When it comes to making great decisions, the way you think about things is usually a lot more influential than what you actually think.

If you ever hired a person who ‘looks the part’, dated someone who ‘gives you a good feeling’, voted for the party that ‘speaks the most sense’ or got into an investment that ‘cannot be missed’, only to realise you made a horrible mistake, you might have wondered how you ever talked yourself into it. Yet, even with the bruises you’ve earned, you’re currently likely to make exactly the same decision, the next time around.

The beliefs that guide your ideas and the instincts that drive your actions, are all informed by your unconscious biases (and literally every single one of us has them), which irrationally tell us one thing is good, and another is bad; one thing is absolutely true and another is utterly false; and make you act less smartly than you actually are. But the good news is you can learn to see them, to manage them and ultimately to overcome them.

In Don’t Believe Everything You Think, Colin J Browne, the author of How to Build a Happy Sandpit, shows you how biases work, why they matter, and how to reframe your thinking to make well-founded decisions about life and work, relationships and investing, and much else in between, to vastly improve your chances of success.

A revolution is taking place in the great marketplaces of the informal sector and it contains an unquantified scale and power as an economic engine and a way of life for the majority of our low income populations. The KasiNomic Revolution may still be a murmur in the streets, a grassroots economic groundswell, but it is the future of African economic activity.

Kasi is the South African term for the township – a teeming conurbation of homes and businesses, entertainment venues and social meeting places. GG Alcock uses the term KasiNomics to describe the informal sectors of Africa, whether they are in the township, a rural marketplace, at a taxi rank or on a pavement in the shadow of skyscrapers. Brought up in a rural Zulu community, GG has learnt and shares the lessons of African culture, language, stick fighting, lifestyle and tribal politics, along with shared poverty and community, which have prepared him for accessing the great informal marketplaces of Africa. He is uniquely placed to uncover the extraordinary stories of kasi businesses which not only survive but excel, revealing a revolutionary entrepreneurship which is mostly invisible to the formal sector.

KasiNomic Revolution is a story of kasi entrepreneurs on one side and, on the other, of great corporate successes and failures in the informal community. KasiNomic Revolution is at once a business book, and at the same time a deeply human book about the people and lives of rural and urban informal societies.

KasiNomic Revolution is about the lessons of marketing, distribution, culture and modernity in an informal African world.

Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain development and trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry, discuss the impact of trauma and adverse experiences and how healing must begin with a shift to asking, “what happened to you?” rather than “what’s wrong with you?”

Through wide-ranging, and often deeply personal conversation, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Perry explore how what happens to us in early childhood – both good and bad - influences the people we become. They challenge us to shift from focusing on, “What’s wrong with you?” or “Why are you behaving that way?,” to asking, “What happened to you?” This simple change in perspective can open up a new and hopeful understanding for millions about why we do the things we do, why we are the way we are, providing a road map for repairing relationships, overcoming what seems insurmountable, and ultimately living better and more fulfilling lives.

Many of us experience adversity and trauma during childhood that has lasting impact on our physical and emotional health. And as we’re beginning to understand, we are more sensitive to developmental trauma as children than we are as adults. ‘What happened to us’ in childhood is a powerful predictor of our risk for physical and mental health problems down the road, and offers scientific insights in to the patterns of behaviors so many struggle to understand.

A survivor of multiple childhood challenges herself, Oprah Winfrey shares portions of her own harrowing experiences because she understands the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma at a young age. Throughout her career, Oprah has teamed up with Dr. Bruce Perry, one of the world’s leading experts on childhood trauma. He has treated thousands of children, youth, and adults and has been called on for decades to support individuals and communities following high-profile traumatic events. Now, Oprah joins forces with Dr. Perry to marry the power of storytelling with the science and clinical experience to better understand and overcome the effects of trauma.

