Get Most Popular Full Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

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Title: Storm Stories

Subtitle: Three Months Adrift

Narrator: Jim Cantore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-31-07

Publisher: The Weather Channel Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The crew doesn't see any sign of human life, and hope is looking dim, when 62-year-old Van Pham emerges from the sailboat's cabin. Van Pham has been stranded at sea for four months, living on rainwater and catching fish for food. The sailboat that has been Van Pham's home for four months is in such poor condition that the Navy is forced to sink it. Be there as this gentleman's amazing story of survival unfolds.

Members Reviews:

Lost at Sea for Four Months!

This was an amazing story of a man lost at sea in a sailboat for four months! As usual, Jim Cantore is an excellent narrator who knows to tell a great story. A little known tale that I had not heard, it was interesting. One of the better Storm Stories I think you will enjoy.

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Title: Storm Stories

Subtitle: Holding On

Narrator: Jim Cantore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-31-07

Publisher: The Weather Channel Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Six snowmobilers lose their way in the snowy, cold mountains of Colorado. While holding on for dear life, trying to wait for help, one of the victims skids off a cliff, breaking his leg.

©2007 The Weather Channel Inc.; (P)2007 The Weather Channel Inc.

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Title: Storm Stories

Subtitle: Blown from Her Arms

Narrator: Jim Cantore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-31-07

Publisher: The Weather Channel Inc.

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

One of the memorable events from this storm was how a 10-month old infant was snatched out of her mother's arms. When Amy Cargo's home was struck by a tornado, the mother and child were sucked into the heart of the twister. Aleah disappeared, and Amy feared that her baby girl was dead. This is the story of a mother's frantic search for her child. We talk to Amy and her family, as well as the volunteer firefighter who found the baby.

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Title: Storm Stories

Subtitle: The Deafening Sound

Narrator: Jim Cantore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-31-07

Publisher: The Weather Channel Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Van Wert, Ohio, November 10, 2002. Ron and Melissa Mengerink spend the day tidying up their brand-new home. As Ron vacuums, he's unaware that three tornadoes are grinding closer and closer to their area. The tornadoes begin to die off and appear to no longer be a factor, until the third tornado spawns a fourth. The fourth is a monstrous F-4 and heads straight for them. While they seek refuge in the basement, Ron's best friend Jim Foster races away from the twister. He tries to make it to Ron's house, but finds the door locked when he gets there.

©2007 The Weather Channel Inc.; (P)2007 The Weather Channel Inc.

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Title: Liar's Poker

Subtitle: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

Author: Michael Lewis

Narrator: Michael Lewis

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 08-31-07

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2096 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In this shrewd and wickedly funny audiobook, Michael Lewis describes an astonishing era and his own rake's progress through a powerful investment bank. From an unlikely beginning (art history at Princeton?) he rose in two short years from Salomon Brothers trainee to Geek (the lowest form of life on the trading floor) to Big Swinging Dick: a bond salesman who could turn over millions of dollars' worth of doubtful bonds with just one call.

A born storyteller, Michael Lewis shows us how things really worked on Wall Street. The bond traders, wearing greed and ambition as badges of honor, might well have swaggered straight from the pages of Bonfire of the Vanities. But for all their outrageous behavior, they were in fact presiding over enormous changes in the world economy. Lewis' job was to transfer money, in the form of bonds, from those outside America who saved to those inside America who consumed. In doing so, he generated tens of millions of dollars for Salomon Brothers and earned for himself a ringside seat on the greatest financial spectacle of the decade: the leveraging of America.

Critic Reviews:

"His description of the firm's personalities and of the events from 1984 through the crash of October 1987 are vivid and memorable. Readers of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities are likely to enjoy this personal memoir." (Library Journal)

Members Reviews:

okay at best

great book but abridgement ruined the audiobook

Never get it ABRIDGED!

An amazing book, gives you an insight on the investment banking. I've read the actual book and there are so many interesting details missed in the Abridged version!! Get it in full!!

