Discover the Best Audio Stories in Biography & Memoir

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/735984 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Last Para Author: John Humphreys, Stuart Tootal Narrator: Peter Noble Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 13 hours 26 minutes Release date: August 29, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin A powerful and authentic account of one soldier's war from Tobruk to Arnhem and all points in between. John Humphreys was just a boy soldier in the Royal Engineers when war was declared in 1939. By the war's end he had jumped into Arnhem with the Parachute Regiment to spearhead the attack on the bridge. For days Humphreys and the rest of his squad held on, outnumbered and outgunned by the German army fighting to the last bullet, and refusing to surrender. But the Bridge Too Far is only the climax of Humphreys’ remarkable war. Twice captured as a prisoner of war, he twice escaped from the enemy to make his way back to Allied lines in order to rejoin the fight. Aged 101, Humphreys began to pen his extraordinary story, with the help of bestselling author and former paratrooper Stuart Tootal. The Last Para is Humphrey’s parting gift, and the final time we will read an account from soldier of our Greatest Generation bearing witness to the heroism and sacrifice of this legendary action – told with incredible honesty and irrepressible spirit. 'The last of the legends. A gripping, visceral and immensely moving read. Courage beyond measure, coupled with humility to act as a lesson to us all. No more fitting tribute - we remember them.' DAMIEN LEWIS © John Humphreys and Stuart Tootal 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/733886 to listen full audiobooks. Title: A Survivor's Education: Women, Violence, and the Stories We Don't Tell Author: Joy Neumeyer Narrator: Joy Neumeyer Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 59 minutes Release date: August 20, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: In this timely memoir, a journalist examines intimate abuse, campus politics, and the narratives we choose to believe.  In this poignant self-investigation, historian and journalist Joy Neumeyer explores how violence against women is portrayed, perceived, and adjudicated today. Interweaving the harrowing account of the abuse she experienced as a graduate student at Berkeley with those of others who faced violence on campus and beyond, Neumeyer offers a startling look at how the hotly-debated Title IX system has altered university politics and culture, and uncovers the willful misremembrance that enables misconduct on scales large and small.    Deeply researched, daringly inquisitive, and resonant for our times, A Survivor's Education reveals the entanglement of storytelling, abuse, and power–and how we can balance narrative and evidence in our attempts to determine what “really” happened.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/729861 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Home is Where We Start: Growing up in the fallout of the Utopian Dream Author: Susanna Crossman Narrator: Susanna Crossman Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 14 hours 52 minutes Release date: August 15, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. A Guardian book to look out for for 2024 In the turbulent late seventies, six-year-old Susanna Crossman moved with her mother and siblings from a suburban terrace to a crumbling mansion deep in the English countryside. They would share their new home with over fifty other residents from all over the world, armed with worn paperbacks on ecology, Marx and radical feminism, drawn together by utopian dreams of remaking the world. They did not leave for fifteen years. While the Adults adopted new names and liberated themselves from domestic roles, the Kids ran free. In the community, nobody was too young to discuss nuclear war and children learned not to expect wiped noses or regular bedtimes. Instead, they made a home in a house with no locks or keys, never knowing when they opened doors whether they’d find violent political debates or couples writhing under sheets. Decades later, and armed with hindsight, Crossman revisits her past, turning to leading thinkers in philosophy, sociology and anthropology to examine the society she grew up in, and the many meanings of family and home. In this luminous memoir, she asks what happens to children who are raised as the product of social experiments and explores how growing up estranged from the outside world shapes her as a parent today. 'A bold and intimate grappling with the hidden history at the heart of a childhood that was set up as a collectivist social experiment' EWAN MORRISON, author of How to Survive Everything 'Strikingly good' NOREEN MASUD, author of A Flat Place 'Crossman writes with such curiosity and heart-breaking honesty of what it is to find her own truth. I was enthralled by this book' LILY DUNN, author of Sins of my Father 'Beautiful, bold, tender. I loved this gorgeous memoir about making home' PRAGYA AGARWAL, author of Hysterical © Susanna Crossman 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/730401 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Another Day, Another Collar: Confessions of a Dog Trainer: From the Author of EASY PEASY PUPPY SQUEEZY Author: Steve Mann Narrator: Steve Mann Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 5 hours 46 minutes Release date: August 15, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: *FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE UK'S NO.1 DOG TRAINING BOOK EASY PEASY PUPPY SQUEEZY* 'Steve is my puppy training prophet and spiritual guide' - ADRIAN CHILES 'Dog training genius' - EMILIA CLARKE From the simple joys of owning his first puppy through to handling security dogs and training owners worldwide, Steve Mann has seen it all. Every day, he witnesses the power of dogs to change lives and help people in all sorts of ways. Now, for the first time, he shares stories from his wide and varied career as the UK's top dog trainer. Meet Pele, the lightning-fast greyhound that refused to chase a mechanical hare. Meet Alfa, Steve's beloved German shepherd for whom Steve traded in his car to follow his dream. Meet a dog called ... 