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The Best Audiobooks of 2020 from Canada and Around the World
Listing the Leading Literary Listens –That's Quite a Tongue Twister!
It's that time of year again. The fall jackets head back into storage and the big coat makes its annual appearance. The 24/7 sounds of holiday hits permeate our public spaces, echoing through grocery stores and shopping malls.
And, for a few magnificent weeks, the internet is awash with best-of-the-year lists.
For many of us, the year goes by at a swift pace and it can be difficult to keep up with all the exciting new releases. Not all the buzzy titles, sleeper hits and big cultural phenomena cross our radar in the moment they launch, which is why we love best-of-the-year list season. It's a chance to catch up with titles that we might have discovered yet and remind us of the titles we forgot were in our queue.
In the spirit of the season, Audible is introducing the best audiobooks of 2020 – a list of must-listens from here in Canada and abroad. Use this list as a shopping guide for your holiday gifts by giving your loved ones Audible credits or a membership, or simply add some titles to your own library to enjoy this holiday season!
2020 Had Something for Everyone
Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer this holiday season? Want to show the listener in your life that you're listening to them? This list of the best audiobooks 2020 had to offer can double as a holiday gift giving guide, featuring gifts you can share easily with your loved ones. Since audiobooks aren't physical, they offer a simple way to shop for the holidays – an effortless way to show the loved ones on your list that you care.
In putting together this list, we wanted to demonstrate the sheer depth and breadth of content 2020 had to offer. The thrilling and the chilling. The brainy and the zany. The long, epic audiobook meals and the action-packed shorter form snacks. The most popular sci-fi audiobooks and the top titles in self-development. This year had something for everyone, from the grown-up giftees on your list to the littlest listeners.
Is there a Canadian literature lover in your life? Give them the gift of André Alexis' brand new collection of short fiction, The Night Piece. Have a sci-fi & fantasy buff on your list? Stuff their virtual stocking with Audible's star-studded production of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, based on the DC graphic novels written by Neil Gaiman, adapted by Dirk Maggs. one of the most of the year. And for the budding meditator in your family, reach for a title like Jay Shetty's inspiring and unassuming Think Like a Monk.
Hindsight Is 2020: Looking Back at the Best Audiobooks of the Year
It was a banner year for audiobooks.
Canadian creators were in fine form, turning out titles that made us think, laugh, cry and even shudder in fear. Audiobooks from literary visionaries like Souvankham Thammavongsa and Thomas King reaffirmed for us the power and eloquence of Canadian literature. Sci-fi and horror titles from brilliant authors like William Gibson and Silvia Moreno-Garcia proved that Canadian literature is popular around the world.
Beyond our borders, brilliance also abounded. Our neighbours to the south put out some instant classics and authors from all around the world contributed to the rich literary landscape of 2020. Grady Hendrix gave us a thoughtful, unconventional horror audiobook centred on a women's book club in the America South. And Isabel Allende whisked us away to the frontlines of the Spanish Civil War to witness a fight between oppression and freedom that rings true in 2020.
YA and children's authors like Suzanne Collins and Rick Riordan brought families everywhere together for exciting listening experiences. Sci-fi and fantasy audiobooks continued to dazzle and transport us, with heavy-hitters like N.K. Jemisin and Brandon Sanderson releasing career-high audiobooks. And self-development audiobooks from wellness whizzes like Jay Shetty and Mel Robbins brought us back to centre.
This year gave us a lot to listen to, a diversion we've been thankful for. It wasn't easy whittling the abundance of great listening down to this list of the best audiobooks, but it's been a joy revisiting the titles we loved this year.
The Best Canadian Audiobooks This Year
From far and wide, O Canada, you had a great year for audiobooks. Throughout the last 12 months, we've been treated to title after title of outstanding Canadian literature.
These Canadian listens have got us through work commutes, exercise routines, meal prepping and cleaning. They've been an engaging voice in distracting times, a calming presence in stressful times and an intelligent companion as we kicked our feet up in leisure. Most of all, they've reminded us of the wit, brilliance and beauty Canadians are known for.
In this section, you'll find the 10 Canadian titles that wowed us in 2020. And if you're in the mood for shorter form Canadian content, be sure to check out our Canadian Originals, like True North Heists, performed by Colm Feore, and The Revisionaries, Michele Romanow's inspiring new business podcast!
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The Glass Hotel
A devastating incident at a Toronto nightclub. An eerie message written in graffiti in a Vancouver Island hotel. A collapsing Ponzi scheme, a storm-blown shipping freighter. And at the middle of it all, a woman named Vincent.
Emily St. John Mandel, author of 2014's stellar Station Eleven, knows how to sew together complex narratives into meaningful, thematically elaborate quilts. The Glass Hotel, recently shortlisted for the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize, is no different. Its central story concerns a young bartender who meets a rich New York financier and is whisked away to a life of luxury. But this isn't a romance. Rather, it's a breathtaking picture of greed and guilt, delusion and moral compromise, art and ghosts.
"Mandel's gift is to weave realism out of extremity," says the New Yorker, calling The Glass Hotel a "profound study of responsibility in times of crisis."
The Glass Hotel: A Novel
Emily St. John Mandel
The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya
The Subtweet
When internet-famous singer Rukmini covers one of Neela Devaki's songs, Neela can hardly believe it – she's just an indie musician making music for herself. The cover becomes a viral hit and the two women enter into a blossoming friendship.
But as Rukmini's fame increases, Neela's stagnates, creating a rift between the two. It's a rift that will eventually widen with one, solitary tweet – a short but explosive tweet that causes the collapse of a friendship and the destruction of a music career.
Vivek Shraya's sharp, timely, satirical novel takes on a number of themes. It explores race, female friendship, cancel culture and, as Shrapnel Magazine puts it in their review of The Subtweet, "the art of BIPOC women in white spaces and the corruptive influence of social media."
It's a stirring listen that foregrounds characters and themes we don't often see explored. And it's one of the best Canadian audiobooks of the year.
The Subtweet: A Novel
Vivek Shraya
Nisha Ahuja
Why Birds Sing by Nina Berkhout
Why Birds Sing
That Nina Berkhout's brilliant Why Birds Sing found itself next to Vivek Shraya's The Subtweet on this list is pure coincidence. But the two audiobooks make a great pair.
They are both about musicians forming friendships, and they both use those friendships as a launchpad for exploring bigger issues. The musician in Why Birds Sing is Dawn Woodward, an opera singer who recently experienced an embarrassing onstage flameout.
Dawn's brother-in-law, Tariq, is undergoing cancer treatment and has recently moved in with her and her husband, bringing with him a squawking pet parrot. When Tariq and his parrot join the opera class Dawn is teaching, the two form an unexpected friendship. But as Tariq's health fails and Dawn's marriage begins to collapse as well, Dawn starts questioning the meaning behind everything in her life.
Why Birds Sing is a charming, quirky, funny and frequently profound audiobook. It will have you singing – or perhaps parroting – its praises to everyone you know.
Nina Berkhout
Madeleine Lambert
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
How to Pronounce Knife
The characters that make up Souvankham Thammavongsa's debut short story collection are so precisely defined and emotionally realized that you'd swear they were real. She sketches vivid portraits of the day-to-day lives of immigrants and refugees – their love lives, hopes, fears, acts of defiance and the restlessness they feel being caught between cultures.
The stories bristle with life, demanding attention and compassion. They are human stories through-and-through, and listening to them can connect you with what it means to be a person.
Thammavongsa is well known in Canada for her poetry. That poetic sensibility is part of what makes How to Pronounce Knife so special. The language in it is magnificently poised – somehow both unsentimental and emotionally devastating.
