May 27, 2013

Grover Gardner, An Established Narrator in the Self-Development Genre

Grover Gardner has been performing narration on audiobooks since 1981 and has recorded over 650 audiobooks. His prolific career has won him many awards and national recognition for his work. Gardner’s subtle voice is a model of balance and control. He brings the books he narrates to life in a vibrant and vivid manor which adds to the experience of listening to the text in a unique way. Gardner has narrated a number of books in the self-development genre. These fascinating digital audiobooks are available for download at Audible.com.

The Law of Success is one of the original self-development books. In this classic text, published in 1928, Napoleon Hill presents fifteen laws which he derives from a study of the life-work of successful people. The reader is encouraged to follow these laws as a pathway to personal success. Grover Gardner gives this classic a fresh new life with his baritone voice.

In the Alchemy of Finance, investment wizard George Soros walks the reader through his decision making process and investment strategies. Grover Gardner’s narration highlights Soros’ analysis of investing as a kind of alchemy and gives a purposeful voice to Soros’ genius. This book is a must-listen for anyone who wants to develop a deeper knowledge of the world of finance.

Grover Gardner also narrates the classic investment advice of Jeremy Siegel’s, Stocks for the Long Run. Siegel makes a case for a conservative investment strategy, arguing that the stock market is the best long term investment and has averaged a 7% return per year for nearly 200 years.

A huge aspect of success in the business world is based on giving effective presentations and making good first impressions. In another self-development title, Talk Your Way to the Top , Kevin Daley and Laura Daley-Caravella teach readers how to communicate effectively in order to achieve success. The chapters guide the listener through a wide variety of speaking experiences and provide coaching on how to succeed in these areas.

Audible.com is the Internet’s leading provider of digital audiobooks featuring more than 100,000 titles available for download, including books, magazines, radio shows, podcasts, stand-up comedy, and speeches. Listeners can download audiobooks to their iPod, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Kindle, and 500 other devices. With Audible’s new apps for iPhone™, Android™, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire listeners can browse and download audiobooks wirelessly directly on their mobile device.

JOIN AUDIBLE.COM FOR JUST $7.49

Now you can join Audible.com for Just $7.49 and receive a credit good toward any of the audiobooks mentioned in this article or another audiobook of your choice. This introductory rate of $7.49/month is available for the first three months of your membership and then you can choose to continue at $14.95 per month. In addition, your subscription includes the following member benefits:

• Get 1 audiobook each month
• Save 30% on all audio every day
• Receive advance notice of exclusive sales and promotions
• Enjoy a complimentary weekday audio subscription to the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal

May 27, 2013

Author Dale Carnegie’s Works Available on Audible.com

Dale Carnegie’s story is an inspiring rags to riches tale. Born in 1888, in rural Missouri, Carnegie goes to New York to try to make it as an actor. He does not succeed and winds up broke and living at the YMCA. He offers to teach public speaking to the other men and hits upon a successful method. In just a few years, he develops a training course called the Dale Carnegie Course, which is immensely successful. Today, Carnegie’s work is still the model for people interested in self-development and leadership training.

Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People is a classic guide to living a successful life. This book teaches how to respect others, listen to them and address their needs. Carnegie avoids manipulation and a self-centered focus. Instead, he teaches how authentic care and concern for others will lead to success. This classic text is on Audible.com’s self-development bestseller list. Many people over the past 60 years have found in this book helpful guidance in achieving their goals and in helping others to do the same.

A second popular book by Dale Carnegie is How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Carnegie realized that most people waste much of their time and energy worrying. Concluding that this is not the path to a fulfilling life, he put together some practical advice to help people avoid worry. Carnegie suggests that we focus on what we can do in the present to address our problems and avoid too much speculation about the future. Available for download at Audible.com, Carnegie’s advice will help you to cultivate peace in your life.

Carnegie could not have predicted the new directions that human relationships would take in a digital age. But the same principles he made famous still apply in the new media. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie and Associates, Inc. have updated the classic original to reflect the new digital ways in which humans communicate. How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age shows us that while the tools that we use to communicate might change, the principles of human relationships do not. This audiobook shows how to apply those principles to today’s communication technology.

Stand and Deliver, by the Dale Carnegie Organization, presents the meat and bones of public speaking. This audiobook is filled with strategies, tips and secrets to develop top-notch communication skills. It covers all aspects of public speaking from developing an authentic speaking persona to persuading people to act on your words. This audiobook is essential for improving your public speaking skills.

Audible.com is the Internet’s leading provider of digital audiobooks featuring more than 100,000 titles available for download, including books, magazines, radio shows, podcasts, stand-up comedy, and speeches. Listeners can download audiobooks to their iPod, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Kindle, and 500 other devices. With Audible’s new apps for iPhone™, Android™, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire listeners can browse and download audiobooks wirelessly directly on their mobile device.

JOIN AUDIBLE.COM FOR JUST $7.49

Now you can join Audible.com for Just $7.49 and receive a credit good toward any of the audiobooks mentioned in this article or another audiobook of your choice. This introductory rate of $7.49/month is available for the first three months of your membership and then you can choose to continue at $14.95 per month. In addition, your subscription includes the following member benefits:

• Get 1 audiobook each month
• Save 30% on all audio every day
• Receive advance notice of exclusive sales and promotions
• Enjoy a complimentary weekday audio subscription to the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal

December 28, 2012

Most Influential Books of All Time

Listen to this podcast about Books That Changed the World and the new book series on this topic which covers many of the most influential books of all time:

NPR Series: Books That Changed the World Podcast

This podcast is certain to get you interested in some of the books that have had the most impact in global history. Grove/Atlantic published a series of books by prominent writers focusing on the most significant works of literature that introduced groundbreaking ideas and altered the course of human history. This NPR series features 30-minute interviews that were conducted over time with the authors of all these books on NPR’s Talk of the Nation program hosted by Neal Conan and featuring live callers from across the United States. In this series you’ll hear:

-Francis Wheen talks about her book Marx’s Das Kapital and separates the ideas of Marx from the many applications of Marxism throughout history.

