Closing the Gap is an accessible overview of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and the impact it is set to have on various sectors in South Africa and Africa. It explores the previous industrial revolutions that have led up to this point and outlines South Africa’s position been through each one.

With a focus on artificial intelligence as a core concept in understanding the 4IR, this book uses familiar concepts to explain artificial intelligence, how it works and how it can be used in banking, mining, medicine and many other fields.

Written from an African perspective, Closing the Gap addresses the challenges and fears around the 4IR by pointing to the opportunities presented by new technologies and outlining some of the challenges and successes to date

The international bestselling author returns with an exploration of one of the grandest obsessions of the twentieth century.

In the years before the Second World War, in a sleepy air force base in central Alabama, a small group of renegade pilots put forth a radical idea. What if we made bombing so accurate that wars could be fought entirely from the air? What if we could make the brutal clashes between armies on the ground a thing of the past? This book tells the story of what happened when that dream was put to the test.

The Bomber Mafia follows the stories of a reclusive Dutch genius and his homemade computer, Winston Churchill's forbidding best friend, a team of pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard, a brilliant pilot who sang vaudeville tunes to his crew, and the bomber commander, Curtis Emerson LeMay, who would order the bloodiest attack of the Second World War.

In this tale of innovation and obsession, Gladwell asks: what happens when technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war? And what is the price of progress?

A Silicon Valley icon - and inventor of the iPod and iPhone - dispenses valuable tips and life lessons for entrepreneurs at any stage in their careers.

Tony Fadell has spent the last three decades making things and founding companies that have profoundly changed millions of lives. After leading the team that created the iPod and iPhone, products that saved a struggling Apple, Tony founded Nest Labs and revolutionised household electronics. He has worked with everyone from Steve Jobs to Larry Page, advised companies from Impossible Foods to Diamond Foundry, built products that have literally shaped the modern world, and learned a lot of things about business, innovation and solving all manner of problems.

In BUILD, Tony shares stories and valuable lessons from his career, offering advice and solutions for your toughest moments. For anyone striving to grow in their career, start-up founders and start-up dreamers, leaders of businesses big and small, this book will show you how to navigate challenges and take that next big leap.

Robert Schapiro always wanted to fly. Challenging anti-Semitic bullying, mockery and fierce rivalry, he realised his dream by earning his wings in the South African Air Force and going on to command C-47 Dakotas in the Border War.

He joined South African Airways (SAA) in 1979, soon learning it was a time when SAA crews were dominated by the ‘Royal Family’ – captains who thought themselves above the rules and who spent time overseas on drinking binges or coaxing air hostesses to be their ‘airline wives’.

When sanctions forced SAA to cut back on its routes, he was seconded to Japan’s Nippon Cargo Airlines, routinely flying between New York and Tokyo, and grappling with often-hilarious cultural misunderstandings as he adapted to a Japanese style of operations.

Schapiro is disarmingly frank about life as an international pilot. He divulges near misses, emergency landings, navigation errors, passenger shenanigans (seat sex, anyone?), how pilots control rowdy travellers and absorbing detail about the technique of flying different aircraft types. Uplifting and humorous, his memoir offers a rare slice of aviation history.

This major, definitive anthology of writings is a complete and up-to-date guide to environmental literacy. This major anthology is the first to apply a fully interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies. A comprehensive guide to environmental literacy, the book demonstrates how the sciences, social sciences, and humanities all contribute to understanding our interrelationships with the natural world. Though not specialized, Environment is a book that even specialists can learn from. Ten innovative case studies--climate shock, species endangerment, nuclear power, biotechnology, sustainable development, deforestation, environmental security, globalization, wilderness, and the urban environment-are followed by readings from specific disciplines. These can be integrated with the case studies to shape individual interests and teaching strategies. The volume presents an imaginative array of texts, from scientific papers to poetry, legal decisions to historical accounts, personal essays to economic analysis. Taken together, these selections provide a balanced, authoritative, and up-to-date treatment of key issues in environmental studies.

Wandile Sihlobo and Johann Kirsten chose to write The Uncomfortable Truth about South Africa’s Agriculture in a candid, direct and unfiltered tone, not out of disregard, but with the hope of stirring South African agricultural stakeholders from inertia that may have taken hold over time.

One clear example of inertia is the endless policy discussions. When the government proposes policy positions – either good or bad – time is spent discussing these policies instead of anything substantive being done. The divisions amongst South African farmer organisations is the core issue behind the interminable conversations and this results in a ‘performance of productivity’ among participants in these meetings, creating an impression of progress simply because discussions are taking place.

While politicians and farmer representatives debate, farmers suffer, the unemployed languish, and small towns crumble. Poor roads and rising costs choke market access, while collapsing municipalities pile pressure on agribusinesses.

