Showing results by narrator "Eric Jason Martin" in All Categories

Balancing a broad array of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence, Fruit from the Sands presents the fascinating story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Through the preserved remains of plants in archaeological sites, Robert N. Spengler III identifies the regions where our most familiar crops were domesticated and follows their routes as people carried them around the world. Vividly narrated, Fruit from the Sands explores how the foods we eat have shaped the course of human history.

He has been called the greatest surgeon of the 20th century. The son of Lebanese immigrants, Michael DeBakey rose from humble beginnings in a backwater Louisiana town to dominate the landscape of modern medicine. His contributions to our understanding and treatment of cardiovascular disease, in particular, were innumerable and epoch-making. DeBakey led a life of high drama, from the streets of Jazz Age New Orleans and the operating theaters of pre-war Europe, to the battlefields of World War II and the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina.

A major new exploration of the economics of animal exploitation and a practical roadmap for how we can use the marketplace to promote the welfare of all living creatures, from the renowned animal-rights advocate Wayne Pacelle, President/CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and New...

For generations, the big city has promised romance, danger, opportunity. But what happens when you wake up one hungover morning and realize the promise is gone...along with your cheap apartment? That your whole existence in Berlin - 10 years of easy living based on cheap rent and the ability to just barely make it in the creative industry - was just a historical accident, the cheap rent and Bohemian setting products of a perverse economy, a miracle that couldn't possibly last?

When Max Cromwell joined the military for a year of service, he didn't think he'd become a soldier on an alien world. But then the Zoos Collective had kidnapped him along with other humans to be their army in the Cosmic Games, a conflict between the four godlike civilizations of the Intergalactic Consortium of Civilized Beings. Trapped on the planet Alpha Ludus, Max and his people have been struggling to survive, while simultaneously learning to cultivate mana and develop supernatural abilities. But unlike his fellow humans, Max wields extraordinary powers no one else has been able to channel.

Human Francis Sandow is amused when the alien Pei'ans mistake him for Shimbo of Darktree, God of Thunder, but the Shimbo's enemy, Belion—a true supreme being—arrives for a showdown.

David Brock is the ultimate happy warrior. Once a leading right-wing hit man, Brock is now the Left's pre-eminent defender and truth-teller. In this incisive, personal account, Brock disarms the major tentacles of the Republican Leviathan: the Koch Brothers, the Clinton haters, and the Fox Noise...

The Transatlantic Train Tunnel, connecting New York and London, was meant to be the next Wonder of the World. But after the disastrous maiden voyage seven years ago, it's generated nothing but protests, lawsuits, and bankruptcy. The only traffic the tunnel sees these days is scrappers harvesting its useless remains before it's fully dismantled. Not everyone is willing to take a tedious job one hundred and fifty feet below sea level, but Ben Breckenridge doesn't have a choice. He needs the money, and the work will help quiet his anxieties.

Abducted by the Zoos Collective, Max Cromwell and his fellow unlucky humans were drafted to fight in the Cosmic Games. Fighting for survival on the hostile planet of Alpha Ludus against three extraterrestrial armies, the recruits from Earth have become super-soldiers by learning to cultivate mana. But Max's prowess surpassed that of both his teammates and his enemies as he not only developed extraordinary abilities but became Soulbound to the spirit of a sentient firearm named Maverick.

With their towering, cinnamon-colored trunks and dusky green canopies, ponderosa pine has long been a charismatic icon of the American West. Yet a quiet unraveling has begun: in the past decade, in a vast area from Santa Fe to the Sierras, more than two hundred million ponderosa have died. While some trees will survive in cooler places, scientists estimate that by mid-century less than five percent of the ponderosa in the American Southwest may remain. As the very character of this vast region shifts, what will be left behind? And how can we come to terms with such profound loss?

In Too Far on a Whim, Tyler A. Pitrof presents a high-spirited revision of the US Navy's commitment to high-steam propulsion systems, the mainstay of its World War II fleets. Pitrof's research persuasively demonstrates that in its war against the Imperial Japanese Navy, the US Navy succeeded despite its high-steam propulsion systems rather than because of them. Pitrof provides an account that extends far beyond technology and into matters of naval hierarchies and bureaucracy, strategic theory, and ego.

A retired Green Beret who can't walk away from trouble finds no shortage of it. This omnibus edition collects the standalone John Tyler action thriller novels Lost Highway and Four on the Floor.

The fighting prowess of United States Marines is second to none, but few know of the Corps' humble beginnings and what it achieved during the early years of the American Revolution. That oversight is fully rectified by Jason Bohm's eye-opening Washington's Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777.

Reporting on China has long been one of the most challenging and crucial of journalistic assignments. Nonetheless, American media coverage of China has profoundly influenced U.S. government policy and shaped public opinion not only domestically but also, given the clout and reach of U.S. news organizations, around the world. This book tells the story of how American journalists have covered China—from the civil war of the 1940s through the COVID-19 pandemic—in their own words.

Assemble Artifacts: A short story magazine that assembles a thrilling new mix of stories from genres including horror, science-fiction, comedy, and suspense. Buried at the heart of every story in the magazine is a unique artifact, an object that has inspired our storytellers to create a big idea, an irresistible question, a new immersive world, or a sense of wonder. Includes “Nothing Was Already Here” by April Wolfe, “Labyrinth Loop” by Isabel J. Kim, “Divine” by Michael Griffo, “Dismantle” by Joshua Sky, “The Twelve Gates Barber Shop” by K.T. Jayne, and “Refrain” by Gretchen McNeil.

J.R.R. Tolkien's novels of Middle-earth—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Silmarillian—have become some of the most famous, and most beloved, literary works of the twentieth century. Even if you've never read the novels and have only seen the films, you know that the world of Middle-earth is a complicated one. What you'll find in The Oigins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies is a basic guide to some of the possible linguistic and mythological origins of Middle-earth, plus a rudimentary analysis of its many themes and lessons for our world.

Throughout history there has always been a need, in military forces, for special units. In the past, these units have usually been ad hoc formations that were disbanded after their mission was complete. It has only been since the early 1950s that such units have remained active, but even in recent times special purpose, special mission units have been organized and used for a period of time or for a specific mission and then either deactivated or replaced by other units.

In a ruined future split between those who have and those who do not, America has contracted like a singularity into a single city. There, citizens live under a divided society, split by five walls. At the center, their depraved leader, Gideon, rules with the iron fisted reach of propaganda and an oppressive governmental agency.

Elected officials answer to public employees. Basic tools of good government have been eliminated. There's no accountability, detailed union entitlements make government largely unmanageable and unaffordable, and public policies are driven by what is good for public employees, not what is good for the public. Public unions keep it that way by brute political force—harnessing the huge cohort of public employees into a political force dedicated to preventing the reform of government. The solution, Howard argues, is not political but constitutional.

The world we live in today, where everything is tracked by corporations and governments, originates with one manic, elusive, utterly unique man—as prone to bullying as he was to fits of surpassing generosity and surprising genius. His name was Hank Asher, and his life was a strange and spectacular show that changed the course of the future. In The Hank Show, critically acclaimed author and journalist McKenzie Funk relates Asher's stranger-than-fiction story.