It is almost impossible to keep up with the pace and direction in which business and technology are moving today.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. AUTOMATION. BLOCKCHAIN. BIG DATA. INTERNET OF THINGS. THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

Who actually knows what any of these concepts mean for their business, much less how to integrate them? Things are moving at a faster pace than ever before and trying to keep up has become intimidating and overwhelming. It’s tempting to bury your head in the sand than try to make head or tail of it all. But none of the buzzwords actually matter! You don’t have to jump aboard every single change and adjustment in the market, or trade in your suit for a T-shirt, jeans and sneaker combo. If you have the right context, it’s a lot simpler to understand and use technological shifts as an opportunity to transform your business.

Tech Adjacent is about understanding the principles of tech and its pace, hearing the footsteps of where it might be going, knowing how disruption and innovation work tangibly and, most importantly, leveraging it for your individual exponential success. Innovation is contextual, so while Uber, Airbnb and Facebook are grandiose Silicon Valley success stories, they have little relevance in our own market. This book shares stories and case studies of African businesses, exposing who is getting disrupted as we speak and why, as well as how new companies are leading the next wave of growth. Mushambi Mutuma’s experience and expertise in both business and as a tech entrepreneur give real-life context to rapid change, unlocking future opportunities and offering tools to predict where your audience and industry are heading. He sells no big ideas, but genuinely shares his unique perspectives and know-how to help whoever he can in the process.

Tech Adjacent isn’t just another book on growing your business in 100 days, nor is it dry academic theory. It is the guidebook for not only surviving but excelling in a world of exponential growth. Whether you are a start-up entrepreneur or a corporate executive, this guide is a must for both present and future leaders.

This is the first book dedicated to birding in South Africa’s national parks. The 19 featured national parks are grouped within the four biogeographic regions – northern, arid, frontier and Cape regions. The book offers a concise introduction and summary of birding within each park.

Pertinent and interesting facts about where to find birds, including the top 10 birds of each park and a description of general habitats, are presented in a readable fashion. Over one hundred photographs illustrate some of the special birds found in the parks. Of the 700 regularly seen terrestrial species in South Africa, at least 640 can be found in the 19 national parks, with 13 of the 15 species endemic to South Africa and another 19 of the 20 species endemic to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Bird species commonly found in each park are listed at the back of the book.

Birding In South Africa's National Parks will be a worthy addition to the bookshelves of bird enthusiasts, particularly birders and ecotourists visiting South Africa from across the world.

The past three decades have seen a remarkable rise of Afrikaners in business. In light of the government’s comprehensive black economic empowerment programme this has been one of the unexpected features of the South African economy.

Today many of these Afrikaner tycoons are competing internationally. With Koos Bekker at its helm, media group Naspers began dominating the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and was turned into a global consumer internet group. Johann Rupert strongly extended Richemont’s share internationally in the upper-end market of luxury goods, while Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson at Pepkor and Shoprite became Africa’s largest clothing and food retailers.

Fortunes describes how these and other business leaders, such as Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, Douw Steyn, Roelof Botha, Hendrik du Toit and a number of commercial farmers, built their empires. It looks at their life and business philosophies and what makes them such successful entrepreneurs.

Recent years have also seen the sensational collapse of Steinhoff International, the furniture retailer led by Markus Jooste that destroyed some of these fortunes. While Jooste is the topic of one of the chapters, another looks at the philanthropic projects most of these tycoons are involved in.

In September 2007, Ellen Pakkies, a working mother from Lavender Hill on the Cape Flats, strangled her son to death. The judge in the subsequent trial sentenced her to community service for her crime. What drove Ellen to commit this horrific deed, and why the ostensibly light sentence for such a heinous crime?

The story of what happened over ten years ago has continued to grip public interest, putting a spotlight on the dire and desperate situation faced by many parents of addicted children. A highly successful play was produced in theatres around South Africa in 2011/12, and a full-length movie has recently been made of this story, which will reach the big screen in September 2018.

