Products

What happens when the person you’ve built your entire life on is suddenly gone?

This question lies at the heart of Jente Posthuma’s deceptively simple What I’d Rather Not Think About. The narrator is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life. She looks back on their childhood, and tells of their adult lives: how her brother tried to find happiness, but lost himself in various men and the Bhagwan movement, though never completely.

In brief, precise vignettes, full of gentle melancholy and surprising humor, Posthuma tells the story of a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.

For the first time in human history, most people in developed countries are able to publish their news and thoughts to the world within a few minutes of deciding to do so. Meanwhile, the big industrial-scale media organisations are in decline, and at the same time there is a new blog, website, or social-media presence almost every hour.

This book takes the temperature of this emerging sector of news media, with a collection of contributions by new-media entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds — journalism, IT innovation, social activism, and community work. They talk about connecting with their audiences, and what just might be a new kind of news ecosystem in which everyone gets to play.

What’s Next in Journalism? is edited by journalist and media commentator Margaret Simons, who has also written the introduction. The contributors include Tim Burrowes (from Mumbrella), Eyal Halamish (OurSay), Wendy Harmer (The Hoopla), Matthew Landauer (OpenAustralia), Renai LeMay (Delimiter), Giles Parkinson (RenewEconomy), Karen Poh (Meld Magazine), Melissa Sweet (Croakey), and Chris Were (Newsflock).

When do you become an adult? What does it mean to grow up? And what are the experiences that propel us forward—or keep us stuck?

As we get older, we pass many milestones, but for some of us it can feel as if adulthood is always just out of reach.

Journalist and psychotherapist-in-training Moya Sarner goes on a journey into what growing up really involves, and how we do it again and again throughout our lives. She draws on case studies, as well as her training, and theories of child psychology, psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and more, to explore what it means to be a “grown up” and how we can meet the challenges and opportunities of every stage of our lives.

A tour de force about the impact of war on one family over the twentieth century.

Working at the Australian War Memorial for many years, Michael McKernan had heard and written about many stories of war. For him, war was never about the big picture; it always came down to the individual. Yet little did he know when he met his future wife in 1989 that her father would soon be telling him, over many leisurely afternoons, his own story, of being made a slave to the Nazis in the Second World War, and its unforeseeable consequences.

One of these consequences was that Mychajlo Stawyskyj’s son Joe would grow up in Australia in time to be sent to fight in Vietnam, where he would become one of that war’s worst casualties.

Drawing on his authoritative grasp of twentieth-century history, and in particular military and social history, Michael McKernan pieces together the disrupted lives of his father-in-law and brother-in-law, creating a compelling narrative of general interest, as well as an unforgettable story about the cost of war to one Australian family.

A gorgeously illustrated, warm and practical book of tips and wisdom to guide you through tough times.

This is a self-care manual for the days when you feel alone—the days when you worry that you’re too weird or broken or unfixable to be normal. With compassion, humor, and honesty, Jill offers signposts to help you find the path back to yourself.

Whether you’re having a bad day, or a run of bad days that seems never-ending, When You’re Not OK is an emotional first-aid kit for your body, mind, and soul, written by someone who’s been there too.

A searingly honest, no-holds-barred memoir about a man who shattered the silence about institutionalized child sexual abuse.

Manny Waks was raised in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family, the second oldest of seventeen children. As an adolescent, he was sexually abused at his religious school. Betrayed by those he trusted, Waks rebelled against his way of life, though he later went on to become a prominent Jewish community leader.

In mid-2011, Waks went public about his experiences, seeking to bring justice to the abusers and those who covered up their crimes. For his courage in speaking out, Manny and his family were intimidated and shunned by their community, and he was forced to leave Australia.

Nevertheless, Waks continues to advocate for survivors and to hold those in power to account. His pursuit of perpetrators led him to Crown Heights in Brooklyn and to Los Angeles, where he tracked down one of the Australian abusers and alerted the local Jewish communities to the international dimensions of the child sexual abuse problem.

Back in Australia, Waks was eventually vindicated by a royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse, and many of his attackers lost their positions of power and influence.

This is the story of a man who shattered a powerful code of silence, the battles he has fought, the vindication he has earned, and the extraordinary toll it has taken on his personal life and that of his loved ones.

From highly respected microbiologist and the creator of the YouTube sensation “Dumb Ways to Die,” comes this exploration of the immune system, what keeps it running, and how germs are destroyed…

So how come we’re not dead yet? In this lively and accessible book, Idan Ben-Barak tells us why. He explores the immune system and what keeps it running, how germs are destroyed, and why we develop immunities to certain disease-causing agents. He also examines the role of antibiotics and vaccines, and looks at what the future holds for our collective chances of not being dead.

This is entertaining and thoughtful science writing to inspire the student interested in a career in medicine or immunology, or to inform the reader who just wants to understand more about their body while having a laugh along the way.

Can knowledge heal chronic pain? The ultimate, science-driven guide to understanding chronic pain.

Paul Biegler—a science journalist and former doctor—has interviewed the world’s leading pain experts, along with people who have weathered their own chronic pain battles.

Chronic pain is the single biggest cause of suffering. And yet, pain that persists for more than three months is often unrelated to any physical injury. So why does it still hurt?

From neuroplasticity, to sensitized nervous systems, and associative learning—Dr. Biegler’s journey through pain clinics and studies debunks common myths about pain treatments and explores the pivotal recent brain science that explains why a nervous system holds on to pain pathways, and how to retrain the brain and the body.

