A Hole in My Genes by Jodie Fleming

$27.95 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

Dr Jodie Fleming, a clinical and health psychologist who previously specialised in the field of psycho-oncology - the human side of cancer - receives the terrifying news that she has two primary breast cancers. This becomes a frightening opportunity to practise what she preaches. The doctor becomes the patient. Having dedicated her career to helping others with cancer, and also caring for her husband with testicular cancer eight years prior, Jodie understands the role of caregiver on both a personal and professional level. The role of patient, however is another matter. Especially when the diagnosis comes exactly one month after the end of her marriage. What ensues is the epitome of complicated grief and a foray into the world of cancer from the other side of the desk. Jodie relocates interstate to her parents' home in country Victoria for a healthy dose of family dysfunction. Genetic testing and a prophylactic hysterectomy add salt to the open wound of infertility before viciously rubbing it in. Forced to draw upon the psychological strategies she'd previously taught her clients, Jodie begins her true education. A Hole in My Genes is Jodie's journey from that terrifying diagnosis to a cancer free future. ...Show more

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you. Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed on 9 November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Over the next seven years, Eddie fa ced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on the Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country. Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on earth'. Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.         ...Show more

Sam Bloom: Heartache and Birdsong (HB) by Cameron Bloom; Samantha Bloom; Bradley Trevor Greive

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

The follow-up to the ABIA award-winning, internationally bestselling sensation Penguin Bloom. The heart-warming Australian story Penguin Bloom - the miraculous tale of a baby magpie that helped save a young mother and her family - is a homegrown and international bestseller; soon to be a major Hollywood movie, starring Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln. Sam's personal message at the end of the book has resonated powerfully with readers - where, pulling no punches, she writes about what it is really like to face life in a wheelchair. In Sam Bloom, Sam tells her own story for the first time - how a shy but determined Australian girl became a nurse and travelled across Africa. How she fell in love with a like-minded free spirit, raised three boys and built a life together on Sydney's Northern Beaches. And then, in a single horrific moment, how everything changed. Sam's journey back from the edge of death and the depths of despair is so much more than an account of overcoming adversity. Sam's captivating true story - written by close friend, New York Times bestselling author Bradley Trevor Greive, and featuring extraordinary photographs taken by Sam's husband, Cameron Bloom - is humbling, heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure. A triumph of raw emotion and incredible beauty, Sam Bloom: Heartache & Birdsong is a truly unforgettable book.   ...Show more

Too Much And Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald's only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world 's health, economic security and social fabric.   Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents' large, imposing house in New York, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.   A first-hand witness, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humour to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald's place in the family spotlight and Ivana's penchant for regifting to her grandmother's frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump's favourite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer's.   Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists and journalists have sought to explain Donald Trump's lethal flaws. Mary Trump has the education, insight and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider's perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world's most powerful and dysfunctional families.     ...Show more

Kitty Flanagan's 488 Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

RICHARD GLOVER: ''You won’t agree with all her rules – I, for one, am a great believer in the word “pash” – but there is a good laugh, and a lively argument, to be had on every page.'' 488 Rules for Life is Kitty Flanagan's way of making the world a more pleasant place to l ive. Applying truth and wit to modern problems. An antidote to stupidity. 488 Rules for Life is not a self-help book, because it's not you who needs help, it's other people. Whether they're walking and texting, asphyxiating you on public transport with their noxious perfume cloud, or leaving one useless square of toilet paper on the roll, a lot of people just don't know the rules. But thanks to Kitty Flanagan's comprehensive guide to modern behaviour, our world will soon be a much better place. A place where people don't ruin the fruit salad by putting banana in it … where your co-workers respect your olfactory system and don't reheat their fish curry in the office microwave ... where middle aged men don't have ponytails … What started as a joke on Kitty Flanagan's popular segment on ABC TV's The Weekly, is now a quintessential reference book with the power to change society. (Or, at least, make it a bit less irritating.) What people (okay, Kitty Flanagan) are saying about this book: 'You're welcome everyone. Thank god for me.' 'I'd rather be sad and lonely, but right.' 'There's not actually 488 rules in here but it sure feels like it'. ...Show more

