Story Time Podcast

Narrated by Author

Many years of counseling have enabled Dr. Henry Cloud to observe people trying to work out the most important issues of life: relationships, career, fulfillment, meaning, pain, hurt, loss, despair, and addictions. 

If we sincerely want to "get life right" and quit repeating the same mistakes over and over again, 9 Things You Simply Must Do provides the practical guidance we need to live life to its fullest . . . every moment.

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Narrator  Will Damron

The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the one-time multibillion-dollar biotech start-up founded by Elizabeth Holmes - now the subject of the HBO documentary The Inventor - by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end. 

“The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.” (Bill Gates)

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes were widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose start-up “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood testing significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fund-raising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’ worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn’t work. A riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a tale of ambition and hubris set amid the bold promises of Silicon Valley.

Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Time, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post 

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The fascinating, often surprising story of how a simple black rock has altered the course of history. Prized as "the best stone in Britain" by Roman invaders who carved jewelry out of it, coal has transformed societies, powered navies, fueled economies, and expanded frontiers. It made China a twelfth-century superpower, inspired the writing of the Communist Manifesto, and helped the northern states win the American Civil War. 

Yet the mundane mineral that built our global economy—and even today powers our electrical plants—has also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction. As early as 1306, King Edward, I tried to ban coal (unsuccessfully) because its smoke became so obnoxious. Its recent identification as a primary cause of global warming has made it a cause célèbre of a new kind. 

In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins three hundred million years ago and spans the globe. From the "Great Stinking Fogs" of London to the rat-infested coal mines of Pennsylvania, from the impoverished slums of Manchester to the toxic city streets of Beijing, Coal is a captivating narrative about an ordinary substance that has done extraordinary things—a simple black rock that could well determine our fate as a species.

Narrator Shelly Frasier

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One of the world's most esteemed and influential psychologists, Roy F. Baumeister, teams with New York Times science writer John Tierney to reveal the secrets of self-control and how to master it.

Pioneering research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-control. Drawing on cutting-edge research and the wisdom of real-life experts, Willpower shares lessons on how to focus our strength, resist temptation and redirect our lives. 

It shows listeners how to be realistic when setting goals, monitor their progress, and how to keep faith when they falter. By blending practical wisdom with the best of recent research science, Willpower makes it clear that whatever we seek - from happiness to good health to financial security - we won’t reach our goals without first learning to harness self-control.

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Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-read robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robot politicians and robots who secretly run the world - all told with the dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction that has become Asimov's trademark.

The three laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm 2) A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 

With these three, simple directives, Isaac Asimov changed our perception of robots forever when he formulated the laws governing their behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future - a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete.

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Elvis’ 1969 opening night in Vegas was his first time back on a live stage in more than eight years. His career had gone sour - bad movies, mediocre pop songs that no longer made the charts - and he’d been dismissed by most critics as over-the-hill. But in Vegas, he played the biggest showroom in the biggest hotel in the city, drawing more people for his four-week engagement than any other show in Vegas history. His performance got rave reviews; "Suspicious Minds", the song he introduced there, gave him his first number-one hit in seven years; and Elvis became Vegas’ biggest star. Over the next seven years, he performed more than 600 shows there and sold out every one.

Las Vegas was changed, too. By the end of the ‘60s, Vegas’ golden age - when the Rat Pack led a glittering array of stars who made it the nation’s premier live-entertainment center - was losing its luster. Elvis created a new kind of Vegas show: an over-the-top, rock-concert extravaganza. He set a new bar for Vegas performers, with the biggest salary, the biggest musical production, and the biggest promotion campaign the city had ever seen. He opened the door to a new generation of pop/rock artists and brought a new audience to Vegas - not the traditional well-heeled older gamblers, but a mass audience from Middle America that Vegas depends on for its success to this day.

At once "a fascinating history of Vegas as gambling capital, celebrity playground, mob hangout, [and] entertainment Valhalla” (Rolling Stone) and the incredible "tale of how the King got his groove back" (Associated Press), Elvis in Vegas is a classic feel-good story for the ages.

"Outstanding pop-culture history." (Newsday)

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Do you feel as though you may be being manipulated in your relationship or in the workplace? Do you need strategies to help yourself advance through life and Win in every situation? Then keep reading...

Here's the deal, you aren't able to tell if someone is being manipulative with you and you don't know how to defend against it.

This book has everything you may need to get ahead in life, whether it's emotionally, socially, or even economically. Within this audiobook, we go through a variety of topics discussing and analyzing the psychology behind the manipulation.

Here’s just a tiny fraction of what you’ll find in this book :

The best way to use manipulation psychology to win friends

Powerful techniques and methods of emotional manipulation

Number one tips to eliminate manipulative people from your life

Why persuasion and neuro-linguistic programming are so important nowadays

How to quickly tell if you're in a manipulative relationship and get rid of it

 The best strategies to spot manipulation in the workplace

 Tips and tricks to improve your self-esteem and self-confidence

And much, much more!

You too can learn everything you need to know about manipulation psychology in this all-inclusive guide. Not sure if you'll be able to use it in practice? No worries! Within this text has also been included a series of scenarios and examples to help you get the hang of pinpointing and understanding what emotional manipulation looks like in the real world.

Narrator Ivan Busenius

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You’ve seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don’t know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me.

I’m a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs - as much as anyone person can.

In today’s culture...

Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed, and The Huffington Post drive the media agenda.

Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.

Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see, and watch - online and off.

Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I’m tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I’m pulling back the curtain because I don’t want anyone else to get blindsided.

I’m going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.

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Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here, salt has shaped civilization from the beginning, and its story is a glittering often surprising part of the history of mankind. 

So valuable that it has often served as currency and still does in places today, salt inspired the earliest trade routes across unknown oceans and the remotest deserts. Wars have been fought over salt, and while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India. 

From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soya sauce is made to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history, a multilayered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious, and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

The author of "Cod" and "The Basque History of the World" takes an extraordinary look at an ordinary substance--salt, the only rock humans eat--and how it has shaped civilization from the very beginning. 

Unabridged. 

Robin Williams and Monty Python were brothers-in-comedy-arms

Just as the Beatles (especially John) found a kindred spirit in singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson — so did the Python members find a joyous soulmate in Robin Williams.

It was love at first laugh.  And it was a fully-consummated mutual admiration.

The Pythons immediately recognized Robin’s comedic genius on first encountering him.  And Robin was exhilarated by the Pythons both collectively and individually.  He loved their humor and he would delight pals by occasionally breaking into frenzied renditions of Python skits with his own Robin-esque twists.