Get Popular Authors Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

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Title: The Vanderbilts

Author: Jerry E. Patterson

Narrator: Ray Childs

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-21-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 47 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Celebrities

Publisher's Summary:

Cornelius Vanderbilt parlayed a $100.00 investment into the largest private transportation company in the world while creating an American Dynasty in New York, Newport, Vermont, and Asheville, North Carolina. This history of his family and their lush, opulent lifestyle is filled with juicy stories and fun tidbits about their lives in the Gilded Era.

Members Reviews:

It only brushes the cold marble surface

What disappointed you about The Vanderbilts?

Listening to this book was like expecting an entertaining description of a dinner party and being read only the ingredient list that went into the food. Besides the early story of "the Commodore" growing the wealth of the family, everything else is a bland repitition of "this person was the son/daughter of who, general disposition, jobs, marriage, houses, death, funeral at which church, reading the will" over and over. You hear more about their houses than their actual lives, and when the author write that there was "considerable scandals filling all the newspapers" he never gives you any of the details, which is almost as annoying as it is boring. There are some interesting facts and history in this book, but not enough.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

the narrator was almost monotone, but I guess he did about as well as he could with such monotone text.

Obscene Riches

Everyone has heard about the Vanderbilts and their wealth but I was awed by their totally obscene wealth and their capacity to spend fortunes on mansions that were not noted for their architecture nor their contents just for their opulence and flashy luxury.

The original Vanderbilt made the majority of his money not by hard work but by manipulating the stocks and shares he held and this was how the family continued to hold onto and increase their incredible fortunes.

By and large the vast sums of money didn't seem to bring them happiness - there were famous custody cases, divorces and scandals and other than becoming the leaders of New York society none of them seemed to have a good time with their money.

It made interesting listening but at times the numbers and dates all got a bit confusing and the dollar amounts so vast that I had to repeat them outloud to comprehend them before gasping.

I enjoyed it but I sat there clasping my pearls at my throat at the sheer amounts of money spent on unimportant things while there were so many in great need and so little of their money was spent in philanthropy.

One to listen and gasp at and thank the lord that the gilded age has past!

Good read.

Interesting. Fun. Good read if you want to visit any of the Vanderbilt houses. Even better the second time.

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Title: A Passion for Winning

Subtitle: 50 Years of Promoting Legendary People and Products

Author: Aaron Cushman

Narrator: Bruce Horlick

Format: Abridged

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-19-11

Publisher: The Electronic Media Machine, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

A Passion for Winning tells the story of Aaron Cushman as he lived the "American Dream" from his days as a struggling World War II veteran to his establishment and leadership of the 25th largest public-relations firm in the U.S., which successfully served an impressive array of clients, including Keebler Cookie Co., Serta Mattress Co., Marriott, Century 21, and more. Along the way, Cushman helped to promote a host of celebrities in motion pictures, television, and nightclub entertainment, including the Three Stooges, Jane Russell, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, among others. He also spent over a decade as co-owner and PR director for the Chicago White Sox during Bill Veecks glory days, and he later produced 12 World Championship Tennis tournaments.

"Whether it's sports, show business, or Fortune 500 corporations, Cushman knows how to make news. His book is filled with terrific anecdotes about famous people and familiar products," said Irv Kupcinet, the late columnist of the Chicago Sun-Times. In this behind-the-scenes story of his 50-year career, Cushman reveals his secret to success and how one remarkable man's creativity and integrity helped shape the PR profession.

Members Reviews:

A Vanity Piece

What disappointed you about A Passion for Winning?

It's not a particularly interesting, but over-hyped life story.

What was most disappointing about Aaron Cushmans story?

Without knowing any of the details I'm sure a lot of it is exaggerated and can't help but get the feeling some of it is straight up lies: didn't sleep with any of the dancing girls despite the fact that they all thought he was totally hot? Seriously? I suspect he may have talked up his connections and glossed over some petty and quite boring corruption too.