-Karen Armstrong discusses her book The Bible: A Biography and how the Bible has been used historically in the traditions of Judaism and Christianity.

-Christopher Hitchens speaks about his book on Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man and about Paine’s views on rights, religion, and the revolutions of his time.

-Military historian Hew Strachan discusses his book Clausewitz’s On War about Napoleonic military theorist Carl von Clausewitz and how his book On War influenced much of the military strategy going into World War I & II.

-Philosopher Simon Blackburn talks about his book on Plato’s Republic including Plato’s controversial arguments against art and democracy.

-Darwin scholar Janet Browne talks about her book on Darwin’s Origin of Species and the significance of Darwin’s theory of evolution in science history.

-Islamic studies professor Bruce Lawrence talks about his book The Qur’an: A Biography and he tries to explain the Qur’an;s many interpretations throughout history.

-Conservative author and satirist P.J. O’Rourke talks about his book On the Wealth of Nations and about some of the brilliant ideas Adam Smith came up with regarding free markets while living in a largely agrarian society.

Listen to these podcasts on Books That Changed the World!

NPR Series: Books That Changed the World Podcast

October 26, 2012

Top 7 Free Horror Audio Books

Happy Halloween! If you thrive on a regular scare, or can take the occasional spook, we’ve picked seven of the best free horror audio books from our free audio & video resource page. Below you’ll find bone chilling classics such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the best Edgar Allan Poe stories. This collection also includes our favorite macabre tales from Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and more classic authors; all of them chosen to keep you up at night, or put a tingle up your spine. Many of these classic books feature multiple versions, so with horror especially, we suggest selecting your narrator carefully! Now that you’ve been warned, turn the lights low and start clicking the links below. If there are multiple versions then we’ll link to each of them and you can decide which narrator you like the best. Here are our top seven free horror audio books:

1. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus from Lit2Go

Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus from LibriVox

Listen to Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Gothic horror and science fiction. Written at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, this allegorical novel reveals the dark side of modern man’s irresponsible use of technology. Download Frankenstein on MP3 today!

2. Dracula from Librivox

Dracula from Lit2Go

As Halloween approaches, we thought you might want to listen to one of the greatest horror stories of all time: Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This classic vampire story examines modern Victorian culture and the gothic occult dimension that lies beneath it. Listen and you will meet not only Count Dracula himself, but heroes Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, plus an array of madmen, psychiatrists, and fair maidens who cross paths with the fanged menace.

3. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe from Librivox

No one else spins a Gothic tale of mystery & macabre quite like Edgar Allan Poe. In this collection of his stories you’ll hear such famous Poe stories as “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe’s popular stories and poems made him a living in his day and continue to be popular. These short stories are read by a group of volunteer narrators at Librivox.org.

4. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde from Librivox

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde from Lit2Go

We all know the phrase “Jekyll and Hyde”, but how many of us have read the book which created this classic example of a split personality? Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is full of mystery and intrigue as the lawyer Mr. Utterson seeks to discover who Mr. Hyde is after a series of bizarre crimes committed by Hyde. Utterson seeks out the advice of the respectable Dr. Jekyll who has an interesting relationship with Mr. Hyde.

5. The Turn of the Screw

Listen to Henry James’ classic Victorian ghost story of a governess and the children she cares for as the deal with the mysterious spirits of their estate. The ambiguous nature of the novel has kept literary critics guessing its meanings for over a century. This spellbinding tale is narrated by Nikolle Doolin over at LibriVox.org and is available on MP3 download.

6. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from Librivox (downloadable on LearnOutLoud.com)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from Voices in the Dark

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow from Lit2Go

Listen to this great short story written by Washington Irving, one of the first acclaimed American authors. It tells the tale of a Dutch settlement called Sleepy Hollow which is haunted by the legend of a Headless Horseman. The Librivox version is read by Chip and his narration if magnificent. It’s available on MP3 Download.

7. The Picture of Dorian Gray from Librivox

The Picture of Dorian Gray from Lit2Go

Listen to the classic gothic tale of Dorian Gray who sells his soul to embrace the new hedonism promoted by Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian Gray remains the same age, but a portrait of him serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form. Download this controversial work of gothic fiction on MP3.

Enjoy these classic works of horror this Halloween!

December 9, 2011

2011 Audio Book Gift Guide

We’ve finally finished our 2011 Audio Book Gift Guide. Looking for some great holiday gifts? At LearnOutLoud.com we’ve assembled a list of the best new and most popular audio book releases from 2011. You can check out all of our new releases here:

Popular 2011 Audiobook New Releases

All the audio books on our list are available on Audio CD and are in stock and ready to ship from LearnOutLoud.com. And many of them are available on Audio Download. No matter who you’re giving gifts to this year, you’re sure to find an audio book they’ll enjoy and learn from. To make it easy, we’ve divided this list of the best new releases from 2011 into categories. We’ve picked a selection of audio books from our most popular categories. Here is a selection of great audio book gifts from the categories of Self Development, Business, and Religion & Spirituality:

Self Development Audio Book Gifts:

