Optimizing America: One Man Will Level the Field
A Political Thriller
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joseph Morton
About this listen
You can't expect to win when the system is rigged.
Justin Wolfe sets out on a tour to promote The Big Solution, his book that outlines a simple economic platform that would turn a corrupt system on its head. Despite the urging from his best friend, Federal Reserve Board hopeful Evan White, Wolfe has no intention of running for office. But when his ideas begin to catch fire with the masses, the two friends find themselves swept up in a presidential campaign that threatens not only their public standing, but their very lives.
“Our world is remarkably automated. Resources remain in abundant supply. And by most standard measures, the economy appears to be humming along. Life should be so simple. So prosperous. And yet the vast majority of people still aren’t making a decent living. America’s promise of equal opportunity has become a distant memory. But I, Justin Wolfe, have a plan to finally change the dynamics that have been holding this country back. Imagine a simple idea that could change the world forever. An idea that will deliver us from this economic train-wreck and prevent further hardships from falling on the shoulders of future generations. Shouldn’t we get started?” (Justin Wolfe)
In a political thriller for the ages, Jarl Jensen achieves something no other author has achieved. He crafts an exciting story around disruptive solutions that would dismantle and rebuild our global economic system. Through vivid scenery, memorable characters, and intense drama, he encourages the reader to ponder hardline questions that challenge modern political punditry, shatter the “news-in-a-loop” cycle, and change the way we think about the distribution of wealth. In this way, this page-turning thriller is more than just a page-turning thriller. It is a means to optimize America, to spark hope for a brighter future, and to change the world forever.
©2017, 2018 Jarl Jensen (P)2018 Jarl JensenListeners also enjoyed...
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
The Go-Giver, Expanded Edition
- A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
- By: Bob Burg, John David Mann
- Narrated by: Bob Burg, John David Mann
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. Desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman.
-
-
Nice little opener to Amway scam
- By noah britton on 06-20-20
By: Bob Burg, and others
-
Year Zero
- A Novel
- By: Rob Reid
- Narrated by: John Hodgman
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it's a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news. The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity's music ever since "Year Zero" (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang.
-
-
Fantastic Performance by Hodgman
- By Robert on 08-15-12
By: Rob Reid
-
The Unincorporated Man
- By: Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unincorporated Man is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
-
-
Hmm
- By CB on 06-15-09
By: Dani Kollin, and others
-
The Overton Window
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: James Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A plan to destroy America, a hundred years in the making, is about to be unleashed. There is a powerful technique called the Overton Window that can shape our lives, our laws, and our future. It works by manipulating public perception so that ideas previously thought of as radical begin to seem acceptable over time. Move the Window and you change the debate. Change the debate and you change the country.
-
-
AMAZING!!
- By DayDreamer on 06-17-10
By: Glenn Beck
-
Power Play
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jake Ross, a university astronomer, wants nothing more than to teach a few classes each semester and continue his research. Instead, he finds himself aggressively recruited to be the science advisor to Frank Tomlinson, an ambitious politician with his eye on the US Senate. Tomlinson is in need of an edge that will allow him to defeat his opponent at the polls, and Dr. Ross can contribute just that: MHD. MHD, or magnetohydrodynamics, is a new innovation that will allow electricity to be generated efficiently and cheaply. But MHD is still in its infancy, and there are deadly risks.
-
-
Anticlimactic
- By Luetra on 06-23-21
By: Ben Bova
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
The Go-Giver, Expanded Edition
- A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
- By: Bob Burg, John David Mann
- Narrated by: Bob Burg, John David Mann
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. Desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman.
-
-
Nice little opener to Amway scam
- By noah britton on 06-20-20
By: Bob Burg, and others
-
Year Zero
- A Novel
- By: Rob Reid
- Narrated by: John Hodgman
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it's a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news. The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity's music ever since "Year Zero" (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang.
-
-
Fantastic Performance by Hodgman
- By Robert on 08-15-12
By: Rob Reid
-
The Unincorporated Man
- By: Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unincorporated Man is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
-
-
Hmm
- By CB on 06-15-09
By: Dani Kollin, and others
-
The Overton Window
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: James Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A plan to destroy America, a hundred years in the making, is about to be unleashed. There is a powerful technique called the Overton Window that can shape our lives, our laws, and our future. It works by manipulating public perception so that ideas previously thought of as radical begin to seem acceptable over time. Move the Window and you change the debate. Change the debate and you change the country.
-
-
AMAZING!!
