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ID: 730169

Title: Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT and the Race that will Change the World

Author: Parmy Olson

Narrator: Lisa Flanagan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:24:57

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: Business & Economics, Science & Technology, Business Development, Computers

Summary:

Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2024

'A clear and compelling read about one of the most consequential races in the world' - Madhumita Murgia, bestselling author of Code Dependent and AI Editor for The Financial Times

Discover the never-before-told story of the ruthless shadow race between Microsoft and Google, as both compete to develop a mass-market AI while juggling existential questions of ethics, human progress and the future of the world as we know it.

"They declined his offer too, not realizing how much the thin-skinned Musk didn’t like it when people said no. Soon enough though, Hassabis got another email. This time, it was from Google."

When ChatGPT was released, the world changed overnight. Even as we all played with the new toy, a very real danger was quickly coming to light: that untested automations would undermine our way of life insidiously, sucking value out of our economy, replacing high-level creative jobs and enabling a new, terrifying era of disinformation.

It was never meant to be this way. The founders of the two companies behind the most advanced AIs in existence – Open AI (ChatGPT) and DeepMind (Bard) – started their journeys determined to solve humanity’s greatest problems. But they couldn’t develop their technologies without huge amounts of money – money that Microsoft and Google were more than happy to give them, in exchange for the most powerful seats at the table.

From award-winning journalist Parmy Olson, Supremacy is the astonishing, untold, behind-the-scenes story of the battle between two AI companies, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the dangerous direction that they’re now going in. Featuring a cast of larger-than-life characters, including Elon Musk, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel, Supremacy is a story of manipulation, exploitation, secrecy and of ruthless, relentless human progress – progress that will impact all of us for years to come.

'Makes the topic of AI approachable and entertaining by telling the human stories of the people building AI companies. There is never a dull moment in this gripping book' - Arvind Narayanan, Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University

'Money, power, and a bargain that may change the world frame this timely and deeply researched account of two of the biggest players in the race to AI' - Gary Marcus, author of Taming Silicon Valley and Professor Emeritus at New York University

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 804732

Title: Miniaturist

Author: Jessie Burton

Narrator: Jessie Burton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12:30:33

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: W.F. Howes

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Literary Fiction

Summary:

There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed...

On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways. Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all. Does the miniaturist hold their fate in her hands? And will she be the key to their salvation or the architect of their downfall? Beautiful, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.

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ID: 798481

Title: Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Making Enemies: Loki, Book 4

Author: Louie Stowell

Narrator: Ben Willbond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3:13:12

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: W.F. Howes

Genres: Kids, Fairy Tales & Folklore

Summary:

Loki's fourth doodle-packed diary in the number one best-selling series.

Loki has made a fair few enemies during his time in Asgard. Too many to count and certainly too many to remember. When the elf, Vinir beams Loki aboard his chariot and challenges him to a magical duel, Loki hasn't got a clue why.

Sweet talking his way out of a fight by pointing out there's little honor in dueling someone who can't remember how they wronged you, and even less in picking on a child, Loki is returned safely to school.

That is until Vinir shows up in child form, as resolute as ever about seeking that duel... and vengeance..

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ID: 808800

Title: First Friend

Author: Malcolm Knox

Narrator: Mark Meadows

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12:05:47

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: Wavesound Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Historical Fiction

Summary:

Even the worst person has a best friend.

A chilling black comedy, The First Friend imagines a gangster mob in charge of a global superpower.

The Soviet Union 1938: Lavrentiy Beria, 'The Boss' of the Georgian republic, nervously prepares a Black Sea resort for a visit from 'The Boss of Bosses', his fellow Georgian Josef Stalin. Under escalating pressure from enemies and allies alike, Beria slowly but surely descends into murderous paranoia.

By his side is Vasil Murtov, Beria's closest friend since childhood. But to be a witness is dangerous; Murtov must protect his family and play his own game of survival while remaining outwardly loyal to an increasingly unstable Beria. The tension ramps up as Stalin's visit and the inevitable bloodbath approaches. Is Murtov playing Beria, or is he being played?

The First Friend is a novel in a time of autocrats, where reality is a fiction created by those who rule. Reflecting on Putin's Russia, Trump's America, Xi's China and Murdoch's planet Earth, it is at once a satire and a thriller, a survivor's tale in which a father has to walk a tightrope every day to save his family from a monster and a monstrous society. Where safety lies in following official fictions, is a truthful life the ultimate risk?

'Crackling with energy, irony, wit and terror, The First Friend is a timely and cautionary reminder of the stifling, murderous logic of strong man politics.' TIM WINTON

'Razor-sharp, wildly imaginative, bold, brilliant and often as dark as the inside of a coffin. Another triumph from a truly extraordinary writer.' TRENT DALTON

'The First Friend is not just a cracking read, it's a masterclass in Machiavellian manoeuvres. This is a magnificent piece of gallows humour, bitingly funny and horrifyingly grim at the same time.' KATE MCCLYMONT

'Bleak, intelligent and fearsomely well-researched - I kept telling myself I shouldn't laugh, but couldn't help it.' MICHAEL ROBOTHAM

'Shocking, distressing and, yes, discomfortingly hilarious, The First Friend rocks and rolls through the paranoia, and the maniacal and murderous egomania, in the aftermath of the Great Terror. It is nothing less than Amisian in ambition and achievement.' PAUL DALEY

'A witty, absorbing and at times disturbing depiction of the banalities of horror. We know what's coming but can't turn away. Malcolm Knox has hit on a great idea and delivered a wonderful book: A gripping black comedy that is both a reflection on the past and a warning for the future.' MICHAEL BRISSENDEN

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ID: 798477

Title: Gorse

Author: Sam Horton

Narrator: Catrin Walker-Booth

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13:49:14

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: W.F. Howes

Genres: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Summary:

Cornwall, 1786.

