Showing results by narrator "Patrick Lawlor" in All Categories

Gary Paulsen takes listeners along on his maiden voyage, proving that ignorance can be bliss. Also really stupid and incredibly dangerous. He tells of boats that owned him, good, bad, and beloved, and how they got him through terrifying storms that he survived by sheer luck. His spare prose conjures up shark surprises and killer waves as well as moonlight on the sea, and makes listeners feel what it’s like to sail under the stars or to lie at anchor in a tropical lagoon where dolphins leap, bathed in silver.

When Santa Claus is a cop, you better watch out. It’s not looking like a very merry Christmas for San Diego cop Nick Pappas. Suspended from his job, alienated from his family, and persecuted by the press, he’s sorely tempted to turn his gun on himself. Except for his first name, he couldn’t possibly have less in common with jolly old St. Nicholas. But when a local mall decides it needs a secret Santa to help collar some vicious muggers preying on its holiday shoppers, Nick’s persuaded to red-suit up so as to take the naughty punks down and avert a ho-ho homicide.

Humans have always been fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life, often wondering if we are alone in the universe. Drawing on nearly fifty years as a leader in planetary exploration, Louis Friedman brings into focus the subject of extraterrestrial life, separating knowledge from conjecture, fact from fiction, to draw scientific and technical conclusions that answer this enduring question. Friedman argues that intelligent life is probably rare in the universe but that simple life is likely abundant on millions or billions of planets waiting now to be discovered.

Tracing a group of ruthless outlaws from its genesis during the American Civil War all the way to a final bloody stand in the Oklahoma territories, The Winter Family is a hyperkinetic Western noir that reads like a full-on assault to the senses.

The year is 1954 and eight year old Daniel Dorsey learns the intimate meaning of death when his parents are killed in a car crash. Taken in by his colorful, at times mad, and always tender and caring extended family, Daniel learns that even the deepest sorrows and hurt can be healed. Michael Raleigh's In the Castle of the Flynns is about a young boy growing up Irish in a vibrant 1950s Chicago neighborhood.

In 1967, a retired army major and self-made millionaire named Paddy Roy Bates cemented his family’s place in history when he inaugurated himself ruler of the Principality of Sealand, a tiny dominion of the high seas. And so began the peculiar story of the world’s most stubborn micronation on a World War II anti-aircraft-gun platform off the British coast. Incorporating original interviews with surviving Sealand royals, Dylan Taylor-Lehman recounts the battles and schemes as Roy and his crew engaged with diplomats and even thwarted an attempted coup.

By 2050, the world’s centenarian population—those aged 100 or more—will increase eightfold. Half of today’s 5-year-olds can expect to reach the same heights. It’s going to upend everything we thought we knew about health care, personal finance, retirement, politics, and more. Whether we’re 18 or 81, this tectonic demographic shift will affect us all. The Big 100 confronts listeners with both the brightness and potential bleakness of a fate few of us thought possible.

Lopside is a Barkonaut - a specially trained dog who assists human astronauts on missions in space. He and the crew aboard the spaceship Laika are en route to set up an outpost on a distant planet. When the mission takes a disastrous turn, the Barkonauts on board suddenly find themselves completely alone on their severely damaged ship. Survival seems impossible. But these dogs are Barkonauts - and Barkonauts always complete their mission.

Mark Gillen has the storybook life other men dream of, complete with a beautiful wife and an adoring five-year-old daughter. Then his wife announces she's leaving him. And taking their daughter with her. The other man is a famous film director with unlimited funds and the keys to stardom and wealth for Paula. How can Mark begin to compete? But the most bitter blow comes when he is kept from seeing his daughter because of false charges....

Few moments in history have seen as many seismic transformations as 1979. That one year marked the emergence of revolutionary Islam as a political force on the world stage, the beginning of market revolutions in China and Britain that would fuel globalization, and the first stirrings of the resistance movements in Eastern Europe and Afghanistan that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. More than any other year in the latter half of the 20th century, 1979 heralded the economic, political, and religious realities that define the 21st century.