In conversation throughout the book, the two focus on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves in the context of personal experiences. They remove blame and self-shaming, and open up a space for healing and understanding. It’s a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma, and it’s one that allows us to understand our pasts in order to clear a path to our future - opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

Grounded in the latest brain science and brought to life through compelling narratives, this book shines a light on a much-needed path to recovery – showing us our incredible capacity to transform after adversity.

New York Times bestseller - over 25 million copies sold The No. 1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century "[Thirty] years after it first appeared, the wisdom of The 7 Habits is more relevant than ever. On an individual level people are burning out, and on a collective level we are burning up the planet. So Dr. Covey's emphasis on self-renewal and his understanding that leadership and creativity require us to tap into our own physical, mental, and spiritual resources are exactly what we need now." Arianna Huffington One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has captivated readers for nearly three decades. It has transformed the lives of presidents and CEOs, teachers and parents - millions of people of all ages and occupations. Now, this 30th anniversary edition of the timeless classic commemorates the wisdom of the 7 habits with modern additions from Sean Covey. The 7 habits have become famous and are integrated into everyday thinking by millions and millions of people. Why? Because they work! With Sean Covey's added takeaways on how the habits can be used in our modern age, the wisdom of the 7 habits will be refreshed for a new generation of leaders. They include: Habit 1: Be Proactive Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind Habit 3: Put First Things First Habit 4: Think Win/Win Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood Habit 6: Synergise Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw This beloved classic presents a principle-centered approach for solving both personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and practical anecdotes, Stephen R. Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity - principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. Stephen R. Covey dedicated his life to demonstrating how a person can truly control their destiny with profound yet straightforward guidance. As an internationally respected leadership authority, family expert, teacher, organisational consultant, and author, his advice gives insight to millions. He sold more than 20 million books (in 40 languages), and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was named the No. 1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century. He was the author of The 3rd Alternative, The 8th Habit, The Leader in Me, First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, and many other titles. He held an MBA from Harvard and a doctorate from Brigham Young University, USA. He was the cofounder of FranklinCovey, a leading global education and training firm with offices in 147 countries. Sean Covey is President of FranklinCovey Education and oversees all of Franklin Covey's International partnerships which cover over 140 countries. He is a New York Times best-selling author and has written several books, including The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which has been translated into 20 languages and sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

Uplifting inspiration from the Sunday Times bestselling author of I Wish I Knew.

Wild Hope is Donna Ashworth's powerful new collection of wisdom to help us find hope, peace, self-acceptance and inspiration on the days we feel worn down, helpless or sad. Written with love and understanding, Donna reminds us that amidst our daily struggles and constant outpourings of bad news we have so much to hope for, and that every one of us can play a part, big or small, in making the world a better place.

With poems such as 'That Thing You Do', 'Through the Wringer' and 'Rope Ladder', Donna helps us to remember that most people in this world are good, and that acts of kindness and love within our individual spheres of influence, however small, all contribute to a better future. She also gently guides us, no matter how busy or overburdened we may be, to practice better self-care and self-acceptance.

Hope exists when nothing else can. On the darkest of days Wild Hope will help you find more light.

Mo Gawdat is an engineer. What most of us see as insurmountable problems he sees as systems overloads to tackle and solve. Unstressable breaks stress into inputs and effects, classifying human stressors as: stress to the mind, stress to emotions, stress to the body, and stress to the soul. Once classified, Gawdat and co-author Alice Law show readers how stress can be predicted―and once predicted, prevented.

Unstressable illuminates for readers how most of us deal with the unpleasant, anxiety-producing and even miserable or tragic events in our lives: stress is always a by-product, leading directly to inability to cope, health problems and cratered confidence. Gawdat and Law guide readers to both heart centred and science-based solutions.

They’ll train readers to:

• Develop habits and attitudes of listening and learning that limit stress
• Learn the language of de-stressing mind, emotions, body and soul
• Respond, not react
• Release self-criticism, insomnia, and lethargy
• Increase energy, focus and confidence

Unstressable is a handbook for those who understand that stress isn’t what happens to you; it’s how you handle what happens to you. It’s a practical and rounded approach to an ever increasing modern day problem.