Things don’t have to be this way, and the South African agricultural sector still has great potential to grow, increase employment, and revitalise the rural economy. This book will empower the reader with a clearer understanding of the agricultural constraints and how to overcome them and mobilise the much-needed sectorial focus to implementation.

While the contents may be uncomfortable for some, this book is intended to ignite an urgent call for decisive policy and programme implementation and to demand stronger collaboration among social partners.

Did you know that AI helped to win the 2023 Rugby World Cup for South Africa? That Africa led the way in small language models? That AI has been supporting farmers in Kenya for the last decade? After reading, you will understand the present and future of AI, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI: The African Edge particularly the distinct advantages presented by and for AI on the African ccontinent.

The book draws on the author’s many years of direct access to global and regional leaders in using AI, from Africa to the Middle East to North America to Europe and Asia, and it provides unique perspectives on generative AI, as well as practical advice for using it.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI is useful for consumers, academics, professionals and anyone in business who wants to get up to speed quickly and practically. It also entertains and inspires anyone who is curious about AI or already engaged in its possibilities.

What can business learn from the use of AI in sports? How can educators embrace AI as a tool rather than a threat? When will AI truly transform health, travel, agriculture, entertainment, shopping and personal services? This book has the answers.

When Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was discovered below the Antarctic ice in March 2022, 106 years after it sank, the world thrilled anew with one of the greatest survival stories of all time.

Acclaimed South African writer Darrel Bristow-Bovey has a deeply personal relationship with the story of Endurance and in this lyrical journey into past and present, into humanity and the natural world, above and below the Antarctic ice, he revisits the famous story wondering why it seems to mean more today than ever before.

Drawing on literature, natural history, personal memoir and the thrilling epics of polar adventure, this is a celebration of the human spirit. If this story tells us anything, it’s that in the face of self-inflicted natural disaster, we can still pull off a miracle or two. From the bottom of the Weddell sea, Endurance still whispers that not all is lost, and not forever.

South Africa’s mining journey began with the discovery of ‘mountains of copper’ in the drylands of Namaqualand, laying the foundation of an industry that would forever shape a nation’s destiny. Nowhere else in the world has a mineral revolution proved so influential in weaving the political, economic and social fabric of a society.

Digging Deep explores South Africa’s great mineral revolution – the lucky strikes and the struggles of prospecting in the late 1800s, the rushes to boom-and-bust towns in the Eastern Transvaal Goldfield, the dubious beginnings of the Witwatersrand, and the stories of the
visionary men like Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Beit, Barney Barnato, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, Sammy Marks and Hans Merensky who pioneered and shaped the industry on which modern South Africa was built.

This epic retelling is the only single-volume account of how South Africa’s gold, diamonds, platinum, coal and a host of other metals and minerals – the richest treasure trove ever discovered in one country – transformed a colonial backwater into the greatest industrialised power on the African continent.

In this second edition, Jade Davenport adds two new chapters that closely examine the era since the advent of democracy in which time the mining industry has gone through a profound and distressing transformation.

Develop a thorough understanding of the mechanics of materials - an essential area in mechanical, civil, and structural engineering -- with the analytical approach and problem-solving emphasis in the market-leading MECHANICS OF MATERIALS, 9E.

This book focuses on the analysis and design of structural members subjected to tension, compression, torsion, bending, and more.

Photographs and detailed diagrams demonstrate reactive and internal forces and resulting deformations.

Introduction to Communication Studies is an introductory textbook on the theories of and approaches to communication studies for first -year students. It reflects the dynamic evolution of communication studies in the recent past, introducing new insights and approaches to communication media and digital communication.

Acknowledging the unique requirements of the African communication environment, the text is illuminated with a range of uniquely South and southern African examples to contextualise the theory, with chapters written by leading academic authors from East and Southern Africa.

A Best Seller and the only publication of its kind in Southern Africa!

Calculating building costs accurately and quoting remains a challenge. Contractors and Homeowners generally do not understand the complexities of quoting and often rely on m2 building rates. A quotation should include every possible resource required to build a structure with quantities and related prices. This includes labour, material, and specialist installations.

If quotations are presented in this manner the homeowner or client can compare apples with apples. A one-page quote is just not acceptable - you do not know what has been included or excluded.

The Building and Pricing Guide features comprehensive, accurate and useful information that you can rely on. It is updated each year to ensure that all the most relevant information is always at your fingertips.

For over three decades this publication has assisted contractors and clients in establishing accurate building costs. It is also used by architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, students, and government departments.

Mteto Nyati knew as a schoolboy in Mthatha, working at his mother’s store, that he wanted to fix and build things. After completing his studies at Natal University, he turned down a Rhodes scholarship and headed for Jo'burg to take up a position at Afrox. He was the only black engineer and the advice he received was ‘don’t mess up’. 

