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For readers of The True Story of Maddie Bright, The Woman in the Green Dress and The Birdman's Wife comes this atmospheric and richly detailed Australian historical mystery from a bestselling Australian author.

Maitland 1913 Miss Elizabeth Quinn is something of an institution in Maitland Town. For longer than anyone could remember she and her brother, businessman Michael, have lived in the impressive two-storey stone house next to the church. When she is discovered cowering in the corner of the exhibition gallery at the Technical College the entire town knows something strange has come to pass.

Was it the prehistoric remains or perhaps the taxidermy exhibition that had reduced the whale-boned encased pillar of society to a quivering mess? Or is there something odd about a striking painting on loan from the National Gallery?

Mathematical savant Jane Piper is determined to find out. Deposited on the doorstep of the local orphanage as a baby, she owes her life and education to the Quinns' philanthropic ventures and Elizabeth has no one else to turn to.

As the past and the present converge, Elizabeth's grip on reality loosens. Can Jane, with her logical brain and penchant for puzzles, unravel Elizabeth's story before it is too late?

Ranging from the gritty reality of the Australian goldfields to the grand institutions of Sydney, the bucolic English countryside to the charm of Maitland Town, this compelling historical mystery in the company of an eccentric and original heroine is rich with atmosphere and detail.

PRAISE FOR TEA COOPER 'Boasts strong female protagonists, an infectious fascination with the past, and the narrative skill to weave multiple timelines into a satisfying whole...smartly edited, cleanly written...easy to devour.' - Sydney Morning Herald on The Woman in the Green Dress 'Cooper excels at creating strong and unique female characters set within interesting backdrops of Australian social history.' - Historical Novel Society on The Girl in the Painting

Trent Dalton, bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe, returns with All Our Shimmering Skies - a glorious novel destined to become another Australian classic. Shipping Australia-wide & international.

Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain down, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, is looking to the skies and running for her life. Inside a duffel bag, she carries a stone heart, alongside a map to lead her to Longcoat Bob, the deep-country sorcerer who she believes put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress, and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. The treasure lies before them, but close behind them trails the dark. And above them, always, are the shimmering skies.

A story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves, All Our Shimmering Skies is an odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies. It is a love letter to Australia and an ode to the art of looking up - a buoyant, beautiful and magical novel, abrim with warmth, wit and wonder.

In a world of perennial fire and growing extinctions, Anna's aged mother is dying-if her three children would just allow it. Condemned by their pity to living she increasingly escapes through her hospital window into visions of horror and delight.

When Anna's finger vanishes and a few months later her knee disappears, Anna too feels the pull of the window. She begins to see that all around her others are similarly vanishing, but no one else notices. All Anna can do is keep her mother alive. But the window keeps opening wider, taking Anna and the reader ever deeper into a strangely beautiful story about hope and love and orange-bellied parrots.

Our Shadows is a story about three generations of family living in Kalgoorlie, where gold was discovered in 1893 by an Irish-born prospector named Paddy Hannan, whose own history weaves in and out of this beguiling novel.

Nell and Frances are sisters who are close enough in age to be mistaken for twins. Raised by their grandparents, they now live in Sydney. Each in her own way struggles with the loss of their parents.

Little by little the sisters grow to understand the imaginative force of the past and the legacy of their shared orphanhood. Then Frances decides to make a journey home to the goldfields to explore what lies hidden and unspoken in their lives, in the shadowy tunnels of the past.

Too much lip, her old problem from way back. And the older she got, the harder it seemed to get to swallow her opinions. The avalanche of bullshit in the world would drown her if she let it; the least she could do was raise her voice in anger.

Wise-cracking Kerry Salter has spent a lifetime avoiding two things - her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she's an inch away from the lockup, so she heads south on a stolen Harley.

Kerry plans to spend twenty-four hours, tops, over the border. She quickly discovers, though, that Bundjalung country has a funny way of grabbing on to people. Old family wounds open as the Salters fight to stop the development of their beloved river. And the unexpected arrival on the scene of a good-looking dugai fella intent on loving her up only adds more trouble - but then trouble is Kerry's middle name.

Gritty and darkly hilarious, Too Much Lip offers redemption and forgiveness where none seems possible.

Coburg, Melbourne. Ford McCullen is growing up with his mother Deidre and his Pop and Noonie in 'The Compound', a pair of units in the shadow of Pentridge prison. His father, Robert, has left them to live in the bush with his new male partner. Nobody is coping.

When Ford's paternal grandmother Queenie's good fortune allows him to attend a prestigious Catholic private school on the other side of the river and to learn the violin, Ford finds himself balancing separate identities. At school he sees himself being moulded into an image that is not his own, something at odds with the rough and tumble of his beloved north.

Crumbling under the weight of his family's expectations and realising that he just might be the only adult amongst them, Ford embarks on a quest for meaning while navigating the uncomfortable realities of his father's life, his mother's ongoing crisis, and the pillars of football and religion, delving ever deeper into a fraught search for the source of the 'McCullen curse'.

Everything in its Right Place tackles themes of class, love and sexuality with humour, truth and grit. It is a story of the legacies and dilemmas that families bring, of how we all must find our own way, astonishingly told.

'Powerful and urgent. Crackling with energy and wit, Everything in its Right Place is a dark joyride of a read, its danger and beauty announcing a roaring new talent.' - Roger Averill, author of Relatively Famous and Keeping Faith 'Equal parts harrowing coming of age story, and paean to the joys of a misspent youth, Everything in its Right Place is a heartbreaking, lyrical love letter to overcoming trauma, and finding oneself in the bohemian heart of Melbourne.' - Liam Pieper, author of The Feel-Good Hit of the Year and Sweetness and Light

Jasper Jones was a multi-award winning Australian publishing sensation. Honeybee is the new novel from the very genial Australian author, Craig Silvey. Shipping Australia-wide & international.

 

"Find out who you are, and live that life."

Late in the night, 14-year-old Sam Watson steps onto a quiet overpass, climbs over the rail and looks down at the road far below.

At the other end of the same bridge, an old man, Vic, smokes his last cigarette.

The two see each other across the void. A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other.

Honeybee is a heartbreaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show.

At the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self; ensnared by a loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering step-father, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances.

Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter - one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on.

'SONG OF THE CROCODILE is a moving, wise and deeply rewarding novel from an astonishing writer' - Emily Maguire, author of AN ISOLATED INCIDENT Darnmoor, The Gateway to Happiness. The sign taunts a fool into feeling some sense of achievement, some kind of end- that you have reached a destination in the very least. Yet as the sign states, Darnmoor is merely a gateway, a waypoint on the road to where you really want to be.

Darnmoor is the home of the Billymil family, three generations who have lived in this 'gateway town'. Race relations between Indigenous and settler families are fraught, though the rigid status quo is upheld through threats and soft power rather than the overt violence of yesteryear.

As progress marches forwards, Darnmoor and its surrounds undergo rapid social and environmental changes, but as some things change, some stay exactly the same. The Billymil family are watched (and sometimes visited) by ancestral spirits and spirits of the recently deceased, who look out for their descendants and attempt to help them on the right path.

When the town's secrets start to be uncovered the town will be rocked by a violent act that forever shatters a century of silence.

Full of music, Yuwaalaraay language and exquisite description, Song of the Crocodile is a lament to choice and change, and the unyielding land that sustains us all, if only we could listen to it.

This extraordinary novel gives the reader the heart-to-heart testimony of one of our finest writers - a wonder of literary invention and a boisterous modern classicHis most intimate and epic work to date, Inside Story is the unseen portrait of Martin Amis' extraordinary life, as a man and a writer. This novel had its birth in a death - that of the author's closest friend, Christopher Hitchens. We also encounter the vibrant characters who have helped define Martin Amis, from his father Kingsley, to his hero Saul Bellow, from Philip Larkin to Iris Murdoch and Elizabeth Jane Howard, and to the person who captivated his twenties, the alluringly amoral Phoebe Phelps.

What begins as a thrilling tale of romantic entanglements, family and friendship, evolves into a tender, witty exploration of the hardest questions- how to live, how to grieve, and how to die? In his search for answers, Amis surveys the great horrors of the twentieth century, and the still unfolding impact of the 9/11 attacks on the twenty-first - and what all this has taught him about how to be a writer.

The result is one of Amis' greatest achievements- a love letter to life that is at once exuberant, meditative, heartbreaking and ebullient, to be savoured and cherished for many years to come.

From the bestselling author of The Girl from Munich and Suitcase of Dreams comes an unforgettable tale of love, courage and betrayal inspired by a true story Berlin, 1943 As the Allied forces edge closer, the Third Reich tightens its grip on its people. For eighteen-year-old Susanna Goettmann, this means her adopted family including the man she loves, Leo, are at risk.

Desperate to protect her loved ones any way she can, Susie accepts the help of an influential Nazi officer. But it comes at a terrible cost - she must abandon any hope of a future with Leo and enter the frightening world of the Nazi elite.

Yet all is not lost as her newfound position offers more than she could have hoped for ... With critical intelligence at her fingertips, Susie seizes a dangerous opportunity to help the Resistance.

The decisions she makes could change the course of the war, but what will they mean for her family and her future?

Praise for Tania Blanchard 'Packs an emotional punch that will reverberate far and wide' Weekly Times 'Captures the intensity of a brutal and unforgiving war, successfully weaving love, loss, desperation and, finally, hope into a gripping journey of self-discovery' Courier Mail 'A tumultuous journey from order to bedlam, and from naive acceptance of the status quo to the gradual getting of political wisdom' Sunday Age 'Combining historical tragedy, romance, and true stories ... Superb and enriching' Better Reading

A producer. A novelist. An actress.

It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' Sixties British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives.

As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.

From one of Britain's bestselling writers comes an exhilarating, tender novel that asks the vital questions- what makes life worth living? And what do you do if you find it isn't?

For fans of The Little Paris Bookshop and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Girl Who Reads on the Metro is the French phenomenon by Christine Feret-Fleury ready to charm book-lovers everywhere . . .

When Juliette takes the metro to her loathed office job each morning, her only escape is in books - she avidly reads on her journey and imagines what her fellow commuters' choices might say about them.

But when, one day, she decides to alight the train a few stops early and meets Soliman - the mysterious owner of the most enchanting bookshop Juliette has ever seen - she is sure her life will never be the same again . . .

For Soliman also believes in the power of books to change the course of a life - entrusting his passeurs with the task of giving each book to the person who needs it most - and he thinks Juliette is perfect for the job.

And so, leaving her old life behind, Juliette will discover the true power a book can have . . .

A bewitching novel set in contemporary Japan about the mysterious suicide of a young woman.

Miwako Sumida is dead.

Now those closest to her try to piece together the fragments of her life. Ryusei, who has always loved her, follows Miwako's trail to a remote Japanese village. Chie, Miwako's best friend, was the only person to know her true identity - but is now the time to reveal it? Meanwhile, Fumi, Ryusei's sister, is harbouring her own haunting secret.

Together, they realise that the young woman they thought they knew had more going on behind her seemingly perfect fa ade than they could ever have dreamed.

'Vivid and intriguing - an elegantly cryptic, poetically plotted Murakami-esque whydunit.' -Sharlene Teo, award-winning author of Ponti ' A a complex, interpersonal mystery ... A tremendous examination of sadness ... A book with heart about the mysteries of the heart.' -Benjamin Welton, New York Journal of Books 'If her debut novel brings Murakami to mind, her second, with its winsome tone, harkens to early Banana Yoshimoto. However, with her blend of mystery, magic and social issues - in this case, sexual abuse, transgender awareness and suicide - Goenawan is developing her own distinct brand.' -Suzanne Kamata, The Japan Times

The extraordinary new novel from the author of Practical Magic and The Dovekeepers We first met the Owens in the glorious novel Practical Magic. We discovered the tragedy of the Owens siblings in The Rules of Magic. Now we learn how it all began ... with a baby abandoned in a snowy English field in the 1600s. Under the care of gentle Hannah Owens, little Maria learns about the 'Unnamed Arts'. Maria has a gift for them - a gift that may well prove her undoing.

When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it's here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters.

Magic Lessons is a celebration of life and love, and a showcase of Alice Hoffman's masterful storytelling.

Praise for Alice Hoffman 'A testament to the human spirit and to love rising from the ashes of war' Jodi Picoult 'Beautiful, harrowing, a major contribution to twenty-first century literature' Toni Morrison

The person you are with is just like you- same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is a disaster.

Then, when and where you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totally right. Nick Hornby's brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who is not just like you at all.

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time...

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer.

Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi's previous novel, we will be introduced to:

The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago The son who was unable to attend his own mother's funeral The man who went back to see the girl who he could not marry The old detective who never gave his wife that gift...

This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Two sisters are brutally separated by war in tragic circumstances. Ania is imprisoned and forced to endure the atrocities of a Nazi concentration camp. Danuta's search for her sister leads her into the dangers of the Polish Underground. Each will do what they must to survive long enough to find each other. Their dream of being reunited is crushed in shocking circumstances.

In an astonishing twist of fate, the opportunity for revenge presents itself 60 years later. But faced with the ultimate decision what will be the outcome ... seek justice or revenge?

Spanning decades, Hitler's Brothel is a tragic and gripping tale of deception, courage and survival.

Stories do not have to be long. In the space of a couple of sentences - or even a page or two - we may see the human heart exposed in a way that is more powerful than occurs in many much longer narratives.

In Tiny Tales Alexander McCall Smith explores romance, ambition, kindness and happiness in thirty short stories that range in length from the short to the minuscule. The settings are as diverse as the characters - Scotland, England, Australia, the United States - combining to create a rich and surprising tableau. An Australian pope? A persuasive cosmetic surgeon? The world's laziest cat. A group of students living together and getting romantically entangled? All human and animal life is here - in miniature.

These stories are inspired and accompanied by the thirty magnificent strip Tiny Tales created by McCall Smith and illustrated by the brilliant Iain McIntosh - each cartoon a little gem of observation.

'Inventive and original' - The Times 'Fans of intelligent historical fiction will be enthralled' - Hilary Mantel Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction Three journeys. One road.

England, 1348. A gentlewoman flees an odious arranged marriage, a proctor sets out for a monastery in Avignon and a young ploughman in search of freedom is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais. In the other direction comes the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe.

To Calais, In Ordinary Time is an exploration of love, death and power, against the backdrop of catastrophe.

'I am absolutely terrified of losing a job I absolutely hate.' Stephen Maserov has problems. A onetime teacher, married to fellow teacher Eleanor, he has retrained and is now a second-year lawyer working at mega-firm Freely Savage Carter Blanche. Despite toiling around the clock to make budget, he's in imminent danger of being downsized. And to make things worse, Eleanor, sick of single-parenting their two young children thanks to Stephen's relentless work schedule, has asked him to move out.

To keep the job he hates, pay the mortgage and salvage his marriage, he will have to do something strikingly daring, something he never thought himself capable of. But if he's not careful, it might be the last job he ever has...

Warm, dramatic, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, with the narrative pull of a thriller, Maybe the Horse Will Talk is a love story, a reflection on contemporary marriage, and on friendship. It is also an unflinching examination of sexual harassment in the workplace and an expose of corporate corruption that taps directly into the pulse of our times.

'Australia's outstanding social novelist' (Times Literary Supplement), Elliot Perlman '. . . has many things working in his favor as a novelist- curiosity, erudition, daring and a gift for seducing readers into going along with him for the ride. He'll get you where you want to go . . .' (Washington Post)

'Grace and intelligence ...

[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' - President Obama Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the American National Humanities Medal, returns to the world of Gilead with Jack, the final in one of the great works of contemporary American fiction.