1. How To Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age by Dale Carnegie

2. The Four Purposes of Life by Dan Millman (Only on Audio Download)

3. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister & John Tierney

4. Take Back Your Life by Geneen Roth

5. The Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard

6. Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being by Martin Seligman

7. Spontaneous Happiness by Dr. Andrew Weil

8. Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, & Al Switzler

9. Meditations for Weight Loss by Marianne Williamson

10. Finding Inner Courage by Mark Nepo

11. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman

12. Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life by Jillian Michaels

13. The Mindful Therapist by Dr. Daniel Siegel

14. Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation by Norman Rosenthal

15. The South Beach Wake-Up Call Dr. Arthur Agatston

16. Free Yourself from Anxiety: A Mind-Body Prescription by Erin Olivio

17. The Secret of Love by Deepak Chopra

18. The 17 Day Diet Essentials by Dr. Mike Moreno

19. The Power of Your Spirit: A Guide to Joyful Living by Sonia Choquette

20. ScreamFree Marriage by Hal Edward & Jenny Runkel

Business Audio Book Gifts:

1. The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems by Stephen R. Covey

2. EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey

3. The 5 Levels of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

4. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis

5. The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation by Jay Elliot & William L. Simon

6. Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich – and Why Most Don’t by Donald Trump & Robert T. Kiyosaki

7. StandOut: The Groundbreaking New Strengths Assessment from the Leader of the Strengths Revolution by Marcus Buckingham

8. The Price of Civilization by Jeffrey Sachs

9. The Money Class by Suze Orman

10. The Investment Answer by Daniel C. Goldie & Gordon S. Murray

Religion & Spirituality Audio Book Gifts:

1. Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen

2. How to Be Compassionate by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

3. Radical Together by David Platt

4. Living Beyond Your Feelings by Joyce Meyer

5. NIV Audio Bible, Pure Voice Narrated by George W. Sarris

6. Natural Awareness by Pema Chodron

7. Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well by Billy Graham

8. 2012: Prophecies and Possibilities by Mike Dooley

9. Thinking. Loving. Doing. by John Piper

10. The One Year Daily Insights with Zig Ziglar by Zig Ziglar & Ike Reighard

Best of Biographies, A&E, and Literature

Have someone on your list who enjoys listening to literature or learning about the life of a renowned individual. We’ve made our selections for the Best of Biographies, A&E, and Literature on Audio Book in 2011.

Biographies as Audio Book Gifts:

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

2. Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords & Mark Kelly

3. Bossypants by Tina Fey

4. Blue Nights by Joan Didion

5. The Best Advice I Ever Got by Katie Couric

Arts & Entertainment Audio Book Gifts:

1. The History of Western Art by Peter Whitfield

2. Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

3. Drama: An Actor’s Education by John Lithgow

4. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

5. Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

Literature Audio Book Gifts:

1. The Grapes of Wrath (Unabridged) by John Steinbeck

And about 10 other John Steinbeck books were released on audio this year by Penguin Audiobooks:

John Steinbeck Audio Books

2. A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean

3. She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems Selected & Introduced by Caroline Kennedy

4. The Iliad by Homer, translated by Stephen Mitchell

5. Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (Full Cast Dramatization)

Best of History, Politics, & Science

If one of your special loved ones loves nonfiction we’ve got some the best history, politics, & science audio books released in the past year. Browse this selection of the Best of History, Politics, & Science Audio Books of 2011.

History Audio Book Gifts:

1. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard

2. Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar

3. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann

4. The Patriot’s History Reader: Essential Documents for Every American by Larry Schweikart, Dave Dougherty, & Michael Allen

5. Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson

Politics Audio Book Gifts:

1. Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy by Bill Clinton

2. A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters by Newt Gingrich

3. That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas L. Friedman & Michael Mandelbaum

4. Here Comes Trouble by Michael Moore

5. Liberty Defined by Ron Paul

6. The Original Argument: The Federalists’ Case for the Constitution by Glenn Beck & Pat Gray

7. Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens by Christopher Hitchens

8. Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? by Pat Buchanan

9. Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America by Ann Coulter

10. In My Time by Dick Cheney

Science Audio Book Gifts:

1. War of the Worldviews: Science vs. Spirituality by Deepak Chopra & Leonard Mlodinow

2. How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

3. The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene

4. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick

5. The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True by Richard Dawkins

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Browse over 12,000 titles to buy on CD and download in our audio book sale section:

LearnOutLoud Audio Book Sale Section

We thought it best to feature our shipping options in this newsletter. We currently offer four different shipping methods for shipping audio books:

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LearnOutLoud.com Shipping Policy

October 5, 2011

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs on Audio

The godfather of the modern positive psychology movement is humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, who coined the term “positive psychology” in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. Maslow created a theory on the hierarchy of human needs placing self actualization at the top of his pyramid. His focus on human potential and peak experiences would lay the groundwork for authors like Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to further study the science of human happiness.

We are pleased to be offering a free audio book which is an audio recording of Maslow’s 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. This work is the cornerstone of psychiatrist Abraham Maslow’s concept of the human hierarchy of needs. In this paper, Maslow describes humanity as a “wanting” species, and traces a chain of needs from the most basic (hunger), to the most self serving (personal safety, financial security), to the most social (esteem) and finally to the most transcendent (self-actualization).

Download A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham Maslow

This paper was originally published in Psychological Review in 1943 and is now in the public domain as the copyright was not renewed. The audio book is 1 hour in length and read by our very own Seth Anderson. Download this audio book for free on MP3 audio download today!

