means
the book is unabridged (complete)
by Samuel Abt
Read by Willie Harris. The Tour de France comes to life in this fascinating view of the world's greatest professional bicycling event. Full of interesting anecdotes about the origin of the race and the many routes and rules it has made and then changed, it gives a memorable picture of the personalities and events involved over the decades. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NAB001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Diane Ackerman
Read by the author. This is a celebration of our ability to smell, taste, hear, touch and see from a poet, pilot, naturalist, journalist and explorer. Weaving together science, folklore, history and voluptuous description, Ackerman gives us an enchanting account of how humans experience and savor the world. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NAC001 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Lisa Aldred
Read by Sonny Buxton. Lawyer, judge and civil rights leader, Marshall was the first black person to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. A member of the NAACP from his college days, his only practice for several years after law school was free work for that organization and many individuals who came to him for help. As Justice, he was unshakably committed to the defense of constitutional rights and educational and legal equality. (2.5 hrs. 2 cs.)
NAL001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Walter Alvarez
Read by Jeff Riggenbach. The author is one of four Berkeley scientists who slowly pieced together the story of a comet larger than Mt Everest hitting the earth 65 million years ago. It made a vast crater whose contents spewed through the atmosphere, and was followed by tsunamis, continent-wide fires, darkness and cold. When conditions returned to normal, half the genera of plants and animals on earth had vanished. This is the story of the planet-wide scientific detective work that went into solving the old mystery: what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NAL002 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Read by Cotter Smith. Using previously unknown information, Ambrose has pieced together a colorful and realistic backdrop for the 1803 Lewis and Clark expedition, as seen through the eyes of Jefferson's personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis. High adventure, politics, suspense, drama, diplomacy, romance and tragedy make this work of scholarship as engaging as any fiction. (4.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NAM001 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
Citizen Soldiers
by Stephen E. Ambrose
Read by Cotter Smith. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from men and women on both sides of WWII, Ambrose examines the period from June 1944, until May 1945, from the high command to the enlisted man. His focus is on the learning process a group of citizens went through to become soldiers in "the best army in the world."(5 hrs. 4 cs.)
The Cat And The Curmudgeon
by Cleveland Amory
Read by the author. Rescued from a NYC alleyway just before christmas, Polar Bear was injured, scraggly and starving. This stubborn, independent-thinking cat immediately set about to change the curmudgeonly ways of his new master. In this uproarious sequel to The Cat Who Came For Christmas, the fabulous feline handles his new-found fame and plays out the perennial cat-human drama: who is in charge of whom?(1.5 hrs. 1cs.)
by Maya Angelou
Read by the author. Hear her unforgettable memoir of growing up black in the 1930's and 1940's in the warmth of the tiny Arkansas town where her grandmother's store was the heart of the community and white people seemed as strange as aliens from another planet. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NAN001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Maya Angelou
Read by the author. Angelou reflects on how spirit and spirituality shape her life; about service and grace and giving; about celebrating the spirit of her people and the earthy sensuality of her sisterhood; about family; about how people have gone astray and how they can regain the way. (1.5 hrs. 1 cs.)
NAN004 / Buy $12 / Rent $4.75
by Maya Angelou
Read by the author. Angelou leaves California for NY with her son Guy, enters the world of black artists and writers, living again as in her childhood in an almost entirely black environment. She writes, sings and increasingly becomes politically active, eventually serving as ML King's northern coordinator. Meanwhile her personal life has taken a tempestuous turn with a South African freedom fighter, she lives in Cairo, and through it all runs the story of a mother's relationship with her son.(3 hrs. 2cs.)
by Karen Armstrong
Read by the author. Religion is "highly pragmatic," and any particular idea of god must work for the people who develop it. A historian of ideas, Armstrong looks at the correspondences among judaism, christianity and islam and how they have affected and been influenced by different periods in history. Today many people are uncomfortable with the god who "developed in a market economy in a spirit of aggressive capitalism," and are seeking a deity that "works for us in the empirical age." (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NAR001 / Buy $22.50 / Rent $10.25
by Karen Armstrong
Read by the author. England's foremost commentator on religous affairs explains how Jerusalem came to be a city venerated by jews, muslims and christians, and how it is still a vibrant, violent political issue in the Middle East. Armstrong focuses on the mythic nature of Jerusalem's holiness, exploring the "primitive ideal of sacred space," while describing the city's rich history and ever-changing topography. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NAR002 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by John Ardoin
Read by Michael Wager. Based on a program made for public radio in 1988, this audio portrait has been extensively revised and expanded to include new musical excerpts from Callas's most memorable live performances. There are interviews with Callas, her family and friends, together with reminiscences from Rudolf Bing, Joan Sutherland, many more. The prima donna with the voice that thrilled fascinated the public; so did, equally, the driven and vulnerable woman.(4.5 hrs. 4cs.)
by Arthur Ashe
Read by Joe Morton. Ashe's absurdly short life was packed with remarkable work and achievement. First he fought out of the segregated south to make himself a star in the white world of tennis, and to struggle for justice for other blacks, here and in Africa. Then he was drafted to take a leading role in the battle against AIDS and the prejudices besieging AIDS victims. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NAS001 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Richard Attenborough
Read by Malcolm Ruthven. The book surveys the whole animal kingdom, beginning with the simplest organisms and ending with the most complex. It simultaneously tells the story of the evolution of life, beginning some three thousand million years ago in the seas of our newborn planet. "Quite simply, the best introduction to natural history ever written."ÑDesmond Morris.(10.5 hrs. 8cs.)
NAT001 / Buy $69.95 / Rent $13.75
by Mary Austin
Read by Terry Tempest Williams. First published in 1903, this is an account of the desert country of southeastern California from the Sierra foothills to Death Valley: the arid landscape, plant and animal life, and the people who have lived and passed through the area: Paiute and Shoshone, miners, ranchers and homesteaders. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NAU001 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Lauren Bacall
Read by the author. Smart, funny and wise, Bacall shares her experiences in a spirited, straighforward style. She talks about work, romance, marriage, loneliness, long friendships, being a daughter, mother and grandmother, and about letting go and making new beginnings. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBA006 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Nigel Barley
Read by the author. Subtitled Notes from a Mud Hut. When Barley set up house among the Dowayo people in northern Cameroon, he knew how fieldwork should be conducted. Unfortunately, nobody had told the Dowayo. In this account of his first experience in the field, Barley gives a comic and inspiring introduction to the real life of a social anthropologist surviving boredom, hostility, disaster and illness. (6.5 hrs. 6 cs.)
NBA008 / Buy $54.95 / Rent $12.25
by Dave Barry
Read by Arte Johnson. The Miami journalist and humorist writes a hilarious commentary on how hard it is to be in a country where you can't understand a word. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NBA004 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Dave Barry
Read by John Ritter. "I intend to explore every facet of guyhood, including the historical facet, the sociological facet, and the facet of how come guys spit so much. Every statement of fact...in this book is either based on actual laboratory tests, or else I made it up. But you can trust me. I'm a guy." (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Dave Barry
Read by Shadoe Stevens. Pulitzer-winning journalist and self-proclaimed computer geek Dave Barry starts with the most important computer tip of all: Never read the instructions. Passing through a short history of computing in human culture, he slides into the world of hardware, software, error messages, autocache, Windows 95 and the critical issue of RAM, never one to shirk his responsibility to instruct and inform. And crack us up.(6 hrs. 4cs.)
by Lynda Barry
Read by the author. "I've known The Lynda Barry Experience since we were both teenage hippie college weirdos, and can tell you she's the best kind of artistÑalways striking out for unknown territory, and always ready to take curious onlookers along for the ride. So relax your mind, prepare to be thoroughy entertained, and watch out for deep insights and secret truths."ÑMatt Groening . (1 hrs. 1 cs.)
NBA010 / Buy $11.95 / Rent $4.75
by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Read by René Auberjonois. In 1995, Bauby was editor-in-chief of Elle, 43-year-old father of two children, and a man loved for his impassioned approach to life. When he suffered a rare kind of stroke, he went into a coma for 20 days, and emerged from it to discover that the only thing that functioned in his body was his left eye. He could see, and by blinking, he could communicate. This book was dictated in that way: by turns wistful, mischievous, angry and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had in his body. He died two days after the book was published.(2.25 hrs. 2cs.)
NBA011 / Buy $16 / Rent $5.75
by Lillian Beckwith
Read by Hannah Gordon. When the author is prescribed a move to the country, she is intrigued by a letter from an isolated croft in the Hebrides: "Surely it's that quiet even the sheeps themselves on the hills is lonely and as to the sea it's that near as I use it myself every day for the refusals...." A hilarious and enchanting story of an unusual rest cure. (9.5 hrs. 8 cs.)
NBE001 / Buy $69.95 / Rent $13.75
by Sue Bender
Read by the author. Bender was drawn to an array of Amish quilts and sought out Amish households in Iowa and Ohio where she could visit and share in daily life. Recounting her venture into their timeless world, a landscape of immense inner quiet, she illuminates the everyday rhythms of the people who taught her about commitment, simplicity and the joy of doing whatever you do well. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Peter L. Bernstein
Read by Jesse Boggs. In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society, Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the more distant past. Managing risk has become synonymous with challenge and opportunity. He presents fascinating vignettes of towering intellects, and clarifies the concepts of probability, sampling, regression to the mean, game theory and rational versus irrational decision making. (4.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NBE003 / Buy $24 / Rent $10.25
by Dirk Bogarde
Read by the author. From 1927-34, Bogarde, his sister, and their devoted, strict nanny lived in a remote cottage on the Sussex Downs. As faint echoes of the approaching war occasionally are heard, a life of harvests and harvest mice, of oil lamps and wells, of childhood adventures and a visiting circus, keeps the attention of the young, innocent, shrewd boy. (5.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NBO006 / Buy $39.95 / Rent $10.25
by Dirk Bogarde
Read by the author. This is an account of Bogarde's happy decades spent on a french farm with E.L.L. Forwood, a version of year in Provence with depth and heart. It was Forwood's ill health that brought the couple back to England, and his death that pushed Bogarde back into acting. Novelist, poet and autobiographer as well, Bogarde is a lovely, serious, appealing character. (10 hrs. 8 cs.)
