Showing results by narrator "Michael Page" in All Categories

What makes you the way you are - and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains.

After three years fighting by the side of Spartacus, Pacorus and his followers have escaped from Italy in the aftermath of the defeat of the slave rebellion. Made a king by the ruler of the Parthian Empire on his return, he has married his beloved Gallia and made the city of Dura Europos on the banks of the Euphrates his home. But his new kingdom is seething with discontent and surrounded by hostile desert nomads who are the sworn enemies of the Parthians.

Russia and China, the largest and most populous countries in the world, respectively, have maintained a delicate relationship for four centuries. In addition to a four-thousand-kilometer border, they have periodically shared a common outlook on political and economic affairs. But they are, in essence, profoundly different polities and cultures, and their intermittent alliances have proven difficult and at times even volatile. Philip Snow provides a full account of the relationship between these two global giants.

1940. Hitler’s terrifying war machine will soon roll through England, and in its wake Hitler plans to enthrone puppet monarchs under Nazi control. For these roles he demands none other than the exiled Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Berlin. Brilliant SS officer Walter Schellenberg is ordered to “persuade” the Duke and Duchess to the Nazi cause. But when Shellenberg impulsively aids the escape of beautiful Jewish nightclub singer Hannah Winter, he plunges them both into a dark arena of intrigue and betrayal.

In the wake of the Crusades, Wilfred of Ivanhoe vows to return Richard the Lion Heart to the throne. But the Saxon son’s allegiance to the Norman king, and his forbidden love for Lady Rowena, leave Ivanhoe disinherited from his father. To set his mission on course, he returns to England in disguise and quickly finds himself entrenched in an epic battle for power. As destinies entwine, Ivanhoe fights to restore the crown and marry his queen with help from the healer Rebecca; Robin Hood and his Merry Men; and the Black Knight, the Saxon’s mysterious ally.

Swindled out of his inheritance, recently orphaned David Balfour finds himself kidnapped and aboard a slave ship bound for the Carolinas shortly after the Jacobite rising of 1745. A shipwreck leads to a chance encounter and an unlikely rescuer - Highland rebel and suspected assassin Alan Breck Stewart. An incredible friendship blossoms between the two young men, who occupy opposite ends of the political and religious spectra. Together they return to the mainland and outwit many murderous foes.

Les Johnson takes you on a thrilling tour of the physics and technologies that may enable us to reach the stars. He discusses the latest exoplanet discoveries, promising interstellar missions on the not-so-distant horizon, and exciting new developments in space propulsion, power, robotics, communications, and more. But interstellar travel will not be easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. Johnson describes the harsh and forbidding expanse of space that awaits us, and he addresses the daunting challenges that we need to overcome in order to realize tomorrow's possibilities.

In A Fatal Winter, Max Tudor - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent, and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at Chedrow Castle. But his growing attraction to Awena Owen complicates his case, as does the recent arrival at Chedrow Castle of a raucous group of long-lost, greedy relatives, any one of whom has a motive for murder. With a cozy setting, intricate puzzles, and a handsome (non-celibate) priest doing the sleuthing, the books in this series are destined to become instant classics in the mystery world.

The brooding peace that hangs over Parthia is shattered by a murder that triggers the final confrontation that will decide who rules the empire. Pacorus leads his veteran army east to destroy, once and for all, the forces of his implacable enemies, Mithridates and Narses. But his foes have been waiting for this moment, and what Pacorus believes will be a short campaign will turn into a long war that will culminate in the bloodiest battle in the history of the Parthian Empire.

Selchester Castle in 1953 sits quiet and near-empty, its corridors echoing with glories of the past. Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and now reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester.

In the fifth year of conflict, the master plan for the invasion of Hitler’s Channel stronghold is the Allies’ greatest secret. National security demands it doesn’t fall into enemy hands. So when Colonel Hugh Kelso is pulled from the sea off German-occupied Jersey in April 1944, a major crisis erupts. Because Kelso is still alive and knows the exact details of the imminent invasion, to ensure the success of their offensive, the Allies launch a suicidal mission to rescue the Colonel...or silence him forever.

They call themselves "January 30," after the date of a British massacre in Belfast. They are allied with no one, killing American diplomats and KGB agents, Arabs and Israelis, IRA gunmen and Loyalist soldiers. But they are definitely the enemies of peace - and they are plotting an assassination that will shatter the uneasy truce that reigns in Ireland.

The Plantagenets reigned over England longer than any other family - from Henry II to Richard III. Four kings were murdered, two came close to being deposed, and the last - and most notorious, Richard III - was killed in a battle by rebels. Shakespeare wrote plays about six of them, further entrenching them in the national myth. Based on major contemporary sources and recent research, acclaimed historian Desmond Seward provides the first accessible overview of the whole extraordinary dynasty.

The Fortress of Glass is the first in the Crown of the Isles trilogy, which will conclude the epic Lord of the Isles series. A true trilogy, the action extends over the whole three-book arc. The Fortress of Glass begins the story of how the new kingdom of the Isles is finally brought into being by the group of heroes and heroines who have been central to all the books in the series.

In Northern Genabackis, before the events recounted in Gardens of the Moon, a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descend from the mountains into the flat lands. For one among them, Karsa Orlong, it marks the beginning of what will prove an extraordinary destiny. Some years later, it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Coltaine is dead. And now the untried new Adjunct, Tavore, must urgently raise an army able to withstand the forces of the Sha'ik's Whirlwind that are massing in Raraku, the few remaining veterans from Coltaine's march her only hope....

The whale is the largest, loudest, oldest animal ever to have existed. It is improbable, amazing, and - as anyone who has seen an underwater documentary or visited the display at the American Museum of Natural Historycan attest - a powerful source of wonder and delight to millions. The Whale is an extraordinary journey into the world of this fascinating and mysterious animal.

Throughout history, even as daily life has exhibited calm and tolerance, war has never been far away, and even within societies, violence can be a threat. The Goodness Paradox gives a new and powerful argument for how and why this uncanny combination of peacefulness and violence crystallized after our ancestors acquired language in Africa a quarter of a million years ago.

Relive the adventures of dear old Mole, Rat, Badger, and the incorrigible Toad in The Wind in the Willows. Upon seeing a motorcar for the first time, Toad declares it's the only way to travel! Soon he's upsetting the whole countryside with his careless driving - much to the dismay of Mole, Rat, and Badger. They try to talk sense into Toad, yet it only makes matters worse. But when a pack of nefarious weasels comes on the scene, the friends have no choice but to band together to save the day.

Orphaned as a baby, human-boy Mowgli is adopted by wolves, befriended by Baloo the bear, and educated in the wonders and dangers of the Indian jungle. But the adventures of The Jungle Book don't end with the young man-cub and his unusual new family. Through tales of Kotick the White Seal, Rikki-tikki-tavi the mongoose, and others, listeners learn about courage and survival, rules and order, principles and morals, coming-of-age, and the thrill of self-discovery.

It's been two years since Peter Nimble and Sir Tode rescued the kingdom of HazelPort. In that time, they have traveled far and wide in search of adventure. Now they have been summoned by Professor Cake for a new mission: To find a 12-year-old bookmender named Sophie Quire. Sophie knows little beyond the four walls of her father's bookshop, where she repairs old books and dreams of escaping the confines of her dull life.