Showing results by narrator "A. Davis" in All Categories

Over the course of 24 lessons, including the eight meditation checkups within lessons, you will learn both what Zen has traditionally meant for East Asians and what it can mean for contemporary Westerners. Prepare to be challenged as Professor Davis asks you to set aside your preconceptions in order to open yourselves to what Zen masters who lived in the past and in distant lands have to teach you.

Filled with relentless drinking in seamy bars and glamorous nightclubs, wild, drug-fuelled parties, and dispassionate sexual encounters, Less than Zero - narrated by Clay, an 18-year-old student returning home to Los Angeles for Christmas - is a fierce coming-of-age story, justifiably celebrated for its unflinching depiction of hedonistic youth, its brutal portrayal of the inexorable consequences of such moral depravity and its author’s refusal to condone or chastise such behaviour.

John Masters was a soldier before he became a best-selling novelist. He went to Sandhurst in 1933 at the age of 18 and was commissioned into the Fourth Gurkha Rifles in time to take part in some of the last campaigns on the turbulent North-West Frontier of India. John Masters joined a Gurhka regiment on receiving his commission, and his depiction of garrison life and campaigning on the North-West Frontier has never been surpassed. Bugles and a Tiger is a matchless evocation of the British Army in India on the eve of the Second World War.

In An Army at Dawn - winner of the Pulitzer Prize - Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943, attack Italy two months later, and then fight their way, mile by bloody mile, north toward Rome. The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and their military advisors bitterly debated whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even wise.

The future of Anyar is being woven with threads spread across the planet. Those myriad threads contribute to a tapestry whose final mosaic remains obscure. An enigmatic alien race scattered five human castaways across the planet Anyar, far enough apart that they should never meet. The planet itself is a mystery. How is it already inhabited by humans when they did not evolve there? Castaway Joseph Colsco, now known as Yozef Kolsco, gradually finds himself at the center of resistance to an empire with ambitions to rule the world by any means necessary: Narthon.

As one of the most celebrated musicians of our time, Alicia Keys has enraptured the nation with her heartfelt lyrics, extraordinary vocal range and soul-stirring piano compositions. Yet away from the spotlight, Alicia has grappled with private heartache over the challenging and complex relationship with her father, the people-pleasing nature that characterised her early career, the loss of privacy surrounding her romantic relationships and the oppressive expectations of female perfection.

The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously changing system of immense complexity, it offers over 10 billion distinct products and services, doubles in size every 15 years, and links almost every one of the planet's seven billion people. How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which our lives depend? From the tally stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop.

When Jack McNeal threw Henry Graff’s body in the reservoir, he thought he had closed the book on Graff and his nefarious associates. But when Graff’s body is exhumed from the water, McNeal’s troubles really begin. Plagued by flashbacks and nightmares from his murderous past and unable to move on from the tragic deaths of his wife and young son, McNeal is on the verge of a breakdown.

Relive the excitement of one of the most anticipated movies of all time with this action-packed retelling of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! Many years have passed since the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance were victorious over the evil Empire, and the galaxy has been at peace. But now, a new darkness is rising. The brave men and women of the Resistance must stand against Kylo Ren and the villainous First Order.

Determined to halt a sale of dangerous bio-droids to the Separatists, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine dispatches a team of envoys, led by Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Ord Cestus. But if all else fails, the Republic will not hesitate to launch a full-scale attack, wiping out countless lives. Facing a crisis of conscience, Obi-Wan Kenobi must find the wisdom and strength to prevent a bloodbath and safeguard the Republic while abiding by the ancient code to which he has pledged his life.

Cult of the Dead Cow is the tale of the oldest, most respected, and most famous American hacking group of all time. Though until now it has remained mostly anonymous, its members invented the concept of hacktivism. Today, the group and its followers are battling electoral misinformation, making personal data safer, and battling to keep technology a force for good instead of for surveillance and oppression. Cult of the Dead Cow shows how governments, corporations, and criminals came to hold immense power over individuals and how we can fight back against them.

Down on Alfheim, the situation was dire. Some brave men and women had to be left behind for the greater good. Viceroy Miles Hunt, gutted by the losses, needed to stay focused. A Titan-class warship, the Freedom, could be the key to victory, if it were fully operational with a trained crew. It was not. Sam, the medical Synth, faced something the programmers never expected: a moment where the only option was to break free of the code. The battle was fierce and there didn't seem to be a way out, until Sam came up with a plan. Would it save them?

For more than fifty years, the Terran Republic and the Terran League have been killing one another. The death toll has climbed ever higher, year after year, with no end in sight. But the members of the Five Hundred, the social elite of the Republic's Heart Worlds, don't care.

While fulfilling his dead father's dream of creating a prosperous farm in California, Joseph Wayne comes to believe that a magnificent tree on the farm embodies his father's spirit. His brothers and their families share in Joseph's prosperity and the farm flourishes - until one brother, scared by Joseph's pagan belief, kills the tree and brings disease and famine on the farm.

It was supposed to be one night with one incredibly handsome stranger. A night of giving into temptation and forgetting all my inhibitions. Instead, it ends with wedding vows and promises of “I do”. But it turns out, this is exactly what we need for the sake of both our blooming careers. Especially after my new boss tasks me with the opening of a hot new lifestyle club. Hudson needs me to wear the title of wife for the benefit of his career, and I need him to teach me the lifestyle to solidify mine. Adding sex lessons to our agreement surely won’t complicate things, right?

We’re talking about faith for when and where it really matters - in the face of adversity, disappointment, anxiety about the future, and the seemingly impossible odds we’re up against that the world and our culture remind us of 24/7. Faith that doesn’t sidestep the issues, but with chutzpah, grit, and a lot of grace, confronts and takes on every mountain - whatever it might be.

Terracotta Warriors provides an intriguing, original and up-to-date account of one of the wonders of the ancient world. This is the first audiobook available for the general listener which incorporates the most recent excavations, new theories and discoveries. In one of the most astounding archaeological discoveries of all time, the Terracotta Warriors were discovered by chance by farmers in 1974.

In this groundbreaking book, best-selling author Richard Koch charts a map of success, identifying the nine key attitudes and strategies can propel anyone to new heights of accomplishment. The pattern of success is fractal. It is endlessly varied but endlessly similar. Success does not require genius, consistency, all-round ability, a safe pair of hands or even basic competence. If it did, most of the people in this book would not have impacted the world as they did.

Berlin. 1963. The height of the Cold War and an early morning spy swap. On one side of the trade: Martin Keller, an American physicist who once made headlines, but who then disappeared into the English prison system. Keller's most critical possession: his American passport. Keller's most ardent desire: to see his ex-wife, Sabine, and their young son. But Martin has questions: who asked for him? Who negotiated the deal? Just the KGB bringing home one of its agents? Or, as he hopes, a more personal intervention?

In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life, while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon facing thieves, wizards, princesses, and the depths of their desires and fears.