Discover what we can learn from the leading pain doctors and the pain clinics that offer no pain medications but still have excellent (and fast) results.

Why Does It Still Hurt? is a must-read for anyone with chronic pain who wants cutting-edge knowledge and help to live pain-free.

A revelatory and original contribution to our understanding of the role of religion in society and politics.

India’s leading public intellectual, Shashi Tharoor, lays out Hinduism's origins and its key philosophical concepts, major texts and everyday Hindu beliefs and practices, from worship to pilgrimage to caste. He is unsparing in his criticism of extremism and unequivocal in his belief that what makes India a distinctive nation with a unique culture will be imperiled if Hindu “fundamentalists”—the proponents of “Hindutva," or politicized Hinduism—seize the high ground. In his view, it is precisely because Hindus form the majority that India has survived as a plural, secular democracy.

A book that will be read and debated now and in the future, Why I Am a Hindu, written in Tharoor's captivating prose, is a profound re-examination of Hinduism, one of the world's oldest and greatest religious traditions.

A revelatory and original contribution to our understanding of the role of religion in society and politics.

India’s leading public intellectual, Shashi Tharoor, lays out Hinduism's origins and its key philosophical concepts, major texts and everyday Hindu beliefs and practices, from worship to pilgrimage to caste. He is unsparing in his criticism of extremism and unequivocal in his belief that what makes India a distinctive nation with a unique culture will be imperiled if Hindu “fundamentalists”—the proponents of “Hindutva," or politicized Hinduism—seize the high ground. In his view, it is precisely because Hindus form the majority that India has survived as a plural, secular democracy.

A book that will be read and debated now and in the future, Why I Am a Hindu, written in Tharoor's captivating prose, is a profound re-examination of Hinduism, one of the world's oldest and greatest religious traditions.

An award-winning true-crime story about a fugitive on the run, told from his point of view. Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award for Nonfiction.

Callous murderer, outlaw hero or victim of the system? The subject of Andrew Hankinson’s book defies all such labels.

After killing his ex-girlfriend’s new lover, shooting her in the stomach, and blinding a policeman, Raoul Moat disappeared into the woods of Northern England, evading discovery for seven days. Moat captured the public imagination; he soon had an online following. Eventually, cornered by the police, Moat shot himself.

Drawing on extensive research—including many hours of tapes Moat recorded whilst he was at large—Hankinson tells Moat’s story using Moat’s own words, and those of the welfare agencies which engaged with him. The result is an unprecedented examination of violent breakdown; an electrifying nonfiction narrative in the tradition of Hunter S. Thompson and Norman Mailer.

“From schoolboy socialist to boy publisher to mogul on the make: Young Rupert offers a revelatory glimpse of Murdoch becoming Murdoch."—Jeff Sparrow, author of No Way But This: in search of Paul Robeson

For half a century, the Murdoch media empire and its polarizing patriarch have swept across the globe, shaking up markets and democracies in their wake. But how did it all start?

In September 1953, 22-year-old Rupert Murdoch landed in Adelaide, South Australia. Fresh from Oxford with a radical reputation, the young and brash son of Sir Keith Murdoch had arrived to fulfill his father’s dying wish: for Rupert to live a “useful altruistic and full life” in the media.

For decades, Sir Keith had been a giant of the Australian press, but his final years were spent bitterly fending off rivals and would-be successors. When the dust settled on his father’s estate, Rupert was left with the Adelaide-based News Ltd and its afternoon paper The News—a minor player in a small, parochial city.

But even this inheritance was soon under siege, as the left-wing “Boy Publisher” stared down his father’s old colleagues at the city’s paper of record, The Advertiser, and a conservative establishment kept in power by a decades-old gerrymander.

Led by Rupert’s friend, ally, and editor-in-chief Rohan Rivett, the fledgling Murdoch press began a seven-year campaign of circulation wars, expansion, and courtroom battles that divided the city and would lay the foundations for a global empire—if Rupert and Rohan didn’t end up in custody first.

Drawing on unpublished archival material and new reportage, Young Rupert pieces together a paper trail of succession, sedition, and power—and a fascinating time capsule of Australian media on the cusp of an extraordinary ascension.

Our brains are more powerful than we ever realized.

Too often, we humans tend to assume that nature is fixed, immutable—and this tendency is particularly strong when we think about matters of the mind and behaviour. People just can’t change, we say, so they must somehow be prevented from becoming a burden on society or from hurting themselves and others. Neuroplasticity—the virtually limitless capacity of the brain to remould itself—turns these notions on their heads.

Leading brain researcher Niels Birbaumer brings new hope to those suffering from depression, anxiety, ADHD, addiction, dementia, the effects of a stroke, or even the extremes of locked-in syndrome or psychopathy. Like the fathers and mothers of psychiatry, Birbaumer explores the sometimes-wild frontiers of a new way of thinking about our brains and behavior. Through actual cases from his research and practice, he shows how we can change through training alone, and without risky drugs. Open your mind to change.

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter
The seasons come and go, bringing changes both welcome and unexpected

Miki Sakamoto has spent a lifetime tending her garden and reflecting on its mysteries. Why do primulas bloom in snow? Do the trees really ‘talk’ to one another? What are the black birds saying today? And is there a mindful way to deal with an aphid infestation?

From rising early to walk barefoot on the grass each morning, to afternoons and evenings spent sipping tea in her gazebo or watching fireflies as she recalls her childhood in Japan, in Zen in the Garden Sakamoto shares observations from a life spent in contemplation—and cultivation—of nature.