Showing results by narrator "Neil Shah" in All Categories

In most forms of meditation, the meditator is instructed to let go of thoughts as they arise. As a result thinking is often taken unnecessarily to be something misguided or evil. This approach is misguided, says Jason Siff. In fact if we allow thoughts to arise and become mindful of the thoughts themselves, we gain tranquility and insight just as in other methods without having to reject our natural mental processes.

As mankind nears its goal of galactic citizenship, Sirius Kade, trader and Earth Intelligence Service deep cover agent, learns that wealthy and powerful leaders from across Mapped Space are vying for control of an alien relic they believe is the key to untold riches - unaware that they are being deceived. Sirius soon finds himself entangled in an interstellar plot to make humanity a cosmic outcast, denying it its place as the newest member of the vast and ancient community that has governed the galaxy for eons.

He was the Western convert who would plunge deep inside al-Qaeda. He named his first son Osama after 9/11 and became a Jihadist. But then - after a sudden loss of faith - Morten Storm made a life-changing decision. He became a double agent and joined the CIA, MI6 and MI5. Filled with hair-raising close calls and deception, Storm's story builds to the climactic finale when he must betray his friend and mentor al-Awlaki - al-Qaeda's biggest threat to the West.

How can we promote the learning and well-being of all students, especially those who come from some of the most disadvantaged backgrounds? Anindya Kundu argues that we can fight against deeply rooted inequalities in the American educational system by harnessing student agency - each person's unique capacity for positive change. To make his case, Kundu draws powerful narratives from a population of individuals who beat the odds to become academically and professionally successful.

Harish knows the line between what men and women should want, and he keeps it in sight. But when Harish’s family suffers loss, he finds himself in charge of two sisters, in charge of making money. And so he begins to dance publicly, in the bright colors and kohl rimmed eyes of the god Krishna … and in the rhythm-making anklets and the swirling costumes of the female Rajasthani dancers he so admired. A new persona is born.

Insomnia has claimed everyone Biggs knows. Even his beloved wife, Carolyn, succumbed before disappearing into the quickly collapsing world. Yet Biggs can still sleep, and dream, so he sets out to find her. He ventures out into a world ransacked by mass confusion and desperation, where he meets others struggling against the tide of sleeplessness. Chase and Jordan are devising a scheme to live off their drug-store lootings; Lila is a high school student wandering the streets in an owl mask; Felicia abandons the sanctuary of a sleep research center to try to protect her family.

A body so badly burned that it could be mistaken for a movie prop...except for the smell. That's not something the LAPD finds lying on the street every day. And when Detective Tully Jarsdel is called to the scene, it's clear to him that something about the placement of the corpse is intentional, even ritualistic. Jarsdel's former career in academia seems to finally be coming in handy, rather than serving merely as material for jokes from his partner, Morales. But nothing Jarsdel learned in school can prepare him for the deep evil behind this case.

On a small Pacific island, two siblings tune in to a breaking-news radio bulletin. It is 1985, and an Indian grocer has just been attacked by nativists aligned with the recent military coup. Now, fear and shock ripple through the island’s deeply rooted Indian community as racial tensions rise to the brink. Bhumi hears this news from her locked-down dorm room in the capital city. She is the intellectual standout of the family, an aspiring botanist on the path to success. But when her connection to a government official becomes a liability, she must flee her unstable home for California.

ShadowStrike poisoned the water of Trinity Falls two months ago. Now the Trinity Four, the teens most affected by the poison, have been isolated in a remote mansion under 24-hour medical care while scientists on four continents rush to discover a cure. Meanwhile, US operatives scour the world for the bioterrorists responsible for this heinous crime as two teen virtual spies, also infected, hunt for the criminals on the Internet.

In his trailblazing Harvard courses, internationally best-selling books, and lectures and videos, positive psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar has shared his essential, scientifically backed tools for finding fulfillment the world over. But even the happiness expert needs a boost from time to time! Tal found his not in a guru or fellow psychologist but rather in his longtime neighbourhood barber, Avi - a man with a gift for making his clients look and feel great with wisdom beyond his years. Tal's visits to Avi soon grew into a friendship deeper than most.

Gamer and commentator Jamie Madigan's fresh and pertinent new book shows how business leaders can promote a culture of productivity and innovation using gaming techniques and psychology. Just as games teach players to navigate a virtual "world", bosses teach employees to navigate the workplace by solving problems, cooperating with colleagues, and setting long-term goals. The application of video games has the potential to eliminate dreary offices in favor of more stimulating - and ultimately, more profitable - work environments. Look no further to level up your team!

When a six-year-old girl disappears and calling the police isn’t an option, her desperate mother, Pernilla, turns to an unlikely source for help. She finds a cryptic ad online for a private investigator: “Need help, but can’t contact the police?” That’s where Kouplan comes in. He’s an Iranian refugee living in hiding. He was forced to leave Iran after news of his and his brother's involvement with a radical newspaper hated by the regime was discovered. He makes a living as a P.I. working under the radar, waiting for the day he can legally apply for asylum.

Stathis Rakis abandoned his small Greek village for a more worldly life, first in San Francisco, where the dot-com bubble had already burst, and then in Paris, France, where he is pursuing an MBA at an elite business school. After falling helplessly in love with a liberal New England journalist, Stathis moves to the United States to begin as a consultant for a company called Command. Luxury is a given; happiness is not.

In the city of Mardin, near Turkey’s border with Syria, the orphaned Avdo finds purpose when an old mason takes him on as an apprentice. From Master Josef, he learns the importance of their art, which looks after the dead and bears witness to their lives. Avdo then travels the country and meets a woman he loves wholeheartedly, only to lose her through a tragic crime. Resigned to a lonely existence, he retreats from the world into his cemetery workshop, but even there, life, with all its sorrows, joys, injustices, and gifts, draws him in unexpected directions.

Spanning more than a century of Indian history, and decidedly transnational in reference, this audiobook offers rich resources for considering the threat of climate change today.

Aging and wheelchair-bound patriarch Bhaskar Fernandez has finally reclaimed his family property after a bitter legal battle and now wants to reunite his aggrieved relatives. So he invites them to remote Greybrooke Manor in the misty Nilgiris - a mansion that has played host to several sudden deaths; a colonial edifice that stands alone in a valley that is said to be haunted by the ghost of an Englishman. But Bhaskar has other, more practical problems to deal with.

On Not Dying is an anthropological, historical, and philosophical exploration of immortality as a secular and scientific category. Based on an ethnography of immortalist communities - those who believe humans can extend their personal existence indefinitely through technological means - and an examination of other institutions involved at the end of life, Abou Farman argues that secular immortalism is an important site to explore the tensions inherent in secularism.

Ernst is a gruff seventy-year-old Red Army veteran. Retired, he lives alone and spends his time laboring over his unpublished novels. Irena, in her mid-thirties, has been taking care of Ernst since his surgery two years earlier. Quiet and shy, Irena is in awe of Ernst's intellect. And as the months pass, Ernst comes to depend on the gentle young woman who runs his house. But Ernst's writing gives him no satisfaction, and he is haunted by his Communist past.

In this urgent outpouring of American voices, our poets speak to us as they shelter in place, addressing our collective fear, grief, and hope from eloquent and diverse individual perspectives.

Young Muhammad adores his home, and he loves waking up each day to the sound of birds singing. His father encourages him to keep singing through happy days as well as sad—just like the birds. And there are indeed sad days ahead when his family is forced to flee from Genghis Khan’s army, becoming refugees. As they travel, Muhammad takes many lessons from nature, and his positivity and spirit of largess lights the way.