Beating egg whites till they're stiff is a metaphor for life – just when you thought your existence would never be more than flaccid transparent snot, something happens to turn it into tight white light.

Once a counsellor, nurse and cook and now a writer, television presenter and all-round fabulous woman, Peta Mathias is the queen of transformation. In Beat Till Stiff, Peta shares lessons learnt in her pilgrimage through life, such as how she stopped strangling her mother, why redheads have more fun, and whether having an orgasm really makes a difference to sex, procreation or world peace.

In her bestselling guide to womanhood Can We Help it if We're Fabulous?, Peta shared with us her thoughts on being a woman. In Just in Time to be Too Late, she turned her attention to what it means to be a man in the twenty-first century. Now, in Beat Till Stiff, Peta covers topics she considers important, naughty or personal, all with a bent towards life's many transformations. Some of the essays in Beat Till Stiff are scurrilous, many are funny and others autobiographical, but all are thoroughly entertaining.

Author Biography

Peta Mathias is a respected and prolific chef, author, broadcaster and television presenter. She also finds time each year to run very popular culinary adventures to Morocco, the South of France and Rajasthan, intended for travellers who love to cook. Peta has written a number of books about food and travel and presented a prime time television food and travel show, ‘Taste New Zealand’, for twelve years. As well as food and travel books, Peta has also written two bestsellers about relationships, Can we help it if we're Fabulous? and Just in Time to be Too Late. Her latest humour book, Beat till Stiff, is a companion to these two titles.