Many audio book fans like to be able to search through lists of audiobooks by their favourite narrator. One guy with a fantastic voice is Phil Gigante who is also an actor, director and producer. His career spans more than twenty years in TV, theatre, radio and film. 

He is well worth listening to on such masterpieces as Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander books, some of which he received Audie nominations. Other notable works include Black Lightening by John Saul, and Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts. For a comprehensive list of Phil Gigante narrations, visit the best audio book website.

It is not unusual to find that high blood pressure symptoms are almost non existent. This is the reason that high blood pressure is often described as the silent killer.

It can simply run in families. The symptoms which do exist can sometimes be confused with other ailments. It is not surprising to find that over forty percent of people who have high blood pressure are unaware of their condition. It is important therefore that blood pressure should be measured on a regular basis using a reliable monitor. Blood pressure monitors can be purchased at your local drugstore but it is wiser to have your doctor measure it properly.

There are however some symptoms which people with high blood pressure may have and these include faintness or dizzy spells, headaches, frequent nose bleeds, vision problems and nausea.

People who have any of these symptoms should seek medical advice as early as possible. Untreated blood pressure can cause severe damage to vital organs including blood vessels, can cause a heart attack or coronary, and can also cause strokes. There are many high blood pressure medications on the market and with proper supervision by a doctor, the condition can be normalized, especially if the underlying cause can be determined such as hypertension.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht the well known Clinical Medical, Sports & Personal Development Hypnotherapist has recently released a downloadable MP3 audiobook entitled Managing High Blood Pressure.

According to the author this one hour audio is designed for the individual looking to regulate his/her blood pressure through the practice of deep relaxation, specialized mindbody imagery & lifestyle change.
The program includes body specific deep relaxation, commands for opening & diminishing stress points, body scanning, mental biofeedback & awareness tools for managing emotions, thought patterns & unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. It also includes subconscious mind suggestions for building new lifestyle behaviors & inner power for change.

You can find high blood pressure articles all over the internet but these are for information only. If in any doubt, consult your doctor.

APA Survey Finds Solid Audio Gains in 2007  

by Jim Milliot — Extract from Publishers Weekly, 9/15/2008 10:27:00 AM

Sales of spokenword audiobooks rose 12%, to just over $1 billion, in 2007 and the percentage of adults that now listen to audiobooks rose to 28%, according the Audio Publishers Association’s annual sale and consumer surveys. Young listeners are the fastest-growing segment of the market, with the APA reporting that 53% of teens have listened to an audiobook. Sales of CDs and downloads increased in the year, while sales of cassettes declined. CDs represented 78% of audiobook sales in 2007, with downloads comprising 17%, up from 14% in 2006. The market share of cassettes was 3% in 2007 down from 7% in 2006. The library was the most popular place for consumer to get audiobooks, while retail bookstores was the largest sales channel.

The car continues to be the place where consumers listen to audiobooks the most, with 40% of consumers reporting they listen to audiobooks during long drives and another 18% listen on their commute to work. Twenty-three percent of consumers said listening to audiobooks was a good use of time while doing other activities. According to the survey, mystery/thriller/suspense is the most popular segment, followed by general fiction, science fiction/fantasy, biography/memoir, and classic fiction.
What surprises me is that foreign language audiobooks did not feature in the statistics.

The new iTunes 8 has launched and fans of audiobooks couldn’t be happier. Prior versions of iTunes kept the Audiobooks section under lock and key. The only files that would display in the Audiobooks section on your iTunes or iPod were books purchased from the iTunes music store. Not very handy to people who buy copies of audio books on CD or download them from other sources on the interwebs.

With 8.0, iTunes now allows you to change the Media Kind for files to Audiobook, taking them out of the Music section (where they never belonged in the first place). So score one for iTunes for enabling those who just want to use the software, but exercise choice in where they get their audiobook content.
Read entire article here.

 don’t need to tell you the downside to traffic — heck, we’ve got a whole blog for that. But the upsides are harder to come by. Today, we have the Good Magazine commuting culture consumption chart.