When Dealing in Death was first published in 2009, the scourge of drug addiction was sweeping across South Africa, affecting every level of society. Little, if anything, has changed since then, as this new edition reveals. The use of tik, particularly in the Western Cape, has skyrocketed, and it was Abie Pakkies’s addiction to this drug, and the horrendous impact it had on his and his family’s lives, that drove Ellen to murder. Her trial exposed the dark underbelly of a community crippled by drug and alcohol abuse, and focused attention on the plight of those who live in poverty and do not have recourse to drug-rehabilitation centres and other measures effective in the treatment of addicts.

Dealing in Death looks at the global and local drugs culture, the predicament of Ellen Pakkies and other mothers like her, and an impoverished community and the apartheid laws that gave birth to it.

Born Karoline King in 1980 in Johannesburg South Africa, Sara-Jayne (as she will later be called by her adoptive parents) is the result of an affair, illegal under apartheid’s Immorality Act, between a white British woman and her black South African employee. Her story reveals the shocking lie created to cover up the forbidden relationship, and the hurried overseas adoption of the illegitimate baby, born during one of history’s most inhumane and destructive regimes.

Killing Karoline follows the journey of the baby girl (categorised as ‘white’ under South Africa’s race classification system) who is raised in a leafy, middle-class corner of the South of England by a white couple. It takes the reader through the formative years, a difficult adolescence and into adulthood, as Sara-Jayne (Karoline) seeks to discover who she is and where she came from. Plagued by questions surrounding her own identity and unable to ‘fit in’ Sara-Jayne (Karoline) begins to turn on herself, before eventually coming full circle and returning to South Africa after 26 years to face her demons. There she is forced to face issues of identity, race, rejection and belonging beyond that which she could ever have imagined.

She must also face her birth family, who in turn must confront what happens when the baby you kill off at a mere six weeks old, returns from the dead.

In the early 1990's the Norwood Rapist and serial killer was on the loose, sending a suburb of women into terror. In a deadly game of cat and mouse, echoing Clarice and Hannibal Lector in Silence of The Lambs, Lazarus is used by the police as a decoy to hunt Geldenhyus who has terrorised the JHB suburb of Norwood. It becomes extremely personal – the hunter hunting the hunted.

Set in the newsroom of the predigital era, the gruesome story was competing with some of the hugest headlines in our transition to democracy. Written as a riveting behind-the-headlines true crime memoir with a most unusual twist, the book explores fascinating newsroom ethics and questionable police procedures while delving into the power relationship between a reporter, an editor and a serial killer.

If we are to believe that journalists should shape the news – not make the news – Lazarus breaks just about every rule in the newsroom guide book as she becomes increasingly obsessed with Geldenhyus.

A searing, intimate memoir tracing the author’s attempt to find out the truth about her father’s murder.

Robin McGregor, an older man living in a small town outside Cape Town, is brutally murdered in his home. Cecil Thomas is convicted for the crime, but his trial leaves more questions than answers. His daughter, Liz, tries to move beyond her grief but she still wants answers. What drove Thomas to torture and kill a complete stranger?

The author meets the murderer’s family and discovers that he comes from a loving, comfortable home. He is educated and skilled – there is no apparent reason for his descent into delinquency. After protracted obstruction from the prison authorities, she finally gets to confront him but not without putting herself in danger. She finds answers, but not the answers she is looking for.

Unforgiven tells a story seldom told: what happens to a family when one of their own is murdered?

Licence To Loot is a fast-paced, hard-hitting investigation into parastatal looting, written by journalist Stephan Hofstatter. At the centre of the story is Eskom, the largest power utility in Africa, which could determine the success or failure of South Africa’s economy.

