Art and Hobby
Immerse yourself in art and hobbies, with a wide range of books to fill your day with fun and mindfulness. From origami, photography skills, cooking, gardening, fishing, horse-riding and even beekeeping. There’s a book for every hobby.
Showing 1–20 of 22 results
This is NOT a Book!
USD $18.99 Tax IncludedIn this fun-filled picture book, our main character is convinced they’re not in a book. After all, if this was a book, there’d be pages to turn … Oops! We’ve turned the page.
But that’s not proof this is a book. If it was a book, there’d be interesting settings and problems to solve. Hold on! Why is our lead character being chased by a lion? Why are pirates stealing treasure? And are those mermaids playing in a rock band?
This is NOT a Book! is the perfect introduction to how to tell a story.
Getting Closer
USD $27.99 Tax Included
Topflite Promotion is for NZ Customers Only
Rediscovering nature through bird photography
With Getting Closer to guide you, and a camera in hand, learn how to connect with nature by using a photographer’s eye.
Getting Closer is an illustrated discussion of photography as a way of achieving greater intimacy with the natural world. With a focus on birds, the book is directed primarily at photographers but also at birders, and people interested in the outdoors. The author offers a simple, practical path for readers to begin to ‘rewild’ themselves, introducing hands-on techniques that will enable readers to both deeply connect with their environment and become proficient wildlife photographers.
Specifications: 9781925820638 | Hardback | 254 x 254mm / 10 x 10in | 144 pages | Full colour
Celebrating Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife
USD $36.99 Tax IncludedThe Art of Daryl Dickson
Celebrating Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife is a celebration of Daryl Dickson’s beautiful work. From black-winged stilts to brushtail possums, see the variety and color of Australian wildlife contained in one wonderful book. Dickson’s passion for the conservation of wildlife and wild places has informed and inspired her work. She highlights the natural beauty of species that deserve to be saved in what is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the natural world.
The work of artists crosses borders, boundaries and language barriers. Painting wildlife does not need language to explain the essence of the beauty, landscape or movement of a creature. Witness the ancient tropical forests and majestic landscapes of northern Queensland, Australia — home to some of the world’s rarest and most fascinating species. View a lifetime of artworks, showcased in this large-format, beautifully designed book that is an essential addition to coffee tables everywhere.
Australian Women’s Weekly Christmas Issue
“Art and conservation merge in this stunning tome.”
Specifications: 9781925820607 | Cased and Jacket | 254 x 254mm / 10 x 10in | 144 pages | full colour
Celebrating Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife (Limited Collector’s Edition)
The Art of Daryl Dickson
One for the collectors, this exquisite leatherette edition is limted to 100 copies only. Each book is numbered and signed by Daryl with its own unique artist mark so no two copies are the same, making this edition as rare as some of the species featured in its pages.
Celebrating Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife is a celebration of Daryl Dickson’s beautiful work and passion for conservation. The stunning animals around Dickson have informed her work for over 40 years. Witness the ancient tropical forests and majestic landscapes of Queensland, Australia — home to some of the world’s rarest and most fascinating species. View a lifetime of artworks, showcased in this beautiful, large-format book that is an essential addition for art and book collectors alike.
Australian Women’s Weekly Christmas Issue
“Art and conservation merge in this stunning tome.”
Specifications: 9781925820614 | Leatherette | 254 x 254mm | 144 Pages | Full Colour | FSC Certified
Gardener’s Quiz and Puzzle Book
100 Brainteasers for Gardeners Who Know Their Onions
Test your botanical knowledge with over 100 puzzles and quizzes cultivated by garden expert Simon Arkeroyd and quiz-master Dr Gareth Moore. Show off by solving challenging anagrams of Latin species names and challenge yourself with stimulating activities aimed at improving your horticultural and botanical knowledge. Breathtaking botanical illustrations throughout and a wide range of quizzes and puzzles will ensnare and delight any gardener who thinks they know their onions
SPECIFICATIONS: 9781925820423| Paperback | 230 x 170mm | 224 Pages | Colour
The Secrets of Great Botanists
And What They Tell Us About Gardening
Welcome to the lives of 36 botanists from our past and present, driven by an insatiable desire to learn and discover, whose study of plants revolutionised the scientific world and increased our understanding of the importance plants have on our survival.