For years, the villagers of Mirecoombe have turned to their Keeper, the old and battle-scarred Lord Pelagius Hunt, mediator between the worlds of men and fey, for help. But this is a time of change. Belief in the old ways, in the piskies and spriggans, has dimmed, kindled instead in the Reverend Cleaver's fiery pulpit. His church stands proud above the mire; God's name is whispered, hushed, loved. And now, death stalks Mirecoombe on the moor. There are corpses in the heather. There is blood in the gorse.

Nancy Bligh is determined to do what Pel will not: maintain the balance between the fey and the human world, be the Keeper that he refuses to be. Blessed with natural sight, friend to spriggans, piskies and human locals of Mirecoombe, Nancy has power that Pel never had and never lets her use. But as Mirecoombe falls into darkness, perhaps her time has come.

A poignant and lyrical examination of faith, love and grief, Gorse asks what do we choose to believe, and how does that shape who we are?

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ID: 765381

Title: Signs, Music

Author: Raymond Antrobus

Narrator: Raymond Antrobus

Format: Unabridged

Length: 0:54:27

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Poetry

Summary:

Read by the author, Raymond Antrobus.

‘I became fatherless at 26 and a father

at 35 and whenever I look out

the living room window I feel myself

become the child left alone in the house’

Centred around two lyric poems on imminent fatherhood and the birth of a child, Signs, Music is a book about masculinity, fatherhood, and love. The speaker, looking backwards to his late father and forwards to his new son, prepares to become a parent for the first time. Meditating on the cognitive and emotional dissonances between the ‘hypothetical’ and the ‘real’ of becoming a father, this irreversible transition causes the poet’s ‘lines [to] lead towards my father (again!)’.

Charting the ways parenthood disrupts the poet’s sense of self, and how the pain of the past triggers fears of ‘fatherly failure’, Signs, Music is a staggeringly profound collection from one of Britain’s most adept poets writing today.

'This is transformative writing creating a new cultural landscape. Antrobus makes us hear between the lines through poems well-crafted with emotional intelligence' – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mark Oakley and Clare Shaw, judges of the 2018 Ted Hughes Prize.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 798495

Title: Blood Brothers: Charlie Cooper Thrillers Book 3

Author: Mark Dawson

Narrator: David Thorpe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2:43:45

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: Whole Story QUEST

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Action & Adventure

Summary:

Charlie Cooper, a member of the covert Group Fifteen, travels to Israel to find his estranged half-brother, Freddy, who has mysteriously disappeared. Freddy's ties to NetGuardian, a cybersecurity firm implicated in dubious activities, propel Cooper into a dangerous web of corporate espionage, state-of-the-art surveillance technology, and the ruthless world of intelligence.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 800375

Title: Chilling

Author: Riley James

Narrator: Anna Lise Phillips

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:46:54

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: Wavesound Audiobooks

Genres: Mystery, Thriller & Horror, Suspense

Summary:

An isolated research station. A storm approaching.

There's nowhere to run. But so much to hide.

Keen to flee the wreckage of her marriage, Australian scientist Kit Bitterfeld accepts a coveted winter research position at Macpherson Station in Antarctica. On the way there, Kit and her fellow researchers field a distress call from a nearby ship. By the time they reach the vessel it is on fire and the crew has vanished. A lone survivor is found, but he can't remember who he is or what has happened.

They bring the survivor, eventually identified as geophysicist Nick Coltheart, to Macpherson but it's clear that something is wrong. More and more of Kit's colleagues are acting strangely. And she can't shake the suspicion that Nick knows more than he's letting on. With the winter darkness setting in, Kit must figure out the truth before they are completely cut off from the outside world. But is the danger lurking out on the ice, or is it closer than she thinks?

The Chilling offers a compellingly icy twist on the winter thriller setting, transplanting the most haunting elements of Scandi noir to the southern hemisphere, and announces Riley James as a brilliant new talent writing in a fresh corner of Australian crime fiction.

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ID: 798475

Title: Elaine

Author: Will Self

Narrator: Laurel Lefkow

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:17:36

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: W.F. Howes

Genres: Fiction & Literature, Essays & Anthologies

Summary:

Standing by the mailbox in Ithaca, New York, Elaine thinks of her child and husband, an Ivy League academic, inside her house and wonders...is this it? As she begins to push back against the strictures of her life in 1950s America, she undertakes a disastrous affair that ends her marriage and upends her life.

Based on the intimate diaries Will Self's mother kept for over forty years, Elaine is a writer's attempt to reach the almost unimaginable realm of a parent's interior life prior to his own existence. Perhaps the first work of auto-oedipal fiction, Elaine shows Self working in an exciting new dimension, utilizing his stylistic talents to tremendous effect.

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ID: 808805

Title: Hillary's Final Case: DI Hillary Greene Book 17

Author: Faith Martin

Narrator: Alison Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7:59:56

Language: English

Release date: 09-12-24

Publisher: Whole Story QUEST

Genres: Mystery, Thriller & Horror, Detective Stories

Summary:

Can Hillary finally close the case of the missing young women?

Can she take down one of Oxfordshire's most wanted criminals?

Can she handle her new boss?

Can she help one of her team get answers on his long lost sister?

And will she really get married and leave her beloved boat?

Contact: [email protected]