Jack tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the beloved and grieved-over prodigal son of a Presbyterian minister in Gilead, Iowa, a drunkard and a ne'er-do-well. In segregated St. Louis sometime after World War II, Jack falls in love with Della Miles, an African-American high school teacher, also a preacher's child, with a discriminating mind, a generous spirit, and an independent will. Their fraught, beautiful story is one of Robinson's greatest achievements.

Shortlisted for Best Novel in the Irish Book Awards Longlisted for the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction The most enchanting novel you'll read this year, from the acclaimed author of Man Booker-longlisted History of the Rain 'Lyrical, tender and sumptuously perceptive' Sunday Times 'A love letter to the sleepy, unhurried and delightfully odd Ireland that is all but gone' Irish Independent After dropping out of the seminary, seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe finds himself back in Faha; a small Irish parish where nothing ever changes, including the ever-falling rain.

But one morning the rain stops and news reaches the parish - the electricity is finally arriving. With it comes a lodger to Noel's home, Christy McMahon. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed.

As Noel navigates his coming-of-age by Christy's side, falling in and out of love, Christy's buried past gradually comes to light, casting a glow on a small world and making it new.

Doomed to wander. Destined for glory.

Erlan Aurvandil has turned his back on the past and his native Northern lands, taking a perilous journey to the greatest city in the world, Byzantium. But as his voyage ends, Erlan is brutally betrayed, captured and enslaved by a powerful Byzantine general.

Meanwhile, Lilla Sviggarsdottir, Queen of Svealand, has lost her husband and with him, her kingdom. Leaving her lands and people behind, Lilla journeys east on a new quest: to find Erlan and raise an army mighty enough to defeat her usurper.

But when she reaches the great city of Byzantium, she discovers a place in turmoil. A dark tide is rising against the Emperor from within his own court. As the shadows darken and whispers of war begin to strengthen, Erlan's fate becomes intertwined with that of the city. Are they both doomed to fall, or can freedom be won in the blood of battle?

1553: deeply-divided England rejoices as the rightful heir, Mary Tudor, sweeps to power on a tide of populist goodwill. But the people should have been careful what they wished for: Mary's mission is to turn back time to an England of old. Within weeks there is widespread rebellion in favour of her heir, her half-sister, princess Elizabeth, who is everything that Mary isn't. From now on, Elizabeth will have to use her considerable guile just to stay alive.

Orphan Alys Twist has come a long way - further than she ever dared hope - to work as a laundress at the royal Wardrobe. There she meets Bel, daughter of the Queen's tailor, and seems to have arrived at her own happy ending.

But in a world where appearance is everything, a laundress is in a unique position to see the truth of people's lives, and Alys is pressed into service as a spy in the errant princess's household. Alys herself, though, is hardly whiter than white, and when the princess is arrested she must make a dangerous choice.

AD 647. Anglo-Saxon Britain. A gripping, action-packed historical thriller and the seventh instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles.

Beobrand is besieged in the action-packed instalment in the Bernicia Chronicles set in AD 647 Anglo-Saxon Britain.

War hangs heavy in the hot summer air as Penda of Mercia and his allies march into the north. Caught unawares, the Bernician forces are besieged within the great fortress of Bebbanburg. It falls to Beobrand to mount the defence of the stronghold, but even while the battle rages, old and powerful enemies have mobilised against him, seeking vengeance for past events. As the Mercian forces tighten their grip and unknown killers close in, Beobrand finds himself in a struggle with conflicting oaths and the dreadful pull of a forbidden love that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. With the future of Northumbria in jeopardy, will Beobrand be able to withstand the powers that beset him and find a path to victory against all the odds?

Love these historical thrillers? Pre-order A Time for Swords today - the start of an exciting new series from bestselling author of the Bernicia Chronicles, Matthew Harffy.

Praise for Matthew Harffy:

'Nothing less than superb ... The tale is fast paced and violence lurks on every page' Historical Novel Society. 'Beobrand is the warrior to follow' David Gilman. 'A tale that rings like sword song in the reader's mind' Giles Kristian. 'Historical fiction doesn't get much better than this' Angus Donald. 'A brilliant characterization of a difficult hero in a dangerous time. Excellent!' Christian Cameron. 'A terrific novel. It illuminates the Dark Ages like a bolt of lightning' Toby Clements. 'Battles, treachery, revenge and a healthy dose of Dark Age adventure' Simon Turney. 'Matthew Harffy tells a great story' Joanna Hickson. 'Harffy's writing just gets better and better ... He is really proving himself the rightful heir to Gemmell's crown' Jemahl Evans. 'Harffy has a real winner on his hands ... A genuinely superb novel' Steven McKay. 'A breathtaking novel that sweeps the reader into a dark and dangerous world' Paul Fraser Collard.

'WONDERFUL. ONE NEVER MESSES WITH THE FAERIES' Melanie Reid, The Times 'AN ABSOLUTE TRIUMPH' Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus 'A BRILLIANT TOUR-DE-FORCE -RIVETING' Alistair Moffatt, author of The Hidden Ways 'EXTRAORDINARILY VIVID' Michelle Gallen, author of Big Girl Small Town A spellbinding novel combining Scottish folklore with hidden history, by the Sunday Times bestselling author Sally Magnusson.

Loch Katrine waterworks, 1856. A Highland wilderness fast becoming an industrial wasteland. No place for a lady.

Isabel Aird is aghast when her husband is appointed doctor to an extraordinary waterworks being built miles from the city. But Isabel, denied the motherhood role that is expected of her by a succession of miscarriages, finds unexpected consolations in a place where she can feel the presence of her unborn children and begin to work out what her life in Victorian society is for.

The hills echo with the gunpowder blasts of hundreds of navvies tunnelling day and night to bring clean water to diseased Glasgow thirty miles away - digging so deep that there are those who worry they are disturbing the land of faery itself. Here, just inside the Highland line, the membrane between the modern world and the ancient unseen places is very thin.

With new life quickening within her again, Isabel can only wait. But a darker presence has also emerged from the gunpowder smoke. And he is waiting too.

Inspired by the mysterious death of the seventeenth-century minister Robert Kirke and set in a pivotal era two centuries later when engineering innovation flourished but women did not, The Ninth Child blends folklore with historical realism in a spellbinding narrative.

*PRAISE FOR THE SEALWOMAN'S GIFT* 'I enjoyed and admired it in equal measure' SARAH PERRY 'An extraordinarily immersive read' Guardian 'Richly imagined and energetically told' Sunday Times 'An epic journey' Zoe Ball Book Club

Tales of adventure, misadventure, love and loss - this collection of non-fiction short stories from the Australian rock legend turned writer is vintage Jimmy.

Outrageous, witty, warm and wise, Killing Time shares more than forty yarns reflecting an epic life - from an encounter with a soul legend in Memphis, a night in a haunted studio in upstate New York, and a doomed haircut in Thailand to a madcap misunderstanding in a Japanese ski resort, a family feud on a remote coral atoll, and an all-too-revealing appearance for a Sydney charity.

PRAISE FOR KILLING TIME:

A moving and deeply felt kaleidoscope of life, love, family, music, friendship and the fragility of time. Barnes proved his storytelling mettle with his memoirs. But in Killing Time he has refined his unique voice with this wildly entertaining suite of tales, anecdotes, observations and reflections that can have you laughing out loud on one page and moved to tears on the next. It is all here, the joys and fears of parenthood, the search for your sense of place, fortune-tellers, the loss of beloved pets, bad golf, ghosts, backstage stories, celebrities, the homeless, and the wonder of being alive, all told with searing honesty. What sets Barnes's writing above the rest is that it comes from an authentic and soulful place. His work cannot help but ring true, like the strike of a tuning fork.

- MATT CONDON Jimmy Barnes is never a bystander. Stories happen to him. He not only remembers every circumstance, he has the ability to distil the moment in a way that's both poetic and uncontrived. He's funny, chaotic, insightful and heartbreaking. Jimmy is truly a natural-born storyteller. It's like writing has just been waiting for him to arrive. And now, he's here.

- MANDY NOLAN

'When I discovered Elizabeth von Arnim, I found, for the first time, a writer who wrote about being happy.' Elizabeth von Arnim is one of the early 20th century's most famous - and forgotten -authors. Born in Sydney in the mid 1800s, she went on to write many internationally bestselling novels, marry a Prussian Count and then an English Lord, nurture close friendships with H.G. Wells and E.M. Forster and raise five children. Her novels were ahead of their time in their representation of women and their pursuit of happiness. Intrigued by von Arnim's extraordinary life and vibrant career, Gabrielle Carey sets off on a literary and philosophical journey to know more about this talented author. From the Prime Minister's Literary Award winner of Moving Among Strangers, Only Happiness Here is part biography, part memoir and part reflection on human nature's obsession with finding joy.

At the height of his powers in this remarkable (and often witty) book, Robert Dessaix addresses these increasingly urgent questions in inimitable prose and comes up with some surprising answers. From Java to Hobart via Berlin, Dessaix invites us to eavesdrop on his intimate, no-nonsense conversations about ageing with friends and chance acquaintances.

Reflecting on time, religion, painting, dancing and even grandchildren, Dessaix takes us on an enlivening journey across the landscape of growing older. Riffing on writers and thinkers from Plato to Eva Hoffman, he homes in on the crucial importance of a rich inner life.

The Time of Our Lives is a wise and timely exploration of not just the challenges but also the many possibilities of old age.

As the owner of a successful events company, throwing away huge volumes of leftover food at the end of the day came with the territory. But when Ronni Kahn hit midlife, she found herself no longer able to turn a blind eye to her food waste problem. Hand delivering the untouched food to homeless shelters around Sydney became her renegade solution. Little did she know that fixing her small problem at work would lead her to unlock a hidden purpose at the very core of her inner life.

Now founder and CEO of the food rescue organisation OzHarvest, Ronni leads hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers with the goal to nourish Australia. She serves in an advisory capacity to government and is an instrumental leader in changing federal laws to improve social justice and environmental policies.

A Repurposed Life is the story of how Ronni found her voice, her heart and her deepest calling. From her early years growing up under the brutal system of apartheid South Africa, to a socialist commune in Israel, Ronni finally settled in Australia to discover a profound new way of living. Shared with the humour, warmth and energy that have made her an internationally renowned keynote speaker, this heartfelt exploration of the choices that define us will speak to anyone seeking a more passionate expression of being alive.

Blazing her trail at the dawn of the twentieth century, Vida Goldstein remains Australia's most celebrated crusader for the rights of women. Her life - as a campaigner for the suffrage in Australia, Britain and America, an advocate for peace, a fighter for social equality and a shrewd political commentator - marks her as one of Australia's foremost women of courage and principle.

Vida first came to national prominence as the first woman in the Western world to stand for a national Parliament, in Victoria, for the Senate, in 1903. As a fighter for equal rights for women, and as a champion of social justice, she quickly established a pattern of working quietly against men's control of Australian society. Her work for the peace movement and against conscription during the heightened emotions of the First World War showed her determination to defy governments in the name of fairness and equity.

Vida came to adulthood when Australia was in the process of inventing itself as a new nation, one in which women might have opportunities equal to those of men. Her work for her own sex, especially her battles for equality in politics, illuminated issues that persist to this day.

Jacqueline Kent has written acclaimed biographies of Julia Gillard, pianist and social activist Hephzibah Menuhin, and pioneer book editor Beatrice Davis.

'McAllister's triumphant story.' Benjamin Law 'A ripping memoir.' Jane Turner From the backblocks of Perth to international stardom, this is a story of courage to fight against the odds for your passion and succeed.

David McAllister has always belonged onstage. As the middle child in a Catholic family who knew nothing about dance, he watched himself twirl in the reflective glass of the TV and dreamed about becoming the next Rudolf Nureyev. As a little boy taking ballet lessons, he was mercilessly bullied. As a young man joining the ranks of The Australian Ballet, he worried that he would never play the prince because he lacked the height and lean limbs of a classical dancer. Every time he heard 'no', he simply did what he loved - danced.

Sure enough, curtains rose for the unlikely prince: he represented Australia on the world stage; he became a principal dancer and performed his dream roles; he fell in love, onstage and off; and he enjoyed a twenty-year tenure as artistic director of The Australian Ballet, transforming it into one of the top flagship dance companies in the world.

Fifty years since he stepped into his first ballet class, McAllister reflects on his dance journey, his relationships, embracing his sexuality, and the combination of talent, timing and sheer perseverance that gave rise to his transformative career.

Includes 16 pages of colour photos from McAllister's life and career.

'This book so beautifully evokes the power of places in shaping our consciousness and perception...

As readers of Alex Miller, we feel ourselves to be in the presence of a great heart and a penetrating sensibility, and in the thrall of one of our nation's most beloved writers.' Tom Griffiths, Emeritus Professor of History, ANU 'Max tells of Alex Miller's search -- in turns fearful and elated -- for the elusive past of Max Blatt, a man he loves, who loved him and who taught him that he must write with love. Miller discovers that he is also searching for a defining part of himself, formed by his relation to Max Blatt, but whose significance will remain obscure until he finds Max, complete, in his history. With Max, Miller the novelist has written a wonderful work of non-fiction, as fine as the best of his novels. Always a truth-seeker, he has rendered himself vulnerable, unprotected by the liberties permitted to fiction. Max is perhaps his most moving book, a poignant expression of piety, true to his mentor's injunction to write with love.' Raimond Gaita, award-winning author of Romulus, My Father I began to see that whatever I might write about Max, discover about him, piece together with those old shards of memory, it would be his influence on the friendships of the living that would frame his story in the present.

According to your 1939 Gestapo file, you adopted the cover names Landau and Maxim. The name your mother and father gave you was Moses. We knew you as Max. You had worked in secret. From an early age you concealed yourself - like the grey box beetle in the final country of your exile, maturing on its journey out of sight beneath the bark of the tree.

You risked death every day. And when at last the struggle became hopeless, you escaped the hell and found a haven in China first, and then Australia, where you became one of those refugees who, in their final place of exile, chose not death but silence and obscurity.

Alex Miller followed the faint trail of Max Blatt's early life for five years. Max's story unfolded, slowly at first, from the Melbourne Holocaust Centre's records then to Berlin's Federal Archives. From Berlin, Miller travelled to Max's old home town of Wroclaw in Poland. And finally in Israel with Max's niece, Liat Shoham, and her brother Yossi Blatt, at Liat's home in the moshav Shadmot Dvora in the Lower Galilee, the circle of friendship was closed and the mystery of Max's legendary silence was unmasked.

Max is an astonishing and moving tribute to friendship, a meditation on memory itself, and a reminder to the reader that history belongs to humanity.

'A wonderful book. It is a story that needs to be heard.' Jay Winter, Charles J. Stille Professor of History, Yale University

'I am sometimes identified as one of the success stories of the policies of removal of Aboriginal children. But for much of my childhood I was deeply unhappy. I feel I had been deprived of love and the ability to love in return. Like Lily, my mother, I felt totally powerless. And I think this is where the seeds of my commitment to human rights and social justice were sown.' - Lowitja O'Donoghue Lowitja O'Donoghue is a truly great Australian. She is arguably our nation's most recognised Indigenous woman. A powerful and unrelenting advocate for her people, an inspiration for many, a former Australian of the Year, she sat opposite Prime Minister Paul Keating in the first negotiations between an Australian government and Aboriginal people and changed the course of the nation.

But when Lowitja was born in 1932 to an Aboriginal mother and a white father in the harsh and uncompromising landscape of Central Australia the expectations for her life could not have been more different. At the age of two, she was handed over to the missionaries of the Colebrook Home for Half-Caste Children and cut off completely from her people and her culture. She would not see her mother again for another thirty years and would have no memory of her father.

