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Notes From A Small Island

In his fifth book, Bryson finally does Britain. He opts for a rambling, unstructured sort of journey, done mainly by public transport and frequently on impulse. In the space of two months, he manages to cover most of the country, from Dover to John OGroats, with the notable exception of Cornwall. In the process, Bryson uses anecdotes to flesh out the particular mannerisms of the British, such as their humour in hard times (they are, apparently, the happiest people on the earth? or their irrational excitement at the prospect of tea and cake.

As youd expect, the book has some genuinely funny moments, such as Brysons attempts to communicate with Glaswegians, or his observation of how Brits give driving directions (Follow the road past the reservoir and under the railway bridge, and take a sharp left at the Buggered Ploughman?. And the research behind the book is as thorough as ever. Few other authors would go to the trouble of finding out that England has lost 96,000 miles of hedgerows between 1945 and 1985, or that the population of Blackpool eats 40 acres of potatoes every day.

But these anecdotes and curious facts cant disguise the books biggest problem: that the repetitiveness of Brysons travels get as wearisome for the reader as for him. I lost count of the times Bryson arrives at a non-descript town, books into a hotel, wanders round a bit, goes for a consolatory beer after finding the place rather disappointing, eats alone and rather bored in a cheap restaurant, and then wakes up to find the place marginally more interesting by day. It becomes too much like a routine, and the book doesnt have enough people in it to give the reader an alternative to Brysons voice (a fault that the author acknowledges at one point when he compares himself to Theroux).

Bryson is also uncharacteristically bad-tempered at times, and it can be difficult to sympathise with him when he abuses a hotel owner for locking him out for an hour, or when he berates a McDonalds cashier for asking him if he wants an apple pie. Honest this may be, but it jars with the image we have of a wry, mild-mannered rambler. And Bryson is also unusually indecisive: he keeps telling you how much he loves Britain, but spends much of his time dwelling on its faults. If you are proud to live in Lulworth, Exeter, Weston-super-Mare, Milton Keynes or Bradford (whose role in life is to make every place else in the world look better in comparison?, then you might want to pass over Brysons account of your home town. If you dont, these parts are rather funny, but they still contribute to the idea that most places in Britain have the same shops, the same television programmes, the same people in the same Marks & Spencer cardigans? Bryson seems far more enamoured with Britains wilderness, history and eccentricities than modern British life, which comes across as tedious and drab. Notes from a Small Island doesnt make you want to get out of your chair and go see more of England ?and for me, thats a failure in a travel book.

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LEMONY SNICKET - THE BAD BEGINNING, BOOK 1 - 80KBPS - READ BY TIM CURRY

..... Make no mistake. The Bad Beginning begins badly for the three Baudelaire children, and then gets worse. Their misfortunes begin one gray day on Briny Beach when Mr. Poe tells them that their parents perished in a fire that destroyed their whole house. "It is useless for me to describe to you how terrible Violet, Klaus, and even Sunny felt in the time that followed," laments the personable (occasionally pedantic) narrator, who tells the story as if his readers are gathered around an armchair on pillows. But of course what follows is dreadful. The children thought it was bad when the well-meaning Poes bought them grotesque-colored clothing that itched. But when they are ushered to the dilapidated doorstep of the miserable, thin, unshaven, shiny-eyed, money-grubbing Count Olaf, they know that they--and their family fortune--are in real trouble. Still, they could never have anticipated how much trouble. While it's true that the events that unfold in Lemony Snicket's novels are bleak, and things never turn out as you'd hope, these delightful, funny, linguistically playful books are reminiscent of Roald Dahl (remember James and the Giant Peach and his horrid spinster aunts), Charles Dickens (the orphaned Pip in Great Expectations without the mysterious benefactor), and Edward Gorey (The Gashlycrumb Tinies). There is no question that readers will want to read the continuing unlucky adventures of the Baudelaire children in The Reptile Room and The Wide Window. ....

