on the plight of print journalism in a nail-biting thriller featuring reporter Jack McEvoy, last seen in 2004′s The Narrows. When Jack is laid off from the L.A. Times with 14 days’ notice to tie up loose ends, he decides to go out with a bang. What starts as a story about the wrongful arrest of a young gangbanger for the brutal rape and murder of an exotic dancer turns out to be just the tip of an iceberg that takes McEvoy from the Nevada desert to a futuristic data-hosting facility in Arizona. FBI agent Rachel Walling, with whom he worked on a serial killer case in 1996′s The Poet, soon joins the hunt, but as the pair uncover more about the killer and his unsettling predilections, they realize that they too are being hunted. With every switch between McEvoy’s voice and the villain’s, Connelly ratchets up the tension. This magnificent effort is a reminder of why Connelly is one of today’s top crime authors.

 Divine Justice – David Baldacci | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00:01

Near the start of bestseller Baldacci’s less than compelling fourth Camel Club thriller (after Stone Cold), former CIA assassin Oliver Stone (aka John Carr) boards a New Orleans–bound train at Washington’s Union Station after shooting to death a well-known U.S. senator and the nation’s intelligence chief, the two men responsible for his wife’s murder. Ever the Good Samaritan, Stone intervenes in a fight on the train, but when the Amtrak conductor asks to see his ID, he gets off at the next station, knowing his fake ID won’t withstand scrutiny. So much for Stone’s vaunted ability as a resourceful planner. This sudden detour takes Stone to Divine, Va., a mining town where he becomes enmeshed in corruption and intrigue—and falls, in just one of several clichéd situations, for an attractive if beleaguered widow. Series fans should be satisfied, but this effort lacks the imagination that distinguished Baldacci’s debut, Absolute Power (1996). (Nov.)

 Ready, Fire, Aim – Michael Masterson | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:20:06

Whether you’re thinking about starting a new business or growing an existing one, Ready, Fire, Aim has what you need to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors. In it, self-made multimillionaire and bestselling author Masterson shares the knowledge he has gained from creating and expanding numerous businesses and outlines a focused strategy for guiding a small business through the four stages of entrepreneurial growth. Along the way, Masterson teaches you the different skills needed in order to excel in this dynamic environment. If you had the opportunity to work where, when, and with whom you wanted—all while getting paid very well—would you take it? Self-made multimillionaire and bestselling author Michael Masterson did, and with Ready, Fire, Aim he’ll show you how to do the same. Whether you’re thinking about starting a new business or growing an existing one, Ready, Fire, Aim has what you need to succeed in your entrepreneurial endeavors. In it, Masterson shares the knowledge he has gained from creating and expanding numerous businesses and outlines a focused strategy for guiding a small business through the four stages of entrepreneurial growth. Along the way, Masterson teaches you the different skills needed in order to excel in this dynamic environment. While some of the concepts covered may seem novel, all of them have been proven to work time and again. Among other things, you’ll discover: *Why selling is your first business priority and the one thing you should never stop doing *The handful of numbers that are critical to every business *When to cut your losses short and when to let your winners run *The front-end/back-end method of doubling profits easily *Why having a Plan B is as important as Plan A, and when and how to create it *The difference between pushers, thinkers, organizers, and sellers, and how to attract the ones you need for your business Over the course of his remarkably successful career, Michael Masterson has helped start and develop dozens of multimillion-dollar businesses, including one whose revenues exceeded $135 million and another still growing at $300 million. Now, with Ready, Fire, Aim, he’ll show you how to make your way to the top by designing powerful marketing campaigns that will regularly outsell your competitors; implementing innovative operational procedures that will reduce costs and hassles; and using the revolutionary power of the Internet to reduce customer complaints and increase profits. To start and grow multimillion-dollar businesses over and over again you have to master certain skills. Ready, Fire, Aim reveals what those skills are and shows you how to quickly master them. Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, this remarkable guide for entrepreneurs gives you a blueprint for business and financial success that will allow you to enjoy life to its fullest.

 Bones – Jonathan Kellerman | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:12:25

In this run-of-the-mill police procedural from bestseller Kellerman, his 23rd novel to feature L.A. consulting psychologist Alex Delaware (after Compulsion), high school miscreant Chance Brandt has been assigned to perform community service at the Bird Marsh, a nature sanctuary near Marina del Rey. After Chance dismisses as a prank an anonymous phone call warning him that there’s a corpse buried in the marsh, Lt. Milo Sturgis, now Special Case Investigator for the LAPD, and Sturgis’s team find four bodies there, all women missing their right hand. When Sturgis identifies one of the victims as Selena Bass, who worked as a piano teacher for the wealthy Vander family, the police focus on Travis Huck, the manager of the Vanders’ Pacific Palisades estate, as the prime suspect because Travis has a criminal past. Kellerman fans wanting more of the same should be satisfied, though Sturgis gets less benefit from Delaware’s psychological expertise than usual.