Download A Theory of Human Motivation by Abraham Maslow

At LearnOutLoud we are also excited to be offering some exclusive audio recordings available on audio download from Abraham Maslow. During the 1960s, Abraham Maslow gave many excellent lectures and workshops at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Maslow was an easy speaker to listen to and he speaks on psychology with the same enjoyment that Joseph Campbell spoke of mythology and Alan Watts spoke of Eastern religion. The audio programs we feature have been selected from the recordings of Maslow’s many lectures and workshops at Esalen. We feature seven of these audio programs and have created descriptions for the content of each of them. Here they are:

1. The Aims of Education

This lecture on the aims of education attempts to reconceive the goals of education under a Maslow framework:

• How do we develop the humanness of a child? What are the ingredients?
• What do we lose when we become adults that we should have been taught earlier?
• What system of values is most important for a child to remember? How do we train teachers to instill these values?
• How do we enhance peak experiences within a child so we retain that into adulthood. Why do we lose this as childhood gives way to maturity?

These, and more fascinating questions are brought up and discussed in Maslow’s exploratory dialogues. Ultimately he feels the primary aim of education is in nurturing the child towards the self-actualization that is the primary goal of all healthy human beings.

2. The B-language Workshop

In the B-Language Workshop, we listen in as Maslow presides over a group think-tank on how to convert Maslow’s concept of B-Values into a workable language. What comes about is a series of discussions on such topics as the role of humor, transcendent love, why power motivates us, how we should define success in our culture and ultimately what all of these conversations mean when we try to find certain words for vague, sometimes elusive (yet interrelated) concepts. This workshop is an interesting time capsule of an era where several like-minded people came together to suss out a novel vocabulary of experience steeped in a psychological framework they all agreed was exciting.

3. The Eupsychian Ethic

In this workshop Abraham Maslow confronts the humanist alternative education community of the Esalen Institute about what is to be done with the psychological growth and personal insights they’ve learned. Maslow worries that for many the journey towards self-actualization becomes self-absorbed and he lays out his idea of the “Eupsychian Ethic” where the personal growth knowledge is taken to the practical level of helping to improve individuals in the community and towards making a more peaceful and united world.

4. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

In this in-depth workshop Abraham Maslow looks at human potential in many aspects of modern culture from business to science to family to education and more. He applies his hierachy of needs to these different aspects of society and gives examples, from the basics of survival in these areas up the pyramid to the self-actualization or transcendence beyond these social institutions. With humor and candor he lays out the methods of achieving these farther reaches of human nature.

5. Psychology and Religious Awareness

Through his own scientific pursuits and his determination to shatter psychiatric dogma, Maslow came to believe that the best scientists are looking for the same thing as the saints: a transcendence of dichotomies. He argues that scientific breakthroughs are akin to religious euphoria in that both experiences provide a rare understanding of our existence. Thus science can be “the religion of the non religious person, or the music of the man who can’t sing” as he puts it. He concludes that if we all tried to seek higher, probe deeper, and leave room for doubt as we search, we might form a new brotherhood of man, where we combine previously trivial divisions into a single force that is dedicated to an open minded approach to learning more about life’s mysteries.

6. Self-Actualization

This lecture on Self-Actualization recorded in 1966, sketches out a definition of the ideal self-actualized person. What he traces here are common traits he noted after studying self-fulfilled people, such as:

• Selfishness: how being good to yourself is the best way to be good to the world.
• Vocation: how the self-actualized person tends to link what they do inextricably with their sense of who they are.
• B-Values: How these people derive the most excitement from their work the more it correlates with universal human, or as Maslow terms it “B-values”.

Maslow goes on to point out that Self-Actualization is only possible after our biological needs are met and thus spiritual motivation emerges only after lower, physical needs such as hunger, safety, love and other bodily motivations are satisfied. In general this lecture is a great introduction to some of the ultimate aims of Maslow’s project.

7. Weekend with Maslow

In this weekend workshop, Abraham Maslow lectures on a wide variety of topics related to his ideas on psychology. He looks at the idea of success and goals and tells how he discovered his purpose. He addresses the potential for positive change and the problem of evil from the perspective of his hierachy of needs theory. He talks about values and counter-values, gratitude and entitlement, and many more interesting topics that he had explored throughout his life.

Enjoy this exclusive audio from Abraham Maslow!

If you want a free sampling of some of these audio recordings check out: The Maslow Podcast

August 4, 2011

Best of Our Audio Book Blog

When we started LearnOutLoud.com one of the first things we did was set up our audio book blog called BlogOutLoud to share the great audio & video learning resources we’re listening to and to spread our love of audio & video learning. After 7 years of blogging we went back through the 100s of posts we made and picked out some of the best ones for your perusal.

Before we do that though we highly encourage you to subscribe to our blog so you don’t miss out on the great things we feature there. Our blog feed is:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/BlogOutLoud

And we’ve added an easy “Subscribe to Our Blog” button on every page of our blog. We’ve also made other improvements such as ways for sharing posts, a blog roll of blogs we like, and a much cleaner and easier to read blog feed.

So onto the best of the blog. We’ll divide them up by every two years in the newsletter. Here are some of the best posts from the early years of 2004-2005.

Best of our Blog: 2004-2005

September of 2004: Finding Decent Headphones – Blog post on finding the right headphones for all the activities you do while you’re audio learning.

April of 2005: Tips for Audio Learning – Some ideas for how people learn the best on audio and why they love audio learning.

September of 2005: Best Actor Narrators – Brief blog post showcasing some of the best actors who have narrated a number of audio books.

September of 2005: Brian Tracy Wants You to Learn with Audio – Inspiring words from author & speaker Brian Tracy on the power of audio learning.

November of 2005: Wiki Out Loud: Wikipedia Entries on Audio – Post on some Wikipedia articles we laid down on audio long ago.

