Free Audiobook - The Body Has a Mind of Its Own

You can get a free MP3 download of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better ($13.99 Kindle; $20.95 Audible), by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee, narrated by Kate Reading, direct from Tantor Audio.

Book Description
In this compelling, cutting-edge book, two generations of science writers explore the exciting science of “body maps” in the brain–and how startling new discoveries about the mind-body connection can change and improve our lives. Why do you still feel fat after losing weight? What makes video games so addictive? How can “practicing” your favorite sport in your imagination improve your game? The answers can be found in body maps.

Just as road maps represent interconnections across the landscape, your many body maps represent all aspects of your bodily self, inside and out. In concert, they create your physical and emotional awareness and your sense of being a whole, feeling self in a larger social world.

Moreover, your body maps are profoundly elastic. Your self doesn’t begin and end with your physical body but extends into the space around you. This space morphs every time you put on or take off clothes, ride a bike, or wield a tool. When you drive a car, your personal body space grows to envelop it. When you play a video game, your body maps automatically track and emulate the actions of your character onscreen. When you watch a scary movie, your body maps put dread in your stomach and send chills down your spine. If your body maps fall out of sync, you may have an out-of-body experience or see auras around other people.

The Body Has a Mind of Its Own explains how you can tap into the power of body maps to do almost anything better–whether it is playing tennis, strumming a guitar, riding a horse, dancing a waltz, empathizing with a friend, raising children, or coping with stress.

The story of body maps goes even further, providing a fresh look at the causes of anorexia, bulimia, obsessive plastic surgery, and the notorious golfer’s curse “the yips.” It lends insights into culture, language, music, parenting, emotions, chronic pain, and more.

Filled with illustrations, wonderful anecdotes, and even parlor tricks that you can use to reconfigure your body sense, The Body Has a Mind of Its Own will change the way you think–about the way you think.

Get the free audiobook from Tantor Media.

Today's Deals

Get 30% off at Mills & Boon using promo code 30JUN12 (ends 24 June 2012)

Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is The Eagle Has Landed ($1.99), by Jack Higgins. This is another Open Road reprint edition and should be worth picking up.

Book Description
In Jack Higgins’s classic international bestseller, an audacious Nazi plan to kidnap Winston Churchill threatens to tip the scales of World War II

In November of 1943, an elite team of Nazi paratroopers descends on British soil with a diabolical goal: to abduct Winston Churchill and cripple the Allied war effort. The mission, ordered by Hitler himself and planned by Heinrich Himmler, is led by ace agent Kurt Steiner and aided on the ground by IRA gunman Liam Devlin.

As the deadly duo executes Hitler’s harrowing plot, only the quiet town of Studley Constable stands in their way. Its residents are the lone souls aware of the impending Nazi plan, and they must become the most unlikely of heroes as the fate of the war hangs in the balance.

Somewhere Towards the End ($1.56 / £0.99 UK), by Diana Athill, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.39).

Book Description
What is it like to be old?

Diana Athill made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs – her commitment, in her words, ‘to understand, to be aware, to touch the truth’. Now in her nineties, and freed from any inhibitions that even she may once have had, she reflects frankly on the losses and occasionally the gains that old age brings, and on the wisdom and fortitude required to face death. This is a lively narrative of events, lovers and friendships: the people and experiences that have taught her to regret very little, to resist despondency and to question the beliefs and customs of her own generation.

Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Charles W. Bamforth, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle. This one has been free several times, on both platforms, so you may already have it in your library.

Book Description
Beer Is Proof God Loves Us is a funny, engaging, and downright joyous examination of the whole world of beer and brewing. Your guide, Charlie Bamforth, may be the world's #1 expert on every aspect of beer: After a worldwide search, he was selected as the first Anheuser-Busch Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Now, he presents the most compelling social history of beer ever written: where it's come from, where the brewing business stands now, and what the future holds.

Bamforth also explains what the rise of new craft breweries means to beer drinkers and what the latest global trends will have on beer consumption. The book concludes with a look to the future, illustrating how environmental issues will change the brewing industry and addressing radical new approaches to brewing, such as Happoshu and malternatives.

