Showing results by narrator "Patrick Hopkins" in All Categories

A “problem of twelve” arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. The Big Three index funds of Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock control more than twenty percent of the votes of S&P 500 companies—a concentration of power that’s unprecedented in America.

Marlo and Phil are a beloved couple who have been married for 40 years, yet have rarely spoken publicly about their relationship, and have never written a book together. Now, for the first time, they also include the secrets to what has kept their own marriage alive and loving. Inspiring and insightful, What Makes a Marriage Last offers practical and hard-won wisdom for couples of all ages. Learn about soul-deep passion from Sting and Trudy Styler and how Billy and Janice Crystal keep the love and laughter alive.

As a White House speechwriter, Terry Szuplat helped craft hundreds of speeches for President Obama. But when it came to public speaking himself, Szuplat—like many people—was gripped by anxiety and preferred to stay in the shadows. When he was invited to give the first major speech of his life, he faced a choice: keep hiding from what scared him, or finally face his fears.

In the 12 unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: A group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman.

In 21st century America, the top 0.1 percent of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90 percent have lost ground. What’s left of the American Dream has taken refuge in the 9.9 percent that lies just below the tip of extreme wealth. Collectively, the members of this group control more than half of the wealth in the country - and they are doing whatever it takes to hang on to their piece of the action in an increasingly unjust system.

When widowed Nicholas MacPherson, Earl of Rothbury, returns from a two-year pilgrimage and finds himself in desperate need of a governess for his son, the last person he wants to see at his door is Julianna Feathers, the lass he had loved since he was a child servant in her father's castle. Her familiar smiles and the ease he feels when they speak - even to argue - becomes harder to resist. But he doesn't trust love. Her love. Still, when she stirs the rubble in search of his heart, the heart she once knew, he is helpless to stop her.

From trade to technology to military might, competition between the United States and China dominates the foreign policy landscape. But this battle for global influence is also playing out in a strange and unexpected arena: the movies. The film industry, Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel explains, is the latest battleground in the tense and complex rivalry between these two world powers. In recent decades, as China has grown into a giant of the international economy, it has become a crucial source of revenue for the American film industry.

Ruby, along with the two men fighting for her heart and the friend who betrayed her, has successfully ventured to the fae realm and retrieved the Key of Hades—the ancient artifact that can resurrect the dead. Now she has to make a choice: deliver the key to a coven of dark witches or go back on her oath with them and have the human world—including her parents—forget about her existence forever.

To succeed in a fast-changing world, individuals and companies know they must create a culture of growth, where experimentation and feedback are encouraged, and learning is integrated into the everyday. Yet we often get stuck in a well-worn pattern of habits that don’t move us forward. Why? Because many of us get trapped in the Performance Paradox: the counterintuitive phenomenon that if we focus only on performing, our performance suffers. How can we give ourselves the space to experiment and grow while also delivering high-level results?

Zombies, aliens, a little skin, lots of gore - and even more laughs - the cinematic universe of Charles Band is legendary. From the toilet-invading creatures of Ghoulies to the time-travelling bounty hunter in Trancers to the pandemic-crashed Corona Zombies, Band has spent four decades giving B-movie lovers exactly what they love. In Confessions of a Puppetmaster, this congenial master of Grindhouse cinema tells his own story, uncut.

Chief Detective David Wolf is called to a crime scene next to the Chautauqua River, where a woman resident of Rocky Points has been murdered. The killer has left a well-known signature not seen for years - a severed ear. For Wolf, the gruesome display is a surprise, but so is the FBI beating the local department to the scene. Three days earlier a truck is unearthed from south of Durango, Colorado. Within it is DNA evidence linking to killings in southwest Colorado that have stumped the FBI for years.

Vince Granata remembers standing in front of his suburban home in Connecticut the day his mother and father returned from the hospital with his three new siblings in tow. He had just finished scrawling their names in orange chalk on the driveway: Christopher, Timothy, and Elizabeth. Twenty-three years later, Vince was a thousand miles away when he received the news that would change his life - his younger brother, Tim, propelled by unchecked schizophrenia, had killed their mother in their childhood home.

Set in 1991, just as Star Trek: The Next Generation has rocketed the cast to global fame, the young and impressionable actor Brent Spiner receives a mysterious package and a series of disturbing letters, that take him on a terrifying and bizarre journey that enlists Paramount Security, the LAPD, and even the FBI in putting a stop to the danger that has his life and career hanging in the balance.

When a fisherman reels in a plastic bag containing a severed human head from the depths of Cold Lake, Colorado, Sheriff David Wolf and his deputies scramble to the scene, and quickly realize there are more surprises to be found below. Amid sweeping political changes that have his department and the entire county on edge, Wolf and his deputies come to the realization that there is a dangerous serial killer in their midst - one who will stop at nothing to remain hidden. Can Wolf and his deputies unveil the truth?

No Shadows in the Desert reveals the untold story of the behind-the-scenes fight against ISIS - one coordinated by heads of state and ultimately fought in the alleyways and open deserts of the Middle Eastern battlefield by spies and soldiers. Samuel M. Katz draws upon his sources within the global intelligence and counterterrorism community, as well as the international special operations and espionage fraternity, to tell the story of the covert campaign against ISIS by the operatives who ventured deeply and secretly into enemy territory.

Margot needs a minute. She’s been working eighty-hour weeks as a newly minted partner at her law firm. She’s disconnected from her brother, the only family she has left. And she’s still not pregnant after years of trying. Stars Harbor Astrological Retreat promises rest, relaxation, and wisdom for Margot and her friends. With Instagram-worthy views and nightly astrology readings in an impeccably restored waterfront Victorian house, this getaway should be nothing but idyllic fun.

When diggers at a high altitude surface mine exhume the corpse of one of their workers, the Sluice-Byron SD is called to the scene. Upon arrival, detectives find answers are hard to come by, but one thing’s for certain — they are looking at murder. David Wolf, now acting interim sheriff, is finding this second time around running the show less desirable than the last, so when a spot opens up in the investigation, he wastes no time jumping into the action.

William Deresiewicz, a leading critic of the arts and of contemporary culture, set out to answer those questions. Based on interviews with artists of all kinds, The Death of the Artist argues that we are in the midst of an epochal transformation. If artists were artisans in the Renaissance, bohemians in the 19th century, and professionals in the 20th, a new paradigm is emerging in the digital age, one that is changing our fundamental ideas about the nature of art and the role of the artist in society.

October 2559. It has been a year since the renegade artificial intelligence Cortana issued a galaxy-wide ultimatum, subjecting many worlds to martial law under the indomitable grip of her Forerunner weapons. Outside her view, the members of Blue Team - John-117, the Master Chief; Fred-104; Kelly-087; and Linda-058 - are assigned from the UNSC Infinity to make a covert insertion onto the ravaged planet Reach.

Addie: In that one moment everything changed. Everything I thought I knew shattered with just a few words. Who knew the truth could be so devastating. I need to decide which side to take. But can I even trust myself? Xander: She's gone, but I'll scorch the earth to find her if that's what it takes. I'll call upon friend and foe for the battle that is to come. The fires of hell couldn't keep me from her and whoever thinks they can take what is mine, is going to regret it for all time. One thing is for sure. The Crash could ruin us all.