NBO005 / Buy $34.95 / Rent $13.75
by Dirk Bogarde
Read by the author. This first volume in Bogarde's exceptional autobiography is funny, sad, and anecdotal, moving from his idyllic early childhood to his tough and lonely initiation into harsher realities at a Glasgow technical school. That period was followed by his days as an aspiring artist and early days as an actor, on his way to Hollywood.(10.5 hrs. 8 cs.)
by Erma Bombeck
Read by the author. Irresistible force met immovable object on the day in 1949 when Erma and Bill got married. Bombeck serves up tales of laughter such as "How Much Happiness Can We Finance?" or "A House Divided Cannot Stand One Another." (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBO002 / Buy $16 / Rent $5.75
by Erma Bombeck
Read by the author. In her warm and witty style, Bombeck reports that the odd habits of the rest of the animal kingdom are strikingly similar to our own. Here are her hilarious findings. While animals have more fun, longer tails, and better sex lives, the gap that separates us is closing fast. She presents examples from her studies of human behavior, ranging from our aerobics classrooms to our Miami-bound migratory patterns. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBO004 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Daniel J. Boorstin
Read by Michael Jackson. The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian looks at the huge sweep of western artistic achievement over the past 3000 years through the lens of "heroes of the imagination." With lively biographical sketches and anecdotes, he examines drama, painting, sculpture, architecture, dance, theology, philosophy, history, poetry, literature, music and film. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NBO001 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Julia A. Boyd
Read by the author, Rebecca Rice and Marvette Knight. Subtitled Black Women and Self Esteem. The psychotherapist addresses the emotional realities of black women's lives, using the real-life experiences of her "sister circle," a support group grappling with issues of self-image, body-image, stereotypes, interracial relationships, gay and lesbian sexuality, intimacy, professional obstacles and families. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBO003 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Bill Bradley
Read by the author. In his memoir, Bradley talks about his life, his country, his role in government, and his hopes for the future of the US. He speaks with affection of his Missouri small-town childhood, then his Princeton and Oxford educations, his college and professional basketball career, and his senatorial years. He shares details of his transition from an intellectual commitment to the public interest, to a belief that dictates of the heart count for more. (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
NBR008 / Buy $23.50 / Rent $10.25
by Peter R. Breggin, M.D. and Ginger Ross Breggin
Read by the author. Subtitled What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug, this is the book Debby has been waiting for. Here is the almost unbelievable story of how this and similar drugs got approved for the US market with no adequate testing, and how 6 million US citizens are now the guinea pigs developing the evidence of the drug's ineffectiveness, its alarming side effects, and its brain-damaging long-term consequences. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBR006 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Susie Bright, Mollie Katzen, and Harriet Lerner
Read by the author. Subtitled What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug, this is the book Debby has been waiting for. Here is the almost unbelievable story of how this and similar drugs got approved for the US market with no adequate testing, and how 6 million US citizens are now the guinea pigs developing the evidence of the drug's ineffectiveness, its alarming side effects, and its brain-damaging long-term consequences. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Elaine Brown
Read by the author. In August 1974 when Huey Newton was exiled, Brown assumed supreme power over the militant, paramilitary, male-dominated black panther party. This is an insider's unsparing view of the evolution of the panthers, and their virtual extinction by the FBI and party infighting. It is also a personal document of her own evolution from ghetto girl to powerful panther, to romantic partner of Newton and Cleaver, to mother torn between what she felt were the conflicting demands of motherhood and activism. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBR005 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by James Burke
Read by the author. Anyone who has heard James Burke in his award-winning TV broadcasts will be aware of his charming enthusiasm and stunning ability to make scientific achievements come to life. Burke tells history like it's the plot of the most suspenseful mystery ever written. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBU002 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by James Burke
Read by the author. These tapes are Burke's examination of the moments in history when a change in knowledge&emdash;such as Galileo's demonstration that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the solar system&emdash;radically altered humanity's understanding of itself and the world around it, in architecture, music, literature, science and politics. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBU003 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by James Burke and Robert Ornstein
Read by James Burke. This journey through the past and into the future from historian Burke and psychologist Ornstein looks at the people who gave us the discoveries and innovations that have empowered human kind over the millenia. We have always accepted the axmakers' gifts, always gone back for more, and never looked at the cost. In the precarious spot we find ourselves today, the authors examine the possibility of harnessing the axmakers' powers in the service of planetary survival. (3.5 hrs. 2 cs.)
NBU006 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Thomas Cahill
Read by Liam Neeson. From the fall of Rome to the rise of CharlemagneÑthe "dark ages"Ñlearning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the european continent. The heritage of western civilization would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of unconquered Ireland. Thus the Irish not only were the conservators of civilization, but became the shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on western culture.(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NCA005 / Buy $16.99 / Rent $5.75
by Joseph Campbell
Read by with Bill Moyers. This is an exhilarating journey into the mind and spirit of a remarkable man. Campbell has written dozens of volumes on the mythologies of people from all over the world and throughout time. He is an accomplished storyteller and a legendary teacher. These tapes are from the acclaimed PBS series. (6 hrs. 6 cs.)
NCA002 / Buy $39.95 / Rent $12.25
by Fritjof Capra
Read by Michael McConnohie. Physicist Capra explores his own field and the ancient tenets of eastern religions, discovering parallels in their paths towards truth. In nontechnical language, he presents the concepts and theories of modern physics in a brilliant, humanistic view of the universe. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NCA001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Noam Chomsky
Read by Grover Gardner. In selections from his Managua Lectures, Chomsky presents his most accessible statement on linguistics and the study of mind. His four fundamental questions: What do we know when we speak and understand a language? How is this knowledge acquired? How do we use this knowledge? What physical mechanisms are involved? In the final chapter, the professor offers his theories on the mind and its emergence.(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Read by the author. For more than 25 years, Clinton has made children her passion and her cause.She is convinced that how children develop and what they need to succeed is inextricably entwined with the society in which they live and how well it sustains and supports its families and individuals: it takes a village to raise a child. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NCL001 / Buy $18 / Rent $5.75
by Leah Hager Cohen
Read by the author. Once upon a time, we knew the origins of the things in our lives: exactly where our potatoes came from, who cobbled our shoes, what well our water was drawn from. Now, as value and worth are determined solely by price tag, we have lost our connections with the things we use. In this elegant inquiry into the nature of things, Cohen traces three simple commodities sitting on her rickety table at a cafeÑa glass tumbler, the coffee it holds, and the newspaperÑto their geographic and semantic origins, reminding us of the real people behind everything we touch. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NCO006 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Blanche Wiesen Cook
Read by the author. "...Roosevelt's spirit seems to have been waiting for an empathic biographer who would finally treat her as an individual, and Blanche Wiesen Cook has done exactly that."-Gloria Steinem. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NCO004 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Quentin Crisp
Read by the author. Crisp exiled himself from England to Manhattan in 1982. Here he captures the spirit of the city and a life in which extraordinary things happen. Whether he is writing about politics, human nature, prejudice, or the Big Apple, his ranconteurial flair, analytical bent, and supreme tolerance for the follies and evils of the age make him witty and profound in the same breath. He had Duncan cracking up all over the place.(3 hrs. 2cs.)
by Walter Cronkite
Read by the author. It was no accident that Walter Cronkite came to be known as the most trusted man in America. From the age of six, when he dashed down a hill to spread the news of President Harding's death, his vocation was unmistakable. Now at the age of eighty, Cronkite tells his life story. (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
NCR003 / Buy $24 / Rent $10.25
by Leonard Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes
Read by Machiste. For the past 20 years Erdoes has recorded the spirited voices of several generations of Crow Dogs, from the first, a comrade of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and a leader in the 1889 Ghost Dance which precipitated the massacre at Wounded Knee, to his great-grandson Leonard, an American Indian Movement leader at the second Wounded Knee. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NCR002 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Simone de Beauvoir
Read by Cynthia Splatt. "One day I wanted to explain myself to myself...and it struck me with a sort of surprise that the first thing I had to say was `I am a woman.'" Confronting this fact led to The Second Sex, which hit readers of the 1950's like a bomb with its uninhibited critique of sexism. Writer of novels, memoirs, and philosophy, de Beauvoir's lifelong companion was Jean-Paul Sartre, and the pair dominated the french intellectual life of their times. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NDE005 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Morris Dees with Steve Fiffer
Read by the author. "Bubba" Dees was born the grandson of a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The civil rights movement turned him into its eloquent advocate and founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center. His civil suit against the klan bankrupted that organization and put its headquarters into the hands of the black woman whose son they had lynched years before. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NDE001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Sarah and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth
Read by Iona Morris. Sadie Delany is 104. Bessie is 102. They are the daughters of a freed slave who became the US's first elected black episcopal bishop. Their fascinating and delightful memories go from the bitter era of Jim Crow, lynchings and legal segregation to their own professional prominence in Harlem's heyday and a lifetime of living together as two very different individuals. (8 hrs. 6 cs.)
NDE004 / Buy $29.95 / Rent $12.25
Read by Whoopi Goldberg. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NDE003 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Alan Dershowitz
Read by the author. This volume includes selections from Chutzpah and Contrary to Popular Opinion as well as previously unreleased recordings, provocatively reflecting on his generation of Jews in the US, antisemitism at home and abroad, free expression in a pluralistic society, and so on. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NDE002 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Robb Forman Dew
Read by Stockard Channing. Known for her ability to depict "family love in all its ambiguity and pain," (Washington Post Book World) Dew now offers an honest account of her own family's journey into uncharted territory, a journey of love, enlightenment and deeper commitment that begins when her older son reveals that he is gay. This very middle class, middle of the road family surprises with its steady strength through the changes each and all go through.(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by David Herbert Donald
Read by James Naughton. Culminating his half-century of study of Lincoln and his times, Donald traces Lincolns' rise from humble origins to the presidency, looking at the development of his character. He shows how Lincoln's enormous capacity for growth enabled one of the least experienced men ever elected to high office to become a giant in the history of US politics, a man passive by nature yet ambitious enough to take enormous risks and overcome repeated defeats. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NDO001 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Alexandre Dumas
Read by Julie Christie. Mary Stuart's birth gave her claim to the thrones of England and Scotland; her marriage to the french dauphin added France to the list. It's hard to imagine anyone making more of a botch of those opportunities than did the unfortunate Mary, betrayed by her husbands, her lovers, her subjects, her cousin Elizabeth Tudor, but most of all by herself. A fascinating book to follow Antonia Fraser's The Wives Of Henry VIII. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NDU005 / Buy $19.95 / Rent $10.25
by Will and Ariel Durant
Read by Russ Holcomb. The Durants are sure that total perspective is an illusion, but two lifetimes of thinking, researching and writing about the history of humankind do offer some insights. Ariel and Will Durant, Pulitzer and Medal of Freedom winners, consider the lessons we can learn from history and how they can guide our present judgements and policies. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NDU003 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Gerald Durrell
Read by Nigel Davenport. One of the most delightful collections of animal stories ever written, from a world-renowned naturalist. The book narrates the author's stay in Cameroon to study the local african wildlife. His great sense of humor, his sensitivity toward the local people, and his love of animals make this a great listen. (6.5 hrs. 6 cs.)
