As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe in recent months, many countries have had to implement strategies to fight the virus and keep its people safe. These strategies, particularly in the West, have not been as effective at keeping the numbers of infected people as low as the governments would have hoped.

Charles R Stith predicted the trajectory the virus would take as its spread progressed and developed a critical analysis of the western countries’ responses to the pandemic. He specifically focuses on South Africa’s response to the virus as it spearheads the surge of cases on the African continent.

The crisis has far reaching consequences that impacts the most vulnerable people in the country. A recent OXFAM report draws connections between the lockdown, to hunger, to deaths which confirms the statement Stith made at the beginning of the outbreak about how people would die of hunger as they lose their jobs, their ability to provide for their families and access to fresh foods.

Stith wrote this book in real time in response to the growth and spread of the coronavirus and analyses the results of South Africa’s response to it. He gives answers to the questions politicians should have been asking and gives his view of what Africa will require to recover

In his mid-40s, Simon Boas was diagnosed with incurable cancer – it had been caught too late, and spread around his body. But he was determined to die as he had learned to live – optimistically, thinking the best of people, and prioritising what really matters in life.

In A Beginner’s Guide to Dying Simon considers and collates the things that have given him such a great sense of peace and contentment, and why dying at 46 really isn’t so bad.

And for that reason it’s also only partly about ‘dying’. It is mostly a hymn to the joy and preciousness of life, and why giving death a place can help all of us make even more of it.

A flip-through-it book of sleep-based rituals, techniques, and guided meditations from renowned instructor Valerie Oula. Getting the kind of sleep that leaves you with increased mental clarity, steady energy, and excitement for the day ahead can be elusive. Meditation instructor Valerie Oula has put together this collection of rituals for achieving it getting to sleep, staying asleep, exploring your mind through enlightening dreams, and waking up with ease. Her practice includes guided meditations and visualizations, as well as self-hypnosis, gentle movement, breathwork, and techniques involving essential oils and flower essences. This book is an easy-to-use guide for anyone from the sleep-deprived professional to the chronic insomniac to the average sleeper who just wants to improve the quality of their rest with a daily meditation practice.

First published in Afrikaans as "Als Is Nie Net Swart En Wit Nie, this expanded memoir probes some of the most pivotal issues facing South Africa today: race, ‘othering’, unremembering, identity, gangsterism, addiction, and the process of making meaning of a society that has become unhinged from its moorings.

Malvory Adams is an author and veteran journalist who served as an editorial executive at mainstream newspapers such as City Press, Sowetan, Die Burger, Beeld and Son. At present, he plies his trade as a News Bulletin Writer at Afrikaanse TV-Nuus on SABC2. Away from the newsroom, he is the singer-songwriter MeZZo.

He walks with the reader through a lion-hearted personal lens and through the purgatory of his travelogue, which starts 15 years before his birth in the tiny Eastern Cape hamlet of Breidbach. He dramatically recounts how his German grandfather robbed him of his grandparents. Premised on that epoch-making deed, he takes the reader on a painful journey of uprooting, an agonising coming of age, and the intricacies of navigating cultural belongings and a bloodline concoction. Next, he plummets horrifyingly into a netherworld of alcoholism culminating in a spine-chilling desperate act.

On this treacherous odyssey to restoration and redemption, the veils of darkness lift, and he now lives in a world that is not stark black and white but where the grey mitigates the storms.

This book could save you years of ill health! Vitamin B12 deficiency, often caused by pernicious anaemia, can be a devastating condition if left untreated, leading to irreversible nerve damage and disability after years of exhaustion and mental 'fog'. Its symptoms creep up on sufferers and are under-recognized by doctors; tests to confirm it and underlying pernicious anaemia, are problematic. Martyn Hooper, the founder of the Pernicious Anaemia Society, now brings together vital information about the condition and real-life stories - including his own and those of many members of the Society - that will help sufferers and their friends and families recognize the condition and understand how best to tackle it. In particular, the book draws on the findings of a survey of Society members that give new clarity to the complex issues involved.

How women can improve their productivity, happiness, and physical well-being by keeping their natural cycles in mind and working with them (rather than ignoring them). In the Flo teaches women how to use their 28-day cycle to optimize their life by letting their internal clock and natural rhythms guide time management, diet, fitness, etc. (This is so simple and yet under-utilized it is shocking. It makes perfect sense when you think about it: You have different energy levels at different times of the month, different libido levels, etc. so why not use foresight to plan projects for when you are at your most effective, and understand when you need more emotional connection with others?) There are specific tips on what to eat and how to exercise depending on what phase you are in-and it works. Women are getting promotions, losing weight, and in one case thus far, literally clearing their endometriosis by using the cycle syncing method.

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER Do you ever feel worried, miserable or unfulfilled - yet put on a happy face and pretend everything's fine? You are not alone. Stress, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem are all around. Research suggests that many of us get caught in a psychological trap, a vicious circle in which the more we strive for happiness, the more it eludes us. Fortunately, there is a way to escape from the 'Happiness Trap' in this updated and expanded second edition which unlocks the secrets to a truly fulfilling life. This empowering book presents the insights and techniques of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), covering more topics and providing more practical tools than ever before. Learn how to clarify your values, develop self-compassion and find true satisfaction with this bigger and better guide to: * Reducing stress and worry * Handling painful thoughts and feelings more effectively * Breaking self-defeating habits * Overcoming insecurity and self-doubt * Building better relationships * Improving performance and finding fulfilment at work The Happiness Trap is for everyone. Whether you're lacking confidence, facing illness, coping with loss, working in a high-stress job, or suffering from anxiety or depression, this book will show you how to build authentic happiness, from the inside out.

Millions of us are living in the shadow of cancer. Some are hoping to beat the odds and become cancer-free, while others know they are facing cancer for the long haul. And even more of us are standing by someone with a cancer diagnosis and feeling helpless as we grapple with the uncertainty it brings.

Whether the cancer is considered “in remission,” “cured,” or “chronic,” it is possible to find peace as we face it.

In Peace in the Face of Cancer, cancer patient advocate Lynn Eib shares how to live well from the moment of diagnosis through the rest of life. She weaves the story of her own experience as a long-time cancer survivor and those of others around the world into these hope-filled pages. You’ll discover how to bring God’s peace into your own home and heart—regardless of your or your loved one’s medical prognosis.

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2021 The New York Times bestseller from the Grammy-nominated indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching, deeply moving memoir about growing up mixed-race, Korean food, losing her Korean mother, and forging her own identity in the wake of her loss. 'As good as everyone says it is and, yes, it will have you in tears. An essential read for anybody who has lost a loved one, as well as those who haven't' - Marie-Claire In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band - and meeting the man who would become her husband - her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread. 'Possibly the best book I've read all year . . . I will be buying copies for friends and family this Christmas.' - Rukmini Iyer in the Guardian 'Best Food Books of 2021' 'Wonderful . . . The writing about Korean food is gorgeous . . . but as a brilliant kimchi-related metaphor shows, Zauner's deepest concern is the ferment, and delicacy, of complicated lives.' - Victoria Segal, Sunday Times, 'My favourite read of the year'