- By DayDreamer on 06-17-10
By: Glenn Beck
-
Power Play
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dr. Jake Ross, a university astronomer, wants nothing more than to teach a few classes each semester and continue his research. Instead, he finds himself aggressively recruited to be the science advisor to Frank Tomlinson, an ambitious politician with his eye on the US Senate. Tomlinson is in need of an edge that will allow him to defeat his opponent at the polls, and Dr. Ross can contribute just that: MHD. MHD, or magnetohydrodynamics, is a new innovation that will allow electricity to be generated efficiently and cheaply. But MHD is still in its infancy, and there are deadly risks.
-
-
Anticlimactic
- By Luetra on 06-23-21
By: Ben Bova
-
Edge of Apocalypse
- A Joshua Jordan Novel
- By: Tim LaHaye, Craig Parshall
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joshua Jordan, former US spy-plane hero now turned weapons designer, has come up with a devastatingly effective new missile defense system—the Return to Sender laser weapon. But global forces are mounting against America, and corrupt White House and Capitol Hill leaders are willing to do anything to stop the nation’s impending economic catastrophe—including selling out Joshua and his weapon.
-
-
Edge of Your Seat
- By Paul on 06-11-10
By: Tim LaHaye, and others
-
Interface
- By: Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this now-classic thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a shocking tale with an all-too plausible premise. There's no way William A. Cozzano can lose the upcoming presidential election. He's a likable midwestern governor with one insidious advantage - an advantage provided by a shadowy group of backers.
-
-
Interface
- By Dianne on 08-14-10
By: Neal Stephenson, and others
-
Once upon a Time in Russia
- The Rise of the Oligarchs and the Greatest Wealth in History
- By: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Bringing Down the House (63 weeks on the New York Times best seller list and the basis for the hit movie 21) and The Accidental Billionaires (the basis for the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network) delivers an epic drama of wealth, rivalry, and betrayal among megawealthy Russian oligarchs - and its international repercussions.
-
-
Oligarchs, Operatives, Explosives & Intrigue!
- By Michael J Canning on 07-26-16
By: Ben Mezrich
-
Speculator
- High Ground, Book 1
- By: Doug Casey, John Hunt
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest gold discovery in history draws a young Charles Knight to West Africa, where he unearths deception, violence, and romance. Xander Winn - a Dutchman on his own mission - mentors Charles on his voyage into the world of speculation and African politics. But a psychopathic rebel leader, the purveyors of a six-billion-dollar fraud, a team of mercenaries bent on early retirement, and the US government all get in his way. Everyone wants him dead. But Charles plans to strike it rich.
-
-
Speculator entertains and makes you think
- By Steven A. Engel on 12-16-16
By: Doug Casey, and others
-
The Bancroft Strategy
- By: Robert Ludlum
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Todd Belknap, a legendary field agent for Consular Operations with a reputation as a cowboy, is cut loose from the agency after an operation goes wrong. At the same time, Jared Rinehart, his best friend and fellow agent, is abducted in Lebanon by a militia group with a vicious reputation. When the government refuses to either rescue Rinehart or negotiate for his release, Belknap decides to take matters into his own hands.
-
-
When was this written?
- By Ross on 11-26-06
By: Robert Ludlum
-
Undermoney
- By: Jay Newman
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a US airdrop of billions of dollars disappears in the desert sands of Syria, only a small group of military operatives knows its ultimate destination or why it has been stolen. Their goal is no less than the restoration of America’s geopolitical dominance on the global stage. Essential to this scheme are Greta Webb, a sophisticated CIA operative who is an expert on dark money, not to mention lethally skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and Elias Vicker, the damaged, dangerous soul who runs the world’s largest hedge fund.
-
-
Don't drive and listen
- By Pam on 02-26-22
By: Jay Newman
-
One Trillion Dollars
- By: Andreas Eschbach
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 25 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yesterday John Fontanelli was just a pizza delivery guy in New York City. One day later, he's the richest man in the world. One trillion dollars - one million times one million - $1,000,000,000,000: more money than anyone could imagine. For generations the Vacchis, an old Italian family of lawyers and asset managers, had supervised the fortune as it grew over five hundred years, until one particular date that the benefactor had stipulated in his will.