 The Associate – John Grisham | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:20:47

“GRISHAM HAS A FIELD DAY…The Associate grabs the reader quickly and becomes impossible to put down.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Grisham’s confident style hasn’t changed, and THERE’S SUSPENSE APLENTY.” —People “Grisham makes it easy for us to keep flipping the pages…A DEVASTATING PORTRAIT OF THE BIG-TIME, BIG-BUCKS LEGAL WORLD.” —Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post “Throughout, Grisham unwinds the spool of his narrative at a MASTERFUL, page-turning pace that pulls readers in and keeps them wanting more…The Associate is an absorbing thriller that’s A FITTING FOLLOW-UP TO THE FIRM.” —The Boston Globe “COMPULSIVELY READABLE…You’re peering into a secret world of power and money. What more could you or any red-blooded American ask for?” —Time magazine “A PAGE-TURNER…Kyle McAvoy recalls Mitch McDeere from Grisham’s breakout novel The Firm. He’s young, idealistic, handsome, a little too cocky for his own good, but a brilliant lawyer who gets pulled in over his head and given an education in how the world really works.” —The Los Angeles Times Product Description If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait until you meet Kyle McAvoy, The Associate Kyle McAvoy grew up in his father’s small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential. But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn’t want—even though it’s a job most law students can only dream about. Three months after leaving Yale, Kyle becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed. With an unforgettable cast of characters and villains—from Baxter Tate, a drug-addled trust fund kid and possible rapist, to Dale, a pretty but seemingly quiet former math teacher who shares Kyle’s “cubicle” at the law firm, to two of the most powerful and fiercely competitive defense contractors in the country—and featuring all the twists and turns that have made John Grisham the most popular storyteller in the world, The Associate is vintage Grisham.

 Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? – Seth Godin | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:05:35

Godin’s latest business handbook (after Small Is the New Big and The Dip) revisits some of his most popular marketing advice, while emphasizing that it can’t just be applied willy-nilly. In past decades, he says, companies were able to get rich by making average products for average people, but those markets have long since been sewn up; mass is no longer achievable [or] desirable. Rather than simply rely on mass media to raise product visibility, New Marketing treats every aspect of interacting with customers—including customer service and the product itself—as an opportunity to grow the organization. In order to be successful with such marketing techniques, a company must change its practices across the board. Otherwise, you’re just putting whipped cream on a meatball. Godin has a perspective on everything from blogs (don’t bother unless you really have something to say) to the long tail (if it’s as valuable to your company as the top sellers are, why aren’t you paying more attention?). His arresting conversational style is sure to once again set the business world talking. (Jan.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review "Godinis a clear-eyed visionary with strong and sensible ideas on how the new economy can, should and will function."Miami Herald (Miami Herald ) "Godin…is a clear-eyed visionary with strong and sensible ideas on how the new economy can, should and will function."—Miami Herald (Miami Herald ) [Godin's] arresting conversational style is sure to once again set the business world talking. – Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly )

 Extreme Measures – by Vince Flynn | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:11:19

In the newest devastatingly intense thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon Vince Flynn, his deadly and charismatic hero Mitch Rapp wages a war against a new enemy with the help of a fellow soldier as dedicated and as lethal as they come. Vince Flynn’s thrillers, featuring counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp, have dominated the imagination of readers everywhere. In them, Flynn has captured the secretive world of the fearless men and women, who, bound by duty, risk their lives in a covert war they must hide from even their own political leaders. Now, Rapp and his protege, Mike Nash, may have met their match. The CIA has detected and intercepted two terrorist cells, but a third is feared to be on the loose. Led by a dangerous mastermind obsessed with becoming the leader of al-Qaeda, this determined and terrifying group is about to descend on America. Rapp needs the best on this assignment, and Nash, who has served his government honorably for sixteen years first as an officer in the Marine Corps and then as an operative in an elite counterterrorism team run by Rapp is his choice. Together, they have made careers out of meeting violence with extreme violence and have never wavered in the fight against the jihadists and their culture of death. Both have fought the war on terrorism in secret without accolades or acknowledgment of their personal sacrifices. Both have been forced to lie to virtually every single person they care about, and both have soldiered on with the knowledge that their hard work and lethal tactics have saved thousands of lives. But the political winds have changed in America, and certain leaders on Capitol Hill are pushing to have men like Rapp and Nash put back on a short leash. And then one spring afternoon in Washington, DC, everything changes. Using his insider knowledge of intelligence agencies and the military, Flynn once again delivers an all-too-real portrayal of a war that is that is waged every day by a handful of brave, devoted souls. Smart, fast-paced, and jaw-droppingly realistic, Extreme Measures is the political thriller of our time.