December of 2005: How to Become an Audio Learning Junkie, Part One & How to Become an Audio Learning Junkie, Part Two – Our CEO wrote a definitive guide to audio learning.

Best of our Blog: 2006-2007

January of 2006: The Dirty Dozen: 12 Predictions for Digital Audio and Video – 12 predictions our CEO made back in 2006 some of which have come true and some which haven’t.

January of 2006: My Goal? To Bring TED to You – Back in 2006 we made a call for TED Talks to be made available to the public on audio & video and this has come true with extraordinary success.

February of 2006: Barack Obama takes home Best Spoken Word Album Grammy – For Dreams from My Father. His first of two audio book Grammys.

February of 2006: Fantastic Friend: Dan Millman – Tribute to our friend Dan Millman showcasing a number of his audio programs.

March of 2006: Free Audio Documentaries – Highlighting over 50 free hour-long audio documentaries put on by American RadioWorks.

April of 2006: Take a look at TeachOutLoud – We launch our self-publishing tool TeachOutLoud and highlight some of the early offerings.

April of 2006: Listen to Authentic Sources of History – We highlight three resources for getting original audio from 20th century history.

May of 2006: Classic Christian Audio from Hovel Audio – We add christianaudio (Hovel Audio) titles featuring some of their classic Christian audio.

May of 2006: LearnOutLoud in the New York Times – Our feature in the New York Times Travel section!

May of 2006: Lessons Learned with Ben Franklin – We talk about some of the lessons we learned from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin that we recorded.

June of 2006: A Guide to DRM-Free Audio – We take a look at the sources of where you can audio without digital rights management.

June of 2006: 2006 Audie Award Winners – Our feature of the Audie Award Winners where The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase won Audiobook of the Year.

July of 2006: Guide to LibriVox Audio Books – An early guide to some of the better free audio books available from LibriVox with short reviews on the narration and audio quality.

July of 2006: How to Have a Better Brain – Article with resources on how to naturally improve your brain.

July of 2006: The Infinite Mind – An in-depth look at some the The Infinite Mind series that we offer on audio download with reviews on shows like “Art and Madness”, “Alcoholism”, “Narcissism”, “Marriage”, all in the context of psychology.

July of 2006: Over 1000 Free Audio & Video Titles! – We celebrate over 1000 titles in our free directory by featuring many of the great titles we’ve added so far.

August of 2006: The 5 Dangers of Buying DRM’ed Media – Our warning to people who are buying media with digital rights management on their files. If you’re interested in more arguments against DRM check out our Top 10 Arguments Against DRM and our prediction: 5 Reasons DRM Will Die within 5 Years…And 5 Things You Can Do To Make Sure it Does .

September of 2006: Go Back to School…For Free – Our first back to school special with a lot of great free resources divided up by subject matter.

September of 2006: #30 and Climbing – The Emerson Podcast – Our Ralph Waldo Emerson Podcast skyrockets to #30 on the most popular podcasts on iTunes. It’s still popular to this day.

October of 2006: Contemporary Literature Audio Books – We kick start our Contemporary Literature category with a description of what sort of literature you’ll find there and a list of some the great literary contemporary authors we feature.

November of 2006: The Philosophy Podcast…More Popular than the Man Show? – We celebrate a brief moment in time when our Philosophy Podcast beat out the low brow Man Show in rankings in the iTunes Podcast Directory.

January of 2007: Martin Luther King, Jr. Audio & Video – A tribute to Dr. King and the magnificent audio recordings he has left us.

February of 2007: The Secret & The Law of Attraction Teachers on Audio – Our popular blog on The Law of Attraction Teachers that were featured in the movie The Secret. We’ve continually updated this blog post.

March of 2007: Top 25 Free Resources of 2006 – Our first list of top resources we featured in the past year in our Free Resource of the Day Emails.

April of 2007: We’ve never seen the iTunes homepage look prettier! – We get featured front and center on the iTunes podcast home page and we get our own podcast room there featuring all LearnOutLoud’s own podcasts.

June of 2007: 2007 Audie Award Winners – The award winners from the 2007 Audies with the Audiobook of the Year going to Inspired by…The Bible Experience: New Testament.

July of 2007: Best of iTunes University – Our best of the new iTunes U which unfortunately Apple gave us the cease & desist for linking to them (???). Anyway you can still see what we were linking to and search it on iTunes.

September of 2007: eMusic Launches DRM-Free Audio Book Store – eMusic brings DRM free audio books mainstream and opens up a lot of content to all devices.

November of 2007: 100 Best New Audio Books for Christmas – We feature the 100 best new audio books of the year of 2007 in all your favorite categories.

Best of our Blog: 2008-2009

January of 2008: 2008 Presidential Candidates Audio & Video Resource – As the 2008 presidential campaign was heating up we featuring the ultimate resource for the major Republican & Democratic candidates. Take a look back.

February of 2008: Barack Obama takes home Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Again – Obama scores another Grammy for his audio book The Audacity Of Hope and we feature our Barack Obama Audio & Video Resource Page which we still keep up to date.

April of 2008: Top 50 Free Resources – Our top resources from 2007 feature Kurt Vonnegut last interview, Grammar Girl’s podcast, and an Alpha Break.

May of 2008: Best of FORA.tv – We excavate the educational video trove of FORA.tv for some sensational educational videos.

June of 2008: 2008 Audie Award Winners – This year the Audies award great educational titles like Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley.

July of 2008: Guide to Audio Tours – The ultimate guide to audio tours which we update every year. Audio tours for U.S. and European cities along with other World cities and even Museums through the World.

October of 2008: Presidential Candidates Audio & Video Resource for Election Day 2008 – Our guide to historic presidential race of 2008 with audio & video learning resources from all candidates, even the third party ones.