If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, this is the book for you. There's no need for superhero capes or for more signed cheques to heal our battered selves or our planet. This revolutionary memoir shows that ultimately, when we unf*ck ourselves, we unf*ck the world.

Crippled by burnout, in a state of near-collapse, bestselling author and corporate leader, Kagiso Msimango embarks on a powerful journey of unf*cking herself. What she discovers, after getting little relief from mainstream healing methods, (while maxing out her medical aid in the process), is a simple and revolutionary truth: the more we unf*ck ourselves, the more the we unf*ck our world.

A book filled with unique revelations to save your life.

Undoubtedly, there are moments when hope is obscure. That's because hope has many hiding places. It hides behind heartbreak, camouflages in stress, and disguises itself in grief. It only takes a few disappointments before our expectations are hijacked by doubt and disbelief. Hope is easy to lose and hard to find, but there is never a season when hope is out of reach.

All Hope is Found: Rediscovering The Joy Of Expectation, by bestselling author of Woman Evolve Sarah Jakes Roberts, will show:

• Hope can be broken
• Hope can be reframed
• Hope can be put to work
• Hope can spread

Inspiring you towards the pursuit of hope with a lens of compassion, Sarah serves as a guide who exposes the hidden hope that awaits you each day. Sarah is not shaking up your life with renewed expectation and the epic pursuit of hope for you to go back to your norm. She wants you to get out of your comfort zone and into your go zone—the space where the abnormal eventually becomes comfortable because you refused to give up.

Commemorating its 25th anniversary, a limited, one-time printing, collector’s edition of the over 4-million copy selling, must-have book that’s guided those millions to success and happiness, from the New York Times bestselling author and foremost expert on power and strategy.

A not-to-be-missed Special Power Edition of the modern classic, now beautifully packaged in a vegan leather cover with gilded edges, including short new notes to readers from Robert Greene and packager Joost Elffers. Greene distills three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz as well as the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Including a hidden special effect that features portraits of Machiavelli and Greene appearing as the pages are turned, this invaluable guide takes readers through our greatest thinkers, past to present.

This multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.

Fortune favours the bold. All great leaders of history have known this, and were successful because of the risks they dared to take. But today so many of us are paralysed by fear.

Drawing on ancient Stoic wisdom and examples across history and around the world, Ryan Holiday shows why courage is so important, and how to cultivate it in our own lives. Courage is not simply physical bravery but also doing the right thing and standing up for what you believe; it's creativity, generosity and perseverance. And it is the only way to live an extraordinary, fulfilled and effective life.

Everything in life begins with courage. This book will equip you with the bravery to begin.

A difficult manager can be the cause of many a sleepless night, or in extreme cases, even make you want to quit your job. Impossible bosses can obstruct your professional growth by hiding corporate ladders and leave your career stuck in an invisible cage.

In this book, eight archetypal managers who create uniquely challenging situations at work are identified, including Mr Tumbleweed (the anxious and indecisive manager), Ms Say Me (the competitive control freak manager), Mr Make-Up (the people-pleasing manager), Ms When We (the hostage-of-the-past manager) and four other friends.

Drawing on real-life experiences, the authors describe typical workplace scenarios you might find yourself in with these impossible bosses and identify their key character traits. Most importantly, they share several secret strategies for how best to communicate your ideas and demonstrate your value to them. Working with different psychological profiling systems, the authors try to demystify the personality type and explain why your impossible boss acts like they do.

Armed with these insights and hands-on tips, you will be able to turn challenging interactions around in a shorter space of time and respond with an approach that will show your true value and leadership qualities.

A coach in your pocket, this book offers a practical guide for how to manage your manager.

An essay collection searching through history, memory and literature to find glimmers of utopia. The collection is a book of elsewheres; in it, the author charts a journey to find other liveable places and spaces in a troubled world.