In 2001 a bitter controversy arose over whether Lowitja was 'stolen' as a child. In search of a past she did not remember, Lowitja went back to Central Australia accompanied by journalist Stuart Rintoul. This ground-breaking and long-awaited biography completes that journey into Lowitja's life and the challenging history of her times. It is a remarkable work about an extraordinary woman.

'A remarkable Australian leader. A leader whose unfailing instinct for enlargement marks her out as unique.' - Paul Keating, Prime Minister of Australia 1991-96 'If there is one woman that you would identify as being someone that inspires you, that terrifies you, that is a symbol of possibility, it would be Lowitja. The dignity, I think, is the thing that you remember the most.' - Linda Burney, first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives 'The greatest Aboriginal leader of the modern era . . . the rock who steadied us in the storm. Resolute, scolding, warm and generous, courageous, steely, gracious and fair. She held the hardest leadership brief in the nation and performed it bravely and with distinction.' - Noel Pearson, Aboriginal leader 'She changed the course of Australian history. She literally seized the day.' - Robert Tickner, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs 1990-96

We turn to Machiavelli at every tumultuous period in history - he is the one who knows how to philsophise in dark times. In fact, since his death in 1527, we have never stopped reading him, always to pull ourselves out of a torpor. But what do we really know about this man? Is there more to his work than that term for political evil, Machiavellianism?

It was Machiavelli's luck to be disappointed by every statesman he encountered - that was why he had to create his paper Prince. Today, the question that remains is not why he wrote, but for whom - for princes or for those who want to resist them? What is the art of governing? Is it to take power, or to keep it?

In this timely book, Patrick Boucheron undoes many of our assumptions about Machiavelli, showing how his rich, complex thought is key to understanding his time, and may be crucial to interrogating our own.

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Irreverently funny ... kept me giggling all week.' - Scotland on Sunday Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?

Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms.

Unfortunately, Shaun also has to contend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices.

A voyage of discovery, nature and untold histories - in the vein of Clare Wright, Edmund de Waal and Helen Macdonald.

When the first woman to circumnavigate the world completed her journey in 1775, she returned home without any fanfare at all.

Jeanne Barret, an impoverished peasant from Burgundy, disguised herself as a man and sailed on the 1766 Bougainville voyage as the naturalist's assistant. For over two centuries, the story of who this young woman was, why she left her home to undertake such a perilous journey and what happened when she returned has been shrouded in uncertainty.

Biologist and award-winning author Danielle Clode embarks on a journey to solve the mysteries surrounding Jeanne Barret. From archives, herbariums and museums to untouched forests and open oceans, Clode's mission takes her from France and Mauritius to the Pacific Islands and New Guinea to reveal the previously untold full story of Jeanne's life as well as the achievements and challenges of her famous voyage.

This book is an ode to the sea, to science and to one remarkable woman who, like all explorers, charted her own course for others to follow.

PRAISE FOR IN SEARCH OF THE WOMAN SAILED THE WORLD 'Clode conjures a spellbinding tale of gender, empire, natural history - and the lure of the ocean.' Yves Rees 'Seamlessly weaving together memoir, history and science ... a fascinating and deeply affecting exploration of voyaging, women's lives, and the stories we tell and the stories we don't.' James Bradley 'Biologist, historian, writer, Clode once again demonstrates the connectedness of everything - animals, land, people, plants, sea, sky - at a time when, more than ever, we should be acutely aware of it.' Gay Lynch 'A joy to read, simple yet elegant, it whispers in your ear like the sea murmuring from within a shell.' Kristin Weidenbach 'Danielle Clode unties the knots of myth and weaves a fascinating story of discovery; Jeanne Barret is one of history's most enigmatic explorers.' Nick Brodie 'Clode brings a scientific rigour and a celebration of natural history to the biography of this important woman.' Stephanie Parkyn

At the time of his death at the age of 95, Eric Hobsbawm (1917-2012) was the most famous historian in the world. His books were translated into more than fifty languages and he was as well known in Brazil and Italy as he was in Britain and the United States. His writings have had a huge and lasting effect on the practice of history. More than half a century after it appeared, his books remain a staple of university reading lists.

He had an extraordinarily long life, with interests covering many countries and many cultures, ranging from poetry to jazz, literature to politics. He experienced life not only as a university teacher but also as a young Communist in the Weimar Republic, a radical student at Cambridge, a political activist, an army conscript, a Soho 'man about town', a Hampstead intellectual, a Cambridge don, an influential journalist, a world traveller, and finally a Grand Old Man of Letters.

In A Life in History, Richard Evans tells the story of Hobsbawm as an academic, but also as witness to history itself, and of the twentieth century's major political and intellectual currents. Eric not only wrote and spoke about many of the great issues of his time, but participated in many of them too, from Communist resistance to Hitler to revolution in Cuba, where he acted as an interpreter for Che Guevara. He was a prominent part of the Jazz scene in Soho in the late 1950s and his writings played a pivotal role in the emergence of New Labour in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

This, the first biography of Eric Hobsbawm, is far more than a study of a professional historian. It is a study of an era.

'A dazzling tour de force' THE TIMES 'Does justice to Freud's pitiless genius as an artist' DAILY MAIL 'You can hear Freud's voice on the page' OBSERVER 'Mesmerising ... the ideal companion to Freud's work' GUARDIAN William Feaver, Lucian Freud's collaborator, curator and close friend, knew the unknowable artist better than most. Over many years, Freud narrated to him the story of his life, 'our novel'.

Fame follows Freud at the height of his powers, painting the most iconic works of his career in a constant and dissatisfied pursuit of perfection, just outrunning his gambling debts and tailor's bills. Whether tattooing swallows at the base of Kate Moss's back or exacting a strange and horrible revenge on Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, Freud's adventures were always perfectly characteristic. An enfant terrible till the end, even as he was commissioned to paint the Queen and attended his own retrospectives, what emerges is an artist wilfully oblivious to the glitter of the world around - and focussed instead on painting first and last.

The Windsor Diaries are the never-before-seen diaries of Alathea Fitzalan Howard, who lived alongside the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret at Windsor Castle during the Second World War.

Alathea's home life was an unhappy one. Her parents had separated and so during the war she was sent to live with her grandfather, Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent, at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park. There Alathea found the affection and harmony she craved as she became a close friend of the two princesses, visiting them often at Windsor Castle, enjoying parties, balls, cinema evenings, picnics and celebrations with the Royal Family and other members of the Court.

Alathea's diary became her constant companion during these years as day by day she recorded every intimate detail of life with the young Princesses, often with their governess Crawfie, or with the King and Queen.

Written from the ages of sixteen to twenty-two, she captures the tight-knit, happy bonds between the Royal Family, as well as the aspirations and anxieties, sometimes extreme, of her own teenage mind.

These unique diaries give us a bird's eye view of Royal wartime life with all of Alathea's honest, yet affectionate judgments and observations - as well as a candid and vivid portrait of the young Princess Elizabeth, known to Alathea as 'Lilibet', a warm, self-contained girl, already falling for her handsome prince Philip, and facing her ultimate destiny: the Crown.

Lee Child is the enigmatic powerhouse behind the bestselling Jack Reacher novels. With millions of devoted fans across the globe, and over a hundred million copies of his books sold in more than forty languages, he is that rarity, a writer who is lauded by critics and revered by readers. And yet curiously little has been written about the man himself.

The Reacher Guy is a compelling and authoritative portrait of the artist as a young man, refracted through the life of his fictional avatar, Jack Reacher. Through parallels drawn between Child and his literary creation, it tells the story of how a boy from Birmingham with a ferocious appetite for reading grew up to become a high-flying TV executive, before coming full circle and establishing himself as the strongest brand in publishing.

Heather Martin explores Child's lifelong fascination with America, and shows how the Reacher novels fed and fuelled this obsession, shedding light on the opaque process of publishing a novel along the way. Drawing on her conversations and correspondence with Child over a number of years, as well as interviews with his friends, teachers and colleagues, she forensically pieces together his life, traversing back through the generations to Northern Ireland and County Durham, and following the trajectory of his extraordinary career via New York and Hollywood until the climactic moment when, in 2020, having written a continuous series of twenty-four books, he finally breaks free of his fictional creation.

Women have a long history of keeping the lights burning, from tending ancient altar flames or bonfires to modern-day lighthouse keeping. Yet most of their stories are little-known. Guiding Lights includes true stories from around the world, chronicling the lives of the extraordinary women who mind the world's storm-battered towers.

From Hannah Sutton and her partner Grant, the two caretakers living alone on Tasmania's wild Maatsuyker Island, to Karen Zacharuk, the keeper in charge of Cape Beale on Canada's Vancouver Island, where bears, cougars and wolves roam, the lives of lighthouse women are not for the faint of heart. Stunning photographs from throughout history accompany accounts of the dramatic torching of Puysegur Point, one of NZ's most inhospitable lighthouses; 'haunted' lighthouses in across the US and their tragic tales; lighthouse accidents and emergencies around the world; and two of the world's most legendary lighthouse women: Ida Lewis (US) and Grace Darling (UK), who risked their lives to save others.

The book also explores our dual perception of lighthouses: are they comforting and romantic beacons symbolising hope and trust, or storm-lashed and forbidding towers with echoes of lonely, mad keepers? Whatever our perception, stories of women's courage and dedication in minding the lights - then and now - continue to capture our imagination and inspire.

The first book in twenty-five years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy.

Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub Catch a Rising Star as a twenty-one-year-old student in autumn of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. Whenever I came up with a funny bit, whether it happened on a stage, in a conversation, or working it out on my preferred canvas - the big yellow legal pad - I kept it in one of those old-school accordion folders, Seinfeld writes. So I have everything I thought was worth saving from forty-five years of hacking away at this for all I was worth.

For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favourite material, organised decade by decade. In page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiving art of writing stand-up comedy.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE A PICK OF THE AUTUMN IN THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER AND THE GUARDIAN 'A page-turner with the authority of history' PHILIPPA GREGORY 'As gripping as a novel. An engaging, unsettling, deeply satisfying read' SARAH WATERS 'An empathetic, meticulous account of a spiritual unravelling; a tribute to the astonishing power of the human mind - but also a properly absorbing, baffling, satisfying detective story' AIDA EDEMARIAM London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home.

Nandor Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical research - begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed.

With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting.

An acclaimed biography that recreates the cosmopolitan world in which a wine merchant's son became one of the most celebrated of all English writers Geoffrey Chaucer is often called the father of English literature, but this acclaimed biography reveals him as a great European writer and thinker. Uncovering important new information about Chaucer

Marie Younan was born in 1952 into a family of Assyrian refugees living in north-eastern Syria. Accidentally blinded by her grandmother as a baby, Marie was the quiet, ever-present listener within her large extended family. Locked out of school, play, and social gatherings, she lived a brave inner life of reflection and acceptance.

The family migrated to Beirut, and then, in the mid-seventies, to Melbourne, Australia to escape the Lebanese civil war. Being blind, Marie was denied a visa, and was forced to wait in Syria and Athens for three years before the family could sponsor her to Australia. Unable to speak English, dependent for everything on her family, Marie, in her words, was 'only half alive'. Then, in 1985, aged 33, she attended the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. There she became fluent in English, literate in braille, and physically mobile with the help of a cane. Educated, independent, and professionally qualified at last, her life began to take off.

'A story, raw with reality, full of love and hope, where the stream of resilience runs clear. We share the life of someone for whom blindness is not the insurmountable barrier many believe it to be. What most holds Marie back is the soft bigotry of low expectations. It is hard to put this book down.' -Graeme Innes AM 'Huge-hearted and inspiring. A book that literally makes us see the world in new ways.' -Chloe Hooper 'A tale of dispossession, displacement, and remarkable resilience. Epic in scope, but always grounded in the domestic, it chronicles one woman's struggle to live a fulfilling life, despite her blindness and lack of education. Marie Younan is an engaging storyteller- intimate, warm, direct, and honest. In Jill Sanguinetti she has a skilful writer who has worked with her to create a rich tapestry, interweaving ancient and contemporary Assyrian history and a vast gallery of family characters, teachers, friends, and support workers who have taken part in her journey.' -Arnold Zable

It is impossible to understand the last 75 years of British and American history without understanding the Anglo-American relationship, and specifically the bonds between presidents and prime ministers. FDR of course had Churchill; JFK famously had Macmillan, his consigliere during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Reagan found his ideological soul mate in Thatcher, and George W. Bush found his fellow believer, in religion and in war, in Tony Blair.

In a series of shrewd and absorbing character studies, Ian Buruma takes the reader on a journey through the special relationship via the fateful bonds between president and prime minister. It's never been a relationship of equals: from Churchill's desperate cajoling and conniving to keep FDR on side, British prime ministers have put much more stock in the relationship than their US counterparts did. For Britain, resigned to the loss of its once-great empire, its close kinship to the world's greatest superpower would give it continued relevance, and serve as leverage to keep continental Europe in its place. As Buruma shows, this was almost always fool's gold.

And now, as the links between the Brexit vote and the 2016 US election are coming into sharper focus, it is impossible to understand the populist uprising in either country without reference to Trump and Boris Johnson, though ironically, they are also the key, Buruma argues, to understanding the special relationship's demise.

A free-ranging survey of the huge impact that the domesticated ungulates of the genus Ovis have had on human history.

'This book deserves a place in your bookcase next to Harari's Sapiens . It's every bit as fascinating and is surely destined to be just as successful' Julian Norton An addictively free-ranging survey of the massive impact that the domesticated ungulates of the genus Ovis have had on human history. From the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the rolling hills of medieval England to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story. Starting with our Neolithic ancestors' first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 10,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and languages, helped us to win wars, decorated our homes, and financed the conquest of large swathes of the earth. Enormous fortunes and new, society-changing industries have been made from the fleeces of sheep, and cities shaped by shepherds' markets and meat trading. Sally Coulthard weaves the rich and fascinating story of sheep into a vivid and colourful tapestry, thickly threaded with engaging anecdotes and remarkable ovine facts, whose multiple strands reflect the deep penetration of these woolly animals into every aspect of human society and culture. REVIEWS:

'Sally Coulthard's story of how sheep shaped the human story is full of rich pickings ... She weaves together a detailed story that is full of fascinating social history' Independent 'This is such a great book: I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in history or sheep - or simply a passion for reading captivating and high-quality prose. It's extremely well researched and written in a very engaging style. It trumped my Clive James memoir, which I put to one side. I read A Short History of the World According to Sheep within two days. (And that's impressive for me. It usually takes me weeks to finish a book.) You'd never imagine the role sheep have played across the centuries: from the egregious rampaging of Genghis Khan to the success of the Medici dynasty during the Renaissance to the Scottish Highland Clearances of the eighteenth century. The trade in their wool has financed wars; lanolin from their fleeces has fuelled the huge industry in beauty products, and ovine intestines even had a hand in controlling both birth rates and the spread of syphilis. And that's before we get onto jumpers. Or cheese...' Julian Norton, the Yorkshire Vet

Cecil Rhodes and Shaquille O'Neal; Mozart and Peter Sellers; Duke Ellington and the Duke of Wellington; Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling. These Masons, and many others, people the pages of The Craft, but even more compelling is the overarching narrative of Freemasonry itself. As a set of character-forming ideals, and a way of binding men in fellowship, it proved so addictive that within a few decades of its foundation in London in 1717 it had spread as far as India, Australia, South Africa and the Caribbean.

Under George Washington, the Craft became a creed for the new American nation; Masonic networks held the British empire together; under Napoleon, the Craft became a tool of authoritarianism and then a cover for revolutionary conspiracy. The Mormons borrowed their rituals from the Craft. The Sicilian mafia stole the Masonic organizational model.

