Friday, August 27, 2010

Minds Eye, The

The Minds Eye

by Oliver Sacks, ISBN:9780330513999, R195.00

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Due November 2010

Review

“An absorbing attempt to unravel the complexities of the human mind.” –Kirkus --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

The bestselling author of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" describes how we experience the visual world. In "Musicophilia", Oliver Sacks explored music and the brain; now, in "The Mind's Eye", he writes about the myriad ways in which we experience the visual world: how we see in three dimensions; how we recognize individual faces or places; how we use language to communicate verbally; how we translate marks on paper into words and paragraphs, even how we represent the world internally when our eyes are closed. Alongside remarkable stories of people who have lost these abilities but adapted with courage, resilience and ingenuity, there is an added, personal element: one day in late 2005, Sacks became aware of a dazzling, flashing light in one part of his visual field; it was not the familiar migraine aura he had experienced since childhood, and just two days later a malignant tumor in one eye was diagnosed. In subsequent journal entries - some of which are included in "The Mind's Eye" - he chronicled the experience of living with cancer, recording both the effects of the tumor itself, and radiation therapy. In turning himself into a case history, Sacks has given us perhaps his most intimate, impressive and insightful (no pun intended) book yet.

Fear, The

The Fear - the last days of Robert Mugabe

by Peter Godwin, ISBN:9780330513951, R195.00

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Due October 2010

In mid-2008, after thirty years of increasingly tyrannical rule, Robert Mugabe, the 84-year-old ruler of Zimbabwe, met with his politburo. He had just lost an election. But instead of conceding power, Mugabe was persuaded to launch a brutal campaign of terror to cower Zimbabwe’s citizens. Journalist and author Peter Godwin was one of a few observers to slip into the country and bear witness to the terrifying period that Zimbabweans call simply, The Fear.
Following on from his compelling and moving memoirs Mukiwa. Told with Godwin’s brilliant eye for character and natural story-telling gifts, this dark story of Africa’s corruption and violence is populated by extraordinary characters whose lives have been shaped by The Fear.

Fall of giants

Fall of Giants

by Ken Follett, ISBN:9780230710078, R275.00

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Due 28 September 2010

This is a huge novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women. It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family, is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to emigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution. In a plot of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.

Conversations with Myself

Conversations with Myself

by Nelson Mandela, ISBN:9780230749016, R290.00

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Due 12 October 2010

Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has opened his personal archive, which offers an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life. Conversations With Myself gives readers access to the private man behind the public figure: from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela's twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom. Here he is making notes and even doodling during meetings, or recording troubled dreams on the desk calendar of his cell on Robben Island; and, writing journals while on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles in the early 1960s, or conversing with friends in almost seventy hours of recorded conversations. In these pages he is neither an icon nor a saint; here he is like you and me. An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his political conscience to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations With Myself is a rare chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in his own voice: direct, clear, private.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Art of happiness


Art of Happiness in a troubled world

by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Howard C Cutler, ISBN:9780340794401, R120.00

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Of the many Dalai Lama titles on sale, THE ART OF HAPPINESS -- written with western psychiatrist Howard Cutler -- is by far the biggest bestseller of them all. A huge international success, it has sold over 2 million copies worldwide, with over 300,000 of these sales in the UK alone. Now, this inspirational new book brings the successful East-meets-West pairing together again to provide a practical application of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual values to the fast-paced, unpredictable, stressful and demanding world we all live in today.In this wise, insightful and practical book, the Dalai Lama shows us how to follow the path that will lead us to fulfilment, purpose and happiness, even in our troubled modern times.

Shanghai Girls

Shanghai Girls

by Lisa See, ISBN:9781408801123, R110.00

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Two sisters, a world at war and one life-changing secret.
Shanghai, 1937. Pearl and May are two sisters from a bourgeois family. Though their personalities are very different - Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid - they are inseparable best friends. Both are beautiful, modern and living a carefree life until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away the family's wealth, and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to two 'Gold Mountain' men: Americans. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, the two sisters set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the villages of southern China, in and out of the clutches of brutal soldiers, and even across the ocean, through the humiliation of an anti-Chinese detention centre to a new, married life in Los Angeles' Chinatown. Here they begin a fresh chapter, despite the racial discrimination and anti-Communist paranoia, because now they have something to strive for: a young, American-born daughter, Joy. Along the way there are terrible sacrifices, impossible choices and one devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel by Lisa See hold fast to who they are - Shanghai girls.

Testing Times

Testing Times - In pursuit of the ashes

by Andrew Strauss, ISBN:9780340840702, R135.00

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TESTING TIMES is the 2009 Ashes-winning captain's personal account of a remarkable two-year period in world cricket. When Strauss went out for his second innings in the Napier Test of March 2008, everyone thought -- including the man himself -- he was one false stroke from the end of his England career. With extracts from his diary Strauss gives a unique insight into the torment which many Test cricketers go through. Taking the reader behind the scenes, Strauss describes his momentous experiences, such as Kevin Pietersen's captaincy, the dramatic events of the Stanford Twenty20 series, the shocking terrorist attack in Mumbai, his feat of becoming the first England batsman to hit two centuries in a Test in Asia, his sudden appointment as England captain, and his team being dismissed for 51 in his first Test. Both revealing and forthright, TESTING TIMES captures all the excitement of the 2009 Ashes triumph in which his magnificent batting and calm leadership played such a role: the agonising last day at Cardiff, England's first Ashes victory at Lord's for 75 years, the horrors of Headingley, and finally the joy at the Oval of regaining the Ashes.