From Publishers Weekly

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." So cautions Snicket, the exceedingly well-mannered narrator of these two witty mock-gothic novels featuring the misadventures of 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus and infant Sunny Baudelaire. From the first, things look unfortunate indeed for the trio: a fire destroys their home, killing their parents along with it; the executor of their parents' estate, the obtuse Mr. Poe (with a son, Edgar), ignores whatever the children have to say; and their new guardian, Count Olaf, is determined to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune. But by using their individual gifts (Violet's for inventing, Klaus's for reading and researching and baby Sunny's for biting) the three enterprising children thwart the Count's plan A for now. The author uses formal, Latinate language and intrusive commentary to hilarious effect, even for readers unfamiliar with the literary conventions he parodies. The peril in which he places the Baudelaires may be frightening (Count Olaf actually follows through on his threats of violence on several occasions), but the author paints the satire with such broad strokes that most readers will view it from a safe distance. Luckily for fans, the woes of the Baudelaires are far from over; readers eager for more misfortune can turn to The Reptile Room, for an even more suspenseful tale. Exquisitely detailed drawings of Gothic gargoyles and mischievous eyes echo the contents of this elegantly designed case.

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.. The Reptile Room begins where Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning ends... on the road with the three orphaned Baudelaire children as they are whisked away from the evil Count Olaf to face "an unknown fate with some unknown relative." But who is this Dr. Montgomery, their late father's cousin's wife's brother? "Would Dr. Montgomery be a kind person? they wondered. Would he at least be better than Count Olaf? Could he possibly be worse?" He certainly is not worse, and in fact when the Baudelaire children discover that he makes coconut cream cakes, circles the globe looking for snakes to study, and even plans to take them with him on his scientific expedition to Peru, the kids can't believe their luck. And, if you have read the first book in this Series of Unfortunate Events, you won't believe their luck either. Despite the misadventures that befall these interesting, intelligent, resourceful orphans, you can trust that the engaging narrator will make their story--suspenseful and alarming as it is--a true delight. The Wide Window is next, and more are on their way. ....

From Publishers Weekly

"If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book." cautions the exceedingly well-mannered narrator of these two witty mock-gothic novels featuring the misadventures of 14-year-old Violet, 12-year-old Klaus and infant Sunny Baudelaire. From the first, things look unfortunate indeed for the trio: a fire destroys their home, killing their parents along with it; the executor of their parents' estate, the obtuse Mr. Poe (with a son, Edgar), ignores whatever the children have to say; and their new guardian, Count Olaf, is determined to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune. But by using their individual gifts (Violet's for inventing, Klaus's for reading and researching and baby Sunny's for biting) the three enterprising children thwart the Count's plan A, for now. The author uses formal, Latinate language and intrusive commentary to hilarious effect, even for readers unfamiliar with the literary conventions he parodies. The peril in which he places the Baudelaires may be frightening (Count Olaf actually follows through on his threats of violence on several occasions), but the author paints the satire with such broad strokes that most readers will view it from a safe distance. Luckily for fans, the woes of the Baudelaires are far from over; readers eager for more misfortune can turn to The Reptile Room, for an even more suspenseful tale. Exquisitely detailed drawings of Gothic gargoyles and mischievous eyes echo the contents of this elegantly designed case.

UNRAR PASSWORD:

Dragonette@TheCavern

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Matthew Reilly - Contest

The New York State Library. A Brooding Labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and spiralling staircases. For Dr Swain and his daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. For one night in this historic building is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Swain is to compete - whether he likes it or not.

The rules are very simple. Seven contestants will enter. Only one will leave. With his daughter in his arms, Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. He can choose to run, to hide, or to fight - but if he wants to live, he has to win. for in this contest, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all.

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This is Matthew Reilly's very first book, I haven't listened to it yet but his other books that I have listened to are very good so I have no reason to believe this will be any different.

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Kids Stories

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THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA 7 AUDIO BOOKS

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Dragonette@TheCavern

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Audio Book - Who Am I ?

There is more to life than just living. There has got to be more to life than to just live. There should be a higher purpose in life. The purpose of life is to come to the real answer of Who am I??This is the unanswered question of infinite previous lives. The missing links of the search for Who am I??are now being provided through the words of the Gnani Purush (The One who is completely Self-Realized). These words are edited for the purpose of comprehension.

Who am I? What am I not? Who is the Self? What is mine? What is not mine? What is bondage? What is Moksha (liberation)? Is there a God? What is God? Who is the doer?in the world? Is God the doer?or not? What is the real nature of God? What is the nature of the real doer?in this world? Who runs the world? How does it function? What is the real nature of illusion? Whatever one knows, is it real or is it an illusion? Will one become free or remain bound with the knowledge one has?

This book will give the precise understanding of the truth behind these questions. In addition, the reader of these pages is introduced to the essence of Akram Vignan (the direct approach to liberation).

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Tales From The Perilous Realm - Tolkien - Audiobook - MP3

A radio dramatization of four Tolkien stories - "Farmer Giles of Ham", "Smith of Wootton Major", "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", and "Leaf by Niggle". The cast is headed by Michael Hordern, Brian Blessed and Nigel Planer.

The fat and unheroic Farmer Giles of Ham is called upon to do battle with the dragon Chrysophylax; Niggle the painter sets out to paint the perfect tree in Leaf by Niggle; hobbits, princesses, dwarves and trolls partake in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil; and Smith of Wootton Major journeys to the Land of Faery via the magical ingredients of a giant cake.

The definitive collection of J.R.R.Tolkien's four acclaimed modern classic fairy tales, finally together in a volume which reaffirms his place as a master storyteller for readers young and old.

- Farmer Giles of Ham

- Smith of Wootton Major

- Adventures of Tom Bombadil

- Leaf by Niggle

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Title: Memoirs Of A Geisha

Author: Arthur Golden

Read By: Bernadette Dunne

The Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Heller McAlpin Memoirs of a Geisha is a bravura performance, a first novel that provides a vivid view into a largely lost and secret world.

Golden tells a mesmerizing story.... The subject of geisha, like prostitutes, is a natural attention-grabber, arousing easy prurient interests. What a delight, then, to find the subject treated with intelligent forthrightness and delicacy in this day of no-holds-barred lasciviousness.... It is a remarkable achievement for any writer, but especially for a white male from a markedly different culture.

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Terry Pratchett - Wyrd Sisters.

READ BY TONY ROBINSON.

"Things like Crowns had a troublesome effect on clever people

It was best to leave all the reigning to the kind of people whose eyebrows met in the middle"

Three Witches gather on a lonely heath.

A King cruelly murdered, His throne usurped by his ambitious Cousin.

A child heir, and the Crown of the Kingdom, both missing.

The omens are not auspicious for the new incumbent for whom ascending this tainted throne is a more complicated affair than you might imagine.

Particularly when the blood on your hands just wont wash off and you're facing a future with knives in it.

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Down Under by Bill Bryson (12hrs 14mins)

Bill Bryson had imagined Australia as a kind of alternative southern California. Of course, what greeted him was something rather different. Australia is the worlds sixth largest country and the only island that is also a continent. It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most clamatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still teems with life - a large proportion of it quite deadly. Ignoring such dangers, Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him - life doesn't get much better than this.

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This is the full unabridged version of 10 CDs.

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Tracklisting / Additional Info:

1. Man In Seat C23

2. Sir Marcus Browning M.P.

3. Mary Jane

4. The Wedding a) The Vicar

5. The Wedding b) The Best Man

6. The Wedding c) The Father Of The Bride

7. I Hate The French

8. Interval Announcement

9. Do Bears...

10. Senator Brea's Dead

11. The Devil

12. Impatient Man In Queue Behind Student

13. Joke

Availability: Currently Unavailable

Artist: Rowan Atkinson

Title: Live In Belfast NEW FEATURE

Format: LP RECORD

Record Label: Arista

Catalogue No: SPART1150

Country of Origin: UK

Language: Regardless of country of origin all tracks are sung in English, unless otherwise stated

Year of Release: 1980

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Alan Bennet - An Englishman Abroad

Alan Bennet introduces this radio 4 adaptation of his play- An Englishman Abroad

An Englishman Abroad - w Alan Bennett. Dramatised account of actress Coral Browne's encounters with exiled spy Guy Burgess while touring the Soviet Union with the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet in 1961. Homesickness for the country he betrayed looms large, as does the lack of bath plugs in Muscovite hotels. Browne plays herself, Alan Bates is Burgess, and Mark Wing-Davey and Charles Gray are among the touring players. John Schlesinger directs. A BAFTA award-winning play, contrasting with Dennis Potter's Traitor, on much the same subject, in 1971.