He didn’t and today is one of South Africa’s top CEOs. This is his inspirational story. 

From one of tech's boldest thinkers and his longtime deputy, this is a sweeping indictment of Silicon Valley and treatise on how the West has slid into a culture of complacency - even as we enter a new era of mounting global threats.

Once upon a time, the most brilliant engineering minds once collaborated with government to advance world-changing technologies. Their efforts secured the West's dominance and kept its people safe. Now, our relationship with new technologies has become shallow-and the repercussions could not be more perilous.

Today, engineers and founders build photo-sharing apps and marketing algorithms, furthering the ambitions of whoever can exploit them. This complacency has spread into academia, politics, and the boardroom. The result? An entire generation for whom the narrow-minded pursuit of the whims of a late capitalist economy has become their calling.

In this groundbreaking treatise, one of tech's boldest thinkers and his longtime deputy offer a searing critique of our collective abandonment of ambition. Palantir co-founder and CEO Alexander C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska argue that in order for the West to retain its global edge-and preserve the freedoms we take for granted-the software industry must renew its commitment to addressing our most urgent challenges, including the new arms race of artificial intelligence. Governmen , in turn, must embrace the most effective features of the engineering mindset that have propelled Silicon Valley's success.

Above all, leaders must reject intellectual fragility and preserve space for ideological confrontation. A willingness to risk the disapproval of the crowd, Karp and Zamiska contend, has everything to do with technological and economic outperformance.

At once iconoclastic and rigorous, this book will also lift the veil on Palantir and its broader political project from the inside, offering a passionate call for the West to wake up to our new reality.

Navigating Information Literacy captures a range of skills and topics essential for students who intend positioning themselves in academic or workplace environments that are globally connected and competitive.

The clear, well-structured and informative text leads the reader through all aspects of information literacy and provides practical advice and relevant examples from a variety of international contexts.

When Robert and Michael, a pair of starry-eyed twins see a Boeing 707 at an airport in the mid-1960s, it’s love at first sight.

But who's going to one day pay for their dream to work in aviation? This is apartheid South Africa. Coloured boys can't eat alongside white people, let alone jet off to Paris and study aeronautical engineering!

But in high school they discover an unlikely aptitude for French. Armed with scholarships, they head off to Paris and their once ordinary lives are changed forever.

This edition of management for engineers, technologists and scientists is an introductory-level management textbook written specifically for those studying and working in an engineering discipline. It will be an invaluable tool for the existing or aspirant engineer and engineering manager. The text introduces the reader to management and related issues (for example law and economics), which are essential when dealing with customers, suppliers, contractors, accountants, lawyers, economists and managers, either inside or outside an organisation. This new edition has been substantially revised; it includes a new chapter on engineering ethics and professionalism as well as a workbook on CD.

CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS, 5th Edition, provides a concise, thorough and relevant introduction to chemistry, preparing students for further study in any engineering field.

Using applications specifically geared toward engineering students, the text emphasizes the connection between molecular properties and observable physical properties and the linkages between chemistry and other subjects in the engineering curriculum such as mathematics and physics. The text includes added coverage of new engineering applications relevant to sustainability, including alternative energy and batteries.

This new edition is supported by WebAssign, which helps students grasp chemistry concepts in an environment that can be customized for every classroom.

Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, new reality. Think of how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But they are the exception. Consider how London’s Crossrail project delivered five years late and billions overbudget. More modest endeavours, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why?

Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life’s work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg.

In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors that lead projects to fail, and the research-based principles that will make yours a success:

• Understand your odds. If you don't know them, you won't win.
• Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But it's wrong.
• Think right to left. Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there.
• Find your Lego. Big is best built from small.
• Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they can't, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can.

Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done — on time and on budget.

Key Features: Clear language is used which aids in explaining technical terminology and concepts. Fully worked examples are provided within each section. Self-evaluation questions with answers are included in each section for immediate practice and feedback. The answers to the self-evaluation questions appear at the end of each chapter. The process of constructing a house is used as a golden thread throughout the book, acting as an example, and demonstrating the practical application of civil engineering materials. A methodology is used that is suitable for both contact and distance education.

Do you love living in the city but dream about growing your own wholesome fruit and vegetables? South Africa’s organic gardening guru, Jane Griffiths, shows you just how easy it is to achieve a flourishing food garden, no matter how small your space.

Jane’s Delicious Urban Gardening is packed with inspirational ideas and practical information on all aspects of urban eco living.

In her trademark sensible and easy-to-follow style, Jane provides a wealth of tips and suggestions for:

• growing organic vegetables just about anywhere – from containers to edible walls, from raised beds to rooftops, from community gardens to neglected pavements
• planting and maintaining a space-efficient urban orchard
• converting an existing lawn or tennis court into an instant edible oasis
• keeping urban bees, hens and aquaponic tanks
• harvesting rainwater and recycling grey water
• introducing solar power into your home
• converting a chlorinated swimming pool into a wetland-filtered haven.