NDU001 / Buy $49.95 / Rent $12.25
by Gerald Durrell
Read by Nigel Davenport. This memoir is soaked in the sunshine of Corfu, where the author lived as a boy&emdash;with his family and other animals. It is a matter of personal taste whether one most enjoys the family, with its many eccentric hangers-on, or whether it is the animals who are the strongest attraction in this delightful reminiscence. (10.5 hrs. 8 cs.)
NDU004 / Buy $69.95 / Rent $13.75
by Gerald Durrell
Read by Nigel Davenport. At the age of two, Durrell decided that all he wanted to do in life was study animals and by the time he reached his late teens, his ultimate goal was to have a zoo of his own. His family had considerable experience of the smaller varieties of animals, having endured his vast and bizarre array of childhood pets. In 1945 Durrell joined Whipsnade Zoo as a student keeper, to get to grips with some of the bulkier species. This is the hilarious and entertaining story of those early years with the operatic Teddy the Bear and a jitterbugging host of gnus, among others. (7 hrs. 6 cs.)
NDU006 / Buy $54.95 / Rent $12.25
by Gerald Durrell
Read by Nigel Davenport. Durrell has been a zoo maniac since he bagan collecting woodlice and minnows at age two. When he decided to set up the Wildlife Preservation Trust on the island of Jersey, he determined that the place would be very different from the animal prisons where parents take small children to ride on elephants and get sick on junk food.(5.5 hrs. 6 cs.)
by Umberto Eco
The immensely popular University Press brings us four chapters from Eco's distinguished work in the study of signs, symbols and codes, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. They offer a survey and analysis of semiotic theories from Aristotle to Lacan, threading through the bible, kabbala, romanticism, jungian symbolism, and the genetic code. They are said to provide interpretive keys for understanding Eco's fiction! (3 hrs. 2cs.)
by Susan Faludi
Read by the author. The goal of the backlash is to convince women that feelings of dissatisfaction and distress are the result of too much independence and feminism, while simultaneously undermining the miminal progress that women have made over the past 25 years at work, in politics, at home and in their own minds. Faludi has tracked the fascinating processes of anti-feminists and the media by which unscholarly, unsubstantiated and downright lying "studies" about women have gained center stage in popular culture, while responsible, thorough research has been utterly ignored. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NFA001 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Mia Farrow
Read by the author. In a beautifully written memoir, Mia Farrow introduces us to the landscapes of an extraordinary life. Moving from her earliest memories of the walled gardens and rocky shores of western Ireland and her Hollywood childhood to her career as an actress, she writes of these experiences and her struggle to protect her children in a painful custody battle with Woody Allen. (10 hrs. 8 cs.)
NFA002 / Buy $29.95 / Rent $13.75
by Timothy Ferris
Read by the author. Carl Sagan calls this a "rich and ably presented discussion of the universe as a whole." It's also about how the expansion of the universe was discovered by a band of scientists whose rivalries and emotions played as important a role as their intellectual brilliance. The identification of galaxies, quasars, and the "edge of the universe," is here recounted with the clarity, simplicity, and stylistic elegance that has inspired critics to hail Ferris as the greatest science writer in the world. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NFE002 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Timothy Ferris
Read by the author. Subtitled A State of the Universe(s) Report, this is an expansive, nontechnical account of dramatic developments that have recently thrust cosmology into the headlines. Enlivening clear explication and rock-solid accuracy with wild sketches about the personalities of scientists inhabiting these scientific frontiers, Ferris synthesizes the latest thinking on all we know about the universe, and how theories and observations must ultimately accommodate the workings of the human mind.(6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NFE003 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Richard Feynman
Read by Jeff Riggenbach. Nobel winner Feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws, maintaining that the importance of a physical law is not "how clever we are to have found it out, but how clever nature is to pay attention to it." After establishing what is most remarkable in nature, Feynman develops his own analysis of the process and future of scientific discovery. One of the preeminent and most imaginative minds in modern physics seen in action. (3 hrs. 2cs.)
NFE001 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Ranulph Fiennes
Read by the author. On 9 November 1992, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr. Michael Stroud set out from the Fitchner Ice Shelf to attempt the first unassisted crossing of the Antarctic continent. It was to be a journey which was to capture the imagination of the world. For 97 days the two men fought pain, starvation and snowblindness, dragging 500-pound sledges across the frozen roof of the world. Friendship turned to hatred. Hypothermia very nearly claimed their lives long before they reached the South Pole. But their will to succeed endured and when they were finally airlifted out, they had completed by far the longest unsupported journey in Polar history. (7.5 hrs. 6cs.)
NFI003 / Buy $54.95 / Rent $12.25
by Nancy Fierro
Read by the author. The 12th century christian mystic has been described as "...visionary, scientist, diplomat and poet." In the medieval cloisters where Hildegard lived, she struggled and succeeded against all patriarchal prejudices in expressing her visions, in establishing an independently-endowed cloister for women, and in pursuing her studies and findings in music, medicine and science as well as theology. (1.5 hrs. 1 cs.)
NFI002 / Buy $10.95 / Rent $4.75
by Roger Fouts
Read by the author. Thirty years ago we first heard about Washoe, the chimp who spoke sign language. Fouts was already Washoe's friend, a novice researcher she had singled out on his first day by leaping into his arms. From mischievous baby, Washoe has grown into the matriarch of a chimpanzee clan, and Fouts to celebrity scientist, caretaker of Washoe's clan, and crusader for the rights of animals. Introduced by Jane Goodall, this is a delightful audiobook.(4.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
by Anne Frank
Read by Winona Ryder. Anne Frank's story was first published in 1947, and has become a classic to millions of readers all over the world. In this new edition, Anne emerges more than ever a teenage girl, not a symbol made of marble, fascinated by her emerging sexuality, usually at odds with at least one of the adults around her, and veering between carefree child and sorrowful adult. It is remarkable that all this should happen during the two years Anne was confined to silence all day, with 7 other jews, in a few rooms hidden behind the offices of a sympathetic dutch man, during the nazi occupation of Amsterdam. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NFR007 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Benjamin Franklin
An accomplished prormance by Fredd Wayne. Franklin's lively memoirs, up to the time when his activities were becoming international in scope and the concern of professional historians, are relished for the insights they give us into colonial life and the mind of the person who so influenced the structure of the emerging US government and the personality of the new nation. Who can resist the witty his well turned phrases? (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NFR008 / Buy $22.95 / Rent $10.25
by Antonia Fraser
Read by Donada Peters. A new, impeccably researched history of the famous wives pushes aside the previous long-held stereotypes. Fraser traces each queen's cultural, familial and political roots. She shows how each was dramatically changed by the king's decision to marry her&emdash;yet how each sustained her individuality despite him. They thus become memorable in their own right instead of through their fateful link to Henry VIII. (21 hrs. 14 cs.)
NFR006 / Buy $112 / Rent $18
by Betty Friedan
Read by the author. Drawing on a body of startling, little-known scientific data, Friedan demolishes all sorts of myths about aging, and offers alternatives for finding intimacy, purpose and adventure in old age. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NFR005 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Thomas L. Friedman
Read by the author. Friedman vividly describes the sometimes horrifying, sometimes wondrous cities, for which, he says, nothing in his life prepared him. Through anecdotes, history, analysis and self-examination, the double-Pulitzer-winning author gives a useful framework for understanding the psychology, politics and possible future of the Middle East. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NFR004 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Robert Fulghum
Read by the author. Selected from thousands of real-life love stories told to him by his fans, these are amusing, sentimental, sometimes unflinchingly honest accounts. Among them: a smile at a stoplight is a lifetime gift; a woman marries her mother's high school sweetheart; a man learns that old love and new pajamas are a dangerous mixture; on an LA freeway, a man finds his true love again after 20 years' separation. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NFU006 / Buy $18 / Rent $5.75
by Buckminster Fuller
Read by Fuller and others. This documentary on the life and work of Buckminster Fuller was several years in the making and tells the story of how he transcended failure and devoted his life to serving humanity. He speaks out about the crucial issues of our century and about the people who worked with him. The tape concludes with a commentary on his scientific and philosophical contributions. (1 hr. 1 cs.)