 The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight – By Thom Hartmann | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:08:44

  While everything appears to be collapsing around us — ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, the end of cheap oil, water shortages, global famine, wars — we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children’s children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s web movie Global Warning, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem. Thom Hartmann’s comprehensive book, originally published in 1998, has become one of the fundamental handbooks of the environmental activist movement. Now, with fresh, updated material and a focus on political activism and its effect on corporate behavior, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight helps us understand–and heal–our relationship to the world, to each other, and to our natural resources.  

 Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft – by Thor Heyerdahl | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:03:54

  Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure — a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical hero, Kon-Tiki. He decided to prove his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage.On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a balsa log raft. After three months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, whales, and sharks, they sighted land — the Polynesian island of Puka Puka.Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki is a classic, inspiring tale of daring and courage — a magnificent saga of men against the sea.Washington Square Press’ Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enhanced for the contemporary reader. This edition of Kon-Tiki has been prepared by an editorial committee headed by Harry Shefter, professor of English at New York University. It includes a foreword by the author, a selection of critical excerpts, notes, an index, and a unique visual essay of the voyage.   

 The Old Wine Shades – By Martha Grimes | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:11:52

At the start of bestseller Grimes’s compelling 20th Richard Jury mystery, the Scotland Yard detective is on suspension because he decided to save lives rather than wait for a warrant in his previous outing, The Winds of Change (2004). With time on his hands, Jury is ensnared by the intriguing tale spun by Harry Johnson, a man who, apparently, just happens upon him in a London pub, the Old Wine Shades. Despite himself, Jury is drawn in by Johnson’s account of the baffling disappearance of a mother, her autistic son and their dog—and the more baffling reappearance of the pet nine months later. The detective diligently follows every lead to determine the fate of the missing people, even as Johnson’s digressions into the paradoxes of quantum physics lead Jury to question the truth of the man’s narrative. The scheme Jury ultimately detects is ingeniously clever and sufficiently consistent with the personalities Grimes has created to overcome disbelief. The author’s gift at melding suspense, logical twists and wry humor makes this one of the stronger entries in this deservedly popular series.

 Cannery Row – By John Steinbeck | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:04:00

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America’s greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readersóand to the many who revisit them again and again.

 FUP – By Jim Dodge | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:03:52

Between these covers reside a twenty pound duck that won’t fly, thirty miles of barbed-wire fencing, and several batches of illicit whiskey. Fup is a classic tale that celebrates all the amazing connections and pitfalls of rustic living. The story is set in the coastal hills of northern California between 1880 and the present. The plot revolves around Grandaddy Jake Santee who believes he is immortal, his grandson Tiny whose passion is building masterfully crafted fences even though they don’t have any stock, and Fup, a hen mallard with a prodigious appetite. These three come together in a transcendent tale that has won international acclaim and the affection of thousands of readers.

 A Cool Breeze on the Underground – By Don Winslow | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:10:04

This ambitious but technically unsophisticated first entry in a series features street-wise New Yorker Neal Carey, a 23-year-old graduate student of 18th-century literature. Neal is directed by Friends of the Family, a discreet, private investigation agency for which he works, to find Allie Chase, the teenage, drug-addicted daughter of a U.S. senator and presidential hopeful. Allie is somewhere in England and must be returned to the States before the Democratic Convention nine weeks away. Neal finds Allie but is forced to use his cunning to bring her home; at the same time he suspects someone from the agency is trying to kill him. Winslow guides us on a tour of punk 1976 London and introduces some colorful characters. But this first novel loses much of its punch because Winslow overloads beginning chapters with his hero’s personal history rather than pacing the plot with relevant details. Neal is a distant hero whose escapades seem artificially linked.

 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim – By David Sedaris | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:10:33

In his latest collection, Sedaris has found his heart. This is not to suggest that the author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and other bestselling books has lost his edge. The 27 essays here (many previously published in Esquire, G.Q. or the New Yorker, or broadcast on PRI’s This American Life) include his best and funniest writing yet. Here is Sedaris’s family in all its odd glory. Here is his father dragging his mortified son over to the home of one of the most popular boys in school, a boy possessed of “an uncanny ability to please people,” demanding that the boy’s parents pay for the root canal that Sedaris underwent after the boy hit him in the mouth with a rock. Here is his oldest sister, Lisa, imploring him to keep her beloved Amazon parrot out of a proposed movie based on his writing. (“‘Will I have to be fat in the movie?’ she asked.”) Here is his mother, his muse, locking the kids out of the house after one snow day too many, playing the wry, brilliant commentator on his life until her untimely death from cancer. His mother emerges as one of the most poignant and original female characters in contemporary literature. She balances bitter and sweet, tart and rich—and so does Sedaris, because this is what life is like. “You should look at yourself,” his mother says in one piece, as young Sedaris crams Halloween candy into his mouth rather than share it. He does what she says and then some, and what emerges is the deepest kind of humor, the human comedy.

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