'Dog', who changed Steve's life and taught him that laughter is the key to unlock learning. Meet Woofy, who helped a ten-year-old boy (and Steve) overcome anxiety. And three-legged Maggie, who taught Steve that imposter syndrome is the real imposter, and that life is about doing the best you can with what you have. Filled with tales from the frontlines of dog training - discover what Steve learned from the livestock-working dogs of Australia, the body language conversations of 'desert dogs' in the Middle East, and the potential pitfalls of working with dogs on live TV. Chronicling a lifetime spent with dogs, this book takes the reader on a journey from first love, to handling the grief of death, with everything that life throws at you in between. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll hold your dog just that bit closer.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/721287 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Drawn Testimony: My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist Author: Jane Rosenberg Narrator: Gabra Zackman Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 44 minutes Release date: August 13, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: From America’s top courtroom sketch artist, a penetrating, compulsively readable memoir about her dramatic four-decade career “A mesmerizing look at this rarest of professions…”–Bookpage STARRED review "Readers will be hard-pressed to put this down.”—Publishers Weekly STARRED review "Rosenberg’s fascinating debut offers a front row seat to some of the most high-profile criminal cases of the last four decades."—Library Journal STARRED review "Perceptive, compassionate, and endlessly fascinated by how the human condition is revealed in the courtroom, Rosenberg tells riveting and resonant tales in image and word."—Booklist STARRED review For over forty years, Jane Rosenberg has been at the heart of the news cycle, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system as a courtroom sketch artist, including the most recent Donald Trump hush money trial. In Drawn Testimony, Rosenberg brings us into the dramatic high-stakes world of her craft, where art, psychology and courtroom drama collide. Over the course of her legendary career, Jane has had a front-row seat to some of the most iconic and notorious moments in our nation’s recent history, including cases pertaining to: • Mick Jagger • Martha Stewart • Tom Brady's "Deflategate" scandal • John Lennon’s murder trial  • Ghislaine Maxwell • John Gotti • Harvey Weinstein • The Boston Marathon bomber • Donald Trump Readers will learn how she has honed her unique powers of perception and also what her portraits reveal, not only about her subjects, but about the human condition in general. Fearless, fascinating and gorgeously written, Drawn Testimony captures the unique career of an artist whose body of work depicts history as it’s happening.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/733887 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—and Pocketed $40 Million Author: Tanya Smith Narrator: Robin Miles Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 30 minutes Release date: August 13, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 3 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 4 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: A riveting true story of an unsuspecting woman who creates an ingeniously clever white-collar scheme that manipulates the Federal banking system out of millions—who eventually loses everything that is most important to her. In Never Saw Me Coming, Tanya Smith shares her deeply personal and remarkable story of how she went from a precocious young girl to a money-grabbing, computer-savvy wiz. It starts out as a keen interest in technology and innocently acquiring phone numbers to Michael Jackson, as well as other celebrities, and moves to her successfully stealing and depositing $5,000 into her grandmother’s banking account. By the time she is 18, the risk taker has confiscated millions in cash. The FBI is hot on her tail and hauls her in for an interview, demanding Smith let them know who she’s working for, “as these are not the kind of crimes Black people are smart enough to commit.” Their words, indicating that intelligence was determined by race, severely offended Smith. Up for the challenge, she proves the FBI wrong and over time steals $40 million dollars, while securing diamonds, gold bars, and other commodities. Her lifestyle attracts the wrong kind of people, even those who set out to kill her. Law enforcement persisted, ultimately dubbing Smith "one of the single biggest threats to the entire United States banking system." She receives an outrageous prison sentence—the longest for a white-collar offense—and is eventually released by mounting her own brilliant defense. Complete with unexpected twists and turns, Never Saw Me Coming is a gripping caper that reminds never to underestimate a woman.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/734230 to listen full audiobooks. Title: You're Embarrassing Yourself: Stories of Love, Lust, and Movies Author: Desiree Akhavan Narrator: Desiree Akhavan Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 5 hours 20 minutes Release date: August 13, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Writer, actor, and director Desiree Akhavan shares the stories she was told to shut up about—hilarious, horny, heartbreaking tales of a life in pursuit of art, love, and a better haircut. “Hilariously raw, relatable, and—dare I even say—sexy.”—Jessi Klein When it comes to shame, Desiree Akhavan knows what she’s talking about—whether it’s winning the title of the Ugliest Girl at her high school, acquiescing to the nose job she was lovingly forced into by her Iranian parents, or losing her virginity to a cokehead she met in a support group for cutters. In You’re Embarrassing Yourself, Akhavan goes to the rawest places—the lifelong struggle to be at peace in one’s body, the search for home as the child of immigrants, the anxious underbelly of artistic ambition—in pursuit of wisdom, catharsis, and lolz. Equal parts funny and heartfelt, these seventeen essays chart an artist’s journey from outcast to overnight indie darling, to (somewhat) self-aware adult woman. The result is a collection that captures the pathetic lows and euphoric highs of our youth—and how to survive them. * This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of images from the book.