Good compares the length of some hefty works of art — CDs of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the three “Lord of the Rings” films, and the audiobook of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” — to the annual time spent driving to work in major American cities.

The good news is that the only American city with a long enough annual commute to hear the complete unabridged audiobook of “War and Peace” is Los Angeles. The bad news is that, with a total of 72 hours spent in traffic going to work each year, you could even start on “War and Peace” a second time. Or any number of other classics.
Read entire article here

Teaching high-tech youngsters to enjoy reading a book can be an uphill battle, so the Gwinnett County Public Library has added a collection of children’s literature that can be read online.

The library system is now offering Tumblebooks, an animated, online collection of talking e-books for children.

The online TumbleBooks are created from existing picture books published by children’s book authors and converted into the TumbleBook format. There are over 130 TumbleBooks available from the library system’s Web site, and more books being added daily.

The collection includes animated books, language learning books in Spanish and French, audio books, educational games, quizzes, and book report outlines, Read More…

Two weeks ago, the Spanish soccer team excelled at Euro 2008 beating Germany in the final, and on the same day a young Spaniard by the name of Pablo Larazabal excelled at golf, winning the French Open in style.
However, I think last Sunday’s performance by 22 year old Mallorca native Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon surpassed his compatriots with an achievement that graces the tennis hall of fame. In front of an enthralled crowd, Nadal and Federer fought a duel for almost 5 hours in what was for me the best tennis I have ever seen before Nadal emerged victorious. Interviewed afterwards, Nadal said that he was very happy.
To help his English vocabulary, we have a learn English for Spanish speakers series of audio books. Hope he pays us a visit!

Here’s an interesting question I came across which was asked by a mother whose daughter has some reading problems. The source is The Desert Sun, California.
Question: Reading is a very hard task for my 6th grade daughter and her teacher suggested that I get books on tape for her to listen to this summer. My husband believes books on tape are not the same as reading and they are considered “cheating.” I’m confused, are books on tape really a form of cheating?
Answer: Although audiobooks can never take the place of reading aloud, many educators agree that audio books are considered wonderful tools for children for several reasons. Audio books are successful in providing struggling readers an opportunity to be exposed to literature they otherwise would not have been able to read. Reading is also about comprehending a story and audiobooks can help children develop strong listening and critical thinking skills.

The audios eliminate the frustration struggling readers experience with decoding, thus allowing them to focus on understanding a story. Many children use audiobooks to help them learn to read by following along in their book with the audio. They also provide opportunities to launch discussions between you and your child about what’s happening in a story, what will happen next, and how it connects to your own lives.

Brent M. Cooper, licensed educational psychologist, has a private practice and is the director of El Paseo Children’s Center for Psychological & Educational Assessment. He evaluates individuals for learning disabilities, attention deficits, and autism. Brent Cooper is also a school psychologist for CVUSD. If you have a question you’d like to see answered in this column, call 342-4900 or e-mail brent@helpmykid.us or visit www.helpmykid.us

Here’s an interesting post I spotted for anyone living near Lakewood, near Denver, Colorado.
This extract is from denver.yourhub.com

Contributed by: Bethany Frisbie on 7/3/2008

Have you ever wondered how an audio book gets made? Now’s your chance! Find out how long it takes, what happens if the reader has to pronounce words from another language…or even another planet!

Mark Haley, national account manager for Recorded Books, and Johnny Heller, a professional narrator, actor, comic and writer, will explain the process for making a recorded book. Not only that, Heller also will narrate live for the audience!

1 p.m. and 7 p.m. – Wednesday, July 9 at the Lakewood Library

Just browsing around some forums, I noticed that several posts were enquiring about where to find theological audio books.
Just want to let everyone know that I have a seperate Religion and Spiritual category on my audiobook site with over 500 titles. Please feel free to stop by.