Showing results by narrator "Keval Shah" in All Categories

The Middle East is in upheaval: a widening chasm between state and society, the failure of governing elites to address citizens' genuine grievances, massive economic mismanagement—all made worse by repeated interventions by Western powers. Why has political change been so difficult to achieve? In The Great Betrayal, Fawaz Gerges argues that the convergence of political authoritarianism, meddling by the West, and the effects of prolonged regional conflicts have produced political paralysis and economic stagnation.

Only the most resolute are chosen to join the ranks of the Knights of the Valiant Spur. Bantam Flyn, hot-headed squire and wielder of the renowned sword Coalspur, yearns to be one of them. When Flyn returns to the ancestral stronghold of the chivalric order, he finds the castle under siege from within by malevolent skin-changers in search of a changeling Flyn would die to protect. Suddenly Flyn finds himself on a quest to keep dear Pocket's location secret. By his side, Deglan Loamtoes, a gnome herbalist with an acerbic wit, and the brilliant but excruciatingly awkward Ingelbert Crane.

Driven by the glory he'll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate. The experiment-or Chloe, as she is named-outstrips even Gregor's expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor's experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes.

The ancient Sibylline prophecies had foretold that the Roman Empire would last for 1000 years. As the time for the expected dissolution approached in the middle of the third century AD, the empire was lapsing into chaos, with seemingly interminable civil wars over the imperial succession. The western empire had seceded under a rebel emperor and the eastern empire was controlled by another usurper. Barbarians took advantage of the anarchy to kill and plunder all over the provinces.

Locked in an eternal Autumn, Airlann, the Source Isle of Magic, is dying. Nearly a millennium earlier, the last of the Goblin Kings were assassinated. Now a fanatical army of Goblins known as the Red Caps are determined to bring their bloodline back to the throne via an heir whose identity is a deeply guarded secret. Padric, a human cast aside as cursed by his own people, travels alongside the alluring piskie Rosheen, his lifelong friend.

At the heart of the Middle East, with its regional conflicts and proxy wars, is a 1400-year-old schism between Sunni and Shia. To understand this divide and its modern resonances, we need to revisit its origins—which go back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632; the accidental coup that set aside the claims of his son Ali; and the slaughter of Ali's own son Husayn at Karbala. These events, known to every Muslim, have created a slender fault line in the Middle East.

When two families organise a house swap, it seems like the perfect holiday arrangement. The Browns will exchange their London townhouse for a stunning chateau in the south of France, the perfect place to relax and rekindle their flagging marriage. And the Lesters are looking forward to showing their son, Rafael, around their old haunts in the British capital. Sounds wonderful. Except for one thing—both families are hiding dark secrets, and secrets have a way of coming out…

Judge, jury, and executioner, Judge Dredd is the brutal comic book cop policing the chaotic future urban jungle of Mega-City One, created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra and launching in the pages of 2000 AD in 1977. But what began as a sci-fi action comic quickly evolved into a searing satire on hardline, militarized policing and "law and order" politics, its endless inventiveness and ironic humor acting as a prophetic warning about our world today—and with important lessons for our future.

She's thrust into a world of dark magic, temptation at every turn, and a threat she can't protect herself from because first-year students aren't supposed to use their magic. And when she's caught trying, she's made to wear a magic suppression necklace. Can her roommate and his friends protect her? And what if the threat hits a little closer to home?

Written almost two millennia ago, Patañjali's work focuses on how to attain the direct experience and realization of the purusa: the innermost individual self, or soul. As the classical treatise on the Hindu understanding of mind and consciousness and on the technique of meditation, it has exerted immense influence over the religious practices of Hinduism in India and, more recently, in the West.

Gav isn't really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed. But as he realizes that nothing—from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess—is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he'll have to answer the hardest question of all—who does he want to be?

In The World Is Your Office, Harvard Business School professor Prithwiraj Choudhury, who has been studying this phenomenon for over a decade, takes listeners inside the trailblazing companies that are going all-in on work-from-anywhere (WFA) policies. From startups and nonprofits to government agencies and large corporations, Choudhury's research shows why and how these organizations are benefiting.

Romance is weakness, and Jasmine Allen doesn’t have time for either. Lifelong cynic Jas is the queen of one-night things—until a plumbing disaster screws everything up and leaves her temporarily homeless. Luckily, she has someone to turn to: her best friend Rahul.

Subjugate the Earth traces the biography of a strange idea: the idea that human beings can subdue nature and rule over it. Born in Mesopotamia at the dawn of civilization, the idea of subjugating the Earth was included in the Bible, reached Europe through Christianity, and spread through colonialism. The Enlightenment gave a scientific appearance to the ambition of controlling nature but did not change the ambition itself. Yet every birth presages a death.

In The Little Book of Valuation: How to Value a Company, Pick a Stock, and Profit, professor and economist Aswath Damodaran guides listeners through the fundamentals and step-by-step process of picking winning companies to invest in. In the book, you'll learn how to make your own accurate valuation assessments, avoiding common pitfalls and mistakes along the way.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Spence swore he had a plan. He assured us he had everything under control. He promised we could trust him. What he forgot to mention? His so-called plan was actually an emotional bombshell with enough force behind it to destroy us all. Technically, his plan worked—my mother and stepfather have ended their campaign to convince me to be a living organ donor. But the emotional damage and mental load of his big announcement has created a ripple effect throughout our cohort.

The board is set. The walls of Castle University, once my stronghold, now echo with the whispers of war. As the Queen, I've faced betrayal, navigated alliances, and survived attempts on my life. But nothing has prepared me for this. My Kings, my protectors, are the only certainty in a world of chaos as an unseen enemy casts a shadow over our hard-won peace. In the dark corridors of power, I tread a dangerous path. The whispers call me a monarch of manipulation, a mistress of the great game. But I am not just playing for power; I am fighting for our future.

When I met British billionaire Kabir Spencer at Splice London, he promised me an unforgettable night and nothing more. One night turned into a string of satisfying encounters, each one hotter than the last. As our dynamic evolved, Spence helped me explore a side of myself I didn’t know existed until the moment I uttered the words Yes, Sir.

The Silk Road may be one origin of globalization, but the Indian Ocean is another. Barry Cunliffe examines the beginning of maritime trade using the evidence of archaeology and the tales of great travelers such as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, and the Chinese Admiral, Zheng He. This story complements that of the land routes, showing how humans have been driven across thousands of years to create and maintain networks whatever the difficulties.

In the North Pacific, the crew of a deep-sea recovery ship, the MV Challenger, are mercilessly gunned to death. Only one man survives, adrift in the ocean, and hundreds of miles from land. In the deserts of Iraq, a clandestine meeting between one of the world's foremost assassins and his ruthless benefactor sets in train a cascade of horrific events that will shape the world for good.