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Title: Newspaperman

Subtitle: Inside the News Business at The Wall Street Journal

Author: Warren Phillips

Narrator: L. J. Ganser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-16-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

When Warren Phillips was 11 years old, his father took him on a guided tour of the New York Daily News, where he got his first look at the frenzied yet surprisingly ordered and controlled world of newspaper publishing. He saw everything from the industrial printing presses churning out newspapers at astonishing speeds to reporters hunched over their typewriters, writing the very stories those presses would be producing within hours - or even minutes. Phillips was hooked. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life.

Newspaperman tells the story of how an immigrant's shy son from Queens, New York, rose to the top of his industry, powered by little more than passion, brains, and hard work. Phillips began his career working as a copyboy for the New York Herald Tribune for 16 dollars a week... and ended it as publisher of The Wall Street Journal and CEO of its parent corporation, Dow Jones & Company.

The life story of Warren Phillips is the story of the American newspaper business. Here, the details of his vast experience come together to create a broad picture of the industry, revealing how news is discovered, reported, edited, published, and disseminated. Sharing vivid tales of working as a reporter around the world and describing the many colorful characters he met along the way, Phillips provides a level of insight that only a leading figure in newspapering could offer.

Newspaperman gives you an up-close look at one of the most influential people in the history of The Wall Street Journal and an unprecedented view of the business, from its rapid modernization during the post-World War II, cold war era to the early years of digital publishing and the rise of the Internet, which may mark the decline of the printed page forever. Phillips's entertaining, penetrating, and impressively detailed account is a must-listen for both devotees of America's most iconic business publication and anyone with an interest in how news is reported.

Critic Reviews:

"The author includes many anecdotes culled from his diaries, some very funny, which illustrate the variegated aspects of his life and the people who shared in it.... A well-rounded autobiography about the journalism industry and the people who shaped the news over the past 50 years." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Phillips fell in love with newspapers when he was a boy. Hes still infatuated but he doesnt skip over his tough times or mistakes. Thats what makes Newspaperman such a telling guide to the newsroom and to the top office in the executive suite." (Lou Boccardi, former president and chief executive, Associated Press; former chairman, Pulitzer Prize Board)

"This lovely book recounts the life of a wise, thoughtful, and admired newspaper editor and publisher. The tiny Wall Street Journal Warren Phillips joined grew up to be a giant. Newspaperman tells that story." (Donald E. Graham, chairman and chief executive, The Washington Post Company)

Members Reviews:

A Slow News Day

It is a shame this book was not written when the author was some years younger. As it is, I view this memoir as mediocre.

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Title: On Gandhi's Path

Subtitle: Bob Swann's Work for Peace and Community Economics

Author: Stephanie Mills

Narrator: Dave Adams

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-03-11

Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press Inc.

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

Bigger has turned out not to be better. Servicing the global economy has exacted a heavy toll in the erosion of our communities and the destruction of our environment. Increasingly, we are coming to realize that the way forward looks a lot like the way back back to strong local economies, back to resilient, tight-knit communities, back to the land and work that is real. As we chart our course through these uncertain times, we are hungry for inspiration. Robert Swann was a self-taught economist, a tireless champion of decentralism, and the father of the relocalization movement. A conscientious war resistor imprisoned for his beliefs, Bob Swann engaged in lifelong nonviolent direct action against war, racism, and economic inequity. His legacy is a vision of a life-affirming, alternative economy of peace founded on innovations in land and monetary reform.Swann's story is also the untold history of decentralism in the United States. He associated with a constellation of vital, intelligent independent authors and activists, and ultimately co-founded the Schumacher Society based on the philosophies of Small Is Beautiful author E. F. Schumacher.Swann forged tools to build productive, resilient local and regional economies. Now as global industrial civilization flails in the throes of ecological and economic crisis, Swann's working innovations are at the ready to help neighborhoods, local entrepreneurs, and willing communities to rebuild at appropriate scales.

