Showing results by narrator "Cooper" in All Categories

Private Investigations provides practical guidance on all aspects of the investigative process and details how the different phases come together to ensure a successful outcome. It teaches the fundamental elements of an investigation, i.e., surveillance, open-source intelligence gathering, the handling of informants, other covert activities, evaluation of evidence, and much more.

Zombies and Calculus is the account of Craig Williams, a math professor at a small liberal arts college in New England, who, in the middle of a calculus class, finds himself suddenly confronted by a late-arriving student whose hunger is not for knowledge. As the zombie virus spreads and civilization crumbles, Williams uses calculus to help his small band of survivors defeat the hordes of the undead.

Newspapers may be full of doom-and-gloom headlines, but the lucky people who live with cats get to be happy each and every day. Then again, if you live with cats you probably don’t see those terrifying headlines, anyway (because your cat won’t get off the paper long enough for you to read it), and that’s sort of the point. Cats make the very best companions for hundreds of reasons. The Book of Pawsome is a touching and raspy-tongue-in-cheek reminder that, even in a world gone mad, cat lovers always have plenty to smile about.

From their founding, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) educated as many as 90 percent of Black college students in the United States. Although many are aware of the significance of HBCUs in expanding Black Americans' educational opportunities, much less attention has been paid to the vital role that they have played in expanding American democracy. In The Power of Black Excellence, Deondra Rose provides an authoritative history of HBCUs and the unique role they have played in shaping American democracy since 1865.

Billionaire dragon shifter and Bloodkin Triad member Warrick Voclain is no stranger to power. But when his trusted steward's beautiful granddaughter - all grown up and successful in her own right - seems to be using illegal magic in his presence, he is thrown for a loop. And the fact that she's doing so to protect him? Alarming. Samantha Vine needs to stay under the radar, or her secret gift will get her and her granddad killed. She didn't intend for her quick visit home to stretch into weeks in Warrick's company.

Based on the highly acclaimed podcast with over 1 million subscribers, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse. Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztec empires of the Americas; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui.

Doctor Erin Novak was only 16 when she was accused of a crime she didn't commit. Since that moment, she has made it her life goal to pursue emergency medicine, pouring her heart and soul into assuring another innocent life isn't lost to the hands of the wicked.

Criminal defense lawyer Lisa Peebles was taken aback by a secretly recorded phone call and police interrogation video that surfaced in a 20-year-old kidnapping case. They held the stench of a cover-up. She recruited an investigative reporter to help unearth the truth and exonerate Gary Thibodeau, the man convicted in the 1994 kidnapping and murder of 18-year-old Heidi Allen.

Master is a lone soldier, relying on near-future technology and his own creativity to survive in the Gray Zone of the Ukrainian warzone. The year is 2028. The simmering conflict has transformed into a new kind of battlefield, where military streamers compete for followers and views while carrying out often deadly missions. Armed with an arsenal of experimental technology—including an advanced computer-brain interface, a multifunctional prosthetic arm, AI, and drones controlled with his mind—Master embarks on a desperate run for his life as he searches for missing fellow streamers.

In this unique history, you will discover how ill health has been with us for as long as humans have existed, as has the drive to treat and understand it. Over the course of centuries, the ways in which doctors have engaged with sickness has changed drastically, and so too have the tools at their disposal.

Sophie Crockett spent most of her childhood suffering from crippling anxiety. Diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, she became a virtual prisoner in her own home, afraid to venture outside. After battling with depression, eating disorders and self-harm, Sophie had the courage to re-enter society in her late teens.

You know those subtle tricks your coworkers are all guilty of? The constant nodding, pretend concentration, useless rhetorical questions? These tricks make them seem like they know what they're doing when in fact they have no clue. This behavior is so ingrained, so subtle, and so often mistaken for true intelligence that identifying it, calling it out, or compiling it into an exhaustive digest has never been attempted. Until now.

In 2003, music journalist Philip Clark was granted unparalleled access to jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Over the course of 10 days, he shadowed the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their extended British tour, recording an epic interview with the bandleader. Brubeck opened up as never before, disclosing his unique approach to jazz; the heady days of his "classic" quartet in the 1950s-'60s; hanging out with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis; and the many controversies that had dogged his 66-year-long career.

Theophilos and Claudia, jesters with the Guild, are sent to enlist the help of a former guild member - the minstrel Folquet, now the abbot Folq at a Cistercian monastery - to intercede with the pope on their behalf.

The impact of an asteroid led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Could another giant cosmic missile soon be heading our way? In Target Earth, acclaimed Dutch astronomy writer Govert Schilling provides a full account of what we know, and need to know, about all the extraterrestrial matter constantly bombarding our planet—from microscopic dust particles and space debris to massive meteorites, comets, and asteroids.

Social science is the study of human behavior. It offers the tools to understand and explain people's choices and actions, and how they live in communities. With insights from social science, organizations and individuals may be persuaded to change their behavior, making a difference in addressing societal challenges. Social science can offer us the answers to key questions, such as why do some people gamble, eat unhealthy foods, or hold racist beliefs?

In 1665, an infectious disease swept through the British capital and claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. It would take another two hundred years for the cause of the Great Plague of London to be confirmed: a powerful bacterium called Yersinia pestis. In those centuries, our understanding of diseases was transformed. In So Very Small, Thomas Levenson reveals how human hubris led us to overestimate our own ability and underestimate the threat that microorganisms truly pose.

Everyone thinks they know the real story behind the villains in fairy tales - but the villains themselves beg to differ. In Troll's-Eye View, you'll hear from the Giant's wife ("Jack and the Beanstalk"), Rumpelstiltskin, the oldest of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and many more. A stellar lineup of authors, including Garth Nix, Jane Yolen, and Nancy Farmer, makes sure that these old stories do new tricks!

For five years, Cooper S. Beckett has written for Life on the Swingset. The website was born out of the feeling that he'd learned enough in his whole year of swinging to tell other people how to live their nonmonogamous lives. His hubris can be seen from space. Here, he has collected personal essays, stories, erotica, and prescriptive how-tos into this memoir of his life, My Life on the Swingset. He may be biased when it comes to swinging, polyamory, and other forms of ethical nonmonogamy (in fact, he most certainly is), but he doesn't sugarcoat it.

In 13th century Europe, political turmoil is the order of the day and the Fool's Guild and its agents - jesters, jugglers, and knaves to a man - works behind the scenes to manipulate events, trying to maintain a balance of power. Theophilos, a member of the Guild known by many names, is still recovering from his last mission during which he was severely wounded and nearly lost his life but, in the person of Viola, found himself an apprentice and a wife. But there is no rest for the wicked.