Abridged

This is so infuriating that Audible posts abridged versions of books. This sounding like it could be a great book.

A Perspective of the Financial Industry

For most people, Wall Street and finance are mysterious black boxes. This book is a story about one person who spent some time working in Wall Street in the mid 1980's to early 1990's.

For the curious, this book shows some of the inner workings of Wall Street.

For those with connections to the financial sector, this is an eye opener.

For the uninitiated, this is an accessible book which explains complex financial instruments in very easy to understand language.

At only three hours, there's no reason not to get this book.

Liar's Poker

If you are interested in sales and trading or investment banking in general, this is the book to read.

The mischievous yet exciting inside world of a successful financial institute through the detached viewpoint of a bond salesman is extremely captivating, educative and, above all, entertaining

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Title: My Family and Other Animals

Author: Gerald Durrell

Narrator: Nigel Davenport

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-20-07

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 809 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

This memoir is soaked in the sunshine of Corfu, where Gerald Durrell lived as a boy, surrounded by his eccentric family - as well as puppies, toads, scorpions, geckoes, ladybugs, glowworms, octopuses, bats, and butterflies.

©1956 Gerald Durrell; (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"A lot of frolic, fun, and charming ribaldry, as well as the warm feeling of having been transported to a lovely spot where worry is unknown and anything is believable." (The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

A thoroughly delightful book!

I found this superb, well-written and extremely well-narrated audiobook to be a delight. The tale itself is a riviting "page-turner" unlike any other. And the fantastic reader/narrator truly made me believe I was hearing each and every character very distinctly, as he is a marvel with accents and intonation and deadpan humor. I laughed out loud many, many times as I followed the very eccentric ex-pat English family into - and out of - their adventures in Greece, as seen through their naive and wonderfully animal-crazy young son. I could relate so much to this story, as I was a similar, very curious ex-pat child myself, driving my family to distraction with stray and wild critters I brought home, marveling at each one. But I would recommend this audiobook to anyone, ex-pat or not, at any age above 12, and even whethor or not they've traveled a bit with their families. Anyone can appreciate the quirks of other cultures and people as told in this book. There are many memorable moments in the book, but I will never forget "Boodle Trinketbottom" as long as I live! This book absolutely earns five stars!

The original dysfunctional family

Having first read this book over 30 years ago I was eager to relive the experience. The audio book did not disappoint. Durrell writes one anecdote after another and all of them are a delight. This book is light, witty, wonderful entertainment.

His writing is deliciously descriptive and makes Corfu sound completely irresistible. It also makes his family sound gloriously insane. I loved every minute of it just as I did the first time around. This book made me an instant Durrell convert who then went on to read every book of his that I could find.

Another kid lit favorite.

When my kids were in school, I would always read or listen to the books they were reading on their reading lists so we could discuss them, thus build comprehension and understanding. There was a time when the majority of my reading was kid lit, since they were rarely on the same book, and I needed to keep up with each of them. Audiobooks became a must for me. And, this is one of many of the kid lit books that I loved. This story cracked me up. This book is laugh out loud funny, and full of dry humor. And, I still repeat listen to it for the simple entertainment. The narrator, Nigel Davenport has perfect delivery for cracking you up, evoking emotions, and keeping you captivated.

Still charming

Davenport reads this beautifully, and I can see why, in my junior high school days, I was such an enthusiastic Gerald Durrell fan: the jolly tone, the exotic locale, the focus on wildlife, the amusingly eccentric family, the occasional slapstick misadventure, the seemingly carefree existence that the boyish hero enjoys, etc.

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Title: Into the Wild

Author: Jon Krakauer

Narrator: Philip Franklin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-02-07

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4255 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. His body - along with a camera with five rolls of film, an SOS note, and a cryptic diary written in the back pages of a book about edible plants - was found six months later by a hunter.