Illustrated with hundreds of beautiful colour photographs, Jane’s Delicious Urban Gardening is essential reading for anyone wanting to live a more sustainable, productive and healthy lifestyle in the city.

The Poisoners is a history of four devastating chapters in the making of the region, seen through the disturbing use of toxins and accusations of poisoning circulated by soldiers, spies, and politicians in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Imraan Coovadia’s fascinating new book exposes the secret use of poisons and diseases in the Rhodesian bush war and independent Zimbabwe, and the apparent connection to the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States; the enquiry into the chemical and biological warfare programme in South Africa known as Project Coast, discovered through the arrest and failed prosecution of Dr Wouter Basson; the use of toxic compounds such as Virodene to treat patients at the height of the Aids epidemic in South Africa, and the insistence of the government that proven therapies like Nevirapine, which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, were in fact poisons; and the history of poisoning and accusations of poisoning in the modern history of the African National Congress, from its guerrilla camps in Angola to Jacob Zuma’s suggestion that his fourth wife collaborated with a foreign intelligence agency to have him murdered.

But The Poisoners is not merely a book of history. It is also a meditation, by a most perceptive commentator, on the meaning of race, on the unhappy history of black and white in southern Africa, and on the nature of good and evil.

Managing Business Projects: The Essentials differs from many other project management textbooks. Foremost, it is about business projects as opposed to construction or engineering projects. Although many techniques, like schedule management, apply to both, they are usually applied differently. As its title conveys, the book explains the essential techniques and perspectives needed for business projects to be successful. The focus is on small- and medium-sized projects, up to $20 million, but often below $1 million. Some literature favors large and mega-projects, but for every mega-project, there are many thousands of smaller projects that are vital to the organization and could involve considerable complexity and risk. Nevertheless, the techniques outlined here also apply to mega-projects and their many subprojects; they even apply to some aspects of construction or engineering projects.

This book does not aim to cover all project management techniques. In real life there is simply no time for sophisticated ‘should-dos.' Rather, it covers the essentials that apply to almost all business projects; these are unlikely to change in the future even as technology and methodologies advance. The driving idea, which is stated repeatedly, is to do the essentials and to do them consistently and well.

Strong emphasis is placed on things that happen before, around, and after the project itself. So, while the basic disciplines like engaging with stakeholders, managing scope, schedules, costs, risks, issues, changes, and communication, are thoroughly explained, other important aspects are covered. These include: governance of a project and of a portfolio of projects, project selection with its financial and non-financial aspects, effective use of the business case through to benefits realization, procurement, outsourcing and partnership, and also the agile mindset that is valuable beyond Agile projects.

Besides project managers and sponsors, this book is intended for people who are working in business or government, at any level, or for MBA students. It offers perspectives that enable them to learn more from their everyday experience. It is not aimed at undergraduate students, although many would benefit from the contents.

Reflecting changes in the current health and safety landscape, Occupational Health and Safety Management: A Practical Approach, Third Edition includes examples and tools to facilitate development and implementation of a safety and health management approach. This how-to book is not just an information providing text. It shows you how to write a program and identify hazards as well as involve workers and attain their cooperation. It emphasizes the need for better and more effective communication regarding safety and health.

What’s New in the Third Edition:

• Chapters on workers’ compensation, terrorism, and Lean safety/sustainability
• Additional coverage of flammable liquids and ventilation, accident reporting, and accident investigation
• New compliance requirements as well as expanded accident investigation, environmental, and risk analysis guidelines
• PowerPoint presentation slides for each chapter

A complete and practical guide for the development and management of occupational safety and health programs in any industry setting, the book supplies a management blueprint that can be used for occupational safety and health in any organization, from the smallest to the largest, beginning to develop or wanting to improve its safety and health approach. It includes comprehensive guidelines for development of occupational health and safety programs to a variety of industries and is especially useful for start-up companies.

The author takes a total management approach to the development of written programs, the identification of hazards, the mitigation of hazards by the use of common safety and health tools, the development of a safe workforce through communications, motivational techniques, involvement, and training. He addresses the tracking and acceptable risk from both safety and health hazards. He also discusses how to work with and within the OSHA compliance approach as well as how to deal with the OSHA regulations, workers’ compensation, terrorism, and Lean safety. As you understand and apply the guidelines in each chapter, you can put your company on the way toward building a successful and effective safety and health effort for its employers and employees.

The new fourth edition of Principles of Business Information Systems features new cases, new questions and assignments and the latest technologies, whilst retaining its comprehensive coverage of Information Systems issues.

It also boasts a wealth of real world examples from a broad range of countries and updated coverage of IT and technological issues, making it perfect for courses that prepare students for the modern corporate world.