December of 2008: 150 Best New Audio Book Releases from 2008 – We feature the 150 best new audio books of the year of 2008 in all your favorite categories.

January of 2009: Top 75 Free Motivational Speeches, Lectures, & Podcasts – For the new year in 2009 we collected all our most motivational free resources and featured them in order of their motivational power!

January of 2009: Presidential Inauguration Speeches From FDR to Obama – As Obama delivers his Inauguration Speech we showcase every single Inauguration Speech before him going back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Inauguration Speech delivered on March 4, 1933.

January of 2009: Best of TeachOutLoud – Our Best of our self-published titles through TeachOutLoud which we just keep adding to.

February of 2009: Top 25 Free Resources – Our top 25 free resources from 2008 with great stuff like the free audio book Tribal Leadership, the Poetry Out Loud: Audio Guide, and the 1 Year Daily Audio Bible Podcast.

March of 2009: 600 New Podcasts in Our Directory – We add a ton of great new podcasts into our podcast directory such as Oprah Winfrey’s Podcasts, Peikoff.com Q&A on Ayn Rand Podcast, and The Chopra Center for Wellbeing Podcast.

April of 2009: We go wild post the best free resources in these lists which we keep adding to and updating to this day:

Best Author Interviews and Talks on Audio & Video

Best Free History Audio

Free Self Help Downloads

Learn How To Meditate with Free Meditations

Free Christian Audio

Free Philosophy Books & Podcasts on Audio

Best Free Audio Books Online

Best of TED Talks

May of 2009: We continue with our lists of the best free resources which we keep adding to and updating to this day:

Learn About World Religions with Free Audio & Video

Ten Top Audio & Video Debates

June of 2009: Free Wealth Courses on Audio & Video – Free wealth building resources for you.

July of 2009: 2009 Audie Award Winners – Excellent winners like When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and Gandhi & Churchill by Arthur Herman.

July of 2009: Ten Famous Speeches in American History – Ten fabulous American orations from “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” to “I Have a Dream”.

July of 2009: Free College Lectures – 10 Free College Lectures from our popular Modern Scholar series.

August of 2009: Free Online Psychology Audio & Video Resources – 25 of the top free psychology audio books, lectures, & podcasts available for free online from Freud’s “Dream Psychology” to the latest studies in neuroscience and psychology.

September of 2009: Healthy Aging Resources – We launch our aging category and point out some of the top titles there.

November of 2009: Modern Library – We add the Modern Library Series which features the world’s great historians on the world’s great subjects.

December of 2009: 100 Gifts from Audio Books Released in 2009 – We feature the 100 best new audio books of the year of 2009 in all your favorite categories.

Best of our Blog: 2010-2011

February of 2010: 100s of Leading Thinkers on 10 Great Podcasts – 10 podcasts that have so many amazing authors and thinkers.

March of 2010: Best of LibriVox – We go through the 2500 audio books now available at Librivox and pick out the best 1000.

April of 2010: Download Pimsleur Language Programs – Over 80 Pimsleur courses arrive on audio download and we also feature a free lesson from all of them in our blog Free Pimsleur Downloads.

May of 2010: Free Audio Downloads Section on TeachOutLoud – We add a free section to our self-publishing site TeachOutLoud and feature the best free stuff that’s been published there.

June of 2010: Browse 150 LearnOutLoud Newsletters – We open up the archives of our newsletters and highlight the most clicked through newsletters.

July of 2010: Top 50 Free Audio & Video Resources from the Past Year – We feature 50 great resources from the year 2009 with Free by Chris Anderson taking the #1 spot.

July of 2010: Free Conservative Speeches & Lectures VS. Free Liberal Speeches & Lectures – Our lists of free political talks from across the spectrum.

July of 2010: 2010 Audie Award Winners – Great Audie winners with Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales taking top prize as audiobook of the year.

July of 2010: 100 Best Novels on Audio Book – Derived from the Modern Library published list of the best 100 novels of the 20th century we feature that which is on audio books.

November of 2010: Complete Arkangel Shakespeare on Audio Download – We get all 38 fully-dramatized unabridged plays of William Shakespeare on audio download from the magnificent Arkangel Shakespeare collection.

December of 2010: Audio Book Boxed Sets – A feature of the best audio book boxed sets available.

December of 2010: 2010 Audio Book Gift Guide – 100s of great audio books from 2010.

March of 2011: Top 100 Free Downloads & Videos for Audio & Video Learning – Blog post explosion of over 100 audio & video learning resources from Harvard courses to William Faulkner writing classes to Tony Robbins TV shows to Frontline audio documentaries to Rick Steves travel podcasts. So much good stuff here.

April of 2011: Bible on Audio – Our definite look at the Bible on audio with special CD sets and Audio Downloads, popular translations, great narrators, kid’s audio bibles, and even some free Bibles on audio.

New Author Audio & Video Pages – We add a ton of new author pages from some of our most popular authors giving you bios and picks of their best audio books.

Free Learning Guide – And just this month our ultimate Free Learning Guide for audio & video!

Enjoy our blog and subscribe to make sure you get future updates!

June 28, 2011

Audible Audiobooks to Learn From

At LearnOutLoud.com we’ve always tried to feature all of the audio & video learning resources out there whether they are free or for sale. And if they are for sale and we can’t or don’t yet sell them for whatever reason, then we’re more than happy to send you to a trusted retailer that is selling the audio books.