NFU005 / Buy $9.95 / Rent $4.75
by Jostein Gaarder
Read by Kitt Weagant and Jacob Needleman. This is a most unusual and readable history of western philosophy from pre-Socratic Greeks to Jean Paul Sartre. It is framed in the form of a novel. Sophie is anticipating her 15th birthday when a card arrives in the mail asking the question: Who are you? With the mysterious Alberto Knox as her guide and mentor, Sophie is taken on a rollicking journey through the development of modern philosophical thought. Fascinating and humorous and an international best-seller. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGA002 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Jim Garrison
Read by Edward Asner. In 1967, New Orleans D.A. Garrison dared to try to find JFK's true assassins. Police lied to him, the Warren Commission ignored him, and key witnesses kept dying off. This is the book on which Oliver Stone's film JFK is based. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGA001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Bill Gates
Read by Rick Adamson, with Bill Gates. Microsoft's Gates astonished the business community in 1996 by abruptly reinventing his entire company around the Internet. Here he explains why the Internet is revolutionizing everything, at a faster pace than even he anticipated. He addresses these questions: how will our lives change? how long will it take? will our jobs become obsolete? what about privacy? what about our children? what are good opportunities? how should we prepare? (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGA003 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by James Gleick
Read by F. Murray Abraham. By the author of Chaos, these are the life and times of an interesting scientist, Richard Feynman. His life spanned the period of the century's most important scientific discoveries and changes. Winner of the Nobel, he was an eccentric and a hard-driven perfectionist. Everyone who talked about him ended up using the word "genius." (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGL001 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Whoopi Goldberg
Read by the author. Refraining from selling her audiobook as "uproarious and provocative,Éuncensored, and cutting edge, and whatever else I can think of to throw into the mix," or as "Move over, Alice WalkerÉ" Whoopi promises to make you laugh deep down in the good joke place, to make you think, maybe to shock, and maybe to consider or reconsider a few things. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Read by Edward Herrmann. Using diaries, interviews, and White House records, Goodwin describes how the isolationist and divided US of 1940 was unified under Roosevelt to become, only 5 years later, the dominant economic and military power in the world. History and biography blend to give a detailed, accessible portrait of both Roosevelts and their extraordinary household of advisers, family and friends. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NGO002 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Al Gore
Read by the author. Subtitled Ecology and the Human Spirit. The vice-president argues that only a radical rethinking of our relationship with nature can save the earth. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGO001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Stephen Jay Gould
Read by Meredith Macrae and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Subtitled Reflections In Natural History. A collection of Gould's best essays from the last three years, ranging from paleontology, to Mary Shelley's version of Frankenstein, to the debate about when exactly the 21st century begins, and always circling back to the themes of time, change, history and evolution. Amusing and interesting. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NGO003 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Stephen Jay Gould
Read by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. The focus of the book is on the nature of excellence and the misperception that progress is inevitable. Gould feels that the way we look at trendsÑwhy this nation is going to pot vis-ö-vis increasing criminal behavior and loosening moral fiber, or good trends like better ethnic eating in urban areas, better transportationÑ interprets them as moving in a definite direction, up or down. This he sees as a bias that needs correcting. (9 hrs. 6 cs.)
NGO004 / Buy $34.95 / Rent $12.25
by Bill Graham
Read by Peter Wolf. Co-authored and co-read by Robert Greenfield. Born in Berlin, Bill Graham escaped the holocaust, came to the US, and spawned a pop-culture revolution. "...a deeply personal and insightful history of modern rock."&emdash;Rolling Stone . (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGR002 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Katherine Graham
Read by the author. There are two stories here, one of Katherine Graham's privileged childhood and marriage to an adored husband who plunged into manic-depression and suicide, and the other of her tenure at the Washington Post. The story of the newspaper intertwines with Graham's, from the time her father bought and restored it, through the Woodward and Bernstein and Bradlee dramas. It is a tale of learning by doing, growing and growing up, about a woman liberated both by circumstances and by her own strengths. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGR004 / Buy $18 / Rent $5.75
by Robert Graves
Read by Sean Barrett."It is a permanently valuable work of literary art, and indispensable for the historian either of the First World War or of modern English poetryÉ" says the London Times. It is engrossing, a candid self portrait, with vivid sketches of his friends, and his account of WWI experiences, all written when he was about to leave England after a period of great personal turmoil. (12 hrs. 10 cs.)
by Melissa Fay Greene
Read by Kate Reading. Greene has reclaimed a forgotten chapter of the civil rights era with her examination of the 1958 bombing of a jewish temple in Atlanta. The klan claimed responsibility and the criminal justice system came to no conclusions. Looking at american grass roots fascism and a city of steaming conflicts, she paints a lively portrait of Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, an embattled leader caught in the crossfire between white and black. (18 hrs. 12 cs.)
by Woody Guthrie
Read by Arlo Guthrie. Woody sang his way across America, and wrote about his experiences in this marvellous evocation of the people's spirit and strength in the years immediately following the great depression. His son, Arlo, has carried on the tradition as a singer and writer of "classic" folk music, and is a lovely speaker as well. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NGU001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by David Halberstam
Read by Edwin Newman. This is the Pulitzer Prize winner's social, political, economic and cultural history of the 10 years he regards as pivotal in determining what the US is today: Joe McCarthy, Martin Luther King, the Korean War, Levittown, Jack Kerouac, Elvis Presley, the bomb and the pill. (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
NHA005 / Buy $22.50 / Rent $10.25
by David Halberstam
Read by E.G. Marshall. With an eye on the rebirth of Japan, the currents of change sweeping through eastern Europe, and astonishing events capturing the imagination of the whole world, veteran correspondent and author Halberstam takes a look at the 20th century giant, the US, and wonders how we will compete in the world of the next century with our crumbling infrastructure and substandard educational systems. (5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NHA008 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Jonathan Harr
Read by John Shea. A young Boston trial lawyer had made himself a fortune with medical malpractice cases. When a small town to the north proved to have wells poisoned by chemicals and a cluster of childhood leukemia victims, the lawyer was not interested at first. Once he got involved, the case took over his life: all his time and attention for nine years, his money, home, car, friends and reputation. This is a true story of a man standing up, again and again, to some of the nation's largest companies, as they tried to slide out of taking responsibility for their carelessness. (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
NHA009 / Buy $23.50 / Rent $10.25
by Stephen Hawking
Read by Michael Jackson. Hawking was born on the anniversary of Galileo's death, holds Newton's chair as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, and is regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein. This book, written for those of us who prefer words to equations, is about the search for the secrets at the heart of time and space. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NHA003 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $10.25
by Stephen Hawking
Read by Simon Prebble. These essays range from the autobiographical to the scientific, discussing imaginary time, free will, black holes birthing baby universes, the value of life, the convergence (and not) of science and science fiction, with his characteristic humor, commitment to plain speaking and disdain for pomposity. (4 hrs. 3 cs.)
NHA007 / Buy $21.95 / Rent $8
by David Hays and Daniel Hays
Read by the authors. Daniel, just out of college and unsure what to do next, is wry, comic and down-to-earth. His father, David, is romantic, excitable and reflective, haunted by the memories of his own father as he gets older, slower, and more forgetful. This unlikely pair decide to sail a tiny boat 17,000 miles to the bottom of the world and back, with only their skills as sailors, a compass, sextant, and a ship's cat on the boat they have built together. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHA010 / Buy $18 / Rent $5.75
by Kim Hyun Hee
Read by Sun Yung Cho. Chosen at age 19 for a life of espionage by North Korea's communist party, Kim Hyun Hee spent years acquiring every skill a spy needs. The climax of her career was to be her part in the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858, sending 150 people to their deaths. She is captured, attempts suicide, revived, tried, and sentenced to death. This is the fascinating story of her life and change of heart. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHE007 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Katharine Hepburn
Read by the author. Sure, there's the regular stuff about famous people, but what is captivating about this account is Hepburn's long look back at her ambitious, arrogant, confident young self, whose only thought was for ME ME ME! (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHE005 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by James Herriot
Read by Christopher Timothy. Utterly delightful and often heartrending stories from the Yorkshire vet, this time concentrating on dogs, with one story about a cat. (2 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHE004 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by James Herriot
Read by Christopher Timothy. Up to now, the cat has hardly featured in our collection of stories from the Yorkshire vet. This enchanting group of amusing and poignant stories attests to the fact that cats are among his favorite animals. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHE008 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by James Herriot
Read by Christopher Timothy. The world's most beloved vet is back with tales of golden retrievers and sheepdogs, beagles and daschunds, purebreds and crossbreeds and plain mutts, and Tricki Woo, Mrs. Pumphrey's memorable pekinese. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by James Herriot
Read by Christopher Timothy. Ten stories from the pen of the world's most loved vet, sharing his adventures with pet owners and landowners, orphaned lambs, litters of piglets and puppies, cattle and draught horses, and a miscellany of cats and dogs, including the inimitable pekinese Tricki Woo. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHE011 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by John Hersey
Read by Edward Asner. Considered Pulitzer winner Hersey's crowning achievement, this journalistic masterpiece describes what happened during the days immediately following August 6, 1945, through the memories of six survivors. A final chapter, written 40 years after the bomb, explores the fates of those same six people. (5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NHE009 / Buy $21.95 / Rent $10.25
by Ernest Hillen
Read by the author. Subtitled A Memoir of Java. In 1942, when Hillen was seven years old, living on a colonial tea plantation in Java, his idyllic childhood came to an abrupt and violent end. The Japanese had invaded the Dutch East Indies where the boy and his family lived. A moving memoir of a gentle life transformed into a time of hunger, despair and death, but also of courage and humor. (5.75 hrs. 5 cs.)
by Jean Houston
Read by the author. "A spellbinding view of a possible future shaped by the power of myth," says the book jacket. Buried in the myths of world civilization lie eternal archetypesÑkeys to unlocking the past, present and future of our existence. Jung called these "...the great decisive forces that determine real events." Houston explores why our times, more than any other, need the guiding power of myth; how you can use personal archetypes to guide your spiritual growth; why personal "disasters" are essential to the heroic journey; and how emerging archetypes are re-shaping our unconscious responses to world events. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington
Read by Natascha McElhone. Here is Picasso in all his guisesÑ the indefatigable painter, the bohemian, the sexual sadist, the betrayer, the loyal communist, the seducer, the fatherÑand, ultimately, the man sacrificed on the altar of his own contradictions. New sources for this biography include interviews with Picasso's daughter, Maya, and the recollections of Francoise Gilot, the woman who shared his life for ten years and bore two of his children. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHU005 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Robert Hughes
Read by the author. This is a bestselling, dynamic account of the early years of Australia's white settlement, relating the myths and the truths of England's brutal convict transport system, and the transformation from convict colony to flourishing settlement. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NHU001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Elspeth Huxley
Read by Wanda McCaddon. Huxley spent her early years on a small family farm in Kenya in the early years of this century. Here she recreates that vanished Africa, seen through the magical and arresting viewpoint of a perceptive child. Elspeth is also Duncan's mother's neighbor and friend, and perceptive still. (12 hrs. 8 cs.)
NHU003 / Buy $64 / Rent $13.75
by Elspeth Huxley
Read by Walter Zimmerman. Huxley takes the view that far from being a glamorous explorer, Scott, who in 1911 failed by one month to be the first person to reach the South Pole, and then died on the return trip just 11 miles from food and shelter, was a reluctant hero, a complex, obstinate and reticent man. (18 hrs. 12 cs.)