Amid all this strange diversity, Masonry's core rituals and values have remained unchanged, inspiring both loyalty and suspicion. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, Freemasonry has always been a secret den of atheists and devil-worshippers: all Masons have been excommunicated since 1738. For Hitler, Mussolini and Franco the Lodges spread the diseases of pacifism, socialism and Jewish influence, so had to be crushed.

Professor Dickie's The Craft is an enthralling exploration of a movement that not only helped to forge modern society, but still has substantial contemporary influence. With 400,000 members in Britain, over a million in the USA, and around six million across the world, understanding the role of Freemasonry is as important now as it has ever been.

A New Statesman, Financial Times and Economist Book of the Year 'Brilliant' NEW STATESMAN, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'Enlightening and a good read' SPECTATOR 'Moving and perceptive' NEW STATESMAN Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Ceausescu, Mengistu of Ethiopia and Duvalier of Haiti.

No dictator can rule through fear and violence alone. Naked power can be grabbed and held temporarily, but it never suffices in the long term. A tyrant who can compel his own people to acclaim him will last longer. The paradox of the modern dictator is that he must create the illusion of popular support. Throughout the twentieth century, hundreds of millions of people were condemned to enthusiasm, obliged to hail their leaders even as they were herded down the road to serfdom.

In How to Be a Dictator, Frank Dikoetter returns to eight of the most chillingly effective personality cults of the twentieth century. From carefully choreographed parades to the deliberate cultivation of a shroud of mystery through iron censorship, these dictators ceaselessly worked on their own image and encouraged the population at large to glorify them. At a time when democracy is in retreat, are we seeing a revival of the same techniques among some of today's world leaders?

This timely study, told with great narrative verve, examines how a cult takes hold, grows, and sustains itself. It places the cult of personality where it belongs, at the very heart of tyranny.

A VIVID PORTRAIT OF WOMEN'S LIVES DURING THE GOLDEN AGE OF TRANSATLANTIC TRAVEL Before convenient air travel, transatlantic travel was the province of the great ocean liners and never more so than in the glory days of the interwar years. It was an extraordinary undertaking made by many women. Some travelled for leisure, some for work; others to find a new life, marriage, to reinvent themselves or find new opportunities. Their stories have remained largely untold - until now.

Maiden Voyages is a fascinating portrait of these women, and their lives on board magnificent ocean liners as they sailed between the old and the new worlds. The ocean liner was a microcosm of contemporary society, divided by class: from the luxury of the upper deck, playground for the rich and famous, to the cramped conditions of steerage or third class travel. These iconic liners were filled with women of all ages, classes and backgrounds: celebrities and refugees, migrants and millionairesses, aristocrats and crew members.

Full of incredible gossip, stories and intrigue, Maiden Voyages has a diverse cast of inspiring women - from A-listers like Josephine Baker, a dancer from St Louis who found fame in Paris, Marlene Dietrich and Wallis Simpson, Violet 'the unsinkable' Jessop, a crew member who survived the sinking of the Titanic, and entrepreneur Sibyl Colefax, a pioneering interior designer.

Whichever direction they were travelling, whatever hopes they entertained, they were all under the spell of life at sea, a spell which would only break when they went ashore. Maiden Voyages is a compelling and highly entertaining account of life on board: part dream factory, part place of work, independence and escape - always moving.

You know about MI5.

You know about MI6.

Now uncover the story behind Britain's most secretive intelligence agency in the first-ever authorised history of GCHQ.

Coming October 2020.

"A remarkable, authentic and chilling expose of a global conspiracy that reads like a first-rate conspiracy thriller - a book of gripping, compulsive and disturbing impact." - William Boyd


Dark Mirror is the ultimate inside account of the vast, global surveillance network that now pervades all our lives.

Barton Gellman's informant called himself 'Verax', the truth-teller. It was only later that Verax unmasked himself as Edward Snowden.

Gellman's primary role in bringing Snowden's revelations to light - for which he shared the Pulitzer Prize - is only the beginning of this gripping, real-life spy story.

Snowden unlocked the door; here Gellman describes what he found on the other side over the course of his lengthy investigation. It is also the story of his own escalating battle against unknown digital adversaries after he discovered his own name on a file in the NSA document trove and realised he was also under attack.

Through a gripping narrative of paranoia, clandestine operations and jaw-dropping revelations, Dark Mirror delineates in full for the first time the hidden superstructure that connects government espionage with Silicon Valley... and the most powerful corporation whose name you've never heard.

Who is spying on us and why? Here are the answers!

The German Revolution of November 1918 is nowadays largely forgotten outside Germany. It is generally regarded as a failure even by those who have heard of it, a missed opportunity which paved the way for the rise of the Nazis and the catastrophe to come. Robert Gerwarth argues here that to view the German Revolution in this way is a serious misjudgement. Not only did it bring down the authoritarian monarchy of the Hohenzollern, it also brought into being the first ever German democracy in an amazingly bloodless way. Focusing on the dramatic events between the last months of the First World War in 1918 and Hitler's Munich Putsch of 1923, Robert Gerwarth illuminates the fundamental and deep-seated ways in which the November Revolution changed Germany. In doing so, he reminds us that, while it is easy with the benefit of hindsight to write off the 1918 Revolution as a 'failure', this failure was not somehow pre-ordained. In 1918, the fate of the German Revolution remained very much an open book.

The assassination of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170 is one of the most famous events in European history. It inspired the largest pilgrim site in medieval Europe and many works of literature from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral and Anouilh's Becket.

In a brilliant piece of historical detective work, Christopher de Hamel here identifies the Anglo-Saxon Psalter which Becket cherished throughout his time as Archbishop of Canterbury and which he may well have been holding when he was murdered.

Beautifully illustrated and timed to coincide with the 850th anniversary of the death of Thomas Becket, this is an exciting rediscovery of one of the most evocative artefacts of medieval England, and the only surviving relic from Becket's shrine.

Australians have always loved to step out in nature, whether off-track or along a marked route. Bushwalking - an organised long-distance walk in rugged terrain that requires maps and camping equipment, or a family day out - is one of our most popular pastimes. This landmark book, now updated, was the first to delve into its rich and sometimes quirky history.

From the earliest days of European settlement, colonists found pleasure in leisurely strolls through the bush, collecting flowers, sketching, bird watching and picnicking. Yet over time, walking for the sake of walking became the dominant motive. Walking clubs proliferated, railways organised mystery hikes attended by thousands, and Paddy Pallin established his equipment business. Bushwalking - serious walking - was invented.

Whether you are inclined to put on your walking boots and pack your sleeping bag, or would rather stay in a luxury hut, this surefooted and witty book reveals how the ordinary act of walking can become extraordinary.

'As stimulating to the mind as a good walk in the bush.' - Bill Garner 'An absorbing exploration of the story of bushwalking in Australia. It's a well researched history, not just of walking, but of our changing relationship to the natural environment, of coming to know its unique beauty and its power to both inspire and restore the body and spirit. A compelling read for anyone who loves the Australian bush.' - Patti Miller '...a splendid social history, one so entertaining and revealing that you wonder why it hasn't been done before.' - Amanda Lohrey 'Slip this book in your swag - and step into adventure.' - Tom Griffiths

Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely in history have scientific secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the midst of planning the Manhattan Project, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services created a secret offshoot - the Alsos Mission - meant to gather intelligence on and sabotage if necessary, scientific research by the Axis powers. What resulted was a plot worthy of the finest thriller, full of spies, sabotage, and murder. At its heart was the 'Lightning A' team, a group of intrepid soldiers, scientists, and spies - and even a famed baseball player - who were given almost free rein to get themselves embedded within the German scientific community to stop the most terrifying threat of the war: Hitler acquiring an atomic bomb of his very own. While the Manhattan Project and other feats of scientific genius continue to inspire us today, few people know about the international intrigue and double-dealing that accompanied those breakthroughs. BASTARD BRIGADE recounts this forgotten history, fusing a non-fiction spy thriller with some of the most incredible scientific ventures of all time.

Charismatic, intelligent and handsome, George Scott is unlike any other bushranger. Born into a privileged life in famine-wracked Ireland, Scott's family loses its fortune and is forced to flee to New Zealand. There, Scott joins the local militia and fights as a soldier against the Maori in the brutal New Zealand wars.

After recovering from a series of serious gunshot wounds, he sails to Australia and becomes a Lay Preacher, captivating churchgoers with his fiery and inspiring sermons.

But Scott is also prone to bursts of madness. The local villagers back in Ireland often whispered that a 'wild drop' ran in the blood of the Scott family. One night he dons a mask in a small country town, arms himself with a gun and, dubbing himself Captain Moonlite, brazenly robs a bank before staging one of the country's most audacious jailbreaks.

After falling in love with fellow prisoner James Nesbitt, a boyish petty criminal desperately searching for a father figure, Scott finds himself unable to shrug off his criminal past.

Pursued and harassed by the police, he stages a dramatic siege and prepares for a final showdown with the law - and a macabre executioner without a nose.

Meticulously researched and drawing on previously unpublished material, Moonlite is a brilliant work of non-fiction that reads like a novel.

Told at a cracking pace, and based on many of the extensive letters Scott wrote from his death cell, Moonlite is set amid the violent and sexually-repressed era of Australia in the second half of the 19th century.

With a cast of remarkable characters, it weaves together the extraordinary lives of our bushrangers and the desperation of a young nation eager to remove the stains of its convict past.

But most of all, Moonlite is a tragic love story.

For these are the dying days of the bushrangers and Captain Moonlite is about to make his last stand.

In the quiet Cotswolds village of Great Rollright in 1945, an elegant housewife emerged from her cottage to go on her usual bike ride. A devoted wife and mother-of-three, Mrs Burton seemed to epitomise rural British domesticity.

However, rather than pedalling towards the shops with her ration book, she was racing through the Oxfordshire countryside to gather scientific intelligence from one of the country's most brilliant nuclear physicists. Secrets that she would transmit to Soviet intelligence headquarters via the radio transmitter she was hiding in her outdoor privy.

Far from a British housewife, Mrs Burton - born Ursula Kuczynski, and codenamed 'Sonya' - was a German Jew, a dedicated communist, a colonel in Russia's Red Army, and a highly-trained spy. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, and helping the Soviet Union build the atom bomb, Sonya conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century. Her story has never been told - until now.

Agent Sonya is the exhilarating account of one woman's life; a life that encompasses the rise and fall of communism itself, and altered the course of history.

In The Sum of Our Dreams, Louis P. Masur offers a sweeping yet compact history of America from its beginnings to the current moment. For general readers seeking an accessible, single-volume account, one that challenges but does not overwhelm, and which distills and connects the major events and figures in the country's past in a single narrative, here is that book. Evoking Barack Obama's belief that America remains the sum of its dreams, Masur locates the origin of those dreams-of freedom, equality, and opportunity-and traces their progress chronologically, illuminating the nation's struggle over time to articulate and fulfill their promise. Moving from the Colonial Era, to the Revolutionary Period, the Early Republic, and through the Civil War, Masur turns his attention to Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Age, World War One, the Great Depression, World War Two, the Cold War, Civil Rights, Vietnam, and Watergate, and then laying out clearly and concisely what underlies the divisiveness that has characterized American civic life over the last forty years-and now more than ever. Above all, however, Masur lets the story of American tell itself. Inspired by James Baldwin's observation that American history is longer, larger, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it, he expands our notion of that history while identifying its individual threads. The Sum of Our Dreams will be the new go-to single volume for anyone wanting a foundational understanding of the nation's past, and its present.

For centuries the beguiling ancient ruins of Egypt have provided an endless source of fascination for explorers, antiquarians, treasure hunters and archaeologists. All, from the very earliest travellers, were entranced by the beauty and majesty of the landscape: the remains of tombs cut into the natural rock of hillsides and the temples and cities gently consumed by drift sand. These early adventurers were gripped by the urge to capture what they had seen in writings, sketches, paintings and photographs.

While it was always the scholars - the Egyptologists - who were in charge, they depended on architects, artists, engineers and photographers. Yet when we think of Petrie, we think of Sir William Matthew Flinders, not of his wife Hilda. Only through reading their diaries and letters has it come to be realized how important she and other partners were. Similarly the role played by Egyptian workers, digging on archaeological projects and maintaining relations with the local landowners, is only just coming to be appreciated.

Egyptologists' Notebooks brings together the work - reproduced in its original form - of the many people who contributed to our understanding of ancient Egypt, offering a glimpse into a very different history of Egyptology. They evoke a rich sense of time and place, transporting us back to a great age of discovery.

It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable explosive power. In a matter of months, the Hanford nuclear facility was built to produce and weaponize the enigmatic and deadly new material that would fuel atomic bombs. In the desert of eastern Washington State, far from prying eyes, scientists Glenn Seaborg, Enrico Fermi, and many thousands of others-the physicists, engineers, laborers, and support staff at the facility-manufactured plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and for the bombs in the current American nuclear arsenal, enabling the construction of weapons with the potential to end human civilization.

With his characteristic blend of scientific clarity and storytelling, Steve Olson asks why Hanford has been largely overlooked in histories of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Olson, who grew up just twenty miles from Hanford's B Reactor, recounts how a small Washington town played host to some of the most influential scientists and engineers in American history as they sought to create the substance at the core of the most destructive weapons ever created. The Apocalypse Factory offers a new generation this dramatic story of human achievement and, ultimately, of lethal hubris.

Just after midnight on 1 March 1942, Australia's most renowned cruiser, HMAS Perth, was sunk by Japanese naval forces in the Sunda Strait off the coast of Java. Of the 681 men aboard, 328 survived the sinking and made it to shore-and one cat. Her name was Red Lead, and she was the ship's cat, beloved by the crew and by the Perth's legendary captain Hector Waller.

But surviving shellfire, torpedoes and the fierce currents of the Sunda Strait was only the beginning of the terrible trials Red Lead and the surviving crew were to face over the next three-and-a-half years. From Java to Changi and then on the Thai-Burma Railway, Red Lead was to act as a companion, mascot and occasional protector for a small group of sailors who made it their mission to keep her alive in some of the most hellish prison camps on earth.

Red Lead's extraordinary story, of courage, loyalty and love amidst battle, imprisonment and death, is brought vividly to life by bestselling author Roland Perry.

'Superbly researched and enormously entertaining... One of the outstanding books of the year' The Times An epic story of empire-building and bloody conflict, this ground-breaking biography of one of history's most venerated military and religious heroes opens a window on the Islamic and Christian worlds' complex relationship.

WINNER OF THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE When Saladin recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, returning the Holy City to Islamic rule, he sent shockwaves throughout Christian Europe and the Muslim Near East that reverberate today.

It was the culmination of a supremely exciting life. Born into a significant Kurdish family in northern Iraq, this warrior and diplomat fought under the banner of jihad, but at the same time worked tirelessly to build an empire that stretched from North Africa to Western Iraq. Gathering together a turbulent coalition, he was able to capture Jerusalem, only to trigger the Third Crusade and face his greatest adversary, King Richard the Lionheart.

Drawing on a rich blend of Arabic and European sources, this is a comprehensive account of both the man and the legend to which he gave birth, describing vividly the relentless action of his life and tracing its aftermath through culture and politics all the way to the present day.

'An authoritative and brilliantly told account of the life of one of the world's greatest - and most famous - military leaders' Peter Frankopan

No symbol better conveys the intrepid spirit of Australia than the flying kangaroo. Whether it's glimpsed on a red-eye flight to an interstate business meeting, before leaving for adventure or holidays, or when longing to return home, that sweep of red defines air travel in Australia.

Qantas has always been about connection. It began by connecting Australians across western Queensland's unforgiving terrain, and before long was connecting Australia with the world. Qantas's history is entwined with Australian identity, launching in the aftermath of World War I and the Spanish Flu, and soaring to match Australian ambitions in the one hundred years since. Its centenary year has been the most turbulent year yet, with a pandemic grounding virtually the entire fleet and Qantas coming to the rescue of Australians stranded overseas.