Critic Reviews:

"Stephanie Mills has described Bob Swans life with eloquence, elegance and profoundness and as a result the book is deeply engaging and enchanting. "On Gandhis Path" is a lucid narrative of the life of Bob Swann who was a living example of simplicity, humility and radicalism. This is a book which describes how a man offered himself to serve the people and the planet selflessly. This book is a good guide to all activists who are working to transform the world." (Satish Kumar, editor, Resurgence Magazine and Visiting Fellow at Schumacher College)

"Bob Swann was the unsung American Gandhi. He was a pioneer in intentional communities, local currencies, populist architecture, cooperatives, radical decentralization, land trusts, draft resistance, and antiwar activism. Stephanie Millss biography exquisitely fills the historical void, showing how much a humble but determined individual could transform American life and reminding us of many of our ideals are still possible. (Michael Shuman, author, The Small-Mart Revolution)

"One of the great unrecognized heroes of the 20th century decentralist movement, Bob Swann here gets the careful, serious, and may I say loving, treatment he deserves." (Kirkpatrick Sale, co-founder, E.F. Schumacher Society, and author, "Human Scale")

Members Reviews:

Inspirational

At a time when it feels money calls the shots and community is broken here is the story of a gentle man who understood it could and should be different. Like the man himself this audio book is both quiet and gentle. Life changing, it really did make me decide to live differently.

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Title: Finding Everett Ruess

Subtitle: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer

Author: David Roberts

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-19-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 94 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Celebrities

Publisher's Summary:

Finding Everett Ruess is the definitive biography of the artist, writer, and eloquent celebrator of the wilderness whose bold solo explorations of the American West and mysterious disappearance in the Utah desert at age 20 have earned him a large and devoted cult following. More than 75 years after his vanishing, Ruess stirs the kinds of passion and speculation accorded such legendary doomed American adventurers as Into the Wilds Chris McCandless and Amelia Earhart.

I have not tired of the wilderness; rather I enjoy its beauty and the vagrant life I lead, more keenly all the time. I prefer the saddle to the street car and the star sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown, to any paved highway, and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities. So Everett Ruess wrote in his last letter to his brother. And earlier, in a valedictory poem, Say that I starved; that I was lost and weary; That I was burned and blinded by the desert sun; Footsore, thirsty, sick with strange diseases; Lonely and wet and cold . . . but that I kept my dream!"

Wandering alone with burros and pack horses through California and the Southwest for five years in the early 1930s, on voyages lasting as long as ten months, Ruess also became friends with photographers Edward Weston and Dorothea Lange, swapped prints with Ansel Adams, took part in a Hopi ceremony, learned to speak Navajo, and was among the first "outsiders" to venture deeply into what was then (and to some extent still is) largely a little-known wilderness.

When he vanished without a trace in November 1934, Ruess left behind thousands of pages of journals, letters, and poems, as well as more than a hundred watercolor paintings and blockprint engravings. A Ruess mystique, initiated by his parents but soon enlarged by readers and critics who, struck by his remarkable connection to the wild, likened him to a fledgling John Muir. Today, the Ruess cult has more adherentsand more passionate onesthan at any time in the seven-plus decades since his disappearance. By now, Everett Ruess is hailed as a paragon of solo exploration, while the mystery of his death remains one of the greatest riddles in the annals of American adventure. David Roberts began probing the life and death of Everett Ruess for National Geographic Adventure magazine in 1998. Finding Everett Ruess is the result of his personal journeys into the remote areas explored by Ruess, his interviews with oldtimers who encountered the young vagabond and with Ruesss closest living relatives, and his deep immersion in Ruesss writings and artwork. It is an epic narrative of a driven and acutely perceptive young adventurers expeditions into the wildernesses of landscape and self-discovery, as well as an absorbing investigation of the continuing mystery of his disappearance.

In this definitive account of Ruess's extraordinary life and the enigma of his vanishing, David Roberts eloquently captures Ruess's tragic genius and ongoing fascination.

Critic Reviews:

"Everett Lives! If not in a desert canyon, then at least among the pages where David Roberts brings the young man's life and legend all together: his writings and art, his kinship with nature, his love for adventure and beauty, and the yet-evolving mystery of his disappearance.

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Title: Amazing Entrepreneurs - Volume 1

Subtitle: Inspirational Stories

Author: Charles Margerison

Format: Unabridged

Length: 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-15-11

Publisher: Amazing People Club

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

Were the people who developed successful businesses lucky or did they have special talents? In this unique audio collection from The Amazing People Club, you can explore these questions through the lives of some of the world's most famous entrepreneurs and perhaps be inspired to follow in their footsteps!

