General Books

Dame Alison Holst holds more titles than her damehood suggests: she's been invariably described as 'Mother of the Nation', 'Queen of the Kitchen' and 'a groundbreaker in the culinary world'. In the sixties, Dame Alison singlehandedly changed the way women prepared food for their families with he...

From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years--as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues--Walter Is...

At 7.22am on May 26th 1998, Bear entered The Guinness Book of Records as the youngest, and one of only around thirty, British climbers to have successfully climbed Everest and returned alive. He was only 23 years old. The actual ascent took Bear over ninety days of extreme weather, limited sl...

If you haven't heard of the success of 42 Below Vodka you must have been living under a rock! Initially brewed by Wellington advertising man Geoff Ross in his garage, everything about this vodka was audacious, from the very notion of making high-end vodka Downunder to its shock-and-awe advertising c...

One of the world's most famous business leaders (and a well-known avian fanatic) explores the pioneers of flight. In Reach for the Skies, Branson examines the history of aviation over the last two hundred years, putting the spotlight on trailblazers such as: * Tony Jannus, who made the first ...

This is a true story. It really happened. "The Game" recounts the incredible adventures of an everyday man who transforms himself from a shy, awkward writer into the quick-witted, smooth-talking Style, a character irresistible to women. But just when life is better than he could have ever dreamed...

This is Kris Jenner's brutally honest memoir - the never-before told story of the sawy businesswoman behind the Kardashian empire. It is a revealing personal story: An ambitious businesswoman, Jenner will delve into the world of living a hectic life in the celebrity spotlight as well as touch on the...

On 5 December 2001 New Zealand sporting and adventure hero Sir Peter Blake was killed by bandits at the mouth of the Amazon River. In this intimate account, Pippa Blake offers a private view of Sir Peter the husband and family man. Unpublished photographs from her personal albums, behind the scenes ...

Fleur Sullivan is a South Island legend, the culinary maven responsible for not one but two iconic local restaurants Olivers in Clyde and the eponymous Fleurs Place in Moeraki. Now, at the age of 72, she's running a third, The Loan and Merc in her home town of Oamaru. Her eventful career has spanned...

For the first time in 40 years, the man wrongly convicted of the Crewe Murders breaks his silence to tell the full story. A NEW WITNESS COMES FORWARD: “Dear Ian, I have had information since 1970 that I have been far too frightened to release. I made an effort to inform the Police in 1970 a...

Hunter S. Thompson's Kingdom of Fear is the wild and outrageous autobiography from the world's most notorious journalist. It's an unrestrained and uncensored account of fast living, hard drinking, sharp writing and unimaginable drug taking; of road trips, girls, guns, bikes and being accused of tryi...

Long before SKII, La Prairie, or the coveted Creme de la Mer, there was Helena Rubinstein. Your mother or grandmother probably used Helena Rubinstein creams or cosmetics once upon a time. But not that many people know about Helena's Australian connections. She was little known and has been virtuall...

A courageous, irrepressible man who has become a worldwide phenomenon Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability no — to dance, walk, run, or even st...

Found in 2004 hiding out in a distant cave high up the back of Bendigo Station, a hermit woolly quickly found fame and attention on the local and world stage through a rather unusual set of events. Woolblind and suffering under the weight of his massive fleece, he was taken down to the homestead whe...

Robert Long and his family - wife Catherine, and children Christan (17) and Robyn (14) - live in complete isolation, in a hut two days' walk south of Haast in South Westland. Robert has lived there for nearly 30 years; Catherine for 20 and the kids all their lives. Their only contact with the outsid...

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from l...

Michael Hill believes the looming meltdown can be a good thing for businesses and entrepreneurs. It is possible to succeed in a downturn - in fact it is the perfect situation in which to perfect a business. Instead of fearing the side-effects of recession, wallowing in gloom and convincing ourselves...

It's 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She's in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they're trying for a baby - and she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue...

Based on never-before-published family, police and court records, photographs, interviews with people who knew him, including criminals, football colleagues and police officers, this is the biography of Frank 'Bumper' Farrell. He was a gambler, a hard drinker, a devoted husband and father, a devout ...

