MY AUDIOBOOK LIBRARY

Like most Americans, Steve Ettlinger eats processed foods. And, like most consumers, he often reads the ingredients label--without a clue as to what most of it means. So when his young daughter asked, “Daddy, what’s polysorbate 60?” he was at a loss--and determined to find out. From the phosphate mines in Idaho to the corn fields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to the vanilla harvest in Madagascar, Twinkie, Deconstructed is a fascinating, thoroughly researched romp of a narrative that demystifies some of the most common processed food ingredients--where they come from, how they are made, how they are used--and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they’re often more closely linked to rock and petroleum than any of the four food groups), we follow each Twinkie ingredient through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name--all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake. An insightful exploration into the food industry, if you’ve ever wondered what you’re eating when you consume foods containing mono- and diglycerides or calcium sulfate (the latter, a food-grade equivalent of Plaster of Paris) this book is for you. About the Author: Steve Ettlinger is the author of numerous consumer products books, including "Beer For Dummies," "The Hardware Cyclopedia," "Kitchenware Book," and "The Restaurant Lover's Companion." About the Narrator: Based in Seattle, Mark Lund has appeared on-stage at the Taproot Theatre, including as part of the Garland Award-nominated ensemble of “Terra Nova.” In addition, Mark has done radio and tv voiceover work for companies such as FedEx, Eddie Bauer, T-Mobile, Microsoft and Qwest, and has performed on a number of video games including F.E.A.R, SWAT 4 and the “Backyard Sports” series.

Imagine being able to consume 250,000 calories daily without gaining weight. If you had the metabolism of a shrew you could. And while most of us can't hold our breath for more than a few minutes, the Weddell seal can remain under water for a full 75 minutes! Through many amazing examples, Why Geese Don't Get Obese discusses the mechanisms humans and other creatures have evolved to gauge their need for food; gather water and oxygen; circulate blood; regulate body temperature; respond to stressful situations; and maintain other survival needs. Peppy prose and just the right amount of detail make this audiobook a delight and a fitting ode to the remarkable resilience of nature! About the Author: Eric P. Widmaier, producer, director and host of an educational television program "Widmaier's World of Animals" aired in Boston, is Associate Professor of Biology at Boston University where he teaches physiology. A former postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, Widmaier has written numerous articles for scientific and lay publications. About the Narrator: Rick Adamson is a Grammy nominee and an American Library Association award-winning narrator of audiobooks for all ages. He has appeared on television and videos, as well as dozens of audiobook productions. Rick lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

In Brenda Peterson’s unusual memoir, fundamentalism meets deep ecology. The author’s childhood in the high Sierra with her forest ranger father led her to embrace the entire natural world, while her Southern Baptist relatives prepared eagerly and busily to leave this world. Peterson survived fierce “sword drill” competitions demanding total recall of the Scriptures and awkward dinner table questions (“Will Rapture take the cat, too?”) only to find that environmentalists with prophecies of doom can also be Endtimers. Peterson paints such a hilarious, loving portrait of each world that the reader, too, may want to be Left Behind. About the Author: Brenda Peterson is the author of 17 books, including the novel Duck and Cover, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” and her first memoir, Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals, which was chosen as a “Best Spiritual Book of the Year.” The author reads this new memoir, I Want To Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth. It was chosen as an Indie Next “Best Top Read” and named among the “Top Ten Best Non-Fiction Books of 2010 by The Christian Science Monitor. Peterson lives on the Salish Sea in Seattle,Washington. Her first children’s book, Leopard and Silkie: One Boy’s Quest to Save Seal Pups is out in early 2012. For more audio/video and back-story on this new memoir and other books, please visit: www.IWantToBeLeftBehind.com.

Growth of the Soil (Markens Grøde) is the novel by Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun which won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. The essential elements of this novel are expressed in the words of the English translator W.W. Worster in his footnote in December 1920: 'It is the life story of a man in the wilds, the genesis and gradual development of a homestead, the unit of humanity, in the unfilled, uncleared tracts that still remain in the Norwegian Highlands. It is an epic of earth; the history of a microcosm. Its dominant note is one of patient strength and simplicity; the mainstay of its working is the tacit, stern, yet loving alliance between Nature and the Man who faces her himself, trusting to himself and her for the physical means of life, and the spiritual contentment with life which she must grant if he be worthy. . .The story is epic in its magnitude, in its calm, steady progress and unhurrying rhythm, in its vast and intimate humanity. The author looks upon his characters with a great, all-tolerant sympathy, aloof yet kindly, as a god.' (Introduction by Wikipedia)

This autobiographical work describes the author’s harrowing experience caught on a small drifting piece of ice, while crossing a frozen bay by dog team on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. (Summary by Sean Michael Hogan)

Amelia B. Edwards wrote this historical, egyptological, and cultural study in in 1877, and it became an immediate best-seller, reprinted in 1888 at home in England and abroad. She travelled throughout Egypt at a time when most women didn't leave home. One of the pioneering Egyptologists of the age, she established the Edwards Chair of Egyptology, occupied first by the great Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie. This book is in a sense a seminal work, known to have influenced the modern writings of Elizabeth Peters in her Amelia Peabody Emerson murder-mystery series. (Summary by Sibella Denton)

The Autobiography of Charles Darwin is the autobiography of the British naturalist Charles Darwin which was published in 1887, five years after his death. Darwin wrote the book, which he entitled Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character, for his family. He states that he started writing it on about May 28, 1876 and had finished it by August 3. The book was edited by Charles Darwin's son Francis Darwin, who removed several passages about Darwin's critical views of God and Christianity. It was published in London by John Murray as part of The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. The omitted passages were later restored by Darwin's granddaughter Nora Barlow in a 1958 edition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Origin. This edition was published in London by Collins under the title of The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882, with the original omissions restored, edited and with appendix and notes by his granddaughter Nora Barlow. The original is in the public domain as its copyright has expired, but the later version remains under copyright. (Summary by Wikipedia)

The book, also known as Darwin's Journal of Researches, is a vivid and exciting travel memoir as well as a detailed scientific field journal covering biology, geology, and anthropology that demonstrates Darwin's keen powers of observation, written at a time when Western Europeans were still discovering and exploring much of the rest of the world. Although Darwin revisited some areas during the expedition, for clarity the chapters of the book are ordered by reference to places and locations rather than chronologically. With hindsight, ideas which Darwin would later develop into his theory of evolution by natural selection are hinted at in his notes and in the book (Summary from Wikipedia).

A wilderness story of adventure and intrigue in Alaska in the 1920’s. Summary by Maire Rhode.

Isabella Bird began travelling while in her early twenties to help alleviate illness that had plagued her since childhood. She was a single woman in her early forties when she made her treck through the Rocky Mountains. A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains details this fascinating account of her travels through a series of letters written to her sister, Henrietta. These letters are filled with beautiful, vivid descriptions of the scenery, the people she encountered, the way of life, and a mountain man named Jim Nugent, that was as rough as they come, but a complete gentleman with Ms. Bird. She has the distinction of being the first woman to become a member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1892. (Summary by Laura Caldwell)

Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (publ. 1859) is a pivotal work in scientific literature and arguably the pivotal work in evolutionary biology. The book’s full title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. It introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It was controversial because it contradicted religious beliefs which underlay the then current theories of biology. Darwin’s book was the culmination of evidence he had accumulated on the voyage of the Beagle in the 1830s and added to through continuing investigations and experiments since his return. (Summary from Wikipedia)