Bob Marley - The Untold Story

Bob Marley - The Untold Story

by Chris Salewicz, ISBN:9780007255535, R140.00

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What was it about Bob Marley that made him so popular in a world dominated by rock'n'roll? How is that he has not only remained the single most successful reggae artist ever, but has also become a shining beacon of radicalism and peace to generation after generation of fans across the globe? On May 11, 1981, a little after 11.30 in the morning, Bob Marley died. The man who introduced reggae to a worldwide audience, in his own lifetime he had already become a hero figure in the classic mythological sense. From immensely humble beginnings and with talent and religious belief his only weapons, the Jamaican recording artist applied himself with unstinting perseverance to spreading his prophetic musical message. And he had achieved it: only a year earlier, Bob Marley and The Wailers' tour of Europe had seen them perform to the largest audiences a musical act had up to that point experienced. Record sales of Marley's albums before his death were spectacular; in the years since his death they have become phenomenal, as each new generation discovers afresh the remarkable power of his music. Chris Salewicz, who had a sequence of adventures with Bob Marley in Jamaica in 1979, offers us a comprehensive and detailed account of Bob Marley's life and the world in which he grew up and came to dominate. Never-before-heard interviews with dozens of people who knew Marley are woven through a narrative that brings to life not only the Rastafari religion and the musical scene in Jamaica, but also the spirit of the man himself.

Halfway to Hollywood

Halfway to Hollywood

by Michael Palin, ISBN:9780753827482, R150.00

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Orion Publishing Group, Limited, 2010 - 728 pages
After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, The Pythons made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful MONTY PYTHON'S MEANING OF LIFE. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A FISH CALLED WANDA (for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor), and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC. He co-produced, wrote and played the lead in THE MISSIONARY opposite Maggie Smith, who also appeared with him in A PRIVATE FUNCTION, written by Alan Bennett. Such was his fame in the US, he was enticed into once again hosting the enormously popular show Saturday Night Live, in one edition of which his mother makes a highly successful surprise guest appearance. He filmed several journeys for television and became chairman of the pressure group, Transport 2000. His family remains a constant as his and Helen's children enter their teens.
Faceless

by Martina Cole, ISBN:9780755374106, R120.00

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Eleven years ago Marie Carter was convicted of killing her two best friends. And she's paid the price. Now she is being released from prison. It's time to go home. But life has moved on, and Marie has nowhere to go. Her parents have disowned her, her friends have abandoned her, even her kids don't want to know. But some people out there are watching her, following her every move - they know that Marie Carter wants retribution.

Under the dome

Under the Dome

by Stephen King, ISBN:9780340992586, R120.00

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There's a reason why Stephen King is one of the best selling writers in the world ever. He knows how to write stories that suck you in and are impossible to put down. The New York Times describes it as a 'relentless tidal pull' and Stephen King has done it time and time again with stories like The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, The Green Mile and The Stand. In Under the Dome, he has produced another riveting masterpiece. The end of every chapter hooks you into the next, drawing you inside a psychological drama that is so rich, you don't read it, you live it. It is the story of the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine which is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. No one can get in and no one can get out. The normal rules of society are suddenly changed and when food, electricity and water run short, the community begins to crumble. As a new and more sinister social order develops, Dale Barbara, Iraq veteran, teams up with a handful of intrepid citizens to fight against the corruption that is sweeping through the town and to try to discover the source of the Dome before it is too late ...

Secrets in the shadows

Secrets in the Shadows

by Virginia Andrews, ISBN:9781847392268, R110.00

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Everyone says her mother was mad. Is she doomed to repeat the past? Up in the attic, that's where Alice's mother used to escape to -- and it's where, so Alice has been told, she plotted the murder of her own stepfather. Now, years later, with her mother locked away for life, the attic is where Alice finds comfort in her solitude, writing poetry and painting pictures. When Alice finally finds the courage to come out of her shell, exchanging her dowdy looks for flattering clothes and make-up, her life is completely transformed. She even attends her high school prom with a cute, popular boy. But the night turns suddenly tragic -- sending her new-found happiness crashing down around her, and hurtling Alice into a shattering new life: one that leads her to a shocking reunion with the shadows she had fled.

Fear the worst

Fear the worst

by Linwood Barclay, ISBN:9780752883359, R120.00

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The worst day of Tim Blake's life started out with him making breakfast for his seventeen-year-old daughter Sydney. Syd was staying with him while she worked a summer job - even if he wasn't entirely sure what her job at the Just Inn Time motel actually was - and Tim hoped this quality father-daughter time would somehow help her deal with his divorce. When she didn't arrive home at her usual time, he thought she'd probably gone to the mall to hang with her friends. When she didn't answer her phone he began to worry. When she didn't come home at all, he began to panic. And when the people at the motel said they had no Sydney Blake working there, and never had, he began to see his life going into freefall. If she hadn't been working at the motel every day, what had she been doing? Something she couldn't - or wouldn't - tell her own father about? To find his daughter Tim doesn't need to simply track her down - he needs to know who she really was, and what could have made her step out of her own life without leaving a trace. Only one thing has him convinced the worst hasn't already happened: the fact that some very scary people seem just as eager as he is to find her. The question is: who's going to find her first?

Pretty Little things

Pretty Little Things

by Jilliane Hoffman, ISBN:9780007346486, R120.00

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A terrifying new standalone psycholgical thriller from the bestselling writer of 'Retribution' Special Agent Bobby Dees knows what grief feels like. He understands the pain of losing a child. And he'll do whatever he can to prevent it from happening again. The phone call that comes on a Sunday morning will take him away from his insular world of grief and sleepless nights -- and into a far darker place. A young girl, Elaine Emerson, has gone missing and only Dees has a chance of finding her. It seems that Elaine was last seen waiting to meet her boyfriend - a mysterious figure she met secretly online who goes by the name of El Capitan, and whose reality is as cruel and chilling as the worst thing Dees can imagine!