If you’re not familiar with Audible.com, they are by far the largest retailer of downloadable audio book and spoken word content on the Internet boasting over 85,000 titles currently on their website. If you’d like to learn a little more about them you can read about them on our website here:

Audible.com Overview on LearnOutLoud.com

We recently went through their entire catalog and found about 1000 titles from various audio learning publishers that we didn’t yet have up on our site. We’ve now added these 1000+ titles in order to showcase some great audio learning titles that you may have not yet discovered in their vast ocean of over 85,000 titles. So here we’ll highlight some of those publishers and their titles which you can browse on our site. All of the titles feature audio samples for you to listen to. If you find a title you like feel free to click the link over to Audible.com and purchase it a la carte. Or you may be interested in one of their membership programs. Here those are if you’re not familiar with them:

AudibleListener Gold Membership Consumer Offer:
Get 50% off your first 3 months of the AudibleListener Gold membership plan and receive your free audiobook credit each month. Pay only $7.49/month for 3 months, $14.95/month thereafter.

Audible Free Trial Consumer Offer:
Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases.

Also note that Audible.com supplies all the audio books available on iTunes so if you’re more familiar with iTunes you can search these titles on iTunes as well and download them there if you find something you like.

Here are the 1000+ new titles we’ve added by audio learning publishers on Audible.com:

Better Life Media – Over 30 Titles featuring live talks by self help and business authors on some their most popular books.

Byron Katie International – Over 20 live workshops with author and speaker Byron Katie as she does her method of self-inquiry called “The Work” with real people.

Caravan Publishers – Featuring 40 audio books on Audible.com covering a wide span of topics from politics to history to religion to the social sciences.

Colourstory Limited – 20 Law of Attraction-based audio programs by author Christine Sherborne.

Lowdown Guides from Creative Content Ltd – Get the lowdown on various lifestyles from how to pick up girls or guys to business etiquette in other countries to improving your English.

Dharma Communications – Over 40 Talks on Zen Buddhism by John Daido Loori Roshi and other teachers in the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism.

Dharma Publishing – Over 20 Audio Programs by Tarthang Tulku including relaxations, meditations, and other talks.

Diviniti Publishing – 40 popular hypnotherapy programs from Glenn Harrold and others focusing on particular areas of one’s life.

Earworms – Rapid language learning programs in a number of languages.

Eckhart Teachings – A handful of original audio programs from Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle.

Entrepreneur Media – How-to audio guides on how to start a bunch of different businesses from the folks who put out Entrepreneur Magazine.

Fetch UK – 30+ Self Help Guides out of the UK on many health topics.

FirstWayForward – Hypnotherapy for kids and adults by Lynda Hudson on ways to overcome fears and more.

Go Mad Thinking – Professional development for optimal performance in the workplace along with a series on brain magic.

Health Communications Chicken Soup for the Soul Series – Chicken Soup for just about every type of Soul out there with this popular series of over 30 titles by Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen now on audio download.

HealthiNation – Health info series on a dozen health topics.

Himalayan Institute Press – Over dozen audio programs which cover the topics of meditation, spirituality, holistic health, yoga, and other self development areas.

Hypnotherapists Direct – Over 30 titles on hypnotherapy to overcome specific fears such as claustrophobia and fear of flying.

James Ray International – Original audio programs from self development author James Arthur Ray who was featured in the movie The Secret.

KAMMS Consulting – Over 20 Spanish and Ingles language learning downloads for a variety of occupations.

M-y Books – 40 Spiritual & Emotional Growth titles including many downloads by spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Mark Forstater Productions – Titles Covering the Spiritual Teachings of a number of different philosophers and philosophies by by Mark Forstater.

Michael Shermer Audio – Audio Books by American science writer and founder of The Skeptics Society Michael Shermer on science and religion in the modern age.

Michel Thomas Audio – Language Learning Courses from the popular language teacher Michel Thomas and his colleagues.

Musically Speaking – Over 20 hour-long guides to some of the most popular works of classical music of all time by American conductor and music director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Gerard Schwarz.

Oval Books – Be an instant expert with the Bluffer’s Guides to a lot of different topics from Philosophy to the Quantum Universe.

VangoNotes from Pearson Education – VangoNotes review chapters from over 150 of the most popular college text books. Learn from text books on business, medicine, and much, much more.

PETA Foundation – Audio programs from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Polity Audio – Political audio books on contemporary issues.

PrepLogic – Exam Prep Audio Programs covering major exams like the GMAT, LSAT, SAT, and more.

SDH Productions – Self-Hypnosis and Subliminal Guided Meditations for creating different outcomes in your life.

SelfDevelopment.biz – 10 Guidebooks for creating a healthier, happier life.

SES Research – Over a dozen Hypnosis titles by Australian Patrick Wanis.

SmartPass – Audio Education Study Guides to great literature including many Shakespeare plays.

The Power Within – Teachers from the movie The Secret Recorded Live.

Wisdom Scientific – Self-therapy audio programs by Abe Kass in the domain of personal and relationship success.

So there’s a lot there to choose from. Find a great audio learning titles to download on Audible.com!

June 14, 2011

Professional Growth and Development Audio Programs

Made For Success features motivational audio programs of top speakers and best selling authors in the categories of personal & professional growth. LearnOutLoud.com is pleased to now be offering over 300 of their top titles on MP3 audio download. Whether you’re looking to increase wealth, improve public speaking skills, get motivated to achieve your goals, become a better leader, close more sales, improve time management, or find instruction in many other areas of personal & professional growth, you’ll find an applicable audio download from Made For Success:

300 Made For Success Audio Downloads

One great thing about Made for Success is that most of their audio programs are available for under $10.