Illustrated with beautiful period botanical water-colours and vibrant photographs, this inspiring and practical guide delves into the qualities that brought them success and shows what ordinary gardeners can learn from their legacies.
SPECIFICATIONS: 9781925820256 | Hardback | 230 x 170 mm | 224 Pages
The Journal Writer’s Companion
USD $24.99 Tax IncludedAchieve Your Goals • Express Your Creativity • Realize your Potential
Numerous studies show that effective journal writing can significantly impact your life. Designed to be a clear, practical guide to using journaling to help you succeed in any area of life, The Journal Writer’s Companion is also a comprehensive reference to all of the different types of journaling techniques, from gratitude journals to bullet journals, legacy journals to art journals. The result is the only guide you’ll ever need to achieving personal and professional success the journaling way!
SPECIFICATIONS: 9781925820041 | Hardback | 210 x 152 mm / 8.25 x 6 inches |272 Pages
Feed Your Brain: The Cookbook
USD $24.99 Tax IncludedDid you know your brain is the most nutrient-demanding organ in your body? The human brain uses an enormous 20% of the total energy gained from food you consume, meaning what you eat is intrinsically linked with your brain’s health and functioning.
Drawing on 20 years of research, author Delia McCabe presents the bible of delicious, easy ideas to keep your brain in tip-top condition. She shares fascinating facts about the most nutritious ingredients and tips and tricks for preparing meals the whole family will love; this is the ultimate collection of recipes to nurture and benefit not just your body and soul, but also your brain.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 235 x 191 mm | Colour | 240 Pages |
Mrs Cook’s Book of Recipes
For Mariners in Distant Seas
In this book John Dunmore has compiled the kind of exotic recipe book Elizabeth Cook herself might have written. It includes such delicacies as stewed albatross, turtle soup and roasted goat. Mrs Cook’s Book of Recipes is a beautiful gift book that will be enjoyed by anyone with imagination and a sense of history.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 165 x 125 mm | 96 Pages |
Lessons from Great Gardeners
Gardening is continually transformed and enhanced by great gardeners. This book profiles 40 of these remarkable figures — including Australia’s own Jeremy Francis and New Zealand’s Bev McConnell — and explores how their work can be used to inspire and instruct. Stories of their life and work are revealed together with practical hints and tips. Packed with botanical illustrations of their signature plants, the book also includes stunning photographs of twelve of the world’s most iconic gardens.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 227 x 170 mm | Colour | 224 Pages |
Art in Nature (Limited Edition)
Each year, photographers from around the world are invited to enter the Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year competition. (ANZANG refers to the Australia–New Zealand–Antarctica–New Guinea bioregion.)
Last year, 2013, David Rennie won it. His achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact that David Rennie’s love affair with photography only began in 2007 at the age of 47.
In this magnificent book, David has included just a taste of the strikingly memorable images that now comprise his vast collection. Most are taken at the Mandurah Wetlands, south of Perth. Encompassing over 26,000 hectares, these wetlands are home to over 140 species of bird, with many migrating every year from as far away as Russia. The result is a book that will captivate not just bird lovers but all who appreciate the art we find in nature.
SPECIFICATIONS: Leatherbound Limited Edition | 260 mm x 260 mm | 144 Pages | full colour photographs |
50 5-Minute Fixes to Improve Your Riding: Simple Solutions for Better Position and Performance in No Time
Start or end your riding sessions with Wendy Murdoch’s 5-Minute Fixes, and you’ll be amazed how quickly you can replace old habits with new ones, get out of your “riding rut,” and transform what you can’t do to what you can do…naturally, capably, comfortably, and consistently alongside a happy riding partner—your horse.
