Showing results by narrator "Mark Sando" in All Categories

How can software engineers manage a living codebase that evolves and responds to changing requirements and demands over the length of its life? Based on their experience at Google, software engineers Titus Winters and Hyrum Wright, along with technical writer Tom Manshreck, present a candid and insightful look at how some of the world’s leading practitioners construct and maintain software. This book covers Google’s unique engineering culture, processes, and tools and how these aspects contribute to the effectiveness of an engineering organization.

We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care? Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970.

Since the late '70s, histories of rock music have either ignored or marginalized the progressive rock era. In part, this has occurred because rock music criticism has taken an almost completely sociological turn, with little or no interest in musical form itself. In Listening to the Future, Bill Martin argues that it is a musical and political mistake to ignore this period of tremendous creativity, a period that still finds resonance in rock music today.

We live in a world full of mystery, every single aspect of our lives is steeped in it. Even though human civilization and our mastery of science has allowed us to spread to every corner of the physical world, much remains unexplored and unexplained. The realm of science yet has no explanation for these events. Though the small community of paranormal investigators does continue to break new ground, they too remain in the dark. Like the rest of us, waiting in the dark for something to jump out and grab us.

In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the US Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the US Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia.

Among the operations known as Plan Bodyguard, the deception devised to cover the Allies’ Normandy landing, was the little known but critical Plan Zeppelin, the largest and most complex of the Bodyguard plans. Zeppelin, in conjunction with the Mediterranean Strategy, succeeded in pinning down sixty German divisions from southern France to the Balkans in time for D-Day. This was the work of “A” Force, Britain’s only military organization tasked with carrying out both strategic and tactical deception in World War II.

George S. Patton is one of the most controversial, celebrated, and popular military leaders in American history, and his accomplishments and victories have been greatly documented. Yet Patton spent years in the Army before garnering national attention and becoming a highly-regarded and respected military leader. This work explores Patton's beginnings as a driven and intrepid soldier and his battles leading up to the Great War - military experiences which would be influential in his development as a commander.

Engaging the Evil Empire dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals.

How far do you have to run to escape your past? Frank Sedrick needed to find out. Sailing single-handed from Newport to the Caribbean in his custom sloop, he thought he was free to pursue new desires, only to find Ensign Tom Nichols of the U.S. Coast Guard hot on his tail. As you listen to Cut from the Fold, you will find that murder seemed to follow Frank. Frank was happy to sail away from Newport. Ensign Nichols of the U.S. Coast Guard wasn’t deterred in his search for justice as the bodies kept piling up in the Caribbean.

In this captivating, humorous memoir, Joe Field rises from abject poverty with a single parent Hispanic mother to become a lawyer. But gnawing at him throughout his life is not knowing his father. A life resembling Forrest Gump meets the Pursuit of Happyness, Finding Joe Adams is a candid, true tale of a man innocently trying to make sense of life, and to make something of himself. He presents, without much judgment, a struggling, survivalist mother who often made mistakes but provided as she could for her broken family.

When I was growing up, I always thought there were only two ways to get rich. Number one: You were born rich. Number two: Some family member left you a bunch of money when they kicked the bucket. As much as people love to talk up the American dream, I grew up inside the American reality - raised inside a trailer in New Jersey, born to a 14-year-old mother. But now, things are a little different. I've done lots of cool things with my life, but most people know me as "the ab roller guy".

Slander and libel in the form of office gossip spread by a disgruntled government contractor leads to a full-blown investigation. While several investigators are searching for the guilty party, he becomes unhinged and leads the authorities on a multi-state chase. Two are killed and three others die as the result of the madness.

It was the war that caused Nate to hold his own brother’s face in the crosshairs of his sniper rifle. How could any man be put in that position? He truly loved his only brother. Surrogate of Betrayal is a saga of duty, devotion, and love that follows three soldiers as they are enlisted by a country that will turn its back on them. Three go to war in Vietnam, but only two return. After running away for years, it was past time for Nate to tell his brother’s grandson, Jeff, what he had done.

A detailed personal account of a combat advisor, mentoring the developing Afghanistan National Army in 2006 in the mountainous and hostile eastern region...Living with and supporting a foreign military, Andy was critical in enabling the Afghan forces to fire their howitzer indirectly, a historical objective milestone to set the conditions for coalition withdrawal.

As the end of the tourist season draws near, the sheriff is eagerly anticipating the peace and quiet that comes along with the winter months. He is also looking forward to spending more time with his new girlfriend, Deputy Sloane Nichols. Unfortunately, the busiest weekend of the year, Labor Day weekend, has brought some unexpected visitors to town. 

Plagued by supervillains for over a decade, the city of Lancaster has watched in awe as their superhero, Zero, stood victorious against each threat. They’ve grown to respect him, to love him, to idolize him; oblivious to the fact that their beloved hero is also the city’s most hated millionaire media mogul. But Zero has a secret much bigger than his identity.

Twisted Timbers hasn't seen this much action since the sawmill fire that left a permanent scar on the normally quiet town in the Pacific Northwest. Sheriff Mitch Thompson has been working hard to rebuild the town's police department since that fateful night at Graham Park...Two missing hikers and several reports of a strange figure in the woods weilding an axe and Mitch knows his new deputies will be put to the test. Things take a strange twist when they get an unexpected delivery on the doorstep of the police station. Listen to find out more.

While preparing the town for the upcoming tourist season, Mitch drives past Graham Park and sees that the iconic Ferris Wheel is lit up and spinning. With the amusement park still weeks away from welcoming guests, Mitch knows something strange is happening in his town. With the help of Fred Donovan and Stuart Johnson, his fellow officers, Mitch must investigate. When they quickly realize that six trained assassins have gathered and turned the park into their own personal murderous playground, the mood of the night turns much more intense.

One night, Benjamin Lomond found a painting hidden behind a wall. At first glance, it seems odd. But looks can be deceiving, and the painting has a power waiting for the right time to be unleashed.

Since 1985, more than 500 overweight teenagers have come to Camp Wašíču looking to lose weight, gain self-confidence, and turn their lives around. Phillip McCracken arrives, weighing in at almost 400 pounds; but the baggage he carries from the past affects him much more deeply than the numbers of the scale. When a homicidal maniac hell-bent on revenge attacks, Phillip will be forced to either find the courage to save the people around him or fall victim to his own self-doubt...and possibly a machete.