Books about Auditions from Amazon.com

Young people starting out in television sometimes say to me: “I want to be you.” My stock reply is always: “Then you have to take the whole package ”

And now, at last, the most important woman in the history of television journalism gives us that “whole package,” in her inspiring and riveting memoir. After more than forty years of interviewing heads of state, world leaders, movie stars, criminals, murderers, inspirational figures, and celebrities of all kinds, Barbara Walters has turned her gift for examination onto herself to reveal the forces that shaped her extraordinary life.

Barbara Walters’s perception of the world was formed at a very early age. Her father, Lou Walters, was the owner and creative mind behind the legendary Latin Quarter nightclub, and it was his risk-taking lifestyle that gave Barbara her first taste of glamour. It also made her aware of the ups and downs, the insecurities, and even the tragedies that can occur when someone is willing to take great risks, for Lou Walters didn’t just make several fortunes—he also lost them. Barbara learned early about the damage that such an existence can do to relationships—between husband and wife as well as between parent and child. Through her roller-coaster ride of a childhood, Barbara had a close companion, her mentally challenged sister, Jackie. True, Jackie taught her younger sister much about patience and compassion, but Barbara also writes honestly about the resentment she often felt having a sister who was so “different” and the guilt that still haunts her.

All of this—the financial responsibility for her family, the fear, the love—played a large part in the choices she made as she grew up: the friendships she developed, the relationships she had, the marriages she tried to make work. Ultimately, thanks to her drive, combined with a decent amount of luck, she began a career in television. And what a career it has been! Against great odds, Barbara has made it to the top of a male-dominated industry. She was the first woman cohost of the Today show, the first female network news coanchor, the host and producer of countless top-rated Specials, the star of 20/20, and the creator and cohost of The View. She has not just interviewed the world’s most fascinating figures, she has become a part of their world. These are just a few of the names that play a key role in Barbara’s life, career, and book: Yasir Arafat, Warren Beatty, Menachem Begin, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Roy Cohn, the Dalai Lama, Princess Diana, Katharine Hepburn, King Hussein, Angelina Jolie, Henry Kissinger, Monica Lewinsky, Richard Nixon, Rosie O’Donnell, Christopher Reeve, Anwar Sadat, John Wayne . . . the list goes on and on.

Barbara Walters has spent a lifetime auditioning: for her bosses at the TV networks, for millions of viewers, for the most famous people in the world, and even for her own daughter, with whom she has had a difficult but ultimately quite wonderful and moving relationship. This book, in some ways, is her final audition, as she fully opens up both her private and public lives. In doing so, she has given us a story that is heartbreaking and honest, surprising and fun, sometimes startling, and always fascinating..
Price: $14.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The brain is a fearsomely complex information-processing environment--one that often eludes our ability to understand it. At any given time, the brain is collecting, filtering, and analyzing information and, in response, performing countless intricate processes, some of which are automatic, some voluntary, some conscious, and some unconscious.

Cognitive neuroscience is one of the ways we have to understand the workings of our minds. It's the study of the brain biology behind our mental functions: a collection of methods--like brain scanning and computational modeling--combined with a way of looking at psychological phenomena and discovering where, why, and how the brain makes them happen.

Want to know more? "Mind Hacks" is a collection of probes into the moment-by-moment works of the brain. Using cognitive neuroscience, these experiments, tricks, and tips related to vision, motor skills, attention, cognition, subliminal perception, and more throw light on how the human brain works. Each hack examines specific operations of the brain. By seeing how the brain responds, we pick up clues about the architecture and design of the brain, learning a little bit more about how the brain is put together.

"Mind Hacks" begins your exploration of the mind with a look inside the brain itself, using hacks such as "Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Turn On and Off Bits of the Brain" and "Tour the Cortex and the Four Lobes." Also among the 100 hacks in this book, you'll find:

Release Eye Fixations for Faster Reactions

See Movement When All is Still

Feel the Presence and Loss of Attention

Detect Sounds on the Margins of Certainty

Mold Your Body Schema

Test YourHandedness

See a Person in Moving Lights

Make Events Understandable as Cause-and-Effect

Boost Memory by Using Context

Understand Detail and the Limits of Attention

Steven Johnson, author of "Mind Wide Open" writes in his foreword to the book, "These hacks amaze because they reveal the brain's hidden logic; they shed light on the cheats and shortcuts and latent assumptions our brains make about the world." If you want to know more about what's going on in your head, then "Mind Hacks" is the key--let yourself play with the interface between you and the world..
Price: $12.56 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is the only book that offers a comprehensive collection of contemporary stage monologues for a complete range of roles. An invaluable tool for actors looking for new audition material or for anyone interested in theater..
Price: $6.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A collection of 222 men's and women's monologues, 2 minutes and under. Simply the greatest audition book every published Two hundred carefully chosen monologues for men and women, all under two minutes. All monologues are indexed by play title, author, age, and gender of character..
Price: $4.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $4.37 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An audition can be the most frightening - and most important -- ten minutes in a young artist's career. Now comes Don Greene, a remarkable teacher who has worked with Metropolitan Opera musicians, singers from around the country, and athletes including Greg Louganis -- all of whom know what it means to perform under extreme stress. Audition Success presents a groundbreaking method that has already made Greene one of the country's leading audition trainers. Combining specially designed self-tests and real-life examples from the careers of two performers, Audition Success will help performers understand what prevents them from nailing an audition and give them the tools to reach their goals.
Audition Success helps dispel the myth that you perform best by being completely relaxed. On the contrary, some anxiety isn't going to hurt, as long as you can make it work for you. Don Greene's techniques teach you how to monitor and control fear, and put your nervous energy to work. The beginning performer will find here the tools to prepare for the audition circuit, and the experienced performer will appreciate techniques that can turn good auditions into great ones..
Price: $14.26 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Gene Hackman, Halle Berry, Heather Locklear, Gabriel Byrne, James Bond's Pierce Bronson, Kelly Preston, most of the cast from Melrose Place and 1000s of actors all take acting classes from Margie Haber. How to Get the Part... gives actors tools to break through their psychological roadblocks to auditioning..
Price: $4.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book gives details on proper etiquette during auditions and cold readings and includes strategies and techniques that will help any actor nail that part..
Price: $10.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Hottest Collection of Comedy Monologues Available!

If you've ever searched for a good comic monologue-whether for a professional audition, a class, or a competition-you know how frustrating the hunt can be. We've combed over some of the world's best comic writing to bring you 222 Comic Monologues: Two Minutes and Under. It's all funny stuff here: classic and contemporary works; roles for men and women ages 7 to 100; entertaining voices from writers as varied as Christopher Durang and Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker and Steve Martin, Margaret Cho and Molière. You'll find shades of comedy from light to dark: situational humor, word play, absurdity, and surrealism. These monologues are alternately romantic, silly, militant, downright zany-first-rate character work by both new and established comic writers..
Price: $17.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]