Audiobooks narrated by Josh Bloomberg

Seventeen Spoons: The Desert Songs Trilogy, Book 2

The eagerly awaited second volume of The Desert Songs Trilogy, Seventeen Spoons, takes readers on an unforgettable journey alongside the beloved religious icon, Joseph, as he navigates the tumultuous path of gaining power and breaking away from his family's traditions. Seventeen Spoons delves into the life of Joseph, the youngest and most favored son in the tribe of Jacob. With prophetic dreams, special treatment, a divine connection, and an unshakable confidence, his youth is marked by distinction and envy. While his brothers exclude him, Joseph finds solace and wisdom among the women of the tribe. Instead of becoming a shepherd like his brothers, he becomes a man of the tents, devoted to prayer and study. Though he swiftly masters reading and writing, he must also navigate the complex emotions surrounding him—jealousy, anger, love, and his own feelings of curiosity, affection, and grief. Joseph's ascension to being crowned Second-in-Command of all Egypt is fraught with dramatic power shifts. Through it all, he must balance the traditions and lessons of his childhood with the demands of ruling a mighty kingdom, fulfilling his destiny as a revered leader.

Esther Goldenberg (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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The Social Paradox: Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness

From the author of The Social Leap comes this thought-provoking exploration into humans’ two core evolutionary needs, for connection and autonomy, how the modern world has thrown them out of whack, and how we can rebalance them to improve our lives. Why do people who have so much—leading comfortable lives filled with unprecedented freedom, choice, and abundance—often feel so unhappy and unfulfilled? This phenomenon is a defining paradox of our time and one we endlessly seek to solve. In The Social Paradox, psychologist William von Hippel argues that we need to think about this problem in a new way. By changing our perspective, we might finally see the solution, bringing us greater happiness and more satisfying relationships. The key is to understand the interplay between our two most basic psychological needs—for connection and autonomy. Evolution made us dependent on one another for survival, instilling in us a strong need to connect. It also made us seek autonomy, so our ancestors could distinguish themselves within their groups, improving their chances to procreate and gain status. These two opposing needs are our most fundamental psychological drivers, and while our lives once ensured a happy balance between them, the opportunities of today’s world have thrown it out of whack. As von Hippel explains, our modern world no longer demands connection but it provides endless opportunity for autonomy; this lopsidedness lies at the root of many of our most intractable problems. Recognizing this imbalance and working to counter it can drastically change how we make decisions, spend our time, and find happiness. The Social Paradox invites us to examine the fundamental building blocks of life and society—politics, religion, urban living, marriage—in a brand-new way. Once we understand the evolutionary forces driving us, we can begin to see how to counteract the emptiness and loneliness of contemporary life.

William Von Hippel (Author), Josh Bloomberg, TBD (Narrator)

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The Third Temple

Who will rule the Holy Land, and at what cost? In a near-future Jerusalem, harrowing omens plague the city: a desecrated altar, an unbearable stench, a rampant famine. Shaken but devout, Jonathan, the royal family's third son, continues to hold services and offer animal sacrifices at the prophesied Third Temple, built to consecrate the founding of the new Kingdom of Judah. His father, Israel's self-appointed king, has abolished the Supreme Court. The Torah is the law of the land, and only people of the Jewish faith are allowed in. When war breaks out and an angel of God begins to torment Jonathan, warning him of his father's sacrilege, the foundations of the young priest's faith—and then his world—begin to give way. Winner of the prestigious Bernstein Prize, The Third Temple plunges listeners into a tempest of fanaticism, betrayal, and destruction. Where does the power of man end and the power of God begin? With chilling resonance, this vivid novel from one of Israel's leading authors sounds an unforgettable warning amidst rising extremism.

Yishai Sarid (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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Night Owls

In this thrilling paranormal YA romance debut steeped in folklore, two estries—owl-shifting female vampires from Jewish tradition—face New York's monstrous underworld to save the girl one of them loves with help from the boy one of them fears before they are, all of them, lost forever. Clara loves rules. Rules are what have kept her and her sister, Molly, alive—or, rather, undead—for over a century. Work their historic movie theater by day. Shift into an owl under the cover of night. Feed on men in secret. And never fall in love. Molly is in love. And she’s tired of keeping her girlfriend, Anat, a secret. If Clara won’t agree to bend their rules a little, then she will bend them herself. Boaz is cursed. He can’t walk two city blocks without being cornered by something undead. At least at work at the theater, he gets to flirt with Clara, wishing she would like him back. When Anat vanishes and New York’s monstrous underworld emerges from the shadows, Clara suspects Boaz, their annoyingly cute box office attendant, might be behind it all. But if they are to find Anat, they will need to work together to face demons and the hungers they would sooner bury. Clara will have to break all her rules—of love, of life, and of death itself—before her rules break everyone she loves. In this stand-alone debut, A. R. Vishny interweaves mystery, romance, and lore to create an unputdownable story about those who have kept to the shadows for far too long.

