August 2008 audio books specials have been posted. Sorry for the delay, summer is coming to an end so I've been trying to enjoy what's left. Looking at the list I have to say all 6 books that are being offered on special from the publishers are books that I can recommend. The authors have proven track records.
Dean Koontz
Joel Osteen
Jean M. Auel
Terry Goodkind
James Patterson
As for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it is a great addition to the list I mentioned recently for Children's Audio Books for Vacation Travel.
The other important thing to note is that the Get Caught Listening special discount coupon for 20% off your orders at CreateTimeAudio is going to be taken down at the end of this month.
Enjoy the rest of the summer. I have many reviews in the queue since I have had a chance to do a lot of listening this summer!
Childrens audio books have saved my sanity a time or two. I have 2 young children 5 and 7 and like most kids this age they constantly need to be entertained. In February I took my first vacation trip with both kids to visit my parents in Puerto Rico. I had actually taken my daughter the 7 year old last year but did not think I could handle them both by myself through the madness now involved in air travel.
As a fan of audio books I had already started using audio books in the van on longer car trips and the kids really enjoyed it but I did not have a chance to burn the childrens audio books that they had chosen onto CD where they could each have their own player. The plane trip is more than 3 hours and I knew even with the coloring books and the in flight movie I would probably bump into some tantrums particularly from my son.
This is where technology again came to my aid. I had synched the audio books that they had chosen to my Dell Axim in the hopes at some point I could at least keep one of them busy on the plane. On a last minute trip to the local pharmacy as I was going up and down the aisles I passed the audio/video section and found something called a headphone splitter. Now mind you this is not necessarily a new invention but I had never used one and the lightbulb went off on how I could use it to have both my children listen to their childrens audio books at the same time on the plane.
Below is a picture of the hook up.
I basically attached 2 headphones taken from their CD players and attached it to the Dell and then played the kids audio books from my Dell PDA. It easily killed and hour since the books they chose were Amelia Bedelia and Arthur's Audio Favorites. These headphone splitters are pretty cheap and can be used on any digital player with a headphone input (including the IPod).
Whether you are on a plane or doing most of your vacation travel by car childrens audio books are great for keeping your children busy and keeping them excited about books. If you can instill the passion for reading in your children early it will benefit them a lifetime. My 7 year old daughter is actually reading now and audio books allow us to take books wherever we go.
The 2 childrens audio books that they took on that vacation are great examples of familiar classics that motivate children to listen and read.
Check out all our Childrens Audio Books. You can even download and print our Childrens Audio Book Catalog if your prefer.
Does the Secret by Rhonda Byrne really change lives? If you look at the press coverage of the stories of people who have read, listened to or seen the DVD for the Secret you would come to the conclusion that the book touches a need that people have been desperate for. I listened to the audio book back in May and I must say it was overall a positive experience. If you do a quick search on the internet or even ask your friends you would quickly find out that the Secret is the Law of Attraction.
There is much controversy regarding this work because it appears to interchange references to God with references to "the Universe" from which all energy is produced. I confess I am a Christian and if you let yourself literally interpret some of the things in the book you might think that it is proposing a godless world where only you control your destiny. As I was researching the book for this review I found many of these types of interpretations but interestingly I found Rhonda Byrne's inference that the theories in her book and the belief in religion can coexist to be true at least for me.
The audio book itself is an easy listen with a multi-voice cast and music that really added to the experience. The cast of narrators are the experts that were interviewed for the movie and it appears the interviews are being taken directly from the movie. One of the criticisms that rang true to me was that the Law of Attraction is being touted as something so powerful that you can attract material goods(like jewelry) overnight. There is a scene in the movie where a woman is looking at a necklace and miraculously having it put around her shoulders by a man shortly thereafter. This does the power of this concept a disservice. I think listening to the audio book actually turned out to be better for me since I did not have these visuals thrown in front of me that made it seem as though the Secret is all about materialism. It is not.
Though some of the narrators that were interviewed assert that the Secret is not about the power of positive thinking I think it is something pretty close to it. The Law of Attraction basically is that what you think about and focus on you attract whether that is something positive or negative. I have found this to be true in my life and have seen the reverse work as well. I am a glass half-full person and I have observed that the glass half empty people seem not to get the same out of life that I do. My life is by no stretch of the imagination perfect but if you focus on the positive and develop goals and plans to get you in the direction you want you will attract what you focus on.
The audio book version of the Secret is recommended for anyone who wants to explore strategies for moving their life forward in a positive way. It is not the cure all and end all as Oprah Winfrey stated in an interview with Larry King but the theories and approaches within the book can change your life if applied with some common sense.
This post is to announce the audio book specials for the month of July 2008. The audio book discounts page has been updated. We have kept the 20% coupon up in honor of the Get Caught Listening Campaign through this month.
This month I have decided to highlight the specials offered on titles by Terry Goodkind and Malcolm Gladwell.
Terry Goodkind is a fantasy writer in the fashion of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series. His books in the series the Sword of Truth are slated to be produced as a TV Series starting this fall(at least the first one).
Malcolm Gladwell is a writer for the New Yorker and his 2 books have become bestsellers because of his knack for making sense of things that don't always make sense. The Tipping Point addresses the power of change and the subtleties of how "one well placed lever can move the world". Blink delves more into the inner workings of how we work and why we do the things we do.
More detailed reviews of these authors works are planned.
The 4 hour work week is a great contribution to the area of time management and in many ways life and career management. I actually listened to this book when it was originally released back in mid 2007. It is a good fit for the audio book format since most self help books are easy listens. As owner of CreateTimeAudio one of our main interests is finding the time to do the things that you want to do and need to do in a world of multitasking and information overload. Timothy Ferris has captured many of the frustrations of living chained to working for others in a 9-5 lifestyle where your life is really not your own. He proposes a series of mini retirements, planning your dream lifestyle and outsourcing not only your work life but parts of your home life as well.
One of the criticisms of the 4 hour work week mainly revolve around the literal interpretation of the title. Does he show you how to get to that 4 hour work week? Yes but each persons goals will be different. What everyone views as their dream lifestyle is different. Timothy Ferris is 29 years old and has packed a wide range of experiences into his short life including entrepreneur, kickboxing, dancing and acting. In the book he shares his strategies to be able to afford these activities which he participates in all over the globe.
In some ways this audio book reminds me of Michael Gerber's E-Myth books. Do you want to be self-employed or do you want to run a business? Outsourcing and streamlining processes related to your business will free up your time so that you can "work" on what you want to. Timothy Ferris also provides an approach to how these principles can be used for those working for others as well.
When doing an audio book review you need to look at the narrator as well as the book. Ray Porter does a good job of representing the author's no nonsense writing style. Some may actually be put off by the dry wit and "barking" style but if you are serious about changing your life this a is a great audio book to listen to. It gives you an idea of what the "new rich" of this highly mobile world do and think and will provide frameworks to break out of the trap of the 9-5 mentality.
The 4 hour work week is a #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best Seller and is highly recommended for anyone looking for strategies to save time and therefore create time. It is available for download through the link below, a sample is also available for your listening pleasure.