Whether embarking on a bizarre quest to find Cecil Rhodes’s missing nose (sliced off the bust of the Rhodes Memorial) or bike-packing the Scottish islands with a couple of squabbling anarchists; whether learning to surf (much too late) in the wild, freezing waters off the Cape Peninsula or navigating the fraught politics of a Buddhist retreat centre – the author explores forgotten utopias, intentional communities and islands of imagination with curiosity, hope and humour.

Threaded through the pieces in this collection are questions of friendship and human community, of environmental destruction and repair, of landscape and memory. Show Me the Place investigates the deep human desire to imagine social and environmental alternatives to what we take as normal or inevitable.

For more than two decades, legendary trainer Tim Grover has taken the greats-Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds of relentless competitors in sports, business, and every walk of life-and made them greater. Now, for the first time ever, he reveals what it takes to achieve total mental and physical dominance, showing you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire. Direct, blunt, and brutally honest,Grover breaks down what it takes to be unstoppable: you keep going when everyone else is giving up, you thrive under pressure, you never let your emotions make you weak. In "The Relentless 13," he details the essential traits shared by the most intense competitors and achievers in sports, business, and all walks of life. Relentless shows you how to trust your instincts and get in the Zone; how to control and adapt to any situation; how to find your opponent's weakness and attack. Grover gives you the same advice he gives his world-class clients-"don't think"-and shows you that anything is possible. Packed with previously untold stories and unparalleled insight into the psyches of the most successful and accomplished athletes of our time, Relentless shows you how even the best get better . . . and how you can too.

After an exceptionally wild Mother’s Day where she danced like there was no tomorrow, picked a fight with a stranger and collided with the floor, Johannesburg scriptwriter and author Pamela Power is forced to take a hard look at her drinking habits. She realises that although she does not need to find an AA group immediately, she might be a serial binge drinker and needs to take back control.

In this honest yet humorous account of her year of not getting sh*tfaced, Pamela examines her long, complicated relationship with alcohol. She is shocked to realise just how much of a crutch alcohol has been for her. There is always a bottle of wine or Prosecco around to her to help her manage the many demands of life as a freelancer and as a parent.

Pamela starts her journey to sobriety at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as her family faces financial troubles, and life in the suburban Parks of Johannesburg isn’t so blissful anymore. Through her, we experience all the frustration, irritation and surprising benefits of going dry. In dealing with her dependence on alcohol, Pamela also confronts her troubled relationship with her parents.

While many other sober curious books portray sobriety as the only answer, Pamela has found a sweet spot between total sobriety and binge drinking: moderation.

A ground-breaking exploration of how successful groups operate – whether in sport, business or society as a whole – and what we can learn from them.

How do you build and sustain a great team? The Culture Code reveals the secrets of some of the best teams in the world – from Pixar to Google to US Navy SEALs – explaining the three skills such groups have mastered in order to generate trust and a willingness to collaborate.

Combining cutting-edge science, on-the-ground insight and practical ideas for action, it offers a roadmap for creating an environment where innovation flourishes, problems get solved, and expectations are exceeded.

Learn the surprising power of delivering beyond your customers' expectations.

Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling New York City two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.

How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation? Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. Guidara’s team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner; they filled a private dining room with sand, complete with mai-tais and beach chairs, to console a couple with a cancelled vacation. And his hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant to his own team, who learned to deliver praise and criticism with intention; why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more—not less; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner.

Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business—and we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry’s most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.

The book we need NOW to avoid a social recession, Murthy’s prescient message is about the importance of human connection, the hidden impact of loneliness on our health, and the social power of community.

Humans are social creatures: In this simple and obvious fact lies both the problem and the solution to the current crisis of loneliness. In his groundbreaking book, the 19th surgeon general of the United States Dr. Vivek Murthy makes a case for loneliness as a public health concern: a root cause and contributor to many of the epidemics sweeping the world today from alcohol and drug addiction to violence to depression and anxiety. Loneliness, he argues, is affecting not only our health, but also how our children experience school, how we perform in the workplace, and the sense of division and polarization in our society.