Like Australia, Qantas will soar again. The Flying Kangaroo features never-before-seen photographs and historical detail from Qantas's archives, celebrating a century of Australian aviation and a nation that always reaches for the sky.

In August 2012, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was clinging to power in a vicious civil war. Concerned that Assad might resort to chemical weapons, the international community warned that any such use would cross a red line , warranting a military response. When a year later Assad bombed the Damascus suburb of Ghouta with sarin gas, killing hundreds, global leaders were torn between living up to their word and becoming mired in another unpopular Middle Eastern war. So when Russia offered to store Syria's chemical weapons, the world leaped at the solution.So begins a race to find, remove, and destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons in the middle of Syria's civil war. Told in harrowing detail, the initial effort is a tactical triumph for the West, but soon Russia's long game becomes clear- it has UN cover to assist Assad's regime. Meanwhile, the territory gains of ISIS further destabilise the country, and the terrorist organisation seeks to secure Syria's chemical arsenals for itself, with horrifying consequences.Red Line is a classic Joby Warrick true-life thriller- a character-driven narrative with a cast of heroes and villains, including weapons hunters, politicians, commandos, diplomats, and spies. Through original reporting and eyewitness accounts from direct participants, Joby Warrick reveals how a well-intentioned effort to save Syrian lives became swept up in a calamitous chain of events that would spawn a terrorist movement, unleash torrents of refugees, frustrate two U.S. presidents and empower the Western alliance's most dangerous foes.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Gatekeepers, a remarkable, behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to run the world's most powerful intelligence agency, and how the CIA is often a crucial counterforce against presidents threatening to overstep the powers of their office.

Only 11 men and one woman are alive today who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world's most powerful and influential intelligence service. With unprecedented, deep access to nearly all these individuals, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president, but whose activities - spying, espionage, and covert action - take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a brake on rogue presidents, starting in the mid-seventies with DCI Richard Helms' refusal to conceal Richard Nixon's criminality and continuing recently as the actions of a CIA whistleblower ignited impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.

Since its inception in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has been a powerful player on the world stage, operating largely in the shadows to protect American interests. For The Spymasters, Whipple conducted extensive, exclusive interviews with nearly every living CIA director, pulling back the curtain on the world's elite spy agency and showing how the CIA partners - or clashes - with counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Topics covered in the book include attempts by presidents to use the agency for their own ends; simmering problems in the Middle East and Asia; rogue nuclear threats; and cyberwarfare.

The Spymasters recounts seven decades of CIA activity and elicits predictions about the issues - and threats - that will engage the attention of future operatives and analysts. Including eye-opening interviews with George Tenet, John Brennan, Leon Panetta and David Petraeus, as well as those who've just recently departed the agency, this is a timely, essential and important contribution to current events.

The story of the rise and fall of ancient cities from the end of the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Middle Ages. It is a tale of war and politics, pestilence and famine, triumph and tragedy, by turns both fabulous and squalid. Its focus is on the ancient Mediterranean: Greeks and Romans at the centre, but Phoenicians and Etruscans, Persians, Gauls and Egyptians all play a part. The story begins with the Greek discovery of much more ancient urban civilizations in Egypt and the Near East, and charts the gradual spread of urbanism to the Atlantic and then the North Sea in the centuries that followed.

See the world. Then make it better.'I am 93. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary.

As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity.

I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake - and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right.

We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited.'All we need is the will do so.

In Australia, we are fortunate that so many wild species can be seen without us having to leave our own homes. It might not occur to us just how special it is to look through the window and spot a squadron of jewel-coloured rainbow lorikeets spearing through the air to join their mates in a nearby tree, or to witness the amusing antics of your neighbourhood flock of shrieking, cheeky sulphur-crested cockatoos. We are in danger of taking the animals that live around us for granted, or worse still, of finding them a nuisance and looking for ways to deter them. At Australian Geographic we have long championed the value of the natural world, no matter how far or near that world may be. In this book we revisit many of the stories of the species that we encounter in our daily city lives. Australia is the most urbanised nation on earth and yet we share our built environment with a cavalcade of amazing, fascinating native creatures. We examine some of the issues around our complex relationship with nature, we discover more about those familiar backyard species, and we offer advice on how to encourage wild things into your garden for their benefit, and yours.

A leading palaeontologist discovers the missing link in human evolution.

Somewhere west of Munich, Madelaine B hme and her colleagues dig for clues to the origins of humankind. What they discover is beyond anything they imagined- the fossilised bones of Danuvius guggenmosi ignite a global media frenzy. This ancient ancestor defies our knowledge of human history. His nearly twelve-million-year-old bones were not located in Africa - the so-called birthplace of humanity - but in Europe, and his features suggest we evolved much differently than scientists once believed.

In prose that reads like a gripping detective novel, Ancient Bones interweaves the story of the dig that changed everything with the fascinating answer to a previously undecided and now pressing question- how, exactly, did we become human? Placing B hme's discovery alongside former theories of human evolution, the authors show how this remarkable find (and others in Eurasia) are forcing us to rethink the story we've been told about how we came to be, a story that has been our guiding narrative - until now.

'A very important and readable book.' -Tim Flannery 'An enthralling journey through time and around the world to untangle the complexities of ape and human evolution. Prof. Boehme skilfully intertwines scientific description with the history of fossil discovery and investigation to explain the evolution and biology of our closest relatives. Sometimes controversial but always exciting and engaging, this book is essential reading for those who want to explore alternative perspectives on our origins.' -Sarah Elton, professor of evolutionary anthropology, Durham University 'In pursuit of an intriguing if controversial theory of distant human origins, Madelaine B hme and her colleagues very readably unearth some fascinating history and evoke all the excitement that is inherent in modern paleoanthropological research.' -Ian Tattersall, co-author of The Accidental Homo Sapiens- genetics, behaviour, and free will

'Astrophysics made fun!' Pam Melroy, former astronaut and space shuttle commander 'The most enjoyable stroll through the cosmos' Gerry Griffin, former flight director, Apollo Mission Control We all know the Sun, the powerhouse of our solar system, but what about Luyten's Flare, the Rosino-Zwicky Object or Chanal's variable star? For those whose curiosity takes them far beyond Earth's atmosphere, The Secret Life of Stars offers a personal and readily understood introduction to some of the Galaxy's most remarkable stars.

Each chapter connects us to the various different and unusual stars and their amazing characteristics and attributes, from pulsars, blue stragglers and white dwarfs to cannibal stars and explosive supernovae. With chapter illustrations by Eirian Chapman, this book brings to life the remarkable personalities of these stars, reminding readers what a diverse and unpredictable universe we live in and how fortunate we are to live around a stable star, our Sun.

An icon of the last fifty years, Stephen Hawking seems to encapsulate genius- not since Albert Einstein has a scientific figure held such a position in popular consciousness. In this enthralling memoir, writer and physicist Leonard Mlodinow tells the story of his friend and their friendship, offering an intimate account of this giant of science.

The two met in 2003, when Stephen asked Leonard if he would consider writing a book with him, the follow up to the bestselling A Brief History of Time. As they spent years working on a second book, The Grand Design, they forged a deep connection and Leonard gained a much better understanding of Stephen's daily life and struggles - as well as his compassion and good humour. Together they obsessed over the perfect sentence, debated the physics, and occasionally punted on Cambridge's waterways with champagne and strawberries. In time, Leonard was able to finish Stephen's jokes, chide his sporadic mischief, and learn how the hardships of his illness helped forge that unique perspective on the universe.

By weaving together their shared story with a clear-sighted portrayal of Hawking's scientific achievements, Mlodinow creates a beautiful portrait of Stephen Hawking as a brilliant, impish and generous man whose life was not only exceptional but also genuinely inspiring.

A fascinating life of Sir Joseph Banks which restores him to his proper place in history as a leading scientific figure of the English Enlightenment As official botanist on James Cook's first circumnavigation, the longest-serving president of the Royal Society, advisor to King George III, the father of Australia, and the man who established Kew as the world's leading botanical garden, Sir Joseph Banks was integral to the English Enlightenment. Yet he has not received the recognition that his multifarious achievements deserve.

In this engaging account, Toby Musgrave reveals the true extent of Banks's contributions to science and Britain. From an early age Banks pursued his passion for natural history through study and extensive travel, most famously on the HMS Endeavour. He went on to become a pivotal figure in the advancement of British scientific, economic, and colonial interests. With his enquiring, enterprising mind and extensive network of correspondents, Banks's reputation and influence were global. Drawing widely on Banks's writings, Musgrave sheds light on Banks's profound impact on British science and empire in an age of rapid advancement.

From Nobel Prize-winning physicist P. J. E. Peebles, the story of cosmology from Einstein to today Modern cosmology began a century ago with Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity and his notion of a homogenous, philosophically satisfying cosmos. Cosmology's Century is the story of how generations of scientists built on these thoughts and many new measurements to arrive at a well-tested physical theory of the structure and evolution of our expanding universe.

In this landmark book, one of the world's most esteemed theoretical cosmologists offers an unparalleled personal perspective on how the field developed. P. J. E. Peebles was at the forefront of many of the greatest discoveries of the past century, making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the presence of helium and microwave radiation from the hot big bang, the measures of the distribution and motion of ordinary matter, and the new kind of dark matter that allows us to make sense of these results. Taking readers from the field's beginnings, Peebles describes how scientists working in independent directions found themselves converging on a theory of cosmic evolution interesting enough to warrant the rigorous testing it passes so well. He explores the major advances - some inspired by remarkable insights or perhaps just lucky guesses - as well as the wrong turns taken and the roads not explored. He shares recollections from major players in this story and provides a rare, inside look at how natural science is really done.

A monumental work, Cosmology's Century also emphasises where the present theory is incomplete, suggesting exciting directions for continuing research.

'It's hard to imagine anyone better placed to recount the inside story of modern cosmology...

For anyone seriously interested in the ways of science and how we came to understand our place in the Universe, this is essential reading.' - Giles Sparrow, BBC Sky at Night Magazine

During his younger days working as a bush mechanic and pearl diver in remote WA, Greg Quicke spent countless nights lying in a swag and staring at the stars. That daily distraction grew into a passion that has seen him become one of Australia's best known and most engaging astronomers.

In recent years Greg - aka 'Space Gandalf' - has taken on cult status among audiences via his appearances alongside Professor Brian Cox in the hit TV series Stargazing Live. Greg's practical explanations of the complexities of space have also earned him respect from astronomers around the world.

Is The Moon Upside Down? is an absorbing guided tour of the cosmos as seen through Greg's eyes. Unlike many of his peers who studied at university he offers a unique and refreshing perspective on astronomy that was instead forged on cliff tops outside Alice Springs, in the endless expanse of the Great Sandy Desert, on the floor of the Indian Ocean and in his own front yard in Broome.

No matter what mysteries you've pondered about Earth's astral dance with the Sun, planets, Moon and the stars, it's guaranteed Greg has thought about them too, and the answers can be found in the pages of this book.

Birds are intelligent, sociable creatures that exhibit a wide array of behaviours - from mobbing and mimicking to mating and joint nesting. Why do they behave as they do? Bringing to light the remarkable actions of birds through examples from species around the world, How Birds Behave presents engaging vignettes about the private lives of birds, all explained in an evolutionary context.

We discover how birds find food, relying on foraging techniques, tools and thievery. We learn about the courtship rituals through which birds choose, compete for, woo and win mates; the familial conflicts that crop up among parents, offspring and siblings; and the stresses and strains of nesting, including territory defence, nepotism and relationship sabotage. We see how birds respond to threats and danger - through such unique practices as murmurations, specific alarm calls, distraction displays and anti-predator nest design. We also read about how birds change certain behaviours - preening, migration, breeding and huddling - based on climate. Richly illustrated, this book explores the increasing focus on how individual birds differ in personality and how big data and citizen scientists are helping to add to what we know about them.

Drawing on classic examples and the latest research, How Birds Behave offers a close-up look at the many ways birds conduct themselves in the wild.

This annual gem (produced each year since 1991) continues to take the Australian stargazer on a wondrous journey of the night sky. This critically acclaimed work, produced by three well known experts in the field, takes a unique approach to explaining and identifying the Sun, Moon, planets, and constellations; it is simply the best publication of its type in the world.

In this brilliant smart-thinking book about the power and influence of social media, Professor Sinan Aral shows how 'hyper-socialization' has profoundly changed us.

Why does fake news spread faster than the truth?

Do products and ideas become popular because they are good or because they are rated highly online?

How does influence actually work and what does it mean to be influential?

Which strategies and tactics can help businesses survive and thrive in the New Social Age?

Human beings have always been a social species. We've been communicating and cooperating with one another since the dawn of time. But today, something is different. Over the last decade, we've doused the fire of human interaction with high octane gasoline. We've created technologies that massively amplify the ways in which we interact with one another, automated by machine intelligence that is designed to inform, stimulate and entertain us. Together these technologies constitute what Sinan Aral calls the 'Hype Machine'. Digital platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter are injecting the influence of peers into our daily decisions, driving the products we buy, how we vote and even who we love.

Packed with original research conducted by Aral and his team, The Hype Machine describes the impact of social media on statecraft, politics, voting, business and public health, and shows us how to adapt our society to the hyper-socialized state the Hype Machine has wrought.

This is a fascinating book that provides counterintuitive and surprising answers to some of the most hotly debated topics of our connected, digital era, as it impacts society.

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the global economy, a reset to serve the wellbeing of people and the planet was plainly needed. As Australia rebuilds, after the immediate health crisis has passed, it must be with the explicit purpose of constructing an economically and ecologically sustainable world.

After the Great Depression and the Second World War, economic thinking was transformed across the Anglosphere, with a determination to create a more equitable society and support every child, regardless of background, to achieve their full potential.

Australia's leaders reshaped our economy through a determined and coordinated program of post-war reconstruction. Their reforms set us up for decades of prosperity and the creation of perhaps the most prosperous and stable society on earth.

With contributions from some of Australia's most respected academics and leading thinkers, What Happens Next? sets out a progressive, reforming agenda to tackle the twin crises of climate change and inequality. It provides a framework through which our collective effort can be devoted to improving the lives of all Australians, and the sustainability of the world in which we live.

Contributors include- Emma Dawson; Professor Janet McCalman AC; The Hon. Anthony Albanese MP; Thomas Mayor; Dr Liz Allen; Professor Clinton Fernandes; Dr Shireen Morris; Osmond Chiu; Michele O'Neil; Professor Fiona Stanley; Professor Mike Daube AO; and Dr Jim Chalmers.

Before Kitty Flanagan was making rules, she was burning bridges ...

Kitty has been locked in a freezer in Western Australia, insulted about the size of her lady parts in Singapore and borne witness to the world's most successful wife swap in suburban Sydney. It's these valuable lessons from The University of Life that have taught her so many things, including the fact that cliches like 'The University of Life' are reeeally annoying.

In these funny, true stories, Kitty provides advice you didn't even know you needed. Tips on how not to get murdered while hitch-hiking, how to break up with someone the wrong way, and the right way, why it's important to keep your top on while waitressing, and why women between the ages of thirty-seven and forty-two should be banned from internet dating.

Bridge Burning and Other Hobbies is a collection of laugh-out-loud, cautionary tales from one of Australia's favourite comedians.

What people are (Kitty Flanagan is) saying about this book:

'Finally, a book that doesn't tell you to stop eating sugar.' 'I wrote a letter to my younger self and told her to buy this book.'