Intent to Kill

Intent to kill

by James Grippando, ISBN:9780061628696, R75.00

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A fallen baseball star must use his new skills as Boston's king of sports radio to outwit a dangerous caller and prove--live and on the air--that the hit-and-run that killed his wife was no accident.
Ryan James once had it all. With a beautiful wife and a two-year-old daughter, he was just one minor-league baseball game away from realizing his lifelong dream of playing in the majors when the unthinkable happened: his wife, Chelsea, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while driving to Ryan's last game of the season.
Years later, Ryan is a popular shock jock at Boston's top-rated sports radio show, doing his best to raise his daughter alone. But his love for Chelsea endures, his insomnia persists, and the fact that the police never found the drunk who ran her off the road makes closure impossible. Then, on the third anniversary of Chelsea's death, chilling words from an anonymous tipster turn the accident into a homicide: I know who did it.
As the police scramble, Ryan makes a stunning discovery. The tip--a strangely coded message--may have come from Chelsea's own brother, a young man affectionately known as Babes, who has an autism-related disorder. But why would Babes have withheld this information for three years? And what finally made him come forward anonymously?
The demand for answers sends Babes on the run. Through a series of shocking on-air conversations with Babes, Ryan and Emma Carlisle, the dedicated prosecutor on the case, unravel a cover-up that reaches back to the night of Chelsea's death and that may implicate one of New England's most powerful families. It's a search that will forever change the lives of Ryan, Babes, and Emma--if they live to tell about it.

Don't Tell

Don't Tell

by Karen Rose, ISBN:9780755351572, R105.00

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It was a desperate plan. But Mary Grace Winters knew the only way to save herself and her child from her abusive cop husband was to stage their own death. Now all that remains of their former life is at the bottom of a lake...Armed with a new identity in a new town, she and her son have found refuge hundreds of miles away. As Caroline Stewart, she has almost forgotten the nightmare she left behind nine years ago. She is even taking a chance on love with Max Hunter, a man with wounds of his own. But her past is about to collide with the present when her husband uncovers her trail and threatens her hard-won peace. Step by step, he's closing in on her - and everything and everyone she loves.

Breathless

Breathless

by Dean Koontz, ISBN:9780007267644, R115.00

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In the Colorado mountains something miraculous comes into the life of Grady Adams, a strong, gentle man whose past experiences have alienated him from the modern world and driven him to live in the wilds. When he sees it, he knows that one of Nature's great mysteries has been revealed to him. He takes his friend Cammy Rivers to bear witness to the phenomenal presence. As a scientist, she is stunned and awed. She emails photos to colleagues in far places to try and find a name for the wonderful beings.
Before they know what is happening, Homeland Security has quarantined the wilderness around them and sent in assorted scientists to track down and 'neutralize' the threat to the known world. Grady and Cammy aren't sticking around to be mere witnesses to this atrocity – determined to prevent it, they go on the run, and a pursuit of hair-raising suspense is under way, with no happy ending in prospect…
Breathless is a unique and riveting thriller from the master of suspense.

Life's little detours

Life's little detours - 50 lessons to find and hold onto happiness

by Regina Brett, ISBN:9781409122227, R165.00

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'You can get through anything life hands you if you stay put in the day you are in and don't jump ahead.' When Regina Brett turned fifty, she wrote a column on the fifty lessons life had taught her. She reflected on everything she had learned through becoming a single parent, looking for love in the wrong places, battling cancer and making peace with a difficult childhood. Here, in the tradition of The Last Lecture, Tuesdays with Morrie, Simple Abundance and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, Regina takes her fifty lessons and explores them in short essays that are deeply personal. From 'Don't take yourself too seriously - nobody else does' to 'Life isn't tied up with a bow, but it's still a gift,' her warm and wise words will strike a chord with anyone who needs little help to get back on track and feel good about life.

Stuff Matters

Stuff matters - Genius, risk and the secret of capitalism

by Harry Bingham, ISBN:9780007260171, R220.00

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A counter-blast to the bashing of capitalism and a fresh and bold re-evaluation of the fundamentals that turn genius into hard currency. Harry Bingham used to be an economist and a banker and thought he understood money. Then, in autumn 2008, the world stood on the edge of calamity and Harry realised that all the things he knew had been proven utterly wrong. So, he decided to go back to first principles, to meet the people who make the money - the entrepreneurs and inventors, the salesmen and financiers. He wanted to find out how the world really worked and what drives the people who make it spin. For the first time he saw that while the economy might be about many things, it is never ever about money. We all have strong feelings about money. It is the magic of its alchemy that has catapulted the human race from extreme poverty to our world of ever-expanding riches, but it also brings with it economic chaos. But how many of us can say what is it made really made of and how it works? From billionaire entrepreneurs and Indian shift-workers to small-time manufacturers and conglomerate CEOs, The Root of All Good, is the story of the people who have created the world of extraordinary prosperity that we now live in, and the new system of capitalism they are shaping to recover our future.

Way we're working isn't working

The Way we're working, isn't working

by Tony Schwartz; Catherine McCarthy; Jean Gomes, ISBN:9780857200488, R195.00

Through his years of intensive work consulting to companies including Procter & Gamble, Sony, Toyota, Microsoft, Ford and Ernst & Young, with his firm The Energy Project, Schwartz has developed a powerful program for changing the way we are working that greatly boosts our engagement and our satisfication with our work and increases our performance. In this book he marshalls a wide range of powerful evidence from business research and psychology that shows that the current model of work -- in which people are treated essentially as machines that should be able to perform at top speed for extraordinarily long hours, be able to multi-task, be always accessible and online, withstand often harsh and emotionally punishing treatment, and be primarily driven by the need to make profits -- is not only not optimal, it is specfically counter-productive because it saps us of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy. In order for us to perform at our best, we must make a set of key changes in our work lives -- and in order to develop the full potential of their work force, our managers and companies must institute changes that will provide us with the regular physical renewal, emotional reward, mental focus and stimulation; and sense of purpose and significance that we need.

Every man in this village is a liar - An education in War

Every man in this village is a liar - An education in war

by Megan Stack, ISBN:9781408808795, R245.00

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A few weeks after the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre on 9/11, journalist Megan K. Stack, a twenty-five-year-old national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times , was thrust into Afghanistan and Pakistan, dodging gunmen and prodding warlords for information. From there, she travelled to war-ravaged Iraq and Lebanon and to other countries scarred by violence, including Israel, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, witnessing the changes that swept the Muslim world and labouring to tell its stories. Every Man in This Village Is a Liar is Megan Stack's riveting account of what she saw in the combat zones and beyond. She relates her initial wild excitement and her slow disillusionment as the cost of violence outweighs the elusive promise of freedom and democracy. She reports from under bombardment in Lebanon; records the raw pain of suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq; and, one by one, marks the deaths and disappearances of those she interviews. Beautiful, savage and unsettling, Every Man in This Village Is a Liar is a memoir about the wars of the twenty-first century that readers will long remember.

Return to the Olive Farm

Return to the Olive Farm

by Carol Drinkwater, ISBN:9780297856955, R195.00

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After sixteen months of travelling round the Mediterranean in search of the ancient secrets of the olive tree, Carol returns to her beloved olive farm in the south of France, to her husband Michel and his burgeoning family. However, the homecoming celebrations are overshadowed by disturbing discoveries. The plight of the honey bee has become an international crisis and Carol is faced with unsettling news about the hives on her own olive farm.
The bee colony that has regularly wintered at Carol’s farm has been decimated while she was away, poisoned by insecticides. While the multinational companies are pushing for ‘bigger, better, bumper’ crops, a small band of farmers and ecologists are calling for a halt to many of the modern farming malpractices that are endangering the planet. Carol is amongst them. But it puts her own farm, her idyll, under threat.

Women Food and God

Women Food and God - An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything

by Geneen Roth, ISBN:9780857201362, R170.00

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Millions of us are locked into an unwinnable weight game, as our self-worth is shredded with every diet failure. Combine the utter inefficacy of dieting with the lack of spiritual nourishment and we have generations of mad, ravenous self-loathing women. So says Geneen Roth, in her life-changing new book, Women, Food and God. Since her 1991 bestseller, When Food Is Love, was published, Roth has taken the sum total of her experience and combined it with spirituality and psychology to explain women's true hunger. Roth's approach to eating is that it is the same as any addiction - an activity to avoid feeling emotions. From the first page, readers will be struck by the author's intelligence, humour and sensitivity, as she traces the path of overeating from its subtle beginnings through to its logical end. Whether the drug is booze or brownies, the problem is the same: opting out of life. She powerfully urges readers to pay attention to what they truly need - which cannot be found in a supermarket. She provides seven basic guidelines for eating (the most important is to never diet) and shares reassuring, practical advice that has helped thousands of women who have attended her highly successful seminars. Truly a thinking woman's guide to eating - and an anti-diet book - women everywhere will find insights and revelations on every page.

By Midnight - A Ravenwood Mystery

By Midnight - A Ravenwood Mystery

by Mia James, ISBN:9780575095526, R135.00

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April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart ...and trying to fit in is when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye. Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from ...something ...in the Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place, just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on. ..and whether or not she's going to live through it ...More on the Ravenwood series can be found at www.ravenwoodmysteries.com

Downside Ghosts 2 - Unholy Magic

Downside Ghosts 2 - Unholy Magic

by Stacia Kane, ISBN:9780007343256, R115.00

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The second book in this edgy urban fantasy trilogy. Chess is a fiercely independent witch and talented Debunker - working for the Church of Real Truth to exorcise ghosts and expose human liars. But she has a dark little secret that is causing her a lot of problems! a drug addiction. Trying to catch a spectral serial killer with a fondness for his victims' eyes is distracting Chess from her day job, and her growing attraction to Terrible is making things worse. Life is getting too complicated and Chess must break the rules to keep her head above water.

Lost Souls

Lost Souls

by Dean Koontz, ISBN:9780007353972, R180.00

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SOMEONE NEW IS PLAYING GOD The Frankenstein story updated to the 21st century by the great American storyteller Dean Koontz. In a powerful reworking of one of the classic stories of all time, Dr Frankenstein lives on, seemingly indestructible, more malignant than ever. Frankenstein's first monster, Deucalion, has spent two hundred years trying to put an end to his creator. Now he learns that a new Frankenstein clone, Victor Helios, is out there again, somewhere. Terrifyingly, with each incarnation the sinister doctor draws closer to the possibility of succeeding in his ambition to create a new human race -- which he will control. He has found an enigmatic backer and is working in a secret location. Together with the two ex-cops who helped him destroy the previous Victor, Deucalion is drawn to the small Montana town where Victor's grotesque new creations are taking shape. Victor's New Race is spectacularly different, a product of cutting-edge technology and stem-cell circuits, and when things go wrong, they go wrong in very unexpected ways. Frankenstein is unleashing a new menace on the world, whether he can control it or not. And even if Deucalion can bring him down, it may be too late.

Sacred Vault

The Sacred Vault

by Andy McDermott, ISBN:9780755354658, R185.00

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The sixth brilliant book from Andy McDermott - Clive Cussler's heir apparent. The world is in shock when Michelangelo's David is stolen from a museum in Florence, Italy. The latest in a series of audacious thefts of historical treasures, it's only a matter of time before another priceless artefact is targeted. When the Talonor Codex -- a great Atlantean explorer's account of his travels -- is stolen, it becomes clear that the thefts form only part of the raiders' ultimate plan. The codex holds clues to the location of the Vault of Shiva and its fabled contents -- the legendary Shiva-Vedas, the chronicles of the ancient Hindu god of destruction. Witnesses to the latest daring robbery, archaeologist Nina Wilde and former SAS soldier Eddie Chase are forced into a treacherous hunt across the world to discover the vault before its secrets fall into dangerous hands. The vault's prize is a treasure beyond price, but it may also be the catalyst for global annihilation...

Dealer and the dead, The

The Dealer and the dead

by Gerald Seymour, ISBN:9780340918913, R185.00

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Eighteen years after the barbarous war with the Serbs that tore their communities apart, a group of Croatian villagers discover the identity of the Englishman who they believe betrayed them by welching on a deal to supply arms. With revenge in sight at last, they hire a professional killer from London to track him down ...but is the story as simple as they think? A brilliant, bruising thriller, told in a unique way, about what happens when the hand of the past suddenly reaches out to the present - and is holding a gun.

Not my daughter

Not my daughter

by Barbara Delinsky, ISBN:9780007285846, R115.00

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A pregnancy pact between three teenaged girls puts their mothers' love to the ultimate test in this explosive new novel from Barbara Delinsky When Susan Tate's seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, announces she is pregnant, Susan is stunned. A single mother, she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unimaginable tragedy for both Lily and herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies among high school juniors who happen to be Lily's best friends-and the town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing, the most ardent criticism is directed at Susan. As principal of the high school, she has always been held up as a role model of hard work and core values. Now her detractors accuse her of being a lax mother, perhaps not worthy of the job of shepherding impressionable students. As Susan struggles with the implications of her daughter's pregnancy, her job, financial independence, and long-fought-for dreams are all at risk. The emotional ties between mothers and daughters are stretched to breaking in this emotionally wrenching story of love and forgiveness. Once again, Barbara Delinsky has given us a powerful novel, one that asks a central question: What does it take to be a good mother?

Last letter from your lover

The last letter from your lover

by Jojo Moyes, ISBN:9780340961636, R185.00

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When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper's archives for a story, she doesn't think she'll find anything of interest. Instead she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband -- and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair. Despite, or perhaps because of her own romantic entanglements with a married man. In 1960, Jennifer wakes up in hospital after a car accident. She can't remember anything -- her husband, her friends, who she used to be. And then, when she returns home, she uncovers a hidden letter, and begins to remember the lover she was willing to risk everything for. Ellie and Jennifer's stories of passion, adultery and loss are wound together in this richly emotive novel -- interspersed with real 'last letters'.

Storm Prey

Storm Prey

by John Sandford, ISBN:9781847376183, R180.00

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A daring drugs raid on a Minneapolis hospital, during which a medical orderly is kicked to death, takes place on the same day that Lucas Davenport's surgeon wife, Weather, is due to perform a high-profile operation to separate conjoined twin girls. Investigating the raid, Davenport concludes that it must have been an inside job and - as a witness to the criminals' desperate getaway - Weather is now in grave danger.

Live to tell

Live to tell

by Lisa Gardner, ISBN:9781409101055, R195.00

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Danielle often thinks about that night when her childhood her ended. The sound of her father shooting her mother and then hunting down her brother, as she cowered under her duvet, trying to drown out the sound. She can remember the sound her brother made as he was killed. And she can remember her father standing in the doorway of her bedroom, saying 'I'm sorry, Danielle...' before he turned the gun on himself. Haunting enough for any child, but Danielle has always wondered, why not her too? Why did her father let her go? Years later, Danielle is working in a hospital that deals with the most violent and damaged of children. And someone there knows something about her past, and is prepared to kill to keep it quiet...

Rough Justice

Rough Justice

by Stephen Leather, ISBN: 9780340924945, R185.00

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You want to play the big boys' games, you have to fight by big boys' rules ...Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is sent undercover to investigate a group of policemen in the Territorial Support Group. Fed up with all the paperwork and the fact that the system is geared up to support the criminals rather than the victims, they have started to act as vigilantes, planting forensic evidence to frame known criminals, and moving on to more drastic methods ...Spider is far from happy about deceiving fellow policemen. And things are complicated on other fronts for him too: his friend Jimmy Sharpe is tied up in an undercover BNP investigation which is causing problems, and he's discovered a happy slapping film on his son's mobile ...

Burning Wire

Burning Wire

by Jeffery Deaver, ISBN:9780340937297, R185.00

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New York is being held to ransom. Manhattan's electricity grid has been the victim of a horrific attack ...and more are planned. While the FBI and Homeland Security try to determine who's behind the carnage, Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs race to decode the forensics in order to prevent the next assault. But all is not what it seems. Electricity can be as lethal as it is vital, and Lincoln Rhyme soon finds he's up against a merciless killer with a unique weapon -- one that can be found in everyone's home and office. And in the meantime, one of the few criminals to have ever slipped Rhyme's net is under surveillance in Mexico. The deadly assassin known as the Watchmaker has set his murderous sights on innocent victims, whose identity is as yet unknown ...Lincoln Rhyme must race against the clock, juggling the two investigations, as they hurtle headlong toward their deadly outcomes.

Power, The

The Power

by Rhonda Byrne, ISBN:9780857201706, R210.00


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You are meant to have an amazing life! This is the handbook to the greatest power in the Universe - The Power to have anything you want. Every discovery, invention, and human creation comes from The Power. Perfect health, incredible relationships, a career you love, a life filled with happiness, and the money you need to be, do, and have everything you want, all come from The Power. The life of your dreams has always been closer to you than you realized, because The Power - to have everything good in your life - is inside you. To create anything, to change anything, all it takes is just one thing...THE POWER.

Daddy's Girl

Daddy's Girl - a Clare Hart Thriller

by Margie Orford, ISBN:9781868423866, R130.00

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Sharply intelligent and beautiful, investigative journalist turned profiler Dr Clare Hart has a reputation: she can see into the darkest places of the violent criminal mind. Riedwaan Faizal is a member of the South African Police's elite Gang Unit. Tough and streetwise, he is used to being a target. But when the danger of his one-man anti-gang war envelopes his only daughter, and he becomes the prime suspect in her abduction, there is little he can do. Distraught, Faizal turns to a sceptical Clare Hart for help. Their desperate search for the missing child, whose chances of survival diminish with each hour, unravels a tangled web of deception and danger that puts all their lives at terrible risk.

Wall of Days

Wall of days

by Alastair Bruce;ISBN:9781415201374, R180.00

due September 2010

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In a world all but drowned, a man called Bran has been living on an island for ten years. He was sent there in exile by those whose leader he was, and he tallies on the wall of his cave the days as they pass. Until the day when something happens that kindles in Bran such memories and longing that he persuades himself to return, even if it means execution. His reception is so unexpected, so mystifying that he casts about unsure of what is real and what imaginary. Only the friendship of a child consoles him as he retraces the terrible deeds for which he is answerable, and as he tries to reach back, over his biggest betrayal, to the one he loved. Wall of Days is a moving parable about guilt, loss and remembering.