Ray Kroc's entrepreneurial talents enabled him to develop McDonald's from a local burger joint into an international phenomenon. Get an insight into what inspired him to make this a reality. Meet Andrew Carnegie and find out all about his life, which truly embodied the american dream. He lived the 'rags to riches' story, arriving as a poor immigrant from Scotland and becoming one of the richest men in the world, while maintaining a strong sense of social responsibility. Meet pioneer Madame C. J. Walker who blazed a successful path for black women all over the world and died America's wealthiest African American woman. She lectured and advised many other black women on how to build their own businesses. In addition, hear the amazing story behind the global brand Unilever. Enter William Lever, born in Lancashire as the son of the grocer, who started a small soap company, and had a progressive vision for Port Sunlight - all key events in the development of a company that would grow to become one of the largest companies in Britain.

Each story comes to life through BioViews. These are short biographical narratives, similar to interviews. They provide an easy way of learning about amazing people who made major contributions and changed our world.

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Title: Amazing Millionaires, Volume 1

Subtitle: Inspirational Stories

Author: Charles Margerison

Narrator: Amazing People Club

Format: Unabridged

Length: 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-14-11

Publisher: Amazing People Club

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

You may know the names of famous millionaires and wonder how they struck it rich. This unique collection of short audio stories from The Amazing People Club tells their tales. It explores the lives of four amazing millionaires and follows them on their amazing journeys to fame and fortune.

Meet Cesar Ritz, the man behind the term "Ritzy", whose life was just that. He came to be known as the 'king of hoteliers, and hotelier to kings'. Then, meet the man behind the Nobel Prizes. Alfred Nobel's life, often shrouded in mystery, comes to life through his BioViews as we explore his career as a chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. Unknown to many people, he actually invented dynamite! Next, Meet Howard Hughes - aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director and philanthropist who became who became one of the wealthiest people in the world. Another fascinating character is Henry Wellcome. He may have saved your life with the medicines he produced. The Wellcome Trust is one of the largest medical charities in the world. Each story is unique and amazing and could perhaps be just what you need for inspiration to achieve your own ambitions.

Each story comes to life through BioViews. These are short biographical narratives, similar to interviews. They provide an easy way of learning about amazing people who made major contributions and changed our world.

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Title: A Cultivated Life

Author: Joy Sterling

Narrator: Barbara Caruso

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-15-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

What makes a wine distinctive is the goût du terroir, or the taste of the land - plus the personality and passion of the wine maker who lovingly adds his own liqueur de dosage or secret ingredient to each bottle. Here is a vintner's month-by-month account of one vintage at the Iron Horse vineyard located in the hills of Sonoma County in California. Author and wife of Iron Horse's wine-maker, Joy Sterling, fascinates with her account of the commitment involved in producing a premium wine.

©1994 Sterling; (P)1994 RECORDED BOOKS

Members Reviews:

Interesting insight into the life of vintners in California, ...

Interesting insight into the life of vintners in California, but told from the point of views of a privileged, wealthy, narcissistic, woman.

Never the Same

A glass of wine will never be the same for me after reading this book! I will be searching for all the delicious flavors and nuances that Joy Sterling and her family look for while turning their grapes into wine. Her wonderful and detailed descriptions show it is no easy task but takes much physical labor, creativity and attention to detail. It involves dealing with the stress of nature's moods as well as turning out fantastic meals for tons of people whether one is feeling like it or not -- all part of the business. And yet the land, lifestyle (and perks!) of living this life seem to amply repay Joy Sterling for all the hard work. I loved her tongue-in-cheek style when describing the events of her life: her father remarking on her not wanting to go to law school with the comment "I guess that means you won't be president" or she and her husband, Forrest, in evening dress, down under the table untying dusty boxes of wine glasses in which to serve their wine at a wine fair! I found this book delightful and informative and will read it again.