Along with The Glass Hotel above, How to Pronounce Knife is nominated for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize. Listen to both titles so you can be the judge!
How to Pronounce Knife: Stories
Souvankham Thammavongsa
James Tang, Kulap Vilaysack
Indians on Vacation by Thomas King
Indians on Vacation
Bird and Mimi decide to take a trip to Europe. But theirs is no ordinary vacation. Inspired by a collection of postcards Mimi's uncle sent nearly a century ago when he was part of a traveling circus, the two decide to retrace his steps. They are in search of a bundle of herbs and family heirlooms her uncle carried that was made by Mimi's ancestors from the Blackfoot Nation.
What follows is a story both intimate and grand. Partly, the audiobook is a vacation romp – a funny, charming overseas adventure told through the perspective of a couple who've been together a long time. Partly, Indians on Vacation is about systemic racism, the historical mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and the present-day injustices they face.
Be prepared to laugh and think in equal measure. One way or another, Indians on Vacation will have you reaching for the tissue box.
Indians on Vacation: A Novel
Keith Sellon-Wright
Agency by William Gibson
There was a lot of anticipation surrounding Agency. As William Gibson's first novel since 2014's best-selling The Peripheral, it had some big shoes to fill. Would it have Gibson's trademark intrigue and imaginative flair? Would it continue The Peripheral's sci-fi story, or strike off on its own narrative path? Mostly we wondered: would it be good?
Then January 2020 rolled around and all our worries were put to rest. Yes, Agency is every bit as intriguing and thought-provoking as we hoped. Yes, Agency returns to the world of The Peripheral, acting as both a sequel and a prequel. And yes, this is the kind of bold, unfailingly imaginative science fiction we've come to love from Gibson.
The story follows two timelines. One is an alternative history in which Hillary Clinton wins the 2016 election. In it, an "app whisperer" named Verity works on a powerful new AI project. The other timeline is 100 years in the future, in a post-apocalyptic London where plutocrats meddle with past timelines.
Sound complicated? That's because no short synopsis can do justice to the sprawling, interconnected story Gibson weaves together here. You'll just have to listen for yourself!
Lorelei King
The Jackpot Trilogy
The Skin We're In by Desmond Cole
The Skin We're In
Subtitled "A Year of Black Resistance and Power," Desmond Cole's The Skin We're In documents the struggle against racism here in Canada in 2017. It follows Cole's efforts as an anti-racist activist and explores the impacts of systemic racism in Canadian culture. Month by month, essay by essay, Cole shows how multiple forms of state violence – including policing and prisons – conspire to subjugate marginalized communities.
The Skin We're In is part biography, part journal and part anti-racism guide. It's also a stark wake-up call to Canadians who believe that at least things aren't as bad here as in the States. In documenting just one year of the struggle against racism in Canada, Cole makes his point abundantly clear: year after year, tragedy after tragedy, news cycle after news cycle, this is an ongoing problem.
We are lucky to have Desmond Cole's The Skin We're In in 2020 – a bracing, urgent and necessary audiobook. Listen to the audiobook today, narrated by Desmond Cole himself.
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power
Desmond Cole
Upon receiving a worrying letter from her newlywed cousin Catalina, Noemí heads to the Mexican countryside to check on her. But from the moment Noemí sets foot in the imposing country estate, she can sense things are… wrong.
Catalina's new husband, a handsome Englishman, is both flirtatious and menacing. His father, the ancient patriarch of the home, is obsessed with Noemí. And the house itself hides a dark family secret. What start as vivid nightmares for Noemí quickly become a gruesome reality.
Recently, we covered Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic for our roundup of the best horror audiobooks to listen to on Halloween. And here we are, at the end of 2020, compelled to recommend it again. This isn't just an amazing horror audiobook – it's one of the best Canadian audiobooks of 2020, period. It will leave you rattled, chilled and dumbstruck, in the best way possible!
Frankie Corzo
The Birth Yard by Mallory Tater
The Birth Yard
Normally, an 18th birthday is a milestone to celebrate – but not for Sable Ursu. The pivotal birthday means that she is ready to breed. In Sable's world it's a decision beyond her control, as a patriarchal cult called the Den controls female fertility and sexuality. Sable, along with her friends, are to be paired with "a Match," and when they are pregnant, sent to a monitored facility known as the Birth Yard.
In the Birth Yard women are routinely drugged and if they get out of line, they are punished. But when Sable's loyalty is questioned and her safety threatened in the Birth Yard, she is forced to rebel against the Den. To rebel against the life she knows – the life that has been designed for her.
Fans of Margaret Atwood audiobooks like The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments will find a lot to love in Mallory Tater's debut novel.
Tater manages to saturate The Birth Yard with nail-biting suspense, while still weaving a compelling and probing meditation on pressing, present-day issues. If Mallory Tater produced one of the best audiobooks 2020 had to offer on her first go-around, we're excited to hear what she comes up with next.
The Birth Yard: A Novel
Mallory Tater
The Night Piece by André Alexis
The Night Piece
In the 20-plus years since André Alexis' debut, he has gifted Canada (and the world) an eclectic, expansive selection of audiobooks. He's part philosopher, part raconteur, part classical composer. He began by winning the Canada First Novel Award and continued racking up accolades including the Trillium Book Award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the coveted Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The Night Piece is something of a mid-career victory lap for Alexis – a collection of short stories, some old, some previously unheard, that display his range and might as a craftsperson of fiction. Some stories in The Night Piece are philosophically charged, recalling his 2015 masterpiece, Fifteen Dogs. Some bear the indelible surrealist impressions of last year's magnificent Days by Moonlight. And others defy classification altogether.
A late entry to our list of the best Canadian audiobooks of 2020 (released in November) The Night Piece will keep us thinking and talking throughout 2021.
The Night Piece: Collected Short Fiction
Andre Alexis
Andrew Moodie
Worldwide Titles that Expanded Our Horizons
The easiest form of travel is to put on a pair of headphones, open your Audible app and allow an audiobook to transport you to a far-flung locale.
If you're in the mood for jet-setting, check out these bold 2020 audiobooks that brought the world to our headphones. And if there's a globetrotter on your list this holiday season, gift them one of these amazing titles.
Below, we've included titles from Chilean, Japanese, Indian, Irish and American authors, but – to be totally honest – these represent the tip of the iceberg. The world is filled with compelling stories that can expand our horizons, deepen our humanity and entertain our wanderlust. Visit Audible.ca to hear many more audiobooks from all around the globe.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
It isn't easy describing Grady Hendrix's The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. But we're partial to the publisher's summary for this gem at Audible.ca, "Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula." Couldn't have said it better!
Patricia Campbell's life is quiet, unintrusive. She plays the roles of loving wife, attentive mother and caring daughter, often finding herself overwhelmed by chores. The one thing she really has to look forward to is her weekly book club, when she and a clique of other Charleston women meet to discuss the latest true crimes and paperbacks they've read.
But when a mysterious, handsome newcomer joins their book club, and strange things start happening, Patricia learns that reality can be stranger than fiction. You may be inspired to start your very own audiobook club to discuss this boisterous, darkly comedic tale of evil in the genteel suburbs of the Southern US.
Bahni Turpin
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
A Long Petal of the Sea
While A Long Petal of the Sea was released to the Spanish speaking world in 2019, English-speaking Canadians had to wait a full, breath-bated year to hear it. Then, early in 2020, it arrived. And it was every bit as breathtaking as we expected.
A decades-spanning, cross-continental story of war, love, home and family, A Long Petal of the Sea is epic in scope and intimate in detail. It follows Roser, a pregnant widow, and Victor, her deceased husband's brother, as they flee the Spanish Civil War. Making a new life in Chile, they await the day when they can go back home.
