Knowledge = Power

Inspired by The Hobbit and begun in 1937, The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy that J.R.R. Tolkien created to provide "the necessary  background of history for Elvish tongues". From these academic  aspirations was born one of the most popular and imaginative works in  English literature. The Fellowship of the Ring,  the first volume in the trilogy, tells of the fateful power of the One  Ring. It begins a magnificent tale of adventure that will plunge the  members of the Fellowship of the Ring into a perilous quest and set the  stage for the ultimate clash between the powers of good and evil. In  this splendid, unabridged audio production of Tolkien's great work, all  the inhabitants of a magical universe – hobbits, elves, and wizards –  step colorfully into life. Rob Inglis' narration has been praised as a  masterpiece of audio.

The Two Towers is the second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic saga, The Lord of the Rings. The  Fellowship has been forced to split up. Frodo and Sam must continue  alone towards Mount Doom, where the One Ring must be destroyed.  Meanwhile, at Helm’s Deep and Isengard, the first great battles of the  War of the Ring take shape. In this splendid,  unabridged audio production of Tolkien’s great work, all the inhabitants  of a magical universe - hobbits, elves, and wizards - spring to life.  Rob Inglis’ narration has been praised as a masterpiece of audio.

The journey through Middle-earth begins here with J.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy. “A  glorious account of a magnificent adventure, filled with suspense and  seasoned with a quiet humor that is irresistible... All those, young or  old, who love a fine adventurous tale, beautifully told, will take The Hobbit to their hearts.”—The New York Times Book Review "In  a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." So begins one of the most  beloved and delightful tales in the English language—Tolkien's prelude  to The Lord of the Rings. Set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale, The Hobbit is one of literature's most enduring and well-loved novels. Bilbo  Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely  traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is  disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his  doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a  plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a  large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest,  unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter  both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked  with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the  “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing  consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize  worth killing for.... When House Atreides is betrayed, the  destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a  destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into  the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition  humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.  A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis  of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Named 2006 Best Book of the Year by Amazon.com “An authoritative and exciting portrait not only of Caesar but of the complex society in which he lived.”—Steven Coates, New York Times Book Review “The best introduction to Caesar and his world that is currently available.”—Karl Galinsky, Bookforum Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of the great Roman emperor’s life,  Goldsworthy covers not only the great Roman emperor’s accomplishments  as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but  also lesser-known chapters during which he was high priest of an exotic  cult, captive of pirates, seducer not only of Cleopatra but also of the  wives of his two main political rivals, and rebel condemned by his own  country. Ultimately, Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of  Caesar’s character and shows why his political and military leadership  continues to resonate some two thousand years later. In the introduction  to his biography of the great Roman emperor, Adrian Goldsworthy writes,  “Caesar was at times many things, including a fugitive, prisoner,  rising politician, army leader, legal advocate, rebel, dictator . . . as  well as husband, father, lover and adulterer.” In this landmark  biography, Goldsworthy examines Caesar as military leader, all of these  roles and places his subject firmly within the context of Roman society  in the first century B.C.

A fascinating, comprehensive biography of the cunning Roman conqueror Julius Caesar. More  than two thousand years after his death, Julius Caesar remains one of  the great figures of history. He shaped Rome for generations, and his  name became a synonym for “emperor”—not only in Rome but as far away as  Germany and Russia. He is best known as the general who defeated the  Gauls and doubled the size of Rome’s territories. But, as Philip Freeman  describes in this fascinating new biography, Caesar was also a  brilliant orator, an accomplished writer, a skilled politician, and much  more. Julius Caesar was a complex man, both hero and villain.  He possessed great courage, ambition, honor, and vanity. Born into a  noble family that had long been in decline, he advanced his career  cunningly, beginning as a priest and eventually becoming Rome’s leading  general. He made alliances with his rivals and then discarded them when  it suited him. He was a spokesman for the ordinary people of Rome, who  rallied around him time and again, but he profited enormously from his  conquests and lived opulently. Eventually he was murdered in one of the  most famous assassinations in history. Caesar’s contemporaries  included some of Rome’s most famous figures, from the generals Marius,  Sulla, and Pompey to the orator and legislator Cicero as well as the  young politicians Mark Antony and Octavius (later Caesar Augustus).  Caesar’s legendary romance with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra still  fascinates us today. In this splendid biography, Freeman  presents Caesar in all his dimensions and contradictions. With  remarkable clarity and brevity, Freeman shows how Caesar dominated a  newly powerful Rome and shaped its destiny. This book will captivate  readers discovering Caesar and ancient Rome for the first time as well  as those who have a deep interest in the classical world.

