Showing results by narrator "Victor Bevine" in All Categories

Hartmut Esslinger, internationally acclaimed designer and founder of frog design, inc., reveals the secrets to better business through better design. Having spent 40 years helping build the world's most recognizable brands, Esslinger shows how business leaders and designers can join forces to build creative strategies that will ensure a more profitable and sustainable future.

this exciting story illuminates the captivating world of the late Renaissance - in this case its plagues, remedies, and alchemy - through the life of Leonardo Fioravanti, a brilliant, remarkably forward-thinking, and utterly unconventional doctor. Fioravanti's marvelous cures and talent for self-aggrandizement earned him the adoration of the people, the scorn of the medical establishment, and a reputation as one of the age's most colorful, combative figures.

A little sex. A little death. Most people would kill to live in glamorous Palm Beach, with its beautiful women, five-star resorts, and dazzling coast. But most people don't know what really goes on in the bedrooms of the rich and famous....Mark Durand did - and now the handsome high-class "walker," who escorted the wealthiest women to posh affairs, is dead, his beheaded corpse found in an abandoned cattle pen.

It's been just over a year since Edmund Blithe died, and just over a month since his fiancee, Emily, stopped wearing her engagement ring. Emily has finally begun to move on - until Edmund mysteriously and inexplicably returns. Edmund is only just the beginning. Around the world, people's loved ones are returning from beyond, seeking only to reenter the lives they left behind.

Excitement is high when the crew of the International Space Station discovers a mysterious object in orbit around Earth. But something goes wrong, and contact with the station is lost. When journalist Sean Jacob gets wind of the situation, he embarks on a journey to reveal the truth, winding his way into the biggest conspiracy to ever face mankind. But are we ready for it? As Sean investigates, what he finds is scarcely believable, and he begins to doubt his decision to get involved.

There's an emergency on Dara and Calhoun, an Interstellar Medical Serviceman, feels duty-bound to respond. But Dara is under quarantine. And if Calhoun goes there, he'll be targeted as a plague-carrier - who can be shot on sight. Will Calhoun risk everything for a planet that's taboo?

Our species, it appears, is hardwired to get things wrong in myriad different ways. Why did recipients of a loan offer accept a higher rate of interest when a pretty woman's face was printed on the flyer? Why did one poll on immigration find the most despised aliens were ones from a group that did not exist? What made four of the Air Force's best pilots fly their planes, in formation, straight into the ground?

Hope for Democracy introduces new tools for tamping down hyper-partisanship and placing citizens at the heart of the democratic process. It showcases the Citizens' Initiative Review, which convenes a stratified random sample of citizens to study ballot measures. Citizen panelists interrogate advocates, opponents, and experts, then write an analysis that distills their findings for voters.

In 2018, the first genetically modified babies were reportedly born in China, made possible by the invention of CRISPR technology in 2012. This controversial advancement overturned the preexisting moral consensus, which had held for over 50 years before: While gene editing an adult person was morally acceptable, modifying babies, and thus subsequent generations, crossed a significant moral line. John H. Evans here provides a meta-level guide to how these debates move forward and their significance to society.

As Cadrith savors his success, the mercenaries deal with the aftermath of their last confrontation. The thread that's bound them to this point is hard to break and is pulling them into yet another conflict where even the gods are bracing their gates. The battle lines have been drawn. The pieces are in place. The conflict to come will be waged on many fronts and through many faces, but victory is far from assured.

Daemus Alaric and his band of dauntless companions venture to the Devil’s Horn, the mystical home of Trillias, the mercurial Ancient of Sport and Tests. Their quest—to recover the lost Tome of Enlightenment, cast into the bowels of the mysterious Laurentian Labyrinth by the fallen Keeper, Graytorris the Mad. Will they survive the god’s gambit?

Tackling a weight problem is often viewed as a personal responsibility that requires making healthier choices. The latest research, however, shows that external factors - from family and friendships to advertising and the workplace environment - have an equal, if not greater, impact on America's growing waistline. Just look at the stats: A person's chance of becoming obese increases by 57 percent if a close friend is obese, 40 percent if a sibling is obese, and 37 percent if a spouse is obese. That's where Thinfluence comes in.

A riveting political thriller and love story. Set primarily in contemporary Russia and the United States, here is a novel that brilliantly knits together four seemingly unconnected lives: Adam, a CIA intelligence operative who suffers from albinism and searches for the Russian assassin who killed his mother, an act he witnessed as a child; Lily, a young Hawaiian Chinese journalist who falls in love with him; Bazil, an Indian intelligence operative from Mumbai who befriends Adam; and Zahira, a beautiful Afghani girl mutilated by the Taliban.

David Leavitt's second collection of stories further confirms a talent deep and wonderfully creative in its empathy. A Place I've Never Been explores family relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships, among characters whose sexuality is fluid or uncertain—a barrier or under threat. A real estate agent happily married to a woman finds himself in love with another man in "Houses". A man entering a bold new world of gay hookups feels sheltered from the most intimidating attentions by his more attractive, charismatic friend.

Dungeon Party links a fantasy world and the people playing in it. When longstanding personality conflicts erupt, the volatile Randall Keller secedes from Alan Crandall's gaming group. In pursuit of a coveted prize at an upcoming convention, Alan replaces Randall with two female recruits who reinvigorate the campaign. Randall chooses a darker path by spreading infectious cynicism through the gaming community while plotting his revenge. When the Middle Mirth convention gets underway, Alan's group must stop Randall and his avatar.

A car is found crashed on a beach in the Canary Island resort of Fuerteventura. In the trunk is a cardboard box containing the body of an infant - no one knows his name, and there is no trace of a driver. The last thing Fuerteventura needs is a murder. The island already has half-empty bars and windswept beaches, and the local police are under pressure to abandon the investigation. But longtime islander Erhard, who sees more than most people, won't let the investigation drop - and he has nothing to lose.

Few relationships are as simple - and rewarding - as those between man and animal. From the loyal dog who risks his own life to rescue a drowning boy to the lost kitten who comforts a grieving woman to an abandoned horse and foster child who come to save each other, these inspiring true stories highlight the hope, healing, happiness and - most of all - unconditional love animals bring to our lives. Whether you love sloppy dog kisses, or melt at every kitty meow, this heartwarming collection is one to treasure.

Ranging from the wicked noir Shanghai of 1946 to the echo chambers of Hollywood to remote, snow-covered mountains, Stuart Archer Cohen's This Is How It Really Sounds follows three men, each in search of a different life.

An all-powerful Mexican drug cartel, threatened by the newly elected US president's promised initiative to wage a real war on drugs as soon as he takes the oath of office, finances a radical Islamist group to assassinate the president of the United States. The Islamists, with the help of Iran, place their deadliest agent, Omar, on a hands-free track with plans to strike on Inauguration Day at the height of the swearing in ceremony.

Cadrith Elanis has returned to Tralodren, picking up where he left off centuries before. And while Cadrissa isn't sure how she fits into his plans, her abduction has left her with little hope of escape. Meanwhile, the other mercenaries have scattered. They did their job, received their pay, and now just want to live their lives. But events start pulling them back to each other for something grander than their own imaginations and fears can envision. But that's just the start of still more revelations and trials to come.