A Long Petal of the Sea: A Novel
Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson
Edoardo Ballerini
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
Breasts and Eggs
Breasts and Eggs tells the story of three women: Natsu, her sister, Makiko and Makiko's daughter, Midoriko. Natsu is living as a struggling writer in Tokyo when her sister and niece arrive from Osaka. Makiko has traveled to the capital to get breast implants and has brought Midoriko along.
The events that follow force each woman to confront their fears and frustrations – about their place in society and the trajectory of their personal lives. Does a woman's ability to give and nourish life define her? Do her breasts and eggs determine her fate?
Mieko Kawakami
Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
The Henna Artist
Last spring when Alka Joshi's The Henna Artist was listed as a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick, it received a big bump in exposure. A big, well-deserved bump.
Joshi's vivid, eloquent audiobook follows 17-year-old Lakshmi as she struggles to make her way as a henna artist in vibrant 1950s Jaipur. Prized among wealthy clients for her henna artistry, Lakshmi slowly but surely starts making her way up in the world. But when the past comes knocking, in the form of her former husband and a sister she never knew she had, all she has worked for may be threatened.
Find The Henna Artist, along with other Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Picks, at Audible.ca.
The Henna Artist: A Novel
Alka Joshi
Sneha Mathan
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Did we cheat a little bit on this one? Yes. Sally Rooney's moving, sensual Normal People came out a couple years ago. But for many people – including a few of us here at Audible – 2020 was the year we listened to it. That's because this past spring the novel was adapted into a hit TV series, drawing new interest to the love story of Connell and Marianne.
Because many listeners found their way to Normal People in 2020, and because its achingly sweet, occasionally sad story of budding love was all we could talk about earlier this year, it deserves a place on this list!
Normal People: A Novel
Aoife McMahon
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Listens that Transported Us
It was a year for escapism in 2020. As many of us spent more time indoors, we sought listening experiences that could captivate us – carry us beyond our homes and into new worlds and futures. We found those listening experiences in science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.
The moment we hit play on these wonderful titles, reality melted away. And in its place, we were treated to mythical landscapes, advanced technologies and epic drama. We were no longer just taking a bath – we were piloting an aqueous spacecraft through the galactic abyss. We were no longer walking the normal route around the park by our house – we were trekking the verdant hills of an unfamiliar kingdom. And that phone in our hands was no longer a phone, but a phaser set to stun.
If you're looking for sci-fi and fantasy titles to whisk you away this holiday season, or if there's a genre fan on your gift list, check out these five enchanting titles at Audible.ca.
The Sandman based on the DC graphic novels written by Neil Gaiman, adapted by Dirk Maggs.
As far as 2020 listening experiences go, you can't get much bigger than the Audible Original production of The Sandman.
Based on the game-changing, genre-defining comic books, this audiobook assembled the biggest names in entertainment. Kat Dennings, James McAvoy, Samantha Morton, Andy Serkis, Michael Sheen and more lent their talents to create an immersive and unforgettable audio experience.
The story follows The Sandman, also known as Lord Morpheus, as he escapes his earthly imprisonment and rebuilds his dominion, travelling (literally) to hell and back. Intricately plotted, tying together myth, history and comic book canon, The Sandman is 10-plus hours of pure, fantastical fun.
Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs
Riz Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Neil Gaiman, James McAvoy, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis, Michael Sheen
Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor
Heaven's River
A new addition to Dennis E. Taylor's wildly popular Bobiverse series? Sign us up and strap us in.
Heaven's River loosely picks up where All These Worlds left off, with our protagonist, Bob, fearing civil war in the Bobiverse. Amid the chaos and in-fighting, Bob sets out to find one of his long-lost clones, but what he finds is so strange and complex that it could either save the universe – or destroy it entirely.
You can absolutely pick up the series by starting with Heaven's River (though you may want to consult a few Wiki sites to catch up with the lingo). But for the best listening experience we recommend starting from the beginning with We Are Legion (We Are Bob). Trust us – you'll be hooked from the moment you press play!
Heaven's River: Bobiverse, Book 4
Dennis E. Taylor
Ray Porter
Bobiverse
The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
The City We Became
N. K. Jemisin, author of the multi-Hugo Award-winning The Broken Earth series, returned in 2020 with a decidedly different kind of fantasy audiobook.
Flexing her immense range as a novelist, Jemisin gave us The City We Became, a tale of New York City's dark, mythical underground. Neil Gaiman, author of one of the other best sci-fi and fantasy audiobooks this year, had this to say, "It's inclusive in all the best ways, and manages to contain both Borges and Lovecraft in its fabric, but the unique voice and viewpoint are Jemisin's alone."
Give the gift of this audacious, boldly original audiobook to any lit-lover, fantasy fanatic or New Yorkophile on your list.
Robin Miles
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
House of Earth and Blood
The year 2020 saw Sarah J. Maas launch her new Crescent City series and we're unsure what makes us happier right now – this amazing first audiobook, or knowing that there are more to come.
Seamlessly blending fantasy and romance, House of Earth and Blood is a dazzling introduction to the world of Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar. The former is a half-fae, half-human who works selling not-so-legal magical artifacts. The latter is a notorious Fallen Angel and personal assassin to the Archangels. Listen as the two are thrust together in a search to find the demon that murdered Bryce's friends.
Although their partnership is strategic at first – each reluctant of the other – neither can deny the spark between them.
House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City, Book 1
Crescent City Series
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Making the list in just the nick of time is famed fantasy author Brandon Sanderson's late-in-the-year entry to his Stormlight Archive series.
Fans of the mega-popular series have waited a long, unbearable three years for Rhythm of War, and it sounds like all that patience paid off. Following the events of Oathbringer, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant, along with a coalition of human resistance, continue to fight a protracted war against enemy invasion. But when an arms race unfolds and dissent threatens the coalition, all might be lost.
Listen to this new release audiobook now at Audible.ca, or make the fantasy fans on your list very happy this holiday season with the gift of an Audible credit.
Rhythm of War: Book Four of The Stormlight Archive
Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
Stormlight Archive
Wellness Titles that – Deep Breath – Calmed Our 2020
Listening allows us to connect with what it means to be human. It lets us slow things down, look inwards and make daily improvements to our life.
Sometimes, it takes power to admit that we can't go it alone – that we need uplifting, calming, insightful voices in our lives to help us through. It was hard whittling down the wealth of 2020 titles to decide on the best self-help and wellness audiobooks, but we think you'll love these recommendations. These are the titles that helped us keep calm, focus up and ask ourselves some hard-hitting questions. In short, our 2020 was better because of these five audiobooks.
Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty
Instead of attending his college graduation, Jay Shetty boarded a plane to India to become a monk. When he returned to London three years later and reconnected with school friends, he found stress, suffering and discontentment. Their jobs were great, but they weren't fulfilled or happy.
That's when Shetty realized that, in order to help others, he needed to share what he'd learned as a monk. He took to social media, where his honest, insightful videos racked up views, making him a viral success. In Think Like a Monk, Shetty shares his wisdom with an even wider audience – teaching us how to overcome negative thoughts and habits and access the calm, purposeful voice inside each of us.
Start Here by Mel Robbins
Think of Mel Robbins' Start Here as a kind of pocket guide for overcoming whatever life throws at you. In it, Robbins tackles 13 topics, each in a half-hour podcast episode. Relationships, emotional eating, stress, money, family, etc. – the greatest hits of life's hurdles, in other words.
Talking directly to you, she offers pep talks and actionable advice to help you cope with – and overcome – some of the most common roadblocks we all face.