Hofstatter’s story begins in 2016, with the Guptas’ controversial purchase of Optimum coal mine and Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe’s key role in the deal. From there it takes the reader on a journey from secret meetings in London hotel rooms to a clandestinely purchased bolthole on a Dubai golf estate, uncovering the corrupt acquisition of a private jet along the way. From the diary entries of a Saxonwold security guard to first-hand accounts of backroom dealmaking, it traces the origins of a shadowy network between the Guptas and Eskom that ultimately allowed the family to extract billions of rands from the parastatal.

Licence To Loot reveals the complicated deals and machinations underpinning state capture and the subsequent ministerial and board appointments that ceded the control of the country’s parastatals, including Eskom, Transnet, SAA and Denel, to Gupta-linked moneymen.

The book is particularly relevant in the current political climate as it focuses on the impact of state capture, not just its origins, and takes the story beyond the Zuma presidency.

If this book saves just one person’s life, Leo Prinsloo will be happy.

Leo became an internet sensation after footage of his reaction to an attempted high-value goods-in-transit heist went viral. Stunned by his cool attitude and focused action in a crisis situation, South Africans had an example of what can happen when good people take a stand. With decades of experience in security – first as a policeman, then in the South African Police Service’s Special Task Force, and now providing arms handling and security training in the private sector – Leo has a wealth of knowledge on how to manage life-threatening incidents.

Driven by a desire to empower South Africans and help them claim back their sense of safety, he offers advice for dealing with every risky situation, from how to handle hijackings and road rage, to how to keep your children safe, to the best way to secure your home and business. He also provides comprehensive information about handling firearms and basic first aid.

Leo’s Guide to Not Becoming a Statistic is a guide to living your safest life in South Africa – something which has become increasingly important as our crime statistics continue to rise. Straight-talking and honest – much like Leo himself – it is an easy to use manual that makes keeping safe accessible, with relatable information and easy to implement tips.

Leo says that taking the first step towards securing your safety is the most important, and his book will help you take that step.

This book brings to life the untold story behind the release of Nelson Mandela, as revealed in previously top-secret records.

Kobie Coetsee, Minister of Justice at the time, kept an archive on ‘Prisoner 913’, on which the authors – a historian and a journalist – draw to retell the story. This is history as it actually happened, as opposed to how it has been portrayed up to now, even in writings by Mandela himself. 

Prisoner 913 sets right the historical record.

The Colour of Wine isn’t just another book about picturesque Cape vineyards. Instead, it tells the remarkable story of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy through the personal journeys of black winemakers. Woven through their stories are interviews with wine producers and politicians, chefs and sommeliers, connoisseurs and teachers, drinkers and tasters.

The book, twinned with the documentary film The Colour of Wine (included on DVD), explores the turbulent history of winemaking in South Africa, and the varied careers the industry has to offer. Wine doyen John Platter offers insights into where South African wine is now, and where the industry needs to go. You’ll also discover a rich array of local recipes that complement South African wines.

The Colour of Wine gives a taste of the changing world of South African wine.

The fourth edition of this popular title has been given a completely new look, but it remains the same practical illustrated guide that is a must-have for all gardeners. The text has been updated to incorporate more indigenous species, locally bred hybrids, and waterwise plants, in keeping with changing trends that recognize the importance of gardening in harmony with the natural environment.

The bulk of the book comprises directories that describe over 2000 plants (trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, creepers, bulbs, grasses and roses) with each entry accompanied by symbols that depict the ideal growing conditions, such as water and sun requirements, hardiness to frost, and whether the plant is deciduous, evergreen or flowering.

A brief introduction covers garden planning and design, maintenance, and how to deal with pests and diseases. The book concludes with a handy list of plants, grouped according to their suitability for particular circumstances, such as drought-tolerance, growing in containers, in full or partial shade, or to provide flowers for the vase.

’n Ongekende opkoms van Afrikaner-magnate het die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie die afgelope drie dekades gekenmerk. Dit is veral merkwaardig in die lig van die regering se omvattende program van swart ekonomiese bemagtiging.