'Everyone's afraid that their daughters might be hurt. No one seems to be scared that their sons might be the ones to do it ... This book ... is the culmination of many years of writing about power, abuse, privilege, male entitlement and rape culture. After all that, here's what I've learned: we should be f*cking terrified.' Clementine Ford, from the introduction Fearless feminist heroine Clementine Ford is a beacon of hope and inspiration to hundreds of thousands of Australian women and girls. Her incendiary first book, Fight Like A Girl, is taking the world by storm, galvanising women to demand and fight for real equality and not merely the illusion of it.

Now Boys Will Be Boys examines what needs to change for that equality to become a reality. It answers the question most asked of Clementine: 'How do I raise my son to respect women and give them equal space in the world? How do I make sure he's a supporter and not a perpetrator?' All boys start out innocent and tender, but by the time they are adolescents many of them will subscribe to a view of masculinity that is openly contemptuous of women and girls. Our world conditions boys into entitlement, privilege and power at the expense not just of girls' humanity but also of their own.

Ford demolishes the age-old assumption that superiority and aggression are natural realms for boys, and demonstrates how toxic masculinity creates a disturbingly limited and potentially dangerous idea of what it is to be a man. Crucially, Boys Will Be Boys reveals how the patriarchy we live in is as harmful to boys and men as it is to women and girls, and asks what we have to do to reverse that damage. The world needs to change and this book shows the way.

'A truly vital piece of social commentary from Australia's fiercest feminist ... Read it, learn from it, and share it - this book is absolute GOLD!' AU Review

Heartfelt and hilarious, this is a book for anyone who has tried to imagine what their dog is thinking.

Human beings often write about their dogs, but the dogs don't usually get a right of reply...

In Love, Clancy, Richard Glover has collated the letters sent by Clancy to his parents in the bush. They are full of a young dog's musings about the oddities of human behaviour, life in the big city and his attempts to fit in.

You'll meet Clancy as a puppy, making his first attempt to train his humans, then see him grow into a mature activist, demanding more attention be paid to a dog's view of the world. Along the way, there are adventures aplenty, involving robotic vacuum cleaners, songs about cheese, trips to the country and stolen legs of ham - all told with a dog's deep wisdom when it comes to what's important in life.

Accompanied by delightful illustrations by cartoonist Cathy Wilcox.


PRAISE FOR RICHARD GLOVER

The Land Before Avocado

"This is vintage Glover - warm, wise and very, very funny. Brimming with excruciating insights into life in the late 60s and early 70s, it explains why this was the cultural revolution we had to have." - Hugh Mackay

"Hilarious and horrifying, this is the ultimate intergenerational conversation starter." - Annabel Crabb

"Richard Glover's just-published The Land Before Avocado is a wonderful and witty journey back in time to life in the early 1970s." - Richard Wakelin, Australian Financial Review

Flesh Wounds

"A funny, moving, very entertaining memoir." - Bill Bryson, New York Times

"The best Australian memoir I've read is Richard Glover's Flesh Wounds." - Greg Sheridan, The Australian

How might the origins of our species inform the way we think about our planet? At a point of unparalleled crisis, can human ingenuity save us from ourselves?

Much-loved writer and broadcaster Ramona Koval travels the globe in a quest to answer these difficult questions and more. She speaks with an eminent paleo-archaeologist in the Republic of Georgia, meets the next generation of robots in Berlin, attends a transhumanist conference in California, and explores a cave in southern France before talking with the world's leading authority on cave art.

And throughout, she returns to her quick-witted, ever-engaging youngest granddaughter, Layla, whose development in infancy spurs Koval to find out what makes us human, what separates us from the other apes.

Filled with insightful and unexpected discussions with scientists whose knowledge of the past could hold the key to our future, A Letter to Layla will surprise and delight in equal measure.

Friends are good for your health. The strength of your social relationships is a remarkably good predictor of how long you will live. Strong social connections also make communities more resilient, efficient and satisfying. But today Australians have fewer close friends and local connections than in the past, and more of us say we have no-one to turn to in tough times.

In Reconnected, Andrew Leigh and Nick Terrell look at how we can turn this trend around. Organisations such as parkrun and Greening Australia are mobilising thousands of people to stay fit and improve their local neighbourhoods. Technology is providing new ways to raise funds and to volunteer. And from the popular 'No Lights No Lycra' dance nights to the atheist 'Sunday Assembly' movement, Australians are finding new ways to connect in the twenty-first century.

With optimism and intelligence, Leigh and Terrell show what works and what doesn't when it comes to community-building, and introduce us to some remarkable and inspirational people. Reconnected is an essential guide to for anyone interested in strengthening social ties.

A lively and engaging guide to vital habits of mind that can help you think more deeply, write more effectively, and learn more joyfully How to Think like Shakespeare offers an enlightening and entertaining guide to the craft of thought - one that demonstrates what we've lost in education today, and how we might begin to recover it. In fourteen brief, lively chapters that draw from Shakespeare's world and works, and from other writers past and present, Scott Newstok distills vital habits of mind that can help you think more deeply, write more effectively, and learn more joyfully, in school or beyond. Challenging a host of today's questionable notions about education, Newstok shows how mental play emerges through work, creativity through imitation, autonomy through tradition, innovation through constraint, and freedom through discipline. It was these practices, and a conversation with the past - not a fruitless obsession with assessment - that nurtured a mind like Shakespeare's. And while few of us can hope to approach the genius of the Bard, we can all learn from the exercises that shaped him. Written in a friendly, conversational tone and brimming with insights, How to Think like Shakespeare enacts the thrill of thinking on every page, reviving timeless 'and timely' ways to stretch your mind and hone your words.

The tenth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines the new alliances, blocs and rivalries that are emerging across the Asia-Pacific as countries adjust to the changing balance of power in a changed world.

Friends, Allies and Enemies looks at Australia's diplomatic options as loyalties shift in an increasingly turbulent region. Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University Rory Medcalf on the past, present and future of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies Hugh White on how Australia's alliances will fare in an Asia shaped by pandemics and power rivalries. The Saturday Paper's chief political correspondent Karen Middleton on the most effective way to reboot Australia's diplomatic efforts in Asia at a tumultuous time. Head of the International and Security affairs program at the Australia Institute Allan Behm on why Australia should arrange a Pacific donors conference Associate Professor in American Politics Tim Lynch on George Friedman's The Storm Before The Calm and where the United States is standing. Regular feature The Fix, on how to solve a key Australian foreign affairs challenge Award-winning writer Richard Cooke dissects key foreign policy terms Correspondence on AFA9- Spy vs Spy

Bound to spark a major national discussion, Which Side of History? offers a collection of over 30 bold essays on how technology is affecting our democracy, society, and our future. Prominent national voices such as Marc Benioff, Mike Bloomberg, Thomas Friedman, Kara Swisher, Aaron Sorkin, Khaled Hosseini, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Auletta, Ellen Pao, Chelsea Clinton, Tim Wu, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Jaron Lanier, Willow Bay, Sal Khan, Sherry Turkle, and many more will challenge opinion leaders and the broader public to take action to improve technology's effects on our lives. The essays will focus on the extraordinary impact of technology on our democracy, our privacy, kids and families, race and gender roles, climate change, and mental health. Some will explore the ethical behaviour of Big Tech, or the lack thereof. With the rise of cyberbullying and hate speech online, issues around climate change and technology, and the 'move fast and break things' mentality of tech culture, Which Side of History? will urge readers to draw the line. Offering roadmaps for constructive change and thought-provoking perspectives, this timely book will help shape the conversations we have around technology in our society, and our future for years to come.

Want to flourish in a creative industry such as entertainment, marketing, advertising, PR, design, photography, media or the arts?

Would you love to score your dream job or start a business doing something you love and be earning a great income - but you aren't sure how to make that happen?

Then this is the career hack you've been waiting for.

In You've Got This, two successful creative founders share their secrets for the very first time about what they've learnt in over twenty years of doing business - all so that you can get ahead.

It's full of practical advice and easily implementable tips on topics including how to stand out from the crowd by investing in your personal brand, negotiating a promotion, overcoming setbacks, managing your workload, mastering public speaking, and so much more.

Refreshingly honest and indispensable, You've Got This will help you reach your creative and earning potential and find career fulfilment, without it sucking the life out of you.

The working world can be competitive and fast-paced, and the unfortunate reality is that many clever graduates and smart professionals are struggling with feeling anxious or frustrated. And with recent world events, now more than ever many are assessing their values and motivations.

But thankfully, there's a way to take charge.

And after reading this book, it'll all be clear. Because trust us- you've got this.

A portion of the proceeds from every book sold will be donated to two charities that support women- Fitted for Work and Life Changing Experiences' SISTER2sister.

The remarkable story of how Joe Foster developed Reebok into one of the world's most famous sports brands, having started from a small factory in Bolton.

Since the late 19th century, the Foster family had been hand-making running shoes, supplying the likes of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams - later immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire - as well as providing boots to most Football League clubs. But a family feud between Foster's father and uncle about the direction of their business led to Joe and his brother Jeff setting up a new company, inspired by the success of Adidas and Puma, and so Reebok was born.

At first, money was so short that Joe and his wife had to live in their rundown factory, while the machinery that made the shoes was placed around the edge of the floor, because it was so weak it could have collapsed if they'd been positioned in the middle. But, from this inauspicious start, a major new player in the sports equipment field began to emerge, inspired by Joe's marketing vision. By the 1980s, Reebok had become a global phenomenon, when they were the first to latch onto the potential of the aerobics craze inspired by Jane Fonda. Soon, Reeboks were being seen on Hollywood red carpets and even in the film Aliens, where Sigourney Weaver wore a pair of Reebok Alien Stompers.

Like the international bestseller Shoe Dog, by Nike's Phil Knight, Shoemaker is a powerful tale of triumph against all the odds, revealing the challenges and sacrifices that go into creating a world-beating brand; it is also the story of how a small local business can transform itself, with the right products and the right vision, into something much, much bigger.

'If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you're done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable' Caroline Criado Perez, author of Invisible Women 'Fabulously readable, lucid, witty and authoritative . . . Every politician and journalist should be made to read this book, but everyone else will get so much pleasure and draw so much strength from the joyful way it dispels the clouds of deceit and delusion' Stephen Fry When was the last time you read a grand statement, accompanied by a large number, and wondered whether it could really be true? Statistics are vital in helping us tell stories - we see them in the papers, on social media, and we hear them used in everyday conversation - and yet we doubt them more than ever.

But numbers - in the right hands - have the power to change the world for the better. Contrary to popular belief, good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic. Good statistics are not smoke and mirrors; in fact, they help us see more clearly. Good statistics are like a telescope for an astronomer, a microscope for a bacteriologist, or an X-ray for a radiologist. If we are willing to let them, good statistics help us see things about the world around us and about ourselves - both large and small - that we would not be able to see in any other way.

In How to Make the World Add Up, Tim Harford draws on his experience as both an economist and presenter of the BBC's radio show 'More or Less'. He takes us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers worthwhile. Harford's characters range from the art forger who conned the Nazis to the stripper who fell in love with the most powerful congressman in Washington, to famous data detectives such as John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. He reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism.

Using ten simple rules for understanding numbers - plus one golden rule - this extraordinarily insightful book shows how if we keep our wits about us, thinking carefully about the way numbers are sourced and presented, we can look around us and see with crystal clarity how the world adds up.

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause. Capitalism demands perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change- degrowth.

If we want to have a shot at surviving the Anthropocene, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see the world and our place within it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that's rooted in reciprocity with our planet's ecology. We need to evolve beyond the dusty dogmas of capitalism to a new system that's fit for the twenty-first century.

But what about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and offers an inspiring vision for what a post-capitalist economy could look like. An economy that's more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. By taking less, we can become more.

Can capitalism survive climate change? Can humanity? The environmental crisis under way is unique in human history. It is a true existential crisis. Those alive today will decide the fate of humanity. Meanwhile, the leaders of the most powerful state in human history are dedicating themselves with passion to destroying the prospects for organized human life. At the same time, there is a solution at hand, which is the Green New Deal. Putting meat on the bones of the Green New Deal starts with a single simple idea: we have to absolutely stop burning fossil fuels to produce energy within the next 30 years at most; and we have to do this in a way that also supports rising living standards and expanding opportunities for working people and the poor throughout the world. This version of a Green New Deal program is, in fact, entirely realistic in terms of its purely economic and technical features. The real question is whether it is politically feasible. Chomsky and Pollin examine how we can build the political force to make a global Green New Deal a reality.

George Soros is among the world's most prominent public figures. He is one of the history's most successful investors and his philanthropy, led by the Open Society Foundations, has donated over $14 billion to promote democracy and human rights in more than 120 countries. But in recent years, Soros has become the focus of sustained right-wing attacks in the United States and around the world based on his commitment to open society, progressive politics and his Jewish background.

In this brilliant and spirited book, Soros offers a compendium of his philosophy, a clarion call-to-arms for the ideals of an open society: freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, social justice, and social responsibility as a universal idea. In this age of nationalism, populism, anti-Semitism, and the spread of authoritarian governments, Soros's mission to support open societies is as urgent as it is important.

How should I live? What is my purpose? Can I find happiness?

Ever felt as though life would be simpler if it came with an instruction manual? There are no easy answers to the big questions. And life does not follow a straight path from A to B.

Since the beginning of time, people have asked questions about how they should live and, from Ancient Greece to Japan, philosophers have attempted to solve these questions for us. The timeless wisdom that they offer can help us to find our own path. In this insightful, engaging book, renowned existential psychotherapist and philosophical counsellor Antonia Macaro and bestselling philosopher Julian Baggini cover topics such as bereavement, luck, free will and relationships, and guide us through what the greatest thinkers to ever walk the earth have to say on these subjects, from the Stoics to Sartre.

Discover advice from the world's greatest thinkers on questions like- Is there a right way to grieve? What is free will? How can we learn from past mistakes? Do we make our own luck?

Have you have ever felt at a disadvantage when joining in a conversation on a subject that you aren't confident about? If yes, this new book series is for you. Each book features definitions of two hundred words frequently used to describe and discuss a smart subject.

200 Words to Help You Talk About Philosophy is designed to demystify jargon-based philosophic language and make you at ease holding a conversation on the topic. Philosophy can be baffling, as well as fascinating, to the best of us. Let Anja Steinbauer guide you through doubt, dialectic, Dao, and much more. The book is written with digestible text enabling a quick and easy understanding of various topics while broadening your philosophical vocabulary.

200 Words to Help You Talk About Philosophy is one of two new titles beginning a series of smart subjects, also including art, psychology, and music.

Natalie Haynes is the nation's muse' Adam Rutherford The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories.

Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from the Trojan War to Jason and the Argonauts. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men, and have routinely shown little interest in telling women's stories. And when they do, those women are often painted as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil. But Pandora - the first woman, who according to legend unloosed chaos upon the world - was not a villain, and even Medea and Phaedra have more nuanced stories than generations of retellings might indicate.

Now, in Pandora's Jar, Natalie Haynes - broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist - redresses this imbalance. Taking Pandora and her jar (the box came later) as the starting point, she puts the women of the Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk. After millennia of stories telling of gods and men, be they Zeus or Agamemnon, Paris or Odysseus, Oedipus or Jason, the voices that sing from these pages are those of Hera, Athena and Artemis, and of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Eurydice and Penelope.

'If great books encourage you to look at the world in an entirely new way, then Dominion is a very great book indeed . . . Written with terrific learning, enthusiasm and good humour, Holland's book is not just supremely provocative, but often very funny' Sunday Times History Book of the Year Christianity is the most enduring and influential legacy of the ancient world, and its emergence the single most transformative development in Western history. Even the increasing number in the West today who have abandoned the faith of their forebears, and dismiss all religion as pointless superstition, remain recognisably its heirs. Seen close-up, the division between a sceptic and a believer may seem unbridgeable. Widen the focus, though, and Christianity's enduring impact upon the West can be seen in the emergence of much that has traditionally been cast as its nemesis: in science, in secularism, and yes, even in atheism.

