Audiobooks narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend

A deeply reported, perceptive, and celebratory biography of beloved actor James Gandolfini from a prominent critic and film historian Based on extensive research and original reporting, including interviews with friends and collaborators, Gandolfini is a detailed and nuanced appraisal of an enduring artist. More than a decade after his sudden passing, James Gandolfini still exerts a powerful pull on television and film enthusiasts around the world. His charismatic portrayal of complex, flawed, but always human men illuminated the contradictions in all of us, as well as our potential for grace, and the power of love and family. In Gandolfini, critic and historian Jason Bailey traces the twinned stories of the man and the unforgettable roles he played. Gandolfini’s roots were working class, raised in northern New Jersey as the son of Italian immigrants, and acting was something he loved for a long time before he could see it as a career. It wasn’t until he was well into his bohemian twenties that he dedicated himself to a life on the stage and screen. Bailey traces his rise, from bit parts to character roles he enlivened with menace and vulnerability, to Tony Soprano, the breakout role that would make him a legend, and onto a post-Sopranos career in which he continued to challenge himself and his audience.

Jason Bailey (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, TBD (Narrator)

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The Third Realm

Karl Ove Knausgaard (Author), Ari Fliakos, Edoardo Ballerini, Kelsey Jaffer, Neil Hellegers, Nina Yndis, Raphael Corkhill, Saskia Maarleveld, TBD, Vas Eli (Narrator)

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Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter

Brought to you by Penguin. Rising star New York Times technology reporters, Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, tell for the first time the full and shocking inside story of Elon Musk’s unprecedented hostile takeover of Twitter and the forty-four-billion-dollar deal’s seismic political, social, and financial fallout. The billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become inextricable from the social media platform that until 2023 was known as Twitter. Started in the mid-2000s as a playful microblogging platform, Twitter quickly became a vital nexus of global politics, culture, and media—where the retweet button could instantly catapult any idea to hundreds of millions of screens around the world, unleashing raw collective emotion like nothing else before. While its founder had idealistically dreamed of building a 'digital town square,' he detested Wall Street and never focused on building a profitable business. Musk joined the platform in 2010 and, by 2022, had become one of the site’s most influential users, hooking over 80 million followers with his mix of provocative posts, promotion of his companies, and attacks on his enemies. To Musk, Twitter — once known for its almost absolute commitment to free speech — had badly lost its way. He blamed it for the proliferation of what he called the “woke mind virus” and claimed that the survival of democracy and the human race itself depended on the future of the site. In January of 2022, Musk began secretly accumulating Twitter stock. By April, he was its largest shareholder, and soon after, he made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company for the unimaginable sum of $44 billion dollars. Backed into a corner, Twitter’s board accepted his offer—but Musk quickly changed his mind, forcing Twitter to sue him to close the deal in October. The richest man on earth controlled one of the most powerful media platforms in the world—but at what price? Before long Twitter would be gone for good, replaced by something radically new and different, as Musk remade the company in his own image from the ground up. The story of the showdown between Musk and Twitter and his eventual takeover of the company is unlike anything in business or media that has come before. In vivid, cinematic detail, Conger and Mac follow the inner workings of the company as Musk lays siege to it, first from the outside as one of its most vocal users, and then finally from within as a contentious and mercurial leader. Musk has shared some of his version of events, but Conger and Mac have uncovered the full story through exclusive interviews, unreported documents, and internal recordings at Twitter following the billionaire’s takeover. With unparalleled sources from within and around the company, they provide a revelatory, three-dimensional, and definitive account of what really happened when Musk showed up, spoiling for a brawl and intent on revolution, with his merciless, sycophantic cadre of lawyers, investors, and bankers. This is the defining story of our time told with uncommon style and peerless rigor. In a world of viral ideas and emotion, who gets to control the narrative, who gets to be heard, and what does power really cost? © Kate Conger, Ryan Mac 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Kate Conger, Ryan Mac (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, TBD (Narrator)

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Paul's Journal

A fresh and inspiring account of history’s most important Church builder – from his perspective. Far from the untouchable images of heaven-gazing saints, the apostle Paul ruthlessly focused on his earthly duty to build God’s Church. Before his dramatic conversion he had violently tried to stamp out a heretical sect of Jews – the first Christians. But Paul’s encounter with Christ turned his boundless energy to building the young and fragile Church into an established and enduring body. For many modern Christians, Paul’s eagerness to act for the Lord, willingness to face danger, and seemingly inexhaustible zeal make him the very model of Godly purpose. But Paul was not perfected on the Road to Damascus. He was human, with a life that spanned decades of personal and spiritual development. Taking the Bible as literal Truth, Paul’s Journal offers readers the opportunity to walk with this pivotal messenger of Christ, from the Acts to the letters and beyond. Presented as a first-hand account, it places Paul’s familiar voice within enriching historical and cultural contexts that will engage and edify any Christian. Shining a new light on his life from persecutor to martyr, this may be the second-best narrative of Paul ever written.