Vandag ding talle van hulle internasionaal mee. Onder leiding van Koos Bekker het Naspers die Johannesburgse aandelebeurs begin domineer en is die mediagroep omvorm tot ’n internasionale beleggingshouergroep wat op e-handel en die internet fokus. Johann Rupert het Richemont in die naasgrootste groep in die mark vir luukse goedere gevestig, terwyl Christo Wiese en Whitey Basson onderskeidelik Pepkor en Shoprite tot Afrika se grootste kleinhandelgroepe in klerasie en voedsel uitgebou het.

Fortuine verduidelik hoe hierdie en ander sakeleiers, waaronder Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, GT Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar, Roelof Botha, Hendrik du Toit en ’n aantal megaboere, hul sakeryke tot stand gebring het. Dit beskryf hul lewens- en sakefilosofieë en wat van hulle sulke suksesvolle entrepreneurs maak.

In onlangse tye het die ineenstorting van Steinhoff Internasionaal, die meubelhandelaar met Markus Jooste aan die stuur, ’n groot hap uit sommige van hierdie fortuine geneem. Jooste is die fokus van een van die hoofstukke, terwyl dit in ’n ander op die filantropiese projekte van hierdie superrykes val.

Future Tense analyses the squandered and corrupted years since Leon’s first award-winning biography.

Leon, with unique access and penetrating insight, presents a portrait of today’s South Africa and prospective future, based on his vast political involvement with key power players. His intimate view of these presidents and their history-making, and his many worldly encounters, reflects on a country and planet in upheaval. Leon also provides an insider view for the first time of the power struggles within the official opposition party, which saw the exit of its first black leader in 2019.

Written during the coronavirus lockdown, Future Tense also examines the surge of both the disease and the response, which has crashed the economy and its future prospects, as well as the rise of a dangerous Julius Malema-led populism, and how this echoes global discontent elsewhere. There is every reason to fear for the future of South Africa, but Leon advocates hope.

So just who is Bertus Basson? A dreamer, successful entrepreneur, braaimaster, genius, fanatic or chef extraordinaire? He is, of course, all of those things.

This extraordinary cookbook, beautifully photographed by the legendary Claire Gunn, follows the success of Bertus’s first cookbook Homegrown, now almost out of print. But this one is different. In it you will feel the drive and energy of this whirlwind of a man. The book offers inspiration to those of us who sit, mouths agape, wondering just how Bertus and his remarkable wife have so successfully built multiple restaurants. It presents an inside look into these restaurants from the story of the beginnings and growth of signature restaurant Overture, to Spice Route, wildly popular with the tourist crowds, and Spek & Bone, the small-plate wine bar in Stellenbosch, through to his love affair with burgers and just how De Vrije Burger was conceptualised and brought to life.

Being Bertus Basson, or BBB as this book has fondly become known, is a combination of all that makes up Bertus. There’s a bit of entrepreneurial spice; a dollop of the practical advice that makes him such a successful restaurateur. For all those who’ve eaten or who’ve dreamed of eating at one of the restaurants so beautifully photographed in the book, here’s how to do it. The recipes will surprise you with their simplicity and quirkiness, show you just how to step beyond the usual and how to look at food, South African food in particular, in a whole new light.

Once you’ve read Being Bertus Basson, there’s no going back to banal food experiences.

‘It’s simply not human!’ a passenger proclaims loudly, aghast as to what she is witnessing.

Ryan Stramrood stands at the top of the gangway stairs that are lowered down the side of an ocean liner in one of the coldest, most hostile places on Earth – Antarctica. He wears only a small Speedo costume, goggles and a swim cap. Over a hundred passengers, wearing thick layers of insulation to protect from the bitter cold, are leaning over the ship’s railing on the upper decks, cheering and desperate to get a glimpse, in morbid fascination, of what is about to happen. What Ryan is about to attempt could potentially push boundaries beyond what humans can survive.

The water temperature a deadly -1° Celsius; the distance to swim an impossible one mile.