The Last Lighthouse Keeper: A Memoir by John Cook; Jon Bauer

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

In Tasmania, John Cook is known as: 'The Keeper of the Flame'. John's renowned as one of the last of the "kerosene keepers": he spent a good part of his 26-year career in Tasmanian lighthouses tending kerosene, not electrical, lamps. He joined the lighthouse service in 1969, after a spell in the merchan t marine. Far from reviling work on isolated islands such as Tasman and Maatsuyker, Australia's southernmost lighthouse, he discovered that he loved the solitude and delighted in the sense of purpose that light keeping gave him. He did two stints on Tasman, in 1969-71 and 1977, and was the head keeper on Maatsuyker for eight years. Tasman's kerosene light was a pressure lamp fuelled by two big bottles that had to be pumped up to 75 pounds per square inch (about 516 kilopascals): "It was the equivalent of pumping up a tyre every 20 minutes," John says. "Then you had to wind up the weights - they went down the tower and turned the prism around like a big clockwork. If the weights went all the way to the bottom, the light would stop. "The main thing was that 365 nights of the year you sat in that tower, 100 feet up, and you had to stay awake," John says of Tasman. "If you fell asleep the light would stop and then you were in trouble." Keepers took watches around the clock, in a system similar to that on a ship. Day watches weren't a chance to slack off: standing orders required the watchkeeper to look seawards at least every half-hour and to log sightings of any vessels, and their course, in the area. "But the main thing was there was always maintenance to do," John says. "Because Mother Nature was your boss. She'd blow gutters off, that sort of thing - she was always stickin' her bib in, and you were repairin' it." Tasman keepers also ran a herd of up to 500 sheep. They didn't have a freezer, so they'd kill and dress a sheep every fortnight. John supplemented his bulk stores, delivered every three months by the lighthouse supply vessel, with extras brought on the bi-monthly mail boat, and by keeping chooks, ducks and turkeys. "I never ran out of things to do," he says. "In my free time I used to do correspondence courses - I did navigation, diesel mechanics, business management and accounting." In 1977, keepers left the Tasman quarters forever. "I've got such strong memories of those places with people in them, and kids' voices rattlin' around," John says. "It breaks my heart to think about those places sittin' out there empty with no lights on." ...Show more

Jacinda Ardern - A New Kind of Leader by Madeleine Chapman

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern is a leader for a new generation, one tired of inertia in the face of pressing issues such as climate change, immigration and the rise of far-right terrorism. Ardern was catapulted onto the international stage with her grace and compassion following the Chri stchurch mosque shooting. Oprah Winfrey invited us to 'channel our inner Jacindas' as praise for Ardern flooded headlines and social media. The world's youngest female head of government, and only the second elected world leader to give birth while in office, Ardern describes herself as a progressive and a social democrat. In this revealing biography, journalist Madeleine Chapman discovers the woman behind the headlines. Politically engaged from an early age, Ardern has encountered her fair share of sexism, but rather than let that harden her she advocates 'rising above' critics. In her first press conference, she announced an election campaign of 'relentless positivity'. The tactic was a resounding success- donations poured in and Labour rebounded in the polls. But can Ardern live up to her promise? What does her new style of leadership look like in practice? And what can we learn from the world's reaction to this inspiring leader? ...Show more

Rising Heart by Aminata Conteh-Biger; Juliet Rieden (As told to)