Here are some of the great sounding titles we’ve added in various categories. We’ll start in this section with the business titles:

Investing, Finance, & Wealth Downloads:

Six Audio Downloads from Rich Dad, Poor Dad Co-Author Sharon L. Lechter

Make a Million by Brian Tracy

Boost Your Income: Three Spiritual Steps to Success by Rabbi Daniel Lapin

Consciously Designing and Achieving Your Financial Freedom and Abundant Life by Loral Langemeier

Leadership & Management Downloads:

9 Leadership Downloads from Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel

14 Management & Professional Strategy Downloads from Dr. Larry Iverson

Leading for Success in the 21st Century: Leveraging the Latest Communications Technology by Tom Ziglar (Zig’s son)

The 12 Characteristics of Leadership by Chris Widener

Thank God It’s Monday: How to Build a Motivating Workplace by Roxanne Emmerich

Sales, Marketing, & Negotiating:

8 Online Marketing & eCommerce Advice Downloads from Liv Montgomery

The Fundamentals of a Sales Pro by Tom Hopkins

Be a Star with Your Customers and Keep Them Forever and Creating the Loyalty Mindset by Shep Hyken

Getting to “Yes” In 10 Seconds or Less by Vanna Novak

The Customer Bill of Rights: The Top 10 Things That Customers Want by Laura Stack

Public Speaking & Networking:

How to Cultivate a Network of Endless Referrals by Bob Burg (Author of The Go-Giver)

From Good to Great: 10 Little Techniques to Transform Your Speech by Patricia Fripp

How to Give an Elevator Speech by Brian Walter

How to Influence People with Powerful Communication by Brad Worthley

Words Matter: What to Say by Pamela Jett

The Power of Networking by Gene Hildabrand

Relationship Economics by David Nour

In addition to these titles we also still offer many Made For Success from these great speakers that we’ve featured in the past:

Brian Tracy Downloads
Denis Waitley Downloads
Bob Proctor Downloads
Zig Ziglar Downloads
Jim Rohn Downloads
Tony Alessandra Downloads
John C. Maxwell Downloads

Enjoy these audio programs along your path to success!

Along with the professional development titles, Made for Success also puts out a ton of excellent personal growth programs from great contemporary speakers in the field. We’ve added plenty of these on audio download from Made for Success. Here are some top personal growth programs we’ve added by category:

Goals & Motivation:

The Goals Program by Zig Ziglar

Motivating Yourself to Peak Performance by Brian Tracy

Seven Minutes to Success by Chris Widener

Goal Setting and Achieving by Krish Dhanam

Mental & Emotional Development:

8 Downloads from Crystal Dwyer covering Anxiety, Weight Loss, & More

Ridiculous Bliss Series by Matthew Ferry

Developing & Maintaining the Right Attitude by Zig Ziglar

Optimize Your Thinking by Jennifer Whitt

Relationships & Parenting:

Building Winning Relationships by Zig Ziglar

Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels

Dealing with Difficult People by Dianna Booher

Parenting on the Winning Edge by Tom Flick

Exploring Your Child’s Personality by Jennifer Sedlock

Time Management & Productivity:

19 Downloads from The Productivity Pro Laura Stack

How to Get More Done with Less Stress by Sarita Maybin

The 9 Secrets to Time Mastery by Dr. Larry Iverson

Excuses Don’t Count – Results Rule by Anne Bachrach

And there’s a lot more here to explore. Check them all out:

300 Made For Success Audio Downloads

May 31, 2011

Personal Development for Smart People Blog on Audio Book

Steve Pavlina’s popular blog “Personal Growth for Smart People” gets over 2 million visitors per month. Writing on topics as diverse as sleep optimization, natural food diets, relationships, and time management, Pavlina has displayed a fascinating willingness to adjust his lifestyle for the better. We’ve been avid readers of his blog for years and are excited to present his ideas on audio for the first time!

You can check out our sampler audio book which features six of his most popular blog posts of all time. Download this 1-hour audio book as an introduction to his unique take on personal growth:

The Best of Steve Pavlina’s Blog: Personal Growth for Smart People

Included in this free sampler program are audio renditions of these classic Pavlina blog postings:

• How to Discover Your Life Purpose
• 30 Days to Success
• How to Become an Early Riser
• Ten Reasons Not to Get a Job
• How to Decide When to End a Long-Term Relationship
• The Law of Attraction

And if you enjoy this sampler audio book you might also want to check out the full 7-hour unabridged audio book we’ve recorded of over 25 of Steve Pavlina’s best blog posts:

The Best of Steve Pavlina’s Blog (Unabridged)

This 7-hour unabridged audio book contains audio renditions of all of the most popular Pavlina blog entries:

• How to Discover Your Life Purpose
• 30 Days to Success
• How to Become an Early Riser
• Ten Reasons Not to Get a Job
• How to Decide When to End a Long-Term Relationship
• The Law of Attraction
• Self Discipline Part 1-6
• How to Get Up Right Away When Your Alarm Goes Off
• 10 Tips for College Students
• How to Be a Man
• 30 Day Facebook Fast
• Levels of Consciousness
• Deciding What To Do With Your Life
• How to Make Lots of Money During a Recession
• How to Achieve Stretch Goals
• Don’t Die With Your Music Still in You
• Cause-Effect vs. Intention-Manifestation
• 33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity
• How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog)
• How to Manifest Money
• The-Power-Of-Now
• How to Squash Negative Thought Patterns
• Understanding Family Relationship Problems
• How to Make Money From Your Blog

A treasure trove of inspiration from a man who has dedicated his life to personal growth:

The Best of Steve Pavlina’s Blog (Unabridged)

We’d like to thank Mr. Steve Pavlina for Releasing His Copyrights. Definitely check out his popular “Personal Development for Smart People” blog at www.stevepavlina.com.