But, at the center of our loneliness is our innate desire to connect. We have evolved to participate in community, to forge lasting bonds with others, to help one another, and to share life experiences. We are, simply, better together.

The lessons in Together have immediate relevance and application. These four key strategies will help us not only to weather this crisis, but also to heal our social world far into the future.

• Spend time each day with those you love. Devote at least 15 minutes each day to connecting with those you most care about.
• Focus on each other. Forget about multitasking and give the other person the gift of your full attention, making eye contact, if possible, and genuinely listening.
• Embrace solitude. The first step toward building stronger connections with others is to build a stronger connection with oneself. Meditation, prayer, art, music, and time spent outdoors can all be sources of solitary comfort and joy.
• Help and be helped. Service is a form of human connection that reminds us of our value and purpose in life. Checking on a neighbor, seeking advice, even just offering a smile to a stranger six feet away, all can make us stronger.

During Murthy’s research for Together, he found that there were few issues that elicited as much enthusiastic interest from both very conservative and very liberal members of Congress, from young and old people, or from urban and rural residents alike. Loneliness was something so many people have known themselves or have seen in the people around them. In the book, Murthy also shares his own deeply personal experiences with the subject—from struggling with loneliness in school, to the devastating loss of his uncle who succumbed to his own loneliness, as well as the important example of community and connection that his parents modeled. Simply, it’s a universal condition that affects all of us directly or through the people we love—now more than ever.

Why...

I know, why would anybody name their first book, Why? Let me quickly tell you.

Exposure to pornography at a very young age and sexual abuse as a child, made my life hell. Quite frankly it ruined my whole life. I lived with daily battles that created a war within my soul. This torment lasted until I was 40 years old. I could no longer live with the trauma, the pain and suffering, emanating from my childhood events, I needed help. Just like many adults and children do too.

Don’t we all have a story? Some stories are more attractive than others. This is my story. It is real, authentic, and raw. So many ask the question, Why? Not all our why’s have clear answers. And often, we never get an answer.

Why adults stay stuck in early childhood trauma?
Why pornography will ruin your child’s life?
Why do children need early intervention from trauma?
Why are parents blind to see the warning signs from trauma?
Why is a safe environment so important for a child to develop?
Why can the trauma of sexual abuse last a lifetime?
Why does Jesus care?

Many of your why’s will be answered through reading my life story mirrored with those of the Israelites. A story that is used multiple times in history to display Slavery and Freedom. It is a story that would help people to find true freedom, a story that will point you to the Truth. It is a story of wandering through the wilderness as a slave, with addictions, pain, and suffering. Addictions that are not easily spoken about, addictions that is not easily resolved. Addictions that many survivors don't want to have in the first place.

Freedom that I so desperately longed for. Freedom I found. Freedom that can be yours too.

An expert guide to managing your time for a happier, more fulfilling existence.

The most precious commodity we own isn't money. It's time. We are allotted just twenty-four hours a day, and we live in a culture that keeps us feeling 'time poor' - like we never have enough. Since we can't add more hours to the day, how can we experience our lives more richly?

Based on Professor Cassie Holmes's wildly popular MBA class at UCLA, Happier Hour demonstrates how to immediately improve our lives by changing how we perceive and invest our time. Holmes provides empirically based insights and easy-to-implement tools that will allow you to:

• Spend your hours optimally and feel confident in your choices
• Side-step distractions
• Create and savour moments of joy
• Design your days and weeks with purpose
• Look back on your years without regret

Enlivened by Holmes's upbeat narrative and groundbreaking research, Happier Hour will teach you how small changes can have an enormous impact - helping you feel less overwhelmed, more present and more satisfied with your life overall - things that money can't buy. It all starts by transforming just one hour into a happier hour.