This book hit home for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Perhaps the best thing is that I am from Sonoma County where most of the events take place. The descriptions of the towns, people and the ever present vineyards really struck home. The obvious joy that the author takes in her life and the wines her family makes permeates the book. She obviously lives a life different from the average person but seems to know it and appreciate all she has. Many local people are mentioned but almost always in a positive and entertaining way. The explanation of grape growing and wine crafting made me feel that even a non-wine drinker like myself could learn to appreciate the difference between good and bad wines.

Lives of the Pretentious and Fermented

Whining pretentious "special" child of insufferable ugly american francophiles, (names dropped here), fails utterly at journalism career, but goes home to write book (more names dropped here) supposedly about the life in a vineyard/winery. Between the descriptions of her cool clothes and wonderful parties she finds a little time to run to the chais to ask her wine maker husband basic questions about wine making, that she then inserts into her partylogue as if she knows which end of a corkscrew is up. For pure unadulterated masochism try reading this out loud, preferably to someone who loves you and has a black sense of humor. If an editor has ever seen this book, I would be highly surprised.

Ditto Los Angeles

Couldn't agree with Los Angeles more.

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Title: Richard Pratt

Subtitle: One Out of the Box

Author: James Kirby, Rodney Myer

Narrator: Adrian Mulraney

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-10-11

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

Insightful and revealing, this book is the first to tell the Richard Pratt story in full. From humble Polish-Jewish immigrant beginnings, Pratt became one of Australia's business success stories. He was a paradoxical man: said to be a devoted husband, yet he had a mistress and an illegitimate daughter; Australia's most generous philanthropist, yet he admitted to price fixing; and a great supporter of the cultural arts, yet saviour of the Carlton Football Club.

Renowned journalists James Kirby and Rod Myer have combined forces to tell the whole truth about Richard Pratt in an insightful biography that will encourage readers to decide for themselves - was Richard Pratt a saint or a sinner?

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Title: Billy Brown, I'll Tell Your Mother

Author: Bill Brown

Narrator: Bill Brown

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-09-11

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Business Leaders

Publisher's Summary:

By the time he was 10 years old, Billy Brown was running a successful little business on the black market and, for the right price, he would deliver it direct to your door in an old carriage pram.

This is the highly entertaining and eye-opening memoir of a young boy growing up in 1950s post-war London. With energy and insight, Billy Brown paints a vivid and lively picture of Britain emerging from the ruins of the war, the hunger for opportunity, the growing pace of modernisation, and the pride and optimism that held communities together. Londoners were intent on getting themselves back on their feet, and it provided the perfect opportunity for a boy with ambition and a lively imagination.

Born in Brixton, south London, in 1942, Billy Brown was a loveable scamp with a nose for mischief. Left to his own devices whilst both his parents went out to work, if there was trouble to be had, Billy would be in the thick of it. Ignoring the shaking of fists from his neighbours, his mother's scoldings, and the regular thwack of the cane on his bottom at school, Billy wheeled and dealed, charmed Woolies Girls, planned coronation celebrations, ran circles around circus performers, and persuaded villains to work on his terms.

Members Reviews:

It 's great story about post world war two Britain

What did you love best about Billy Brown, I'll Tell Your Mother?

that a small boy in those times was able to go out and earn money,and have adventures,and enjoy himself at the same time

What was one of the most memorable moments of Billy Brown, I'll Tell Your Mother?

When billy's girlfriend told him she was going to South Africa, I cryed.

What about Bill Browns performance did you like?

I lived during that time ,I was a little younger,but I remembered what it felt like to live at that time while it was being read,that man made me belive that he did live through that time.

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

I laughed at almost every page,I live in Canada, and it's years since I have heard the real cockney accent,and that made all the more real to me,I also had a cry,but it was one of the best books I have read in a long time,more so because it was read by Bill Brown.

Any additional comments?

If there are any more books by Bill Brown I would love to know about them.

Definitely one to revisit many times over.

Engaging, witty, poignant, and entertaining; read by the original author who brings such a quality of warmth and mischief that one lives through the adventures with him.

Oh billy brown.

I loved Billy's Brown. The story was read well. I enjoyed the innocent of childhood but the craftiness of the time in post war.