NHU004 / Buy $96 / Rent $16.75
by Louanne Johnson
Read by the author. They were known as the class from hell&emdash;34 inner-city sophomores she inherited from a teacher who'd been "pushed over the edge." But from her first day, Louanne Johnson confounded all the expectations of her students and of other teachers. There was only ever one rule in her classroom: treat everyone in it with respect. That respect, and Johnson's steady love, changed the students' world. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NJO002 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
Read by Gregory Harrison and Kevin Costner. An overview of american history from the point of view of the hundreds of native american nations who have lived here for 15,000 years. The saga of friendship, treachery, war and finally expulsion from their homeland marks the most recent 500 years of fighting the european invaders. Some men and women's own words are heard; others' voices have been resurrected from memoirs, memories and ancient documents. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NJO001 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Thomas Keneally
Read by Walter Zimmerman. This is the true story of Oskar Schindler, a german catholic industrialist and prison camp director, who saved more Jews from extermination than anyone else during WWII. From the testimony of some of the more than 1000 people he routed away from the gas chambers, a picture of this brave, generous man emerges. See NBR007 Schindler's Legacy. (18 hrs. 12 cs.)
NKE001 / Buy $96 / Rent $16.75
by Barbara Kingsolver
Read by the author. Novelist Kingsolver returns to her earlier role of biologist, bringing her keen eyes, persuasive tongue and understanding heart to bear on the subjects of family, community and the natural world. These complete selections find instruction for life in places as diverse as a museum of atom bomb relics, the ethics of a wild pig who persistently invades a garden, and a troop of oysters who observe high tide in Illinois. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NKI003 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Peter D. Kramer, M.D.
Read by the author. Since it was introduced in 1987, Prozac has been prescribed to nearly 5 million Americans. Reported to turn shy people into extroverts and to improve work performance, memory, even dexterity, Prozac has changed millions of lives. It also raises interesting questions about the criteria used to define the "true" self. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NKR001 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by John Krakauer
Read by the author. When the author reached the summit of Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in 57 hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he began his long, dangerous descent, 20 other climbers were still pushing doggedly towards the top. Six hours later, when the huge storm hit, Krakauer was collapsed in his tent, freezing and hallucinating, but safe. When the storm finally passed and all expeditions had quit, twelve people had died on the slopes. This is a gripping account, and an examination of the motives that go into making the decision to attempt to reach the roof of the world.(6 hrs. 4cs.)
NKR003 / Buy $24 / Rent $10.25
by Theodora Kroeber
Read by Mary Woods. Subtitled A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America. In 1911, Ishi turned himself in to the white government of his northern California home. Kroeber deals sensitively and intelligently with both halves of his life. The idyllic stone age of his early youth was increasingly marred by the need of his people to hide their very existence from whites; and by their steadily dwindling numbers, until only he is left. Shortly after contact with the whites, Ishi came under the protection of the anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and lived in a San Francisco museum for the rest of his life, moving quite comfortably into the trolley-car world of the 20th century. (9 hrs. 6 cs.)
NKR002 / Buy $48 / Rent $12.25
by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Read by Ellen Burstyn. Kubler-Ross has brought comfort and understanding to millions coping with their own deaths or the deaths of loved ones. Now, facing her own death at age 71, the world-renowned healer tells the story of her life. Driven by compassion, undeterred by obstacles, she tells us through the story of her remarkable life that free will is our greatest gift and that our goal is spiritual evolution.(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NKU004 / Buy $18 / Rent $5.75
by Charles Kuralt
Read by the author. For more than 30 years, Charles Kuralt, the host of CBS News' Sunday Morning, has traveled the world's byways. In this warm memoir, he retraces a journey that began as a young CBS reporter in South America, Vietnam, and the Okefenokee Swamp. It is the story of one man's lifelong love of the road and the people he has met along the way. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NKU001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Charles Kuralt
Read by the author. After retiring from CBS News in 1994, Kuralt set out to spend a perfect year, traveling to his twelve favorite places in the US, in just the right month for a visit to each. With warmth, humor and insight, he reports on Montana in September, Alaska in June, winter in Cajun country, and spring in the Carolina mountains. (4.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NKU002 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Charles Kuralt
Read by the author. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Christmas are the four programs, each made from memorable pieces from his years at CBS News combined with new material written especially for this audiobook gift edition. Kuralt takes us along for spring on the California coast, the 4th in New York Harbor, the New Hampshire woods in the autumn, and xmas in Appalachia , introducing people and places as he goes.(4 hrs. 4 cs.)
by Deborah Laake
Read by Meredith MacRae. Subtitled A Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary Of Marriage And Beyond. Laake was a devout Mormon and a good student at BYU when she met The One, the man who declared that his claim to her was a matter of divine revelation. After marriage, her life disintegrated: divorced by age 20, barred from the mormon temple, remarried to satisfy the church, she wound up in a mental hospital. There, among the truly unconventional, she recognized a modern world beckoning to her from beyond the closed patriarchal society of her past. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NLA002 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Fred "Chico" Lager
Read by Joseph Campanella. Subtitled How Two Real Guys Built a Business with a Social Conscience and a Sense of Humor. From a single ice cream parlor in an abandoned gas station in Vermont, Ben & Jerry's, in less than fifteen years, grew to be a corporation with over $100 million in annual sales, all the while remaining one of the most innovative, progressive, socially responsible and downright fun businesses in the world. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NLA003 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Anne Lamott
Read by the author. What an enchanting and very funny book! It is fascinating if you are interested in what it takes to be a writer, what it means to live a writer's lifeÑfrom faith, love and grace to pain, jealousy and fear. It offers step by step instructions for writing that translate into step by step guidelines for living.(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Read by Claudette Colbert. The author was barely out of her sheltered girlhood when she married Charles Lindbergh, soon after his world-famous transatlantic flight. Joyous adventure and family tragedy followed immediately. Her hard-won grace and serenity envelop us as we join her in a time of poignant meditation by the sea. Her concern for the fragmentation of women's consciousness is even more relevant today. (2.5 hrs. 2 cs.)
NLI001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Deric Longden
Read by the author. In 1971 Deric Longden's wife Diana fell ill with the mysterious disorder known as ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis), which caused years of paralysis and chronic pain. Eventually Diana was to die, but this is not a story of gloom and despair. Instead it is the moving and frequently hilarious story of a marriage based on deep love and and an exceptional shared sense of humor. (6.25 hrs. 6 cs.)
NLO003 / Buy $46.95 / Rent $12.25
by Graham Lord
Read by Paul Michael. The world's best loved vet has a loving and knowledgeable biographer. Herriot grew up in a Glasgow slum with a movie theater pianist father and amateur opera singer mother, got himself to vet school, and settled into the Yorkshire practice his storiesÑsome entirely true, others entirely inventedÑmade famous.(3 hrs. 2cs.)
by Norman Maclean
Read by Ivan Doig. The author spends a lyrical summer fly fishing in Montana with his brother and father. "It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us." (4 hrs. 3 cs.)
NMA009 / Buy $19.95 / Rent $8
by Norman Maclean
Read by John Maclean. Maclean shares his adventures as a young man working for the US Forest Service along the Idaho-Montana border. During his 17th summer, he deals with his hard-bitten boss and a camp cook who won't play cards, a solo stint at a remote, rattlesnake-infested outpost, and a non-stop cross-country hike at the end of the season. (4 hrs. 3 cs.)
NMA016 / Buy $24.95 / Rent $8
by Robert MacNeil
Read by the author, co-anchor of the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. MacNeil was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the depression. Here he looks back on the beginnings of a lifelong love affair with language and literature. His father, a sailor, reviewed the novels he read during each journey; his mother gave animated readings of poetry and bedtime stories. A book for all lovers of the written and spoken word. (8 hrs. 8 cs.)
NMA006 / Buy $65 / Rent $13.75
by Brenda Maddox
Read by Donada Peters. Nora Barnacle became Molly Bloom under the imaginative pen of James Joyce. Nora was the voice of Ireland for Joyce, a sort of muse who awakened the sights, sounds and sensibilities of the homeland he left for good in his twenties. But Nora was far from the semi-literate, uncultured woman of joycean legend. Witty and intelligent, strong and shrewd, she was the mainstay of Joyce's hard-drinking, hard-working and constantly moving life. She shaped his life, and was the model for all his fictional women, but always remained gloriously independent. (21 hrs. 14 cs.)
NMA017 / Buy $112 / Rent $18
by Nelson Mandela
Read by Danny Glover. Nobel prize-winning philosopher, statesman and activist Mandela, now president of South Africa, relates his own story. He tells of his pivotal role in the establishment of the ANC Youth League, the underground years of speaking out against apartheid that led to his imprisonment, and the remarkably active quarter century he spent in jail. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NMA015 / Buy $23 / Rent $10.25
by Wilma Mankiller
Read by Joy Harjo. One of the most influential women leaders of our time, Mankiller is the elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. In telling her story she weaves together stories of her people, such as the infamous Trail of Tears, with stories of her own life, such as the occupation of Alcatraz Island. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMA013 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Beryl Markham
Read by Julie Harris. A wonderfully entertaining chronicle of Beryl Markham's growing up in Kenya, sharing hunting adventures with native tribes and pursuing her careers as race-horse trainer and aviatrix. (6 hrs. 6 cs.)
NMA005 / Buy $49 / Rent $12.25
West With the Night (Abridged)
(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMA001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Beryl Markham
Read by Frances Sternhagen. Includes: "Something I Remember," "The Captain And His Horse," "Brothers Are The Same," and the title story. (2 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMA004 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Peter Matthiessen
Read by John MacDonald. Across the most awesome mountains on earth&emdash;the Himalayas&emdash;Matthiessen went in search of the rare snow leopard. His quest was joined to a research expedition studying mountain sheep. The resulting account is a luminous and lyrical journey of the heart. (12 hrs. 8 cs.)
NMA014 / Buy $64 / Rent $13.75
by Peter Mayle
Read by Patrick MacNee. Delightful tales of life in Provence: finding gold at the bottom of his garden, attending a Pavarotti concert under the stars, exploring the joys and hazards of wining and dining in France and meeting some real characters. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMA007 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Peter Mayle
Read by the author. After 15 years in the advertising business, Mayle and his wife purchase an old farmhouse at the foot of the mountains and embark on a wonderful, if at times bewildering new life. First year experiences include being inundated with builders and visitors, grappling with the native accent, taking part in goat races and supervising the planting of a new vineyard. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMA012 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Frank McCourt
Read by the author. "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." McCourt survived poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of friends and neighbors in Limerick, to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance and remarkable forgiveness. (4.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NMC002 / Buy $24 / Rent $10.25
by Diana Friel McGowin
Read by the author. This is Alzheimer's from the inside: McGowin reveals what it is like to forget your children's names, to have a lifetime of achievement wiped from your memory, and to see dementia transform a family. She offers hope to others, giving a sense of direction. (3.25 hrs. 4 cs.)