5 minutes a day is all the time you need to achieve:
- Better balance in the saddle
- Improved body control from head to toe
- Flawless leg position and subtle aiding
- Less physical stiffness, tension, and riding-related pain
- Confidence in your ability to communicate with your horse
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 200 mm / 8 ⅓ x 8 Inches | 199 Colour Photos + 41 Illustrations | 224 Pages |
Illuminating Wisdom: Words of Wisdom, Works of Art
USD $24.99 Tax IncludedNZ Customers Special Sale (Limited Time Offer as shown)
Illuminating Wisdom brings art and wisdom together in a beautiful celebration of some of the world’s most inspiring philosophical, spiritual and literary quotes.
Approximately 80 quotes have been drawn from some of the great wisdom and literary traditions of both East and West, as well as from inspiring people throughout history noted for their practical wisdom. These quotes have been set to exquisite calligraphy by Deirdre Hassed, a leading professional calligrapher, in a range of styles — from the traditional to the contemporary, and making use of many and varied techniques such as gilding, collage, work on glass, letterpress and linoprinting.
Accompanying each artwork is text by Craig Hassed, an international expert in mindfulness, that provides background on the quote’s author, explores the wisdom tradition to which it belongs, and offers deep insight into the meaning of the quote. The result is a book that is both a work of art and a collection of wisdom that will educate and inspire.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback, Case with Jacket | 225 x 203 mm / 8 ¾ x 8 Inches | 160 Pages |
Fishing Season
USD $23.95Take a journey through a Fishing Season, a year full of challenges and victories, disappointments and frustrations, but most of all, quiet happiness. Philip’s prose is lucid, and his reflection on the sport he loves is engaging. Avid anglers will find plenty to love in Fishing Season, but this is a book that also appeals to a wider audience, opening the door to a world few of us experience.
Lively, entertaining anecdotes, whether lovingly remembered or wryly bemoaned, will have you itching to pick up a rod and undertake your own adventure. A professional flyfishing guide and writer, Philip’s years of experience and time on the water have been sorted through and summarised in Fishing Season. What results is the most exciting book on this topic in many years.
Fishing Season is a gorgeous production and would make an excellent gift.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback, Cased with Jacket | 195 x 135 mm / 7 ½ x 5 ¼ Inches | 196 Pages |
Fishing Sense
USD $23.95Philip Weigall is considered to be probably the best writer on flyfishing in Australia and has a large following. Flyfishing, and fishing in general, is one of Australia’s – and the world’s – most popular outdoor activities. It’s a sad fact of flyfishing that there is no prescriptive manual for ensuring success.
It is an activity that defies simple evaluation, with enough variables to leave even the ‘experts’ scratching their heads from time to time. For example, why is it that a trout will respond to a certain fly one day, but ignore it entirely in identical conditions on another day? Acclaimed flyfishing author Philip Weigall attempts to answer this question and many more in this engaging book.
In his words, it is a book of ‘flyfishing truths’, a collection of techniques, ideas, concepts, knowledge and equipment that, to the best of his objective observations over many decades spent with a rod in hand, honestly seem to matter when it comes to catching trout.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback, Cased with Jacket | 195 x 135 mm / 7 ½ x 5 ¼ Inches | 196 Pages |
How to Fake Your Way Through a Wine List: Tips and Tricks to Sound Like an Expert
From the beginner to the person who may already have one wine book.
The bulk of How to Fake Your Way Through a Wine List is an attractive, breezy entertaining look at the world’s seventy five most prominent wine regions and styles, packed with mnemonic devices and colourful photos that help retain information. Get to know the key things in the area and you are more likely to know understand and remember the wines.
Other sections include “Learn the Lingo”, “Just get to know this short selection of terms related to wine and its appreciation and you’ll be talking like a pro”. The “Embrace the Unknown” chapter takes you ‘to meet the unsung regions and unknown grape varieties that will be tomorrow’s superstars’. There is a section on Choosing Your Own wine adventure –who said wine education must begin with Marlborough or the Barossa or even Bordeaux?