In The Way of the Wall Street Warrior, 25-year veteran investment banker and finance professional, Dave Liu, delivers a humorous and irreverent insider's guide to thriving on Wall Street or Main Street. Liu offers hilarious and insightful advice on everything from landing an interview to self-promotion to getting paid.

Augusta National is golf’s Holy Grail. Navigating the azaleas to play the exclusive course that hosts The Masters is a pipe dream for every golfer. Imagine being afforded the opportunity not only to play the course, but to be able to bring your father along for the ride. To complete the priceless fantasy, Jack Nicklaus - “The Golden Bear” - hosts the round. Through fate, coincidence and good fortune, Joe Wessel managed to find a way to make that happen. In White Fang and The Golden Bear, Wessel recounts that special round, how it came about, and what happened....

From the award-winning author of Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon comes an intimate exploration of Alaska's northernmost mountain range with observations on Indigenous cultures, conservation, and intense cross-country travel, all shaped by respect for the land. Follow author Michael Engelhard through tussock-studded tundra for a remarkable tale of bear encounters and white-knuckled river moments, as well as poetic reflections on a vast, untamed landscape.

In 1931, San Diego's idyllic image as a beach town with peaceful suburbs concealed a harrowing reality: a series of unsolved crimes targeting women, fueling fear and vulnerability. Monsters on the Loose tells the tragic and true stories of three women murdered early that year: Virginia Brooks, Louise Teuber, and Hazel Bradshaw. Local law enforcement, out-of-town criminologists, and investigators from what would become the FBI pursued hundreds of leads. Yet, the killer(s) were never identified and brought to justice.

A high-sodium diet is deadly; studies have linked it to high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attacks. It's been estimated that excess sodium in the American diet causes as many as 100,000 deaths per year. And yet salt is everywhere in our diets - in packaged food, fast food, and restaurant meals. Why hasn't salt received the sort of attention and regulatory action that sugar and fat have? In Salt Wars, Michael Jacobson explains how the American food industry has fought government efforts to reduce dangerous levels of sodium in our food.

In May 1962, Naval Chief Petty Officer Bryant Arbuckle flew to Saigon to establish a new armed forces radio station. Next to follow were his wife and three boys, Leslie among them. Saigon Kids is the candid, recondite slice of 14-year-old military brat Les Arbuckle's experience at the American Community School during the critical months of the Vietnam War when events would, quite literally, ignite in downtown Saigon.

In a near future where climate change has severely affected weather and agriculture, the North End of an unnamed city has long been abandoned in favor of the neighboring South End. Aside from the scavengers steadily stripping the empty city to its bones, only a few thousand people remain, content to live quietly among the crumbling metropolis. Many, like the narrator, are there to try to escape the demons of their past. He spends his time observing and recording the decay around him, attempting to bury memories of what he has lost.

Adam Canfield's friend Jennifer talks him into being co-editor of the Slash. Between supervising know-it-all cub reporters and arguing with Principal Marris about which articles will "propel the Good Ship Harris forward," Adam worries he might lose it altogether. But then a third grader delivers a scoop bigger than any of Adam's career, and only Adam can dig deep enough to crack through a cover-up that will rock the very foundations of Harris itself.

Beamer, age 13, who speaks only Californian, is an alien in the world of Middle America, exiled to a bizarre, ancient house on a mysterious street that may or may not exist on any map. With the help of a nerdy African-American kid named Ghoulie, a gangly tomboy named Scilla, and a miraculous, broken-down tree house shaped like a spaceship, he battles the indigenous life forms in his new home, from bullying creatures to the strange inhabitants of dark castles, subterranean caverns, and a spider web the size of a house.

101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview is for every job candidate who thinks the question "do you have any questions for me?" marks the end of an interview. In Fry's view it marks the beginning of the last and perhaps most important interview phase - one that's so important that failing to properly prepare for it can undo all the rest of your hard work, including providing great answers to tough questions.