We are a nation of positive thinkers -- at least, we like to think we are. We create mantras to remind us that we should be. We try to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. We aim for the sunny-side of the street. And we like our glasses half-full,...

Anthony Zuiker makes TV shows that breed. His original creation, "CSI Las Vegas", begat "CSI Miami," which begat "CSI New York," which mated with shows like "Cold Case," and "Without a Trace." Now, the reproducing Mr. Ziuker has given birth to a new breed of entertainment he calls 'the world's...

Every news provider and we, as media trainers, whose job is to prep people who talk to news providers, know one essential truth: it's all about story-telling. Without a good story, the piece and the enterprise, won't have much audience Velcro. How come? Because that's how we first learn about...

It's not a myth. They are among us -- in book stores, on movie screens, TV sets and billboards, in graphic novels and video games all across the land. The vampire genre has been with us since Dr. John Polidori's 1819 The Vampyre, followed by Bram Stoker's 1897 neck-biter, through...

If you're the kind of reader, or listener, who must finish a book no matter how disappointing, or keep going hoping it'll get better, you might want to save time by simply avoiding these current offerings from three marquee-name writers.

VANISHED, by Joseph Finder
Genre: Corporate thriller...

GET REAL, by Donald E. Westlake
Genre: Comic Caper
Print: 288 pages
Audio: 7 hrs and 4 mins
Narrator: William Dufris
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Audio Edition: Audible.com only

COMMENT
"Reality shows do not solve society's problems....

Back in the simple analog days of the 1970s and 80s, giant global forces faced each other in a do-or-die battle over video formats for consumers -- VHS vs. Betamax. On the VHS front was the originator, JVC, along with powerhouses Matsushita (Panasonic), Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Akai. Facing them...

THE ART OF CRITICAL DECISION MAKING
Genre: Audio or video Course
Length: Twenty-four, thirty-minute lectures
Teacher: Prof. Michael Roberto, Bryant University
Publisher: The Teaching Company

Following the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy asked former President Eisenhower to the White House to...

ETTA, A NOVEL, by Gerald Koplan
Genre: Faux-Biography
Length: 10 hours
Narrator: Kirsten Potter
Publisher: Blackstone Audio





Etta Place can shoot a gun as well as Annie Oakley, ride a horse like Buffalo Bill...

Title: Sworn to Silence
Author: Linda Casitllo
Genre: Suspense
Length: 11 hrs, 43 min
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Narrator: Kathleen McInerney

COMMENT
A young, raped and blind-folded woman hangs upside-down with ankles chained to a...

It's clear now. A most compelling characteristic that separates the current generation from past ones is not tattoos or Twitter, it's whether or not you read a daily newspaper. If you're from the WW II, Silent, Boomer or GenX generations, your daily ritual probably includes a cup of joe, a...

The bright rays of the coming summer brings the bright stars of pop publishing, those big boys of thrills and mayhem whose glossy covers shine on supermarket, airport, book store shelves with their much hyped-up and hoped-for best-sellers.

Among the male marquee names this year, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben...

• How is it that the traffic report on your car radio is never about where you are stuck?

• If you were looking for an actor to play President Andrew Jackson, wouldn't you consider casting Hugh Grant?

• NY's venerable Rainbow Room opened during the last depression and closed because...

Just when you think you've had enough of the well plowed crime fighting genre, something comes along to invigorate the arena and remind you why cops-and-robbers have enduring longevity. One such example comes from Andrew Gross, a former co-author to a brand-name writer, the other is a mutt.

"Tyranny of the majority!" James Madison yelped about a government run by direct democracy, ballot initiatives, referendums, propositions -- mob rule! And he's the guy who actually wrote the Constitution.

"Yes, they're often misused, but California will never give them up and they can be effective," says Bob Hertzberg,...

Title: FOOL, by CHRISTOPHER MOORE
Genre: BURLESQUE SHAKESPEARE
Length: 8 1/2 Hrs - 7 CDS - UNABRIDGED
Narrator: EUAN MORTON
Publisher: HARPER AUDIO

COMMENT
Author Christopher Moore is an acquired...

The Internet is the ultimate 21st Century Jeffersonian dream come true: an informed public with unlimited information making knowledgeable choices in a connected, 24/7, placeless society where we take what we want, when we want, on demand. So, why does the dream look more like a nightmare when 'General Motors'...

TITLE
The Fifth Floor

AUTHOR
Michael Harvey, The Chicago Way,

GENRE
Private Eye Mystery

LENGTH
7 Hrs, 57 min - Unabridged - 7 CDs or Download

PUBLISHER
Random House Audio

NARRATOR: Stephen Hoye, narrator...

TITLE
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
AUTHOR: Barton Gellman, Washington Post Pulitzer Prize Winner.
GENRE
Biographical History
LENGTH
13 Hrs, 40 min. - Unabridged - 11 CDs or Download
...

Marion Bryant shelled out $50,000 dollars last year on audio books. She spends between 20 minutes and an hour-and-a-half a day listening to them in her car, or doing chores around her home in Tennessee. She favors fantasy books, The Teaching Company lecture courses, but her favorite listen last year...