Start Here with Mel Robbins
Mel Robbins
Didn't See That Coming by Rachel Hollis
Didn't See That Coming
The best-selling author of Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing is back, and this time she's tackling grief and uncertainty.
The difficult periods in your life – job loss, death of a loved one, divorce – can seem insurmountable. You didn't ask to have your future rearranged. But, as Rachel Hollis demonstrates in Didn't See That Coming, even periods of grief and uncertainty can be opportunities for positive transformation.
One of the best self-help audiobooks of 2020, Didn't See That Coming is inspirational, aspirational and a necessary reminder that beauty and uncertainty can co-exist.
Didn't See That Coming: Putting Life Back Together When Your World Falls Apart
Rachel Hollis
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Number one New York Times bestseller. Reese Witherspoon's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Pick. "An emotional gut punch," says The Kirkus Review. "Phenomenal," says Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert. Will you add your personal favourite audiobook of the holiday season to Untamed's list of accolades?
Part memoir, part electrifying wake-up call for women everywhere, Untamed is about forgetting what society expects of you – and learning to listen to yourself. This ultra-popular audiobook is perfect for the self-improver on your holiday gift list.
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia
Love Is Not Enough by Mark Manson
Mark Manson practically invented the in-your-face, swear word audiobook title – Everything Is F* cked and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F* ck come to mind. In 2020, however, Manson put aside the four-letter expletives in favour of a simple, resounding assertion: Love is not enough.
In Love Is Not Enough, Manson talks to real people about their romantic (and unromantic) problems. He chats with a serial Tinder-dater, an intimacy-phobe and someone having an affair, attempting with each candid conversation to get to the root of universal problems surrounding intimacy and relationships.
It's Mark Manson's kind, gentle side – exactly what we needed in 2020.
2020 Titles for the Entire Family
As the holiday season approaches, we're all looking for a little something to do with our families.
What better way to spend time together than to gather around the fireplace, hang some decorations and, while we're waiting for those cookies to bake, listen to a family-friendly audiobook at Audible. These five titles – ranging from kids' audiobooks for the littlest listeners to exhilarating adventure audiobooks for the teen and YA-lover in your family – represent some of the best family listening 2020 had to offer.
The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley and Friends by Sesame Workshop
The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley and Friends
The year saw the introduction of a furry new friend on Sesame Street. Meet Foley, a loveable podcast host who can make surprisingly realistic sounds with her voice! Join her as she welcomes guests like Elmo, The Cookie Monster, Grover and more to sing songs, play games and tell jokes.
The Sesame Street Podcast with Foley and Friends is a rollicking, uplifting podcast you can share with your littlest listeners – the perfect family entertainment for the holidays. It's also an Audible exclusive that you won't hear anywhere else. Just make sure you don't tip off The Cookie Monster as to the whereabouts of Santa's cookies – you know that guy can't help himself!
Lindsey Briggs, Tyler Bunch, Ryan Dillon, a full cast
A Tale of Witchcraft… by Chris Colfer
The second installment in Chris Colfer's spellbinding Tale of Magic series, A Tale of Witchcraft… continues the adventures of Brystal Evergreen and her friends as they work to stop dark forces taking over the Academy of Magic.
An enchanting, engaging listen for kids in the upper-elementary and middle-school range, A Tale of Witchcraft… can be enjoyed as a standalone audiobook or paired with its predecessor, A Tale of Magic… for more magical fun. It was one of the best kids' audiobooks 2020 had to offer and we can't wait to hear what Colfer conjures up next!
A Tale of Witchcraft...
A Tale of Magic...
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
The newest title in the Hunger Games canon, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes picks up at the beginning of the 10th annual Hunger Games. A young Coriolanus Snow (the antagonist in the main series) is tasked with mentoring a female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. With the odds stacked against him, Snow must do whatever is necessary to see his tribute victorious – and to win favour in the Capitol.
Perfect holiday entertainment for families with older kids, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is another YA homerun from Suzanne Collins. Give it as a gift to the young adult listener in your life or save it for story time this holiday season.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel
The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan
The Tower of Nero
Middle-school listeners love Rick Riordan's The Trials of Apollo series. Parents love Rick Riordan's The Trials of Apollo series. We love Rick Riordan's The Trials of Apollo series.
So, when Riordan announced a new entry – not just any entry, but an action-packed finale – we got justifiably excited. The Tower of Nero brings a breathtaking close to a five-audiobook run of exhilarating, mythologically rich storytelling.
Will the Greek god Apollo, cast down to Earth to live as average teenager Lester Papadopoulos, finally regain his rightful seat at Mount Olympus? Listen on Audible.ca to find out!
The Tower of Nero: The Trials of Apollo, Book 5
Robbie Daymond
The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
The One and Only Bob
Witty, humorous, with a heart the size of a silverback gorilla, The One and Only Bob is Katherine Applegate's return to the world of the Newberry Award-winning, best-selling The One and Only Ivan.
The story follows Ivan, a captive gorilla who spent 27 years in a shopping mall enclosure, and his friends Bob, a self-deprecating stray dog, and Ruby, a baby elephant, as they set out to find Bob's long-lost sister. But when a hurricane approaches, each must find the courage they didn't know they had before it's too late
Performed with irresistible gusto and keen emotional range by Danny DeVito, The One and Only Bob is a tender, moving addition to the kids' audiobook landscape in 2020. Not only is it one of the best kids' audiobooks this year, but it's the kind of audiobook you pass down through generations.
Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao
Adam Grupper
Listening Forward to 2021
As we collectively prepare to greet 2021, we appreciate listeners following us on this annual trip down memory lane. It was no small task sizing up the brilliance, vision and literary diversity of 2020 audiobooks and bottling it all into a best of the year list. But we had a blast doing it.
Whether you're exploring for your own pleasure, or for a listening loved one, we hope you found something you love on this list. If there's an audiobook you raved about this past year that didn't make the cut, let us know. And if there's a 2021 audiobook you just can't wait to hear, tell us about it. We're always keen to swap recommendations and share our favourite listening experiences on social media!
All articles: best audiobooks, best audiobooks 2020, holiday gifts, Canadian audiobooks, sci-fi & fantasy audiobooks, wellness audiobooks, family audiobooks


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EUROPEAN BANKS INTERESTED IN PROVIDING $250-300 MLN OF DEBT TO IMPLEMENT IRON ORE PROJECT IN UKRAINE
Canada's Black Iron, implementing the investment project to create a new iron ore production facility in Kryvy Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region), has said that it received expressions of interest from European banks and export credit agencies to provide $250 to $300 million of debt.
The company said in a press release that Black Iron management continue to make sound progress arranging the financing for Shymanivske project construction.
Construction of phase one to produce four million tonnes per year of 68% iron content pellet feed is estimated to cost $436 million, as further detailed in Black Iron's most recent Preliminary Economic Assessment. As is typical for financing the development of mining projects, based on discussions with potential investors and financiers, the company estimates that some $175 million (40%) will be equity and the balance around $261 million (60%) financed as debt, not including financing charges and working capital.
Black Iron CEO Matt Simpson said that strong interest from well known, highly regarded, providers of debt financing for project construction is seen.
"The indicative interest rates, grace period prior to starting repayment and loan duration in the expressions of interest received by the Company are very competitive. The recent announcement of the MOU between the Company and Ukraine's government to transfer a critical parcel of land to the Company is an important milestone that both anchor offtake and debt investors have been waiting to see. The Company is currently negotiating binding terms for the land transfer, including the compensation amount, and expect this to conclude following a binding product sale (i.e. offtake) agreement as a portion of the funds invested by the offtake company will be used to cover the land transfer costs. Now that an MOU on land transfer has been reached, we look forward to commercial negotiations for project construction financing being accelerated," he said.
