Philip Hanson is a jazz fan, a cricket fan and a Russia-watcher. He has also been a husband for many years and is the father of two sons who are, leta s face it, middle-aged, though youa d never know it. So now he is getting on a bit. His employment record suggests restlessness: the Treasury, Foreign Office, UN, Radio Liberty, Harvard, Michigan and Kyoto, among others. In fact, he fitted in about thirty yearsa work at Birmingham University a " enough to make anyone restless. Expelled from Moscow in 1971, he persisted in studying the Russian economy; eventually the Soviets let him back in. His memoir is a record of people, places, events and ideas. It even contains bits on cricket and jazz.

Mahlangeni, the Tsonga word for "meeting place", is one of the most remote ranger stations in the Kruger National Park. Far from everywhere, this isolated corner of the wilderness was home for eleven years to Kobie Kruger, wife of the ranger in charge of the station, and their their three daughters.;Running a household and raising a family in a place where leopards, elephants, snakes and the like are your only neighbours, where you have no telephone, and where a trip to town means first crossing a river full of hippos and crocodiles, is hardly a straightforward business. But Kobie Kruger tackled each problem with undaunted pragmatism and an energy that gives new meaning to word resourceful.

The definitive biography of Michael Jackson, a "vivid...gripping...authoritative account of a world-changing force of nature" (Rolling Stone), celebrating the King of Pop's legendary contributions to music, dance, and popular culture. From the moment in 1965 when he first stepped on stage--at age seven--in Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson was destined to become the undisputed King of Pop. In a career spanning four decades, Jackson became a global icon, selling over four hundred million albums, earning thirteen Grammy awards, and spinning dance moves that captivated the world. Songs like "Billie Jean" and "Black and White" altered our national discussion of race and equality, and Jackson's signature aesthetic, from the single white glove to the moonwalk, defined a generation. Despite publicized scandals and controversy, Jackson's ultimate legacy will always be his music. In an account that "reminds us why Michael Jackson was, indeed, a 'genius' entertainer" (New York Newsday), Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper delves deeply into Jackson's music and talent. From the artist's early days with the Jackson 5, to his stratospheric success as a solo artist, to "Beat It" and "Thriller," "Bad" and "The Man in the Mirror," to his volatile final years, his attempted comeback, and untimely death, Knopper draws on his "critical and reportorial savvy in assessing Jackson's creative peaks and valleys," (USA TODAY) exploring the beguiling and often contradictory forces that fueled Michael Jackson's genius. Drawing on an amazing four hundred interviews--ranging from Jackson's relatives, friends, and key record executives to celebrities like will.i.am and Weird Al Yankovic--this critical biography puts his career into perspective and celebrates his triumph in art and music. This is "a thoughtful look at an artist who grew up in a segregated mill town and who, for the rest of his life, made music to bring down walls" (Chicago Tribune).

"There once is a Queen ever constant to her people..." From the Nation's Favourite Storyteller Sir Michael Morpurgo comes a poetic celebration of our Queen and longest reigning monarch, beautifully illustrated in watercolour by acclaimed artist Michael Foreman. Created in partnership with the Jubilee Pageant Committee. There once was a little girl, born a princess. While she was still a young woman, she became a queen, our Queen Elizabeth II. Her reign of seventy years, making her the longest serving female monarch in history, saw her stand steadfast through triumph and tribulation, and through the monumental changes that have shaped our world. This remarkable queen remained devoted to crown, to country . . . and a corgi or two! Beginning with the late queen as a little girl, planting an oak tree with her father, There Once is a Queen follows her incredible story in a way that will bring this historic reign vividly to life for readers, big and small, around the globe. An exquisite gift book and commemoration of the 2022 Platinum Jubilee, it marks a unique moment in our shared history and will be a treasured keepsake for generations to come.

Sultan is the official biography of Wasim Akram, the "sultan of swing", one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of cricket. For twenty years, Wasim Akram let his cricket do the talking - his electrifying left-arm pace, his explosive left-handed striking, his leadership and his inspiration. For another twenty years he kept his own counsel about those days, full of drama, controversy and even mystery, in a country, Pakistan, that to outsiders is a constant enigma. Until now. Sultan tells the story of cricket's greatest left-arm bowler, and one of its greatest survivors, who was chosen from the streets of Lahore and groomed by Imran Khan to become champion of the world - man of the match in the final of the 1992 World Cup. Along the way were unforgettable rivalries with the greatest of his time, from Viv Richards and Ian Botham to Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. Along the way, too, a backdrop of conspiracy and intrigue over ball tampering and match fixing about which Wasim finally sets the story straight. But there's more: Sultan goes frankly into the crumbling and rebuilding of Wasim's private life, marred by the tragedy of his first wife's death and the torment of addiction. The result is an unprecedented insight into the life of a cricketer who revolutionised the game with his speed and swing, and a patriot buoyed and burdened by the expectation of one of the game's most fanatical publics.