That is why Dominion will place the story of how we came to be what we are, and how we think the way that we do, in the broadest historical context. Ranging in time from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC to the on-going migration crisis in Europe today, and from Nebuchadnezzar to the Beatles, it will explore just what it was that made Christianity so revolutionary and disruptive; how completely it came to saturate the mind-set of Latin Christendom; and why, in a West that has become increasingly doubtful of religion's claims, so many of its instincts remain irredeemably Christian. The aim is twofold: to make the reader appreciate just how novel and uncanny were Christian teachings when they first appeared in the world; and to make ourselves, and all that we take for granted, appear similarly strange in consequence. We stand at the end-point of an extraordinary transformation in the understanding of what it is to be human: one that can only be fully appreciated by tracing the arc of its parabola over millennia.

Prose poetry is a resurgent literary form in the English-speaking world and has been rapidly gaining popularity in Australia. Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington have gathered a broad and representative selection of the best Australian prose poems written over the last fifty years.

The Anthology of Australian Prose Poetryin cludes numerous distinguished prose poets; Jordie Albiston, Joanne burns, Gary Catalano, Anna Couani, Alex Skovron, Samuel Wagan Watson, Ania Walwicz and many more; and documents prose poetry's growing appeal over recent decades, from the poetic margins to the mainstream.

This collection reframes our understanding not only of this dynamic poetic form, but of Australian poetry as a whole.

'Anybody who loves the printed word will be bowled over by this amusing, erudite, beautiful book about books. It is in every way a triumph. One of the loveliest books to have been published for many, many years.' Alexander McCall Smith From the author of the critically acclaimed and globally successful The Phantom Atlas, The Golden Atlas and The Sky Atlas comes a stunning new work. The Madman's Library is a unique, beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of literature, delving into its darkest territories to hunt down the very strangest books ever written, and uncover the fascinating stories behind their creation.

This is a madman's library of eccentric and extraordinary volumes from around the world, many of which have been completely forgotten. Books written in blood and books that kill, books of the insane and books that hoaxed the globe, books invisible to the naked eye and books so long they could destroy the Universe, books worn into battle, books of code and cypher whose secrets remain undiscovered... and a few others that are just plain weird.

From the 605-page Qur'an written in the blood of Saddam Hussein, through the gorgeously decorated 15th-century lawsuit filed by the Devil against Jesus, to the lost art of binding books with human skin, every strand of strangeness imaginable (and many inconceivable) has been unearthed and bound together for a unique and richly illustrated collection ideal for every book-lover.

The English language is changing constantly. We invent new words and phrases, we mash up idioms, we mispronounce, misuse, misappropriate. Sue Butler has heard it all and is ready to defend and disagree with common usage. Veering from tolerance to outrage, she examines how the word sheila took a nose-dive after World War II, considers whether we should hunker or bunker down, and bemoans the emptiness of rhetoric. She shouts 'down with closure' as it leaps from the psychoanalyst's couch, explains why we've lost the plot on deceptively, untangles the manuka honey stoush, fathoms why the treatment of famous is infamous, and ponders whether you would, could or should ...

Rebel without a Clause is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic romp through the world of words by lexicographer and former Macquarie Dictionary Editor, Sue Butler.

Should we still bother with the supposedly great works of past ages? Aristotle believed that men were naturally superior to women. Kant wrote that 'Humanity is at its greatest perfection in the race of the whites.' The Founding Fathers declared it 'self-evident' that all men are created equal, but nevertheless owned slaves. Small wonder that many readers prefer to close the book on the past. Rather than dwell amid the squalor of history, shouldn't we focus our attention on hopes for a better world?

The literary scholar Alan Jacobs hears you. He gets it. But you're wrong.

In a scintillating work that weaves together the Book of Genesis and Thomas Pynchon, the Roman poet Horace and Simone Weil, Jacobs shows how our encounters with the past in all its disturbing strangeness may be our best chance at winning a measure of mental freedom.

Essentially, this is Clive James' desert island poems: a selection of his favourite verse and a personal commentary on each.

The Fire of Joy was the final book Clive James completed before his death in 2019. It takes its title from the French expression Feu de Joie, which refers to a military celebration when all the riflemen of a regiment fire one shot after another in a wave of continuous sound: it is a reminder that the regiment's collective power relies on the individual, and vice versa.

In this book, James has chosen a succession of English poems, exploding in sequence from Chaucer to the present day; they tell the story of someone writing something wonderful, and someone else coming along, reading it, and feeling impelled to write something even more wonderful. After a lifetime, these are the poems James found so good that he remembered them despite himself. In offering them to you, the main purpose of this book is to provide ammunition that will satisfy your urge to discover, learn and declaim verse.

As well as his selection of poems, James offers a commentary on each: whether this is a biographical, historical or critical introduction to the poem, or a more personal anecdote about the role a particular poem has played in James's life, these mini essays provide the joy of James's enthusiasm and the benefit of his knowledge. Full of the flashing fires of poems you will not be able to forget, this book will ignite your passion and leave you with a contagious crackle rattling in your ears.

A stunning collection of essays and memoir from twice Booker Prize winner and international bestseller Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the Light In 1987, when Hilary Mantel was first published in the London Review of Books, she wrote to the editor, Karl Miller, 'I have no critical training whatsoever, so I am forced to be more brisk and breezy than scholarly.' This collection of twenty reviews, essays and pieces of memoir from the next three decades, tells the story of what happened next.

Her subjects range far and wide: Robespierre and Danton, the Hite report, Saudi Arabia where she lived for four years in the 1980s, the Bulger case, John Osborne, the Virgin Mary as well as the pop icon Madonna, a brilliant examination of Helen Duncan, Britain's last witch. There are essays about Jane Boleyn, Charles Brandon, Christopher Marlowe and Margaret Pole, which display the astonishing insight into the Tudor mind we are familiar with from the bestselling Wolf Hall Trilogy. Her famous lecture, 'Royal Bodies', which caused a media frenzy, explores the place of royal women in society and our imagination. Here too are some of her LRB diaries, including her first meeting with her stepfather and a confrontation with a circus strongman.

Constantly illuminating, always penetrating and often very funny, interleaved with letters and other ephemera gathered from the archive, Mantel Pieces is an irresistible selection from one of our greatest living writers.

'This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...' So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection. In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world's most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets. 'You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people's hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime. 'You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultures, other minds; causing people to fall in love or to fight for what is right. 'And more than anything, over and over again, you will see books and words being given, received and read - and in turn prompting further generosity.' Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read, The Gifts of Reading forms inspiring, unforgettable, irresistible proof of the power and necessity of books and reading. Inspired by Robert Macfarlane Curated by Jennie Orchard With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Act of Love.

'Reading has saved my life, again and again, and has held my hand through every difficult time' For as long as she can remember, Cathy Rentzenbrink has lost and found herself in stories. Growing up she was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, books kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help.

Dear Reader is a moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.

Did you know that the word salary comes from the Latin sal for 'salt', since part of the payment to Roman soldiers was in salt? That braces and suspenders used to refer to different items of clothing? Or that trolls have migrated from fairytales to online discussion forums?

The English language is currently going through a period of tremendous ferment, growth and expansion. Old 'rules' are being challenged, or weakened. New ones are emerging. And mistakes and misuses are popping up with all the speed that the internet can provide. For over two decades, linguist Roly Sussex has documented the nature and evolution of the English Language on his popular weekly ABC Radio program 'Word for Today'.

For the first time, the best of these reflections on word origins, neologisms and misuses are collected in this witty and insightful book. With Word for Today, you'll always have a word for tomorrow.

'Where are we to begin? How are we to bring order into this multitudinous chaos and so get the deepest and widest pleasure from what we read?' Published for the first time as a standalone volume, Virginia Woolf's short, impassioned essay, How Should One Read a Book? celebrates the enduring importance of great literature. In this timeless manifesto on the written word, rediscover the joy of reading and the power of a good book to change the world.

One of the most significant modernist writers of the 20th Century, Virginia Woolf and her visionary essays are as relevant today as they were nearly one hundred years ago.

Features a new introduction by Sheila Heti.

Flea, the iconic bassist and co-founder, alongside Anthony Kiedis, of the immortal Red Hot Chili Peppers finally tells his fascinating origin story, complete with all the dizzying highs and the gutter lows you'd expect from an LA street rat turned world-famous rock star.

Michael Peter Balzary was born in Melbourne, Australia, on October 16, 1962. His more famous stage name, Flea, and his wild ride as the renowned bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was in a far and distant future. Little Michael from Oz moved with his very conservative, very normal family to Westchester, New York, where life as he knew it was soon turned upside down. His parents split up and he and his sister moved into the home of his mother's free-wheeling, jazz musician boyfriend - trading in rules, stability, and barbecues for bohemian values, wildness, and Sunday afternoon jazz parties where booze, weed, and music flowed in equal measure. There began Michael's life-long journey to channel all the frustration, loneliness, love, and joy he felt into incredible rhythm.

When Michael's family moved to Los Angeles in 1972, his home situation was rockier than ever. He sought out a sense of belonging elsewhere, spending most of his days partying, playing basketball, and committing petty crimes. At Fairfax High School, he met another social outcast, Anthony Kiedis, who quickly became his soul brother, the yin to his yang, his partner in mischief. Michael joined some bands, fell in love with performing, and honed his skills. But it wasn't until the night when Anthony, excited after catching a Grandmaster Flash concert, suggested they start their own band that he is handed the magic key to the cosmic kingdom.

Acid for the Children is as raw, entertaining and wildly unpredictable as its author. It's both a tenderly evocative coming of age story and a raucous love letter to the power of music and creativity

The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times.

The resulting fusion of American can-do and British fuck-you didn't just lead to rock and roll's most resonant music. It ushered in a golden era when a generation of kids born in ration card Britain, who had grown up with their nose pressed against the window of America's plenty, were invited to wallow in their big neighbour's largesse.

It deals with a time when everything that was being done - from the Beatles playing Shea Stadium to the Rolling Stones at Altamont, from the Who performing their rock opera at the Metropolitan Opera House to David Bowie touching down in the USA for the first time with a couple of gowns in his luggage - was being done for the very first time.

Rock and roll would never be quite so exciting again.

The Sunday Times bestseller with a new chapter bringing the story up to date.

'The rock memoir of the decade' Daily Mail 'The rock star's gloriously entertaining and candid memoir is a gift to the reader' Sunday Times In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life. Me is the the joyously funny, honest and moving story of the most enduringly successful singer/songwriter of all time.

Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three, he was performing his first gig in America, facing an astonished audience in his bright yellow dungarees, a star-spangled T-shirt and boots with wings. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again.

His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with the Queen; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation. All the while, Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade.

In Me Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you, by a living legend.

'Self-deprecating, funny . . . You cannot help but enjoy his company throughout, temper tantrums and all' The Times 'Racy, pacy and crammed with scurrilous anecdotes - what more could you ask from the rocket man' Guardian (Book of the Week) 'Chatty, gossipy, amusing and at times brutally candid' Telegraph

Illustrated with images as iconic as they are stunning and including the author's first-hand experiences on set and interviews with the great director, this magnificent book charts the extraordinary journey of Britain's greatest living director.

Telling the stories behind Alien and Blade Runner, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, and many more, it also goes in search of the themes and motifs that unite such different films, and the methods and madness of Scott's approach to his medium. This is the story of a director who has never been less than stubbornly, brilliantly, unforgettably his own man.

The Art of Daryl Dickson is a celebration of her diverse style and beautiful work. From black-winged stilts to brushtail possums, see the variety and colour of Australian wildlife contained in one wonderful book. Dickson's passion for the conservation of wildlife and wild places has informed and inspired her work. She highlights the natural beauty of species that deserve to be saved in what is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the natural world.

The work of artists crosses borders, boundaries and language barriers. Painting wildlife does not need language to explain the essence of the beauty, landscape or movement of a creature. This book can be understood and enjoyed by people of any nationality.

Witness the ancient tropical forests and majestic landscapes of northern Queensland, Australia - home to some of the world's rarest and most fascinating species. Dickson's work is inspired by the incredible diversity of flora and fauna she lives amongst, which are rich and colourful in the diverse, thriving valley she calls home.

Dickson's techniques have varied in medium, from illustration to watercolour and many in between, but nature has always been the key element of her art. View a lifetime of artworks and share in her journey to becoming an artist, showcased in this large-format, beautifully designed book that is an essential addition to coffee tables everywhere.

Hundreds of hours, many expert hands and unimaginable metres of fabric: couture is truly wearable art, where creativity and craftsmanship collide. Megan Hess has spent her career documenting fashion's most beautiful people, places and pieces. In The Illustrated World of Couture, she brings to life its most important - and intriguing - art form, with fascinating insights and exceptional illustrations.

Worn by only a handful of people worldwide, couture still has incredible influence, even beyond the traditional boundaries of fashion. In this unique collection, follow Megan through the intricate details, multifaceted inspirations and dramatic shows that define the couture experience. Let her introduce you to the generations of creators who conceive and craft these fantastical garments, and the collectors who treasure them. And travel with her to the exclusive ateliers and glamorous events of the world's fashion capitals to see how couture is both designed and displayed.

Megan Hess invites you to discover The Illustrated World of Couture in this essential volume for all fashion devotees.

A fully illustrated photographic collection of award winning homes from the last century of Australian design and architecture, from the first competition won by the governors wife. Featuring many well-known architects and firms, homes of the prime ministers, archbishops and other notable individuals, and including houses that introduced construction techniques and styles that progressed the field. Full of illustrations, photos, plans and featuring a guided history of each house, providing context and theme. Carefully constructed by housing historian, Tim Reeves.

Brandon Stanton's Humans is a book that connects readers as global citizens at a time when erecting more borders is the order of the day. It shows us the entire world, one story at a time . . .

Brandon Stanton's Humans - his most moving and compelling book to date - shows us the world. After five years of traveling the globe, the creator of Humans of New York brings people from all parts of the world into a conversation with readers. He ignores borders, chronicles lives and shows us the faces of the world as he saw them. His travels took him from London, Paris and Rome to Iraq, Dubai, Ukraine, Pakistan, Jordan, Uganda, Vietnam, Israel and every other place in between. His interviews go deeper than before. His chronicling of peoples' lives shows the experience of a writer who has traveled widely and thought deeply about the state of our world.

Including hundreds of photos and stories of the people he met and talked with in over forty countries, Humans is classic Brandon Stanton - a fully color illustrated book that includes many photos and stories never seen before. For the first time for a HONY title, Humans will contain several of the essays Brandon's posted online which have been read, loved and enthusiastically shared by his followers.

We are not alone: plants make up 80 per cent of the total biomass of Earth, while humans are only 0.0001 per cent.

The forest is an intimate part of our lives and continues to play a central role in creating a liveable planet. From making the air we breathe and the climate tolerable to providing endless resources for shelter and food, forests have been with us for almost 400 million years and, despite our worst efforts, will be here after we have gone.

Showcasing the work of leading nature photographers, The Life & Love of the Forest is a visual tour of our most remarkable woodlands. Bestselling author Lewis Blackwell takes us on a fascinating journey with evocative essays and insightful captions, exploring the developing science and curious histories of everything from microscopic life and the many animals through to the largest living things on the planet: the amazing trees that are the core engineering and architecture of the forest.

Capturing the beauty of these magnificent and vital landscapes, this book celebrates the essential qualities of forests around the world while also promoting a future where humans and nature can coexist.

Buy less, buy whole, use it all This practical handbook is an invitation to reduce food waste while eating generously. It's a book for people juggling real life and trying to make better choices in their kitchens.

For years Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards, from boundary-breaking food community Cornersmith, experimented in their home kitchens to figure out how to feed their families efficiently, affordably and sustainably. The result is this invaluable guide to modern food wisdom.

Structured around weekly seasonal shopping baskets, it includes:

- More than 230 recipes with alternative flavour combinations so you can adapt a recipe to what you have on hand (and never get bored!) - Clever ideas to make the most of the whole ingredient so that a little goes a long way - Waste hacks for turning tired produce or offcuts into something special.

Use It All offers a simple, delicious way to cook and eat by buying less, wasting less and making more with what you've got.

The long-awaited new cookbook from the king of relaxed Australian cafe style food 'Every city has one cafe that becomes the poster child for its inner spirit, and for Sydney, it is bills. Bill has a way of synthesising market produce + eggs + sunshine + freshness into something you didn't know you wanted, but you wanted it bad.' TERRY DURACK 'Bill Granger [is] the restaurateur who is most responsible for the Australian cafe's global reach.' AMELIA LESTER, The New Yorker In the 20 years since Bill Granger published his first book of recipes, Sydney Food, the world has fallen in love with the joyfully casual Australian way of eating. As a self-taught cook, straight out of art school, Bill furnished his first street-corner eatery in minimalist style, serving a small but perfectly formed menu of domestic dishes around a central communal table. He captured the hearts of Sydneysiders and visitors alike, while setting an exciting new standard for cafe dining.

Since then, Bill has been crowned the 'egg master of Sydney' (New York Times 2002), the 'king of breakfast' (The Telegraph Magazine, 2016), the 'creator of avocado toast' (Washington Post 2016) and 'the restaurateur most responsible for the Australian cafe's global reach' (The New Yorker 2018).

Nowadays, from Sydney to Tokyo, and London to Seoul, queues form to enjoy ricotta hotcakes ('Sydney's most iconic dish' Good Food 2019), fluffy scrambled eggs, lively salads and punchy curries. It is a bright picture of Australian food that has travelled across the globe, packed with fresh flavours and local produce, healthy but never preachy, whose main ingredient seems to be sunshine itself. The plates at any of Bill's restaurants are more sophisticated today, reflecting decades of global experience and culinary creativity - but the warmth of atmosphere and joy of eating remain the same.

A beautifully illustrated and thoroughly engaging cultural history of beekeeping - packed with anecdote, humour and enriching historical detail. The perfect gift.

Beekeeper and garden historian Lotte Moller explores the activities inside and outside the hive while charting the bees' natural order and habits. With a light touch she uses her encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject to shed light on humanity's understanding of bees and bee lore from antiquity to the present. A humorous debunking of the myths that have held for centuries is matched by a wry exploration of how and when they were replaced by fact.

In her travels Moller encounters a trigger-happy Californian beekeeper raging against both killer bees and bee politics, warring beekeepers on the Danish island of L so, and Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey, breeder of the Buckfast queen now popular throughout Europe and beyond, as well a host of others as passionate as she about the complex world of apiculture both past and present.

Translated from the Swedish by Frank Perry - Sweden's Gardening Book of the Year 2019, shortlisted for the August Prize 2019

From lap pools to ocean pools, harbour pools to waterfalls, Sydney is arguably the best major city in Australia for swimming, if not the world! And Places We Swim Sydney covers the very best of the city's famous and hidden swimming spots.

After the success of their first book, Places We Swim, authors Caroline Clements and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon have followed up with a deep dive into Sydney in this ultimate city guide to the aqueous outdoors. Places We Swim Sydney is divided into six city regions, encompassing walks and swims within two hours of the CBD - from Manly in the north, to Maroubra in the east, Royal National Park in the south, and out to the Blue Mountains in the west. You'll discover just what makes each swimming spot unique, learn the best time to go, gain some useful local knowledge and find out the most delicious things to eat nearby.

With destinations ranging from neighbourhood city pools to gorges that feel like the outback, Places We Swim Sydney is a celebration of not just these magnificent swimming locations, but of the diverse landscapes and water-loving communities that make up Sydney.

From the bright blue hues of Jodhpur, Rajasthan's medieval metropolis, to the deep purples of Provence's lavender fields, discover the world through a stunning collection of photographs with the first and only travel guide by colour palette.

This inspiring book features 400 photographs of amazing destinations and events across a plethora of vivid shades. From the deep reds of Tambopata National Reserve's scarlet macaws to the verdant greens of the Peak District's rolling hills, be inspired to travel by colour all around the world. From the kaleidoscopic coral reefs of Indonesia's remote Raja Ampat archipelago to the striking blue-washed facades of Morocco's pretty hill town Chefachouen, no corner of the globe is left unturned in the 180 pages of this colourful book.

With stunning photography throughout and words compiled by a wide range of trusted Lonely Planet writers, the world's first and only travel guide by colour is a must-have addition for any travel aficionados.

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, eBooks, and more.

The second edition of Lonely Planet's bestseller presents an all-new ranking of the greatest places to visit on Earth, reflecting the travel tastes and trends of today's world. Decided by our global family of writers, editors and industry experts, and packed with insightful commentary, awe-inspiring photos and over 200 new entries, this is a must-have coffee table book for explorers and armchair travellers.

With experiences ranging from hiking among the vast granite pillars of South America's mesmerising Torres del Paine to snaking your way through the desert to the treasured ancient city of Petra, this anticipated book covers everything from UNESCO World Heritage Sites to azure bays and white-sand beaches by way of iconic cities. With 500 entries, 320 pages and an all-new ranking system, this is the definitive wishlist for the best places to visit on the planet.

We've decided on our rankings. Now, so should you. What's your number one?

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, eBooks, and more.

This beautiful and inspiring book is an authoritative and timely account of our planet's natural wonders, explaining how and why our bodies and brains benefit from being in nature, as well as the importance of valuing and protecting them for future generations.

In each chapter - exploring forests, rivers, mountains, deserts and coasts - Lonely Planet offers a wealth of knowledge on why they're such enriching places to explore and where in the world we can experience the natural world through forest bathing, mountain hikes and wild swimming. From Canada's mysterious and untamed Great Bear Rainforest to the spiritually significant mountain of Kailash in Tibet, unearth 50 destinations all around the world which take you right back to the heart of the natural world.

With a combination of beautiful illustration and photography throughout, as well as contributions from award-winning travel writers such as Adam Weymouth (Kings of the Yukon) and Adam Skolnick (One Breath), this unique coffee table book is the quintessential guide to helping you reconnect with nature.

A bumper book of maths fun stuffed with things to draw, puzzle, invent, order, unscramble, code, decode for kids aged 7+ years from Australia's best known maths man. There's magic in maths - if you know where to look...

Archie Roach AM's deeply personal song, 'Took the Children Away', from his 1990 debut album, Charcoal Lane, was the first song ever to receive a prestigious Australian Human Rights Award. Its impact was immediate, shining a stark light on Australia's shameful past practices of removing children from their families. The song also speaks of love and reconnection and has travelled across seas into the hearts of First Nations communities everywhere.

One dark day, when Archie was just two years old, big black government cars came to his home at Framlingham Aboriginal Mission in southwest Victoria. They forcibly took Archie away from his mother, father and family - everything he had ever known. They took away thousands of other Aboriginal children, right around Australia. Powerful people had decided that these children would be better off living and learning all the white man's ways. Frightened and alone, they grew up in institutions and foster homes. They became known as the Stolen Generations.

Ruby Hunter was one of those children, too, only eight when she was taken from the loving arms of her grandmother living on the Coorong in South Australia.

Archie and Ruby met and fell in love as homeless teenagers and Archie started writing songs to help ease his pain. Archie's songs, loved by fans worldwide, tell a powerful story of survival and renewal, and the healing power of music.

In this special 30th anniversary edition, Archie's iconic lyrics sit alongside evocative illustrations by his beloved soulmate and musical collaborator, Ruby Hunter. Also included are Archie's recollections of his family and rare historical photographs.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this book contains images of people who are deceased or who may now be deceased.

Did you know that, in 2009, a massive dust storm in Australia blew red dust and sand all the way to New Zealand, where it turned the glaciers pink? That, in 1899, Cyclone Mahina plucked dolphins out of the ocean in Far North Queensland and deposited them on cliff tops? That it snowed at Uluru in 1997?

In Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather, readers are introduced to the wide range of weather in Australia, with bite-size pieces of information presented alongside graphic illustrations to entice young readers. Older readers will enjoy the detailed explanations about everything weather, from what causes certain phenomena to reading weather maps, exploring the climate of the past and preparing for the climate of the future.

With sections about Australia's extreme weather and the effects of climate change, Australia's Wild Weird Wonderful Weather gently introduces young readers to the challenges of a warming planet and encourages them to be mindful of impact their actions have on the environment.

A resource section and glossary of weather words at the back of the book enable a parent, teacher or older reader to satisfy the deeper interest in weather that the book is sure to stimulate.

Age range 3 to 6 Each day Esmeralda collects a variety of objects and waddles down the hill.

Everyone wonders why the Saddleback sow is carrying a bottle, fencing wire and a pair of sneakers in her mouth.

Only Esmeralda knows. Nothing will stop her.

Esmeralda's Nest is a sweet story introducing children to the days of the week and the way that animals nest.

Pearl and Vally Cole live in a bookshop. And not just any bookshop. In 1893, Cole's Book Arcade in Melbourne is the grandest bookshop in the world, brimming with every curiosity imaginable. Each day brings fresh delights for the siblings: voice-changing sweets, talking parrots, a new story written just for them by their eccentric father.

When Pearl and Vally learn that Pa has risked the Arcade - and himself - in a shocking deal with the mysterious Obscurosmith, the siblings hatch a plan. Soon they are swept into a dangerous game with impossibly high stakes: defeat seven challenges by the stroke of midnight and both the Arcade and their father will be restored. But if they fail Pearl and Vally won't just lose Pa - they'll forget that he and the Arcade ever existed.

Age range 6 to 9 Loutka is a brilliant puppet maker. All of his creations work perfectly, just as he expects them to.

Except for Claudette. She is a rickety misfit who longs for freedom and adventure.

What can be done with such a puppet?

Loutka doesn't know.

So Claudette stays on the shelf. Until one incredible day...

With captivating illustrations and gentle words, Claudette takes the reader on a courageous and magical adventure beyond the clouds, discovering the power of beauty, possibility and self-worth along the way.

'A book infused with magic!' - Megan Daley, Children's Books Daily

This fun and colourful lift-the-flap book gives a unique insight into how cities looked in the past, compared to how they look now. Discover how history has shaped our planet's urban areas and changed them over time.

Featured cities include:

Thebes in Egypt (c 900 BCE) - Shows the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes compared to the modern city of Luxor. Featured elements include the Temple of Karnak, the Temple of Luxor and King Tutankahmun's Tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

Constantinople, Turkey (c 550) - Highlights the capital of the Eastern Roman / Byzantine Empire as it looked at its peak in the 6th century, with its giant hippodrome compared with the modern city of Istanbul.

Aarhus, Denmark (c 950) - Showcases the Viking city of Aarhus as it was in the 10th century, compared to the port city that has grown up in its place.

Tenochtitlan, Mexico (c 1521) - Exhibits the vast capital of the Aztecs as it was at the time of the Spanish invasion compared to the cosmopolitan Mexico City which was built on top of it.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (c 1565) - Explores the Brazilian city as it looked at the moment of its foundation, still largely covered in tropical jungle, to how it looks now.

London, United Kingdom (c 1666) - Delves into how London has changed since the time of the Great Fire of London to the present day.

And much, much more!

A spectacular new title from world-renowned artist Oliver Jeffers, creator of the million-copy selling, global phenomenon Here We Are!

What shall we build, you and I?

I'll build your future and you'll build mine. We'll build a watch to keep our time.

A father and daughter set about laying the foundations for their life together. Using their own special tools, they get to work; building memories to cherish, a home to keep them safe and love to keep them warm.

From renowned, internationally bestselling picture-book creator and visual artist, Oliver Jeffers, comes this rare and enduring story about a parent's boundless love, life's endless opportunities and all we need to build a together future.

The sun is shining and today feels like an adventure, only one I can go on whenever I want because I have a bicycle and friends and a city just waiting to be explored.

With their new teacher's help, the kids in Class 5D ride to school together in a bicycle bus. Olivia can fix a puncture in two minutes and Max can ride on one wheel. Lily wishes she wasn't quite so wobbly and Jordi's been waiting forever to ride on the road. Dylan has a speedy getaway from alley cats, Dabir's glad to be part of a group and Zoe's bike even has a name (Esmeralda). Everyone loves their new way of getting to school.

But there's a narrow stretch on Fishers Road with no white line to separate the cyclists from the local traffic, so Zoe and Max decide they need to make it right (even if that means breaking a few rules).

Award-winning author Steven Herrick's latest verse novel is an ode to bike-riding, the environment and fixing the future.

With all the magic of Narnia and the humour of Mary Poppins, this is a future middle grade fantasy classic - and the beginning of an unforgettable journey...

Imogen should be nice to her little sister Marie. She should be nice to her mum's boyfriend too. And she certainly shouldn't follow a strange silver moth through a door in a tree. But then... who does what they're told?

Followed by Marie, Imogen finds herself falling into a magical kingdom where the two sisters are swept up in a thrilling race against time - helped by the spoiled prince of the kingdom, a dancing bear, a very grumpy hunter... and even the stars above them.

Thrilling, sharply funny, and with characters you will fall in love with, A Clock of Stars is a timeless fantasy from an astonishing new voice.

The next title in this best-selling sound series reimagines Carnival of the Animals, one of the most famous suites of music for children, by Camille Saint-Saens.

One day, two brothers discover a magical animal kingdom behind their bookcase. They are greeted by the royal lion with his shaggy mane; ask for directions from an old lonely turtle; take a ride on some lumbering elephants; topple a skeleton of dinosaur bones; and swim among a school of shimmering fish. If only they could take them all home...

The book includes extracts from The Swan, Aquarium, Fossils, and Finale (from Disney's Fantasia) along with a totally new story to link the pieces together. As you and your little one journey through the magical scenes, you will press the buttons to hear 10 excerpts from the suite's music. At the back of the book, find a short biography of the composer, Camille Saint-Saens, with details about his composition of Carnival of the Animals. Next to this, you can replay the musical excerpts and, for each of them, read a discussion of the instruments, rhythms and musical techniques that make them so powerful. A glossary defines musical terms.

The Story Orchestra series brings classical music to life for children through gorgeously illustrated retellings of classic ballet stories paired with 10-second sound clips of orchestras playing from their musical scores.

Manufacturers note: please pull the white tab out of the back of the book before use. Sound buttons require a firm push in exact location to work, which may be hard for young children. All sound clips are 10 seconds long.

Dangerous animals get a bad rap, but this beautifully illustrated encyclopaedia helps us appreciate the incredible features of some of our more hair-raising animal species.

With more than sixty of the most deadly and dangerous animals from across the world to explore, every page of this beautifully illustrated volume is more eye-opening than the last. You will learn interesting facts about these fascinating species, (many of which you won't have even known were deadly) such as how they have adapted to survive and whether we should be threatened by these animals or appreciate them for their incredible features. Children and adults alike will pore over the breathtaking scientific illustrations of unusual animals from the Cone Shell to the Wolverine and the Irukandji Jellyfish to the Slow Loris, debating their relative dangerous features, learning about science and nature along the way.

This gorgeous hardcover book is illustrated in exquisite detail by award-winning author and illustrator, Sami Bayly. A brilliant companion to The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals.