Social Games

Big Game is a chronicle of "peak football" - the high point of the sport's economic success and cultural dominance but also the time when the dark side began to show. It is an era of explosive revenue growth but also one of creeping existential fear. Players have long joked that NFL stands for "not for long", but as the true impact of concussions becomes inescapable background noise, it's increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple glory of football without the buzzkill of its obvious consequences.

Filled with logical yet counterintuitive answers to ordinary and extraordinary problems - whether it be buying a new home or pivoting a failing business model - Mudd's HEAD (High Efficiency Analytic Decision-making) methodology provides listeners with a battle-tested set of guiding principles that promise to bring order to even the most chaotic problems, all in five practical steps.

Considered a sign of the "coming of age" of video games as an artistic medium, the award-winning BioShock franchise covers vast philosophical ground. BioShock and Philosophy: Irrational Game, Rational Book presents expert reflections by philosophers (and BioShock connoisseurs) on this critically acclaimed and immersive fan favorite.

Everyone knows Fall Hollow is haunted. It has been ever since Abigail Snook went into the woods many years ago, never to be seen again. Since then, it’s tradition for the sixth graders at Beckett Elementary to play the Bellwoods Game on Halloween night. Three kids are chosen to go into the woods. Whoever rings the bell there wins the game and saves the town for another year, but if Abigail’s ghost captures the players first, the spirit is let loose to wreak havoc on Fall Hollow—or so the story goes.

One of Michiko Kakutani's (New York Times) top 10 books of 2016. A funny thing happened on the way to the digital utopia. We've begun to fall back in love with the very analog goods and ideas the tech gurus insisted that we no longer needed. Businesses that once looked outdated, from film photography to brick-and-mortar retail, are now springing with new life. Notebooks, records, and stationery have become cool again.

Valentina loves playing video games, and she’s really good at them. When a local esports team asks her to join them for an upcoming tournament, she’s thrilled. There’s just one problem—Valentina has great skills in first-person action games, but winning Kings and Castles relies on teamwork and strategy.

A sneaky reporter is on a mission to discover Hannah Montana’s secret! If he finds out that the pop sensation is really teenager Miley Stewart, her life will change forever. What’s worse, Miley forgets about her best friend Lilly’s 16th birthday. So her dad, Robby Ray, insists on a trip back home to Tennessee. Surrounded by her family and old friends, will Miley remember her true self? And when the reporter gets too close to discovering her secret identity, will she have to give up on her dream of being Hannah Montana?

Life is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities. The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games.

Here is the first insider account of the precipitous fall of Hillary Clinton. How the scandals of a lifetime finally reached critical mass. How, in the last few days of the campaign, some on her staff saw the ghostly shroud of defeat creeping over them but were helpless to act, frozen by the self-denial of the group.

Is English an innately playful language? Are word games good for you? Do we divide into number and word players? And could Scrabble have been invented in any other language?

Throughout the world, oppressive regimes are being uprooted and replaced by budding democracies, but one exception remains: The People's Republic of North Korea. The Kim family has clung to power for three generations by silencing dissidents, ruling with an iron fist, and holding its neighbors hostage with threats of war. Under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, North Korea has come closer than ever to creating a viable nuclear arsenal, but widespread famine and growing resistance are weakening his regime's stability.

Black Faces in White Places is about "the game" - that is, the competitive world in which we all live and work. The audiobook offers 10 revolutionary strategies for playing, mastering, and changing the game for the current generation, while undertaking a wholesale redefinition of the rules for those who will follow. It is not only about shattering the old "glass ceiling" but also about examining the four dimensions of the contemporary black experience: identity, society, meritocracy, and opportunity.

Tammy Duckworth takes listeners through the amazing - and amazingly true - stories from her incomparable life. In November of 2004, an Iraqi RPG blew through the cockpit of Tammy Duckworth's US Army Black Hawk helicopter. The explosion, which destroyed her legs and mangled her right arm, was a turning point in her life. But as Duckworth shows in Every Day Is a Gift, that moment was just one in a lifetime of extraordinary turns.

After hundreds of hours of academic research and reading dozens upon dozens of books, a collection of the world's most shocking, surprising, and interesting facts have been compiled into this digital audiobook. My personal collection is now yours! You will gain interesting insights about the world we live in that will absolutely shock you.

Peppa Pig and her family are going on a trip to Italy -- magnifico! They pack their bags, fly on an airplane, meet a new friend, and even learn how pizza is made! But what will happen when Peppa keeps leaving her teddy bear behind everywhere they go?

It's time for Peppa and George to go to the dentist! It's George's first visit, so he's a little nervous--but Peppa shows him that a trip to the dentist can be lots of fun!

The Iran Wars is an absorbing account of a battle waged on many levels - military, financial, and covert. Jay Solomon’s book is the product of extensive in-depth reporting and interviews with all the key players in the conflict - from high-ranking Iranian officials to Secretary of State John Kerry and his negotiating team. With a reporter’s masterly investigative eye and the narrative dexterity of a great historian, Solomon shows how Iran’s nuclear development went unnoticed for years by the international community only to become its top security concern.

Corey plays a special role on his baseball team—he’s their first deaf player! He and the coach communicate on the field by using sign language. Will Corey help the Northfield Huskies win the game and go on to the championship?

After Arthur calls Francine a marshmallow, she refuses to speak to him. Then Mr. Ratburn pairs them up for a homework project. They reluctantly go to the library for research and, when the library closes, find themselves locked in. Will Arthur and Francine set aside their differences and work together to find a way out?

The fifth book in Sarah Levi's thought-provoking series, "Secrets of Pimpology Applied to the Seduction Game," is titled "Aggressive Pickup Artist Tactics For the City: How to Approach and Meet Women." This episode takes a small detour, focusing on the urban setting as an ideal setting for using aggressive pickup techniques. With an arsenal of daring, assertive dating strategies designed especially for the busy, cutthroat dating scenes of big cities, Levi hopes to equip listeners.