-
-
Loved it but ending was a copout
- By Aaron Wittrig on 04-15-16
By: Andreas Eschbach
-
Titan
- Mammon Series, Book 1
- By: Robert Kroese
- Narrated by: Jonathan Beville
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the year 2032, the US federal debt has surpassed $50 trillion. The American empire is on the verge of collapse. An entrepreneur named Kade Kapur has an idea for rescuing the debt-ridden United States: The government will issue stock in a company with exclusive mining rights to an asteroid whose orbit will soon bring it near Earth. The asteroid, which contains $10 trillion in valuable minerals, is officially called 2015 RK 16 Maimonides, but it soon comes to be known by another name: Mammon.
-
-
Titan, an examination of a probable future
- By pondo on 02-02-22
By: Robert Kroese
-
The Mark and the Void
- A Novel
- By: Paul Murray
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems - and neither is Claude's employer, the Investment Bank of Torabundo, which swells through dodgy takeovers and derivatives trading until - well, you can probably guess how that shakes out.
-
-
Well read but frustrating story
- By Michael on 05-26-16
By: Paul Murray
-
Dark Matters
- Dark Matters Series, Book 1
- By: Michael Dow
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rudolph "Rudy" Dersch is the newly minted CEO of the world's largest, multi-trillion-dollar corporate conglomerate. But the job comes with an unexpected twist - an invitation to join the Consortium, a small, secretive group of global elites who effectively decide what's best for the rest of humanity. How does Rudy's struggle to reconcile business and family impact the world's future? And who, if anyone, can break the Consortium's iron grip on the status quo?
-
-
Great story line that builds into real captivating
- By Janine Lex on 09-05-17
By: Michael Dow
-
The Oracle Year
- A Novel
- By: Charles Soule
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Knowledge is power. So when an unassuming Manhattan bassist named Will Dando awakens from a dream one morning with 108 predictions about the future in his head, he rapidly finds himself the most powerful man in the world. Protecting his anonymity by calling himself the Oracle, he sets up a heavily guarded website with the help of his friend Hamza to selectively announce his revelations. In no time global corporations are offering him millions for exclusive access, eager to profit from his prophecies.
-
-
Wish it were more
- By Topher on 05-14-18
By: Charles Soule
-
Rigged
- By: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Ben Mezrich
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the startling rags-to-riches story of an Italian-American kid from the streets of Brooklyn who claws his way into the wild, frenetic world of the oil exchange. After conquering the hallowed halls of Harvard Business School, he enters the testosterone-laced warrens of the Merc Exchange, the asylumlike oil exchange located in lower Manhattan.
-
-
Another interesting story...
- By Carey Patrick Ryan on 11-27-07
By: Ben Mezrich
Related to this topic
-
The Unincorporated Man
- By: Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unincorporated Man is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
-
-
Hmm
- By CB on 06-15-09
By: Dani Kollin, and others
-
The Mark and the Void
- A Novel
- By: Paul Murray
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems - and neither is Claude's employer, the Investment Bank of Torabundo, which swells through dodgy takeovers and derivatives trading until - well, you can probably guess how that shakes out.
-
-
Well read but frustrating story
- By Michael on 05-26-16
By: Paul Murray
-
The Fourth Awakening
- By: Rod Pennington, Jeffery A. Martin
- Narrated by: C. J. Crit
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penelope Drayton Spence made a choice years earlier, and picked marriage and family over a promising career as an investigative reporter. Now, divorced and with her children spread around the country, she is having second thoughts. A mysterious call from the Managing Editor of the Washington Post, offers her a second chance at big time journalism. He has a story so sensitive that the President of the United States personally asked the Post to leave it alone.
-
-
Narration will keep you awake..
- By Matthew on 02-11-13
By: Rod Pennington, and others
-
Ugly Americans
- The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions
- By: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: TBD
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ugly Americans is the true story of John Malcolm, a Princeton graduate who traveled halfway around the world in search of the American dream and pulled off a trade that could be described as the biggest deal in the history of the financial markets.
-
-
Very entertaining
- By Amazon Customer on 06-09-05
By: Ben Mezrich
-
METAtropolis
- By: Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Michael Hogan, Scott Brick, Kandyse McClure, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Armed camps of eco-survivalists battle purveyors of technology in this exclusive, original production featuring five sci-fi masters and five all-star narrators.
-
-
Not a wasted credit
- By james on 10-27-08
By: Jay Lake, and others
-
Once upon a Time in Russia
- The Rise of the Oligarchs and the Greatest Wealth in History
- By: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Bringing Down the House (63 weeks on the New York Times best seller list and the basis for the hit movie 21) and The Accidental Billionaires (the basis for the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network) delivers an epic drama of wealth, rivalry, and betrayal among megawealthy Russian oligarchs - and its international repercussions.
