Audiobooks narrated by Kim Niemi

The Ancient Art of Thinking For Yourself: The Power of Rhetoric in Polarized Times

The discipline of rhetoric was the keystone of Western education for over two thousand years. Only recently has its perceived importance faded. In this book, renowned rhetorical scholar Robin Reames argues that, in today's polarized political climate, we should all care deeply about learning rhetoric. Drawing on examples ranging from the destructive ancient Greek demagogue Alcibiades to modern-day conspiracists like Alex Jones, Reames breaks down the major techniques of rhetoric, pulling back the curtain on how politicians, journalists, and 'journalists' convince us to believe what we believe—and to talk, vote, and act accordingly. Understanding these techniques helps us avoid being manipulated by authority figures who don't have our best interests at heart. It also grants us rare insight into the values that shape our own beliefs. Learning rhetoric, Reames argues, doesn't teach us what to think but how to think—allowing us to understand our own and others' ideological commitments in a completely new way. Thoughtful, nuanced, and leavened with dry humor, The Ancient Art of Thinking for Yourself offers an antidote to our polarized, post-truth world.

Robin Reames (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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One Last Lunch: A Final Meal with Those Who Meant So Much to Us

In this heartwarming essay collection, dozens of authors, actors, artists, and others imagine one last lunch with someone they cherished. A few years ago, Erica Heller realized how universal the longing is for one more moment with a lost loved one. It could be a parent, a sibling, a mentor, or a friend, but who wouldn't love the opportunity to sit down, break bread, and just talk? Who wouldn't jump at the chance to ask those unasked questions, or share those unvoiced feelings? In One Last Lunch, Heller has asked friends and family of authors, artists, musicians, comedians, actors, and others, to recount one such fantastic repast. Muffie Meyer and her documentary subject Little Edie Beale go to a deli in Montreal. Kirk Douglas asks his father what he thought of him becoming an actor. Sara Moulton dines with her friend Julia Child. The Anglican priest George Pitcher has lunch with Jesus. And Heller herself connects with her father, the renowned author Joseph Heller. These richly imagined stories are endlessly revealing, about the subject, the writer, the passage of time, regret, gratitude, and the power of enduring love.

Erica Heller (Author), Kim Niemi, Paul Woodson (Narrator)

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The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking

For many, technology offers hope for the future-that promise of shared human flourishing and liberation that always seems to elude our species. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies spark this hope in a particular way. They promise a future in which human limits and frailties are finally overcome-not by us, but by our machines. Yet rather than open new futures, today's powerful AI technologies reproduce the past. Forged from oceans of our data into immensely powerful but flawed mirrors, they reflect the same errors, biases, and failures of wisdom that we strive to escape. Our new digital mirrors point backward. They show only where the data say that we have already been, never where we might venture together for the first time. To meet today's grave challenges to our species and our planet, we will need something new from AI, and from ourselves. Shannon Vallor makes a wide-ranging, prophetic, and philosophical case for what AI could be: a way to reclaim our human potential for moral and intellectual growth, rather than lose ourselves in mirrors of the past. Rejecting prophecies of doom, she encourages us to pursue technology that helps us recover our sense of the possible, and with it the confidence and courage to repair a broken world. Vallor calls us to rethink what AI is and can be, and what we want to be with it.

Shannon Vallor (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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With Love, Mommie Dearest: The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic

When she died in 1977, Joan Crawford was remembered as an icon of Hollywood's Golden Age-until publication the following year of her daughter's memoir, Mommie Dearest. Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, addressing the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse. When Paramount Pictures released the film, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was critically panned, and remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter in the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule. Despite this, the movie was a commercial success and remains, four decades later, immensely popular. With Love, Mommie Dearest details the writing and selling of Christina's book and the aftermath of its publication, as well as the filming of the motion picture, whose backstage drama almost surpassed what was viewed onscreen in the film. Based on new interviews with people connected to the book and the film, Hollywood historian A. Ashley Hoff explores the phenomenon, the camp, and the very real social issues addressed by the book and film.

