Do Books

"Brands with purpose aren't accidental; they're meticulously crafted." – Sophie Bambuck, Chief Marketing Officer, The North Face

The most important brands in the world make us feel something.

They do that because they have something they want to change. And as customers, we want to be part of that change. These companies have a reason to exist over and above making a profit: they have a purpose.

Yes, we love the product they make. But the thing we love most about them is the change they are making.

Purpose is an incredibly powerful thing. It provides the strength to fight the impossible. It tells your story. It builds your teams, and it defines your culture.

In Do Purpose, David Hieatt shares insights on how to build one of these purpose-driven companies. You know, those rare brands we all fall in love with. The crazy ones that don’t just make something, but change something as well.

• A few simple rules of interior design

• Room-by-room style guides
• How to integrate nature into your space
• The art of arranging objects and laying a table

Find your style and design a space that is meaningful to you. Less noise, more Earth. Less house, more home.

Discover why the humble newsletter is pure and utter gold

How do you grow your business when you don't have a marketing budget? How do you stand out in a busy world?

And what if the answer is right in front of you?

"For me, the newsletter is the most important tool I have in building a global denim brand. Second only to the sewing machine."

So writes entrepreneur David Hieatt who has based his entire marketing strategy around a simple email newsletter. And it's worked. His company has grown into a creative global jeans business with a fiercely loyal community.

Now, David shares his insight, strategy and methodology so you can do the same. In Do Open you will discover:

• Why giving is your secret to success
• How to get people's attention when time is your biggest competitor
• Why creating beats sharing
• How a small team can win

• Define your values as they change over time
• Find out how "giving back" leads to a positive mindset
• Reignite a desire to learn
• Retrain your mind to think more autonomously

• How to source, structure and shape your story
• The power of the "gleaming detail"
• Why an emotional connection is key

• Rethink your "go to" hiring platforms
• Discover the real person at interview
• Invest time and resource in onboarding
• Let people go with kindness

• Preparation: what to make, where and how to get started
• Process: learn to trust it and let go of perfection
• Power: develop confidence in your natural skills and ability

• Become more productive without trying harder
• Overcome creative blocks and generate new ideas
• Respond fluidly to circumstances beyond your control
• Realise that you don’t have to know everything

• How and where to set up your hive
• The tools and equipment you need to get started
• The job of inspecting the hive
• How and when to harvest your honey
• With delicious honey-based recipes shared by talented chefs and cooks, including Honey & Co, you’ll learn all about bees and their inspiring world of work and honey production.

• Reset and regenerate
• Deepen your thinking and experiences
• Take back control of your time
• Reconnect with other people – and yourself

• Change your perspective and revamp your mindset
• Develop creative side projects
• Stay optimistic and resilient
• Discover skills and passions you never knew you had!

• Choosing the right people
• Getting through tough times
• Team building for introverts
• The power of (very) small teams
• Why good manners and kindness matter most

• Identify your natural negotiating style
• Develop strategies to deal with difficult situations (and people)
• Build trust and negotiate more collaboratively
• Think creatively to enrich deal terms

• The basic tools and ingredients you need to get started
• How to create and refresh your own sourdough starter
• Delicious recipes for basic loaves, sourdough pizza, ciabatta, crumpets, and more
• A 7-day plan for the bread you don’t devour immediately

• Help us rediscover the power of human connection
• Inspire us to talk about death more openly
• Offer sage advice on navigating grief, and talking to children
• Empower us to be better prepared, practically and emotionally

• Find your voice and the confidence to share it
• Learn how to tell stories, not just share data
• Stand and move around the stage comfortably
• Leave the audience informed, entertained, and uplifted

Why do some conversations flow, while others are stilted and awkward? Can we make difficult conversations easier?

Conversation is about more than communication. It’s how we connect with each other and make sense of the world – it’s an essential part of being human. And something we're naturally very good at.

Robert Poynton explores and celebrates this "everyday miracle hiding in plain sight". By drawing on many rich and diverse conversations, he offers simple ways to hone our natural skills to overcome anxiety, converse more skillfully and have more meaningful exchanges. In Do Conversation, you will:

• Discover it's not about being clever, witty, or winning arguments
• Learn to listen and hold space
• Create the conditions for more fruitful conversations
• Understand how a bit of simple structure can help

• Reduce stress and increase productivity
• Improve focus and work flow
• Cultivate good habits (and drop the bad)
• Build courage and resilience

• Preparations to make if you choose a homebirth
• Intuitive ways to help labor progress smoothly
• How to make a hospital birth more homely
• Advice on breastfeeding and the first hours, days and weeks with your newborn

• The basics for your gardening tool kit
• How to make your own compost
• Common garden pests to watch out for
• How to keep your soil fertile

Building Bluetopia – how one man built an inland surfing destination.

From surfing to cold plunging, we can’t help but immerse ourselves in water. And now, growing scientific evidence for “blue health” supports what many of us anecdotally feel: being in or near water is good for us.

Nick Hounsfield, the water-loving founder of the UK’s only inland surfing lake, knows this better than most. Shortly after The Wave opened, he suffered a stroke, at the age of 46. Much of his recovery was in the water.

In Do Blue he shares his inspiring story – alongside Abby and others whose connection to water has changed their lives – and gives practical tips on how to access blue health benefits year-round, regardless of where you live or your level of confidence in the water.