Most of all this energetic, fun book will be appreciated by all who love wine and there will be very few people indeed who cannot learn a few enjoyable things from this fact packed book.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 198 x 140 mm / 7 ⅘ x 5 ½ Inches | Colour |
The Art of Mindful Origami: Soothe the mind with 15 beautiful origami projects and accompanying mindfulness exercises
NZ Customers Special Sale (Limited Time Offer as shown)
The Art of Mindful Origami extends the concept of mindful, art-therapy colouring using 15 origami projects, ranging in difficulty from basic to complex, as tools to develop mindfulness. In recent years, interest in mindfulness has exploded and it is now a part of popular culture.
Increasingly, creative pursuits such as colouring are being used as a way for people to focus and enter a mindful state. Each project starts with a brief description and background to the model. Subsequent pages give instructions for folding the particular model.
High-quality patterned origami paper and colouring sheets, which can easily be torn from the book, are included to make this the ultimate gift for anyone wanting a calmer, more stress-free life.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 250 x 260 mm / 9 ¾ x 10 ¼ Inches | Approx. 45 colour photographs and illustrations; Approx. 100 step-by-step illustrations | 120 Pages | High-quality patterned origami and colouring tear out sheets throughout |
Art in Nature
Each year, photographers from around the world are invited to enter the Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year competition. (ANZANG refers to the Australia–New Zealand–Antarctica–New Guinea bioregion.)Last year, 2013, David Rennie won it. His achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact that David Rennie’s love affair with photography only began in 2007 at the age of 47.
In this magnificent book, David has included just a taste of the strikingly memorable images that now comprise his vast collection. Most are taken at the Mandurah Wetlands, south of Perth. Encompassing over 26,000 hectares, these wetlands are home to over 140 species of bird, with many migrating every year from as far away as Russia. The result is a book that will captivate not just bird lovers but all who appreciate the art we find in nature.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 260 x 260 mm / 10 ¼ x10 ¼ Inches | Full Colour Photographs | 144 pages |
The Mindful Home: The Secrets to Making your Home a Place of Harmony, Beauty, Wisdom and True Happiness
USD $34.95 Tax IncludedNZ Customers Special Sale (Limited Time Offer as shown)
A house is merely physical but a home is far more subtle and elusive. This book takes the view that being ‘at home’ is a metaphor for finding ourselves — finding our core. What do we find at our core?
Well, if the world’s great wisdom traditions have anything to say about it then home is about qualities that we could equate with ‘good’ itself — true happiness, peace, beauty, wisdom and inspiration. It is also about the good things in life such as harmony, relationships, health and wealth. So, how are we to find our core and create a home that reminds us of the qualities associated with it? That is where the practice of mindfulness comes in! By exploring the ways in which we feed our mind and our heart through our senses, how we use space, the practicalities of managing a home, and how we can live a healthy and sustainable life at home,The Mindful Home will enable us to shape the living space we really want, creating an environment that both nurtures and invigorates us, while meeting our needs.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 229 x 184 mm / 9 x 7 ¼ Inches | 240 pages |
New Boots in New Zealand (New edition): Nine Great Walks, three islands and one tramping virgin
USD $14.99 Tax IncludedForget the bungee jumps, skydives, jet boats and numerous other things Kiwis have invented to get visitors excited here, New Boots in New Zealand is a whole other adventure. Sick of being stuck in a London office where the furthest she had to walk was to the drink machine, author Gillian Orrell decided to escape city life to tackle New Zealand’s nine Great Walks.
New Boots in New Zealand is her humorous and highly enjoyable first-hand account of walking the nine Great Walks solo within a matter of months. In it you’ll discover much about New Zealand’s rugged and unforgiving landscapes whilst learning additional facts, anecdotes and insights into New Zealand’s culture, history and peoples.
Discover all nine Great Walks: Milford, Routeburn, Abel Tasman, Kepler, Heaphy, Whanganui River, Lake Waikaremoana, Tongariro and Rakiura.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 135 mm / 8 ⅓ x 5 ⅓ Inches | Maps + Colour Photographs | 328 Pages |