12.31.06
Poker – World Series Audio Book
Poker and The World Series is a main theme in “Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids“
If you think a gang of real-life geeks can’t take on the world and win big… think again. And whatever you do, don’t sit down across a gaming table from Jon Finkel, better known as Jonny Magic. Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids is his amazing true story: the jaw-dropping, zero-to-hero chronicle of a fat, friendless boy from New Jersey who found his edge in a game of cards–and turned it into a fortune!
The ultimate bully-magnet, Finkel grew up heckled and hazed until destiny came in the form of a trading-card game called Magic: The Gathering. Magic exploded from nerdy obsession to mainstream mania and made the teenage Finkel an ultra-cool world champion.
Once transformed, this young shark stormed poker rooms from the underground clubs of New York City to the high-stakes tables online, until he landed on the largest card-counting blackjack team in the country. Taking Vegas for millions, Finkel’s squad of brainy gamers became the biggest players in town. Then they took on the town’s biggest game, the World Series of Poker, and walked away with more than $3.5 million!
Thrilling, edgy, and ferociously feel-good, the odyssey of these underdogs-turned-overlords is the stuff of pop-culture legend. Acclaimed author David Kushner masterfully deals out the outrageous details while bringing to life a cast of characters rife with aces, kings, knaves…and more than a few jokers. If you secretly believe every player has his day, you’re right. Here’s the proof.
AUTHOR
David Kushner is the author of Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. His work has appeared in numerous publications including Rolling Stone, Wired, Spin, Salon, and The New York Times. He lives in New Jersey. Visit his website at www.davidkushner.com.
REVIEWS
AudioFile
“… reads like a thriller.”
VOYA
“Rating: 4Q 5P S. Kushner’s narration approaches game playing with the zeal of a sports reporter as he tells of Jon Finkel’s rise from nerdy, bullied student to a six-figure-earning game player in this nonfiction work. Although not trained for the stage, Kushner delivers a well-paced narration, adding emphasis were needed, as he reveals the emerging world of young professional gamblers.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“David Kushner writes all about it in the thoroughly engaging Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids. Listen & Live Audio has recorded it unabridged, with Kushner reading. Kushner knows how to tell a story, plus he writes – and reads – with gusto and charm. He had me wanting to learn Magic and blackjack myself. Heck, someday I might even stay in a casino for more than 20 minutes.”
Entertainment Weekly
“A breezy, unpretentious take on Jon “Jonny Magic” Finkel–a fat New Jersey kid who got hooked on Magic: The Gathering and turned his childhood obsession into millions by counting cards at casinos, winning online poker tourneys, and coming up with advanced analyses of sports betting. Poker may be the sell, but Kushner has really written a classic story about a nerd who got the crap beaten out of him in high school but came out on top in the end.”
RevolutionSF
“Finkel’s story resonates because we’ve all been there, to some degree. We’ve all felt alienated and alone, and a good many of us have turned, like Jon did, to the welcoming arms of SF, fantasy, and D&D. Watching Jon grow and change from a lonely, troubled teen into a successful and happy adult is an uplifting experience, and Kushner does a great job telling his story.”
Buzz Girl (blog from NY correspondent for BookPage)
“The subtitle says it all about this new generation of gamblers. It’s a possibility for 60 Minutes.”
12.30.06
Saddam’s Bombmaker
Saddam’s Bombmaker is a saga of one man’s journey through the circles of hell.
“Gripping and unsettling . . . a rare account of privilege . . . with big houses,expensive cars, glittering restaurants.”New York Times Book Review
Khidhir Hamza, the Iraqi scientist who designed Baghdad’s nuclear bomb, tells how he secretly developed the bomb with the cynical help of U.S., French, German, and British suppliers and experts and kept it hidden from U.N. inspectors after the Gulf War.
Dr. Hamza also presents a startling, unprecedented portrait of Saddam himself, his drunken rages, his women, his fear of germs, and his cold-blooded murder of underlings.
Educated at MIT and Florida State University, dedicated to a life of peaceful teaching in America, Dr. Hamza relates how the regime ordered him home, seduced him into a pampered life as an atomic energy official, and forced him to design a bomb. The price of refusal was torture. The tale of his escape, his first bungled contact with CIA agents, and his flight abroad will keep listeners riveted toward a climax worthy of a well-crafted spy thriller.
KHIDHIR HAMZA was educated at MIT and Florida State University before his forced return to Iraq. He now lives in Virginia.
Earphones Awards recipient Robert Whitfield was born in England and worked for the BBC for ten years as a radio news announcer and also worked as a narrator for the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London. In addition to narrating for Blackstone Audiobooks, he involves himself in numerous stage-acting projects in the United States and Europe.
12.28.06
The Artifact from Audiolibra
The Artifact is an audio book from the Sci-Fi & Fantasy and Horror & Suspense category, enjoy.
View Original Article Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:00:00 GMT
Winner of the 2004 Salvo Press Mystery Novel of the Year Award
Deep within a heavily guarded compound of the Brookhaven National Laboratory lies the nation’s most protected secret: an active alien artifact. Estimated at several millions of years old, impervious to all efforts to penetrate its secrets, the artifact taunts researchers with bursts of mysterious radiation that may be efforts at communication.
Now, after two researchers conducted unauthorized experiments on it, something has awakened inside, something as old as time, wielding incalculable power and an agenda of doom. While America’s military struggles against an impossible power, only a twelve-year-old crippled computer hacker and an aging police detective hold the key to the artifact. But they must overcome disbelieving authorities in a desperate race against time, with the very survival of humanity in the balance.
Patrick Cullen, a native of Massachusetts, is a graduate of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he continues to live and work in the theater.
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Patrick Astre
Narrator: Patrick Cullen
ISBN: 0-7861-5390-3
12.27.06
Finance Audio Books
Crashes, Booms, Panics and Government Regulation
Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:00:00 GMT
Financial markets have an impressive history of gains and progress for prudent and judicious investors. But these advances are often interrupted by powerful and sudden setbacks or forward lurches. What is it about investment psychology, and the structure of financial markets, that causes this? How should we react to short term gyrations that can excite or frighten? And what is the role of government regulation in stabilizing financial markets?
The Secrets of the Great Investors series is a collection of audio presentations that explain, in understandable language, the strategies and principles that have produced great wealth. History’s greatest investors used powerful investing philosophies to produce superior results, and we can learn from their successes and mistakes.
Sobell (Professor of Business History) Lowenstein (author of “Buffett:The Making of an American Capitalist”)
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Crashes, Booms, and Busts by Robert Sobel, The New Deal and Government Regulation by Roger Lowenstein
Narrator: Louis Rukeyser
ISBN: 0-7861-6489-1
Sat, 04 Mar 2006 12:00:00 GMT
Customer service is the single most pressing problem for business managers and people in any service or sales operation, especially at the retail level. In fact, many experts believe that you build a business from the customer up.
In Customer Mania!, Ken Blanchard, one of America’s biggest bestselling authors and inspiring business leaders, writes of the key to customer service — creating a people-oriented, performance-driven, customer-first organization. Packed with practical insights, Customer Mania! emphasizes four critical steps:
Set Your Sights on the Right Target. The bottom line grows from taking care of customers and creating a motivating environment for your people.
Treat Customers the Right Way. Determine the kind of experience you want your customers to have as they interact with every part of the company.
Treat Employees the Right Way. Use strategies ranging from smart hiring, to training and development, to managing performance and creating a recognition culture.
Build the Right Kind of Leadership. You can’t do it all yourself, so let your people put their own brains to work and then support them all the way.
From CEO to middle manager to the person facing the consumer, Customer Mania! is a vital tool for enhancing their experience — and their customers.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Author: Ken Blanchard, Jim Ballard, and Fred Finch
Narrator: Ken Blanchard
ISBN: 074354496X
Deal Makers, Brokers, and Bankers
Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:00:00 GMT
The institutions and big players of Wall Street shape your financial world in a profound
way; many act on behalf of millions of people as they invest pension funds, retirement plans, or other
group assets. Investment bankers play a key role for companies that sell stock; stock brokers offer
an array of services to fit a number of investor needs. Learn how deal makers, brokers, and bankers
shape your financial opportunities.
The Secrets of the Great Investors series is a collection of presentations that explain, in understandable
language, the strategies, tactics, and principles that have produced great wealth, and how you can
improve you financial future. History’s greatest investors used powerful investing philosophies to produce
superior results, and you can learn from their successes and mistakes.
Lynas (Business Writer & Editor) Hecht (Financial Editor & Writer)
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Austin Lynas and Henry R. Hecht
Narrator: Louis Rukeyser
ISBN: 0-7861-6499-9
Businesshout.com – Business Audio Books
Businesshout.com, the new site especially focused on business audio books.
