vent book Audiobooks

Part memoir, part cultural exploration, this book covers the author’s journey as she grows up in an evangelical Christian home, leaves religion behind as a young adult, and goes on to raise children in a family outside of religious belief. Maria Polonchek weaves a personal story with up-to-date studies and philosophic exploration of what it means to raise secular children in an otherwise religious world. Offering careful and respectful advice for other parents who are raising their children outside of a particular religious belief system, she explores the many other ways of instilling identity, belonging, and meaning into our lives and the lives of children. Honest and irreverent, the author admits to her religious “baggage” and searches for better understanding of such topics as religious education, morality, awe, death, purpose, and meaning, and tradition from secular perspectives. She interviews experts, looks at various studies, and turns to a variety of sources for answers, while maintaining a casual and personal tone. While she ultimately argues for parents to let their children shape their own beliefs, she encourages families to tend to existential and social needs that sometimes go unnoticed or unconsidered in life outside religion.

Imagined by one of the world's leading experts on Buddhism, this fictionalised conversation presents the essential biography of its famously wise founder. A relaxed chat with the Buddha tells us what he thought about impermanence, karma, mindfulness, compassion, love, and everything else that leads us toward a true understanding of ourselves and the cosmos. We know him as the Buddha, the "Awakened One". Born Siddhartha Gautama 2,500 years ago in northern India, he became one of the world's greatest spiritual leaders. He suffered as we do, then by his own efforts found the key to liberation from the bonds of desire, hatred and ignorance. As Westerners living in relative prosperity, we can identify with this man who had it all - love, success, money, talent, privilege - but set these things aside to search for something deeper and more enduring. This book presents an account of the Buddha's life followed by a series of plausible and illuminating but imagined conversations, which probe all aspects of his philosophy for living. The insights he conveys here offer us practical wisdom for a better life.

A murderous past… Can come back to haunt you. It’s almost spring in Paperwick, Connecticut, and Rosemary Grey has never felt more content. Her job teaching history at the local university is fun and challenging and she’s all settled into her cozy cottage on Jack and Charlie’s farm. She’s made a whole host of friends in the tiny New England village, and is most definitely falling in love with the adorable Seth Maguire. But when the university calls and asks Rosemary to fill in for a fellow history professor who didn’t show up to work, she would never dream that she’s just about to stumble into investigating a sinister mystery—or that the case will take her, along with Jack, Charlie, and Seth, to the outskirts of town where the Forgotten Village, a relic of Colonial America, still haunts the woods. Will history repeat itself before she can solve the crime? Find out in this intriguing Cozy Mystery!

Timely, compelling, and certain to be controversial—a deeply researched study that reveals how companies and policy makers are hindering innovation-led growth Conventional wisdom holds that Western economies are on the threshold of fast-and-furious technological development. Fredrik Erixon and Bjorn Weigel refute this idea, bringing together a vast array of data and case studies to tell a very different story. With expertise spanning academia and the business world, Erixon and Weigel illustrate how innovation is being hampered by existing government regulations and corporate practices. Capitalism, they argue, has lost its mojo. Assessing the experiences of global companies, including Nokia, Uber, IBM, and Apple, the authors explore three key themes: declining economic dynamism in Western economies; growing corporate reluctance to contest markets and innovate; and excessive regulation limiting the diffusion of innovation. At a time of low growth, high unemployment, and increasing income inequality, innovation-led growth is more necessary than ever. This book unequivocally details the obstacles hindering our future prosperity.

The Coyote Cowboys each made a vow to a fallen comrade and have one year to carry out their task… Local hero Remington Cross has only painful memories of Marietta, Montana. He may want ranch work, but he’ll take it anywhere but here. Still, loyalty brings Remy to Marietta determined to locate Jace’s godchild, ensure his physical and financial security, then close this chapter for good. But a smoldering encounter with a beautiful bartender threatens his timeline and heart, and when he discovers Jace’s godchild is at risk, he enlists the aid of the enigmatic beauty who’s more no-strings than he is. Shane Knight is no stranger to secrets, and she can tell the haunted ex-soldier is hiding plenty. She’s finished trying to fix wounded bad boys, and after her broken engagement, her heart’s permanently off-limits. When Shane jumps boots first into a red-hot one-night stand, she never anticipates getting tangled up with a sexy cowboy and a child who needs them. It’s a chance for love, family, and a fresh start for them both, but will secrets break the fragile thread of their new beginning?

FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS, A HEARTSTOPPING MYSTERY FROM YOUR NEW CRIME FICTION OBSESSION: BIBA PEARCE. A serial killer who dumps the victims’ bodies in Soho Square. A sleepless detective thwarted by his box-ticking boss. Detective Rob Miller thinks he’s seen it all, but this murder scene takes his breath away. The victim is bound and gagged, with whip marks on his back. The location is one of the busiest squares in London. The cause of death appears to be strangulation. Murder or a game gone wrong? The prime suspect is the victim’s partner. Under pressure from his superiors, Rob makes an arrest despite his doubts. But another body is found: bound, gagged and dumped in the middle of central London. Again, there are no witnesses. Now Rob’s on the hunt for a serial killer with a fetish — and a talent for staying invisible. Then the killer makes it personal . . . AN UNSTOPPABLE CRIME MYSTERY THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN. This gripping page-turner is perfect for fans of Helen H. Durrant, Mick Herron, Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, Alex Smith and J.M. Dalgliesh. MEET THE DETECTIVE DI ROB MILLER An ambitious young detective gunning for promotion. He will do anything for his job, but can he also keep his personal life under control? His ten-month-old son has yet to learn how to sleep through the night, but at least he has his dog. THE SETTING The Murder Investigation Team is based out of leafy Putney, with its overgrown often-flooded riverbanks. One way the river leads into central London, the other out into the countryside. It’s an idyllic setting that masks a criminal underworld.

Can the former playboy win a second chance with the one who got away? Georgia Hotchkiss swore wild horses couldn’t drag her back to Sundance, Wyoming. It’s her usual bad luck that forces her to take a PR job in her former hometown—right before her ten-year class reunion. The only thing worse than facing her cheating ex-husband at the reunion? Showing up without a date. Tell McKay let Georgia “Hot Lips” Hotchkiss run roughshod over him in high school. But he’s no longer that easily manipulated boy. In the past decade he’s earned a reputation that lives up to the McKay last name. After working a rodeo event together, Tell agrees to escort her to their reunion as long as Georgia understands they’ll be friends with benefits. Their physical chemistry burns so hot, they barely notice the reunion has come and gone. And while their friendship has quickly deepened into something more, Georgia is wary. She’s been burned by a hometown cowboy before and won’t survive another heartbreak. So if Tell wants to get the girl this time around, he’ll have to prove her heart has always been safe with him.

Despite the widespread popularity of Buddhist practices (like meditation), there is little understanding of the complex philosophy behind Buddhism. The historical Buddha, Gautama, was a real person—a radical—who challenged the religious leaders of his day. Buddha For Beginners introduces the reader to the historical Buddha, to the ideas that made him change his life, and to the fascinating philosophical debates that engaged him and formed the core of Buddhism. Buddha For Beginners compares Buddha's philosophy with those of his contemporaries, the later Buddhist schools, and Western Philosophy. The book includes a survey, distinguishing the philosophical differences among later schools of Buddhism, such as Theravada, Madhyamaika, Tantric, Zen, and others. Buddha For Beginners is not a book you read, it is a book you experience. It makes you stop and close your eyes. Through some magical combination of words, drawings, and intuitive wisdom, Buddha For Beginners conveys not only the facts of Buddhism, but the peace, the silence...the feel of it. It is historically accurate, spiritually challenging, and the white spaces mean as much as the words.

When Maddie McGuire finds herself tumbling over a cliff while hiking The Cotswold Way, she uncovers much more than ancient woods. Terrified by her shocking discovery, she returns to the safety of her international internship at the Roman Baths only to find competition in the form of the tittering, aristocratic Gwendolyn De Valence, who has captured the attention of everyone Maddie hopes to impress. Turning to her boyfriend Constable Edward Bailey, only reveals dark secrets about his past, leading her down a dangerous path which, this time, she may be unable to escape.