Best Selling Non-Fiction Books

In August 2010, Wylie Overstreet published a satirical article called “If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses” on the website CoolMaterial.com. Within a month, it had received 3 million views and had been “liked” by 120,000 Facebook users. In A WORLD HISTORY ACCORDING TO FACEBOOK, Overstreet...

At 300 pages and 105,000 words, it blows open the Waitangi debate by investigating the events leading up to the Treaty, and what Maori really believed they were signing. The Great Divide, working from the original documents from 200 years ago, directly challenges the findings of books like Michae...

The Sweet Poison Quit Plan is the long-awaited 'how to' supplement to the best-selling Sweet Poison. It features: an overview of why sugar is bad and why we get addicted a five-step plan to kicking the habit tailored advice for men and women a guide to sugar-free shopping (how ...

There are companies that create waves and those that ride or are drowned by them. This is a ride on the Google wave, telling the story of how it formed and crashed into traditional media businesses - from newspapers to books to television to movies to telephones to advertising to Microsoft. With unp...

Internationally known theoretical physicist and bestselling author Lawrence Krauss offers provocative, revelatory answers to the most basic philosophical questions: Where did our universe come from? Why is there something rather than nothing? And how is it all going to end? Why is there something ra...

Ask any man the first thing he would buy if he won the lottery and we guarantee you the answer would be - a supercar. It’s what every real man and every alpha woman aspires to - a blisteringly fast V8 engine, achingly high-tech design and style that snaps the necks of passers by as they watch ...

You've probably heard the rumours about the world ending in 2012 right? Did you know that the smart and powerful people are secretly building three giant spaceships in which to make a getaway but it's only for them? And did you also know that to get on one of those spaceships and escape you've got t...

A Diary of a Nobody for the modern age, Awkward Situations For Men allows us to spend a year in the life of Danny Wallace, ordinary man. Broken up into short two-three page chapters, each piece details a beautifully written awkward situation. Your toes will curl. You’ll chuckle in recognition. Y...

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...

In this celebration of New Zealand rugby a number of NZ rugby matches are remembered, and presented with the match programmes that were printed for them. The selection mixes famous test and provincial games with less well-remembered but equally fascinating matches. It includes classic games such as ...

Includes full text of previously published title Before Your Kids Drive You Crazy, Read This plus approximately 1/3 new content! Do your kids sometimes make you feel your head is going to explode? Ever yelled at them until you were hoarse? Do you have days when you feel like making...

Al Brown explores the connection Kiwis have with their coasts. As he travels our stunning and varied coastline he visits iconic landmarks, meets colourful characters and hears rich tales from past and present. Each chapter covers a different stretch of coast - Red Rocks to Pencarrow (Wellington)...

Over 1 million copies sold! Translated into over 20 languages. The original and best, just got better! With new exercises, additional stretches and more of Frederic Delavier's amazing illustrations, you'll gain a whole new understanding of how muscles perform during exercise. This one-of-a-kind best...

Known to millions simply as 'Smithy', Sir Charles Kingsford Smith was one of Australia's true twentieth-century legends. In an era in which aviators were superstars, Smithy was among the greatest and, throughout his amazing career, his fame in Australia was matched only by that of Don Bradman. Among...

A practical field guide to New Zealand's native edible plants. Over 190 trees, shrubs, herbs, ferns, mushrooms, lichens and seaweeds are described in detail in this useful and attractive book, with information on which part is edible and when, how plants have been utilised, particularly by Maori, th...

This popular guide, first published by Godwit in 1997, has been fully revised and updated. Thirteen new sites of interest have been added, along with new images and a stylish, modern new look. The Auckland region has a wealth of features of natural and historic interest. From volcanic cones ...

In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There's Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House - she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was alle...

When The Passionless People was first published in 1976 it was a publishing sensation, selling tens of thousands of copies. Its title became part of the language. Over thirty years on - have we changed? Are we still 'smiling zombies'? There is no doubt that this book will be as topical and controver...

New Zealand's high country farmers are a special breed. They farm in tough terrain, at high altitudes, in areas where extreme climate puts both man and animal to the test. When she was widowed, with three children, in 1992 Iris Scott had to call on all her farming skill and inner strength to carry o...

A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so...

