Showing results by narrator "Josh Bloomberg" in All Categories

The uneventful life of a jeweler from Tel Aviv changes abruptly in 2011 after Fareed, a handsome young man from Damascus, crosses illegally into Israel and makes his way to the ancient port city of Jaffa in search of his roots. In his pocket is a piece of a famous blue diamond known as "Sabakh".  Intending to return the diamond to its rightful owner, Fareed is soon swept up in Tel Aviv's vibrant gay scene, and a turbulent protest movement. He falls in love with both an Israeli soldier and his boyfriend - the narrator of this book - and reveals the story of his family's past.

Ultramarathons don't leave much room for mistakes. Don't learn the hard way: Get a jump on training for an ultramarathon with Hal Koerner's Field Guide to Ultrarunning, a comprehensive handbook to running 30 to 100 miles and beyond, authored by one of the most experienced and recognized athletes in the sport.   

A self-professed "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist", the inventor Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was undoubtedly a visionary. Fuller's creations often bordered on the realm of science fiction, ranging from the freestanding geodesic dome to the three-wheel Dymaxion car to a bathroom requiring neither plumbing nor sewage. Yet in spite of his brilliant mind and lifelong devotion to serving mankind, Fuller's expansive ideas were often dismissed, and have faded from public memory since his death.

A professor from Jerusalem, an expert in decoding ancient Hebrew manuscripts, is hired to carry out a mysterious task, one that sends him to three continents. He becomes entangled in a web of murders that leave him deeply puzzled. However, he quickly discovers that if he does not succeed in deciphering the enigmatic manuscripts, through his in-depth knowledge of Kabbalah, the lives of many people - including his own family - will be endangered.

An Iraqi woman who survived capture by ISIS. A Sudanese teen growing up in civil war and famine. An Afghan interpreter for the U.S. Army living under threat of a fatwa. They are among the five refugees who share their stories in award-winning author and photographer Susan Kuklin's latest masterfully crafted narrative. The five, originally from Afghanistan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Iraq, and Burundi, give gripping first-person testimonies about what it is like to flee war, face violent threats, grow up in a refugee camp, be sold into slavery, and resettle in America.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan has translated Sefer Yetzirah, the oldest and most mysterious of all kabbalistic texts, and now brings its theoretical, meditative, and magical implications to light. He expounds on the dynamics of the spiritual domain, the worlds of the Sefirot, souls, and angels. When properly understood, Sefer Yetzirah becomes the instruction manual for a very special type of meditation meant to strengthen concentration and to aid the development of telekinetic and telepathic powers. 

As comic as it is deeply moving, Holy Lands chronicles several months in the lives of an estranged family of colourful eccentrics. Harry Rosenmerck is an ageing Jewish cardiologist who has left his thriving medical practice in New York - to raise pigs in Israel. His ex-wife, Monique, ruminates about their once happy marriage even as she quietly battles an aggressive illness. Their son, David, an earnest and successful playwright, has vowed to reconnect with his father since coming out. Annabelle, their daughter, finds herself unmoored in Paris in the aftermath of a breakup.

When Adam joined the Pioneer program, he became one of six teens to forfeit their bodies for a new, digital existence. Together, the Six were unstoppable, protecting the world from artificial-intelligence systems that threatened the human race. But they were more than a team, they were family. Until now. Adam has a complex power within his circuitry that defies the very laws of physics. He wasn't programmed to have this power, and he can barely control it or its consequences. Adam's never felt more alone. Amber, the newest Pioneer, knows what it is like to be an outsider.

As Raena's and Jason's training with the TSS nears completion, the return of the Aesir is imminent. Whether the Aesir are adversaries or allies will be put to the test as the final pieces of the Sietinens' plan to bring down the Priesthood fall into place. Facing an unstable political landscape and with the future of telekinetic abilities among the Taran people on the line, Wil and his family must wage one final war to correct past injustices and usher Tarans into a new era of peace.

Adam gave up everything for a new chance at life. Now with a cutting-edge digital mind, he is smarter, faster, better than a normal teen. But this new life isn't free. He's indebted to the government program that gave him this ability - and freedom comes at a price. Adam and his teammates, the six Pioneers, swore to defend humanity against Sigma, the most ruthless artificial intelligence program ever designed.

