Showing 1–20 of 24 results
Happiness is a Red Teapot
USD $19.99 Tax Included‘When you have nobody you can make a cup of tea for… that’s when life is over.’ So said Audrey Hepburn, and we quite agree. Tea has a valued place in cultures worldwide. From the ritual of a Japanese tea ceremony to the cosy informality of an English cuppa, it soothes, grounds and comforts us.
This beautiful collection of quotes and photographs features words from people as diverse as Mick Jagger, Thich Nat Hahn, Rod Stewart, Billy Connolly and Bear Grylls. It’s a testament to the universal appeal of tea, perfect for reading whilst sipping a mug or two. ‘Tea makes everything better’, after all.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 225 x 203 mm / 8¾ x 8 Inches | Colour | 160 Pages |
Today in New Zealand History
From the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the Alexander Turnbull Library, this glorious, fully illustrated discovery of New Zealand’s key times brings history to life. Each day of the year features a story ranging from the nation-forming to the quirky. A timeline lists key events that have shaped the course of New Zealand’s political and constitutional development, while Born on this Day boxes scattered throughout provide details on around 100 figures of significance to New Zealand history.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 280 x 210 mm | Approximately 500 Colour Photographs | 304 Pages |
PUG: How to be the Best You
USD $17.99 Tax IncludedPugs have been the favorite pets of Chinese Emperors, and even lived with Tibetan Monks, so it’s not surprising they’ve gathered a wealth of wisdom over the centuries.
This delightful, illustrated book will put a smile on everyone’s face. Humorous and beautiful illustrations, combined with words of wisdom from PUG, take readers on an inspirational journey. Who would have thought that PUG stands for Philosophical Universal Guidance?
An excellent gift for all ages, or a fun coffee table item, How To Be The Best You will be loved by millions of people the world over.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 225 x 203 mm / 8 x 8 Inches | Colour | 64 Pages |
The Longevity List
USD $17.99 Tax IncludedMyth busting the top ways to live a long and healthy life
Free Shipping for Australian and New Zealand Customers.
Every day we’re bombarded by often-contradictory advice on what to do to keep ourselves healthy. How can we separate fact from fad? Written by a medical clinician, this is the ultimate myth-busting guide to what will really help us live a long and healthy life.
Along the way you’ll discover stacks of intriguing, entertaining and often very funny facts. It’s the one-stop checklist to living a life that might just see you reach your 100th birthday and beyond!
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 229 x 152 mm / 9 x 6 Inches | Black & White | 352 Pages |
Love Me Tender
The stories behind the world’s favourite songs
Some of the world’s best-loved songs have had remarkable origins. In a book full of surprises and curiosities, Max Cryer reveals stories from all around the world, and from artists as diverse as Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Elton John. This truly fascinating book makes enthralling reading.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 210 x 155 mm | Illustrations | 192 Pages |
Is It True?
USD $9.49 – USD $13.99 Tax IncludedThe facts behind the things we have been told
In this revealing book, Max Cryer explores the truth or otherwise of facts and beliefs we may have always been told are true, but which on closer examination may not be. In a wide-ranging book encompassing social history, language, music, politics, food, sport, the natural world and much more, we discover the truth behind some of our most cherished beliefs.
For example:
Do St Bernard dogs really carry brandy?
Does Santa Claus come from the North Pole?
Did Winston Churchill coin the term ‘Iron Curtain’?
‘OK’ is an American expression, right?
Tulips come from Holland, don’t they?
Did Sarah Palin say ‘I can see Russia from my house?’
Did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone?
Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry – didn’t she?
Max Cryer is a seasoned author who is incapable of writing a dull word. Always fresh and amusing, he will take you on a journey through your acquired knowledge, testing whether it is really up to scratch.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 135 mm | 216 Pages |
Inspiration for the Heart
USD $4.99 – USD $14.95 Tax IncludedOften our lives are so busy that we forget to reflect on the important issues that underpin our relationships, careers and family life. But reflection is essential. From enjoying the present moment to using your imagination to its greatest potential, each page insightfully provides a catalyst for your own reflection.
If you apply the wisdom in this book to your life, you are sure to benefit, but the currencies in play may be patience, empathy and love rather than those of the material kind.