A. R. Vishny (Author), Gilli Messer, Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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Fentanyl Nation: Toxic Politics and America's Failed War on Drugs

A passionate call to abandon ineffective drug-war policies, reframe addiction as a public health issue, and end the Fentanyl crisis. The American overdose crisis has reached record-breaking heights; preventable overdoses are now responsible for more annual deaths than traffic accidents, suicide, or gun violence. Fentanyl—a potent, inexpensive, and easy-to-manufacture synthetic opioid—has thoroughly contaminated the drug supply, and while it frequently makes front page news across the country, it remains poorly understood by policymakers and the public. Why, despite all of our efforts to raise awareness and billions of dollars of investments, does this emergency keep getting worse? In Fentanyl Nation, recovery advocate Ryan Hampton separates the facts from the fiction surrounding Fentanyl, and shows how overdose deaths are ultimately policy failures. Instead of investing in education, harm reduction, effective treatment, and recovery, we have doubled down on more police, more incarceration, and harsher penalties for those caught in the grip of addiction. Yet history has shown time and time again that it is impossible to arrest our way out of a public health crisis; the government used the same strategy to fight the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 80s and 90s, and it only resulted in racially disparate policing and the destruction of marginalized communities. This urgent and informative manifesto reveals how prejudice, discrimination, and stigma have been codified into our drug laws, and calls for a compassionate and evidence-based approach that would address the core causes of addiction and save countless lives. We can end this crisis, but only if we get out of our own way.

Ryan Hampton (Author), Josh Bloomberg, TBD (Narrator)

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Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History

Jewish Life in Medieval Spain is a detailed exploration of the Jewish experience in medieval Spain from the dawn of Sephardic society in the ninth century to the expulsion of 1492. An important contribution of the book is the integration of the rise and fall of Jewish life in Muslim al-Andalus into the history of the Jews in medieval Christian Spain. It traces the collapse of Jewish life in Muslim Spain, the emigration of Andalusi Jewry to the lands of Christian Iberia, and the difficult confluence of these two distinct Jewish subcultures. Focusing on internal developments of Jewish society, it offers a narrative of Jewish history from the inside out, bringing to light the various divisions and rivalries within the community. This approach allows for a deeper understanding of the complex relations between Spanish Jews and their Muslim and Christian neighbors. Jonathan Ray's perspective on the Jewish experience is instructive when considering the widescale anti-Jewish riots of 1391. The combination of violence and mass conversion of the Jews irrevocably shifted the dynamics of inter-religious relations as well as those within the Jewish community. Yet even in the wake of these tragic events, the Jews of Spain continued to flourish, fostering a culture that they would carry into exile and that would preserve the memory of Jewish Spain for centuries to come.

Jonathan Ray (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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The Weight of Ink

WINNER OF A NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD A USA TODAY BESTSELLER "A gifted writer, astonishingly adept at nuance, narration, and the politics of passion."-Toni Morrison Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. When Helen is summoned by a former student to view a cache of newly discovered seventeenth-century Jewish documents, she enlists the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is charming, and embarks on one last project: to determine the identity of the documents' scribe, the elusive "Aleph." Electrifying and ambitious, The Weight of Ink is about women separated by centuries-and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind.

Rachel Kadish (Author), Hannah Curtis, Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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My Brother's Keeper: Netanyahu, Obama, & the Year of Terror & Conflict that Changed the Middle East

My Brother's Keeper tells the behind-the-scenes story of how the American president and the Israeli prime minister clashed about peace, war, and the future of the region. Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu viewed the world-and especially the Middle East-differently. The US president wanted to end what he saw as America's perpetual war against the Muslim and Arab worlds, use diplomacy to bring about a Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel, and apply his signature foreign policy vision to reward the Islamic Republic of Iran in exchange for the scaling back of their nuclear pursuits. The Israeli premier wanted his country to thrive without the senseless bloodshed of terror and violence, and he was determined to protect the Jewish state from threats of annihilation by a member of the axis of evil that would one day be armed with nuclear weapons. Netanyahu wanted peace for peace, as well as the acceptance of Israel as a full-fledged part of the Middle East. In 2014, during a pivotal summer of terrorist violence, a war in Gaza, and the advancement of a nuclear deal with Iran, the two men clashed, threatening the US-Israeli strategic alliance and the future of the region. The Middle East would never be the same.

Ari Harow, Ari Harrow (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life

A profound, startling new understanding of Jewish life, illuminating the forgotten heart of Jewish theology and practice: love. A dramatic misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition has shaped the history of the West: Christianity is the religion of love, and Judaism the religion of law. In the face of centuries of this widespread misrepresentation, Rabbi Shai Held—one of the most important Jewish thinkers in America today—recovers the heart of the Jewish tradition, offering the radical and moving argument that love belongs as much to Judaism as it does to Christianity. Blending intellectual rigor, a respect for tradition and the practices of a living Judaism, and a commitment to the full equality of all people, Held seeks to reclaim Judaism as it authentically is. He shows that love is foundational and constitutive of true Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness. Ambitious and revelatory, Judaism Is About Love illuminates the true essence of Judaism—an act of restoration from within.

Shai Held (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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The Apprentice of Buchenwald: The True Story of the Teenage Boy Who Sabotaged Hitler’s War Machine

Alexander Rosenberg was a smart and curious teenager who spoke many languages, collected stamps, played the violin, and lived a pampered life with his affluent parents in a tranquil Czechoslovakian town. The rise of fascism and Nazi Germany causes his protected existence to collapse, alongside the illusion of secular Jewish assimilation in 1930s Europe. Using their last reserves of wealth and influence to escape extermination, the Rosenbergs go underground to avoid the Gestapo. Eventually exposed, captured, and taken to Buchenwald, the largest concentration camp in Germany, Alexander and his father collaborate to survive one day at a time. A chaotic chain of events puts young Alexander at the heart of a massive armament sabotage scheme. When his father is gravely injured and disappears after an air bombing, it is up to industrious Alexander to create leverage and use wartime machinations and raw talent to save his father's life. This universal, true story of inner strength, resourcefulness and optimism was documented and written by Alexander's grandson, Oren Schneider. It is dedicated to brave people everywhere who choose not to give up.

Oren Schneider (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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Happily Jewish: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, Connection and Joy in Jewish Thought

Happily Jewish blows the dust off texts formerly inaccessible to anyone but Orthodox Jews and offers a wealth of guidance about how to live a more meaningful, spiritual, and connected life. Judaism isn't just a set of religious laws and principles. It's a way of thinking about the meaning of life. You'll find men and women sharing the wisdom of the ages, and often their ideas were extremely controversial at the time they first wrote them. Some were so controversial that their authors were exiled or even excommunicated. Now, they're all here in one fun and accessible volume that will give you a new outlook on life-a new level of happiness and joy. This book contains twenty sets of explosive, life-changing ideas and philosophies about how to maximize your happiness, joy, and how you find meaning in life. If you're Jewish, these ideas (traditionally known only to those in the Orthodox world) are your heritage. They already belong to you. It's time to 'take delivery' of what's already yours and learn the secrets of Jewish wisdom, character, and yes, survival. These concepts go back to the very creation of the Torah and relate to everything from being the best possible person we can be to understanding Jewish concepts of sex and intimacy. It's all here-waiting to be unpacked and put to use-in author Michael Levin's Happily Jewish.

Michael Levin (Author), Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror

These are the stories that haunt us A cemetery full of the restless dead. A town so wicked it has already burned twice, with the breath of the third fire looming. A rural, isolated bridge with a terrifying monster waiting for the completion of its summoning ritual. A lake that allows the drowned to return, though they have been changed by the claws of death. These are the shadowed, liminal spaces where the curses and monsters lurk, refusing to be forgotten. Hauntings, and a variety of horrifying secrets, lurk in the places we once called home. Written by New York Times bestselling, and other critically acclaimed, authors these stories shed a harsh light on the scariest tales we grew up with.

Tori Bovalino (Author), Chanté Mccormick, Josh Bloomberg (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Josh Bloomberg