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Never be Lied to Again : How to Get the Truth in Five Minutes or Less in Any Conversation or Situation

by David J. Lieberman

Audiobook Review

It's difficult to have honest communication in a world where people bend the truth to fit their needs. Even more difficult is confronting a suspected liar in an open, forthright manner. In Never Be Lied to Again, human behaviorist Dr. Lieberman coaches listeners to face unfaithful lovers, colleagues, and employees. Lieberman introduces the tape and the remainder is read by male and female voices in varied tones. These different voices pinpoint numerous verbal and physical clues that will help you detect when people are lying; "attack sequences" and "silver bullets" allow you to initiate discussions with the guilty party. Although much of the information is geared to personal rather than professional situations, this tape is still a good resource for starting uncomfortable conversations. (Running time: 1.5 hours, one cassette)

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Make Peace With Anyone by David J. Lieberman

Getting someone to forgive you is a difficult matter, but David J. Lieberman (Get Anyone to Do Anything) shows how to do this and defuse a host of other common conflicts in Make Peace with Anyone: Breakthrough Strategies to Quickly End Any Conflict, Feud, or Estrangement. Lieberman guides readers through personality clashes, passive aggressive behavior, dealing with criticism and delivering criticism in such diverse situations as family feuds, workplace squabbles and marital discord. He stresses listening and showing respect as vital for dealing with most contretemps, but also includes last ditch emergency measures for the most intractable conflicts.

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How To Change Anybody by David J. Lieberman

Proven Techniques to Reshape Anyone's Attitude, Behavior, Feelings, or Beliefs

by David J. Lieberman, Bruce Sabath (Narrator)

Though people's actions are not always orderly, you can change certain aspects of their behavior if you use the left psychological tools, says business consultant David J. Lieberman. He has a wonderful understanding of the internal dynamics that drive behavior, as well as the social dynamics that all of us experience when part of a group or conversation. Bruce Sabath is a great choice for reading this material. He's neutral enough to keep the focus on the ideas but has enough punch in his attitude to let you know he believes what he's reading. This empowering and well-organized audio ought to be a key resource in anyone's library of personal effectiveness tools.

Reviews:

"A fascinating book." --National Public Radio on Never Be Lied To Again

"It cuts to the chase presenting simple, concise techniques...useful strategies rooted in basic human psychology and supported by numerous studies." --Publishers Weekly on Get Anyone to Do Anything

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Black Rose (Garden Trilogy 2) by Nora Roberts

Roz is a woman of independent means who thinks love is all in the past-but she's about to be taken by surprise.

Number-one bestselling author Nora Roberts presents the second novel of her In the Garden trilogy, as three women discover the secrets from

the past contained within their historic home.

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Wobly

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Blue Dahlia (Garden Trilogy 1) by Nora Roberts

Recently widowed, Stella Rothchild is no stranger to the ghosts of the past, but the move from Michigan back to her roots near Memphis,

Tennessee is supposed to be about the future. Her two energetic young sons are thriving in their new school. Stella's got a great job managing

successful nursery 'In the Garden' and an interesting boss and landlady in local legend Roz Harper. She even has a new friend in Hayley Phillips, the feisty young pregnant woman who turns up at Harper House, Stella's new home, looking for a job. More than that, Stella feels an instant attraction to 'In the Garden's' landscaper, Logan Kitridge, who gets under her skin and makes her feel truly alive for the first time in years.

But there is someone at Harper House who isn't happy about Stella's growing feelings for Logan - the Harper Bride, an unidentified woman

whose grief and rage have kept her spirit alive long past the death of her body. Love and loss broke her mind, and in her madness, she will stop at

nothing to destroy the new passion that Logan and Stella have found.

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Nora Roberts - Red Lily (n the Garden Trilogy, Book 3)

Three women learn that the heart of their historic home holds a mystery of

years gone by, as number-one bestselling author Nora Roberts brings her In

the Garden trilogy to a captivating conclusion, following Blue Dahlia and

Black Rose.

A Harper has always lived at Harper House, the centuries-old mansion just

outside of Memphis. And for as long as anyone alive remembers, the ghostly

Harper Bride has walked the halls, singing lullabies at night...

Hayley Phillips came to Memphis hoping for a new start, for herself and her

unborn child. She wasn't looking for a handout from her distant cousin Roz,

just a job at her thriving In the Garden nursery. What she found was a home

surrounded by beauty and the best friends she's ever had-including Roz's son

Harper. To Hayley's delight, her new daughter Lily has really taken to him.