SPECIFICATIONS: Cased with Jacket | 138 x 105 mm | Black & White | 192 Pages |
Everyone Can Write
USD $9.99 – USD $14.95 Tax IncludedEveryone Can Write is an easy-to-understand, practical, ‘how to write’ book that is accessible to everyone from a business executive wanting to polish his reports to a retiree wanting to chronicle her family history. It solves the problems that beginning writers struggle with by giving them an easy-to-follow and simple set of rules that allows them to write rapidly and clearly.
The book outlines the three forms of non-fiction writing: report, narrative and essay. Each one is dissected and a set of rules applied to each structure. The rules are easily put into practice and vary for each structure. For example, in report writing, two easy-to-apply rules are: 25 words to a sentence and 3 or 4 sentences in a paragraph.
The author has also developed a foolproof method of structuring your writing, so that you make effective use of your time. It’s based on the easy-to-remember three-step formula: Pre-write, Free-write, Re-write. Pre-write refers to researching the necessary information. Free-write refers to getting the information onto the computer screen. Re-write refers to the essential task of editing the writing into clear readable text. This technique allows writers to become the editors of their own writing, thereby dramatically improve its quality.
The essentials of grammar and punctuation, easily confused words and other useful tips for writers are also covered.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback | 162 mm x 125 mm | 176 Pages |
Curious English Words and Phrases
USD $9.99 Tax IncludedThe truth behind the expressions we use
Have you ever wondered where terms like ‘end of your tether’, ‘gets my goat’ or ‘letting ones hair down’ come from? Or why we call some people ‘geezers’, ‘sugar daddies’ or ‘lounge lizards’? Or where the words ‘eavesdropping’, ‘nickname’ and ‘D-Day’ come from?
They are just a few of the many words and phrases that language expert Max Cryer examines in this fact-filled and fun new book.
Max explains where these curious expressions come from, what they mean and how they are used.
Along the way he tells a host of colourful anecdotes and dispels quite a few myths – Did Churchill originate the phrase ‘black dog’? And if ‘ivory tower’ can be found in the Bible, why has its meaning changed so drastically?
Curious English Words and Phrases is a treasure trove for lovers of language. Informative, amusing and value for money, this book is ‘the real McCoy’. From ‘couch potato’ to ‘Bob’s your uncle’, you’ll find the explanation here!
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 135 mm | 388 pages | eBook available
49 Ways to Write Yourself Well
49 Ways to Write Yourself Well is an inspirational guide to improving your confidence and general well-being through writing. Written by a leading creative-writing trainer and life coach, this book is a compendium of tools, techniques and activities which you can draw on to help you take control of your emotions, relationships and personal goals, and find a greater sense of self. The book is structured into 49 different and complementary approaches to using writing in creative and transformational ways for enhancing well-being.
The information and exercises will help you to build and maintain a regular writing practice, as well as set up and maintain a journal. Learn how to use creative writing to identify and manage your emotions, release emotional and mental blocks, practise coaching models on the page to discover solutions to work or personal challenges, and reframe relationships with oneself and others. With recent research showing the positive and health-improving benefits that can come through writing, this guide will help you express yourself and achieve a greater sense of personal well-being.
SPECIFICATIONS: 210 x 148 mm | Paperback | 152 Pages |
49 Ways to Eat Yourself Well
49 Ways to Eat Yourself Well is an inspirational guide to making sure that the food you eat every day actively promotes your health and well-being. Written by a leading nutritional therapist, the book focuses on 49 different foods, looking at their history, character, properties and nutritional benefits. It provides positive and practical information on how to use your food to help you resist and recover from illness, and gain resilience and vitality.
Packed full of motivational and practical ideas, the book offers handy tips on how to incorporate the 49 foods into your diet, as well as easy, tasty recipes so that you can put what you’ve learned into practice the same day! When so much of what we eat is processed and pre-prepared, it is easy to lose track of what we are putting into our bodies; this book will support you to take back control over your own health.
SPECIFICATIONS: 210 x 148 mm | Paperback | 152 Pages |
Illuminating Wisdom: Words of Wisdom, Works of Art
USD $24.99 Tax IncludedIlluminating 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 |
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 |
Who Said That First?: The curious origins of common words and phrases
USD $29.99 Tax IncludedBelieve it or not, this is probably the first book to attempt to identify the original sources of some of the English language’s most common expressions. We might think we know who first said famous for fifteen minutes, annus horribilis, the cold war and let them eat cake. It’s a no brainer, you might say, but Max Cryer has a surprise or two in store for you. I kid you not. In this very readable book, he explores the origins of hundreds of expressions we use and hear every day – and comes up with some surprising findings. Never economical with the truth, he might just have the last laugh.