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

'Rising Heart will never leave you; searing, powerful, disturbing, hopeful.' The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO The astonishing tale of a woman determined to turn her trauma into the power for good in the world. In 1999, Sierra Leone teenager Aminata Conteh-Biger was kidnapped from her father's arms during the brutal eleven-year civil war in her country. Violence, amputation and the rape of young women and girls were all weapons deployed in the bloody conflict; in this environment, Aminata was held captive for months. On release, the UNHCR recognised that Aminata's captors still posed a serious threat to her safety. Barely twenty years old, she was put on a plane, flown to Australia - a land she had barely heard of - and told to start again Refusing to let her trauma define her, she eventually built a life for herself, but a near-death experience during the birth of her first child turned her attention to the women of Sierra Leone, where mothers are 200 times more likely to die having a baby than in Australia. So she set up the Aminata Maternal Foundation, and went back to help. 'An incredible story of hope and transformation, one that we can all learn from.' Emma Isaacs, Founder and Global CEO, Business Chicks 'Aminata's courage in sharing this intensely personal story is rewarded with the power of inspiring hope. Rising Heart has refuelled my sense of perspective and purpose.' Yael Stone, actor and activist ' Rising Heart is a gripping story of courage, survival and redemption. I could not put it down.' Wendy McCarthy AO ...Show more

A Mouthful of Petals by Wendy Scarfe and Allan Scarfe

$29.95 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

Against All Odds: The Inside Account of the Thai Cave Rescue, and the Courageous Australians at the Heart of It (PB) by Craig Challen and Richard Harris

$24.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

‘I just want to warn you. You’re going to dive to the end of the cave. You’re going to see these kids. They’re all looking healthy and happy and smiley. Then, you’re going to swim away, and they’re probably all going to die.’ In June 2018, for seventeen days, th e world watched and held its breath as the Wild Boars soccer team were trapped deep in a cave in Thailand. Marooned beyond flooded cave passages after unexpected rains, they were finally rescued, one-by-one, against almost impossible odds, by an international cave-diving team which included Australians Dr Richard Harris and Dr Craig Challen. These two men were chosen for their medical expertise and cave diving knowledge, but this dangerous rescue asked so much more of them. They had to remain calm under extreme pressure and intense scrutiny, adapt to constantly changing circumstances and importantly, build trust among the rescue team and with the young boys and their coach, whose lives were in their hands. Here is the story of these two Australian men who became international heroes – it is a story of determination, cunning and triumph that will long be remembered. ...Show more

When All is Said and Done (HB) by Neale Daniher

$44.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

Neale Daniher sat down to pen a letter to the grandchildren he'll never get to know. And then he kept on writing ... In 2013, the AFL legend was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease - a cruel and incurable condition. He had a choice. He could spend his remaining time focused on himself, or he could seiz e the opportunity to make a better future for others. Neale is no stranger to challenge. He grew up on a farm in remote New South Wales, the third of eleven children. He battled injury during his football career with Essendon, then jumped on the coaching rollercoaster, leading Melbourne for a decade. As general manager of football operations, he was part of the West Coast Eagles' cultural rebuild. From the hard-won wisdom of life on the land and the love of his family, to the triumphs and gutting lows of elite football, Neale has learnt to make the most of the cards he's been dealt - to always live with purpose and to appreciate what he has. True to form, Neale chose to stare down the disease he calls 'The Beast', and in 2014 he co-founded FightMND, an organisation that has since invested over $40 million into research and care initiatives. In 2015, he became the public face of the foundation's biggest fundraising event, The Big Freeze. When All is Said & Done is a book of stories and wisdom from a man who has always held his beliefs to the Bunsen burner of life. Neale is unflinchingly honest, sharing a timely reminder that, even though life doesn't promise to be fair, we all have the power to choose how to make our time on this earth matter.   ...Show more

When the Ship Hits the Fan by Rob Anderson

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography & Memoir

Captain Rob Anderson spills the beans on a lifetime of incidents, accidents and shenanigans of every type, in every ocean of the world, during an era when the seas were largely unregulated and more like the Wild West than anything witnessed on land.     Since he first went to sea at 15 Captain Rob has been a magnet for trouble but, somewhat preposterously, as matter, he has more often been the one responsible for keeping each enterprise afloat and picking up the pieces when the ships hit the fan.     Whether it's stashing a headless body in the freezer, losing another body before a sea burial, accidentally sabotaging the annual Roebuck Bay Hotel Race in Broome, nearly losing his scrotum in a Japanese spa, or catapulting a mate off the roof of his truck when racing from the dock for last orders...it was all part of the job for Captain Rob. No wonder, when it eventually came time to 'swallow the anchor' he got as far inland as he practically could! ...Show more