Showing results by narrator "Peter Noble"

Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of Britain and other Western societies: thriving cities versus the provinces, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit and the return of the far right in Germany. We have heard many critiques of capitalism but no one has laid out a realistic way to fix it, until now.   

We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement.

Aristotle’s Organon comprises six key essays on logic, initially collected by Theophrastus, his successor as head of the Peripatetic school, and given its final form by Andronicus some three centuries later. The six essays are: Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Topics and On Sophistical Refutations. One of the principal topics of Aristotle’s focus is syllogism, in which two premises (one major, one minor) lead to a conclusion. This features in Prior Analytics and On Interpretation.  

Why do some people lead happy, successful lives whilst others face repeated failure and sadness? Why do some find their perfect partners whilst others stagger from one broken relationship to the next? What enables some people to have successful careers whilst others find themselves trapped in jobs they detest? And can unlucky people do anything to improve their luck - and lives?

Predictability isn’t a word you will find in any Bushveld dictionary, and the life of wildlife guardian Mario Cesare has been anything but. After years as warden of Olifants River Game Reserve, his feet are firmly planted in this magnificent slice of Big Five country to the west of the Kruger Park, where he has experienced a rich life packed full of incidents far from routine. In Heart of a Game Ranger, Cesare recounts some of these hair-raising, heartbreaking and heartwarming moments.

The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand-to-hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe and the start of his decline.

Italy delights and stimulates with its magnificent cities and monuments, its stunningly beautiful landscapes, the glory of its art and architecture, the richness and variety of its food, the elegance of its design and fashion, and the vitality and charm of its people. Italian style and culture have been exported all over the world. The Italians are the most European-minded of nations, having emerged from a long history of regional fragmentation.

Since his retirement as Archbishop of Canterbury and his return to academic life (Master of Magdalene College Cambridge), Rowan Williams has demonstrated a massive new surge of intellectual energy. In this new audiobook, he turns his attention to St Augustine. St Augustine not only shaped the development of Western theology, he also made a major contribution to political theory ( The City of God) and, through his Confessions, to the understanding of human psychology.

A terrifying vision of scientific progress without moral limits, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein leads the listener on an unsettling journey from the sublime beauty of the Swiss alps to the desolate waste of the arctic circle. Obsessed with the idea of creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material with which to fashion a new being, shocking his creation to life with electricity. But this botched creature, rejected by its creator and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy Frankenstein and all that he holds dear.

Professor Richard Wiseman is clear about one thing: paranormal phenomena don't exist. But in the same way that the science of space travel transforms our everyday lives, so research into telepathy, fortune-telling and out of body experiences produces remarkable insights into our brains, behaviour and beliefs.

Most people would like to be more creative, more persuasive and more attractive. For years gurus and life coaches have urged people to improve their lives by changing the way they think and behave, but scientific research has revealed that many of their techniques, from group brainstorming to visualization, are ineffective. Fortunately, in 59 Seconds, psychologist Richard Wiseman is on hand to provide fast-acting, myth-busting scientific answers to a huge range of everyday problems.

India is in transition. Since the publication of Culture Smart's first guide to India in 2003, the nation has been transformed from a developing third-world country into the world's fastest growing economy. This completely new and up-to-date volume by American author Becky Stephen is unrivalled.

Bruce Curry is the leader of a mercenary band with the dubious support of three white officers. His mission is to relieve a mining town cut off by the fighting and to retrieve a priceless consignment of diamonds. Ranged against his ill-disciplined unit are bandits, guerrillas and hostile tribes that roam the land. But there is another, even deadlier enemy - one of his own men....  

From perilous early years through clashes with the BBC and BT, not to mention the News Corporation bid for full control that failed in the wake of 2010's phone hacking scandal, there has been no shortage of drama in Sky’s history - nor in its likely future. The organisation is now the target of bids from two true titans of the global media industry - Disney and Comcast - who are fighting it out for ultimate ownership.

The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape, pillage and destruction. Over seven million fled westwards from the terror of the Red Army. Antony Beevor reconstructs the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse.

Naomi Hannah has been blind since birth. Struggling with living in a small, claustrophobic town, Naomi contemplates ending her life. But then she stumbles across the body of a young woman who has been brutally murdered. She senses someone else there at the scene - watching her. Naomi may not be able to see the killer's face, but she is still the only person who can identify him. In a town this small, the murderer must be close, perhaps even before her very eyes....

In this remarkable audiobook, Professor Richard Wiseman presents a pioneering study of the mind-set that took humanity to the moon and shows how you can harness and use it to achieve the extraordinary in your everyday life. Combining personal interviews, mission archives and cutting-edge psychology, Wiseman embarks on the ultimate voyage through inner space. Along the way he identifies eight key principles that make up the Apollo mind-set, including how pessimism is crucial to success and how fear and tragedy can be transformed into hope and optimism. 

Brussels. A panorama of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. In his new novel, Robert Menasse spans a narrative arc between the times, the nations, the inevitable and the irony of fate, between petty bureaucracy and big emotions. As the 50th anniversary of the European Commission approaches, the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with planning and organising a fitting celebration. The project will serve the wider purpose of revamping the commission's image at a time of waning public support.... 

For over 20 years, psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman has examined the quirky science of everyday life. In Quirkology, he navigates the backwaters of human behavior, discovering the telltale signs that give away a liar, the secret science behind speed dating and personal ads, and what a person's sense of humour reveals about the innermost workings of their mind - all along paying tribute to others who have carried out similarly weird and wonderful work.

Almost a third of your whole life is spent asleep. Night School uncovers the scientific truth about the sleeping brain - and gives powerful tips on how those hours of apparently ‘dead’ time in the dark can transform your waking life.