From the flow state of surfing, the mindfulness of fishing, and the exhilaration of cold-water immersion, there are a multitude of ways to unlock the power of blue. And you don’t have to be an adrenalin-seeking watersports fan to do it.

So, dive in and let’s reconnect with our watery roots.

"This book is a game-changer. It shifted my perception of what is healthy. Here's a clue: it isn't about weight. It will change you, for the better. It did me." – Mark Shayler, author & sustainability consultant

From the popular Do Books collection, an empowering guide to building a personalised plan for resilience and better metabolic health.

So often we lack the vital nutrients to help sustain our modern lives. Sarah Bayliss is a nutrition expert specializing in metabolic health. In this book, she makes complex science beautifully simple and provides a wholefoods framework for nourishing meals that give our bodies what they need. Instead of complicated recipes, you'll make small adjustments to your diet: just one thing a week. Discover:

• A 6-week plan that adapts to you and your schedule
• The importance of waking up well
• How to build a balanced plate for every meal
• No more weighing or measuring food, just use your hands

• Write your script from the first scene to the last
• Create vivid characters with a personality and a past
• Develop storylines, structure, and write a treatment
• Understand how the industry works so you can take your next step

Writing drama is not about education, class or cleverness, it's about your deep desire to tell stories, to create characters, finding the humor alongside the pathos, to delight and enthral millions. There is no golden path into production. But the world is hungry for talent. You are the talent. So, what are you waiting for?

• Basic principles and methods of preserving
• Equipment and ingredients
you need to get started
• Best preserving agents to use: sugar, vinegar, alcohol, oil, and salt
• Over 80 stunning recipes from Green Tomato Chutney to Strawberry Gin Fizz

• learn simple exercises to improve breathing, posture and pitch
• understand what might be holding you back
• get started with a few familiar songs
• compile the soundtrack to your life so far

Music is powerful and singing is cathartic. So, in the words of Bob Marley, let's get together and feel alright.

This isn’t a book about how to take the best pictures. It’s not even about the technical aspects of photography or how to "make it" as a photographer. In fact, it argues that you should take fewer photographs.

By sharing 10 practices honed over a lifetime spent behind the lens working with clients such as Adidas, Levi Strauss, and Apple, photographer Andrew Paynter encourages you to develop a more considered approach to photography so that you craft pictures with care.

Do Photo teaches novice, intermediate and advanced photographers — and everyone in between — how to use their cameras to really connect with subjects, create memorable and more impactful photographs, and to enjoy the process along the way. And guess what? It all starts before you even pick up the camera.

• Meet the Three Musketeers: resilience, perseverance and self-worth
• Develop tools to feel reinvigorated and realigned
• Discover what really makes you happy
• Appreciate how helping others can lift you too

• Properly sharpen all types of kitchen knives
• Sharpen scissors, secateurs, spades and more
• Use a whetstone and ditch ineffective home sharpeners
• Treat wooden chopping boards and season cast-iron pans

• Improve your creative process
• Raise the quality and craft of your work
• Consider the experience as much as the product
• Adopt simplicity, utility and honesty as guiding principles

• The remarkable power of lactobacillus
• Why fermented foods are key for gut health
• How to build a weekly rotation of ferments in your kitchen

With stunning photography Do Ferment will make fizzy ferments part of your everyday. Just grab some salt, a few jars and get started...

Many of us enjoy walking along a familiar path. Our spirits lift as our mind quietens; our soul is restored by the natural beauty and endurance of the landscape. As we adjust to the rhythm of walking, the earth offers up support and reassurance.

In Path, a beautifully written parable from the unique and soulful voice of Louisa Thomsen Brits, a solitary figure walks through uncertainty and isolation to reach an understanding that they are not alone, but part of the world around them. Blending storytelling and nature writing, Path is an invitation to experience aliveness and moments of connection that lift us to a wider perspective. The book’s meditative journey features film photography and original artworks that complement the lyrical prose and perfectly capture the luminosity of the chalk paths of Sussex. A positive, life-affirming tale offering encouragement and reassurance.

• How to season your food properly
• The role that sea salt plays in our health
• How to make your own sea salt

• What if means to scale – and if now is the right time
• Why founders need to "get out of their own way"
• How to develop winning teams
• Your secret weapon for decision making

• Notice more – practise paying attention and everything gets more interesting
• Collect more – gather together what you’ve noticed, new ideas pop out 
• Share more – get good at sharing it all and more magic arrives.

• The difference between hot and cold smoking
• Why brining is so important
• Simple methods using wood dust, rice and tea leaves
• How to make a cold smoker out of a cardboard box

From classic smoked salmon to hot smoked ice cream, smoked food has come a long way. And now you can try it at home.

It's time to start smoking again.

• Your natural leadership style
• The essential toolkit and mindset
• How to improve group dynamics and foster inclusivity
• Strategies for dealing with setbacks and failures

• Discover the three main stages: Cocoon, Adapt and Emerge
• Challenge and change your mindset
• Draw from an adaptive Playbook as you navigate loss, now or in the future.

Loss is a normal part of being human. You, like everyone else, can't avoid it. But you can get better at moving through with knowledge and action. And that is going to make all the difference.