From classicist James Romm comes a “striking…fascinating” (Booklist)  deep dive into the last decades of ancient Greek freedom leading up to  Alexander the Great’s destruction of Thebes - and the saga of the  greatest military corps of the time, the Theban Sacred Band, a unit  composed of 150 pairs of male lovers. The story of  the Sacred Band, an elite 300-man corps recruited from pairs of lovers,  highlights a chaotic era of ancient Greek history, four decades marked  by battles, ideological disputes, and the rise of vicious strongmen. At  stake was freedom, democracy, and the fate of Thebes, at this time the  leading power of the Greek world. The tale begins in  379 BC, with a group of Theban patriots sneaking into occupied Thebes.  Disguised in women’s clothing, they cut down the agents of Sparta, the  state that had cowed much of Greece with its military might. To counter  the Spartans, this group of patriots would form the Sacred Band, a corps  whose history plays out against a backdrop of Theban democracy, of  desperate power struggles between leading city-states, and the new  prominence of eros, sexual love, in Greek public life. After  four decades without a defeat, the Sacred Band was annihilated by the  forces of Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander in the Battle of  Chaeronea - extinguishing Greek liberty for two thousand years. Buried  on the battlefield where they fell, they were rediscovered in 1880 -  some skeletons still in pairs, with arms linked together. From  violent combat in city streets to massive clashes on open ground, from  ruthless tyrants to bold women who held their era in thrall, The Sacred Band recounts “in fluent, accessible prose” (The Wall Street Journal) the twists and turns of a crucial historical moment: the end of the treasured freedom of ancient Greece.

21st Century Monetary Policy takes readers inside the Federal Reserve, explaining what it does and why. In  response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve deployed an  extraordinary range of policy tools that helped prevent the collapse of  the financial system and the U.S. economy. Chair Jerome Powell and his  colleagues lent directly to U.S. businesses, purchased trillions of  dollars of government securities, pumped dollars into the international  financial system, and crafted a new framework for monetary policy that  emphasized job creation. These strategies would have  astonished Powell’s late-20th-century predecessors, from William  McChesney Martin to Alan Greenspan, and the advent of these tools raises  new questions about the future landscape of economic policy. In 21st Century Monetary Policy,  Ben S. Bernanke―former chair of the Federal Reserve and one of the  world’s leading economists―explains the Fed’s evolution and speculates  on its future. Taking a fresh look at the bank’s policymaking over the  past seventy years, including his own time as chair, Bernanke shows how  changes in the economy have driven the Fed’s innovations. He also lays  out new challenges confronting the Fed, including the return of  inflation, cryptocurrencies, increased risks of financial instability,  and threats to its independence. Beyond explaining  the central bank’s new policymaking tools, Bernanke also captures the  drama of moments when so much hung on the Fed’s decisions, as well as  the personalities and philosophies of those who led the institution.

Many appreciate Richard P. Feynman's contributions to  twentieth-century physics, but few realize how engaged he was with the  world around him -- how deeply and thoughtfully he considered the  religious, political, and social issues of his day. Now, a wonderful  book -- based on a previously unpublished, three-part public lecture he  gave at the University of Washington in 1963 -- shows us this other side  of Feynman, as he expounds on the inherent conflict between science and  religion, people's distrust of politicians, and our universal  fascination with flying saucers, faith healing, and mental telepathy.  Here we see Feynman in top form: nearly bursting into a Navajo war  chant, then pressing for an overhaul of the English language (if you  want to know why Johnny can't read, just look at the spelling of  "friend"); and, finally, ruminating on the death of his first wife from  tuberculosis. This is quintessential Feynman -- reflective, amusing, and  ever enlightening.

One  of the most famous science books of our time, the phenomenal national  bestseller that "buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes  you want to become a physicist" (Science Digest). Richard  P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous  adventures. In this lively work that “can shatter the stereotype of the  stuffy scientist” (Detroit Free Press),  Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with  Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply  held nuclear secrets―and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his  stories, Feynman’s life shines through in all its eccentric glory―a  combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and  raging chutzpah. Included for this edition is a new introduction by Bill Gates.