-
-
Oligarchs, Operatives, Explosives & Intrigue!
- By Michael J Canning on 07-26-16
By: Ben Mezrich
-
The Unincorporated Man
- By: Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unincorporated Man is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
-
-
Hmm
- By CB on 06-15-09
By: Dani Kollin, and others
-
The Mark and the Void
- A Novel
- By: Paul Murray
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems - and neither is Claude's employer, the Investment Bank of Torabundo, which swells through dodgy takeovers and derivatives trading until - well, you can probably guess how that shakes out.
-
-
Well read but frustrating story
- By Michael on 05-26-16
By: Paul Murray
-
The Fourth Awakening
- By: Rod Pennington, Jeffery A. Martin
- Narrated by: C. J. Crit
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Penelope Drayton Spence made a choice years earlier, and picked marriage and family over a promising career as an investigative reporter. Now, divorced and with her children spread around the country, she is having second thoughts. A mysterious call from the Managing Editor of the Washington Post, offers her a second chance at big time journalism. He has a story so sensitive that the President of the United States personally asked the Post to leave it alone.
-
-
Narration will keep you awake..
- By Matthew on 02-11-13
By: Rod Pennington, and others
-
Ugly Americans
- The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions
- By: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: TBD
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ugly Americans is the true story of John Malcolm, a Princeton graduate who traveled halfway around the world in search of the American dream and pulled off a trade that could be described as the biggest deal in the history of the financial markets.
-
-
Very entertaining
- By Amazon Customer on 06-09-05
By: Ben Mezrich
-
METAtropolis
- By: Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Michael Hogan, Scott Brick, Kandyse McClure, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Armed camps of eco-survivalists battle purveyors of technology in this exclusive, original production featuring five sci-fi masters and five all-star narrators.
-
-
Not a wasted credit
- By james on 10-27-08
By: Jay Lake, and others
-
Once upon a Time in Russia
- The Rise of the Oligarchs and the Greatest Wealth in History
- By: Ben Mezrich
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best-selling author of Bringing Down the House (63 weeks on the New York Times best seller list and the basis for the hit movie 21) and The Accidental Billionaires (the basis for the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network) delivers an epic drama of wealth, rivalry, and betrayal among megawealthy Russian oligarchs - and its international repercussions.
-
-
Oligarchs, Operatives, Explosives & Intrigue!
- By Michael J Canning on 07-26-16
By: Ben Mezrich
-
The Hercules Text
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a remote corner of the galaxy, a message is being sent. The continuous beats of a pulsar have become odd, irregular, and artificial. It can only be a code. Frantically, a research team struggles to decipher the alien communication. And what the scientists discover is destined to shake the foundations of empires around this world - from Wall Street to the Vatican.
-
-
Lots to recommend here!
- By Matthew on 10-19-18
By: Jack McDevitt
-
Not Alone: First Encounter
- By: Craig A. Falconer
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not Alone: First Encounter is a prequel to the globally acclaimed Not Alone series, set several years before two worlds collide under the weight of the grandest conspiracy of all time. For the first time ever, First Encounter lifts the curtain on a deadly series of events surrounding the initial meeting between the ruthless Richard Walker - untouchable head of the controversial Interspace Defense Agency - and a young truth-seeker from Birchwood, Colorado....
-
-
Already part of Not Alone: Origins
- By Danny on 07-25-21
-
The Go-Giver, Expanded Edition
- A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
- By: Bob Burg, John David Mann
- Narrated by: Bob Burg, John David Mann
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. Desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman.
-
-
Nice little opener to Amway scam
- By noah britton on 06-20-20
By: Bob Burg, and others
-
Red Plenty
- By: Francis Spufford
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Strange as it may seem, the gray, oppressive USSR was founded on a fairy tale. It was built on the 20th-century magic called "the planned economy," which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a little while, in the heady years of the late 1950s, the magic seemed to be working. Red Plenty is about that moment in history, and how it came, and how it went away. Red Plenty is history, it's fiction, it's as ambitious as Sputnik, and as uncompromising as an Aeroflot flight attendant.
-
-
Simple review
- By Jay J Peters on 06-24-18
By: Francis Spufford
-
Project Daily Grind
- Mirror World Series, Book 1
- By: Alexey Osadchuk
- Narrated by: Kyle McCarley
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ads enthused, "The virtual lands of Mirror World await you! Live out your most secret dreams in our world of Sword and Sorcery! Become a Great Wizard or a Famous Warrior! Build your own castle, tame a dragon, conquer a kingdom! All those desperate, lonely, and insecure - Mirror World offers you a chance!" But Oleg isn't meant to become a great wizard or a famous warrior. He'll never have a castle of his own. Nor will he ever tame a dragon. And he's definitely not the type to conquer a kingdom, however virtual it may be.