Keith Dixon (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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Three Kings: Race, Class, and the Barrier-Breaking Rivals Who Redefined Sports and Launched the Mode

For fans of The Boys in the Boat, and marking the 100th anniversary of the Paris Olympics, the never-before-told story of three athletes who defied the odds to usher in a golden age of sports. Even today, it’s considered one of the most thrilling races in Olympic history. The one-hundred-meter sprint final at the 1924 Paris Games, featuring the world’s three fastest swimmers—American legends Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller and Japanese upstart Katsuo Takaishi—had the cultural impact of the Super Bowl and Wimbledon and the World Cup finals put together. Never before had a major swimming event featured athletes of different races, and never had it been broadcast live. Across the globe, fans held their breath. In less than a minute, an Olympic record would be shattered, and the three men would be scrutinized like few athletes before them. For the millions worldwide for whom swimming was a complete unknown, the trio did something few could imagine: moving faster through water than many could on land. As sportsmen, they were god-like heroes, embodying the hopes of those who called them their own in the US and abroad. They personified strength and speed and the glamor and innovation of the Roaring Twenties. But they also represented fraught assumptions about race and human performance. It was not only “East vs. West,” as newspapers in the 1920s described the competition with Japan. It was also brown versus white. Rich versus poor. New versus old. The race was about far more than swimming. Each man was a trailblazer and a bona fide celebrity in an age when athletes typically weren’t famous. Kahanamoku was Hawaii’s first superstar, largely responsible for making the state the popular travel destination it is today. Weissmuller, a poor immigrant, put Chicago on the sports map and would make it big as Hollywood’s first Tarzan. Takaishi inspired Japan to compete on the world stage and helped turn its swimmers into Olympic powerhouses. He and Kahanamoku in particular shattered the myth of white superiority when it came to sports, putting the lie to the decade’s burgeoning eugenics movement. Three Kings traces the careers and rivalries of these men and the epochal times they lived in. The 1920s were transformative not just socially but for sports as well. For the first time, athletes of color were given a fair (though still not equal) chance, and competition wasn’t limited to the wealthy and privileged. Our modern-day conception of athleticism and competition—especially as it relates to the Olympics—traces back to this era and athletes like Kahanamoku, Weissmuller, and Takaishi, whose hard-won victories paved the way for all who followed.

Todd Balf (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, Unknown (Narrator)

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Do Something: Coming of Age Amid the Glitter and Doom of '70s New York

An evocative coming-of-age memoir-the story of the education of a wayward wild child and acidhead who, searching for meaning and purpose, found refuge in the demimonde of the ruined but magical metropolis that was New York City in the 1970s. "In his beautiful memoir, Do Something, Guy Trebay paints a picture of a vanished, pre-AIDS Gotham that's both gritty and dazzling." -The New York Times Book Review Born in the Bronx, Guy Trebay was raised in an atmosphere of privilege on Long Island's North Shore after his entrepreneurial father struck business gold with Hawaiian Surf, a wildly successful cologne company that capitalized on the optimism of the 1960s as marketed to "an adventurous new breed of men.'' But behind the facade of material prosperity lay the emotional disarray of a household dominated by a charismatic, con artist father, a glamorous yet lost and careless mother, a family haunted by tragedy. By the time Trebay established a foothold at the fringes of Andy Warhol's Factory and the diverse artistic tribes that thrived in Manhattan in that pre-digital era, his father had lost his fortune, his younger sister had been arrested for armed robbery and fled underground, the family house was in ashes, and his mother was dead. Unschooled and on his own, Trebay became a striver, wending his way through a seemingly apocalyptic landscape populated by a vibrant cast of characters, including washed-up Hollywood screenwriters of the '30s; Warhol superstars like Jackie Curtis and Candy Darling; fashion geniuses like Charles James; and emerging artists, filmmakers, writers, designers, photographers, and deejays who would powerfully influence mainstream culture in the decades to come.

Guy Trebay (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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Maktub

Paulo Coelho (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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Dangerous Visions

Dubbed “the most significant and controversial SF book” of its generation, Harlan Ellison’s groundbreaking collection launched an entire sub-genre: New Wave science fiction. With contributions from legendary authors and multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, Dangerous Visions returns to print in a stunning new edition perfect for new and returning fans alike. A landmark short story collection that put New Wave Science Fiction on the literary map, Dangerous Visions won several prestigious awards and was nominated for many others. This now-classic anthology includes thirty-three stories by thirty-two award-winning authors, over half of whom have won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards. Contributing authors include: Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, Brian W. Aldiss, Philip K. Dick, Larry Niven, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, J.G. Ballard, Samuel R. Delany, and Ellison himself. As relevant now as it was when first published, Dangerous Visions is a phenomenal collection that deserves a place on every bookshelf.

Harlan Ellison (Author), Bradford Hastings, Bronson Pinchot, Dion Graham, Edoardo Ballerini, Feodor Chin, Grover Gardner, Heath Miller, James Patrick Cronin, Jd Jackson, Jim Meskimen, Joe Hempel, Joel Froomkin, John Pirhalla, Johnny Heller, Mara Wilson, Mark Sanderlin, Natalie Naudus, Neil Hellegers, Neil Shah, P. J. Ochlan, Ramiz Monsef, Robert Fass, Scott Aiello, Scott Brick, Shiromi Arserio, Simon Vance, Stefan Rudnicki, Steve West, Steven Jay Cohen, Suzanne Toren, TBD, Thom Rivera, Tim Campbell, Vikas Adam (Narrator)

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Greatest Hits

A collection of award-winning short stories by Harlan Ellison, an eight-time Hugo Award winner, five-time Bram Stoker Award winner, and four-time Nebula Award winner Harlan Ellison’s work shaped the science-fiction, fantasy, and horror genres in the twentieth century, and this collection of his best-known and most-acclaimed stories is a perfect treasury for old Ellison fans as well as listeners discovering this zany, polyphonic writer for the first time. Featuring these stories and many more: “‘Repent Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” - Hugo Award winner“Jeffty Is Five” - British Fantasy Award winner“The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” - Edgar Allan Poe Award winner

Harlan Ellison (Author), Angelo Di Loreto, Dion Graham, Edoardo Ballerini, Grover Gardner, Hillary Huber, Luis Moreno, Neil Hellegers, Robert Fass, Scott Brick, Stefan Rudnicki, Steven Jay Cohen, TBD, Tim Lounibos (Narrator)

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Peak Teams

The challenges and pressures faced by VC-backed CEOs and founders—and their teams—are unlike anything else. When you’re building something that’s never been done before, there’s no roadmap. You’re responsible for meeting the needs of your team, clients, and partners…and of course, your investors and board members. You’re juggling growth targets, internal misalignment, and raising capital—often all at once. And the whole time, you’re deeply aware of the pressure from all sides. Your drive to push forward—to build, solve, and create—is unstoppable, but it can often feel like everything is on your shoulders, and you’re hiking up a steep mountain buried in a fog. It doesn’t have to be that way. Build the right team, and you’ll go from facing challenges alone to maximizing opportunities together. Jeff James Martin has spent a two-decade career on the ground with VC-backed teams trying to answer the question: What makes some VC-backed companies succeed, and others fail? This book holds the answer. Peak Teams is a holistic blueprint for building an unstoppable team and empowering them with the core habits that create winning behaviors. In this book, you’ll learn the Peak Teams System, a framework of habits and tools designed specifically for venture-backed teams. With the alignment, focus, accountability, and visibility Peak provides, you’ll part the fog surrounding your business and get everyone—investors, partners, clients, and employees—heading up to the mountain’s peak together.

Jeff James Martin (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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Mind Burn

Minority Report meets Ready Player One as a new investigator hunts down a dangerous criminal capable of high-jacking and controlling cybernetic implants. When your new employer tasks you with investigating the first successful mass shooting in twelve years, it’s understandable to be nervous. Fortunately, detective-in-training Cowan Soto has a Personal Brain Assistant—a cybernetic implant—that allows him to firewall pesky emotions like worry and guilt and redact memories of bullet-riddled corpses. Unfortunately, Cowan soon learns it was his suspect’s PBA which allowed a ruthless hacker to puppet her into a shooting rampage. Aided by a veteran investigator, a brilliant CFO, a nihilistic cybercriminal, and the best waifu madam in Kearny Mesa, Cowan must wade through a gauntlet of homicidal professional gamers, the Russian mafia, and the board of OneWorld to bring this ruthless puppetmaster to justice. All the while, the brand-new detective is concealing the fact that he’s the exact type of criminal OneWorld has hired him to arrest: a loose circuit—a human unbound by behavioral modification protocols. Grab your copy today and experience this breakneck technothriller from USA Today bestselling author Rhett C. Bruno and T. E. Bakutis. It’s perfect for fans of Douglas E. Richards, Richard K. Morgan, and William Gibson. Full of action, mystery, and loads of cybernetic future-tech, Mind Burn explores the very question of what it means to be free.

Rhett C. Bruno, T. E. Bakutis (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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The Wolves of Eternity

Brought to you by Penguin. The future is no more, and eternity has begun. It's 1986 and a nuclear reactor has exploded in Chernobyl. Syvert Løyning returns home from military service to live with his mother and brother on the outskirts of a town in Southern Norway. One night, he dreams of his late father, and can't shake him from his mind. Searching through his father's belongings for clues and connections, he finds a cache of letters that lead to the Soviet Union. In present-day Russia, Alevtina is trying to balance work and family. She has always sought the answers to life's big questions, but is preoccupied with care of her young son. Her friend Vasilisa offers some nourishment: she is writing a book about an ancient feature of Russian culture, the belief in eternal life. Meantime, Alevtina is heading towards a meeting that will redraw the contours of her world. A searching and humane novel, The Wolves of Eternity is an intimate journey into the experiences of a half-brother and half-sister in their two different - yet deeply connected - lives. The second novel in Karl Ove Knausgaard's extraordinary new series, it expands the universe of The Morning Star in the decades before the blazing and mysterious star descends. ©2023 Karl Ove Knausgaard (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Karl Ove Knausgaard (Author), Edoardo Ballerini, Gilli Messer, Natasha Soudek, Vas Eli (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini