Audiobooks narrated by Tom Beyer

Natural Language Processing with Transformers, Revised Edition: Building Language Applications with

Since their introduction in 2017, transformers have quickly become the dominant architecture for achieving state-of-the-art results on a variety of natural language processing tasks. If you're a data scientist or coder, this practical book shows you how to train and scale these large models using Hugging Face Transformers, a Python-based deep learning library. Transformers have been used to write realistic news stories, improve Google Search queries, and even create chatbots that tell corny jokes. In this guide, Lewis Tunstall, Leandro von Werra, and Thomas Wolf use a hands-on approach to teach you how transformers work and how to integrate them in your applications. You'll quickly learn a variety of tasks they can help you solve. ● Build, debug, and optimize transformer models for core NLP tasks, such as text classification, named entity recognition, and question answering ● Learn how transformers can be used for cross-lingual transfer learning ● Apply transformers in real-world scenarios where labeled data is scarce ● Make transformer models efficient for deployment ● Train transformers from scratch and learn how to scale to multiple GPUs and distributed environments

Leandro von Werra, Lewis Tunstall, Thomas Wolf (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Designing Distributed Systems: Patterns and Paradigms for Scalable, Reliable Systems Using Kubernete

Every distributed system strives for reliability, performance, and quality, but building such a system is hard. Establishing a set of design patterns enables software developers and system architects to use a common language to describe their systems and learn from the patterns and practices developed by others. The popularity of containers and Kubernetes paves the way for core distributed system patterns and reusable containerized components. This practical guide presents a collection of repeatable, generic patterns to help guide the systems you build using common patterns and practices drawn from some of the highest performing distributed systems in use today. These common patterns make the systems you build far more approachable and efficient, even if you've never built a distributed system before. Author Brendan Burns demonstrates how you can adapt existing software design patterns for designing and building reliable distributed applications. Systems engineers and application developers will learn how these long-established patterns provide a common language and framework for dramatically increasing the quality of your system. This fully updated second edition includes new chapters on AI inference, AI training, and building robust systems for the real world.

Brendan Burns (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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The Shortest History of Eugenics: From “Science” to Atrocity―How a Dangerous Movement Shaped the Wor

A harrowing history of a grim chapter in politics and science, in which groups of influential thinkers shaped global policy with the aim of determining who had the right to have children—and who was worthy of life. For the last two centuries, groups of influential men have, in the professed interest of fiscal responsibility, crime reduction, and outright racism, attempted to control who was allowed to bear children. Their efforts, 'eugenics,' characterize a movement that over the last century swept across the world—from the US to Brazil, Japan, India, Australia, and beyond—in the form of marriage restrictions, asylum detention, and sterilization campaigns affected millions. German physicians and scientists adopted and then heightened these eugenics practices beginning in 1939, starving or executing those they deemed 'life unworthy of life.' But well after the liberation of Nazi deathcamps, health care workers and even the US government pursued policies worldwide with the express purpose of limiting the reproduction of poor non-whites. The Shortest History of Eugenics takes us back to the founding principles of the movement, revealing how an idea that began in cattle breeding took such an insidious turn—and how it lingers in rhetoric and policy today.

Erik L. Peterson (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Conscience Incorporated: Pursue Profits While Protecting Human Rights

Amid growing international concerns about income inequality, labor abuses, racial injustice, and disinformation online, Conscience Incorporated examines the gaps in current corporate social responsibility measures and what more needs be done to address these challenges. The rise of new technologies such as smartphones and social media have made it easier than ever to document and spread awareness of corporate actions. Despite these developments, large corporations often fail to meaningfully address the human rights abuses linked to their business models and practices. Drawing from research into the history of business ethics, Michael Posner provides a blueprint for global business leaders to navigate human rights challenges and adopt sustainable corporate practices. He highlights the need for increased protections for outsourced workers in faraway nations, greater attention to harmful online content, and prioritization of human rights by investors. Posner proposes a series of concrete reforms and argues compellingly for why businesses need to devote greater time and resources to protecting basic human rights. Conscience Incorporated is a powerful challenge to the status quo and advocates for a fundamental shift in the principles that govern global businesses.

Michael Posner (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Breaking the Medicine Monopolies: Reflections of a Generic Drug Pioneer

Breaking the Medicine Monopolies is a lawyer's personal narrative of the events that led to the widespread use of low-cost generic drugs and the current drug price crisis. Breaking the Medicine Monopolies is a personal narrative about Alfred Engelberg's fifty years of legal work in the drug industry. He takes you inside the mysterious world of patents to provide a basic understanding of how drug makers have gamed the laws governing brand and generic competition, misused patents to prolong monopolies, and delayed generic competition on old drugs instead of focusing on discovering new ones. In this book, Engelberg provides listeners with an understanding of how the growing use of low-cost generic drugs led to the highest prices in the world for new drugs, and how middlemen in the drug distribution chain have exploited a lack of price transparency in order to earn excessive profits. Breaking the Medicine Monopolies is a must-listen for anyone who wants to understand how ill-considered policy decisions and an inept patent system led to unaffordable prices for new drugs, and what can be done to correct the problem.

Alfred Engelberg (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Cerebral Entanglements: How the Brain Shapes Our Public and Private Lives

It took a brain surgeon who's spent a lifetime in the operating room experiencing the brain's union of form and function to write this book. Cerebral Entanglements, unlike most books on the brain, looks at the intimate and vital emotions in our lives, and shows as well, how neuroimaging studies can transform our understanding of crucial emotional or mental health concerns. Why do we love? Why do we hate? Why do we kill? Why do we laugh? Why do we have faith? Why does time stand still or speed up? Focusing on the nature of consciousness, affection, trust, romance, empathy, kindness, prejudice, sadness, happiness, depression, grief, and the nature of laughter, the author shows us how neuroscience has changed our understanding of these emotions as he explores the extraordinary revelations that have emerged from brain imaging and functional studies. We see that we are the first generation to perceive the contours of a human thought, track the course of an emotion, even watch memory come together. Allan Hamilton writes clearly and accessibly, about the complex science driving our emotions and experiences, and shows how our newfound knowledge can impact our well-being, individually and as a society. Additionally, Hamilton writes about how the brain perceives and experiences music, memory, and time itself.

Allan J. Hamilton (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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The Family Guide to Psychiatric Hospitalization: A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book

Each year, millions of Americans face psychiatric hospitalizations, yet this process often remains shrouded in stigma and mystery. In this indispensable guide, Mark J. Russ, MD, offers patients and families essential support and vital information to navigate this challenging process, from admission to discharge. The Family Guide to Psychiatric Hospitalization provides a comprehensive look into the procedures, treatments, and dynamics of the psychiatric care system. Dr. Russ provides invaluable information on the history and evolution of psychiatric hospitals; the logistics of the admission process, including how to choose the right hospital based on patient needs; what families and patients can expect during every treatment phase, from initial assessment to active treatment to planning for discharge; the legal aspects of hospitalization, including patient rights and advocacy; and more. Dr. Russ shares not only professional insights but also his own personal journey with psychiatric hospitalization. His dual perspective as both physician and patient brings an unprecedented depth of compassion and understanding to this guide. Designed to educate and empower families, this book serves as a beacon of hope and a testament to the healing power of informed and compassionate care.

Mark J. Russ (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Leading Winning Teams: How Teamwork, Motivation, and Strategy Achieve Big League Success

What do a Formula One driver, a center for the New England Patriots, and a Major League Baseball agent have in common? All achieved success in their sporting career and in life, translating the lessons they'd learned in elite racing, football, and baseball respectively to the world outside of elite athletics. In Leading Winning Teams, veteran Major League Baseball coach and internationally recognized speaker Trent Clark delivers an inspirational and exciting new discussion of how to build and lead a winning organization. You'll dive deep into insightful lessons on leadership, teamwork, motivation, strategy, and more as you explore how to overcome the challenges and adversity that lie on the road to ultimate victory and success. The author offers interviews with and stories from a wide variety of sporting and business legends, including Chad Curtis, Mark Shapiro, Marques Ogden, Ann Gaffigan, and others. Drawing on the real-life experiences of people who faced daunting setbacks before ultimately realizing their dreams, he explains how to navigate the challenges in your own life and use them as fuel for building the future you've always wanted for yourself and your team.

Trent Clark, Trent M. Clark (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Cryptography

We all keep secrets—from our locker codes to our passwords to our online interactions. And we choose to share those secrets only with those whom we trust. So, too, do organizations, businesses, governments, and armies. In Cryptography, Panos Louridas provides a broad and accessible introduction to cryptography, the art and science of keeping and revealing secrets. Louridas explains just how cryptography works to keep our communications confidential, tracing it back all the way to its ancient roots. Then he follows its long and winding path to where we are today and reads the signs that point to where it may go tomorrow. A few years back, interest in cryptography was restricted to specialists. Today, as we all live our lives attuned to our digital footprint and the privacy issues it entails, it becomes more and more essential to have a basic understanding of cryptography and its applications to everyday life. Starting with classical cryptography, Cryptography takes the listener all the way up to the twenty-first century cryptographic applications that underpin our lives in the digital realm. Along the way, Louridas also explains concepts such as symmetric cryptography, asymmetric cryptography, cryptographic protocols and applications, and finally, quantum and post-Quantum cryptography as well as the links between cryptography and computer security.

Panos Louridas (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Tough Rugged Bastards: A Memoir of a Life in Marine Special Operations

Following the 9/11 attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed the Marine Corps to establish a unit that would answer to US Special Operations Command. The eighty-six-man 'Detachment One' was formed with a two-year charter to train and deploy as a 'proof-of-concept' to assess the viability of a larger Marine Special Operations contribution in support of the Global War on Terror. For such a departure from the norm, a special leader was needed. The Commanding Officer—Colonel Robert J. Coates, a Marine Force Recon legend—was given his pick of personnel. One of the four team leaders he selected was Gunnery Sergeant John A. Dailey. These men built a unit from nothing, trained for unknown missions in an unknown location, and deployed amid controversy and skepticism. Once in Iraq, they were dubbed 'Task Unit Raider' and quickly won over the naysayers who doubted the Marine's ability to operate successfully. This book tells Dailey's story of the creation, training, and volatile 2004 Iraq deployment of Task Unit Raider that led to the creation of the Marine Forces Special Operations Command. Det-1 served as the bridge between the Raiders of WWII and the Marine Raiders of today.

John A. Dailey (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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The Wehrmacht's Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944-1945

By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. What kept the German army going in an increasingly hopeless situation? Where some historians have found explanations in the power of Hitler or the role of ideology, Robert M. Citino, the world's leading scholar on the subject, posits a more straightforward solution: Bewegungskrieg, the way of war cultivated by the Germans over the course of history. In this book, Citino charts the path by which Bewegungskrieg, or a 'war of movement,' inexorably led to Nazi Germany's defeat. The Wehrmacht's Last Stand analyzes the German Totenritt, or 'death ride,' from January 1944-with simultaneous Allied offensives at Anzio and Ukraine-until May 1945, the collapse of the Wehrmacht in the field, and the Soviet storming of Berlin. In clear and compelling prose, and bringing extensive reading of the German-language literature to bear, Citino focuses on the German view of these campaigns. Often very different from the Allied perspective, this approach allows for a more nuanced and far-reaching understanding of the last battles of the Wehrmacht than any now available. With Citino's previous volumes, Death of the Wehrmacht and The Wehrmacht Retreats, The Wehrmacht's Last Stand completes a uniquely comprehensive picture of the German army's strategy, operations, and performance against the Allies in World War II.

Robert M. Citino (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement

In 1927, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein began a debate about the interpretation and meaning of the new quantum theory. This would become one of the most famous debates in the history of science. What (if any) limits should we place on our expectations for what science can tell us about physical reality? Our protagonists slowly disappeared from the vanguard of physics, as its center of gravity shifted from a war-ravaged Continental Europe to post-war America. What Einstein and Bohr had considered to be matters of the utmost importance were now set aside. Their debate was regarded either as settled in Bohr's favor or as superfluous to real physics. As quantum entanglement became a real physical phenomenon, whole new disciplines were established, such as quantum computing, teleportation, and cryptography. The efforts of the experimentalists were rewarded with shares in the 2022 Nobel prize in physics. As Quantum Drama reveals, science owes a large debt to those who kept the discussions going before definitive experimental inquiries became possible. Although experiment moved the Bohr-Einstein debate to a new level, it has by no means removed or resolved the fundamental question.

Jim Baggott, John L. Heilbron (Author), Tom Beyer (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Tom Beyer