-
-
Mirror World Shines
- By Don Gilbert on 01-31-17
By: Alexey Osadchuk
-
For Us, the Living
- A Comedy of Customs
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
July 12, 1939: Perry Nelson is driving along the palisades when another vehicle swerves into his lane, a tire blows out, and his car careens off the road and over a bluff. The last thing he sees before his head connects with the boulders below is a girl in a green bathing suit, prancing along the shore.
-
-
The only Heinlein I didn't enjoy
- By Randall on 07-07-11
-
Stand on Zanzibar
- By: John Brunner, Bruce Sterling - foreword
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him. Society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers and mass-marketed psychedelic drugs.
-
-
perfect audio experience
- By Darryl on 03-24-14
By: John Brunner, and others
-
Player Piano
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kurt Vonnegut's first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul's rebellion is vintage Vonnegut – wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.
-
-
A Genuine 5-Stars
- By R.A. on 06-07-19
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Bangkok 8
- By: John Burdett
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Witnessed by a throng of gaping spectators, a charismatic Marine sergeant is murdered under a Bangkok bridge inside a bolted-shut Mercedes Benz. Among the witnesses are the only two cops in the city not on the take, but within moments one is murdered and his partner, Sonchai Jitpleecheep - a devout Buddhist and the son of a Thai bar girl and a long-gone Vietnam War G.I. - is hell-bent on wreaking revenge. On a vigilante mission to capture his partner’s murderer, Sonchai is begrudgingly paired with a beautiful FBI agent named Jones....
-
-
Very dissapointing
- By Dennis on 05-29-13
By: John Burdett
-
This Is Cuba
- An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow
- By: David Ariosto
- Narrated by: David Ariosto
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is Cuba is a true story that begins in the summer of 2009 when a young American photo-journalist is offered the chance of a lifetime - a two-year assignment in Havana. For David Ariosto, the island is an intriguing new world, unmoored from the one he left behind. From neighboring military coups, suspected honey traps, salty spooks, and desperate migrants to dissidents, doctors, and Havana’s empty shelves, Ariosto uncovers the island’s subtle absurdities, its Cold War mystique, and the hopes of a people in the throes of transition.
-
-
You're really none the wiser
- By Buretto on 01-10-19
By: David Ariosto
-
Savage News
- By: Jessica Yellin
- Narrated by: Jessica Yellin
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Be noisy. Natalie Savage grew up hearing these words from her father, who admired Walter Cronkite so much he named the family dog after him. Natalie - who spent her 20s missing out on life’s benchmarks - finally sees her efforts pay off when she’s assigned to cover the White House for her network. The problem? The position is only temporary, a test to see if she has what it takes. She has always relied on her grit, her principles and her news sense to gain success. But now her competition is a frat boy who got his big break by eating raw animal parts on a reality show.
-
-
Great insight into newsworld, Just OK novel
- By Zack on 05-10-19
By: Jessica Yellin
-
The New New Thing
- A Silicon Valley Story
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Bruce Reizen
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the weird glow of the dying millennium, Michael Lewis sets out on a safari through Silicon Valley to find the world's most important technology entrepreneur, the man who embodies the spirit of the coming age. He finds him in Jim Clark, who is about to create his third, separate, billion-dollar company: first Silicon Graphics, then Netscape - which launched the Information Age - and now Healtheon, a startup that may turn the $1 trillion healthcare industry on its head.
-
-
A fun book about Jim Clark
- By Horace on 07-07-10
By: Michael Lewis
What listeners say about Optimizing America: One Man Will Level the Field
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ruth
- 09-06-18
Great Message
This book brought an idea to the economy that sounds realistic. I don’t know if it would work. I’d like to see a test. Perhaps a smaller country.
It ended too abruptly. I don’t see what grounds that would allow police to rush in to arrest a candidate on Election Day. I’ll listen to that part again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kirsten
- 12-11-18
Compelling Story and Intriguing Ideas
Finally someone has the wherewithal to figure out why the world isn’t getting better and why everyone works so hard but it all seems like a rat race. The story on audio is entertaining but I found myself thinking about the ideas in the book a lot more then the time I actually listened. Apparently the author isn’t done, there’s more to the series, I’ve signed up on his mailing list.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!