Only a few years earlier, Ryan was a self-proclaimed couch potato. A 30-year-old salesman and father, navigating life quite successfully, albeit neatly confined in his comfort zone. Today he is a multiple Guinness World Record holder, rated globally as one of the top 50 extreme swimming athletes in the world, and a sought-after international inspirational speaker.

This fascinating story tells the incredible tales of Ryan’s journey and spirit. The inspiration and learnings each and every one of us will take from this highly relatable book are simply invaluable. We can all learn to Push Past Impossible™.

As a young underground cadre in 1980s Durban, Moe Shaik endured detention, following orders for the good of the organisation. Little did he know that this stint in the police cells would lead to his lifelong relationship with The Nightingale, a Special Branch policeman turned enemy secret agent whose files were so accurate, Oliver Tambo named them The Bible.

Shaik morphs from being a timid optometrist to leading a critical, high-tech intelligence operation, supplying information to the ANC top brass in exile and in South Africa. He becomes party to the secrets of both the state and ANC operatives.

This thrilling first-person account brings into sharp focus the role of Jacob Zuma, Shaik's brother Schabir and other players, and sheds new light on some of South Africa's most turbulent years.

The South African Special Forces achieved exceptional results with small groups of elite soldiers instead of larger, conventional teams. The Team Secret shows that the same principle applies in the business world – a small team has a much better chance of completing projects efficiently, on budget and on time.

Teams, rather than individuals, form the DNA of many companies and they play a pivotal role in achieving strategic and financial success. Like Special Forces teams, they must function as a well- oiled machine firing on all cylinders.

Koos Stadler tells in captivating detail about a real-life Special Forces operation and the lessons learnt about team dynamics and achieving the goal. His story, combined with anecdotes from Anton Burger’s experiences as a team leader in different work environments, show the many lessons the business world can take from the Special Forces.

The book identifies the key characteristics of an effective team, how to select the right team members, how to inculcate an ethos centred around team principles and how an effective team should be led. It speaks to both team members and team leaders across all managerial levels – from a team leader in a call centre to a project manager or CEO.

In short: To fast-track your business, shape up your teams!

The late eighties was a highly politicised environment. Willem Laubscher was healing some of the world’s best-known political prisoners, amongst them Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki. When Nelson Mandela was scheduled for a similar operation, all hell broke loose.

The National Party was quietly plotting to smuggle Mandela out of the country, possibly hoping that he would escape, while the ANC was scoring points by casting doubt on the medical services that white doctors like Laubscher was willing to provide to the political prisoners. A relatively simple medical operation turned into an international diplomatic crisis. Meanwhile, in most ironic of twists, the security police was taking desperate measures to ensure Mandela’s safety – the country could simply not afford an assassination attempt.

Willem Laubscher was the medical practitioner in the eye of this storm; Nelson Mandela was the calm strategist who had held out against pressure from both the jittery NP government and the increasingly boisterous ANC, with Winnie Mandela already larger than life, stoking the media and exploiting every available loophole to embarrass the government.

This is the story of a few weeks of diplomatic chaos, and a security operation that completely overshadowed the medical procedure Mandela was scheduled for. Read all about it now in this 64-page memoir of that provocative time, Operation Mandela.

Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation covers the university protests that took place in 2015–2016, better known as the #FeesMustFall protests. Rekgotsofetse (Kgotsi) gives us his first-hand account of what happened prior to the protests and what led to the events of October 2015 at the various university campuses and nationally.

This is a four-part retelling of what happened on the ground amongst the students, first at #RhodesMustFall, then moving to the university responses and management and what ultimately led to #FeesMustFall nationwide. Chikane then looks at student politics now and how they are different from 1976, specifically the fact that the protests were being led by so-called coconuts, who are part of the black elite.

The book poses the provocative question, can coconuts be trusted with the revolution?

For most of its existence, the ANC Youth League has played a powerful role in the politics of the ANC, and therefore of South Africa. This book tells the history of the ANC Youth League, from its formation in 1944 to the present day.