©2007 Jon Krakauer; (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"Terrifying...Eloquent...A heart-rending drama of human yearning." (New York Times)

"It works. The listener can imagine Franklin's voice under a television special; Krakauer's text fills in the pictures with ease. Franklin wisely chooses to become involved in the text, rather than trying to manipulate it." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

A Book that Never Left Me

I picked this book up in an airport bookstore. You know how that goes. It's slim pickings for anything other than a NYT Bestseller, Romance novel, or books on improving your golf swing. But unlike most last-minute-airport -purchased books, I had it in my hands at every opportunity until I finished it. 'Riveting' is the word. After you've read it, 'haunting' is the word; I've never entirely escaped it.

This is the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless a young man with tremendous Jack London and Hemingway ideals that wanders unprepared into the Alaskan wilderness. The rest of the book contains what otherwise might pass as filler but isnt; the stories of other young men, their idealism gone awry, who wander into the wilderness on journeys of self discovery and mad attempts to triumph over nature.

Krakauer is qualified, too. He used to be one of these reckless, idealistic young men. He was a central participant in his infamous novel Into Thin Air. Ill never forget his recollection of solo free-climbing (no safety ropes or partner) a very dangerous peak, thousands of feet in the air, with only his ice pick and crampons, feeling like his legs were going to go out from under him, and worrying that hed faint, because behind his back just out of sight, there was nothing except the great roaring of nothingness and a drop to the ground that no one would witness. Crazier? McCandless or the young Krakauer?

What youre missing out on are the pictures of McCandless journeys. Make absolutely certain to get to a book store and at least flip through a copy. The cover photo sums up the reason why this book continues to haunt me. Its a picture of a snow covered, abandoned school bus a bleak landscape, the middle of nowhere; pines, a grey sky, no one in sight that McCandless used as a shelter, stranded and struggling for survival in the wilds of Alaska.

Compelling

Highly recommended. I was mesmerized as much by the author's account of his own extreme wilderness climbs as by Chris McCandless' journey of self-discovery. If you do buy this, listen again (and again) to Chris' letter to the old man who befriended and wanted to adopt him. It is a challenge to us all to forego the comfort and safety of ordinary lives and seek instead the raw experience of life without boundaries.

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Title: A Child Called 'It'

Subtitle: One Child's Courage to Survive

Author: David Pelzer

Narrator: Brian Keeler

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-18-07

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1037 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Dave was in first grade when his unstable alcoholic mother began attacking him. Until he was in fifth grade, she starved, beat, and psychologically ravaged her son. Eventually denying even his identity, Dave's mother called him an "it" instead of using his name. Relentlessly, she drove him to the brink of death before authorities finally stepped in. With faith and hope, Dave grew determined to survive. He also knew that he needed to share his story.

A Child Called "It" is the first of three books that chronicle his life. Through publications and public appearances, Dave is now recognized as one of the nation's most effective and respected speakers about child abuse.

Critic Reviews:

"Pelzer's portrayal of domestic tyranny and eventual escape is unforgettable." (School Library Journal)

Members Reviews:

seriously emotional

What made the experience of listening to A Child Called 'It' the most enjoyable?

I'm not sure enjoyable is the best term for such a dark experience. It's an important book on a serious subject. It deeply affected me. I had a physical reaction to some of the horror described in this book. And yet its a book I would recommend to anyone who could stomach it.

Good one

I read this book before listening to it. I knew it would be good and it was. I recomend this.

The Most Touching Book I will Ever Read

Would you consider the audio edition of A Child Called 'It' to be better than the print version?

I hate reading without someone reading to me, be cause of my dyslexia. It made me enjoy this book so much more.

What other book might you compare A Child Called 'It' to and why?

None. There isn't anything like it

What about Brian Keelers performance did you like?

He read with emotion

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I cried the first time and I will cry every time I read it.

Any additional comments?