Majority of the required equity for project construction is anticipated to come from offtake by a large trading company and/or steel mill that is interested to purchase Black Iron's pellet feed on a long-term contract at a slight discount to market price in exchange for making both a prepayment and acquiring ownership in the Shymanivske project. Several multi-billion companies, including Glencore, as previously announced, are currently conducting due diligence to consider such an investment.
Additionally, there are two Asia based construction companies that have conducted site visits and expressed serious interest to invest up to $50 million of equity in kind in exchange for being awarded the construction contract.
From a sequence standpoint, discussions are being held simultaneously with equity and debt investors as both are ultimately required to fund project construction. It is likely the anchor equity and offtake investor will be announced first followed by completion of an updated feasibility study and environmental impact assessment upon which the debt financing can be secured to allow for construction start around the end of next year, the company said.
DEBT, EUROPEAN BANK, INTERESTED, IRON ORE, PROJECT
IRON ORE MINES OF UKRAINE'S METINVEST INCREASE OUTPUT IN JAN-SEPT 2019
Iron ore mines run by Ukraine's Metinvest raised output in January-September 2019. An industry source told Interfax that Northern Mining (Pivnichny GOK) produced 6.542 million tonnes of merchant iron ore pellets in the 9M, up 1% year-on-year, including 422,000 tonnes in September; and 9.147 million tonnes of iron or concentrate, up 13.4%, including 923,000 tonnes in September.
Central Mining (Central GOK) raised merchant pellet output 0.1% in 9M 2019 to 1.779 million tonnes and concentrate 1.8% to 3.259 million tonnes, including respectively 209,000 tonnes and 390,000 tonnes in September.
Inhulets Mining (INGOK) reduced concentrate output 0.9% in 9M to 8.351 million tonnes, including 918,000 tonnes in September.
The vertically integrated Metinvest's main shareholders are System Capital Management (SCM, 71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%).
IRON ORE, METINVEST, MINES
KOLOMOISKY PROPOSES TO INCREASE IRON ORE PRODUCTION ROYALTY FROM 8.8% TO 75%
Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky has proposed to increase the iron ore production royalty from 8.8% to 75%. "… If you export raw materials [from the country], then give back at least 75% from $80 per tonne – this is $60, and keep $20," Kolomoisky said in an interview with the Censor.net ezine.
According to the businessman, these current royalty rates stimulate the export of raw materials.
"However, there is a second option – don't sell ore right away!.. Produce steel – you have capacities, and instead of loading enterprises you reduce capacities, because now it is easier for you to sell ore, and not engage in production," Kolomoisky said.
In addition, he stated the need for nationalization of the largest enterprises and the development of mineral resources.
"For the salvation of Ukraine, the universal nationalization of large state-forming enterprises plus the nationalization of the deposit development, that is, in several sectors, we need state capitalism," the businessman said.
IRON ORE, KOLOMOISKY, PRODUCTION, ROYALTY
UKRAINE TO RAISE STEEL OUTPUT BY 4%, IRON ORE EXTRACTION BY 4% IN 2019 – FORECAST
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises are expected to increase steel production by 4% by the end of the year compared to 2018, up to 21.895 million tonnes.
According to background documents of Economic Development and Trade Ministry available for Interfax-Ukraine, a total rolled steel output will see 3% rise by the end of 2019, up to 18.937 million tonnes, when pig iron will see 0.4% down, to 20.748 million tonnes.
Such forecast was made following the performance indicator of January-July 2019, the ministry said.
The agency's source in the ministry also said that under ongoing trends scrap metals supplies to the enterprises would decrease by 3%, to 3.238 million tonnes.
Besides, pipe output in 2019 may grow by 19%, to 1.144 million tonnes, coke output will drop by 5%, to 10.305 million tonnes, metalware output will drop by 1%, to 186,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, the metal and mining enterprise can increase iron ore extraction by 4%, to 76.095 million tonnes, iron ore concentrate output by 5%, to 63.568 million tonnes, ready iron ore raw materials may increase by 1%, to 53.696 million tonnes. Sinter cake output will remain on the level of previous year with 31.706 million tonnes, steel pellets output will increase by 3% reaching 21.989 million tonnes.
EXTRACTION, IRON ORE, STEEL
UKRAINE BOOSTS EXPORTS OF IRON ORE
Ukraine's ore mining enterprises increased exports of iron ore and raw materials (IORM) in physical terms by 8.5% in January-July 2019 year-on-year, to 23.311 million tonnes. Export of IORM for the mentioned period in monetary terms grew by 28.9%, up to $2.92 billion, according to a customs statistics report posted by State Fiscal Service of Ukraine.
The bulk of iron ore was exported to China (27.07% of total imports in monetary terms), Poland (13.69%), and Czech Republic (10.52%).
In January-July 2019, Ukraine imported 108 tonnes of IORM worth $56,000 from the Netherlands(51.79% in monetary terms), Great Britain (39.29%) and Czech Republic (3.57%).
EXPORTS, IRON ORE
UKRAINE BOOSTS IMPORTS OF IRON ORE BY THREE TIMES IN 7 MONTHS
Ukraine's ore mining enterprises increased imports of iron ore and raw materials (IORM) in physical terms by 33.6% in January-July 2019 year-on-year, to 775,935 tonnes.
Import of IORM for the mentioned period in monetary terms grew by 26.4%, up to $143.995 million, according to a State Fiscal Service of Ukraine customs statistics report.
The bulk of iron ore was imported from Ghana (74.74% of total imports in monetary terms), Russia (20.74%), and Georgia (3.95%).
In January-July 2018, Ukraine exported 18,983 tonnes of IORM worth $1.693 million to Czech Republic (30.38%), Hungary (28.43%) and Slovak Republic (23.29%), while through seven months of 2018 the country exported 29,491 tonnes for $2.144 million.
IMPORTS, IRON ORE

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Who is the Kurdish Institute ?
Who are the Kurds ?
The Defence of Human Rights
The Kurds
Kurdish Diaspora
The Kurdish population
Kurdistan Maps
Kurdish names
Female fighters: We won't stand for male dominance
By Arwa Damon
QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Iraq (CNN) -- The women line the mountainside, locked hand in hand in their green battle fatigues, and begin dancing. It's a victory dance, they say, that is routine after raids across the border on Turkish troops.
The PKK women say they are fighting for their rights. "We want ... society that revolves around women," one says.
"We want a natural life, a society that revolves around women -- one where women and men are equal, a society without pressure, without inequality, where all differences between people are eliminated," says Rengin, the head of a female battalion of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
Most of these fighters go by a single name.
Rengin joined the PKK in this mountain enclave in 1990, when she was just 14, after she says Turkish forces killed her father. She says she wanted to fight for Kurdish rights and women's rights.
"Women grow up enslaved by society. The minute you are born as a girl, society inhibits you," she says. "We've gone to war with that. If I am a woman, I need to be known by the strength of my womanhood, to get respect. Those are my rights. And it was hard for the men to accept this." See photos of women with guns in mountain enclave »
The United States, Turkey, Iraq and NATO have dubbed the guerrilla group a terrorist organization.
Much of the outside world views the PKK with suspicion. It's been labeled a terrorist organization by the United States, Iraq, Turkey and NATO. The PKK has fought Turkey for decades to establish a Kurdish state. Tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict.
The most recent spate of fighting broke out over the weekend. The Turkish military bombed PKK positions on Saturday in response to clashes on Friday that killed at least 15 Turkish troops and 23 PKK fighters, according to the Turkish military. The PKK gives a different assessment: It says more than 60 Turkish troops were killed, and that it lost nine fighters.