To Hayley's chagrin, she has begun to dream about Harper-as much more than a

friend...

If Hayley gives in to her desire, she's afraid the foundation she's built

with Harper will come tumbling down. Especially since she's begun to suspect

that her feelings are no longer completely her own. Flashes of the past and

erratic behavior make Hayley believe that the Harper Bride has found a way

inside of her mind and body. It's time to put the Bride to rest once and for

all, so Hayley can know her own heart again-and whether she's willing to

risk it...

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The Great Ideas Of Philosophy

Section I - Ancient Foundations

Lecture 01: From the Upanishads to Homer

Lecture 02: What Is It and Did the Greeks Invent It?

Lecture 03: Pythagoras and the Divinity of Number

Lecture 04: What Is There? The Pre-Socratics and the Ultimate Stuff of the Universe

Lecture 05: Is Medea Guilty as Charged? The Greek Tragedians on Man's Fate

Lecture 06: Know ThyselfHerodotus and the Lamp of History

Lecture 07: Socrates on the Examined Life

Lecture 08: Plato's Search for Truth

Lecture 09: Can Virtue Be Taught?

Lecture 10: Plato's RepublicMan Writ Large

Lecture 11: Mind and BodyHippocrates and the Science of Life

Lecture 12: Aristotle on the Knowable

Lecture 13: Aristotle on Friendship

Lecture 14: Aristotle on the Perfect Life

Lecture 15: Rome, the Stoics, and the Rule of Law

Section II - Early Modern Thought

Lecture 16: The Stoic Bridge to Christianity

Lecture 17: Roman LawMaking a City of the Once-Wide World

Lecture 18: The Light WithinAugustine's Idea of Human Nature

Lecture 19: Islam

Section III - From Feudalism to Urbanity: Two Renaissances

Lecture 20: Secular KnowledgeThe Idea of the University

Lecture 21: Facts and ValuesThe Reappearance of Experimental Science

Lecture 22: Scholasticism and the Theory of Natural Law

Lecture 23: Erasmus and LutherHumanism and Fundamentalism

Lecture 24: Let Us Burn the Witches to Save Them...

Section IV - The Dawn of the New: The Foundations of the Scientific World View

Lecture 25: Bacon's "Great Instauration"The Authority of Experience

Lecture 26: Descartes and the Skeptical MindThe Authority of Reason

Lecture 27: NewtonThe Saint of Science

Lecture 28: The Social MachineThomas Hobbes's Leviathan and the Science of Statecraft

Lecture 29: A Newtonian Science of the MindJohn Locke on Human Understanding

Section V - Enlightenment

Lecture 30: No matter? Never mind! Berkeley and the Challenge of Materialism

Lecture 31: Skepticism and the Pursuit of HappinessDavid Hume

Lecture 32: Common Sense and Divine ProvidenceThomas Reid and the Scottish School

Lecture 33: The Play of Mind and the Salons of DissentFrance and the Philosophes

Lecture 34: The Federalist Papers and the Great Experiment

Lecture 35: What Is Enlightenment? Kant on Freedom and the Forms of Knowledge

Lecture 36: Moral Science and the Natural WorldKant and the Moral Imperative

Lecture 37: The PhrenologistsEarly Sciences of Mind and Brain

Lecture 38: The Idea of Freedom

Section VI - Romanticism

Lecture 39: Human History as the Unfolding of the IdealThe Hegelians

Lecture 40: The World as the Gift of GeniusThe Aesthetic Movement

Lecture 41: Dark Corners of the SoulNietzsche at the Twilight

Section VII - Science and Scientism

Lecture 42: The Liberal Tradition: John Stuart Mill on Liberty

Lecture 43: Survival of the FittestDarwin and the (Blind) Purposes of Nature

Lecture 44: Marxism: Dead but Not Forgotten

Lecture 45: The Freudian World

Lecture 46: Yankee Thought in a World of MysteryThe Radical William James

Lecture 47: William James's Pragmatism

Lecture 48: Helping the Fly Out of the BottleWittgenstein and the Discursive Turn

Lecture 49: Breaking the CodeAlan Turing in the Forest of Wisdom

Lecture 50: Four Theories of the Good LifeFrom Saints to Heroes to Brains in Vats

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ALAN BENNETT - FOUR STORIES - BOOK ONE.

