Depressing

One Word Movie Reviews: The Grey is a post from: Digital Podcast

One Word Movie Reviews: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a post from: Digital Podcast

Slow.

One Word Movie Reviews: Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows is a post from: Digital Podcast

In this version, I thought I would focus on some books I really enjoyed this year. Links are affiliate links that will show you where to get audiobook downloads, CDs, ebooks or good old books made from dead trees.

Here’s my list from my favorites this year. I’m cheating a bit because some of these are series, not just individual books.

1.) My favorite of the year has to be Daemon by Daniel Suarez. This is actually a two part book with the second book called Freedom (TM). This two book series is all about a mad scientist who dies and leaves behind a computer Daemon to take over and reform the world. Lots of good geek stuff, action and an fun plot. The book goes fast and the narrator in the audiobook version do a great job.

2.) Next in line is the Dark Tower series from Stephen King. The Dark Tower starts off with The Gunslinger and then continues with six more books. The first book introduces the gunslinger Roland Deschain of Gilead. Roland is kind of a knight of this other world. He pursues a man he sees as evil called the Man in Black and eventually learns that he must find his way to the Dark Tower to resolve his demons. This series is a masterpiece from Stephen King’s amazing mind. It will keep your Dad going for a long time.

3.) Moneyball is a winner from Michael Lewis. You probably saw the movie version, but the book is much better. It reveals inside the world of baseball and the main guy of the book Billy Beane. I really liked this book and recommend the audiobook to all who like a good story. I also like The Big Short and Boomerang by Michael Lewis as well. These two focus on the big financial mess of the past few years and explain what really happened. Excellent stuff if you ask me.

4.) Next up on my list is Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Wow! What a story this one is. The main character is Louis Zamperini who in times of peace was a great athlete. But war comes along as Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and Louis like many others is pulled into the war. This book is his story. Zamperini endures things you won’t believe. It is a tail of a desperate struggle for survival in an environment of perpetual torture. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do. And it happens more than once. Zamperini survives and becomes something of an inspiration. This is the story that many of our grandfathers really endured. It’s definitely worth the time to listen or read the book.

5.) Last on my list, here’s something I enjoyed that will connect the fathers and daughters out there. The book is called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This is another sci-fi story of survival in the face of certain death. In this story, the hero is a teenage girl who must find a way to fight and survive. The book has two follow-on books in the saga. While it’s clearly targeted to teenage girls and can be a bit gushy at times, The Hunger Games is an action packed, well told story that I think just about everyone will like.

I hope you find your Dad some thing great for Christmas.

Five Books for the Geek Dad is a post from: Digital Podcast

The fake blog scam used a fake blog to show how the fake blogger had lost weight using 2 magic products they saw on Oprah. They gave rave reviews to the products and had lots of fake comments too. They link you to a site to get supposedly free samples. If you signed up, you got put on a monthly subscription for $70 per month or something like that, without really knowing you signed up for anything.

Ads for these kinds of sites were all over the internet, including the big search engines like Google. Google took steps to stop these ads from showing on their site by banning everyone whoever ran an ad to such a site. They did it without appeal or warning. Just banned people for life. They banned me too because I had tested ads to see if they were hard to get approved. They weren’t hard to get approved. Google had no problems with them until much later when the FTC got involved. Despite Google’s harsh treatment of its customers, at least you won’t find those ads there any more.

Not so for Bing, Huffington Post, Fox News and other big name sites. They still run ads for these scammers. The ads look like these and point to Fake News sites promoting wrinkle cream or weight loss or whatever.

This first example is an ad from Bing, followed by ads from Huffington Post and Fox News.

The one below is from the Huffington Post.

This one is from Fox News:

These ads point to sites that look like these:

These sites claim to be advertisements at the top of the page. But it’s not clear what part is an ad. In fact the entire site is an ad with fake news stories, fake endorsements and fake comments. They even disclaim that they are all fake at the bottom of the page in some really fine print in faded colars at the bottom of the page saying something like:

* We are not affiliated in any way with Headline News, CNN or USA Today. Headline News, CNN, Newsweek, Shape and USA Today are all registered trademarks of their respective owners. ® All trademarks on this web site whether registered or not, are the property of their respective owners. The authors of this web site are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the third-party trade mark or third-party registered trade mark owners, and make no representations about them, their owners, their products or services.

* THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

* The story depicted on this site and the person depicted in the story are not real. rather this story is based on the results that some people who have used these products have achieved. The results portrayed in the story and in the comments are illustrative and may not be the results that you achieve with these products. this page receives compensation for clicks on or purchase of products featured on this site.
The depictions on this page are fictitious and indicitive of potential results. Actual results may vary.

*DermaLift-SP Terms & Conditions:

By placing my order, I agree to the Terms of Offer, which explain that I must cancel within 30 days of today to avoid enrollment in monthly delivery program, which ships fresh supply and charges $69.95 upon the end of the trial period, and subsequently $69.95 monthly thereafter. You will be charged on same card provided today. If you wish to cancel, please call: xxxxxxxxxx If You have any questions about Our Risk Free Trial, please contact Our Customer Service Department toll-free at xxxxxxxx

These sites are scams in my opinion. They are no better than the fake blogs. The FTC should take them down and sites like Bing, Huffington Post and Fox News should be fined for letting these kinds of ads run.

BTW if you look at the ads above that run on Huffington Post and Fox News, there is one titled Veterans Administration. It is not any part of the real Department of Veterans Affairs, but it sure does a good job of sounding official. My guess is that that’s some sort of scam too.

Bing, Huffington Post, Fox News All Running Ads for Scams is a post from: Digital Podcast

If you want to understand some to the big issues like the so called PROTECT IP act and how the government has a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act that would upset people if we only knew what it was.

If you have 35 minutes watch this video interview with Senator Wyden.

A Senator Who Gets The Internet is a post from: Digital Podcast

Also, new on the charts is Dick Cheney’s story of his time in Washington. Whether you like him or hate him, he’s had an inside view of goings on back in DC for a very long time. If you’re a political junkie, it might be of interest.