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/734278 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery Author: Theodore H. Schwartz Narrator: Sean Pratt Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 16 hours 31 minutes Release date: August 13, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 3 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: “If you are at all curious about the brain or the surgeons who operate on it, Gray Matters is a must read and Dr. Theodore Schwartz is the perfect guide, a master brain surgeon and superbly talented writer. I have not read a better biography of our shared profession, and in Schwartz's talented hands, the most enigmatic 3 1/2 pounds of tissue in the known universe comes to light in remarkable and revelatory ways.” —Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, and New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age A popular biography of brain surgery, by one of its preeminent practitioners We’ve all heard the phrase “it’s not brain surgery.” But what exactly is brain surgery? It’s a profession that is barely a hundred years old and profoundly connects two human beings, but few know how it works, or its history. How did early neurosurgeons come to understand the human brain—an extraordinarily complex organ that controls everything we do, and yet at only three pounds is so fragile? And how did this incredibly challenging and lifesaving specialty emerge?   In this warm, rigorous, and deeply insightful book, Dr. Theodore H. Schwartz explores what it’s like to hold the scalpel, wield the drill, extract a tumor, fix a bullet hole, and remove a blood clot—when every second can mean life or death. Drawing from the author’s own cases, plus media, sports, and government archives, this seminal work delves into all the brain-related topics that have long-consumed public curiosity, like what really happened to JFK, President Biden’s brain surgery, and the NFL’s management of CTE. Dr. Schwartz also surveys the field’s latest incredible advances and discusses the philosophical questions of the unity of the self and the existence of free will.     A neurosurgeon as well as a professor of neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, one of the busiest and most highly ranked neurosurgery centers in the world, Dr. Schwartz tells this story like no one else could. Told through anecdote and clear explanation, this is the ultimate cultural and scientific history of a literally mind-blowing human endeavor, one that cuts to the core of who we are.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/737419 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Men Have Called Her Crazy: A Memoir Author: Anna Marie Tendler Narrator: Anna Marie Tendler Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 39 minutes Release date: August 13, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.2 of Total 5 Ratings of Narrator: 3.67 of Total 3 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* “This book is so many things I didn’t know I needed: a testament to the work of healing, a raw howl of anger, and an indictment of misogyny’s insipid, predictable, infuriating reign.” —Carmen Maria Machado, author of the National Book Award finalist Her Body and Other Parties and the Lambda Literary Award winner In the Dream House A powerful memoir that reckons with mental health as well as the insidious ways men impact the lives of women. In early 2021, popular artist Anna Marie Tendler checked herself into a psychiatric hospital following a year of crippling anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Over two weeks, she underwent myriad psychological tests, participated in numerous therapy sessions, connected with fellow patients and experienced profound breakthroughs, such as when a doctor noted, “There is a you inside that feels invisible to those looking at you from the outside.” In Men Have Called Her Crazy, Tendler recounts her hospital experience as well as pivotal moments in her life that preceded and followed. As the title suggests, many of these moments are impacted by men: unrequited love in high school; the twenty-eight-year-old she lost her virginity to when she was sixteen; the frustrations and absurdities of dating in her mid-thirties; and her decision to freeze her eggs as all her friends were starting families. This stunning literary self-portrait examines the unreasonable expectations and pressures women face in the 21st century. Yet overwhelming and despairing as that can feel, Tendler ultimately offers a message of hope. Early in her stay in the hospital, she says, “My wish for myself is that one day I’ll reach a place where I can face hardship without trying to destroy myself.” By the end of the book, she fulfills that wish.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/734561 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Author: David J. Morris Narrator: Alex Knox Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 11 hours 36 minutes Release date: August 6, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: In the tradition of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Noonday Demon, a moving, eye-opening exploration of PTSD   Just as polio loomed over the 1950s, and AIDS stalked the 1980s and ’90s, posttraumatic stress disorder haunts us in the early years of the twenty-first century. Over a decade into the United States’ “global war on terror,” PTSD afflicts as many as 30 percent of the conflict’s veterans. But the disorder’s reach extends far beyond the armed forces. In total, some twenty-seven million Americans are believed to be PTSD survivors. Yet to many of us, the disorder remains shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and shame.Now, David J. Morris — a war correspondent, former Marine, and PTSD sufferer himself — has written the essential account of this illness. Through interviews with individuals living with PTSD, forays into the scientific, literary, and cultural history of the illness, and memoir, Morris crafts a moving work that will speak not only to those with the condition and to their loved ones, but also to all of us struggling to make sense of an anxious and uncertain time.