The Lady In The Van.

READ BY THE AUTHOR

"Alan Bennett narrates the strange story of his unusual neighbour"

An eccentric old lady moves into a quiet street in Camden Town London.

There she remains, installed in her van in glorious self-sufficiency until The Council instructs her to move on.

A kind home-owner invites her to live in his garden.

A bizzarre tale in itself, but even more bizzarre when writer Alan Bennett is the home-owner and the woman stays for 15 years.

What kind of bond could two such different people possibly form?

Both fascinating and moving, Bennett recounts the unlikely story of Mary Shepherd, the nomad who took a unique place in his life for well over a decade.

ALSO CONTAINS THE SHORT STORY..."UNCLE CLARENCE".

'He is only our would-be Uncle...An Uncle who might have been...'

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"The Clothes They Stood Up In"

The Ransomes had been burgled, robbed, cleaned out.

Everything has gone, even the toilet paper, and for the stuffy Solicitor and his downtrodden wife it marks a turning point, a kind of liberation.

Nothing will ever be quite the same again, even when their possessions mysteriously turn up again, exactly where they had left them.

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AUDIO BOOK - Alan Bennett - The Laying On Of Hands.

ALAN BENNETT - FOUR STORIES - BOOK THREE.

"The Laying On Of Hands"

A darkly humorous story for our times in which the fragile state of Clebrity encounters a universal leveller.

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AUDIO BOOK - Alan Bennett - Father! Father! Burning Bright

ALAN BENNETT - FOUR STORIES - BOOK FOUR.

"Father! Father! Burning Bright"

All his life Midgely had felt he had disappointed his Father.

But when the phone call comes saying that his Father has suffered a stroke and is not expected to last the night, Midgely is determined not to let him down.

Mounting a vigil at his Father's bedside, Midgely is desperate to do this last thing left.

To be there, if only to hold his Father's hand when he dies.

And even with his Father unconscious, the battle between them goes on.

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DAVID ATTENBOROUGH - LIFE ON AIR: HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BBC AUDIO BOOKS - 96kbps - UNABRIDGED - 16 CD's

I ought to get an award for dedication to duty for this one .... 16 CD's.. all ripped and uploaded in a couple of days.!

QUOTE

David Attenborough hardly needs any introduction; his voice has accompanied so many of the best natural history programs that have graced our televisions over several decades. Life On Air, his autobiography, tells the story of how he has managed to professionalise his schoolboy interests in such a remarkably successful way.

Attenborough's Life On Air began in 1950, having taken a degree in Natural Sciences in the University of Cambridge, done National Service in the Navy, got married, done a year as an editor with an educational publisher, had a son and then answered a BBC recruiting ad in the Times. Turned down for BBC Radio, he was offered a traineeship in BBC TV which was pioneering the medium in Britain and he has never looked back. The rest is TV history and you can listento Sir David's personal view of it all in his engaging and highly entertaining audio book.

This is no boring story of the rise and rise of a media mogul in the smoke-filled rooms of Ally Pally and Lime Grove. Having served his apprenticeship producing programmes like Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and Song Hunter with the famous American folk singer and song collector Alan Lomax, he managed to escape from the confines of overlit studios into the natural world. Zoo Quest began in 1954 with an animal collecting trip to Sierra Leone and David Attenborough had found his metier. Since then he has managed to bring the wonders of the natural world into millions of living rooms around the world and to reach general audiences without patronising them, without any spurious antics, silly voices or dumbing down. His animal and plant subjects are the stars, Attenborough is the master of ceremonies who introduces the acts for our wonder and amazement. But his scope extends way beyond the birds and the bees.

In the 1960s, it was suggested that he took up an administrative post--"after all, you won't want to be gallivanting around the world when you are 50". Fortunately, he did not abandon gallivanting for admin but went freelance, studied anthropology and helped extend our view of native peoples and sympathies for their life styles. He went on to become responsible for coming up with famous BBC TV series such as Kenneth Clark's incredibly successful Civilisation series, followed by Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. Inevitably, he did become one of the BBC suits but one that wore a camouflage jacket.