Facing mounting pressure and wanting to distance itself from the PKK, the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq has made it increasingly difficult for outsiders to reach the Qandil Mountains where the guerrilla group is based. Checkpoints have been set up along all routes leading to and from the mountains, intended to stop people as well as any aid and supplies from reaching the fighting force.
CNN has gotten rare access, and is taken deep into the PKK hideout. Three fighters escort us on a five-and-a-half-hour hike through rugged terrain. They move naturally through the jagged, rocky region, effortlessly climbing and descending steep trails even at night.
Bahoz Erdal, the military leader of PKK, told CNN his group is ready for a political solution to end the fighting.
"We have built-in night vision," one fighter jokingly whispers.
The mountainside camps, made of makeshift tents that are easily dismantled, blend into the landscape. The fighters change locations every few days to avoid detection. As dawn breaks, a group of fighters huddles around an old radio that brings in news of the outside world. Small fires burn in front of the tents, heating water in blackened kettles for tea.
The PKK has an idealistic philosophy, one that combines Kurdish nationalism with certain communist goals, such as equality and communal ownership of property. The fighters here say that their cause has evolved beyond a desire for a Kurdish state -- that they are now fighting to generate dramatic social change.
Today, the PKK's ideology revolves around a belief that global crises and injustice are a result of millennia of male-dominated rule. Here, the women run their own assaults and have their own command structure. All tasks are shared, both on and off the battlefield. Discipline is paramount to survival, they say, and weapons are always clean and never out of reach.
Back in 1998, the fighters say, their now-jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan declared the group "a women's party." It was initially difficult to accept, says Karim, a 42-year-old male member of the PKK.
"There was an intense discussion about the role of women," says Karim.
"We didn't want to accept it at first. Women by nature are physically weaker, and in war that hits you like a boomerang. You need to watch the way you fight, the way you move. So we were against this. We didn't want the women with us because it makes combat tougher on us. But Ocalan said in his book, if we are really trying to create a new society, we have to develop women. If women are enslaved, then so are men."
Turkey accuses Iraq's Kurds of aiding the PKK, whose stronghold is located in Iraq's Kurdish northern region, an autonomous area run by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Turkish Gen. Hasan Igsiz was quoted in the leading Turkish daily newspaper, Huriyet, as saying, "We have no support at all from the northern Iraqi administration [against the separatists]. Let aside any support, they are providing [the separatists with] infrastructural capabilities such as hospitals and roads."
Bahoz Erdal, the military leader of PKK, told CNN, "We are ready for a political solution."
"We do not expect to find a final solution immediately, but we want to take the first steps towards that solution," he said. "And that first step could be Turkey changing its attitude towards our jailed leader, stopping military sweeps and attacks against our forces, and ending its policy of oppression."
He said these can be initial steps to a solution that gives Kurds equal rights with Turkish citizens within Turkey, not a separate Kurdish state.
For its part, Turkey has said that it will not negotiate with terrorists.
At the camp, Yildiz, a round-faced 20-year-old, says: "We don't have a goal of fighting."
She says she joined the PKK when she was 17 because she felt society was suffocating her, as a woman and as a Kurd.
"Our struggle is about many things: Changing people, returning to core values, getting rid of society's ingrained enslavement. When I came here, I realized the social injustices so much more. How could we have lived like this for so long? How could we have accepted this for so long?"
Leaning forward, she pulls her vest around the two grenades that each fighter carries. "I felt different from the first moment that I got here," she says. "In the city, the atmosphere is crowded, full of people and cars. Here, there is that silence and beauty of nature. It's so different."
The fighters may seem cut off from the outside world, but they have a regular supply of arms and food brought in on mule convoys. They say they stay well funded by Kurdish expatriates all over the world.
Western defense analysts estimate their numbers based in Iraq's mountains are in the few thousands. The PKK won't tell us how large their fighting force is. But they say that it was because they are driven by passion that they have survived this long.
Rengin says on her second night in the mountains, when she was 14 years old, her unit came under attack. Her battalion commander was shot in the head. "Her head was on my knee," says Rengin, now 32. "As she was dying, she said to me: 'Our people are going to get what is rightfully theirs. I am proud to have died for this. Tell everyone we will succeed."
The armed struggle has brought few results. The PKK says it wants to shift to dialogue, but after renewed fighting, there seems to be little hope of that.
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text:
The Plumbbob series declassified
You would jump through fire for Oppenheimer
Jeremy Bernstein	Scientist
31. The explosion: 'There was no sound' 316 01:18
32. The sequence: the light, the click and then the sound 302 01:10
33. The aftermath: 'The ground was converted into glass' 255 00:35
34. 'If any of them go up, going back a few feet isn't going to help!' 250 03:05
35. Believing in nuclear testing 201 01:53
36. Inside a nuclear bomb: the plutonium pit 312 01:59
37. You would jump through fire for Oppenheimer 356 03:06
38. The Plumbbob series declassified 256 03:07
39. First introduction to Robert Oppenheimer 1 362 03:53
40. In the confessional with Robert Oppenheimer 330 00:53
Getting back to the spring of '57, Oppenheimer by that time had lost his clearance and… but Harvard had invited him to give a series of lectures. By that time, I had been admitted to the Institute [for Advanced Study], and of course I wanted to hear the lectures, in the first place, but I also thought, well, I might introduce myself to the man and say, well, you know, 'I'm coming to your place next year.' 'Hi', and you know, 'Hello'. So I knew the lectures were going to be crowded. They were in the biggest auditorium in Harvard. They were jammed. We came early and there were some wonderful Boston womenA sitting in front of me. Violet hair and obviously first families or whatever. And at some point, Oppenheimer wrote down a bit of mathematics and these women clutched each other in terror. I don't know if they thought this mathematics was going to explode or something and I wanted to tell them that, you know, 'Don't worry, Oppenheimer's just showing off, just forget it, it's harmless'.
Anyway, the lecture was over, Oppenheimer was still on stage. I went up and he fixed me with what his students used to call the blue glaze, blue stare. He had extraordinary blue eyes and if he fixed them on you, you shrivelled up like a melted piece of ice. So he fixed these eyes on me in a very hostile way because he… I didn't know what to do. Should I continue? Should I advance or retreat? I thought, well God, if I retreat, I'll look like a complete idiot. So I advanced and I said, 'Dr Oppenheimer, I'm Jeremy Bernstein. I've been accepted to the Institute. I'll be there next fall'.
At this point, he changed completely. He turned and he radiated like the sun. He was so warm and so friendly, he radiated. And he said to me, he said, told me who was going to be there, he said, 'Lear's going to be there and Yang is going to be there, and they're going to tell us about peridotite conservation and we're going to have a ball.' That's what he said to me.
At that point, I realised why we had an atom bomb. If that guy was your lab director, you would jump through fire for the guy. I mean, he was… he was a genius. I would have… at that point, if he said, 'We're going to bomb… and now you've got to jump through that flaming hoop', I would've said, 'Yes, thanks, I will do that for you'. I mean, he was really, really wonderful.
Born in 1929, Jeremy Bernstein is an American physicist, educator and writer known for the clarity of his writing for the lay reader on the major issues of modern physics. After graduating from Harvard University, Bernstein worked at Harvard and at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton. In 1962 he became an Associate Professor of Physics at New York University, and later a Professor of Physics at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, a position he continues to hold. He was also on the staff of The New Yorker magazine.