About the Author - Alastair Bruce
Alastair Bruce was born in Port Elizabeth and studied at the University of Cape Town where he started in a science degree course but ended with a masters in English Literature. He has been living in the United Kingdom for over ten years where he works in electronic publishing. He is married and has a baby daughter. Titles published by Umuzi Wall of Days, 2010 ...[more about Alastair Bruce]

From Soldier to Civvy

From Soldier to Civvy

by Cameron Blake, ISBN:9781770221345, R180.00

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Following the success of Troepie: From Call-up to Camps, Cameron Blake’s new book looks at National Service from a number of different angles. The book contains seven in-depth accounts from a diverse selection of former conscripts – a recce, a dog handler, a mortarist, a parabat, a gunner, a loadmaster, a military policeman and a marine – who take you through their entire military careers and provide detailed insider’s information on each role. A number of frank and often humorous letters home from a soldier to his fiancée are also included in the book, and there are interviews with women – mothers, sisters, wives and girlfriends – who talk about how National Service affected them and their men. And, finally, former soldiers look back at their time in the army and reveal the powerful and lasting effects it has had on them and how they view it from the perspective of the present.

About the Author - Cameron Blake
Cameron Blake grew up in Johannesburg and studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town before completing his National Service in the early nineties. He currently works at The Africa Star, a shop that sells coins, medals and militaria, where he conducted the interviews that appear in this book. ...[more about Cameron Blake]

Boots en brannewyn - Snaakse stories uit die rugbywereld

Boots en brannewyn

deur Frik du Preez; Chris Schoeman;ISBN:9781770221338, R150.00

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Of jy nou vir Bitterfontein, die Blou Bulle of die Bokke speel, rugby bly ’n spel met baie snaakse situasies, op en van die veld. Daar’s nie nóg ’n sport waaruit sóveel stories uit die skrum van die lewe gehaak word nie. Boots en brannewyn is ’n lekker ontspanboek wat o.a. vertel van Morrie Zimerman se gatvol raak vir hoekskoppies; Ferdie Bergh se helderblou Springbok-kouse; die ref wat die Bokke teregwys dat ‘die Engelse julle darem nou lekker donner’; ’n boerbok wat ’n Villagers-man buite aksie stel; en Bob Skinstad se ‘noodgebed’ voor ’n wedstryd. Daar is ook heelwat staaltjies oor legendes soos Oom Boy Louw, Dok Craven, Oubaas Mark en Colin Meads, oor breiers en refs en die manewales van die Kiwis, Aussies en die Ses Nasies-manne. ’n Lekker-lag boek vir rugby-liefhebbers.

About the Author - Frik du Preez
Frik du Preez is ’n groot legende in die rugbywêreld en een van die min Springbokke wat al in die International Hall of Fame vereer is. Hy is ook in 2000 aangewys as Suid-Afrika se Speler van die Eeu. Met 87 wedstryde vir die Springbokke, insluitende 38 toetse, en meer as 100 wedstryde vir Noord-Transvaal, het Frik ’n ryke skatkis van snaakse rugbystaaltjies opgebou. Hy het nie net onsterflike roe ...[more about Frik du Preez]

About the Author - Chris Schoeman
Chris Schoeman was born in Somerset East and educated at the University of Port Elizabeth and Colorado State University, USA. He has worked as a historian and journalist and has authored and co-authored several books, including District Six: The Spirit of Kanala, Danie Gerber: Maestro of the Midfield and the popular Losskrums and Loopdoppe series, collections of humorous rugby stories compiled wit ...[more about Chris Schoeman]

Gate

Gate

by Ian Wolstenholme;Steven Kotze, ISBN:9781770078819, R210.00

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Viewed collectively, there can be no doubt that farm names are a testament to the profound meaning land holds in South Africa. Scattered across the countryside, often hidden along remote dirt roads, some farm gateways transcend the mere functional purpose of marking the threshold to a piece of property. Mostly created by the owners themselves, farm gates can range from the triumphant to the ascetic, from the humorous to the religious, showing all sorts of imagery – tractors and bicycles on poles, obsolete farm implements, tin cut-outs of animals suspended from rickety posts, rusted handmade signs and roughly hewn carvings or sculptures. Regardless of their form, these extraordinary portals serve the same purpose as conventional art: to mark the presence or past of an individual spirit. Introduced by an incisive essay that examines how it is that a particular parcel of land is claimed, surveyed and named, this book captures the unique character of farm gates around South Africa.

About the Author - Ian Wolstenholme
Ian Wolstenholme has a BA in Philosophy and Classical Civilisation from the University of Natal. He is a sub-editor at the Mercury newspaper in Durban, and spends most of his free time working on personal photographic projects. ...[more about Ian Wolstenholme ]

About the Author - Steven Kotze
Steven Kotze graduated from the University of Natal with an Honours degree in History (cum laude). A winner of two Loeries and a silver commendation from the New York Design Guild, Steven’s work is regularly published in magazines and travel journals. ...[more about Steven Kotze ]

Chamberlain's Birds of Africa South of the Sahara (New Edition)

Chamberlain's Birds of Africa - South of the Sahara (New Edition)

by Ian Sinclair;Peter Ryan, ISBN:9781770076235, R375.00

due September

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Fully revised, Birds of Africa south of the Sahara provides unrivalled coverage of African birds in a single volume, and is the first book to describe and illustrate all of the birds found in Africa south of the Sahara Desert (the Afrotropic Region), including Socotra, Pemba and islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Despite its exceptional coverage, this guide is compact enough to use in the field, and follows the standard field guide format, with texts and range maps appearing opposite the colour plates.