Adam's muscular dystrophy has stolen his mobility, his friends, and in less than a year, it will take his life. Virtual reality games are Adam's only escape from his wheelchair. In his alternate world, he can defeat anyone. Running, jumping, scoring touchdowns: Adam is always the hero. Then, an artificial intelligence program hacks into Adam's game. Created by Adam's computer-genius father, Sigma has gone rogue, threatening to kill Adam - and the entire human race. Their one chance to stop Sigma is using the technology Adam's dad developed to digitally preserve the mind of his son.

Bible Nation tells the story of the Greens' rapid acquisition of an unparalleled collection of biblical antiquities; their creation of a closely controlled group of scholars to study and promote their collection; their efforts to place a Bible curriculum in public schools; and their construction of a $500 million Museum of the Bible near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Bible Nation reveals how these seemingly disparate initiatives promote a very particular set of beliefs about the Bible - and raise serious ethical questions.

Whatever Navigator Selena Samuelson expected when her Fractal Class ship, Chimera, arrived at Earth, it certainly wasn't a brutal attack from an unknown enemy that killed more than half her crew and all but destroyed her ship. Deserted by their captain and the only other navigator, Selena makes a terrible gamble and flees for Damascene - a colony that lost contact with Earth hundreds of years ago.

In the years since the Bakzen War, Wil and Saera have raised a family on Earth outside the purview of the High Dynasties and Priesthood. Except, it's almost time for their teenage twins, Raena and Jason, to begin telekinesis training and they have no idea such abilities even exist. With the Bakzen threat eliminated, Wil hopes the TSS can offer them training without the need to commit to a lifetime of military service.

With the Primus Elites' training almost complete, Wil and his men relocate to H2 to make their final preparations. Everything seems to be staged for a swift TSS victory over the Bakzen as Wil assumes the position of TSS Supreme Commander with Saera and his most trusted friends by his side. But Tek won't let the Bakzen go down easily. He will find Wil's greatest weakness and do anything to make him crumble. The generations-old war began as a feud of races and ideals, but, with this fight, it's personal.

The people of Stephen's Point have put years into rebuilding the Chimera, their last hope for a return to Earth. As preparations continue, the ancient ship sleeps, bound by her strict protocols. Theo Puck finds himself drawn to the mysterious girl from the rim, Selena Samuelson, convinced that she holds the secret to waking the Chimera. Marcus, too, wants the Chimera woken. But his leadership has nothing to do with saving Stephen's Point - his hatred for Selena nearly equals his desire to control Theo.

A severed left hand is found in a minivan abandoned on a dry riverbed. When Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force lieutenant Reiko Himekawa and her team join the investigation, the hand is quickly identified as belonging to building contractor Ken'ichi Takaoka, and from the amount of blood spilled in the van, it is presumed that he was killed. However, searches fail to turn up the rest of the body, and the mystery deepens when a childhood friend shown a photo of the victim declares, "That's not Takaoka".

The fate of Earth's first colony rests on the shoulders of a pair of misfits: Theo Puck, a rogue hacker with a gift for speaking to machines, and Selena Samuelson, a brash but talented pilot with a dark secret in her past. Earth went silent over a decade ago. No contact, no resupply. If something doesn't change, the colony will go extinct. Theo and Selena's futures become intertwined as they carve out places for themselves in the crew that will navigate the Chimera back to Earth.

Mark and Giulia fell for each other in their teens, married in their 20s, and didn't realise what their love would demand of them until Giulia suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break at the age of 27. Hospitalized for almost a month, she was tormented by delusions and paranoia. Upon release, she sunk into an extended suicidal depression during which Mark, struggling to support Giulia, was torn between the demands of keeping her safe and following doctors' orders, and honouring her independence and making her feel loved.

Tension is mounting in the rift. With the situation dire, Wil is tasked to train a group of 20 young men to serve as his officers - collectively, the Primus Elites. He has five years to raise them to full Agents, and he'll need every minute. Training alongside them, Wil still needs to master simultaneous observation. But the closer he gets to achieving the feat, the more likely the Aesir will come to test him - to see if he's worthy of the Cadicle title bestowed on him at conception.