A. Ashley Hoff (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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Apocalypse Television: How The Day After Helped End the Cold War

On November 20, 1983, a three-hour made-for-TV movie, The Day After, premiered on ABC. Set in the heartland of Lawrence, Kansas, the film depicted the events before, during, and after a Soviet nuclear attack with vivid scenes of the post-apocalyptic hellscape that would follow. The film was viewed by over 100 million Americans and remains the highest rated TV movie in history. The path to primetime for The Day After proved nearly as treacherous as the film's narrative. Battles ensued behind the scenes at the network, between the network and the filmmakers. But these skirmishes pale in comparison to the culture wars triggered by the film in the press, alongside a growing Nuclear Freeze movement, and from a united, pro-nuclear Right. Once efforts to alter the script failed, the White House conducted a full-throttled propaganda campaign to hijack the film's message. Apocalypse Television features a dramatic insider's account of the making of and backlash against The Day After. No other book has told this story in similar fashion, venturing behind-the-scenes of the programming and news divisions at ABC, the backlash from the conservative movement and Religious Right, the challenges encountered by the film's production team, and the experiences of the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, where the film was set and shot.

David Craig (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care

Anyone who has fallen off the conveyer belt of mainstream health care and into the shadowy corners of illness knows what a dark place it is to land. Where is the infrastructure, the information, the guidance? What should you do next? In Rebel Health, Susannah Fox draws on twenty years of tracking the expert networks of patients, survivors, and caregivers who have come of age between the cracks of the health care system to offer a way forward. Covering everything from diabetes to ALS to Moebius Syndrome to chronic disease management, Fox taps into the wisdom of these individuals, learns their ways, and fuels the rebel alliance that is building up our collective capacity for better health. Rebel Health shows how the next wave of health innovation will come from the front lines of this patient-led revolution. Fox identifies and describes four archetypes of this revolution: seekers, networkers, solvers, and champions. Each chapter includes tips, such as picking a proxy to help you navigate the relevant online communities, or learning how to pitch new ideas to investors and partners or new treatments to the FDA. Proactive, optimistic, and innovative, Rebel Health is a guiding light for anyone who wishes to join the health rebel alliance and become the hero of their own story.

Susannah Fox (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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Polyvagal Prompts: Finding Connection and Joy through Guided Exploration

Discover the remarkable ways your nervous system works in service of your safety and well-being. Polyvagal Theory, developed by researcher and scientist Dr. Stephen Porges and popularized by therapist Deb Dana, has impacted countless lives. It has changed the way therapists work with their clients and provided a pathway toward healing for those who have experienced hardship or trauma. In Polyvagal Prompts, Deb Dana and Courtney Rolfe invite listeners to explore their nervous systems through Polyvagal Theory with engaging questions and exercises. Listeners are guided in noticing their systems, listening with curiosity, and reflecting on what they learn. The prompts can be used as a daily practice or to explore specific topics at the listener's own pace and are also ideal for helping clients track and reflect upon their polyvagal-informed therapies. No matter how listeners decide to explore, Polyvagal Prompts offers an invaluable opportunity to begin the life-changing journey of befriending one's nervous system.

Courtney Rolfe Lcpc, Courtney Rolfe, Lcpc, Deb Dana LCSW, Deb Dana, LCSW (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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The Heart of Therapy: Developing Compassion, Understanding and Boundaries

This thoughtful and heartfelt book develops two main themes: the healing power of a compassionate understanding towards ourselves and others, and the ways boundaries are set within and around various areas of our lives. It examines how we live these boundaries, how they impact us, and what it takes to live these with deeper satisfaction. This book also addresses shame and rage; the impact of trauma; the power of parental messages, spoken and unspoken; and transgenerational burdens. A theoretical chapter summarizes the author's integrative, phenomenological approach: it brings the insights of a body-focused trauma therapy and a systemic lens to an overarching existential perspective. Numerous vignettes, case studies, and client-therapist dialogues illustrate reflections on life, philosophy, and therapeutic modalities and practice. This book will be a thought-provoking listen for trainee and practicing counselors and psychotherapists, or anyone looking for self-reflection on their own practices, life, and ultimately, what it means to be human.

Laura Barnett (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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What's Hidden Inside Planets?

A guided journey through the inner workings of Earth, the cloaked mysteries of other planets in our solar system, and beyond. Earth, from space, looks like a shimmering gem suspended in an inky, infinite expanse. But this serene image masks the magnificent and volatile interior forces that make life possible for millions of species on the surface. The placid appearances of our neighboring planets similarly belie their powers-and science fiction-worthy features, like diamond rain. The daily machinations of Earth's deep interior make the planet a habitable, yet sometimes treacherous, place to live. Drill down thousands of miles through our built environments and soil, sand, water, rock, and minerals to the outer (mainly liquid iron with nickel) and inner core, encountering intense convection, roiling metals, hidden continents, and shifting tectonic plates. Discover the effects of magnetism, rotation, and seismic activity seen and sensed in the forms of auroras, hurricanes, volcanoes, and earthquakes, among other manifestations. Join this exciting journey to far-flung interstellar locations and the center of the Earth to learn what lies beneath our feet, and why it's the best real estate in our solar system.

John Wenz, Sabine Stanley (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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Nobody's Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament

Some Christians think Paul's reference to 'saved through childbearing' in 1 Timothy 2:15 means that women are slated primarily for delivering and raising children. Alternate readings, however, sometimes fail to build on the best historical and textual evidence. Sandra Glahn thinks that we have misunderstood Paul by misunderstanding the context to which he wrote. A key to reading and applying 1 Timothy, Glahn argues, lies in getting to know a mysterious figure who haunts the letter: the goddess Artemis. Based on groundbreaking research, Nobody's Mother demonstrates how better background information supports faithful interpretation. Combining spiritual autobiography with scholarly exploration, Glahn takes listeners on a journey to ancient Ephesus and across early church history. Unveiling the cult of Artemis and how early Christians related to it can give us a clearer sense of the type of radical, countercultural fellowship the New Testament writers intended Christ's church to be.

Sandra L. Glahn (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disruptor

The feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan (1921-2006), pathbreaking author of The Feminine Mystique, was powerful and polarizing. In this biography, the first in more than twenty years, Rachel Shteir draws on Friedan's papers and on interviews with family, colleagues, and friends to create a nuanced portrait. Friedan, born Bettye Naomi Goldstein, chafed at society's restrictions from a young age. As a journalist she covered racism, sexism, labor, class inequality, and anti-Semitism. As a wife and mother, she struggled to balance her work and homemaking. Her malaise as a housewife and her research into the feelings of other women resulted in The Feminine Mystique (1963), which made her a celebrity. Using her influence, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women, the National Women's Political Caucus, and the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws. She fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, universal childcare, and workplace protections for mothers, but she disagreed with the women's liberation movement over 'sexual politics.' Shteir considers how Friedan's Judaism was essential to her feminism, presenting a new Friedan for a new era.

Rachel Shteir (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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The Two Moralities: Conservatives, Liberals and the Roots of Our Political Divide

The left and right will always have strong policy disagreements, but constructive debate and negotiation are not possible when each side demonizes the other. In this book, social psychologist Ronnie Janoff-Bulman provides a new framework for understanding why and how we disagree. Janoff-Bulman asks listeners to consider the challenging possibility that both liberalism and conservatism are morally based and reflect genuine concern for the country. Moral psychology is an invaluable lens for understanding the roots of political differences. She presents a 'Model of Moral Motives' that maps the most fundamental motivations recognized by psychology-approach and avoidance-onto these differences. Liberal morality focuses on providing for the group's well-being and ensuring social justice. Conservative morality focuses on protecting the group from threats and preserving order. These moralities can account for the psychological differences between liberals and conservatives and for why certain positions resonate on each side of the political spectrum. Why, for example, do conservatives oppose abortion and favor unfettered free markets while liberals favor a woman's right to choose and economic regulation? Understanding that our political differences are rooted in two natural forms of morality can help us begin to detoxify our politics.

Ronnie Janoff-Bulman (Author), Kim Niemi (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Kim Niemi