“A remarkably entertaining and thought-provoking look at the human voice and all of its myriad functions and sounds . . . Wonderful” (Library Journal, starred review). From Farinelli, the eighteenth-century castrato who brought down opera houses with his high C, to the recording of Johnny B. Goode affixed to the Voyager spacecraft, Let Me Clear My Throat dissects the whys and hows of popular voices, making them hum with significance and emotion. There are murders of punk rock crows, impressionists, and rebel yells; Howard Dean’s “BYAH!” and Marlon Brando’s “Stellaaaaa!” and a stock film yawp that has made cameos in movies from A Star is Born to Spaceballs. The voice is thought’s incarnating instrument and Elena Passarello’s essays are a riotous deconstruction of the ways the sounds we make both express and shape who we are—the annotated soundtrack of us giving voice to ourselves. “Standout pieces include a biography of the most famous scream in Hollywood history; a breakdown of the relationship between song and birdsong; and an analysis of the sounds of disgust. Akin to: A dinner party at which David Sedaris, Mary Roach and Marlon Brando are trying to out-monologue one another.” —Philadelphia Weekly “The beauty of Ellen Passarello’s voice is that it’s so confidently its own . . . I began randomly with her essay wondering what the space aliens will make of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ on the Voyager gold record and couldn’t stop after that.” —John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead

A rollicking, wide-reaching annotated soundtrack of pop stars, phone psychics, Elvis impersonators, and other marvels of the human voice.

A complete step-by-step guide, Secrets of Singing provides everything needed to gain technical and musical vocal mastery. Some of the highlights include: basic principles of singing, mastery of the upper voice, achieving the power of an open throat, and phrasing and diction on a professional level. The package contains two CDs (one for high voice and one for low voice) and an almost 400-page information-packed book.

TRANSLATED Are you ready for promotion? Can your life use an upgrade? If so, read the simple, no-nonsense, biblical answers in this book. It will teach you how to augment every aspect of your life-your marriage, your personal relationships, your finances, and your business. You'll learn: How to plateau your happiness. How to retrain your brain. How to replace problem consciousness with solution consciousness. How to activate spiritual discernment in business transactions. How to increase your marital intimacy. How to transport your marriage from worship to ecstasy. How to maximize your faith and finances, when you're unmarried. It's all here! You will learn, as you turn the pages of this book, the significance of metacognition (awareness of ones thinking processes) and bi-dimensional living (living in Heaven and on Earth, simultaneously). In fact, you will learn how it is possible to actualize Ephesians 2:6, in everything you do! And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Do yourself a favor; get lifted! Get Translated!

Journalist Soren Baker’sThe History of Gangster Rap takes a deep dive into this fascinating music subgenre. Foreword by Xzibit Sixteen detailed chapters, organized chronologically, examine the evolution of gangster rap, its main players, and the culture that created this revolutionary music. From still-swirling conspiracy theories about the murders of Biggie and Tupac to the release of the film Straight Outta Compton, the era of gangster rap is one that fascinates music junkies and remains at the forefront of pop culture. Filled with interviews with key players such as Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, and dozens more, as well as sidebars, breakout bios of notorious characters, lists, charts, and beyond, The History of Gangster Rap is the be-all-end-all book that contextualizes the importance of gangster rap as a cultural phenomenon. “History has so often been written by the victors, that you very rarely ever get the real story behind anything. So it’s really important to hear from the people that were there, which is exactly what Soren Baker shares in this book. He writes about it and he’s honest about it.” —The D.O.C.

Selected works of Ivan Turgenev from the series "Best of the Best" is the book that everyone should read to understand themselves and each other. The authors and works for this book series were selected, as a result of numerous studies, analysis of the texts over the past 100 years and the demand for readers. It must be read in order to understand the world around us, its history, to recognize the heroes, to understand the winged expressions and jokes that come from these literary works. Reading these books will mean the discovery of a world of self-development and self-expression for each person. These books have been around for decades, and sometimes centuries, for the time they recreate, the values they teach, the point of view, or simply the beauty of words. This volume of the Best of the Best series includes famous works FATHERS AND CHILDREN THE TORRENTS OF SPRING RUDIN ON THE EVE A HOUSE OF GENTLEFOLK SMOKE A LEAR OF THE STEPPES ACIA FAUST THE DIARY OF A SUPERFLUOUS MAN A TOUR IN THE FOREST YAKOV PASINKOV ANDREI KOLOSOV A CORRESPONDENCE CLARA MILITCH PHANTOMS THE SONG OF TRIUMPHANT LOVE THE DREAM POEMS IN PROSE A SPORTSMAN'S SKETCHES