Item category 1: Society & Culture

"There are at least two kinds of games", states James P. Carse as he begins this extraordinary book. "One could be called finite; the other infinite". Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life - they are played in order to be won, which is when they end. But infinite games are more ...

NOVELS, OTHER PROSE & WRITERS: FROM C 1900 -. In The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien spun a clever web of wordplay and verbal hocus-pocus. Inspired by these linguistic games, master "hobbit investigator" David Day untangles the crafty puns and riddles, hidden meanings, and mythical a...

The 2,500 year old Yi-jing or I Ching, translated as The Book of Changes, is a Chinese work of divination and prophecy. Dating from the 4th century BC, it is traditionally consulted by performing complex routines of dropping bundles of dried grass stalks. The particular patterns formed when six s...

LANGUAGE: HISTORY & GENERAL WORKS. How many languages are there? What differentiates one language from another? Are new languages still being discovered? Why are so many languages disappearing? The diversity of languages today is varied, but it is steadily declining. In this Very Short Introducti...

Should marijuana be legalized? The latest Gallup poll reports that exactly half of Americans say "yes"; opinion couldn't be more evenly divided. Marijuana is forbidden by international treaties and by national and local laws across the globe. But those laws are under challenge in several countrie...

As a child, Andrew had a reading disability; now he is a psychoanalyst, and professionally adept in the art of conversation. This book is a work of literary non-fiction, a memoir about the art and the gift of reading.

Are you a witless cretin with no reason to live? Would you like to know more about every piece of knowledge ever? Do you have cash? Then congratulations, because just in time for the death of the print industry as we know it comes the final book ever published, and the only one you will ever need...

How do you turn your social media accounts into viable business opportunities? Michael Hyatt has the blueprint. Michael Hyatt learned to use his social media platform as the foundation for his own successful writing, speaking, and business coaching practice. In this straightforward how-to, he off...

In a lively introduction to Shakespeare's life, career and the theatre of his day, Michael Alexander returns to the basics of how to read Shakespeare's works as literary texts. Surveying the most popular and widely-studied plays and sonnets, he elaborates upon the historical, cultural and literar...

RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS DEPICTED IN ART. What does it mean to be a saint and what does it take to become one? Who are the most important and inspirational figures to have become saints? And how do modern-day saints differ from those living centuries ago? Author Jacques Duquesne provides an answer to a...

This title deals with the myths and legends of the ancient worlds, from Greece, Rome and Egypt to the Norse and Celtic lands, through Persia and India to China and the Far East. It is a comprehensive A to Z of the classic stories of gods and goddesses, heroes, warriors and mythical beasts, with c...

Aesop's Illustrated Fables features more than 400 fables, beautifully illustrated with engravings and colour plates by Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane, and Ernest Griset. It includes all of the classic fables whose titles and morals have become part of our common cultural vocabulary, among them The ...

The fourth edition of Shelley's classic one-volume history of the church brings the story of Christianity into the twenty-first century. This latest edition of the book takes a close look at the rapid growth of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity in the southern hemisphere, addresses the dec...

In 1978 Warren Fellows was convicted of heroin trafficking between Thailand and Australia and was consequently sentenced to life in Bang Kwang prison - known as the Bangkok Hilton. This is the story of his 12 years behind bars, the abuse of human rights and the squalid conditions he endured.

A fresh way of thinking about spirituality that grows throughout life. In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them that those who have fallen, failed, or "gone down" are the only ones who understand "up." Most of us ten...

Maori myths and legends have an important role in transmitting and regenerating traditional knowledge. Yet as Ross Calman points out in his introduction to this new edition, they are also simply great yarns - reflective of a time when telling and listening to stories was a key leisure activity in...

If truth can set us free, where do we find it? In The First and Last Freedom, Krishnamurti argues that we will not find truth in formal institutions, nor in organised religions and their dogmas, nor in any guru or outside authority; for, according to Krishnamurti, truth can only be realised throu...

LITERATURE: TEXTS. AUSTRALIAN. Graham Freudenberg, Australia's greatest speechwriter, says "the Australian Labor Party was built on speeches." This book brings together great Labor speeches which give voice to the party's enduring values and achievements, and place it and its principal figures at...

Smart, sassy and full of everything you need to know. This is the ultimate guide to writing - and selling - an erotic novel. It will help you to understand erotica - what it is, and isn't, the subgenres, the conventions, the big do's and don'ts - as well as giving you the inspiration and support ...

It has been said that everyone is either entering, in the midst of, or just exiting a trial. Popular author and pastor Max Lucado has discovered that at any given point, almost everyone is dealing with something. Whether the loss of a loved one, marriage issues, illness, job loss, or the stress o...

FASHION DESIGN. Great War Fashion opens the woman's wardrobe in the years before the outbreak of war to explore the real woman behind the stiff, mono-bosomed ideal of the Edwardian Society lady draped in gossamer gowns, and closes it on a new breed of women who have donned trousers and overalls t...

This is a simple yet comprehensive guide to using the ancient Chinese system of horoscopes in order to do your own readings. Much more is involved than just the twelve famous animal signs. The author shows how the animal year sign cycle is enmeshed with a repeating cycle of the five elements, yie...

Whether you're writing a steamy erotic novel, or a romantic novel and want to take the reader beyond the bedroom door, writing a convincing sex scene can be one of the most difficult challenges for any fiction writer. How to Write Erotic Fiction and Sex Scenes is a practical guide to help every w...

What do Dorothy Parker, Groucho Marx, H. L. Mencken, Oscar Wilde, Robert Benchley, George Bernard Shaw, Jules Feiffer, Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Phyllis Diller, Edith Piaf, W. C. Fields, Mark Twain, Voltaire, Charles Bukowski, and countless others have in common? Not a thing, other than each was a ...

"This is a comprehensive history of Jewish religion and philosophy, its traditions and practices, magnificently illustrated with over 500 photographs and paintings. It is an in-depth introduction to the religion and its rich cultural and spiritual heritage. It describes the different aspects of O...

This is a compact yet authoritative history of Hinduism, from its origins over 4000 years ago to the impact of the belief system across the world today. It highlights key figures in Hinduism, including Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva and, in recent times, Vivekanada, Sahajananda Swami and Bhaktivedant...

Philosophers have always enjoyed asking awkward and provocative questions, such as: What is the nature of reality? What are human beings really like? What is special about the human mind and consciousness? Are we free to choose who we are and what we do? Can we prove that God exists? Can we be ce...

Rusty Young was backpacking in South America when he heard about Thomas McFadden, a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia's notorious San Pedro prison. Intrigued, the twenty-something Australian law graduate travelled to La Paz and joined one of Thomas' illegal tours. Wha...

A combination of folklore and time-honoured advice, this book illuminates the history behind female wisdom from yesteryear. Taking in money saving ideas, gardening knowledge, household management and age-old remedies, it offers both seasoned advice and eccentric cures for a huge range of problems...