About the Author - Ian Sinclair
Ian Sinclair is renowned in African birding circles for his field knowledge and expertise in identifying the region's many bird species. His vast experience has been gained in expeditions to every corner of Africa, as well as to the Himalayas, Antarctica and Marion island. He has authored or co-authored several successful bird books, including the hugely successful Field Guide to Birds of SA (Stru ...[more about Ian Sinclair]

About the Author - Peter Ryan
Peter Ryan is a senior lecturer at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, a partner of 'Birding Africa' and a keen birder who has led numerous birding tours in southern Africa. A long-standing member of the SA Rarities Committee, his research interests include the evolutionary ecology of birds and island conservation. He is co-editor of the current r ...[more about Peter Ryan]

Easy, Simple and Delicious

Easy, simple and delicious

by Sonia Cabano, ISBN:9781770078284, R210.00

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Most people think healthy eating entails boredom and deprivation. Sonia Cabano begs to differ! According to her, besides providing energy, food should taste good, and every mealtime should be a celebration. Sonia loves to cook but realises that cooking is a chore for most people. Easy, Simple and Delicious is largely inspired by the countless requests she has received from people begging for fast, easy and healthy recipes. While her emphasis is on fast and fresh, Sonia recognises that food made with care sustains more than the body, it nourishes the soul. This book, therefore, contains a variety of recipes, some requiring a little more time than others, but all easy, simple and delicious! With stunning full-colour photographs, the book is divided into four unique chapters: ‘Fresh’ urges us to detox and recharge; ‘Fast’ offers quick and easy gourmet meals; ‘Lazy’ invites us to wind down and celebrate; and in ‘Staples’ we learn to stock up the larder.

About the Author - Sonia Cabano
Sonia Cabano is a former model turned chef who lived in London and Europe for 12 years, training at Anthony Worrall-Thompson’s Bistro 190, Rowley Leigh’s Kensington Place, Justin de Blank’s and Blacks in Soho. After returning to South Africa she ran a successful catering business in Cape Town with numerous high-profile media and corporate clients, including Italian Vogue, Janet Jackson, Tina Turne ...[more about Sonia Cabano ]

Vars, vinnig, Lekker

Vars, vinnig, lekker

deur Sonia Cabano, ISBN:9781770078291, R210.00

September 2010

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Meeste mense dink gesond eet is sinoniem met saai kos en langtandkou. Sonia Cabano verskil! Sy meen kos is meer as net ’n bron van energie – dit moet lekker wees. Elke maaltyd bied die geleentheid om ’n genotsfees te vier! Sonia is lief vir kook, maar sy weet dat dit vir baie mense net ’n taak is. Vars, vinnig, lekker is geïnspireer deur die versoeke wat sy kry vir vinnige, maklike en gesonde resepte. Hoewel sy klem lê op vars en vinnig, meen Sonia dat kos wat met sorg gemaak word, meer as net die liggaam onderhou – dit voed die siel. Daarom bevat hierdie boek ’n verskeidenheid resepte. Sommige vereis meer voorbereidingstyd as ander, maar elkeen is ewe vars, vinnig en lekker! Die boek is in vier unieke hoofstukke verdeel met treffende volkleurfoto’s: ‘Vars’ moedig ons aan om ons liggame te verfris en van gifstowwe ontslae te raak. ‘Vinnig’ bied blitsige, maklike gourmet-etes. ‘Luilekker’ nooi jou uit om te ontspan en die lekker van die lewe te geniet, en ‘Spens’ bied resepte om jou koskasvoorraad aan te vul.

About the Author - Sonia Cabano
Sonia Cabano is a former model turned chef who lived in London and Europe for 12 years, training at Anthony Worrall-Thompson’s Bistro 190, Rowley Leigh’s Kensington Place, Justin de Blank’s and Blacks in Soho. After returning to South Africa she ran a successful catering business in Cape Town with numerous high-profile media and corporate clients, including Italian Vogue, Janet Jackson, Tina Turne ...[more about Sonia Cabano ]

Cooking for the Freezer

Cooking for the freezer

by Julia Orbe, ISBN:9781770078543, R170.00

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After numerous requests from clients of her catering business, Julia Orbe developed a range of healthy, wholesome meals that can be made in quantity, in advance, and then simply frozen for later use. The frenetic speed and rigours of today’s lifestyle mean that we have little time and even less energy at the end of each day to cook a full-on nutritious meal for ourselves and our loved ones. Perfect for individuals, couples or families, each recipe in Cooking for the Freezer is accompanied by advice on increasing quantities for cooking in bulk and freezing. A comprehensive ‘Guidelines for Freezing’ chart provides information on how long each meal may be stored in the freezer, and indicates which meals are suitable for diabetics and wheat- and gluten-intolerant individuals. This fully illustrated cookbook is packed with recipes that are easy to follow and quick to make, with ingredients that are freely available. Covering beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and vegetarian dishes, Cooking for the Freezer is certain to cater to a wide spectrum of people, from school-leavers and newly-weds to busy moms, single parents, domestic workers, anyone on a budget or people simply conscious of saving time, money, electricity and water.

About the Author - Julia Orbe
Julia Orbe started her own successful catering business from scratch in 2003. Over the years, she has given many cookery courses to benefit domestic workers, teenagers, and children. The idea for this book stemmed from the range of frozen meals she developed for her business. ...[more about Julia Orbe]

Don't Choke - Gary Player

Don't Choke

by Gary Player, ISBN:9781770221406, R180.00

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Don’t Choke - Gary Player
Gary Player is one of golf’s great champions. By winning eighteen Major championships in a career spanning five decades, he built a reputation for being fearless on the course and steely on the greens. He succeeded by dedicating himself to thorough mental preparation and proper physical fitness. His intense approach to facing challenges has made him tremendously successful in a variety of businesses as well as on the golf course. In Don't Choke, Player explains that to win Major championships, or to be successful in any endeavour, you've got to have a genuine passion and a willingness to sacrifice. But success or failure eventually comes down to how well you handle pressure. And in dealing with pressure, Player explains, there is no greater asset on the golf course than the power of one's mind. In each chapter of Don't Choke, Player focuses on one of his 18 Major championships and recounts how he was able to withstand and overcome intense pressure to emerge victorious. These lessons apply not only to golf, but also to life and business. Don't Choke is an intimate glimpse into the mind of a champion, designed to arm readers with the tools to thrive when the pressure is on.