NMC001 / Buy $35.95 / Rent $10.25
by Margaret Mead
Read by Norah Bernard. The US's most famous 20th century anthropologist, whose earthshaking studies on relations between the sexes began in the South Pacific, here takes a look at her own society. She follows the course of human sexuality and examines the differences between the sexes, arguing for equality and a future where "each boy and girl [feels] a whole human being." (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NME001 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Russell Means with Marvin J. Wolf
Read by the author. In 1973, when native americans took back Wounded Knee, Russell Means was one of the leaders who let the world know the conditions under which Indians, the rightful owners of the land, were living. In this autobiography, Means takes us through his transformation from juvenile delinquent to radical community activist, speaking of his own spiritual awakening and his people's efforts to maintain cultural identity in the face of genocide. (6 hrs. 4cs.)
NME002 / Buy $25.95 / Rent $10.25
by Kweisi Mfume with Ron Stodghill II
Read by the author. A classic american saga, following the life of Mfume from his early years in rural tranquillity, followed by the rude shock of hitting the streets of West Baltimore. Fated to become another statistic of black urban tragedy, Frizzell Gray took a new name and embarked upon a journey to escape his fate. A quarter of a century later, Mfume is the president of the NAACP and a former five-term US congressman.(3 hrs. 2cs.)
by James Michener
Read by George Grizzard. This memoir is Michener's 85th birthday present to his readers, a tale of a rich and varied life spent traveling the globe for the past 75 years. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMI001 / Buy $16 / Rent $5.75
by James Michener
Read by Arthur Addison. Michener draws on both the lessons of history and the observations of a lifetime to outline key problems he thinks crucial that the US address. His subjects include the economy, education, religion, cultural life, libraries, employment, health care, changes in the american family, and the threats posed by the shift from a producer to a consumer nation.(3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMI005 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Arthur Miller
Read by the author. Miller's life story shows the same integrity and commitment as his famous plays. From his boyhood in Brooklyn through to his success as a playwright, Miller's life has been enriched by encounters with a remarkable range of personalities, and he describes them here in striking detail. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMI003 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Davis Miller
Read by Jerry Douglas and Charles Dutton. Davis Miller has managed to achieve a remarkable and unlikely relationship with Muhammed Ali. The result is an exploration into the nature of storytelling, the surprising trials and rewards of a writer's life, and unquestionably the most intimate portrait of a man who is adored by hundreds of millions of people world-round. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMI003 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Selections from MIT Press
The new field of Cognitive Neuroscience (the study of higher brain functions) is giving researchers a fresh and often startling look at that elusive subject of study, consciousness. In this collection of recent writings on the subject, various authors present evidence that consciousness is the integral phenomenon of human experience. Essays cover a philosphical approach, the brain's role, mental attributes of consciousness, and the bizarre perspectives of split-brain patients. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMI004 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Alan Moorehead
Read by Patrick Tull. Moorehead traces the mighty river to its source then tracks its history from Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, through the turkish occupation of the Sudan, up to the british punitive invasion of Ethiopia, covering the river's history from 1798 to 1869. (12 hrs. 8 cs.)
NMO004 / Buy $59 / Rent $13.75
by Alan Moorehead
Read by Patrick Tull. No unexplored region in our times, not the himalayan heights, the antarctic wastes, nor even the hidden side of the moon, has excited quite the same fascination as the mystery of the sources of the Nile. This is the story of the river and the people it drew inexorably to it. (12.25 hrs. 9 cs.)
NMO005 / Buy $68 / Rent $15.25
by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy
Read by David Ackroyd. Scientific convention has decreed to heretical to attribute any emotions to animals, though all animal lovers and many modern scientists know that the animals they know have complex emotional lives. This book explores the full range of emotions found among animals, looking at data from biologists, animal behaviorists, pet owners and animal trainers, with unforgettable vignettes about elephants, cats, gorillas, and parrots. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMO006 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Bill Moyers
Read by the author. Moyers interviews doctors, scientists, therapists and patients around the world about the new mind/body medicine. How do emotions translate into chemicals in our bodies? How do thoughts and feelings influence health? How can we collaborate with our bodies to heal? Perhaps U.S. medicine is turning away at last from the ideas that technology and "heroic" medicine are the only valid approaches to healing. (5.5 hrs. 5 cs.)
NMO001 / Buy $25 / Rent $11
by Michael Murphy
Read by Mitchell Ryan. In this classic tale of sport and mysticism, Esalen Institute co-founder Murphy recounts his mythic adventures on the scottish golf links with master golfer and spiritual philosopher Shivas Irons. "...a fascination..."&emdash;Joseph Campbell. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NMU003 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Dervla Murphy
Read by Kate Binchy. One of our favorite authors finally discovered on tape. The superadventurous Murphy this time takes along her 8-year-old daughter. That's four of the feet. The others belong to the delightful burro, Juana. This tiny party walked 1300 miles through the Central Andes from Cayamarca south to Cuzco. On the journey they encounter as daily hazards extremes of temperature, shortage of food, lack of reliable mapsÑand on one occasion the theft of Juana.(13 hrs. 12 cs.)
by Helen Nearing
Read by the author. With the ease of someone who has lived an examined life, Nearing shares thoughts on gaining a clear vision, creating opportunities, empowerment and self-discipline, commitment and integrity. But she's not a bit preachy! (1.5 hrs. 1 cs.)
NNE002 / Buy $10.95 / Rent $4.75
by Nicholas Negroponte
Read by Penn Jillette. Bits, "the DNA of information," are rapidly replacing atoms as the basic commodity of human interaction. Popular columnist Negroponte talks about the coming revolution in information technology that will liberate computers from the confines of screens and people from the confines of the mass media. (1 hr. 1 cs.)
NNE003 / Buy $14 / Rent $4.75
by Anaïs Nin
Read by the author. "What I have to say is really distinct from artist and art. It is the woman who has to speak." Nin reads from her Diaries 1931-1934 about her relationships with Henry Miller and June and her differences with her father; she gives us a vivid portrait of the mystery of childbirth and a loving description of voluptuous female beauty at a bathhouse in Morocco. 60 years after these diaries were written, Nin still speaks compellingly to women about their struggle to be something other than the inventions of men. (1.75 hrs. 2 cs.)
NNI003 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by P.J. O'Rourke
Read by William Macy. A lone humorist attempts to explain the entire US government. "Outrageous...it is insulting, inflammatory, profane and absolutely great..."&emdash;Washington Post Book World. (2 hrs. 2 cs.)
NOR001 / Buy $16 / Rent $5.75
by Michael Palin
Read by the author. Looking at the 21st century's expected focus on the Pacific, Palin takes a one-of-a-kind journey around the Pacific Rim. A voyage of surprises and extremes includes the desolate wastelands of Siberia, emerald mines in Colombia, bleached australian deserts, and perilous rides on ferries through the Yangtze gorges; it is an engaging account of the peoples and places he drops in on. (6 hrs. 4cs.)
by Dolly Parton
Read by the author. This is a lively mix of the platitudes we expect from Dolly with all sorts of other ingredients, some no-nonsense, others truly moving, a few screamingly funny. Debby's personal favorite: "All my life I've been driven by three things, three mysteries I wanted to know more about, three passions. They were, and are: god, music and sex. I'd like to say I've just listed them in the order of their importance to me, but their pecking order is subject to change without warning." (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NPA003 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Gary Paulsen
Read by the author. Gary Paulsen chronicles his experience of taking part in the Iditarod, the 1,180 mile, 17 day dog-sled race across Alaska. Subzero temperatures, wild wolf packs, sleepless nights, and exhaustion mark the trail; the up side is the breathtaking beauty of the landscape and the unbreakable bond between human and dog. Filled with humor, adventure, love and courage. (2.3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NPA002 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Luciano Pavarotti
Read by David Dukes. Opera is larger than real life, and Pavarotti has seemed a figure large enough for opera. In this second version of his autobiography (Pavarotti: My Story was published 15 years ago), he shares with fans both the fortunate and the regrettable events marking his life to date: forays into popular music, performances in China and boos at La Scala. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NPA004 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by M. Scott Peck
Read by the author. Subtitled A Pilgrimage Of Faith, Reason, And Discovery. This is Peck's most personal book, a diary of a trip he and his wife took through the countryside of Wales, England and Scotland looking for megalithic stones. It is also a search for meaning and mystery, romance and art. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NPE002 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Mary Pipher
Read by the the author and others. Subtitled Saving The Selves Of Adolescent Girls. Why are more US girl teens prey to depression, eating disorders, addictions and suicide attempts than ever? Pipher describes the girl-poisoning culture that undervalues girls' intelligence and subjects them to sexual harassment from elementary school on, for all of which girls usually blame themselves. Then the girls speak for themselves. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Mark J. Plotkin
Read by the author. Plotkin is chief ethnobotanist for Conservation International and has spent the past 15 years tracking the shamans of the Amazon in pursuit of their knowledge of healing plants, which may hold the cure to some of today's most devastating diseases. "An exciting and inspiring mix of ethnobotany and adventure!" (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NPL001 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Colin Powell
Read by the author. Born in Harlem of immigrant parents, Powell overcame a barely average start at school and joined the army. The rest is classic american dream, as he climbed the ranks of the military and carved out a place for himself despite his color. He shares his experiences in the deep South, in Korea, in Vietnam, as aide in the Carter administration, his triumphs during the military madnesses of recent years, his beliefs in family and personal responsibility, and in the greatness of this country. Listen for yourself and decide if you want him to be our next president! (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
NPO001 / Buy $23.50 / Rent $10.25
by National Public Radio
Read by Susan Stamberg. This guided tour through the brightest moments of the past 20 years of distinguished programming includes Laurence Olivier's secret for acting, a Nazi rally in Chicago, a walk on an Alaskan glacier, searching for truffles, an ascent of Mt. Everest, Dvorak and revolution in Prague, Little Richard, and a sunset. (2 hrs. 2 cs.)
