Item category 1: Society & Culture

The Great Housing Hijack reveals how vested interests pull the strings on the property market in Australia, and offers a solution for genuinely affordable housing for those who need it.

In 2023 the curtain finally came down on Brian Houston. The rock star of Pentecostalism, former Global Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church, was acquitted of concealing his father's sexual abuse of a minor, but it was too late. His glittering megachurch had disowned him. How had it come to this? And ...

Intelligence expressed through technology should not be mistaken for a magical genie, capable of self-directed thought or action. Rather, in highly original and effervescent prose with a generous dose of wit, Yi Tenen asks us to read past the artifice to better perceive the mechanics of collabora...

When you've lived your dreams, it's time for new ones. The 4-bed, 2-bath home you loved... the pool you couldn't get the kids out of... they've had their day. Downsizing isn't about living in a tiny home - unless you want to - it's not about square metres; it's about rightsizing your home for the...

Marcus Aurelius wisely said, "Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one." Building on that quote and making its wisdom applicable, Jimmy Rex's book Be One, cuts through the noise and provides readers a single roadmap to being a good man and becoming the best possible version of...

The English language has no specific word for the parent that has lost a child. There exist words for orphan, widow and widower, but there is no word that captures and conveys this tragic type of loss. It has been eleven years since Diane Foley's son, the American journalist James Foley, was kidn...

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.

From the bestselling author of Kleptopia comes a true story about Cuckooland - a world where the rich can buy everything - including the truth. Everywhere, the powerful are making a renewed claim to the greatest prize of all: to own the truth. The power to choose what you want reality to be and i...

A rare firsthand account of Vatican politics as Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis each endeavored to lead the Catholic Church into the modern world-from an accomplished diplomat, lawyer, and Harvard professor. "In my years of service to the Holy See, I was a stranger in a rather stran...

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.

Like sharks to blood in the water, the mob arrived in Hollywood greedy and ready to tear away huge chunks of cash. Opportunistic mobsters saw labor unions as the means for muscling into the movie industry and extorting millions of dollars from studio bosses. Control the unions to which projection...

In 1981, ambitious young Ma Anand Sheela transported the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to the United States to fulfill his dream of creating a utopia for his thousands of disciples. Four years later, the incendiary Rajneeshpuram commune in Oregon collapsed under the weight of audacious crimi...

Fincham explores what your hands say about your personality and about the insights into your life path. Extensively illustrated throughout, the reader is led by clear instructions to achieve their own readings for themselves and others.

Explore the culture and spiritual practices of India and learn the origins and beliefs of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism with this elegantly designed guide. Nurture your well-being with the eye-opening beliefs of Indian Spirituality. The global historical, social, and cultural reach of ...

When asked why true crime is so in vogue, journalist and author Amber Hunt always has the same answer: it's no hotter than it's always been. Crimes and trials have captured American consciousness since the Salem Witch Trials in the seventeenth century. And these cases over the centuries have fund...

Great for self-help and self-improvement readers, as well as anyone wanting to get tips on improving their ability to orate. Dale Carnegie is the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People.

From the notorious Lizzie Borden to the innumerable, haunted rooms of Sarah Winchester's mysterious mansion this offbeat, insightful, first-ever book of its kind explores the history behind America's female ghosts, the stereotypes, myths, and paranormal tales that swirl around them, what their st...

On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland's Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed 'The Lady of the Lake,' was only the first of a butcher's dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bo...

An exploration of how the world favours men financially, along with practical steps we can all take to bring about meaningful change. Nearly 70% of Britain's homeless are women. There are more men called Dave running the UK's top 100 companies than there are women altogether. Women outperform men...

In this book Stacey Clare, a stripper with over a decade of experience, takes a detailed look at the sex industry - the reality of the work as well as the history of licensing and regulation, feminist themes surrounding sex work, and stigma. Bringing her personal knowledge of the industry to bear...

01:20am, 8 March 2014. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 239 passengers, disappeared into the night, never to be seen or heard from again. The incident was inexplicable. In a world defined by advanced technology and interconnectedness, how could an entire aircraft become untraceable? Had the...

The more we ponder, the odder the world can seem. Why are coups making a comeback? What counts as a journey into space? Which countries cheat the most in athletics? Is the tale of the difficult second novel fact or fiction? The keen minds at The Economist contemplate all these and more in their q...

This anthology of true crime stories written by Paul Taylor will satisfy the appetite of all true crime enthusiasts. Readers will recognise local names such as Martin Bryant, Ivan Milat and Mark 'Chopper' Read, and immerse themselves in international events that involved Oscar Pistorius, the infa...

Repurpose "trash" for profit -- or to give back to communities in need -- with Angel Williams and her fun, frugal family.

An entertainment personality and member of the Bachelor Nation offers a no-nonsense dating advice book that guides readers through spotting red flags, recovering from infidelity, and determining if friends with benefits is really worth it.

Corporate concentration has breached the stratosphere, as have corporate profits. An ever-expanding constellation of industries are now monopolies (where sellers have excessive power over buyers) or monopsonies (where buyers hold the whip hand over sellers) - or both. In Chokepoint Capitalism, sc...

"I don't hold a hose, mate." Scott Morrison, 20 December 2019, on the Black Summer bushfires. "It's not a race." Scott Morrison, 10 March 2021, on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Between 2013 and 2022, Tony Abbott begat Malcolm Turnbull, who begat Scott Morrison. For nine long years, Australia was ...

The story of Edward Rulloff, a serial murderer who was called 'too intelligent to be killed' and the array of 19th-century investigators who were convinced his brain held the key to finally understanding the criminal mind. Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer, some have called him ...

He wrote in the 90's about the 2008 Banking Crash, The War on Terror, Transhumanist Agenda, Microchipping, the Cashless Society and more. In this book, he takes a look back at the event that shook the world in 2001: the September 11th attacks in New York. He looks at who was really behind it and ...

This book looks at all aspects of what the festive period means for people all over the world, beginning with a history of Christmas that looks at Yule, Nativity and Christmas as well as pagan celebrations. Includes facts, quotes, jokes, sayings and words of wisdom and fun from around the world. ...