According to "Time", Paul Allen is one of the '100 Most Influential People In The World.' "Idea Man" is the story of the fascinating life of a man who has made an unprecedented impact in science, technology, business, sports, music, and philanthropy. His memoir features previousl...

Coal miner. Stand-up comedian. Manager. Phil Kingsley Jones has done it all, but is best known for his association with rugby’s most explosive player - the great Jonah Lomu. While the giant wing terrorized opponents on the field, Kingsley Jones masterminded his rise from humble bank clerk to m...

Almost thirty years ago, Michael Moritz, then a young journalist at "Time" magazine, was allowed exclusive access to the inner workings of a cutting-edge technology company to tell the story of its first decade in business. "The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer" brought readers in...

Few know New Zealand's backcountry and byways, and the hunters who often inhabit them, as well as Connor McKenzie. Throughout his 50-plus years of hunting high-jinks, misadventures and 'success stories', he has amassed all sorts of yarns - always worth the telling, usually hard-case and, sometimes, ...

One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living ...

For Gervase Phinn growing old is not about a leisurely walk to the pub for a game of dominoes or snoozing in his favourite armchair. As this sparkling collection of his very best humorous writing shows, he may be 'out of the woods' but he is certainly not 'over the hill'.Looking back over more than ...

In 1965, John Milbanke Masters was awarded the Military Cross for action in Borneo, for which he was made a life member of the Gurkhas. In 2002 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Between these awards recognising gallantry and chivalry, John was the last New Zealand comman...

In this delightful sequel to "Memoirs of an Aesthete" Harold Acton continues where he left off in 1939. Packed with recollections of the famous personalities he knew such as the Sitwells, Norman Douglas, Bernard Berenson, Gertrude Stein and Evelyn Waugh, this book brilliantly evokes a soci...

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly 20 years...

Charles F. Goldie (1870-1947) is one of New Zealand's best known artists, with mystique surrounding his work. His fame has been fed by newspaper reports documenting record-shattering prices, thefts, vandalism and forgeries. The book explores Goldie's career, his early still life paintings, his time ...

A reprint of Michael King's seminal book on what it means to be a non-Maori New Zealander. First published in 1985, Being Pakeha became a kiwi classic, a strong reply both to Maori who were asserting their own identity and also to Pakeha who were mumbling that they didn't have a strong culture or id...

From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs' professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacs...

 I love my work as a medium. I love to be connected with spirit, doing spirit work with people who are grieving over losing their loved ones, or hurting from past experiences. I am truly blessed. However, there is something I want people to realise: you can do this too! Every one of us can find...

Absolute Power: The Helen Clark Years is an unauthorised biography by Investigate magazine Ian Wishart. What you are about to read will go further than anyone has gone before – digging up a Prime Minister you didn’t even know existed. The Helen Clark we see today is a carefully ma...

"The Monster of Florence" is a true account of brutal serial murder in idyllic Florence. After settling in Italy in 2000, Douglas Preston discovered that the olive grove in front of his family's new home had been the scene of one of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, comm...

This is the story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of grandeur) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa Claus and a certifiable lunatic into the bargain. Suddenly at the age of 12, Augusten found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian house in perfect s...

'So there I was - a twenty-one year old black female university student walking down a suburban street with a gun, no shoes and murder on my mind. I was going to kill the past. I didn't know what else to do with it' Stacey Patton today is a vibrant and impressive young woman with a promising career ...

This is a true story. It really happened. "The Game" recounts the incredible adventures of an everyday man who transforms himself from a shy, awkward writer into the quick-witted, smooth-talking Style, a character irresistible to women. But just when life is better than he could have ev...

When she was fourteen, Jasvinder Sanghera was shown a photo of the man chosen to be her husband. She was terrified. She'd witnessed the torment her sisters endured in their arranged marriages, so she ran away from home, grief-stricken when her parents disowned her. "Shame" is the heart-ren...

Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. She no longer considered Dave a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army co...

When Marco Pierre White's mother died when he was just six years old, it transformed his life. Soon, his father was urging him to earn his own keep and by sixteen he was working in his first restaurant. White went on to learn from some of the best chefs in the country, such as Albert Roux, Raymond B...