NNP001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Leah Rabin
Read by the Claire Bloom. When israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995, tributes poured in from around the world to the military hero turned statesman. This is the widow's addition, with the triumphs and tragedies of Israel entwined with her husband's, and his family's. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Edvard Radzinsky
Read by David McCallum. The 1918 execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family brought the 300 year rule of the house of Romanov to a brutal and tragic end. Radzinsky weaves scores of firsthand accounts, including Nicholas's diary, to give a fascinating portrait of the monarch and a minute-by-minute report of his terrifying last days. The account unearths solutions to many questions left by 70 years of myth, legend and speculation surrounding the end of the Romanovs. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NRA002 / Buy $22 / Rent $10.25
by Arnold Rampersad
Read by the Levar Burton. Rampersad, chosen by Jack's wife, Rachel, to write her husband's biography, illuminates as never before his extraordinary lifeÑphenomenal ballplayer, pivotal figure in the civil rights arena, and american hero. We follow him from his student-athlete days in southern California to his donning the Brooklyn Dodgers uniform in late 1945Ñthe first player to break the color barrier. Includes the historic recording of Jackie Robinson's Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech. (4 hrs. 4cs.)
by Burt Reynolds
Read by the author. After years of declining to write his autobiography, the screen and popular culture idol gives us a fascinating joyride through his exceptional career as box office hit, romeo and talk show hero. He has a gift for self-deprecating humor and straight story-telling that shows throughout the book. (5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NRE001 / Buy $24 / Rent $10.25
by Adele Crockett Robertson
Read by Megan Gallagher. The author's daughter recently discovered this memoir written by her mother about her experiences during the Depression. A young woman, unprepared by her Radcliffe education, she took on the family farm and defended it from bank foreclosure by reviving the long-neglected orchards. Every day is a struggle with broken machinery, killing frosts, and the need to learn how to dig a well, burn brush, feed the trees, keep the bees, and prune, spray and pack her crop. Her decency and hard work are rewarded by abundant kindness from the immigrant workers who help rescue her crop. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NRO003 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Judith Rodin
Read by the author. Subtitled Breaking The Binds That Keep You From Feeling Good About Your Body. The Yale psychologist has a worldwide reputation for her work on eating disorders and aging. Here she talks about self-defeating behaviors and beliefs that keep us imprisoned in anguish over how we look. She identifies and defines the most common body traps that constrict and limit our lives. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NRO002 / Buy $16 / Rent $5.75
by A.L. Rowse
Read by David Case. In the course of his distinguished career, Oxonian A.L. Rowse has known most of the leading historians in the US and UK. Here he offers memoirs and critiques of the towering figures of Trevelyan and Namier, as well as the historians of his own, less somber, generation, among them the irrepressible Hugh Trevor-Roper. A consummate scholar and among the most stylish writers of history now living. (2.5 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Ann Rule
Read by the author. 32-year-old David Brown seemed to be the living embodiment of a rich playboy, a computer genius with a $1 million business and a young wife, mother of his new baby. The dream life began to come apart at the seams with the murder of the young mother. Brown's 14-year-old daughter went to prison for it, but a few investigators remained unconvinced that the truth had been established. 4 years later, David Brown's life history of deceit, humiliation, lechery, betrayal and finally murder, came to light. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NRU001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Bertrand Russell
Read by Terrence Hardiman. In addition to the title essay, this includes "Why I Am Not a Christian" and "A Free Man's Worship." On awarding Russell the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950, the swedish academy called him "one of our time's brilliant spokesmen of rationality and humanity, a fearless champion of free speech and free thought." In 1940, Russell was banned from teaching philosophy at City College of New York because of the ideas he set forth in "What I Believe." Half a century later, in this age of compulsory religiosity, Russell is a breath of fresh air. (2.5 hrs. 2 cs.)
NRU002 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Oliver Sacks
Read by the author. This is a collection of fascinating clinical tales representing an intriguing and touching investigation into the strange world of neurologically impaired patients. "One of the greatest clinical writers of the 20th century."&emdash;NY Times. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSA001 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Oliver Sacks
Read by the author. Author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings, neurologist Sacks offers a portrait of several travelers to unimaginable lands&emdash;the surgeon consumed by compulsive tics except when he is operating, the man whose vision is restored after forty years of blindness&emdash;and has us take a look at the mental acts we take for granted. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSA008 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Oliver Sacks
Read by the author. Sacks has always been fascinated by islands, and here chronicles his trip to two Pacific islands. As a neurologist he is drawn to the tiny Pingelap by intriguing reports of an isolated community of islanders born totally colorblind. He listens to the islanders as they describe their world in rich terms of pattern, tone, luminance and shadow. And on Guam he investigates the puzzling neurodegenerative disease endemic there for a century. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Carl Sagan
Read by the author. Subtitled A Vision of the Human Future in Space. >From the perspective of the pale blue dot that is the earth in the universe, the Pulitzer winner contrasts the egocentricity of established religions with the immense complexity of the universe scientists are studying. He urges us to regain the kind of excitement surrounding the moon landings. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSA007 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by May Sarton
Read by Andrea Itkin. May Sarton has sought truth in every avenue of her brilliant long life. Here is the essence of that life over eight decades, in her own words. May Sarton as daughter, friend, solitary, success, failure, gardener, lover, and through it all&emdash;writer. (4.25 hrs. 4 cs.)
NSA006 / Buy $29.95 / Rent $10.25
by Jean Sasson
Read by Valerie Bertinelli. Subtitled A True Story of Life Behind the Veil, this is a riveting account by a real but anonymous princess in Saudi Arabia. Violently jealous of her brother's extreme privilege, she grew up to see the patterns of male domination in her society, particularly among the fanatically religious. Routine clitoridectomies; arranged marriages between child brides and men old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers; and yes, really: princesses locked in tower rooms or dungeons for life. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSA003 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Jean Sasson
Read by Marina Sirtis. The princess from Saudi Arabia picks up her story with a focus on her children and their generation, exposed both to the freedoms of the west and the veils of home. One daughter rejects every restriction of the feudal patriarchy; another becomes a muslim fundamentalist fanatic. But the situation of saudi women in general is not improving at all. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSA005 / Buy $16.99 / Rent $5.75
by Barbara Savage
Read by Alexandra O'Karma. "Bicycle around the world? Because it was such a spur of the moment idea it had a good chance of survival. But when May 1978 came around, time to leave, there remained one haunting doubt. It had nothing to do with pedaling 20,000 miles. Rather, we wondered what effect our constant togetherness would have on our marriage." (14 hrs. 10 cs.)
NSA004 / Buy $75 / Rent $15.25
by Rock Scully with David Dalton
Read by Rock Scully. Scully worked with the Grateful Dead for twenty years from 1965 to 1985. His story is an amazing chronicle of their beginnings amid the psychedelic explosion of Haight-Ashbury to their arrival as an institution. It also describes the endless inventiveness, vision, charm, contrary humor and reluctant leadership of Jerry Garcia, as well as his harrowing descent into drug addiction. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSC001 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Mark Shand
Read by Paul Shelley. In the tiny , aristocratic figure of Parbati Barua, Mark Shand finds his ultimate guru. He seeks her out to take part in a film about the plight of the wild herds of elephants in north-east India, where humans and elephants are locked in a life or death struggle caused by India's population explosion. They follow the elephants' ancient migratory route through the tea gardens of West Bengal and along the rarely visited Himalayan corridor to Parbati's ancestral home in Assam. A feisty expert who misses none of the beauty and eccentricity of all things indian. (7 hrs. 6 cs.)
NSH006 / Buy $54.95 / Rent $12.25
by Mark Shand
Read by Paul Shelley. There is no better way to see India than from the howdah of an elephant, as Mark Shand discover when he and Tara, a scrawny and ill-treated begging elephant, begin their thousand kilometer journey through India to the world's oldest elephant market. This is a celebration of one of the oldest and richest associations between human and animalÑa partnership that has existed for over four thousand years, and here is touchingly maintained. (8.25 hrs. 8 cs.)
by Gail Sheehy
Read by the author. The author of Passages met with women across the country and is shocked at the lack of information about menopause among women in their 40's and 50's. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSH002 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Gail Sheehy
Read by the author. Subtitled Mapping Your Life Across Time. People are taking longer to grow up and much longer to die, thereby shifting all the traditional stages of adulthood by up to 10 years. Sheehy, synthesizing research data and drawing from hundreds of interviews, traces radical changes for the generations now in the Tryout Twenties and Turbulent Thirties, and finds baby boomers in the Flourishing Forties rejecting the whole notion of middle age, instead embracing a Second Adulthood in middle life, moving into lives of deeper meaning, renewed playfulness and burgeoning creativity. (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
NSH005 / Buy $22.50 / Rent $10.25
by Randy Shilts
Read by Willem Dafoe. This explosive report shows how an unknown virus (HIV) was ignored as it got tangled in sexual politics, governmental lethargy, corporate greed, and scientific intrigue; and as a result it has spread throughout our society. It tells of a few courageous people who fought on the front lines of the war against the spread of the virus, documenting the alarming cover-ups which marked the early stages of public information on AIDS, and the shocking selfishness on the part of some of the players involved. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSH003 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Bernie Siegel
Read by the author. Subtitled A Guide To Life, Love And Health. Here Siegel responds to the questions he is most often asked, showing ways to draw on our own strength and that of loved ones in order to confront problems in a healthy way, whether the problems have to do with illness or not. Siegel is a pioneer among doctors exploring the intangibles of healing. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSI003 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Neil Simon
Read by the author. After 40 years of bringing his sincere humanity wrapped in a million laughs to millions of people, the most successful US playwright of all time here tells his own story. "Neil Simon has created that rare thing: an autobiographical page-turner. It's a funny and moving work. I cried till I laughed."ÑSteve Martin. (4 hrs. 4 cs.)
by Dava Sobel
Read by Kate Reading. There is no better way to see India than from the howdah of an elephant, as Mark Shand discover when he and Tara, a scrawny and ill-treated begging elephant, begin their thousand kilometer journey through India to the world's oldest elephant market. This is a celebration of one of the oldest and richest associations between human and animalÑa partnership that has existed for over four thousand years, and here is touchingly maintained. (5 hrs. 5 cs.)
by Gerry Spence
Read by the author. Spence is a loved and respected attorney, who has devoted his life to defending the innocent and the damned. Known for such landmark cases as the defense of separatist Randy Weaver and the vindication of Karen Silkwood, he is also the 20-year-old who learned one morning that his god-fearing mother, tormented by her son's waywardness, had shot herself. Her suicide opened his ears to the cries of the unrepresented. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NSP001 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Freya Stark
Read by Donada Peters. Stark, a woman of prodigious energy, talent and longevity, was born in Paris in 1893 and grew up in France, Italy and England. As a young woman she traveled alone to all the Arab lands, capturing those journeys in two dozen volumes of biography and travel. (9 hrs. 6 cs.)