Title: You would jump through fire for Oppenheimer
Tags: Institute of Advanced Studies, Harvard University, Chen Ning Yang, J Robert Oppenheimer, Tsung-Dao Lee
Date story recorded: 15th June 2011
Date story went live: 08 September 2011


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laplace-transform-1-laplace-transform-differential-equations-khan-academy
Interactive video lesson plan for: Laplace transform 1 | Laplace transform | Differential Equations | Khan Academy
Introduction to the Laplace Transform
Watch the next lesson: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/differential-equations/laplace-transform/laplace-transform-tutorial/v/laplace-transform-2?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=Desc&utm_campaign=DifferentialEquations
Missed the previous lesson?
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/differential-equations/second-order-differential-equations/undetermined-coefficients/v/undetermined-coefficients-4?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=Desc&utm_campaign=DifferentialEquations
Differential Equations on Khan Academy: Differential equations, separable equations, exact equations, integrating factors, homogeneous equations.
About Khan Academy: Khan Academy is a nonprofit with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. We believe learners of all ages should have unlimited access to free educational content they can master at their own pace. We use intelligent software, deep data analytics and intuitive user interfaces to help students and teachers around the world. Our resources cover preschool through early college education, including math, biology, chemistry, physics, economics, finance, history, grammar and more. We offer free personalized SAT test prep in partnership with the test developer, the College Board. Khan Academy has been translated into dozens of languages, and 100 million people use our platform worldwide every year. For more information, visit www.khanacademy.org, join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @khanacademy. And remember, you can learn anything.
For free. For everyone. Forever. #YouCanLearnAnything
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Our Dieffenbachia come in a 17cm Nursery Pot.
The striking riot of foliage patterning of the Dieffenbachia have enshrined it as a firm house plant favorite. Native to a broad South American region, from Mexico to southern Argentina, Dieff's will be happy in most indoor environments.
These are some of the easiest house plants that you can keep. Give them a little attention, and they will continually amaze with their striking foliage display.
Take Note: Dieff's are also called 'Dumb Canes'. This is due to the ability of it's toxic sap to render a person temporarily speechless. Best to wash hands after touching and keep away from pets and young children.
Water: Water thoroughly, allowing soil to dry out somewhat in between.


The goal of PlayFlu by Gulliver Innovative Learning is to EDUCATE kids and parents about the BENEFITS of vaccinations in order to INCREASE vaccination rates in our community.
May 16, 2016 | 08:33 p.m.
This looks like a very fun and engaging way to get students thinking about the spread of infectious disease and the benefits of vaccinations. What plans do you have for developing a curriculum to support teachers using your device and software in order to tie the activity back to the larger concepts being taught? For example, will the model showing dots as they move about the classroom spreading the flu be shared and discussed with students? Thank you for your excellent video!
May 17, 2016 | 12:49 a.m.
Thanks for your question. Yes, the activity is embedded in a 5-steps lesson plan, including pre and post discussions. The students also repeat the activity at different vaccination rates and discuss the impact of the vaccination and its importance.
May 17, 2016 | 11:11 a.m.
Excellent video. This seems like an exciting way to get students engaged and learning!
Can you expand a bit more on how exposure to this tool/activity will broaden and improve participation in sciences? Do you plan to add specific learning to translate the exercise into potential science participation, particularly for underserved students? Finally, do you have plans to reach/involve parents?
The activity is targeted to hands-on museum and science centers to both kids (school field trips) and their families (family visits to the museum).
In addition to improving health literacy, the activity is designed to trigger student interest in science and thereby broadening their participation in science.
The system is in trials in two locations in Michigan, both locations serve a high percentage of at-risk and undeserved populations.
May 19, 2016 | 12:19 p.m.
Thanks for your reply Nirit.
May 17, 2016 | 12:11 p.m.
Wow! Nicely done. What a wonderful, active way for children to engage with educational materials. I am definitely placing my vote for you!
May 18, 2016 | 02:14 p.m.
This is such an important topic in light of the increasing numbers of unvaccinated children and the reemergence of diseases such as measles. Modeling the spread of flu is very powerful and something children can relate to. Children can also serve to bring these ideas and experiences home to their parents and discuss the importance of vaccinations. Do you provide any materials to help children talk with their parents? Have you had any feedback about how children who are not vaccinated react and how teachers handle this?
May 18, 2016 | 02:57 p.m.
We plan to provide the kids brochures to take home to help children talk with their parents. Right now we only simulate the spread of the flu diseases, but the discussion expands to other diseases such as measles.
Future versions of the activity will include also a comparison of different diseases.
We do not have yet feedback about how children who are not vaccinated react and how teachers handle this. This is a good advice. Thank you very much again for the thoughtful comments.
May 19, 2016 | 07:50 p.m.
#teamNirit – excited that you are tackling the issue of vaccination education! How do you envision this would be used by a school — would an individual teacher purchase this? school? school district? Thanks!
May 19, 2016 | 09:33 p.m.
An intensive "customer discovery" interviews process revealed that the best fit for this kind of activities is hands-on museum and science center. The museums will run the activities to their visitors (e.g., school field trips, families visits, etc.) and in local schools as part of of the outreach activities. The instructors will be the museum personnel.
Besides the many educational outcomes, informal venues are usually more cost effective compared to schools because one system at the informal learning centers can be made available to multiple groups, whereas, in a school each classroom would require the system separately.
About schools, the interviews validated that there is "no one formula fits all". While in some school district the decision makers are at the district level (curriculum directors, IT directors, etc.), in other the schools decisions are under the responsibility of the school principal, and in other school the decisions are made by the teachers. It also depends on the source of the budget and many other factors.


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Since its inception, the NGCPR Research Team has made many impressive research contributions.
NGCPR has pioneered plant conservation studies in Maharashtra State and has conducted conservation studies on two globally endangered plant species. Research studies on Frerea indica Dalzell (Apocynaceae s.l.) and Abutilon randei Wood. & Stapf. (Malvaceae) could demonstrate low cost and easy techniques for multiplication and has thrown light on causes and rarity of species in the wilderness.
Identification of threatened medicinal plants through a quantitative technique known as Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) for Maharashtra State was the first of its kind and paved way for others to follow and prioritize medicinal plant conservation research. The Centre organized this exercise in collaboration with Department of Botany, University of Pune. Out of 183 species of medicinal plants considered for the CAMP exercise, 26 species belonging to 23 genera and 18 families were considered threatened in the wild, and each species was assigned a threat status.
Endemic Plants of India (A Status report of Maharashtra State): The study was aimed to understand the patterns of flowering plants with a special reference to distribution, adaptations, local biodiversity hot spots etc. The study contributed enumeration of 687 endemic plant species with their habit, phenology and appropriate distribution in Maharashtra. A status report of 87 pages has been published by the NGCPR.
Mangroves of Thane Creek: A status report on species diversity in relation to Conservation and Documentation
MEDICINAL PLANT STUDIES
Nothapodytes nimmoniana (Grah.) Mabb. – A Case study of medicinal plant trade in India.
Grading & Trading patterns of Terminalia chebula Retz (Haritaki) nuts in the Maharashtra state.
Study, Propagation and utilization of local Medicinal plants with antidiarrhoeal activity in the Parinche Valley (in Maharashtra) – the provision of a model.
Preparation of a detailed checklist of plants used in antimycobacterial or antitubercular activity.
PLANT SYSTEMATICS AND
DIVERSITY DOCUMENTATION
Haritarium – Preparation of a digitalized mega plant taxonnomic data base
Discovery of one new taxa and one infra specific taxa viz. Brachystelma naorojii Tetali et al. (1998) and Arisaema murrayi var. soonubeniae Tetali et al. (2004)
Documentation of vulnerable hydrogeomorphic habitats to endemic plant diversity on the Kaas Plateau, Western Ghats.