About the Author - Gary Player
Legendary golfer Gary Player has won the Open Championship in three different decades and is one of five men to have won all four Majors - in total he has won nine Majors. His Gary Player Design company has been responsible for innovative golf course architecture around the world. Player's co-authors on The Complete Golfer's Handbook (New Holland, 1999), Chris Whales and Duncan Cruickshank - sport ...[more about Gary Player]

Journey, A - Tony Blair

A journey

by Tony Blair, ISBN:9780091925550, R295.00

Due September 2010

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Tony Blair is the politician who defines our times. His emergence as Labour leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift in British politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed his party and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime minister in 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour's history, and bringing to an end eighteen years of Conservative government. He took Labour to a historic three terms in office, as the dominant political figure of the last two decades. A Journey is Tony Blair's first-hand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana's death to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisions that were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues such as Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, the gruelling negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the battles over education and health, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage, from Mandela and Clinton to Putin and Bush. He analyses the belief in ethical intervention that led to his decisions to go to war, in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan and, most controversially of all, in Iraq. A Journey is a book about the nature and uses of political power. In frank, unflinching, often wry detail, Tony Blair charts the ups and downs of his career to provide insight into the man, as well as the politician and statesman. He explores the challenges of leadership, and explains why he took on public opinion to stand up for what he believed in. He also looks forwards, to emerging power relationships and economies, and to Britain's changing role, addressing the vital issues and complexities of our global world. Few British prime ministers have shaped the nation's course as profoundly as Tony Blair, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Amid the millions of words written about him, this book is unique: his own journey, in his own words. Visit www.tonyblairjourney.co.uk for more...

About the Author - Tony Blair
Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh in 1953. He became MP for Sedgefield in 1983, leader of the Labour Party in 1994, and was prime minister of the United Kingdom from May 1997 to June 2007. Since leaving Downing Street, Tony Blair has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East, working with the Palestinians on behalf of the USA, UN, Russia and EU to prepare for statehood as part of the ...[more about Tony Blair]

Surprising life of Constance Spry

The Surprising life of Constance Spry

by Sue Shephard, ISBN:9780230741812, R312.00

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'Dress by Schiaperelli, photographs by Cecil Beaton, flowers by Constance Spry - The decorator of the moment, the photographer of the moment, the florist of the moment - what more could you ask?' Thus Vogue magazine described the wedding in 1937 of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but today Constance Spry is better known as the author of that bible of middle-class housewives throughout the land, The Constance Spry Cookery Book . But who was she? Those of us who recognize the name think only of recipes, but her story is in fact that of a profoundly unconventional woman, who went from a poverty stricken childhood to the height of London society, taking in a career as rich and varied as it was unusual for a woman of her era. Connie began her life teaching slum children and ended it creating the floral displays for the coronation Queen Elizabeth II. Along the way, she escaped a violent marriage, had a lengthy affair with a cross-dressing lesbian artist and built a hugely successful business as a society florist. Today, her influence can be seen in every unorthodox flower arrangement, every 'natural' bouquet tied with rattan and, of course, in the gardens up and down the country planted with the Constance Spry rose.

Milo Armadillo

Milo Armadillo

by Jan Fearnley, ISBN:9781406325553, R105.00

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This is an enchanting picture book about learning to love things for what they are. All Tallulah wants for her birthday is a pink fluffy rabbit, but Gran knits her something very different: a pink, fluffy armadillo! You can even knit your own Milo Armadillo with an exclusive knitting pattern! Jan Fearnley has sold over 350,000 books worldwide in just three years.

Do try this at home!

Do try this at home!

by Punk Science, ISBN: 9780330508063, R151.00

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Would you like to make a fizz bang rocket or a helicopter? Then you need this very funny book packed with dozens of amazing, easy-to-do home experiments, ably demonstrated by the Science Museum's own Punk Science comedy team. You will have lots of fun, and will learn lots about science at the same time. Do Try This At Home is crammed with facts, jokes, big ideas,and experiments. The book is fully colored and illustrated with artwork and photographs. It includes a cover mounted DVD featuring the Punk Science team showing us some brilliant experiments that should not be done at home! The book is divided into 6 sections like: Flight & Space; Light & Sound; Forces & Gravity; Energy; Chemistry; and Electricity & Magnetism.

Reach for the skies

Reach for the skies - Ballooning, Birdmen and blasting into Space

by Richard Branson, ISBN:9780753519868, R235.00

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Virgin Books Limited, 2010
As far back as stories go, pioneers have reached for the skies. In the last two hundred years, they have mastered the air and made the modern world possible. Today they are bringing outer space within our reach. They're inventors and toymakers, amateurs and adventurers, visionaries, dreamers and, yes, crackpots. Some have called them irresponsible, even dangerous. But I have met many of them. I have worked with them, and funded them, and flown with them. I admire them, and trust them, and I think they and their kind are our future. In this book I look at the history of flight through the stories and people who have inspired me throughout my life. In these pages you will find tales of miraculous rescues; of records made and broken; of surprising feats of endurance and survival, including some of my own adventures, as well as developments in the future of air (and space) travel. It is a story of pioneers, and of course it includes the world famous Montgolfiers and the Wright brothers. But I also want to describe some of the lesser-known trailblazers -- people like Tony Jannus, who in 1914 created the world's first scheduled commercial flight, flying his passengers over the waters of Tampa Bay at an altitude of just fifty feet; the bird man Leo Valentin, who in the 1950s jumped from 9,000 feet with wooden wings attached to his shoulders; and my friend, Steve Fossett, who dedicated his life to breaking records and having adventures. This is their story. It is also, in a small way, my own.