Here’s September’s top 20 audio books:

1. The Help (Unabridged) by Kathryn Stockett
Summary:

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook…

2. Kill Me If You Can (Unabridged) by James Patterson, Marshall Karp
Summary: Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend, Katherine, fill his thoughts – until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won’t stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world’s greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile …
Click to hear an audio sample of Kill Me If You Can (Unabridged) audiobook…

3. In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir (Unabridged) by Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney
Summary: In this eagerly anticipated memoir, former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers an unyielding portrait of American politics over nearly 40 years and shares personal reflections on his role as one of the most steadfast and influential statesmen in the history of our country. The public perception of Dick Cheney has long been something of a contradiction. He has been viewed as one of the most powerful vice presidents: secretive, even mysterious, and at the same time opinionated and unflinchi…
Click to hear an audio sample of In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir (Unabridged) audiobook…

4. The Hunger Games (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, wh…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) audiobook…

5. Bossypants (Unabridged) by Tina Fey
Summary:

Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update”, before “Sarah Palin”, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both of those dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from…
Click to hear an audio sample of Bossypants (Unabridged) audiobook…

6. Only Time Will Tell: The Clifton Chronicles, Book 1 (Unabridged) by Jeffrey Archer
Summary: From the internationally best-selling author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes Only Time Will Tell , the first in an ambitious new series that tells the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph. The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle, who expect…
Click to hear an audio sample of Only Time Will Tell: The Clifton Chronicles, Book 1 (Unabridged) audiobook…

7. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary:

In a time long forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons off balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. As the cold returns, sinister forces are massing beyond the protective wall of the kingdom of Winterfell. To the south, the king’s powers are failing, with his most trusted advisor mysteriously dead and enemies emerging from the throne’s shadow. At the center of the conflict, the Starks of Winterfell hold the key: a reluctant Lo…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I (Unabridged) audiobook…

8. That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back (Unabridged) by Thomas L. Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum
Summary: America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us , Thomas L. Friedman, one of our most influential columnists, and Michael Mandelbaum, one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, analyze those challenges – globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation’s chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption – and spell out what we need to do now to rediscover America and rise…
Click to hear an audio sample of That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back (Unabridged) audiobook…

9. Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Katniss Everdeen continues to struggle to protect herself and her family from the Capitol in this second novel from the best-selling Hunger Games trilogy.
Click to hear an audio sample of Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) audiobook…

10. A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison …
Click to hear an audio sample of A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II (Unabridged) audiobook…

11. Mockingjay: The Final Book of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena live, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge….
Click to hear an audio sample of Mockingjay: The Final Book of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) audiobook…

12. A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5 (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary:

Dubbed the American Tolkien by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the number-one New York Times best-selling author delivers the fifth book in his spellbinding landmark series – as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again – beset by n…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5 (Unabridged) audiobook…

13. Flash and Bones: Temperance Brennan, Book 14 (Unabridged) by Kathy Reichs
Summary: Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan’s office at the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner to share a devastating story. Twelve years earlier, Wayne Gamble’s sister, Cindi, then a high-school senior and aspiring racer, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovette. Lovette kept company with a group of right-wing extremists known a…
Click to hear an audio sample of Flash and Bones: Temperance Brennan, Book 14 (Unabridged) audiobook…

14. The Ice Limit (Unabridged) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Summary:

The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At 4,000 tons, this treasure seems impossible to move.
New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frighten…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Ice Limit (Unabridged) audiobook…

15. One Grave at a Time: Night Huntress, Book 6 (Unabridged) by Jeaniene Frost
Summary: The grave is one wrong step away. Having narrowly averted an (under)world war, Cat Crawfield wants nothing more than a little downtime with her vampire husband, Bones. Unfortunately, her gift from New Orleans’ voodoo queen just keeps on giving – leading to a personal favor that sends them into battle once again, this time against a villainous spirit. Centuries ago, Heinrich Kramer was a witch hunter. Now, every All Hallows Eve, he takes physical form to torture innocent women before bu…
Click to hear an audio sample of One Grave at a Time: Night Huntress, Book 6 (Unabridged) audiobook…

16. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged) by Laura Hillenbrand
Summary:

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.
Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.
The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini…
Click to hear an audio sample of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged) audiobook…

17. A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against h…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III (Unabridged) audiobook…

18. Go the F–k to Sleep (Unabridged) by Adam Mansbach, Ricardo Cortes (cover illustration)
Summary:

Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) rocks this mock bedtime story, capturing a hilarious range of emotions as the voice of a father struggling to get his child to sleep.
Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach’s profane, affectionate, an…
Click to hear an audio sample of Go the F–k to Sleep (Unabridged) audiobook…

19. A Trick of the Light: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Unabridged) by Louise Penny
Summary: “Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.” But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow’s garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara’s solo show at the famed Musee in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Surete du Quebec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a wor…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Trick of the Light: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

20. A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book IV (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears. With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exi…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Feast for Crows: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book IV (Unabridged) audiobook…

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

NY Times
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The Help – Best Selling Audio Book and Movie is a post from: Digital Podcast

Amazon had earlier offered to create 7,000 jobs in California by building multiple distribution centers in California. Amazon still wants to do that and asked for safe harbor if they go ahead, but the legislature didn’t accept that. They say that the opportunity to create jobs will have to wait until January.

It’s too bad that the only real sense of urgency in Sacramento is to collect more taxes and not to create more jobs. They are giving Amazon the tax break anyway, so creating 7,000 jobs would be costless to the state. But the people in Sacramento just don’t seem to care enough to deal with that now and prefer to wait four or five more months. I guess they think four or five months of 7,000 people being unemployed isn’t worth their time.

As I write this, it is unclear what Gov. Brown will do – will he sign it, veto it or just let it go into law without his signature.

Whether Amazon will reinstate its affiliate program in California is also still up in the air, but it would be nice to see the 25,000 affiliates back in business creating jobs and paying taxes. We can only wait and see.

Will Amazon & California Declare a Truce in Tax War? is a post from: Digital Podcast

The law could mean that Amazon has to collect $200 million in sales taxes for the state. But the status of the law is uncertain. Amazon refuses to collect the sales tax.

As a result of the new law, Amazon terminated business relationships with 25,000 small businesses based in California to protect itself from having to to collect the sales tax. This has cost the state lots of jobs and lost income taxes as well.

In addition, Amazon claims the law is unconstitutional and has started collecting signatures for a June referendum that would overturn the law.

According to the Mercury News, when Amazon submits signatures for its referendum by Sept. 27, the law requiring Amazon to pay taxes will be stayed until the June election. That would mean no revenues could be collected.

So on one side, Amazon spends lots of money in California to build distribution centers and creates 7,000 jobs and on the other side California will probably get nothing or at best only some part of $200 million.

The Democrats running the state are not that interested in Amazon’s offer and only seem interested in trying to collect more taxes. Their most recent maneuver is to try to bypass a vote by citizens on Amazon’s referendum by passing the law again but this time with a two thirds majority. Republicans don’t seem interested.

Unless the Democrats can make their end-run around the democratic process work, Amazon will have won the PR battle. When the citizens get to vote on the law, they will know for certain that this law and our representatives in Sacramento have killed at least 7,000 certain jobs.

Amazon Offers 7,000 Jobs, CA Politicians Want Taxes Instead is a post from: Digital Podcast

Somehow, I decided to go to the event. It was over in Branner Hall across the street from my dorm complex, Wilbur. We met in a big room. It was kind of dark and had a fireplace. I did a quick search on Branner and found a picture of the room.

We all settled in with Jobs sitting down at the head of our circle. He was a young guy. Full of energy. I listened with great interest to what he had to say. The thing I remember was his vision of what computers would look like in our future and his excitement about the day his vision would come true.

His vision was not the Mac. What he talked about was a computer so small it fit in our hands. It would go with us every where. It would be our personal navigator. His enthusiasm was so clear and intense. Even though it sounded like science fiction given the computers we had at the time.

We had about an hour of Jobs’ time that evening, but his vision of a personal navigator always stuck with me.

I remember later breaking into the computer science building to get access to a computer with a modem, as I must have run out of hours at the computer lab. I wandered around a bit until I came upon a room with some computer monitors and modems. Sitting next to the terminal was another monitor. This one was way cooler. It was something called a Star computer. I had never seen anything like it. It had a completely different screen and you could move the arrow around on the screen with this thing attached by a cord. I didn’t know it was a mouse. I played with it for half an hour trying to see what I could do with it. It didn’t seem to be able to do much of interest. I couldn’t figure out how to connect it to the Dec System 20 which is what I needed.

Even though it was not much use, it seemed very cool and I remember wondering in passing if Jobs had seen this thing. It turns out that the Star was one of the inspirations for the Lisa and later Mac.

In the mid to late 80s, I would own a few Macs and use them all the time at work. They were great until they were not. In came the Thinkpad and I have been locked into Wintel ever since.

In the mid 90’s, Apple released the Newton. I thought then that Jobs’ vision might be coming a reality with a Jobs less Apple. Like other enthusiasts I bought a Newton. I used it for a while, but it wasn’t easy. It was kind of hard to use, it was too big and way too heavy. The Newton failed and the Pilot took its place.

But obviously, Jobs was not done. He gave us the iPod, the iPod touch and iPhone and now the iPad. He did it. He delivered on his vision from 1980. These cool devices have become our personal navigators in so many ways.

I never met Steve Jobs again since that evening in Branner Hall. It was a short, but memorable time.

Whatever Steve Jobs does next, I wish him well. It would be interesting to hear Steve give that Branner talk one more time. What would his vision be now?

BTW, if you haven’t seen Jobs giving the commencement speach at Stanford you should. It’s quite inspirational. You can see the video here – How to Live Before you Die.

My Time With Steve Jobs is a post from: Digital Podcast

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black m…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook…

2. Ghost Story: The Dresden Files, Book 13 (Unabridged) by Jim Butcher

The eagerly awaited new novel in the number-one New York Times best-selling Dresden Files series.
When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn’t doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin. But being dead doesn’t stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has no body and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own. To save his …

Click to hear an audio sample of Ghost Story: The Dresden Files, Book 13 (Unabridged) audiobook…

3. Full Black (Unabridged) by Brad Thor
Summary:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor brings readers his darkest and most intriguing thriller yet – a terrifying story of espionage and betrayal – brilliantly paced with superb nonstop action.
Born in the shadows and kept from heads of state, there are some missions so deadly, so sensitive, that they simply don’t exist.

When one such mission goes horribly wrong, a wave of dramatic terrorist attacks is set in motion. Their goal: the complete and…
Click to hear an audio sample of Full Black (Unabridged) audiobook…

4. Cold Vengeance (Unabridged) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Summary:

Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife’s betrayers – a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana – he is also forced to dig further into Helen’s past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder.
Peeling back the layers of decep…
Click to hear an audio sample of Cold Vengeance (Unabridged) audiobook…

5. Bossypants (Unabridged) by Tina Fey
Summary:

Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update”, before “Sarah Palin”, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.
She has seen both of those dreams come true.
At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from…
Click to hear an audio sample of Bossypants (Unabridged) audiobook…

6. The Hunger Games (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, wh…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) audiobook…

7. Go the F–k to Sleep (Unabridged) by Adam Mansbach, Ricardo Cortes (cover illustration)
Summary:

Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) rocks this mock bedtime story, capturing a hilarious range of emotions as the voice of a father struggling to get his child to sleep.
Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach’s profane, affectionate, an…
Click to hear an audio sample of Go the F–k to Sleep (Unabridged) audiobook…

8. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary:

In a time long forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons off balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. As the cold returns, sinister forces are massing beyond the protective wall of the kingdom of Winterfell. To the south, the king’s powers are failing, with his most trusted advisor mysteriously dead and enemies emerging from the throne’s shadow. At the center of the conflict, the Starks of Winterfell hold the key: a reluctant Lo…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I (Unabridged) audiobook…

9. Rules of Civility: A Novel (Unabridged) by Amor Towles
Summary:

A sophisticated and entertaining debut novel about an irresistible young woman with an uncommon sense of purpose.
Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising 25-year-old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York societ…
Click to hear an audio sample of Rules of Civility: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

10. A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5 (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary:

Dubbed the American Tolkien by Time magazine, George R. R. Martin has earned international acclaim for his monumental cycle of epic fantasy. Now the number-one New York Times best-selling author delivers the fifth book in his spellbinding landmark series – as both familiar faces and surprising new forces vie for a foothold in a fragmented empire.
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance once again – beset by n…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Dance with Dragons: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 5 (Unabridged) audiobook…

11. A Stolen Life: A Memoir (Unabridged) by Jaycee Dugard
Summary:

“In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation. On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I dont think of m…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Stolen Life: A Memoir (Unabridged) audiobook…

12. Portrait of a Spy: A Novel (Unabridged) by Daniel Silva
Summary:

Haunted by his failure to stop a suicide bomber in London, Gabriel Allon is summoned to Washington and drawn into a confrontation with the new face of global terror. At the center of the threat is an American-born cleric in Yemen who was once a paid CIA asset.
Gabriel and his team devise a daring plan to destroy the network of death – from the inside – a gambit fraught with risk, both personal and professional. To succeed, Gabriel must reach into his violent past. A woman wa…
Click to hear an audio sample of Portrait of a Spy: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

13. A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison …
Click to hear an audio sample of A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II (Unabridged) audiobook…

14. Iron House (Unabridged) by John Hart
Summary:

An old man is dying. When the old man is dead, they will come for him. And they will come for her, to make him hurt.
John Hart has written three New York Times best sellers and won an unprecedented two back-to-back Edgar Awards. His books have been called “masterful” (Jeffery Deaver) and “gripping” (People) with “Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding” (The New York Times). Now he delivers his fourth novel – a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping thril…
Click to hear an audio sample of Iron House (Unabridged) audiobook…

15. State of Wonder: A Novel (Unabridged) by Ann Patchett
Summary:

Ann Patchett raises the bar with State of Wonder, a provocative and ambitious novel set deep in the Amazon jungle.
Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have disappeared in the Amazon while working on an extremely valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infe…
Click to hear an audio sample of State of Wonder: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

16. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged) by Laura Hillenbrand
Summary:

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.
Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.
The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyho…
Click to hear an audio sample of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged) audiobook…

17. Angela’s Ashes (Unabridged) by Frank McCourt
Summary:

Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, movingly read in his own voice, bears all the marks of a classic. Born in Depression-era Brooklyn to Irish immigrant parents, Frank was later raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. His mother, Angela, had no money to feed her children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely worked, and when he did, he drank his wages. Angela’s Ashes is the story of how Frank endured – wearing shoes repaired with tires, begging for a pig’s head for Chri…
Click to hear an audio sample of Angela’s Ashes (Unabridged) audiobook…

18. A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against h…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III (Unabridged) audiobook…

19. Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Katniss Everdeen continues to struggle to protect herself and her family from the Capitol in this second novel from the best-selling Hunger Games trilogy.
Click to hear an audio sample of Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) audiobook…

20. Now You See Her (Unabridged) by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge
Summary: The perfect life….
A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she’s built in New York – including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can’t let him pay for the real killer’s crimes.
The perfect lie….
Nina’s secret life began 18 years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, an…
Click to hear an audio sample of Now You See Her (Unabridged) audiobook…

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

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Publisher’s Weekly
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Best Selling Audio Books for Your August Vacation is a post from: Digital Podcast

So, I signed up. Pretty easy to do. Then, I was somewhat surprised that Spotify is a downloadable application that runs on your computer. I downloaded it, ran the install and fired it up.

Within seconds it was up and running, importing all my music from my iTunes folder. It got everything, except the files Apple DRMed into prison.

The application seems much lighter and faster than iTunes, which is a welcome change. It looks sexy, with a grey/black background and white font. (Makes it harder to read though.) You can see the screenshot below:

Next up, it asked if I wanted to sync my iPhone/iPod or Android device. I wasn’t about to test this on my iPod, so I tried the Android approach. I had to download the Android app to phone and install that. All I had to do was enter my name and password for it to start syncing. Worked great, until it didn’t.

It stopped and complained about memory problems. I looked and there was still plenty of memory available. Turn the app off and on, then an error message about my memory card. Turned in off and on again. Uninstalled and re-installed. Still got the error message. Finally turned the phone off and on and that got it working again.

Spotify tried to push 2500 songs to my Android, which choked as it ran our of memory.

I tried to un-select some play lists thinking that would take them off my Android, but that does not seem to work. Syncing seems to be limited to pushing songs from my PC to the Android phone, not taking them off the Android. Now my memory card is full and I’m not sure what to do.

I do wish the sync would work right. It should add and delete songs from my Android as I select them in the Spotify app. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t know.

I decided to forget the phone for now and check out the Spotify desktop app.

It’s fun to play with. You can listen to just about everything out there music wise, except the Beatles and few others. They insert some ads every now and then but that’s ok. You can get rid of the ads for $5 per month and for $10 you can have the same streaming experience on your mobile device.

Another nice feature is that the system integrates with Facebook so you can share play lists with Facebook friends.

Overall, I liked Spotify a lot, but it’s not quite an iTunes killer until the mobile syncing stuff works much better and without glitches.

iTunes is certainly vulnerable. On my machine, iTunes is bloated, slow and glitchy. It constantly asks to be updated with a cumbersome process. Spotify is slim, fast and aside from the syncing issues seems to work well. However, iTunes still seems to lead on the syncing front, which means I continue to be stuck using iTunes until Spotify works better with my mobile.

Is Spotify an iTunes Killer? is a post from: Digital Podcast

I tried reading the petition, but it’s a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo to me. The Attorney Generals title and summary are as follows:

REFERENDUM TO OVERTURN LAW REQUIRING INTERNET RETAILERS TO COLLECT SAME SALES OR USE TAXES AS OTHER RETAILERS. If signed by the required number of registered voters and filed with the Secretary of State, this petition will place on the statewide ballot a challenge to an existing state law. The law must be approved by voters at the next statewide election to remain in effect. the law expands the definition of retailers considered “engaged in business” in California to include certain Internet retailers selling to California consumers, so that out-of-state Internet retailers also collect existing sales or use taxes.

That’s easier to read than the petition, but I still don’t know what their talking about.

It will be interesting to watch Amazon fight it out with the Wal-Mart shill Main Street Alliance and labor unions.

Amazon to Fight California Affiliate Tax With Referendum is a post from: Digital Podcast

Simon & Schuster

According to the publisher customers bought a record 175,000 ebooks, hardcover books and audiobooks on its first day on sale. Included in the 175,000 were nearly 100,000 ebooks.

Amazon can’t keep up with the demand for print books, saying that it will take 1 to 3 weeks to ship. If you want to check out A Stolen Life, you might be better off trying the Kindle version or A Stolen Life audio book version. The audiobook is read by Jacyee Dugard.

“In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation. On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I dont think of myself as a victim. I survived. A Stolen Life is my story in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.”

-Jacyee Dugard

Tina Jordan, of Entertainment Weekly wrote a great review of the book. She concludes “I didn’t finish the book thinking she was damaged. I finished it feeling blown away by her courage.”

Ms. Dugard tells a most compelling story that is worth listening to. Maybe her telling the story will make people pay a bit more attention to what’s going on around them.

Jacyee Dugard’s A Stolen Life is Breaking Sales Records is a post from: Digital Podcast

A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she’s built in New York – including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can’t let him pay for the real killer’s crimes.

The perfect lie….

Nina’s secret life began 18 years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer…

Click to hear an audio sample of Now You See Her (Unabridged) audiobook…

2. Bossypants (Unabridged) by Tina Fey
Summary: Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update”, before “Sarah Palin”, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both of those dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live ; from her passionately halfhearted pur…
Click to hear an audio sample of Bossypants (Unabridged) audiobook…

3. State of Wonder: A Novel (Unabridged) by Ann Patchett
Summary: Ann Patchett raises the bar with State of Wonder, a provocative and ambitious novel set deep in the Amazon jungle.

Research scientist Dr. Marina Singh is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have disappeared in the Amazon while working on an extremely valuable new drug. The last person who was sent to find her died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the i…
Click to hear an audio sample of State of Wonder: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

4. The Help (Unabridged) by Kathryn Stockett

Summary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raisi…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook…

5. Against All Enemies (Unabridged) by Tom Clancy, Peter Telep
Summary: For years, ex – Navy SEAL Maxwell Moore has worked across the Middle East and behind the scenes for the Special Activities Division of the CIA, making connections, extracting valuable intelligence, and facing off against America’s enemies at every turn. And then…news of a potentially devastating coalition: What if two of the greatest threats to the security of the United States were to form an unholy alliance? The Taliban is trying to exploit a Mexican drug cartel to which they …
Click to hear an audio sample of Against All Enemies (Unabridged) audiobook…

6. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: In a time long forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons off balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. As the cold returns, sinister forces are massing beyond the protective wall of the kingdom of Winterfell. To the south, the king’s powers are failing, with his most trusted advisor mysteriously dead and enemies emerging from the throne’s shadow. At the center of the conflict, the Starks of Winterfell hold the key: a rel…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book I (Unabridged) audiobook…

7. Buried Secrets (Unabridged) by Joseph Finder

Summary: Joseph Finder introduced Nick Heller, a “private spy” who finds out things powerful people want to keep hidden, to widespread acclaim from the critics and wild enthusiasm from the readers, in the New York Times best-selling novel Vanished. Now, in Buried Secrets, Nick Heller returns, finding himself in the middle of a life-or-death situation that’s both high-profile and intensely personal.

Nick has returned to his old home town of Boston to set…
Click to hear an audio sample of Buried Secrets (Unabridged) audiobook…

8. Macbeth: A Novel (Unabridged) by A. J. Hartley, David Hewson
Summary: Macbeth: A Novel brings the intricacy and grit of the historical thriller to Shakespeare’s tale of political intrigue, treachery, and murder. In this full-length novel written exclusively for audio, authors A. J. Hartley and David Hewson rethink literature’s most infamous married couple, grounding them in a medieval Scotland whose military and political upheavals are as stark and dramatic as the landscape on which they are played.

Macbeth is a war hero and a…
Click to hear an audio sample of Macbeth: A Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

9. A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin

Summary: A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares …
Click to hear an audio sample of A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book II (Unabridged) audiobook…

10. The Hunger Games (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.16-year-old Ka…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) audiobook…

11. Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long (Unabridged) by David Rock
Summary: Meet Emily and Paul: The parents of two young children, Emily is the newly promoted VP of marketing at a large corporation while Paul works from home or from clients’ offices as an independent IT consultant. Their lives, like all of ours, are filled with a bewildering blizzard of emails, phone calls, yet more emails, meetings, projects, proposals, and plans. Just staying ahead of the storm has become a seemingly insurmountable task.

In this book, we travel inside E…
Click to hear an audio sample of Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long (Unabridged) audiobook…

12. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged) by Laura Hillenbrand
Summary: On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.

Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperin…
Click to hear an audio sample of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged) audiobook…

13. Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Katniss Everdeen continues to struggle to protect herself and her family from the Capitol in this second novel from the best-selling Hunger Games trilogy.
Click to hear an audio sample of Catching Fire: Hunger Games, Book 2 (Unabridged) audiobook…

14. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: The Millennium Trilogy, Book 1 (Unabridged) by Stieg Larsson
Summary: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue….It’s about the disappearance 40 years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden…and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance…and about Lisbeth Salander, a 2…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: The Millennium Trilogy, Book 1 (Unabridged) audiobook…

15. A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III (Unabridged) by George R. R. Martin
Summary: Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against h…
Click to hear an audio sample of A Storm of Swords: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book III (Unabridged) audiobook…

16. Water for Elephants (Unabridged) by Sara Gruen
Summary: An atmospheric tale of life and love in a Depression-era traveling circus.

Nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. It’s the Depression Era and Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. There he meets the freaks, grifters, and misfits that populate this world. Jacob introduces us to Marlena, beautiful star of the equestrian act; to August, her charismatic but twisted husband (and…

Click to hear an audio sample of Water for Elephants (Unabridged) audiobook…

17. The Devil Colony: A Sigma Force Novel (Unabridged) by James Rollins
Summary: Deep in the Rocky Mountains, a gruesome discovery – hundreds of mummified bodies – stirs international attention and fervent controversy. Despite doubts to the bodies’ origins, the local Native American Heritage Commission lays claim to the prehistoric remains, along with the strange artifacts found in the same cavern: gold plates inscribed with an unfathomable script.