Day at the Beach (Dora the Explorer Series) ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Lauryn Silverhardt, is the Nook Daily Find for Families (requires NOOK Color, NOOK Tablet or NOOK Kids for iPad), price matched on Kindle (works with Kindle Fire, Kindle Cloud Reader, Kindle for iPad or Kindle for Android).

Book Description
Come play at the beach with Dora and Boots!

Age Level: 1 and up

Book Blog Tour - Big Sky Country

A little bit of fun for you today, as this post is a part of the Blog Tour Scavenger Hunt for Linda Lael Miller's newly released Big Sky Country ($5.99 Kindle). I've got an author Q&A, a book excerpt and a chance to win a copy of the book.

Author Q&A
Q: Which part of BIG SKY COUNTRY was the most enjoyable to write?
A: I loved writing about the livestock auction (go figure), which compromised the hero and heroine’s first date. (That’s a cowboy for you.) I also enjoyed penning the horse race scene.

Q: Which part was the least enjoyable?
A: I enjoy the whole process, though I admit I find the love scenes to be the most challenging. Trying to bring something new to a thing that’s as old as time can be hard work.

Q: How did you come up with the character, Joslyn Kirk?
A: Joslyn, like most of my characters, simply came to me as a brown-haired woman returning to her hometown to right an old wrong—one she’d had nothing to do with. As I wrote about Joslyn, she sort of flowered into a person I’d know if I met her on the street. It’s that way with all my story people—they become friends and I’m convinced that they’re real, somewhere.

Q: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in the book?
A: I would worry less about getting it perfect and just have fun with the process. Since “Big Sky Country” is the first in a series, the staging has to be just right to carry not only that book, but the others coming after it.

Q: How much, and what kinds of research went into creating this novel?
A: I do a sort of ongoing research—I consult a friend who’s an expert on rodeos, for instance. Most of my stories, though, are pure imagination. I try to get things right, but I’m much more interested in giving the reader an emotional experience and a little vacation from the real world.

Book Excerpt
By this time, he reckoned, all his deputies and Becky, the longtime receptionist, were probably fixing to send out a search party, complete with cadaver dogs and a plan drawn out on a grid.

The idea made him smile as he headed back toward the courthouse.

Joslyn Kirk overslept that morning, and when she opened her eyes, it took her a few seconds to recognize her surroundings and realize she was right back in the one place she’d sworn never to set foot in again—Parable, Montana.

Joslyn sat up in her sleeping bag—she’d arrived late the night before and hadn’t bothered to put sheets on the antique brass bed—and looked around, taking in the cabbage-rose wallpaper, the worn planks in the floor and ornate woodwork, the heavy wardrobe that served as a closet.

She was in the guesthouse behind that mansion that had been her home for most of her childhood.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Blog Tour for your chance to win a copy of the book and a necklace from Etsy (the entry button is on the bottom of the page). There will be a second part to the Scavenger Hunt next month, when her Big Sky Mountain is released.

The publicist sent me a paper copy of Big Sky Country for review and I'm about half-way thru it (I'll admit, I miss reading on the Kindle when I have to back to a paper book); after getting past the rather incredulous setup in the first chapter, it's been a pretty good read. Of course, I'm pretty sure I know how it will end, but isn't that true of most romances? It's the journey, not the ending, that makes the book.

Book Description
The illegitimate son of a wealthy rancher, Sheriff Slade Barlow grew up in a trailer hitched to the Curly-Burly hair salon his mother runs. He was never acknowledged by his father…until now. Suddenly, Slade has inherited half of Whisper Creek Ranch, one of the most prosperous in Parable, Montana. That doesn't sit well with his half brother, Hutch, who grew up with all the rights of a Carmody—including the affections of Joslyn Kirk, homecoming queen, rodeo queen, beauty queen, whom Slade has never forgotten.

But Joslyn is barely holding her head up these days as she works to pay back everyone her crooked stepfather cheated. With a town to protect, plus a rebellious teenage stepdaughter, Slade has his hands full. But someone has to convince Joslyn that she's responsible only for her own actions—such as her effect on this lawman's guarded heart.