It’s a partner site of Audiolibra.com and besides audiobooks Businesshout will have articles, news and tips related to business owners and people in the process of starting their first home business.
12.25.06
Categories at Audiolibra Audio Books
This will be a brief description of the different categories at Audiolibra.
The first one out is Arts & Drama
In this category there are groups of Biographical, Classic Literature, Dramatizations, Miscellaneous, Music Related, Poetry and Shakespeare.
Biography is the second category.
Adventurers & Explorers, Arts&Drama, Autobiography, Business, Comedy, Historical, Journalism, Military, Miscellaneous, Politics, Radio Shows, Rich & Famous, Royalty and Heads of State, Sports, True Crime, TV & Film and Women are main topics here.
Business is one major category.
Subgroups are Biography, Economics, Finance & Investment, Internet, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, Sales, Starting a Business, Strategy & Business Development and Training and Development.
Crime & Thrillers
Detective, Horror & Suspense, Miscellaneous, Thrillers and True Crime
Fiction
This is a huge category with several subcategories and over 1900 titles.
Action & Adventure, Classics, Comedy, Detective, Erotica, General, Historical, Horror & Suspense
Miscellaneous, Religious, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Short Stories, Thriller and War & Military
Foreign Language Study
This group contains Foreign Language Content and Language Courses.
Health & Recreation
Subcategories are: Alternative Therapies, Beauty & Grooming, Diet & Nutrition, Exercise & Healthy Living, Hobbies, Miscellaneous, Self Help, Sex & Relationships, Sports and Travel.
This was the first part of the listing of the categories in the Audiolibra.com audio book shop.
Be well,
Erik Astrand
12.19.06
Stephen King – Salem’s Lot
Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot is the story of a mundane town under siege from the forces of darkness. Considered one of the most terrifying vampire novels ever written, it cunningly probes the shadows of the human heart—and the insular evils of small-town America.
“A novel of chilling, unspeakable evil.”
—Chattanooga Times
“A super exorcism. . .tremendous.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Salem’s Lot is Stephen King’s second novel.
Categories : Horror & Suspense
Crime & Thrillers
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
Author : Stephen King
Narrator : Ron McLarty
Length : 17 hours 30 minutes (Unabridged)
12.17.06
Audiolibra – The New Audio Book Store
Audiolibra is my new audio book store. The launch day was earlier this week and I have published a news release as follows…
In this blog I will discuss audio books and everything related. Feel free to comment and give suggestions about this blog and also about my store. Ok….here is the news…
December 14, 2006 is the official grand opening day for the new audio book store.
Time has become most valued because people’s lives have gotten busier than ever. People seek ways to make the most use of their dead time i.e. time they spend travelling and commuting and on lifestyle activities such as working out, doing chores, running errands. Audio books are a way of enriching people’s lives. Even people with jobs involving repetitive tasks listen to audio books at work.
With the rising popularity of MP3 players such as the iPOD, people have increasingly been listening to audio books while they are on-the-go — and when they don’t have time to read.
“Audiolibra.com is a delivering element for the literate busy crowd allowing them to read their favourite authors while doing something else”, comments the founder and CEO Mr Erik Astrand. “Books and reading have been a major part of my success and my wish is to change the decreased interest for the written word and turn it into a positive trend. People, and foremost the youth needs alternative methods to enhance literature”, Mr Erik Astrand continues.
Audiolibra.com presents the world’s leading publishers as Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, BBC, Time Warner (Hachette), Naxos, Brilliance and Blackstone, just to mention some.
There are over 5000 of the best-selling titles from authors including Dan Brown, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Lisa Scottoline, J.A. Jance, Elmore Leonard, Mario Puzo, Michael Crichton, Kathy Reichs and many more.
The topics vary from arts & drama, comedy, self-help, fiction, religion & spiritual, all from business and motivational to children’s books. These are some of the business and motivational authors: Simon Covey, Robert T. Kiyosaki, Robert G. Allen, Ken Blanchard, Wayne W. Dyer, Paulo Coelho, Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale and Jack Canfield.
Audiolibra.com is a new audio book business delivering down-loadable facts and fiction for immediate use from the PC, laptop, MP3 player, iPod or cell phone. Besides the main store there are several niche stores and an affiliate partner system. The vision is to increase the consumption of all kinds of spoken word content.
The new audio book store is available at http://www.audiolibra.com