What is remarkable is that Attenborough has managed to do it for so long without really changing his own style too much. He has not had to because the technology has changed and so he has constantly been able to give new views and insights into the details of life on Earth. Writing pretty much as he speaks, it is easy to hear his voice, dry sense of humour and generosity coming through all the time. Do not expect to read personal details, navel-gazing or malicious gossip--that is not his style. The only personal note comes at the end with the death of his wife in 1997. Over 100 photos associated with the huge range of programmes he has been intimately involved with decorate Life On Air, a fascinating personal story of our times. He says that he knows of "no pleasure deeper than that which comes from contemplating the natural world and trying to understand it"; he certainly manages to convey that in Life On AirBook Description

Amused and amusing, the working memoirs of one of the most influential, admired and best-liked figures in English television. When 26, he applied for a job in the BBC - which then meant radio - and was promptly turned down. But someone saw his rejected application and asked, would he like to try television? He would, and fifty years later he is still at it. Elegantly told, often very funny, here is his story. --This text refers to the Audio edition.

LINKS: ... 2CD's in each file ....

UNRAR PASSWORD:

Dragonette@TheCavern

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Alan Bennet - An Englishman Abroad

Alan Bennet introduces this radio 4 adaptation of his play- An Englishman Abroad

An Englishman Abroad - w Alan Bennett. Dramatised account of actress Coral Browne's encounters with exiled spy Guy Burgess while touring the Soviet Union with the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet in 1961. Homesickness for the country he betrayed looms large, as does the lack of bath plugs in Muscovite hotels. Browne plays herself, Alan Bates is Burgess, and Mark Wing-Davey and Charles Gray are among the touring players. John Schlesinger directs. A BAFTA award-winning play, contrasting with Dennis Potter's Traitor, on much the same subject, in 1971.

Pass: bonny

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Winning by Jack Welch

If you judge books by their covers, Jack Welch's Winning certainly grabs your attention. Testimonials on the back come from none other than Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rudy Giuliani, and Tom Brokaw, and other praise comes from Fortune, Business Week, and Financial Times. As the legendary retired CEO of General Electric, Welch has won many friends and admirers in high places. In this latest book, he strives to show why. Winning describes the management wisdom that Welch built up through four and a half decades of work at GE, as he transformed the industrial giant from a sleepy "Old Economy" company with a market capitalization of $4 billion to a dynamic new one worth nearly half a trillion dollars.

In Winning, Welch focuses on his actual management techniques. He starts with an overview of cultural values such as candor, differentiation among employees, and inclusion of all voices in decision-making. In the second section he covers issues around one's own company or organization: the importance of hiring, firing, the people management in between, and a few other juicy topics like crisis management. From there, Welch moves into a discussion of competition, and the external factors that can influence a company's success: strategy, budgeting, and mergers and acquisitions. Welch takes a more personal turn later with a focus on individual career issues--how to find the left job, get promoted, and deal with a bad boss--and then a final section on what he calls "Tying Up Loose Ends." Those interested in the human side of great leaders will find this last section especially appealing. In it, Welch answers the most interesting questions that he's received in the last several years while traveling the globe addressing audiences of executives and business-school students. Perhaps the funniest question in this section comes at the very end, posed originally by a businessman in Frankfurt, who queried Welch on whether he thought he'd go to heaven (we won't give away the ending).

Password:

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The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

This exploratory essay about Aldous Huxley's experience with mescaline, the active principal of peyote, sparked a generation of drug experimentation, and it continues to challenge beliefs about the drugs condoned and forbidden in our society. This classic work is complete and unabridged, with an insightful reading by Rudolf Schirmer, a long-time friend of Huxley.

password shaman

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State of Fear by Michael Crichton, George Wilson (Narrator)

For his latest foray, Crichton alters his usual formula--three parts thrills and spills to one part hard science--to a less appetizing concoction that is half anti-global warming screed and half adventure yarn. This adds a mission impossible element to Wilson's narration: how to make pages of research interesting enough to hold the listener's attention until hero and heroine face their next peril.

Unfortunately, Wilson approaches the statistical information like a newscaster communicating via Teleprompter. This earns him an A-plus for elocution and timbre, but a more average grade when it comes to dramatic interpretation. Consequently, the scientific material that Crichton spent three years researching seems even more copious in audio format than in print. And it's certainly much harder to flip past. Wilson is more successful in handling conversational passages, employing accents and adding subtle touches to various voices--a cynical tone for the hero, who's a mildly hedonistic corporate lawyer, and an edgier, less patient attitude for the beautiful, ready-for-anything heroine. As they hot-foot it around the globe, assisting an Indiana Jones-like MIT professor in thwarting evils perpetrated by a mass-murdering environmentalist, Wilson stirs up a little suspense by speaking faster and more energetically. But the book's abundance of statistics would slow any narrator's momentum, and Wilson is no exception.