During a riot at the dig site, an anthropologist dies horribly. All evidence points to a radical …
Click to hear an audio sample of The Devil Colony: A Sigma Force Novel (Unabridged) audiobook…

18. The Snowman (Unabridged) by Jo Nesbo
Summary: Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesb?’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity.

Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf.

<...
Click to hear an audio sample of The Snowman (Unabridged) audiobook…

19. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris (Unabridged) by David McCullough

Summary: The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring – and until now, untold – story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.

After risking the hazardous journey across the Atlantic, these Americans embarked on a greater journey in the City of Light. Most had never left home, never experienced a differe…
Click to hear an audio sample of The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris (Unabridged) audiobook…

20. Mockingjay: The Final Book of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins
Summary: Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena live, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge….

Click to hear an audio sample of Mockingjay: The Final Book of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) audiobook…

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

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This Week in Audio Books – July’s Best Sellers is a post from: Digital Podcast

While the focus has been on Amazon, more companies are terminating their relationships with 25,000 small businesses here in California. The law is intentionally vague and given that there are networks and sub-networks of affiliates it is very difficult for a company to see if their relationships with advertising networks or affiliates causes the nexus to kick in.

To avoid the risk, out of state retailers are choosing to do the simplest thing and that is to fire their California small business affiliates. That means less revenue for small businesses, more people getting fired and less income tax collected by the State. And, no extra sales tax to compensate. Way to go Sacramento.

Here is the most recent termination letter I have seen:

Dear Affiliate,

Thank you for your participation in the Total Gym Affiliate Program in the Google Affiliate Network. We greatly appreciate all of the hard-work and effort you have put forth to make our program a success. Unfortunately, due to recent state legislation in California, we are forced to remove all affiliates located in the state.

Today, June 29, 2011, your account was expired from our Google Affiliate Network program. Thus, we urge you to take down all banners, text links, etc. from your sites immediately.

Please note, if the location of your business changes, please feel free to reapply to our program.

If circumstances do change, we will notify you. We sincerely wish you the best in all of your future endeavors.

Regards,

The Total Gym Affiliate Team

More Companies Terminate Affililates, More Jobs Lost is a post from: Digital Podcast

The Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional for States to force out-of-state retails to collect sales tax. California is trying to bypass this rule by claiming independent companies create a nexus for Amazon. It will likely end up in the courts, but not before lots of people lose their jobs.

The only thing that could turn this around is if Gov. Brown comes to his senses and vetoes the bill.

My condolences to all who have lost a job or a livelihood today.

Below is a copy of the letter being sent to Amazon’s California Affiliates:

Hello,

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. Unfortunately, a potential new law that may be signed by Governor Brown compels us to terminate this program for California-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.

As a result, we will terminate contracts with all California residents that are participants in the Amazon Associates Program as of the date (if any) that the California law becomes effective. We will send a follow-up notice to you confirming the termination date if the California law is enacted. In the event that the California law does not become effective before September 30, 2011, we withdraw this notice. As of the termination date, California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned on or before the termination date will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of California. If you are not currently a resident of California, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state in the near future please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To avoid confusion, we would like to clarify that this development will only impact our ability to offer the Associates Program to California residents and will not affect their ability to purchase from Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com.

We have enjoyed working with you and other California-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to California residents. We are also working on alternative ways to help California residents monetize their websites and we will be sure to contact you when these become available.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

New Law Causes Amazon to Terminate California Affiliates is a post from: Digital Podcast

If you didn’t know, Father’s Day in the US is coming up next Sunday, June 19, 2011. Need a great gift? Think audiobooks.

I’m a Dad and I love audiobooks, so I thought I would share my top 10 recommendations based on my listening the past year. Just so you know, I like tech stuff, interesting business, action, thrillers and good reads. The list is short of classics, but everyone of these books will keep your Dad interested and listening.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis

This is for the business oriented Dad’s out there. Michael Lewis tells the fasinating story of how the banks, regulators, rating agencies and hedge funds caused the big Recession. I think everyone should listen to this book and you will have a much better understanding of who screwed up the world economy. Warning, you might be mad after listening to this book, but at least you’ll be mad at the right people.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

This audiobook is for the Stephen King fan. It is the first book in King’s master series called The Dark Tower. The story is dark, troubling and well told. I really enjoy King’s work and the The Dark Tower is worth the the time and listening effort. This book is just the beginning, but it will get your Dad hooked on Stephen King.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

This book was really compelling. In this true story, the WWII hero of the book goes through the unimaginable and survives, only to have to do it over and over again. You find yourself wondering how things can get worse and they do. But Louis Zamperini, remains resilient and unbroken, and ulitimately finds the peace of redemption. Well written, well read. At times it will break your heart, but it’s a story worth knowing.

Do The Work by Stephen Pressfield

This is for the creative Dad; the author, programmer or artist who must overcome the forces of resistence to find way to Do the Work. The book shows resistence for what it is, and provides inspiration to do battle with the Resistence Monster. It’s short, but really enjoyable.

True Grit by Charles Portis

What can I say? Did you see the movie? Now listen to the story, and your Dad will enjoy it all over again.

The Passage By Justin Cronin

This is a big book and a big sci-fi, thriller story. The scientists have created something monsterous, man is almost wiped out and must fight to make a come back. The story line may seem familiar, but this is a really good telling of the story. I read this first as a book and enjoyed it so much I got the audiobook version to listen to the performance all over again.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The first in a well written trio of books. Action, mystery and some wierd but interesting charactors. It’s a good audiobook for Dad’s that just need a fun escape from the real world.

Daemon by Daniel Suarez

This was the book that got me started on audiobooks. Dad’s who like facebook and action thrillers will enjoy this twist on a dangers and benefits of a networked world. It’s fun and there’s a sequel your Dad will want too.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell always finds a twist, something right there in plain site, but often unseen. In this book, Gladwell explores outliers in performance. Is there something that can explain why some people are just exceptional at some things? Gladwell does a nice job exploring the issue. I especially enjoyed the connections between when your kids are born and there chances of doing well in a particular sport depending on the cut off dates for different age groups.