The book explores the radicalising role played by its early leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and O.R. Tambo; the formation of the ANC Youth and Students Section in exile, first led by Thabo Mbeki; the return from exile in the 1990s and the leadership of Peter Mokaba; the controversies around the appointment of Julius Malema and his subsequent sacking; and the absence of Youth League leadership in the #FeesMustFall movement and current South African politics. Finally, the book considers the role that the Youth League should play in the future.

This is a fascinating glimpse into a vital and volatile institution in South African politics.

Provocative, insightful and brilliantly written by Professor Wahbie Long, Nation on the Couch explores life in our beloved country through the lens of psychoanalysis.

By focusing on the idea of a ‘political unconscious’, it argues that there is much to be learnt from excavating the inner life of South Africans, which can illuminate the external problems that beset us from all sides. It will challenge readers to rethink the way we see ourselves, why we do what we do and why we are who we are. 

In 1979, the SADF established a highly clandestine unit, called Delta40 or D40 in short. This ultra­secret unit was tasked with the dirty work of “disappearing” hundreds of ANC, PAC and Swapo actvisits. With the help of Project Coast, D40 poisoned political activists and prisoners of war before dumping their bodies into the ocean from a light aircraft.

Even some of the SADF’s own special force members became victims of these ‘death flights’ when they threatened to expose the secret work of D40. D40 was renamed Barnacle and eventually became the well­known Civil Co­operation Bureau (CCB), but the existence and operations of D40 remained almost unknown until now. Its role in state­sanctioned murders was a well­kept secret.

Seasoned investigative journalist Michael Schmidt interviewed veteran D40, Barnacle and CCB operatives, as well as Recce commanders and double­agents, to piece together this top­secret history. With Death Flight he uncovers black ops kept hidden for decades

Cook, Eat, Repeat is a delicious and delightful combination of recipes intertwined with narrative essays about food, all written in Nigella’s engaging and insightful prose. Whether asking ‘What is a Recipe?’ or declaring ‘Death to the Guilty Pleasure’, Nigella’s wisdom about food and life comes to the fore, with tasty new recipes that readers will want to return to again and again.

‘The recipes I write come from my life, my home’, says Nigella, and in this book she shares the rhythms and rituals of her kitchen through over fifty new recipes that make the most of her favourite ingredients. Dedicated chapters include ‘A is for Anchovy’ (a celebration of the bacon of the sea), ‘Beetroot and Me’, ‘A Vegan Feast’, a shout out for ‘Brown Food’, a very relatable ‘How To Invite People for Dinner Without Hating Them (or Yourself)’, plus new ideas for Christmas.

Within these chapters are recipes for all seasons and tastes: Burnt Onion and Aubergine Dip; Butternut with Chilli, Ginger and Beetroot Yoghurt Sauce; Brown Butter Colcannon; Spaghetti with Chard and Anchovies; Beef Cheeks with Port and Chestnuts; Oxtail Bourguignon; and Wide Noodles with Lamb in Aromatic Broth, to name a few. Those with a sweet tooth will delight in Rhubarb and Custard Trifle; Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake; Rice Pudding Cake; and Cherry and Almond Crumble.

Veteran journalist Anton Harber brings all his investigative skills to bear on his very own profession, the media. For two years he conducted dozens of interviews with politicians, journalists, policemen and 'deep throats', before piecing together two remarkable tales.

The first is a chilling story of police death squads, rogue units and renditions, and how South Africa's leading newspaper was duped into doing the dirty work of corrupt politicians. The second starts with a broken and discarded hard drive and evolves, with many near misses, into the exposure of the depths of the Guptas' influence over the ruling party.

Harber's two tales reveal the lows and highs of journalism during an era of state capture. His book is both a disquieting exposé of how easily the media can be duped by a conniving cabal for its own selfish ends, and a celebration of brilliant investigative reporting by brave and ethical journalists.