Molecular systematics Phylogeny & Ecology of Ceropegia L. in India
Systematics and biogeography of the genus Ledebouria Roth (Asparagaceae: Scilloideae) in India
Taxonomic revision and ex-situ preservation of the genus Salacia L. in India
Datura species source material for tropane-alkaloids: a case study on trade and quality evaluation for India
NEW TAXA AND INFRA-SPECIFIC TAXA DESCRIBED FROM THE CENTRE
Brachystelma naorojii
Arisaema murrayi
Commelina badamica
Brachystelma naorojii P. Tetali, D.K. Kulk., S. Tetali & M.S. Kumbhojkar. Rheedea 8(1): 75 (1998)
Brachystelma naorojii belongs to the Milk weed family, scientifically known as Apocynaceae. Brachystelmas are characterized by opposite narrow or minute leaves, elongated stem and star shaped flowers. The Corolla are many species is united at the top to restrict pollinators. Brachystelmas are generally found in low rainfall regions with prolonged dry spells. B. naorojii was discovered in the year 1998 from a desolated hill slope of Gavadewadi village near Shirwal, in the Satara distirict of Maharashtra state. It is a tuberous herb which locals call "Hanuman Batata" because of its large edible tubers. The species are named after late Mr. Naoroji Godrej to commemorate his keen interest in biodiversity conservation.
B. naorojii, a delicate herb with brick red flowers, blooms in the month of April or May, generally after the hill slopes are burnt by locals. Flowering and fruiting is completed during summer. Small flies initiate pollination and long hairy seeds are dispersed through the wind. This process facilitates the seeds to germinate in the rainy season itself. Leaves appear after flowering and the plant completes its life cycle before the monsoon. Tubers remain dormant for the remainder of the year. Raw tubers look like potatoes and taste like sweet potatoes. Being a good source of carbohydrates, cowherds, while grazing their cattle, enjoy eating raw tubers. As a result, populations of this rare species are dwindling fast. This plant is now conserved at The Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research.
Arisaema murrayi var. soonubeniae P.Tetali, Punekar & Lakshmin. Kew Bulletin 59: 483. 2004.
Arisaema murrayi var. soonubeniae belongs to a group of interesting aroids popularly known as Cobra lilies. They are attractive and colourful and valued in the ornamental and floriculture business because of their unique snakehood-like inflorescence. This unique plant was discovered in the year 2004 from a remote hill slope in the Junnar taluka of the northern Western Ghats and named in the honour of late Mrs. Soonuben Naoroji Godrej, who was a Promoter and first Director of The Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research along with Mr. Vijay Crishna.
Variety Soonubeniae is a small tuberous herb with palm shaped (pedate) leaves. The inflorescence is covered with a pseudo petal known as spathe. The spathe tube is bright purple in the upper half and green below which protects a rat tail like structure that protrudes outside, known as spadix. The spadix is the place where male and female flowers are born. Fruits are scarlet coloured and are favourite food of bulbuls and other small birds. Seeds are dispersed by birds. This wild edible plant is locally known as Patari and its leaves which are collected regularly during the rainy season tastes delicious when cooked.
The species are very adaptive and evolved to survive prolonged dry periods. It is visible only during monsoon season while its vegetative parts die and tubers sleep (dormancy) under soil during the rest of the year. The Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research is engaged in conservation and multiplication studies.
Commelina badamica Nandikar & Gurav Telopea 18: 513-518. 2015
This new species belongs to the ornamental family called the dayflower family or spiderworts or Commelinaceae. The species were firstly collected in the year 2010 from Badami, Karnataka. After continuous ecological and population studies in 2015 it has been published in the journal Telopea. An annual herb, with tiny beautiful blue flowers, endemic to Karnataka and known only from sandstone plateaus in the Bagalkot district. The species epithet 'badamica' is drawn from its type locality Badami, one of the tourist destinations in Karnataka, famous for its temples, sculptures and caves.
CONSERVATION OF SACRED GROVES
To conserve and revitalize groves of Parinche valley, Pune District floristic survey, documentation of ecological, cultural and historical aspects have been studied by the Centre. A total of 14 sacred groves were identified from the Parinche valley, plants which have been commonly used in cultural activities, and which have economic potential have also been shortlisted along with endemic and threatened species.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ECO (IDEAL) VILLAGE
NGCPR has recently taken up a challenging task of eco-restoration and forest regeneration study to develop a scientific model in a land of 125 hectares belonging to Forest Department at Palshi and Mirje villages of Satara district. The primary goal is to create a micro climate to raise ground water levels in the region. NGCPR's teams will document biodiversity and identify wild life habitats for conservation. Simultaneously, NGCPR's efforts in this direction would lead to prepare a forest manual that can be useful for Non-Government Organizations to replicate Afforestation activities. The uniqueness of this programme is that local, endemic species of plants have been planted instead of invasive foreign plant species. It is a collaborative project with Forest Department, Maharashtra, and Maharashtra Vrikshasanvardhini, NGO, Pune. Initiated in the year 2012, the Centre has planted around 1,29,924 trees till date.


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How Newsweek Became A Zombie Magazine
WORDS Posted: August 20, 2020 12:28 pm
These controversies hollowed out Newsweek's staff and its brand. Its clickbait-heavy approach, aimed at gaming search engines, has declined since it was spun off from parent company IBT Media in 2018. But it remains a publication that privileges the interests of Google over those of its hypothetical readers. While other publications are abandoning the "scale" model pioneered by BuzzFeed and others in favor of building a loyal audience and raking in subscriptions, Newsweek is something of a throwback. – The New Republic
WORDS Published: 08.18.20
Read the story in The New Republic Published: 08.18.20


Do You Have The Cojones To Try Madrina's Espresso Cocktail?
The concept of a coffee cocktail brings to mind images of a not-quite-Irish San Francisco treat or perhaps a certain White Russian-swilling dude. Y'know, mainly sweet liqueurs being used to offset some more robust palliative.
But many of these incarnations are rather recent developments in the colorful history of coffee and alcohol pairings. In actuality, people have been combining these two elements for centuries. One of these earlier variants is the carajillo, an aperitif with 19th century Spanish origins that later spread throughout Europe, America and Mexico in different forms.
It's Mexico's version that appears on the menu at Madrina, the French-Mexican fine-dining spot tucked in the heart of Highland Park. The recipe is simple: A shot of espresso, a citrusy, vanilla flavored liqueur called Licor 43 and ice.
Much like its sibling restaurant, Proof + Pantry, Madrina uses beans from Novel in its one-and-only coffee cocktail, and does not stray from or complicate the original recipe.
What truly influences the taste is that coffee selection, as its juicy profile and sugar cane-like undertones marry perfectly with the sweetness of the liquor. Rather than being harsh and biting, like many mixtures of its kind, this drink is impeccably smooth — almost to the point of sinful indulgence.
After a couple of sips, and you can easily forget that any alcohol is present. Well, at least until the mellowed buzz of both substances kick in.
Its existence on this menu intrigues in that it stands as the sole offering at the intersection of Madrina's coffee options available and its French- and Mexican-inspired cocktail menu.
Even at $13 a pop, it's worth it, a refined vacation alongside two of the world's oldest drugs.


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Q: Storing data in a database If I have a list of movies that I am planning on storing inside of a database, and each movie has a list of strings (actors) for that movie. How do I store that?

A: You will have to create 3 table (for proper normalization)
1 table.> Movies (movieid,moviename)
2 table.> actors (actorid,actorname)
3 table.> movies_actor_relation (relationid, movieid,actorid)
column name ending with id are primary keys.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange