Item category 1: Society & Culture

"In the nineteenth century, collectors and museum curators in Europe were fascinated by the antipodean colony of Tasmania. They cultivated contacts in the colony who could supply them with exotic specimens, including skeletons of the thylacine and the platypus. But they were not just interested i...

What do you want, when no one is watching? What do you want, when the lights are off? What do you want, when you are anonymous? When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure an...

In his newest revolutionary offering, world-renowned clinical psychologist and bestselling author Jordan Peterson guides us through the ancient accounts of rebellion, sacrifice, suffering and triumph that have formed the foundations of the Western world. Drawing on the psychology of religion, myt...

Who Owns This Sentence? is an often-humorous and always-enlightening cultural, legal, and global history of the idea that intangible things can be owned, and makes a persuasive case for seeing copyright as an engine of inequality in the twenty-first century.

The Widow of Walcha is a shocking true story about death, love and lies in the small NSW town of Walcha. All farmer Mathew Dunbar ever wanted was to find love and have a family of his own. That's why, just months after meeting Natasha Darcy, the much-loved grazier didn't hesitate to sign over his...

Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony-before even Lizzie Borden-there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation's debut media circus. On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighb...

Why is a heart not heart-shaped? Will I ever understand cryptocurrency? What am I doing when I apricate? And is everything getting worse? Finding the time to appreciate the bounty of our world can be tricky amid the demands of work, family and scrolling our phones. Happily, E. Foley and B. Coates...

Life will sometimes seem long and tough. And you will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. And then you'll be old. And then you'll be dead. There is only one sensible thing to do with this empty existence, and that is - fill it. A book for the science-loving reality-romantic in all of us, You Do...

This isn't your average walk through the graveyard. Filled with facts that will tickle your gray matter, You'll Leave This World with Your Butt Sewn Shut provides answers to all the questions about death that you've ever wanted to ask (and more than a few you never thought to). You'll learn how t...

We all have our list of things we want to have "someday." Whether it's for a better job, a stronger marriage, a happier home, more gratifying relationships with friends, or simply accomplishing more and leaving a lasting legacy, we think that tomorrow is the day to start our journey towards our g...

Indulge your heart's darkest desires to be terrified, unsettled, disgusted, and heartbroken with stories that span everything from paranormal hauntings and creepy death cults to small-town terrors and apocalyptic disasters. Each recommendation includes a full synopsis as well as a quick overview ...

Drawing on oral history interviews conducted nationwide with abortion-providing doctors, nurses, counsellors and managers, women's health workers, academics and community activists, Baird brings a critical feminist analysis to create a sophisticated historical narrative of abortion provision over...

On the evening of Halloween in 2015, Morgan Hehir was walking with friends close to Nuneaton town centre when they were viciously attacked by a group of strangers. Morgan was stabbed, and died hours later in hospital. He was twenty years old and loved making music with his band, going to the foot...

Artificial intelligence not only powers our cars, hospitals and courtrooms: predictive algorithms are becoming deeply lodged inside us too. Machine intelligence is learning our private preferences and discreetly shaping our personal behaviour, telling us how to live, who to befriend and who to da...

Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife Sharon arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something's off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger. It isn't lon...

In this hard-hitting work of non-fiction, real heroes from across the spectrum of US policing tell their unforgettable stories. Straight from the harsh streets, American Cops is a first-person account of the days and nights of America's police force. Protect: These men and women are our eyes. Our...

Since its original publication in 1975, this groundbreaking work has awakened millions of people to the existence of "speciesism." In Animal Liberation Now, Singer exposes the chilling realities of today's "factory farms" and product-testing procedures, destroying the spurious justifications behi...

Are free-solo climbers, underwater cave explorers and big-wave surfers crazy... or cautious? How do soldiers and fighter pilots manage risk? What can we learn from how BASE jumpers and drag racers prepare that we can take into our own lives? 'Harry' Harris -- Thai Cave Rescuer, joint Australian o...

The story that bonds Ernest Rutherford and Marcus Oliphant is as extraordinary as it is unlikely. They were kindred souls whose restless intellect and tireless conviction fused in the crucible of discovery at Cambridge University's celebrated Cavendish Laboratory. Their brilliance illuminated the...

Growing up in the public eye-- a reality star in the Duggar family documentaries-- Vuolo grew up believing the Bible was primarily a rulebook and that faith was about executing God's laws to perfection. These ingrained principles were less about God's love and grace and more about man's willingne...

The definitive book on the Chinese Communist Party's extensive campaign over the last two decades to take the pole position of global dominance. For several decades Chinese ascendancy has been supported by an astonishingly broad and deep portfolio of soft power. The stories of their reach are bre...

Making the world a better, less annoying place one wish at a time. Do you hate gambling ads, pre-ripped jeans and pedestrians who walk five abreast? Do you also have a problem with plastic-wrapped fruit, climate-change deniers and take-away sandwiches priced at $14.95? And, most of all, do you th...

Founded in 2020, Check Media Co. quickly established itself as the go-to platform for daring feminist opinions on everything from right-wing politics to overcoming taboos around sex and pleasure. In this book, Check co-founder Hannah Ferguson turns her sharp, progressive perspective on the issues...

Donald Trump will be president again, whether he is on the ballot or not. That is because Trumpism is overtaking the Republican Party and will mount a vigorous comeback, potentially in the hands of a savvier successor--The Next Trump. This prophecy will come true, according to Miles Taylor, if we...

Propaganda, pulp fiction, spies and censorship: the fascinating and action-packed story of books in wartime. Chairman Mao was a librarian. Stalin was a published poet. Evelyn Waugh served as a commando - before leaving to write Brideshead Revisited. Since the advent of modern warfare, books have ...

Making visible the real effects of Long COVID on people and their lives, this guide explores the issues of living with the condition, helping people to make sense of their experiences on the road to recovery. Rooted in the author's personal story of having Long COVID since April 2020, the book of...

Gripping and darkly comic, Breaking Twitter takes readers inside the battle between one of the most intriguing, polarizing, influential men of our time - Elon Musk - and the company that owns our world's best hope for a shared global conversation. From employee accounts within Twitter headquarte...

Facebook knew it had a problem. The company had been humiliated by headlines, painted as complicit in the election of Trump and in an assault on the global social fabric. Their stated mission was to connect people, but they couldn't afford to destroy society in the process. And so they hired a sm...

Millions have been entertained by the viral video of a man being arrested after a 'succulent Chinese meal'. But when out of the blue this Falstaff figure called author Mark Dapin thirty years later, it emerged his story went to the heart of the Australian underworld over decades, connecting a cel...

Featuring over 300 satirical headlines, 20 pages of bonus content, and over 500 typos, The Chaser annual is being described by critics as "a reliable stocking filler" and "something I buy brother-in-law each year because I can never think of a present for him". The Chaser and Shovel Annual 2023 b...