"Book of the Year." -- MOJO Magazine"Outstanding Book of the Year." --The Herald (Glasgow) A Best Book of the Year by NPR, Pitchfork, The Telegraph, and UncutA tender and intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable, trailblazing, and tenacious women in music, the two-time Grammy Award-winning "premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation" (Hilton Als), Rickie Lee Jones This troubadour life is only for the fiercest hearts, only for those vessels that can be broken to smithereens and still keep beating out the rhythm for a new song. Last Chance Texaco is the first-ever no-holds-barred account of the life of two-time Grammy Award-winner Rickie Lee Jones in her own words. It is a tale of desperate chances and impossible triumphs, an adventure story of a girl who beat the odds and grew up to become one of the most legendary artists of her time, turning adversity and hopelessness into timeless music. With candor and lyricism, the "Duchess of Coolsville" (Time) takes us on a singular journey through her nomadic childhood, to her years as a teenage runaway, through her legendary love affair with Tom Waits and ultimately her longevity as the hardest working woman in rock and roll. Rickie Lee's stories are rich with the infamous characters of her early songs - "Chuck-E's in Love," "Weasel and the White Boys Cool," "Danny's All-Star Joint," and "Easy Money"-- but long before her notoriety in show business, there was a vaudevillian cast of hitchhikers, bank robbers, jail breaks, drug mules, a pimp with a heart of gold and tales of her fabled ancestors. In this tender and intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable, trailblazing, and tenacious women in music are never-before-told stories of the girl in the raspberry beret, a singer-songwriter whose music defied categorization and inspired American pop culture for decades.

Terry Prone once thought plastic surgery was for the vain, the self-regarding and the rich. She thought herself the person least likely to submit to the plastic surgeon's scalpel. But this was before a traumatic car crash in which the steering wheel caved in her cheekbones, broke her jaw and smashed her teeth. In the days and weeks that followed, she began to understand how radically her appearance had changed. She then embarked on a journey of physical - and emotional - reconstruction that gradually became an addiction. Liposuction. Tooth implants. An arm-lift. Two face-lifts and a brow-lift. Diamond eye surgery. Foot surgery. She found she could not stop. Mirror Mirror tells the dramatic story of Terry Prone's experience of plastic surgery on both sides of the Atlantic and reveals the truth about each procedure: discomforts, costs, failures and (mostly) successes. Charged with her remarkable candour, it is an astonishing story of courage and personal reinvention - and a hilarious exploration of the wilder shores of plastic surgery.

Sentenced to Lockdown, regarded as "non-essential", 40 South African writers get together in a virtual Corona Collective, to pen The Lockdown Collection, trying to make sense of a world, held hostage by a virus.

Powerfully visceral, this gem includes a list of South Africa's most celebrated writers, brilliantly capturing the emotional, the spiritual and even the humorous effects of a global pandemic.

This historical gem includes: Sisonke Msimang, Lebo Mashile, Fred Khumalo and Marianne Thamm.

Dié boek is rock ’n roll in die binnewêreld van die legendariese liedjieboer, Anton Goosen. Hanlie Retief vertel Goosen se buitengewone lewensverhaal – van sy grootwordjare in die Vrystaat, die Musiek-en-Liriek-era, sensuur, hoogtepunte en teleurstellings . . . tot waar die vader van Afrikaanse Rock 'n terugblik gee op sy merkwaardige lewe.

Mia en haar gesin gaan hou vakansie in Stellenbosch. Die gesin in 'n motorongeluk waarin Mia sterf. Die verhaal gaan oor hoe haar ma Mariska haar pyn en hartseer verwerk en haarself vergewe. Maar ook oor nuwe lewe en jou lewe se herstel en terugbymekaar probeer kry na die dood van jou kind.