Get $2 Off Select $5 MP3 Albums

It appears that the $2 off a $5 MP3 deal is back and valid on select $5 albums, for those with either a Kindle Fire or access to any Android device that can run the Amazon MP3 app. You must use either the App or the Music Store on the Kindle Fire, not a web browser to purchase the album. So, although I've linked in the list here, to make it easier to see which albums are on the list (it's mostly the same as the June $5 MP3 Albums list, with some changes (currently there are only 99 eligible albums, not 100). As before, be sure that you don't accidentally grab a version that has a digital booklet with it, also, as those are specifically excluded.

Once again, there's no date indicated as to when this offer ends, so I wouldn't wait too long to try it (right now, I see a box about the offer on the product details page for the albums included - so long as you can see that, it should still be a valid promotion; the first time I saw this promotion, it disappeared the next day). I also don't see any information as to whether or not this is a "limit one" offer, but last month you could buy as many albums on the list as you wanted and received the $2 discount on each one (you'll have to check your emailed receipt to check, though, as you don't get an invoice summary when buying on the Kindle).

The Fine Print
Purchase Select $5 MP3 Albums on Your Kindle Fire or on the Amazon MP3 App for Android and Get a $2 Discount Applied at Purchase.

1. Search for any eligible $5 MP3 album title in the Amazon MP3 App for Android or Kindle Fire. If you don't have the Amazon MP3 App for Android, download it here.
2. Purchase your album by clicking the "Buy" button and your $2 discount will be automatically applied to your order. The credit only applies to album purchases and not individual song purchases from the albums. The discount will not apply to album purchases made in the Amazon MP3 webstore or through your Kindle Fire browser. This promotion does not apply to digital booklet versions of the $5 album titles.
3. After your purchase, you can confirm that your $2 credit was applied by checking your order confirmation, which will be sent to you by e-mail.
4. Additional terms and conditions apply.

While looking thru the selections, I ran across two albums that aren't in the list, but are worth considering. Both are on sale for $2.99: The Paul Simon Collection: On My Way, Don't Know Where I'm Going and 100 Must-Have Movie Classics

A Matter of Principle for One Cent (K)

A Matter of Principle, Conrad Black's memoir, is currently on sale for a penny in the Kindle store. This looks like a pricing error by McClelland & Stewart (Random House) and it probably isn't supposed to be free, so if you are interested, grab it quick!

One thing to keep in mind? Although you can't send free books as a gift, you can send the ones that are a penny - so this is the perfect book to send to a friend, if you think they might be interested (if not, all it cost you was a penny!).

Book Description
In 1993, Conrad Black was the proprietor of London's Daily Telegraph and the head of one of the world's largest newspaper groups. He completed a memoir in 1992, A Life in Progress, and "great prospects beckoned." In 2004, he was fired as chairman of Hollinger International after he and his associates were accused of fraud. Here, for the first time, Black describes his indictment, four-month trial in Chicago, partial conviction, imprisonment, and largely successful appeal.

In this unflinchingly revealing and superbly written memoir, Black writes without reserve about the prosecutors who mounted a campaign to destroy him and the journalists who presumed he was guilty. Fascinating people fill these pages, from prime ministers and presidents to the social, legal, and media elite, among them: Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Jean Chrétien, Rupert Murdoch, Izzy Asper, Richard Perle, Norman Podhoretz, Eddie Greenspan, Alan Dershowitz, and Henry Kissinger.

Woven throughout are Black's views on big themes: politics, corporate governance, and the U.S. justice system. He is candid about highly personal subjects, including his friendships - with those who have supported and those who have betrayed him - his Roman Catholic faith, and his marriage to Barbara Amiel. And he writes about his complex relations with Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, and in particular the blow he has suffered at the hands of that nation.

In this extraordinary book, Black maintains his innocence and recounts what he describes as "the fight of and for my life." A Matter of Principle is a riveting memoir and a scathing account of a flawed justice system.