Showing results by narrator "Simon Shepherd" in All Categories

From Plato to Plutarch, Shakespeare to Churchill, Machiavelli to Melville, Jane Austen to Carl Jung, Pericles to Peter Drucker and many more - here are the best leadership ideas of the past 25 centuries. You don't need a big title or a business degree in order to lead with impact. What you need is practical wisdom: the insight, judgment and strength of character that all great leaders have but that most business schools and corporate workshops don't teach.

When Iranians overthrew their monarchy, rejecting a pro-Western shah in favor of an Islamic regime, many observers predicted that revolutionary turmoil would paralyze the country for decades to come. Yet 40 years after the 1978-79 revolution, Iran has emerged as a critical player in the Middle East and the wider world, as demonstrated in part by the 2015 international nuclear agreement. In Iran Rising, renowned Iran specialist Amin Saikal describes how the country has managed to survive despite ongoing domestic struggles, Western sanctions, and other serious challenges.

As a small boy, Bill François was frightened of deep water. Until a chance encounter with the elusive sardine set him on course for a life in marine science: a mission to better understand, and preserve, the underwater world, to find his place in that ecosystem and learn how to converse harmoniously with the ocean. In a series of exquisitely rendered vignettes of marine life, François invites us on a whistle-stop global tour to reveal the mysteries of the sea, beginning with the simple eloquence of the sardine.

When twins Greta and Feliks lose their beloved Aunt Gisela to a poisoned marzipan cake and are sent to the ill-omened Schwartzgarten Reformatory for Maladjusted Children it seems their fate is sealed... that is until they are rescued by the glamorous and wealthy Olga Van Veenen, a fabulous children's author. The two twins are grateful but something tells them that Olga's motives are not entirely genuine...

Mari Jungstedt’s compelling series of novels featuring Inspector Anders Knutas continues to go from strength to strength with, The Dead of Summer, the fifth crime adventure set on the island of Gotland. Her trademark combination of rich characterisation, taut crime plots and the continuing unfolding drama of her series characters’ lives add up to a mix that rivals Henning Mankell’s Wallander series.

The recent death of one of the descendants of Dr. Watson has brought to light his personal papers. These include a number of stories that Dr. Watson suppressed at the time for various reasons. As all involved are long dead, the inheritor has agreed to the publication of a set of eight of the most interesting adventures.

What are the benefits of owning a dog on health and well-being? Why does a problem dog behave as it does and how can owners deal with unwanted behavior? How do dogs communicate with humans and each other? The Psychology of Dog Ownership explores the nature of our unique relationship with dogs and its effect on our mental and physical welfare. The book uses psychological learning theory to examine dog behavior and highlights the importance of determining between typical dog behavior and behavior disorders that need treatment.

Meet Marius Myerdorf, the newest recruit of Schwartzgarten's most secret of societies. His is a tale of adventure and abduction, friendship and fearlessness, as the Band of Blood race against time to unmask two of the foulest fiends in the history of the Great City. The deeds are dastardly. The twists are terrifying. And happy endings are not always guaranteed.

Meet Eugene, the most portly of princes, and Kalvitas, the most courageous of chocolate makers. Theirs is a tale of cakes and cowardice, bullies and battles, as they set out to defeat a terrifying tyrant. The characters are cursed. The desserts are deadly. And people are not always as they appear....

On the most secret and dangerous assignment of their lives, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are sent into the newborn Soviet Union to rescue the Romanovs: Nicholas and Alexandra and their innocent children. Will Holmes and Watson be able to change history? Will they even be able to survive?

On the threshold of 40, Jasper Rees fished his French horn out of the attic and, despite limited ability, sets himself a near-impossible target: to stand up in front of a paying audience in 12 months’ time and play a Mozart concerto. Alone. This is the inspired story, not only of a midlife rethink, but also of man’s first musical instrument, and its journey from the hunting fields of aristocratic France to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

It’s autumn in Gothenburg and an anxious mother calls the police; her little boy was lured into a car by a man offering sweets. The child is returned unharmed but then the same thing happens with a little girl, and then another.

In this manifesto, the author takes a leap of faith. It is a faith in Lost Causes. He asserts that today, architectonic reason has fallen into ruins. As soon as architecture leaves the limits set to it by architectonic reason, no other path is open to it but the path to aestheticism. This is the wrong path contemporary architecture has taken. In its reduction to a pure aesthetic object, architecture negatively affects the human sensorium.

Matt has a magic crystal that enables him to read minds. He can find out secrets and he has this great sense of power. It's amazing. But what Matt doesn't expect is that it's dangerous. Matt is horrified when he gets a blackmail letter. Someone has found out his secret. He is sure that he knows who the blackmailer is - but is he right?

It is a cold wintry morning in the picturesque port town of Visby when art dealer Egon Wallin's battered and naked body is found hanging from a gate in the town's old city walls. His was a very public death, but who killed him and why? As Inspector Knutas begins his investigation, Egon's secrets quickly begin to come to the surface. He died on the eve of leaving his wife. Is his death a spurned lover's revenge? And when a painting by a new cause-célèbre artist is stolen from his gallery, more questions are raised.

Inspector Anders Knutas is back in the sixth instalment of Mari Jungstedt's dark and compelling series of crime novels, set on the island of Gotland. This crime adventure builds on the already strong series, which combines chilling atmosphere, razor sharp plot twists and a brilliant cast of subtly crafted characters. In The Dark Angel, Jungstedt's writing is as thrilling and poignant as ever, ensuring that Knutas will continue to have the reader gripped from start to finish.

When Alan and Mika's summer explorations are cut short by a grisly discovery, they can't understand why their parents seem so upset. Will their beach ever be just a playground again?

It's the height of World War II. Britain is being ravaged by bombs, and most young men are off fighting. Gordon wishes he was too. Maybe then he wouldn't get bullied for having a cowardly family.... Gordon's dad didn't serve in World War I, and now his older brother ,Raymond, isn't serving in World War II - he's gone missing. When Gordon finds a revolver hidden in his house, he tracks Raymond down but ends up involved in more than he'd bargained for.

This audiobook delivers the fascinating account of one Western family’s time living and working in China. Told through a series of letters, China from the Inside: Letters from an Economist presents insights into the society and economy of a country that is often opaque to outsiders and poorly understood. The author’s expertise as an economist and the family’s efforts to integrate into Chinese society furnish a vivid and unique account.

Bethan and Harry see the ghost: a pale figure floating over the water, one finger pointing downwards. Local legend says that she is Hettie Daynes, an ancestor of their family, who vanished over 100 years ago. If so, what does she want?