Did Joseph Skibell’s father trick him when he offered his beautiful guitar and then delivered a not-so-beautiful one? Can it be that the telemarketer calling at dinnertime is a thoughtful, sensitive person also looking for a Utopian world? Can a father have any control over his teenage daughter’s sex life? Can a son have control over his father’s expectations? The award-winning writer ponders these and other bewildering questions in his first nonfiction book.

Joseph Skibell is a dreamer, an innocent. As a professor, he may spend time on Big Thoughts, but it’s the small moments in life that he addresses in these essays. With disarming honesty, he gives us an intimate glimpse into his life. True, some of these incidents might make him look like a fool, but that only serves to make him more human. The pleasure in these pieces is accepting, with Skibell, that life is made up of little annoyances, fantasies, imaginings, and delusions--and these are what make us who we are.

A Best Book of 2020: The Washington Post * NPR * Chicago Tribune * Smithsonian A "remarkable" (Los Angeles Times), "seductive" (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, Why Fish Don't Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and--possibly--even murder. "At one point, Miller dives into the ocean into a school of fish...comes up for air, and realizes she's in love. That's how I felt: Her book took me to strange depths I never imagined, and I was smitten." --The New York Times Book Review David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake--which sent more than a thousand discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life's work was shattered. Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish that he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world. When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool--a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet. Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don't Exist is a wondrous fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.

From the author of The Quest for the Original Horse Whisperers (1 84282 020 6) Russell Lyon has written his memoirs as a country vet. From his first day in the job, practising lassoing animals on an oil drum, to his thoughts on current veterinary trends, animal rights and farming this is an entertaining and absorbing read. Full of anecdotes, incidents and characterful patients and customers.

'Vanessa Nakate continues to teach a most critical lesson. She reminds us that while we may all be in the same storm, we are not all in the same boat.' - Greta Thunberg No matter your age, location or skin colour, you can be an effective activist. Devastating flooding, deforestation, extinction and starvation. These are the issues that not only threaten in the future, they are a reality. After witnessing some of these issues first-hand, Vanessa Nakate saw how the world's biggest polluters are asleep at the wheel, ignoring the Global South where the effects of climate injustice are most fiercely felt. Inspired by a shared vision of hope, Vanessa's commanding political voice demands attention for the biggest issue of our time and, in this rousing manifesto for change, shows how you can join her to protect our planet now and for the future. Vanessa realized the importance of her place in the climate movement after she, the only Black activist in an image with four white Europeans, was cropped out of a press photograph at Davos in 2020. This example illustrates how those who will see the biggest impacts of the climate crisis are repeatedly omitted from the conversation. As she explains, 'We are on the front line, but we are not on the front page.' Without A Bigger Picture, you're missing the full story on climate change. 'An indispensable voice for our future.' - Malala Yousafzai 'A powerful global voice.' - Angelina Jolie

There's no right way to keep a diary, but if there's an entertaining way, David Sedaris seems to have mastered it. If it's navel-gazing you're after, you've come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street; collecting Romanian insults, or being taken round a Japanese parasite museum. There's a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party-lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs. These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was a harmless laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in fine hotel dining rooms and Serbian motels, records it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background-new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can't by the end. Sedaris has been compared to Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, Lewis Carroll and a 'sexy Alan Bennett'. A Carnival of Snackery illustrates that he is very much his own, singular self.

Deneys Schreiner was one of an illustrious family that produced a world-famous author (his great-aunt Olive); a prime minister of the Cape Colony (his grandfather, W.P, who also defended a Zulu prince against specious charges in a colonial court); and Appellate Justice O.D. Schreiner, his father, who fought against National Party efforts to remove coloured people from the common voters' roll. Deneys was an academic, a scientist and a man of strong liberal principles, with a good sense of humour and widespread interests in the sciences, arts and public affairs. These qualities enabled him, in his quiet, steady way, to transform what was then the University of Natal and the society around it. Between the 1960s and 1980s, he supported and initiated several important endeavours to promote constitutional futures other than those imposed by the apartheid government. One of the most significant of these was the Buthelezi Commission, which he chaired. This biography sets out the contexts of Deneys's forebears, his youth, wartime service, studies in Britain and America, family life, and tenure as vice principal, as well as the context of the times in which he lived. It is based on extensive archival research, supported by interviews with family members, former colleagues, friends and journalists. The picture that emerges is of a man who made a great contribution to the struggle for democracy in South Africa. And then there is the story of his beard, once described as a potent symbol of his presence and implacable integrity.