PW: fxfxfxf

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Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book

Deliberately calculated to make its readers yawn. No one could resist those zillions of astonishing sleepyheads.

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Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha's life takes him on a journey toward enlightenment. Afire with youthful idealism, the Brahmin joins a group of ascetics, fasting and living without possessions. Meeting Gotama the Buddha, he comes to feel this is not the left path, though he also declines joining the Buddha's followers. He reenters the world, hoping to learn of his own nature, but instead slips gradually into hedonism and materialism. Surfeited and disgusted, he flees from his possessions to become a ferryman's apprentice, learning what lessons he can from the river itself. Herman Hesse's 1922 Bildungsroman parallels the life of Buddha and seems to argue that lessons of this sort cannot be taught but come from one's own struggle to find truth.

password shaman

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The Amber Spyglass

Author: Philip Pullman

Narrator: Philip Pullman, full cast

Audio Length: 14 hours and 32 min.

Audio Format: mp3

Genre: Fantasy

Bitrate: 96 kb/s

Size: 529MB

The Amber Spyglass brings the intrigue of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife to a heartstopping close, marking the third and final volume as the most powerful of the trilogy. Along with the return of Lyra, Will, Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel, Dr. Mary Malone, and Iorek Byrnison the armored bear, The Amber Spyglass introduces a host of new characters: the Mulefa, mysterious wheeled creatures with the power to see Dust; Gallivespian Lord Roke, a hand-high spy-master to Lord Asriel; and Metatron, a fierce and mighty angel. And this final volume brings startling revelations, too: the painful price Lyra must pay to walk through the land of the dead, the haunting power of Dr. Malone's amber spyglass, and the names of who will live - and who will die - for love. And all the while, war rages with the Kingdom of Heaven, a brutal battle that - in its shocking outcome - will reveal the secret of Dust.

password: LordAsriel

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Lyra's Oxford (Unabridged)

Author: Philip Pullman

Narrator: Philip Pullman, full cast

Audio Length: 48 min.

What the Critics Say

"Lyra's Oxford is essential listening for His Dark Materials fans, but be warned, it will only leave you wanting more." (AudioFile)

"An oddity and a rarity....a crystalline story." (Booklist)

Publisher's Summary

An exciting new tale set in the world of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials saga. Lyra's Oxford opens in the thrilling comfort and familiarity of Jordan College, where Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon sit on the sun-drenched roof looking out over all of Oxford. But their peace is shattered when a strange bird (a witch's daemon, on its own) tumbles out of the sky. It is Ragi, daemon of Yelena Pazhets, and he seeks a healing elixir from an infamous Oxford alchemist (and rumored man slaughterer) to cure his witch of a strange new disease from the South. Lyra and Pan decide to help and guide him (witches are friends, of course) but the closer their winding walk leads them to the alchemist's house, the stronger Lyra's sense that she's walking into a deadly trap.

password: LordAsriel

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The Republic

This is a completely new translation of one of the great works of Western political thought. In addition to Tom Griffith's vivid, dignified and accurate rendition of Plato's text, this edition is suitable for students at all levels. It contains an introduction that assesses the cultural background to the Republic, its place within political philosophy, and its general argument; succinct notes in the text; an analytical summary of content; a full glossary of proper names; a chronology of important events; and a guide to further reading.

Plato's musings on how society should function, as well as the nature of the people who inhabit society, is read by Bruce Alexander in this abridgment. The recording and Alexander's performance are flawless. A veteran Shakespearean actor, Alexander has a voice that is rich and versatile in portraying each of the speakers in this dialogue. His accent also has an air of authority. He makes one suppose that the ancient Greek philosophers went to Oxford. This work is really delightful to hear as one follows the course of Socrates' arguments and the questions thrown at him by the Athenians. The packaging is sturdy, and the enclosed outline is most helpful. Music at the beginning and end of each side does not distract from the performance. A wonderful introduction to Plato.

Rating:

2.5 out of 5 by Book123