In The Plex by Stephen Levy

Another one for the tech Dad. In The Plex goes undercover at Google. It explores what may be the most important company in the world and how it works. It reveals the unapologetic culture that has come to rule so much of the internet. You get to see Google turned inside out.

So there you have it, my list of audiobook recommendations for Father’s Day. Hope you find something great for your Dad.

10 Audio Books for Father’s Day is a post from: Digital Podcast

I downloaded the app from the Android marketplace and install it on my phone. I then entered my login info. It immediately connected me to the Audible store. From there, I was able to browse my library and download the audio books I wanted to listen too. The file was available for playing while the download occurred which meant minimal waiting.

I was also able to buy new audio books to play on my Android phone right from the app. I did experience a slight bug in my first attempt to purchase an audiobook, but reloading the page and trying again seemed to fix the issue.

The import process was smooth and the player worked quite well.

I found a good overview of more audiobook apps at: Android Audiobook Apps.

Audiobooks for Android is a post from: Digital Podcast

Google Responds To Cloud Drive with Music Beta is a post from: Digital Podcast

The Happiness Project By Gretchen Rubin

Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. “The days are long, but the years are short,” she realized. “Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of best-selling memoirs such as Julie and Julia , The Year of Living Biblically , and Eat, Pray, Love . With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the 12 months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Rubin didn’t have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her – and what didn’t. Her conclusions are sometimes surprising – she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that “treating” yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn’t relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference – and they range from the practical to the profound.

Girl Who Fell from the Sky By Heidi Durrow

“A timely and moving bicultural coming-of-age tale, based on a true story and told by an author who has struggled with the same issues as her protagonist. The daughter of a Danish immigrant and a black G.I., Rachel survives a family tragedy only to face new challenges. Sent to live with her strict African-American grandmother in a racially divided Northwest city, she must suppress her grief and reinvent herself in a mostly black community. A beauty with light brown skin and blue eyes, she attracts much attention in her new home. The world wants to see her as either black or white, but that’s not how she sees herself. Meanwhile, a mystery unfolds, revealing the terrible truth about Rachel’s last morning on a Chicago rooftop. Interwoven with her voice are those of Jamie, a neighborhood boy who witnessed the events, and Laronne, a friend of Rachel’s mother. Inspired by a true story of a mother’s twisted love, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky reveals an unfathomable past and explores issues of identity at a time when many people are asking, “Must race confine us and define us?”

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand By Helen Simonson

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson’s wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major Pettigrew is one of the most indelible characters in contemporary fiction, and from the very first page of this remarkable novel he will steal your heart. The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother’s death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

Breakfast with Socrates By Robert Rowland Smith
Breakfast with Socrates explains what history’s greatest thinkers would say about everything we do each day, from heading to work, through going to the gym, making dinner and falling back to sleep. We rarely think about how these everyday activities relate to wider ideas about the world, but Robert Rowland Smith illuminates the connections with wit, warmth and authority. In this hour-by-hour commentary on a single day in our lives, you’ll find Lucretius explaining why it’s good to be unprepared and Emerson advising you on booking a holiday. You’ll get insight from Jung about your dreams, thoughts from Mill on bunking off, and the lowdown on sex from Aristophanes.

Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris By Graham Robb

This is the Paris you never knew. From the Revolution to the present, Graham Robb has distilled a series of astonishing true narratives, all stranger than fiction. A young artillery lieutenant, strolling through the Palais-Royal, observes disapprovingly the courtesans plying their trade. A particular woman catches his eye; nature takes its course. Later that night, Napoleon Bonaparte writes a meticulous account of his first sexual encounter. An aristocratic woman, fleeing the Louvre, takes a wrong turn and loses her way in the nameless streets of the Left Bank. For want of a map – there were no reliable ones at the time – Marie-Antoinette will go to the guillotine. Baudelaire, Baron Haussmann, the real-life Mimi of La Boheme, Proust, Charles de Gaulle (who is suspected of having faked an assassination attempt on himself in Notre Dame) – these and many more make up Robb’s cast of characters. The result is a resonant, intimate history with the power of a great novel.

5 Audio Books for Mother’s Day is a post from: Digital Podcast

To quote Amazon:

Amazon Cloud Drive is your hard drive in the cloud. Store your music, videos, photos, and documents on Amazon’s secure servers. All you need is a web browser to upload, download, and access your files from any computer.

Now what seems really interesting is that Cloud Drive is connected to the Cloud Player, an Android app. There is no Cloud Player on iOS. There is no Windows Phone version. It’s all about Android. Last week they launched an app store for Android. Look out for video and other content next.

Amazon is clearly working hard to position itself as the go to company for content on Droids. And Google better watch out because Amazon has the secret sauce to make it all work great – our credit card numbers on file ready for one click purchases.

Let the Droid Content war begin.

Amazon Introduces New Weapon in Droid Battle – Cloud Drive is a post from: Digital Podcast

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

1. Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Summary: MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever. Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years. What follows is a shock…

Click to hear an audio sample of Shadowfever audiobook…

2. The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer

Summary: "There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living." Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people’s stories, never a part of the story himself…. Until now. When Clementine Kaye, Beecher’s first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help trackin…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Inner Circle audiobook…

3. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

Summary: On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and …

Click to hear an audio sample of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption audiobook…

4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Unabridged) by Stieg Larsson

Summary: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue…. It’s about the disappearance 40 years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden…and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance…and about Lisbeth Salander, a…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Unabridged) audiobook…

5. The Lost Gate: Mithermages, Book 1 by Orson Scott Card

Summary: Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different – and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an "outself". He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father. Their …

Click to hear an audio sample of The Lost Gate: Mithermages, Book 1 audiobook…

6. The Confession: A Novel by John Grisham

Summary: An innocent man is about to be executed. Only a guilty man can save him. For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn’t understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn’t care. He just can’t believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly a…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Confession: A Novel audiobook…

7. The Help (Unabridged) by Kathryn Stockett

Summary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman rai…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Help (Unabridged) audiobook…

8. Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy, Grant Blackwood

Summary: Dead or Alive brings together – for the first time – an all-star cast of Clancy’s greatest characters in a joint showdown with global terrorists. Jack Ryan, the former president of the United States, is out of office, but not out of the loop about his brainchild, the "Campus" – a highly effective, counter-terrorism organization that operates outside the Washington hierarchy. But what Ryan doesn’t know is that his son, Jack Ryan, Jr., has joined his cousins, Brian and Dominic Caruso, at t…

Click to hear an audio sample of Dead or Alive audiobook…

9. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

Summary: The stunning third and final novel in Stieg Larsson’s internationally best-selling trilogy. Lisbeth Salander – the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels – lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have …

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest audiobook…

10. Strategic Moves by Stuart Woods

Summary: The new page-turning Stone Barrington novel from the perennially entertaining New York Times best-selling author. Stone Barrington is enjoying his usual dinner at Elaine’s when his boss at Woodman & Weld, the law firm where Stone is "of counsel," walks in, sits down, and hands Stone a check for one million dollars. It seems Stone’s undercover dealings with MI6 have brought in a big new client for the firm, and they’re willing to pay Stone a huge bonus and make him a partner. But almost as …

Click to hear an audio sample of Strategic Moves audiobook…

11. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged) by Stieg Larsson

Summary: The electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ("An intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller" The Washington Post ), and this time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium , has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Girl Who Played with Fire (Unabridged) audiobook…

12. What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz

Summary: In the late summer of a long-ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. His name was Alton Turner Blackwood, and in the space of a few months he brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family, a 14-year-old boy. Half a continent away and two decades later, someone is murdering families again, re-creating in detail Blackwood’s crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino is certain that his own family – his wife …

Click to hear an audio sample of What the Night Knows audiobook…

13. Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Summary: R.S.V.P. to the most riotous wedding of the year…. Lucy Jorik is the daughter of a former president of the United States. Meg Koranda is the offspring of legends. One of them is about to marry Mr. Irresistible – Ted Beaudine – the favorite son of Wynette, Texas. The other is not happy about it and is determined to save her friend from a mess of heartache. But even though Meg knows that breaking up her best friend’s wedding is the right thing to do, no one else seems to agree. Fast…

Click to hear an audio sample of Call Me Irresistible audiobook…

14. Fall of Giants: The Century Trilogy, Book 1 by Ken Follett

Summary: Fall of Giants is Ken Follett’s magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man’s world in the Welsh mining pits…. Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprisin…

Click to hear an audio sample of Fall of Giants: The Century Trilogy, Book 1 audiobook…

15. Life by Keith Richards, James Fox

Summary: As lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics, and the songs that roused the world. A true and towering original, he has always walked his own path, spoken his mind, and done things his own way. Now at last, Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades. And what a story! Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records in a coldwater flat with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, building a sound and a band …

Click to hear an audio sample of Life audiobook…

16. Saving Ceecee Honeycutt (Unabridged) by Beth Hoffman

Summary: Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel sparkling with humor, heart, and feminine wisdom. Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille-the tiara-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town-a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen. But when Camille is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. To the rescue comes her previou…

Click to hear an audio sample of Saving Ceecee Honeycutt (Unabridged) audiobook…

17. The Hunger Games (Unabridged) by Suzanne Collins

Summary: Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning? In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who l…

Click to hear an audio sample of The Hunger Games (Unabridged) audiobook…

18. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Summary: This touching and uproarious novel by author Paul Murray made everyone’s best fiction of 2010 lists, including The Washington Post , Financial Times , Village Voice , and others. Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the mystery that links the boys of Dublin’s Seabrook College (Ruprecht Van Doren, the overweight genius obsessed with string theory; Carl, the teenager drug dealer and borderline psychotic; Philip Kilfether, the basketball-playing midget) to their parents and teachers in w…

Click to hear an audio sample of Skippy Dies audiobook…

19. American Assassin by Vince Flynn

Summary: Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorist’s worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world… and then tragedy struck. Two decades of cutthroat, partisan politics has left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran and CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for …

Click to hear an audio sample of American Assassin audiobook…

20. Hell’s Corner by David Baldacci

Summary: Oliver Stone and the Camel Club return in #1 bestselling author David Baldacci’s most stunning adventure yet. An attack on the heart of power . . . In sight of the White House . . . At a place known as . . . Hell’s Corner. John Carr, aka Oliver Stone-once the most skilled assassin his country ever had-stands in Lafayette Park in front of the White House, perhaps for the last time. The president has personally requested that Stone serve his country again on a high-risk, covert missi…

Click to hear an audio sample of Hell’s Corner audiobook…

Find more best selling audio books at Castlibrary.com

NY Times

Business Week

Publisher’s Weekly

Oprah’s Book Club

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This Week’s Top 20 Audio Books is a post from: Digital Podcast

So what is SoundCloud:

SoundCloud is an audio platform that enables anyone to upload, record, promote and share their originally-created sounds across the internet, in a simple, accessible and feature-rich way. From sample to symphony and soundbite to soliloquy, SoundCloud allows sound creators anywhere to instantly record audio on the site or via mobile applications and share them publicly or privately; to embed sound across websites, social networks and blogs and receive feedback from the community.

SoundCloud’s open platform also supports a wide range of applications built on the SoundCloud API, enabling everything from mobile voice recording, online mastering, digital distribution to Facebook artist profiles and iPad music making. SoundCloud offers free accounts to amateur creators, with more advanced users able to upgrade to premium accounts for advanced features like statistics, controlled distribution and custom branding.

And now they are going to support podcast RSS feeds:

We’ll soon be able to offer RSS feed capability for your tracks and will be rolling this out slowly with selected users. If you’d like to apply to be included in this program and possibly have the chance to become a featured podcaster, just fill in the form below. Whether you have a podcast you want to move to SoundCloud or have one in mind and have been waiting for the opportunity to get it out there, then sign up! The best and most interesting applications will get a special beta account too so you can really test drive SoundCloud.

So how do you get involved in this programs? Well follow the link below and fill out the form. We’ll take a look at the application and get in touch!
SIGN UP FOR BETA ACCOUNT!

SoundCloud – Social Hosting For Your Podcast is a post from: Digital Podcast

Already released MP3s from Amazon:

25 Days of Free Holiday Songs is a post from: Digital Podcast