NST007 / Buy $48 / Rent $12.25
by Freya Stark
Read by Rosemary Davis. Freya Stark brilliantly describes her seven years spent travelling in the Middle East during WWII. Throughout this period she was working for the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Information, and through her experiences she offers an informed historical perspective of the war in this region, and of Britain's role there. (14.75 hrs. 12 cs.)
by Victoria Starr
Read by Delphine Blue. Starr explores the life of the artist who has broken all the rules of pop culture while becoming one of the world's most beloved singers. We hear about her growing up on the rolling wheat fields of southern Alberta, her training as an Olympic athlete, her move into the country music scene, and the scandals that couldn't break her, first when she openly espoused the work against cruelty to animals, and then when she became the first openly lesbian artist to win an American Music Award. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NST010 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Dawn Steel
Read by the author. Dawn Steel was the first woman to head a major motion picture studio when she was made president of Columbia Pictures in 1987. Full of heart, wit and street-smart wisdom, her unlikely journey to the top is full of Hollywood, poignant self-discovery, and startlingly candid lessons for our time. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NST005 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Wallace Stegner
Read by the author. A champion of literature and of the environment, Stegner here reads some of his finest essays. The eight selections take us from his boyhood home on the Saskatchewan prairie, to the Salt Lake City of his youth, the mountain valleys of Montana and his home of four decades in northern California. All of them convey his belief that our natural surroundings have a profound effect on who we are, as individuals and as a society. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NST004 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by John Steinbeck
Read by Gary Sinise. When Steinbeck was 58, he set out with his elderly poodle Charley to rediscover the country he had written about for so many years. From Maine to Monterey, Steinbeck reflects on the blends of kindness and hostility, loneliness and humor, that make up the north american character. (8 hrs. 6 cs.)
NST008 / Buy $30 / Rent $12.25
by Gloria Steinem
Read by the author. Subtitled A Book of Self-Esteem, this is a unique blend of Steinem's experiences, parables from the lives of such diverse people as Gandhi, Julie Andrews and kids from Spanish Harlem, with research and reportage on the meaning of self-esteem. She has connected the two great revolutions of our time&emdash;movements for social change and those towards self-realization&emdash;into a double helix of transformation. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NST003 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Gloria Steinem
Read by the author. Selections from her landmark new collection of essays. Topics include the current status of the world after decades of the feminist movement, the many paths to women's independence, and Steinem's own journey toward personal discovery and empowerment. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NST006 / Buy $23 / Rent $10.25
by Gloria Steinem
Read by the author. Since it was first published in 1983, women and men alike have acclaimed this diverse collection a witty, warm, and life-changing view of the world "as if women mattered." It includes the humorous "I Was a Playboy Bunny," a moving tribute to her mother, essays on female genital mutilation, and the hilarious "If Men Could Menstruate." (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NST009 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by James B. Stewart
Read by Boyd Gaines. This a gripping and seemingly fair look at the controversies surrounding the presidency of Bill Clinton. Many questions are carefully clarified, such as : Why did Vincent Foster commit suicide? What really happened in the Arkansas land deal known as Whitewater? Stewart paints vivid and revealing portraits of the president and first lady, and the Arkansans who came with them to Washington. He also spotlights the Clintons' bitterest opponents, including the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. (5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NST011 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Jaia Sun-Childers and Douglas Childers
Read by Jaia Sun-Childers. Jaia Sun-Childers was a young child at the beginning of the cultural revolution, and her child's perspective informs this interesting and very appealing memoir. Brought up under the spell of a godlike Mao, she and her family went through the trials of shifting definitions of political correctness while fighting their internal battles, until they decide that one way or another, they will get little Jaia from Beijing to the US. (5 hrs. 4 cs.)
by Studs Terkel
Read by the author. Studs' most important interviews from the '50's to the '80's make room for his curmudgeonly wit and maverick opinions. He draws his guests&emdash;artists, philosophers, scientists, activists&emdash;into spirited dialogues about their lives, accomplishments and most enduring dreams. Taken together, the interviews give insights into key ideas and events of the past forty years. (6 hrs. 4 cs.)
NTE002 / Buy $25 / Rent $10.25
by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Read by the author. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas has an instinct for animals and for what makes them behave the way they do. The story of this graceful and resourceful tribe begins with what cats are: meat-eaters first and foremost. But within that equation abides an astonishing range of experience and expression. Cats have culture. Either living among us or in the wild, they sustain an intricate, elegant, ever-changing web of community with other creatures, great and small, who dwell in the world. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NTH001 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Laurens Van Der Post
Read by John Nettleton. From his own childhood in Africa, Van der Post had been fascinated by the Bushmen, who even then were rapidly becoming extinct. In 1957 he led an expedition over the Kalahari Desert in search of the remnants of this unique people. The expedition almost comes to grief over natural obstacles and certain human failings, but in the end finds a community of Bushmen. The author describes their circumstances, customs, lore and nature with affection and imaginative sympathy. (10.75 hrs. 8 cs.)
NVA001 / Buy $69.95 / Rent $13.75
by Various Authors
Read by various readers. Gardens and gardening are a source of inspiration for writers and poets. Here are over 40 selections from both sides of the Atlantic, taken from essays, fiction, diaries, poetry, journalism and lettersÑamusing, ironic, poignant, opinionated. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NVA002 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Alice Walker
Read by the author. This is an intimate conversation with the Pulitzer-winning author of some of the best books around. Who is this quiet, unassuming, powerful woman who grew up in the segregated south and learned to fight oppression through her creativity? "One of the great philosophers of our time, is who." &emdash;Debby (1.5 hrs. 1 cs.)
NWA005 / Buy $10.95 / Rent $4.75
by Cornel West
Read by the author. West is a Harvard professor and preeminent analyst of America's racial dilemma, one of those helping to bridge rather than widen the gulf between races, one of the few ready to step out of the tired old cliche-land of talk about race. "Cornel West is one of the most authentic, brilliant, prophetic, and healing voices in America today. We ignore his truth in Race Matters at our personal and national peril."&emdash;Marian Wright Edelman, Children's Defense Fund. (4 hrs. 3 cs.)
NWE002 / Buy $19.95 / Rent $8
by Elie Wiesel
Read by the author. Novelist and Nobel Peace Laureate Wiesel opens his life story with the disaster of being torn from his family and dragged through the horrors of Buchenwald. The end of the war finds him alive but lost, a mute spirit, bloodless adolescent, with no where to call home. He finds two of his sisters and re-engages with his studies of jewish scriptures, gradually returning to life and engagement with the world, finding a home in the US and a mission as witness to the history of modern Israel. (1.5 hrs. 1 cs.)
NWI005 / Buy $14 / Rent $4.75
by Donna Williams
Read by Debra Winger. For the first 25 years of her life, Williams lived in a world apart, one of white spaces and fuzzy colors, of a private language, of a desire to be alone and untouched. When she discovered the word "autism" her world changed. Intelligence, creativity, and a sense of humor inform this fascinating account. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NWI004 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Edward O. Wilson, et al.
Read by Jeff Riggenbach, Julian Lopez-Morillas, and Grover Gardner. In this anthology from Harvard University Press, Wilson has two essays, "Promethean Fire" and "On Human Nature," sandwiching Merlin Donald's "Origins of the Modern Mind" and Philip Lieberman's "Uniquely Human." In clear, non-technical language, the mind's biological and behavioral roots are traced from their early beginnings in our apelike ancestors to the explosive growth of modern linguistic-based consciousness. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NWI006 / Buy $17.95 / Rent $5.75
by Naomi Wolf
Read by the author. Twenty years into the modern feminist era, women face an ominous enemy: a shifting, mass-disseminated standard of "beauty" that saps their material resources and fosters a sometimes fatal self-hatred. Thoroughly researched, Wolf's thesis is that this harsh set of restrictions is a political weapon arising from the violent backlash against feminism, which needs to be understood and rejected. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NWO002 / Buy $15.95 / Rent $5.75
by Tobias Wolff
Read by Campbell Scott. In 1955, young Toby Wolff and his mother separated from his father and brothers and began a long wandering around the country, each searching for a place in the world. "So absolutely clear and hypnotic...(It) teaches us something about the alienated world of childhood."&emdash;NYTimes. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NWO005 / Buy $17 / Rent $5.75
by Bob Woodward
Read by Kevin Spacey. In the first 18 months after Clinton's election, Woodward reveals the President debating, scolding, pleading, celebrating, and raging in anger and frustration. He also paints a group portrait of Clinton's innermost circle: Hillary, Al Gore, Lloyd Bentsen and the economic team, and the White House staff. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NWO007 / Buy $18 / Rent $5.75
by Bob Woodward
Read by Tony Roberts. Based on a massive body of original reporting and documentation, and on hundreds of interviews with firsthand sources, this is the behind-the-scenes story of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole over the last two years, the personal and political story of how these two leaders prepared themselves to square off for the '96 primaries. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
by Virginia Woolf
Read by Claire Bloom. With imaginative sweep and lyrical brilliance, Woolf takes us on a corrosive fictitious tour of The University, a venerable center of learning founded and governed by the guiding principle of male supremacy and female subordination. She points to the systematic and consistent patterns of domination, still easy to see now, more than half a century later. (1 hr. 1 cs.)
NWO003 / Buy $10.95 / Rent $4.75
by Bruce Wright
Read by Stan Winiarski. The book, which has created national controversy, is subtitled Why Our Legal System Doesn't Work For Blacks. The author is a New York Supreme Court Justice. He documents his assertion that our legal system is fundamentally unfair toward African-Americans with many cases drawn from his long experience as a lawyer and judge. The subjects cover affirmative action, police power, law schools, the US constitution, and the deeply ingrained prejudices of white judges. (3 hrs. 2 cs.)
NWR002 / Buy $16.95 / Rent $5.75
by Malcolm X with Alex Haley
Read by Joe Morton with narration by Roscoe Lee Brown. A modern classic about the transformation of "the angriest black man in America" into a minister of Islam. (4.5 hrs. 4 cs.)
NMA010 / Buy $19.95 / Rent $10.25
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