Showing results by narrator "Robert G Slade" in All Categories

Tales of Tahitian Waters describes Grey's fishing expeditions to the Tahitian Islands during 1928, 1929, and 1930, in which he claims to be the first big-game fisherman to fish these waters. He came to the area after having passed nearby on other fishing trips. Hearing accounts of there being marlin that were 30 feet long and sharks that measured 50 feet in length, he became determined to pursue these fish and add to his many fishing records. It was here where he describes catching a marlin weighing 1,040 pounds. The catch was recorded as the first 1,000-pound fish ever caught.

Born out of violence and the aspirations of its early settlers, the United States of America has become one of the world's most powerful nations. This audiobook begins in colonial America as the first Europeans arrived, lured by the promise of financial profit, driven by religious piety, and accompanied by diseases that would ravage the native populations. Woven through this richly crafted study of America's shifting social and political landscapes are the multiple perspectives of the nation's history, helping to define the United States at the dawn of a new century.

A gripping narrative of power, corruption and greed, The Mechanism is the true story of how a simple investigation into money laundering uncovered the biggest corruption scandal in human history. When a small team of investigators discovered that a black market currency dealer was operating out of a Brazilian petrol station, they could never have imagined that their work would destroy the government and lead to the impeachment of two presidents.

In 1890s America Thorstein Veblen attacked a careless acceptance of prevailing social structures, identifying ancient roots for ‘pecuniary culture’ and ‘conspicuous consumption’–realities that promoted materialism and squashed fulfilment. In The Theory of the Leisure Class the worthy Engineer, creating essential products for all, is pitted against the predatory Businessman, exempt from grubby industrial toil and focussed on useless profits.

Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s captivating account of life as a common sailor on board a merchant ship in the early 1830s. Dana captures the cruel conditions on board the ship, the injustices of merchant seamen at the hands of brutally unforgiving captains, and the treacherous icy weather at Cape Horn. An iconic maritime memoir said to have influenced Herman Melville, Two Years Before the Mast remains one of America’s greatest and most vivid seafaring tales.

This is the story of Augustus Rose, an unlikely operative in a terrorist network, and his interrogator, Harper, a ruthless ambassador for the darkest forces at work in our times. Beyond the law and without hope of reprieve, Augustus endures an emotional and physical attack that brings his whole life under brutal scrutiny. As Harper’s assault intensifies, Augustus raises the only shield he has: memory. His mind turns to the women in his life, but outshining them all is the memory of Selina; a rebellious New York aristocrat.

Curtis Delaney watches the footage play out on the news, and immediately recognises the unidentified hero. He hasn’t seen his brother Finn in six years. He doesn’t know where he’s been in that time, or what he’s been doing. But there’s one thing he does know: Finn is no hero. Curtis is determined to find his brother, but equally, Curtis is no detective. A husband and lawyer (and not the 'good' kind), with a mortgage and responsibilities, Curtis isn’t cut out for delving into whatever seedy business Finn has gotten involved with.

There's something strange about Walter Kopple's farm. It begins with his grandson, who senselessly murders one of Walter's pigs. But then rumours spread that Walter's grandson heard a voice commanding him to kill. And that the voice belongs to a most peculiar creature: the pig named Pearl. Walter has always been afraid of the strangely malevolent Pearl. But as paranoia takes hold and the townspeople descend on Walter's farm with violent wrath, they begin to discover that true evil wears a human face.

Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker and thinks she knows all about Harrow Lake, the setting of his most famous movie. But when her father is brutally attacked and she's sent there to stay with her reclusive grandmother, she realises the town is harbouring secrets more horrifying than she could ever have imagined. Not only is this the place where her mother disappeared without a trace, it's a town holding on to a dark past that's even more frightening than her father's movies.

Zeke and Daniel have just been made hall monitors by Principal Wombat. This has nothing to do with the fact that they are monitor lizards. And never mind the fact Alicia, the only other monitor lizard in the school, is also a hall monitor. Somehow, the three hall monitors must impose order on arrogant lions, excitable seals and super-relaxed pandas. And worst of all, there is Pelicarnassus! A pompous giant pelican and the son of a major supervillain, who inexplicably has it out for the lizards.

PI Vincent Delaney thought he was done with the New Orleans Police Department. But now a string of child murders brings an unexpected invitation from the FBI, and his old boss. A serial killer is roaming the South, preying on children appearing in pageants. The police want Delaney to go undercover and use his own family as bait. Accepting would mean lying to people he loves and maybe even putting them in harm’s way.

Off the coast of New England, a trawler tangles its nets on wreckage from 60 years ago – a B17 “flying fortress”, perfectly preserved and containing the final and most terrifying secret of WWII. When freelance photographer Chris Roland enters the sunken plane, he finds something that changes all he knows about the end of the war – and how desperately close it came to being the end of everything. Half a century earlier, Hitler gambled it all on a last throw of the dice.

From one of the greatest writers of our time: a spellbinding, entertaining, wildly imaginative novel which blends history and myth with tremendous philosophical depth. A masterful, mesmerising modern tale about worlds dangerously colliding and the monsters that are unleashed when reason recedes and a beautiful testament to the power of love and humanity in chaotic times.

Sometimes solving climate change seems impossibly complex. This book offers hope. Drawing on the latest research, Mark Jaccard shows us how to recognize the absolutely essential actions (decarbonizing electricity and transport) and policies (regulations that phase out coal plants and gasoline vehicles, carbon tariffs). Rather than feeling paralyzed and pursuing ineffective efforts, we can all make a few key changes in our lifestyles to reduce emissions, to contribute to the urgently needed affordable energy transition in developed and developing countries.

Originally published in 1854, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature. Much of Walden's material is derived from Thoreau's journals and contains such engaging pieces as "Reading" and "The Pond in the Winter.". Other famous sections involve Thoreau's visits with a Canadian woodcutter and with an Irish family, a trip to Concord, and a description of his bean field.

1912: Locked in an eerily quiet dining room on the Titanic, a mysterious man tells a young girl his life story as the ship begins to sink. It all starts in Whitechapel, London in 1888.... In the small hours of the night in a darkened Whitechapel alley, young Mary Kelly stumbles upon a seriously injured man almost unconscious in the gutter. Two days later, an American gentleman wakes in a hospital bed with no memory of who he is or how he got there.…

Four tales of love and adventure in the Old West introduce a cast of characters that includes a brave Texas ranger who risks his life against avenging outlaws to rescue the woman he secretly loves; a beautiful seductress who comes between two brothers; a desperate fugitive who seeks sanctuary with a peace-loving people; and a daring young schoolteacher who journeys West to meet the man who has captured her heart. Included are "The Ranger", "Canyon Walls", "Avalanche", and "From Missouri".

Written over three decades as a series of instalments for magazines and newspapers, The Devil’s Dictionary is a charmingly eccentric satirical dictionary that tackles all aspects of life with caustic humour and cutting observation.

Running from a troubled childhood, Jack Devereaux left home as soon as he could and never looked back—until the day a stranger calls, begging him to return to his hometown of Jasperville, Quebec. Jack's brother Calvis—the little boy he left behind more than twenty years ago—has viciously attacked a man and left him for dead. Nobody knows why he did it, though Jack suspects it has something to do with the Jasperville girls who were lost all those years ago.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sportswriter comes a deeply personal account of his parents - an intimate portrait of American mid-20th-century life and a celebration of family love. Richard Ford's parents volunteered little about their early lives - and he rarely asked. Later, he pieced their stories together from anecdote, history and the occasional photograph, frozen moments linking him to another time.