Showing results by narrator "John Mayer" in All Categories

Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants, the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.

Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its 32 figurative pieces, moving about its 64 black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1,500 years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful intellectual tool?

1242. On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children: William, an oblate on a mission from his monastery; Jacob, a Jewish boy who has fled his burning village; and Jeanne, a peasant girl who hides her prophetic visions. They are accompanied by Jeanne’s loyal greyhound, Gwenforte...recently brought back from the dead. As the narrator collects their tales, the story of these three unlikely allies begins to come together.

In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew larger, the streets became increasingly clogged with horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 brought New York City to a halt, a solution had to be found. Two brothers - Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York City - pursued the dream of his city being the first American metropolis to have a subway and the great race was on.

We find ourselves engaged in various kinds of negotiations every day, from trying to land a new account or win a promotion at work, to buying a house or a car, or settling a dispute with a friend or spouse. In this groundbreaking audiobook, negotiation expert Ed Brodow shows us how to settle conflicts amicably and reach a win-win solution every time.

Rose is the youngest of seven children, meant to replace her dead sister. Maybe because of that, she’s never really fit in. She’s always felt different, out of place, a restless wanderer in a family of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him - in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family - she readily agrees. Rose travels on the bear’s broad back to a distant and empty castle, where she is nightly joined by a mysterious stranger.

On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burst into flames. The factory was crowded. The doors were locked to ensure workers stayed inside. One hundred forty-six people - mostly women - perished; it was one of the most lethal workplace fires in American history, until September 11, 2001. But the story of the fire is not the story of one accidental moment in time. It is a story of immigration and hard work to make it in a new country, as Italians and Jews and others traveled to America to find a better life.

Here is history that reads like fiction: the riveting story of two founding fathers of American industry, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, and the bloody steelworkers' strike that transformed their fabled partnership into a furious rivalry. Author Les Standiford begins at the bitter end, when the dying Carnegie proposes a final meeting after two decades of separation. Frick's reply: "Tell him that I'll meet him in hell."

Chapter by chapter, Graham leads us on a journey in faith. We learn about God and His purpose for our lives; who Jesus is and what He has done for us. We learn to deal with challenges along the way: temptation; wrong thoughts and motives; habits that destroy our spirit; and what to do when life turns against us.

Howard Storm, an avowed atheist, was awaiting emergency surgery when he realized that he was at death's door. Storm found himself out of his own body, looking down on the hospital room scene below. Next, rather than going "toward the light", he found himself being torturously dragged to excruciating realms of darkness and death, where he was physically assaulted by monstrous beings of evil. His description of his pure terror and torture is unnerving in its utter originality and convincing detail.

Plunging deep into midst of some of the hottest conflicts on the globe, Robert D. Kaplan takes us through mud and jungle, desert and dirt to the men and women on the ground who are leading the charge against threats to American security. These soldiers, fighting in thick Colombian jungles or on dusty Afghani plains, are the forefront of the new American foreign policy, a policy being implemented one soldier at a time.

In the second book of the Capital Mysteries—an early chapter book mystery series featuring fun facts and famous sites from Washington, D.C.—KC and Marshall are going to the Cherry Blossom Festival. They have an invitation from the President of the United States! But while they are off getting ice cream, KC's mom and President Thornton are kidnapped—right under the bodyguards' noses. Who cares if the FBI is on the case? KC isn't giving up until she finds her mom!

In the fifth book of the Capital Mysteries—an early chapter book mystery series featuring fun facts and famous sites from Washington, D.C.—it's party time in Washington, D.C.! The president is planning a celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in honor of the man who sculpted the famous statue of Abraham Lincoln. But KC and Marshall notice one small problem—one of the thumbs has broken off the statue! Has someone stolen Lincoln's thumb? Can KC and Marshall find it before the celebration?

In the eighth book of the Capital Mysteries—an early chapter book mystery series featuring fun facts and famous sites from Washington, D.C.—it's summertime, and KC and Marshall are camping out on the White House lawn. But late at night, they spot mysterious lights flickering at the top of the Washington Monument. When they go to check it out, they find something even stranger—peanut shells, a broken stone, and a monkey. One thing is sure, this is KC and Marshall's weirdest mystery yet!

In curiously parallel lives, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were both orphaned at an early age. Both were brilliant students who attended college - one at Princeton, the other at Columbia - and studied law. Both were young staff officers under General George Washington, and both became war heroes. Politics beckoned them, and each served in the newly formed government of the fledgling nation. Why, then, did these two face each other at dawn in a duel that ended with death for one and opprobrium for the other?

In the spring of 1844, a fiery political conflict erupted over the admission of Texas into the Union. This hard-fought and bitter controversy profoundly changed the course of American history. Indeed, as Joel Silbey argues in Storm Over Texas, it marked the crucial moment when partisan differences were transformed into a North-vs-South antagonism, and the momentum towards Civil War leaped into high gear.

In the sixth book of the Capital Mysteries—an early chapter book mystery series featuring fun facts and famous sites from Washington, D.C.—KC gets a front row seat to the Fourth of July festivities at the White House. What better place to be on the fourth than Washington, D.C.? But KC spots fireworks coming from a very peculiar place—the FBI building! Although the president thinks it was an accident, KC and her friend Marshall know better. They are sure those fireworks were covering up a clever crime!

In the seventh book of the Capital Mysteries, KC and Marshall are thrilled to take a tour of the United States Treasury, where stacks and stacks of money zip off the presses in the printing and engraving building, millions of dollars a day. But the friends find that a bundle of bills is missing. That's a hundred thousand dollars—gone! How did the thief slip the money out past cameras, guards, and locked doors? KC has a suspect. She has a clue. Now she just needs to figure out how in the world it was done!

Could you lose weight if you put $20,000 at risk? Would you finally set up your billing software if it meant that your favorite charity would earn a new contribution? If you’ve ever tried to meet a goal and came up short, the problem may not have been that the goal was too difficult or that you lacked the discipline to succeed. From giving up cigarettes to increasing your productivity at work, you may simply have neglected to give yourself the proper incentives.

In the ninth book of the Capital Mysteries—an early chapter book mystery series featuring fun facts and famous sites from Washington, D.C.—KC and Marshall are helping out with the baby tigers at the National Zoo when they meet a new friend, Sunwoo, from China. Sunwoo's father is lending the zoo a precious jewel caled the Tiger's Eye to raise money for endangered tigers. But during the zoo's big party, the lights suddenly go out. And when they're turned back on, the jewel is missing! Who stole the Tiger's Eye?