Showing results by narrator "Byron Wagner" in All Categories

As it absorbs data, gains agency, and intermediates between humans and reality, AI will help us to address enormous crises, from climate change to geopolitical conflicts to income inequality. It might well solve some of the greatest mysteries of our universe, revolutionize fields as diverse as medicine and architecture, and elevate the human spirit to unimaginable heights. But it will also pose challenges on a scale and of an intensity that we have never seen.

July 1989, in a sleepy Michigan town, high school grad Nina Laramie heads out with her friends and is never seen alive again. Months later, her skeleton is found near a remote party spot in the forest. The ME determines Nina has been brutally raped and bludgeoned to death. Fear and anger ripple through this tight-knit community when the case goes cold. Thirty years later, Riley St. James, a Detroit PD assigned to Nina’s case, is determined to get her first big cold case win despite having a similar past to the victim.

Skinwalkers at the Pentagon unmasks the massive scope of the Pentagon’s landmark UFO study that ran from the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC. The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program or AAWSAP investigated the “Tic Tac” and other “nuts and bolts” UFO events, analyzed intrusions of UFOs onto US military bases, as well as probed the plethora of bizarre phenomena that government investigators encountered on Skinwalker Ranch.

In the beginning was Josh Levine, an idealistic programming genius who dreamed of wresting control of the market from the big exchanges that, again and again, gave the giant institutions an advantage over the little guy. Levine created a computerized trading hub named "Island" where small traders swapped stocks, and over time his invention morphed into a global electronic stock market that sent trillions in capital through a vast jungle of fiber-optic cables.

Have you ever noticed that what is exciting on Monday tends to become boring on Friday? Even passionate relationships, stimulating jobs, and breathtaking works of art lose their sparkle after a while. As easy as it is to stop noticing what is most wonderful in our lives, it’s also possible to stop noticing what is terrible. People get used to dirty air. They become unconcerned by their own misconduct, blind to inequality, and are more liable to believe misinformation than ever before.

In The Suggestible Brain, world-renowned expert on the science of suggestion Amir Raz, PhD, brings together cognitive aspects of psychology, sociology, and anthropology with issues in our contemporary culture and media alongside a series of case studies of patients with disorders ranging from Tourette’s syndrome to false pregnancies, lactose intolerance, and asthma to show exactly how suggestions can cut deep into our brains, shake our fundamental knowledge, and override our core human values.

From the author of A Little Hope—a Read with Jenna Bonus Pick—comes an enormously powerful and life-affirming novel about three individuals facing challenges and grappling with loss in his or her own way.

In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis and ascended to prominent, dangerous roles. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields.

We all know we tell stories about ourselves. But as psychiatrist and neuroscientist Gregory Berns argues in The Self Delusion, we don’t just tell stories; we are the stories. Our self-identities are fleeting phenomena, continually reborn as our conscious minds receive, filter, or act on incoming information from the world and our memories.

Sara Parcell disappeared without a trace on a crisp April morning in Frederick, Maryland. Her tragic story was a national obsession and the centerpiece of a controversial television docuseries that followed her disappearance in real time. But is it possible that everyone missed the biggest secret of all?

By the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Economics, an essential and paradigm-altering framework for understanding economic development - for both rich and poor - in the 21st century. Freedom, Sen argues, is both the end and most efficient means of sustaining economic life and the key to securing the general welfare of the world's entire population. Releasing the idea of individual freedom from association with any particular historical, intellectual, political, or religious tradition, Sen clearly demonstrates its current applicability and possibilities.

While many readers may have heard of Kabbalah in recent years, how many understand the origins and unique perspective of this collection of Jewish mystical beliefs? Handed down in the oral tradition for thousands of years and transcribed in fourteenth-century Spain, the Kabbalah is the classical expression of Jewish mysticism. This collection draws from the main work of Kabbalah and offers insight into the great body of Hebrew literature that sprang up and grew parallel to the traditional writings of rabbinical literature.

Dark Pools is the pacy, revealing, and profoundly chilling tale of how global markets have been hijacked by trading robots - many so self-directed that humans can’t predict what they’ll do next. It’s the story of the blisteringly intelligent computer programmers behind the rise of these ‘bots’. And it’s a timely warning that as artificial intelligence gradually takes over, we could be on the verge of global meltdown.

In this essential audiobook, leading business growth strategist David Meerman Scott and fandom expert Reiko Scott explore the neuroscience of fandom and interview young entrepreneurs, veteran business owners, startup founders, nonprofits, and companies big and small to pinpoint which practices separate organizations that flourish from those stuck in stagnation. They lay out a road map for converting customers’ ardor into buying power, pulling one-of-a-kind examples from a wide range of organizations.

"Atlas Hugged signals a revolution in the way we see the world and our rightful place within it. Not a violent revolution, thankfully, but an intellectual revolution." With these words, David Sloan Wilson invites listeners into a fictional world that mirrors events taking place in the real rapid evolution of worldwide cooperation. Wilson is uniquely positioned to tell this story.

Standing quietly at the elevator door to the North Tower of the Ultimo Hotel in Las Vegas, JW watches the numbers go down as the elevator descends to him. He thinks—sixty-five floors? There is a serial killer up there! If the mission is a success, it means a second career chasing serial criminals with a special FBI task force. If not, the Lieutenant will be going home defeated and outsmarted by a warped criminal mind. JW needs this to work; he needs another chance at the man who shot him. The elevator doors open, and the team steps aboard.

Filled with illuminating historical anecdotes and asides on some of the most fascinating mathematicians through the ages, One, Two, Three is a captivating exploration of the foundation of mathematics: how it originated, who thought of it, and why it matters.

Ray Bradbury was one of the best-known writers and creative dreamers of our time. His enduring legacy as a storyteller, novelist, and space-age visionary radiated out into popular adaptations for stage, film, and television, and now the fascinating narratives and insights of his personal and professional correspondence are revealed for the first time. Remembrance offers the first sustained look at his life in letters from his late teens to his ninth decade.

Most sales leaders struggle to motivate their teams and deliver sustainable results. Great sales leaders make it look easy while others never figure it out. Ineffective sales leaders may resort to desperate tactics that damage careers, wreck team cultures, and scare great people away from leadership opportunities. In Shitty Sales Leaders: And How to Not Be One, sales veteran Adam Apps shares an actionable template to help you gain followership while acquiring, building, and running high-performing sales teams. When armed with the right tools, anyone can be an effective sales leader.

River Rules is a small-town environmental suspense novel with a deep heart and powerful conscience. What the housing bubble didn’t break in Bridgeville - a small New England community blessed by the Connecticut River - greed, double-dealing, and rapid-fire change just might. Peter Russo, a part-time farmer and full-time rambler with his rescue dog, has a knack for conflict, and a burning desire to protect Bridgeville’s land and water from exploitation.