A collection of hilarious and compelling insights and anecdotes, diary entries, poems, 'true' facts and cartoons on travel from Karl Pilkington, unlikely star of the Ricky Gervais Show, the world's most successful podcast - now in paperback. This is the travel book for people who don't particularly ...

In Matthew Inman's "5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides)," samurai sword-wielding kittens and hamsters that love .50-caliber machine guns commingle with a cracked out Tyrannosaur that is extremely hard to potty train. Bacon is better than true love ...

Presenting the Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington: Adventurer. Philosopher. Idiot. Karl Pilkington isn't keen on travelling. Given the choice, he'll go on holiday to Devon or Wales or, at a push, eat English food on a package holiday in Majorca. Which isn't exactly Michael Palin, is it? So what happ...

Given away by her mother at five months old, raped on the day of her first communion at age seven - when Celine Roberts was told 'No one wants you', she believed it. Illegitimate and unwanted, Celine was forced by her foster mother into prostitution. Her bones were broken, her nose was crushed and s...

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to introver...

This new re-written edition of the best-selling NZ classic Which Native Tree? now includes comprehensive ecological information on the tree and its environment. As well as the known uses of each tree, from food and medicine, to dyes, perfume, honey, bootlaces, fire-making and timber it also explains...

This rich and vivid, highly illustrated social history gives an insight into the world of the New Zealand hunter. Hunting is central to many New Zealanders' lives - whether it's to feed their families, earn a living or to explore the country's amazing wilderness. Hunting: A New Zealand history de...

All royalties from the book are being donated to the Christchurch Family Help Trust. The Christchurch earthquake of 22 February 2011 was one of the worst natural disasters in New Zealand's history. The quake devastated New Zealand's second biggest city and caused significant damage to infrastruc...

When it first appeared, Nancy Friday's taboo-shattering bestseller "My Secret Garden" created a mixed storm of outrage and exhilaration. Those women who feared their erotic fantasies called it pornographic. Those women who read it recognized in its pages the hidden content of their own sexuality. Mo...

The author spent the first week of February 2011 - two weeks before the earth moved - shooting a photographic essay of Christchurch and the suburbs to complement photographs he had taken in the early 1950s. His colour photographs taken in February suddenly became yesterday's pictures. The photograph...

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate caseagainst religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wis...

This witty, clever, mind-expanding and original book is destined to become a classic. A professor for over 40 years, Jim Flynn found fewer and fewer of his students were in love with reading. However, they were willing to try if he gave them lists. This inspired him to create the definitive list: bo...

In Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales combines hard science and powerful storytelling to illuminate the mysteries of survival, whether in the wilderness or in meeting any of life's great challenges. This gripping narrative, the first book to describe the art and science of survival, will change the wa...

A perfect gift for Christmas (and indeed for any time of year), this sister volume to the successful Map New Zealand is a treasure trove of Christmas Kiwiana from down the years. Drawing on the Turnbull's extensive collection, the selection of utterly charming Christmas cards, Christmas Day dinn...

A handy guide to the identification of New Zealand seashells. Condensed from Andrew Crowe's popular bestseller Which Seashell? this little book has been designed to fit into a pocket, day pack or bag. Full of essential information for quick accurate identification of seashells and packed with colour...

Renowned for its holistic perspective and 'see and do' approach, this full-color, pocket-sized handbook offers step-by-step guidance on every phase of the nursing assessment - for adults, children, and special population. The focus is on what nurses need to know to assess clients: the health history...

A handy guide to the identification of New Zealand native trees. Condensed from Andrew Crowe's popular Which Native? series, this little book has been designed to fit into a pocket, day pack or bag. Full of essential information for quick accurate identification of native trees, this new mini guide ...

This book is in brilliant colour, with many photographs. Discover what it was like to be in the professional, close-knit team that was the RNZAF Air Combat Force. Whether in the flying units at Ohakea and Nowra, or in the support units at Ohakea and Woodbourne, they were true professionals, ...

Don't try telling a Gamer to get a life - he's addicted to computer games; he has thousands of lives. It can be hard, living with a Gamer. The constant sound of gunfire and unearthly screaming emanating from upstair, the death-trap that is his bedroom (mass of electric wires + drawn curtains = sp...