
Ghost Town Living
Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley
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Narrated by:
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Brent Underwood
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By:
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Brent Underwood
About this listen
“Inspiring and meditative—the story of man vs nature and man vs himself.”—Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way
The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks.
It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters of the American West were rumored to have stayed there. Newspapers reported a murder a week. But that was over 150 years ago.
Underwood bet his life savings—and his life—on this majestic, hardscrabble town that had broken its fair share of ambitious men and women. What followed were fires, floods, earthquakes, and perhaps strangest, fame. Ghost Town Living tells the story of a man against the elements, a forgotten historic place against the modern world, and a dream against all odds—one that has captured millions of followers around the world.
He came looking for a challenge different from the traditional 9-5 job but discovered something much more fulfilling—an undertaking that would call on all of himself and push him beyond what he knew he was capable of. In fact, to bring this abandoned town back to life, Brent had to learn a wealth of new self-sufficiency and problem-solving skills from many generous mentors.
Ghost Town Living is a thrilling read, but it’s also a call to action—to question our too-practical lives and instead seek adventure, build something original, redefine work, and embrace the unknown. It shows what it means to dedicate your life to something, to take a mighty swing at a crazy idea and, like the cardsharps who once haunted Cerro Gordo, go all in.©2024 Brent Underwood (P)2024 Random House Audio
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Critic reviews
"[Underwood’s story] continues to be of endless fascination."—The New York Times
"It is . . . a romantic way of life. But it hasn’t been without its share of difficulties, worries, and setbacks."—VICE
"Who knows? Maybe Cerro Gordo has one last boom in it after all."—CBS News
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Performance
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From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame. 'It's about the terror, isn't it?' 'The terror of what?' I said. 'The terror of being found out.' For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work.
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You'll never look at public shaming the same way
- By Megan Gunter on 04-02-15
By: Jon Ronson
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The Pursuit of Happiness
- How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America
- By: Jeffrey Rosen
- Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins, Jeffrey Rosen
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Declaration of Independence identified “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. Jeffrey Rosen, the president of the National Constitution Center, profiles six of the most influential founders—Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton—to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives....
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Great book; highly recommended
- By Eric Moore Schneider on 02-21-24
By: Jeffrey Rosen
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The Tiger
- A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
- By: John Vaillant
- Narrated by: John Vaillant
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: The tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.
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Thy Fearful Symmetry
- By Mel on 02-16-13
By: John Vaillant
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Cabin
- Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
- By: Patrick Hutchison
- Narrated by: Patrick Hutchison
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Wit’s End isn’t just a state of mind. It’s the name of a gravel road, the address of a rundown, off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. To say Hutchison didn’t know what he was getting into is no more an exaggeration than to say he’s a man with nearly zero carpentry skills. Well, used to be. You can learn a lot over six years of renovations. CABIN is the story of those renovations, but it's also a love story; of a place, of possibilities, and of the process of construction.
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Enjoyable read. no see, some F-bombs Great experience
- By Richelle's Music on 04-23-25
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The Storm Before the Storm
- The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic
- By: Mike Duncan
- Narrated by: Mike Duncan
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. After its founding in 509 BCE, the Romans refused to allow a single leader to seize control of the state and grab absolute power. The Roman commitment to cooperative government and peaceful transfers of power was unmatched in the history of the ancient world. But by the year 133 BCE, the republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled.
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Interesting, albeit a bit dry
- By Aria on 11-14-17
By: Mike Duncan
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Dead Wake
- The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic.
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Naivety VS Barbarians Of War
- By Sara on 03-05-16
By: Erik Larson
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The Happiness Hypothesis
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Ryan Vincent Anderson
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Jonathan Haidt skillfully combines two genres-philosophical wisdom and scientific research-delighting the listener with surprising insights. He explains, for example, why we have such difficulty controlling ourselves and sticking to our plans; why no achievement brings lasting happiness, yet a few changes in your life can have profound effects, and why even confirmed atheists experience spiritual elevation.
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Amazing book, terrible choice in voice.
- By JAMES on 02-05-19
By: Jonathan Haidt
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Essentialism
- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
- By: Greg McKeown
- Narrated by: Greg McKeown
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter.
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Paring Down...
- By Molly Helm on 06-08-14
By: Greg McKeown
Golden
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Fascinating and inspirational
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A moving, life changing book.
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chapter 9, tears.
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Author has a poets spirit
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Brent's is embedded deep in that mountain. what a great place. what a great story. 8
A great story!
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Great personal story, filled with history, struggle, and optimism
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you are the best
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Notwithstanding mispronouncing common English words, his story is wonderful, and I have listened to this book several times. Great while hiking.
Well Written. Pronunciation Needed Editing.
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Needle in a haystack.
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