Every decision we make is a decision about the future. We constantly make choices that affect the next week, year or decade, but get blinded by what we want or expect the future to be. Cognitive traps lie everywhere: failing to question our assumptions; believing in greater certainty and personal control than life allows; or missing signals because we’re distracted by the noise.

The post-2020 world demands a revolutionary way of looking ahead, and in these unpredictable times, the key to good futures thinking is good thinking. The goal of constructive futurism is not to forecast specific events, but to plot a series of scenarios that show what could happen. Consequently, we can work towards the future we want, avoid the ones we don’t, and be prepared to manage the risks and opportunities no matter what.

In Thinking the Future, scenario specialists Clem Sunter and Mitch Ilbury teach us the futurist’s art of decision-making, where the flexibility of thinking like a fox plays a key role in adapting to a complex and interconnected world. The book rejects the appealing but misleading self-help narrative that you can decide your future through sheer determination in pursuit of your goals and replaces it with a more dynamic approach.

Isaac Newton said: ‘If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ By reimagining seminal concepts thought up by some of history’s greatest thinkers, the authors detail the dos and don’ts for thinking the future and handling its uncertainty in a constructive way.

Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist, online sensation Dr Julie Smith shares all the skills you need to get through life's ups and downs.

Filled with secrets from a therapist's toolkit, this is a must-have handbook for optimising your mental health. Dr Julie's simple but expert advice and powerful coping techniques will help you stay resilient no matter what life throws your way.

Written in short, bite-sized entries, you can turn straight to the section you need depending on the challenge you're facing - and immediately find the appropriate tools to help with . . .

- Managing anxiety
- Dealing with criticism
- Battling low mood
- Building self-confidence
- Finding motivation
- Learning to forgive yourself

This book tackles the everyday issues that affect us all and offers easy, practical solutions that might just change your life.

When last did you get lost? We rarely do in the era of Google Maps and Waze, but satellite navigation systems are of no use when disruption turns our lives upside down. When swirling mists of uncertainty block our view of the future, we might question our ability to cope. But with awareness, determination and practise we can improve our competence, build our resilience and confidence, and gain a sense of control, even when everything feels out of control.

Whether your life has been disrupted by death, divorce, disease, Covid-19 lockdown, working from home, moving town, starting a new job, or any of a host of other disruptive events that can either make or break you, this book will guide you to the best possible outcome. Disruption is never comfortable, but regardless of whether it is positive or negative, it is a catalyst for change.

Future-Proof Yourself provides simple but effective lessons and frameworks to help you future-proof yourself to win at both work and life. Dip into chapters on disruption, remote working, resilience, teamwork, leadership and family, and learn how to remain focused, utilise pressure and create a recipe for personal success. A distillation of Nikki Bush’s professional insights as a human-potential and parenting expert, combined with her personal honesty and vulnerability, this book is a must-read for anyone looking to harness their courage and curiosity to build a rewarding, fulfilling future for themselves – no matter what life throws at them.

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!

Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day and then ages out. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable.

Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn't, he has learned that being an artist isn't about your specific output; it's about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone's life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.

The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distils the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime's work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments - and lifetimes - of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.

This isn’t a how-to-build-your-business book, but rather one that offers insights into the thinking and experiences of people who have built businesses, have seen them fail, and have seen them shoot the lights out.

Gil Oved, Lebo Gunguluza, Polo Leteka, Vinny Lingham and Vusi Thembekwayo were once in the same position in which all entrepreneurs find themselves before they take that deep breath and dive in. They know how it feels – the excitement, the passion, the sense of making a difference through offering something original, complex or simple. They know the disappointments when things don’t go according to plan, when funding is not forthcoming, and when a business fails dismally despite every best effort. They have walked the road and fallen into the potholes. They took the knocks and learnt from the lessons.

Key is that they learnt from their mistakes and were undeterred. They tried again. And again. And, sometimes, yet again. They persevered until they did it. And they’re still doing it.