I had a similar life, and he taught me to keep my head up because its not over til its over. I also want to thank him, for the wonderful book he wrote

Heartbreaking

Being an adoptive and foster parent myself, this story is especially personal. Some have questioned the plausibility of David Pelzers account. I certainly can believe it may be all true and have heard similar stories in my area. Even if some of the details have been changed or slightly exaggerated, its really irrelevant. Theres no question that the abuse this boy suffered is very real.

Let this story inspire you to get involved! In my state alone there 1400 children in the foster care system looking for forever families.

Real

Would you listen to A Child Called 'It' again? Why?

Definately. It holds your attention with a very real story.

Which character as performed by Brian Keeler was your favorite?

Dave Pelzer

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me cry.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.

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Title: Better

Subtitle: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

Author: Atul Gawande

Narrator: John Bedford Lloyd

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-21-07

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1043 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Gawande's gripping stories of diligence, ingenuity, and what it means to do right by people take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to labor and delivery rooms in Boston, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors' participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on modern medicine, and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of hand washing.

And as in all his writing, Gawande gives us an inside look at his own life as a practicing surgeon, offering a searingly honest firsthand account of work in a field where mistakes are both unavoidable and unthinkable. At once unflinching and compassionate, Better is an exhilarating journey narrated by arguably the best nonfiction doctor-writer around. Gawande's investigation into medical professionals and how they progress from merely good to great provides rare insight into the elements of success, illuminating every area of human endeavor.

Critic Reviews:

"Surgeon and MacArthur fellow Gawande applies his gift for dulcet prose to medical and ethical dilemmas in this collection." (Publishers Weekly)

"Better is a masterpiece, a series of stories set inside the four walls of a hospital that end up telling us something unforgettable about the world outside." (Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point)

Members Reviews:

A MUST read . . .

for anyone interested in the current state of health care and the medical field, for professionals, and those like me who aspire to be a doctor in my next life.

Seriously, this is an excellent book that covers very interesting and surprising issues related to improving medical care and outcomes. A few of the things Dr. Gawande touches on are cleanliness, battle injuries, eradicating polio, doctors' salaries, hospital excellence (or lack of), and practice of medicine in impoverished areas of India. Each topic had surprising information and was compellingly interesting to me. The author's intelligence, clear-thinking, and caring came through as the book progressed. He has a great deal to offer medical professionals and also the non-medical, average person, too.

John Bedford Lloyd did a fabulous narration. I never felt that he was reading someone elses book. He read it like it was his own. His voice is simply wonderful, too.

Highly recommended if the topic is of interest to you.

Fascinating and Well Read

Though the narrative is slightly disjointed (the separate sections were not related to each other), I found each section fascinating on its own. The actor reading the book clearly didn't know a few of the words but in general did a good job with pronunciation of medical and science terms.

Excellent but...

This book was excellent and the reader did a very fine job. I enjoyed it all; writer Atul Gawande provides an incredible store of data, and that, coupled with his wide knowledge and experience as a surgeon, made this book a wonderful experience. However, I may buy the hard copy now--just to to be able to go over all the information at leisure. I am a relative newcomer to audiobooks, but even so, I felt a bit overwhelmed. I can't praise Gawande enough.

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Title: Eat, Pray, Love

Subtitle: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Narrator: Elizabeth Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-17-06

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8780 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned 30, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want: a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.

To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world, all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the 23 happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way, unexpectedly.

An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society's ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.

Critic Reviews:

"Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry, conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor, as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Witty and Wonderful

I'm writing my first review because I'm appalled that I nearly didn't order this because of some weak reviews on this site, but my friend's persistent recommendation won me over--fortunately!

Gilbert's book is an intimate look at one person's struggle not to answer life's questions but to put herself on her own journey towards answering them. This true story also bears great universal truths. She wrestles with problems that eventually plague most of us, turning for help to the profound but colorful people she meets along her way, from a teenager in India to a Bali guru (aged somewhere between 77 and 102) to Luca Spaghetti, whose name is no less amusing than his comments.

Gilbert manages to weave in striking metaphors that light up her text.