We learn what they didn’t say…We are not amused; Elementary my dear Watson; Let them eat cake; First catch your hare. We learn that the Bible doesn’t mention Salome – or seven veils…. We learn about the origins of the infamous Mile High Club.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 135 mm / 8 ¼ x 5 ⅓ Inches | 320 Pages |
The Art of Mindful Origami: Soothe the mind with 15 beautiful origami projects and accompanying mindfulness exercises
USD $14.99 Tax IncludedThe 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 |
Woof: A book of happiness for dog lovers
USD $14.99 – USD $19.99 Tax IncludedDogs have a way of making our lives feel complete. They’re there for us through good times and bad, with their wholehearted engagement in life a lesson to us all on living in the moment. Woof: A book of happiness for dog lovers is a compendium of delightful quotes that capture the essence of our affection for these wonderful animals. Some are by famous people (Aldous Huxley, Mark Twain, Charles M. Schulz, Milan Kundera, G.K. Chesterton), others not; some are philosophical, others light-hearted — all are memorable. Accompanied by beautiful photography, and presented in a high-quality gift format, this is a collection of quotes to treasure.
SPECIFICATIONS: Hardback or Paperback | 225 x 203 mm / 8 ¾ x 8 Inches | Colour | 160 Pages |
The Godzone Dictionary: of Favourite New Zealand Words and Phrases
USD $9.99 Tax IncludedThe Godzone Dictionary is a concise A-Z of the words and phrases that make our New Zealand language and speech patterns so distinctive and individual, from Aotearoa and Avondale spiders to Zambuck and Zespri. Slang words and expressions feature heavily, while one of the unique features of this book is the large number of Maori words that have become a part of our common language in recent years. The listing also includes the popular names of our sports teams (so often confused!) and an appendix of common New Zealand acronyms.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 135 mm / 8 ⅓ x 5 ⅓ Inches | 192 Pages |
The Essential Lingo Dictionary: of Australian Words and Phrases
The Essential Lingo Dictionary is a warts-and-all look at the notoriously hilarious (and occasionally a little bit naughty) canon of Australian slang words and phrases, casting light on the quirky, intriguing and often bizarre Australian Aussie language. A must-have for every bookshelf!
If you have wondered why his girlfriend is a ‘Sheila’ even though her name is Sophia, or why your colleagues in Melbourne’s suburbs are said to live ‘beyond the black stump’, then this book is for you.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 210 x 135 mm / 8 ⅓ x 5 ⅓ Inches | 208 Pages |
Superstitions: And Why We Have Them
USD $9.99 – USD $24.99 Tax IncludedSome people casually say ‘touch wood’ when they speak of something they hope will happen. Others won’t allow peacock feathers into the house. And almost anyone who finds a four-leafed clover will treasure it and keep it. Why? Some superstitions are so ancient and have been practised for so long that they have come to be regarded as just harmless and widely observed ‘customs’, without people realising they are basically superstitions.
In a book full of surprises and revelations, Max Cryer explains the origins of many of the things we commonly say and observe and why we continue to include them in our lives: kissing under the mistletoe, the unlucky number thirteen, the significance of the bridal bouquet, saying ‘bless you’ after sneezing, the hanging of a horseshoe, ‘the Scottish play’, the danger in opals, the Leap Year proposal … so many aspects of our lives are coloured by superstition.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 203 x 127 mm / 8 x 5 Inches | Incidental B&W illustrations |
Meow: A Book of Happiness for Cat Lovers
USD $14.99 Tax IncludedOut of stock.
Cats have a way of walking into our lives and making themselves right at home. No cat lover can imagine life without a feline presence — even if it is only as fleeting as the occasional conversation with a neighbourhood stray. Meow: A book of happiness for cat lovers is a compendium of delightful quotes that capture the essence of this fascination. Some are by famous people (Mark Twain, Jean Cocteau, Ernest Hemingway), others not; some are philosophical, others light-hearted — all are memorable. Accompanied by beautiful photography, and presented in a high-quality gift format, this is a collection of quotes to treasure.
SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 225 x 203 mm / 8 ¾ x 8 Inches | 160 Pages |