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Win Bigly : Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter
by Scott Adams
Non-fiction. Adams was one of the earliest public figures to predict Trump’s win, doing so a week after Nate Silver put Trump’s odds at 2 percent in his FiveThirtyEight.com blog. Adams recognized in Trump a level of persuasion you only see once in a generation. Trump triggered massive cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias on both the left and the right. Win Bigly goes beyond politics to look at persuasion tools that can work in any setting—the same ones Adams saw in Steve Jobs when he invested in Apple decades ago. For instance: If you need to convince people that something is important, make a claim that’s directionally accurate but has a big exaggeration in it. Everyone will spend endless hours talking about how wrong it is and will remember the issue as high priority. Stop wasting time on elaborate presentation preparations. Inside, you’ll learn which components of your messaging matter, and where you can wing it.
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Dear World : A Syrian Girl's Story of War and Plea for Peace
by Bana Al Abed
Memoir. When seven-year-old Bana Alabed took to Twitter to describe the horrors she and her family were experiencing in war-torn Syria, her heartrending messages touched the world and gave a voice to millions of innocent children. Bana’s happy childhood was abruptly upended by civil war when she was only three years old. Over the next four years, she knew nothing but bombing, destruction, and fear. Her harrowing ordeal culminated in a brutal siege where she, her parents, and two younger brothers were trapped in Aleppo, with little access to food, water, medicine, or other necessities. Facing death as bombs relentlessly fell around them—one of which completely destroyed their home—Bana and her family embarked on a perilous escape to Turkey. In Bana’s own words, and featuring short, affecting chapters by her mother, Fatemah, Dear World is not just a gripping account of a family endangered by war; it offers a uniquely intimate, child’s perspective on one of the biggest humanitarian crises in history.
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Recovery : Freedom from Our Addictions
by Russell Brand
Self-help. Comedian and movie star Russell Brand mines his own wild story and shares the advice and wisdom he has gained through his fourteen years of recovery. Brand speaks to those suffering along the full spectrum of addiction--from drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar addictions to addictions to work, stress, bad relationships, digital media, and fame. Brand understands that addiction can take many shapes and sizes and how the process of staying clean, sane, and unhooked is a daily activity. He believes that the question is not 'Why are you addicted?' but 'What pain is your addiction masking? Why are you running--into the wrong job, the wrong life, the wrong person's arms?
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The Revolution of Marina M.
by Yelena Shmulenson
Historical fiction. St. Petersburg, New Year's Eve, 1916. Marina Makarova is a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Swept up on these tides, Marina will join the marches for workers' rights, fall in love with a radical young poet, and betray everything she holds dear, before being betrayed in turn. As her country goes through almost unimaginable upheaval, Marina's own coming-of-age unfolds, marked by deep passion and devastating loss, and the private heroism of an ordinary woman living through extraordinary times. This is the epic, mesmerizing story of one indomitable woman's journey through some of the most dramatic events of the last century.
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| A Touch of Frost by Jo Goodman; narrated by Laurence BouvardAdult Fiction. Remington Frost had one job: ensure that Phoebe Apple arrives safely at the Twin Star Ranch in Frost Falls, Colorado. But Phoebe, the younger sister of his father's new bride, has just been kidnapped en route to her destination. So Remington rides to the rescue, but that's just the beginning of the couple's romantic (mis)adventures. This stand-alone novel by the author of the Bitter Springs series combines passion and thrills in a vivid Old West setting, warmly portrayed in Laurence Bouvard's narration. |
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The Rooster Bar : A Novel
by John Grisham
Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier, for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam. But maybe there's a way out. Maybe there’s a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes, and no. Pull up a stool, grab a cold one, and get ready to spend some time at The Rooster Bar.
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| Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal; narrated by Meera SyalAdult Fiction. Given the title, you might expect stories of a saucy nature, but this novel, set in a Punjabi community in Southall, London, is less concerned with titillation and more interested in upending biases towards widowed women, illuminating multicultural life in England, and exploring the push-pull of tradition and modernity. This portrayal of a group of Punjabi widows who turn their writing class into an opportunity to tell stories and build community features warm, engaging characters and descriptive details of the community. Meera Syal's narration enhances the humor with her wry British accent. |
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Sleeping Beauties
by Stephen King
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain? Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women’s prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
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| The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue: A Novel by Mackenzi Lee; narrated by Christian CoulsonTeen Fiction. A "Grand Tour" of 18th-century Europe offers Lord Henry Montague one last chance to cut loose before he must abandon his scandalous life of drinking and dallying with young ladies (and gentlemen) and take over his family's British estate. The Tour is barely underway when Monty (accompanied by his sharp-minded sister Felicity and his best friend and secret love Percy) makes a powerful enemy, turning the journey into a life-or-death mission involving highwaymen, pirates, and alchemy. Blending snarky humor with passionate emotion and savvy social observations, this "guide" is an "absolute delight of a listen" (AudioFile) for fans of inclusive historical adventure. |
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| Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips; narrated by Cassandra CampbellAdult Fiction. After a pleasant afternoon at the zoo, Joan realizes that the loud noises she'd heard earlier were actually gunshots -- human bodies litter the park's entrance, and at least one armed man stands between her and freedom. She grabs her four-year-old and finds cover, but with an antsy, hungry preschooler, even the best hiding place won't last forever, and Joan must soon make a move. Their harrowing ordeal moves lightning-fast as author Gin Phillips movingly portrays what a mother will do to protect her child. Cassandra Campbell's vivid narration may be emotionally intense but will stick with you long after it's over. |
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| The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland; narrated by an ensemble including Laurence Bouvard, Shelly Atkinson, Laural Merlington, Joe Barrett, and Will DamronAdult Fiction. Magic is real and, until 1851, was practiced openly. Then it disappeared. To find out why, the shadowy government entity known as the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.), recruits Harvard-trained linguist Melisande Stokes to translate ancient documents in search of clues. This collaboration between science fiction writer Neal Stephenson and historical fiction writer Nicole Galland may appeal to fans of Jody Taylor's Chronicles of St. Mary's series. Read by an ensemble, the audiobook offers a rich and compelling listening experience. |
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The Wisdom of Sundays : Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations
by Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey says Super Soul Sunday is the television show she was born to do. “I see it as an offering,” she explains. “If you want to be more fully present and live your life with a wide-open heart, this is the place to come to.” Now, for the first time, the aha moments of inspiration and soul-expanding insight that have enlightened millions on the three-time Emmy Award–winning Super Soul Sunday are collected in The Wisdom of Sundays, a beautiful, cherishable, deeply affecting audiobook. Organized into ten chapters — each one representing a powerful step in Oprah’s own spiritual journey and introduced with an intimate personal essay written and read by Oprah herself — The Wisdom of Sundays features meaningful conversations between Oprah and some of today’s most-admired thought-leaders. Visionaries like Gary Zukav and John Kabat-Zinn share their lessons in finding purpose through intention and mindfulness.
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