Keith Murdoch: Founder of a Media Empire by R.M. Younger

$13.95 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

Fifty years after Keith Murdoch's death his career and influence remain the measure of the man. Founder of the Murdoch media empire Keith Murdoch came from humble beginnings as the son of a Scottish minister. He began his journalistic career on a Melbourne paper and first made a name for himself when he was responsible for reporting on the withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli after reporting the dreadful conditions and failure of the operation. A dedicated journalist brilliant editor and a remarkable entrepreneur Keith Murdoch was also passionate in his support for libraries and the visual arts. This portrait of Keith Murdoch is based on impeccable research and highlights the remarkable extent of Murdoch's influence revealing the true face of the man behind the empire. ...Show more

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

$19.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity. When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and u nable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she'd gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened? In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family's inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn't happen. "A fascinating look at the disease that . . . could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life" (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic. ...Show more

Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

$29.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY | Reading Level: near fine

From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year. Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs--including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey." For Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing - the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times. ...Show more

Colourful Life by Sharon Bech

$25.00 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

Incidental Inventions (HB) by Elena Ferrante; Ann Goldstein (Translator); Andrea Ucini (Illustrator)

$29.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

"This is my last column, after a year that has scared and inspired me." With these words, Elena Ferrante, the bestselling author of My Brilliant Friend, bid farewell to her year-long collaboration with the Guardian. For a full year she penned short pieces, the subjects of which were suggested by editors at the Guardian, turning the writing process into a kind of prolonged interlocution; the subjects ranged from first love to climate change, from enmity among women to the adaptation of her novels to film and TV. As she said in her final column: "I have written as an author of novels, taking on matters that are important to me and that--if I have the will and the time--I'd like to develop within real narrative mechanisms." Here, then, are the seeds of possible future novels, the ruminations of an internationally beloved author, and the abiding preoccupations of a writer who has been called "one of the great novelists of our time" (the New York Times). Gathered here in a beautiful gift edition and accompanied by a new, original introduction by the author and Andrea Ucini's intelligent, witty, and beautiful illustrations, this is a must for all Ferrante fans. ...Show more

A Sceptic's Search for Meaning by Mike Willesee

$34.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY | Reading Level: 3 Biography

In a career spanning fifty years and thousands of stories, legendary Australian journalist Mike Willesee dared to pose the big questions to the biggest personalities of our time. In his final years, Mike asked the biggest question of all: does God exist? A Sceptic's Search for Meaning is the culmi nation of Mike's lifelong quest for the meaning of life. Raised as a God-fearing Catholic but trained as a professional sceptic, Willesee's search for truth unveiled fakery from Filipino faith-healers and Israeli spoon-benders to Aussie racecar drivers. Then he had a premonition his plane was going to crash. It did. And nothing was the same again. Without quite understanding why, Mike flew to Colombia to interview Katya Rivas. He watched as the barely literate woman who claimed never to have read the Bible wrote page after page of perfect theology in multiple languages. He also sat by her bed as blood started to ooze from her brow, her hands and her feet - the telltale signs of stigmata. Mike had no answers. Only questions. And, now - on film, as a witness - he had proof. He could not leave it there. Part memoir, part investigation, A Sceptic's Search for Meaning is a spellbinding spiritual quest around the world and deep into the heart of life's ultimate riddle. ...Show more

Miracles Do Happen by Fela;Rosenbloom Rosenbloom

$27.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

In 1933, a 10-year-old Jewish girl, Fela Perelman, befriended a new family that had moved into her street in Lodz, Poland. There were three children in the Rozenblum family - Rose, Felix, and Maria. Fela and Rose became best friends, while Felix kept his distance. Five years later, Fela and Felix discov ered that they liked each other, and soon became sweethearts. When war broke out not long after, the Jews of Lodz found themselves under German occupation, and were soon forced into a ghetto. For Fela and her family, and her community, it was the start of a descent into hell. Fela eventually survived the ghetto, forced labour in Germany, and then the last 17 months of Auschwitz's existence and the death march out of it. For Felix, the Germans' intentions were crystal-clear. Late in November 1939, as a 17-year-old, he decided to flee eastward, to Soviet-controlled Polish territory. He begged his family to come with him, but they felt unable to. Felix spent the war doing forced labour in the Soviet Union, often in very harsh conditions. After the war, miraculously, Fela and Felix found each other. None of Fela's family had survived. Of Felix's immediate family, only his two sisters had survived - and they were now in Sweden. The young couple were bereft and alone. This is their story. ...Show more

I'm Talking: My life, my words, my music by Kate Ceberano

$32.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

In her own unmistakeable voice, Kate Ceberano takes us on a very personal journey from her suburban childhood, her immersion in the Melbourne club scene of the eighties and her rise to stardom at the age of seventeen when she fronted the wildly popular funk band I'm Talking, to the life of a female perf ormer and recording artist in London, Los Angeles and New York. With parallel careers as a pop and jazz singer and songwriter, Kate has received the highest awards in the Australian music industry including the ARIA for Best Female Artist. She has delighted audiences in Harry M. Miller's hugely successful 'Jesus Christ Superstar', won a legion of fans when she won 'Dancing with the Stars', and made a triumphant debut for Opera Australia in 'South Pacific'. Now she reveals, for the first time, just what that was like.People have been talking about Kate Ceberano since she was a teenager: Hugh Jackman described her as having 'truly one of the great voices this country has produced'; for Rolling Stone she is 'pure, soulful and powerful'. Now Kate is talking for herself.Accompanied by never before published photos. ...Show more

Maverick Mountaineer by Robert Wainwright

$13.95 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

The first full-length biography of George Ingle Finch - maverick Australian mountaineer, scientist, concert pianist and father of actor Peter Finch. George Ingle Finch, mountaineer, soldier, scientist, rebellious spirit, boy from the bush, was in his day one of the most famous men in the world. In 1922 he stood at the highest point on Everest, a feat not bettered for 30 years. He invented the predecessor to the puffer jacket and pioneered the use of oxygen in climbing. A World War I hero whose skills also helped save London from burning to the ground during the Blitz of World War II, he was a renowned scientist who was personally chosen by Nehru, the first Indian prime minister, to help lead his nation into the modern world. With a private life torn by war and misguided by social norms, a reputation as an outsider among the British alpine climbing establishment, and some rough and ready 'colonial' habits, Finch was a brilliantly colourful character - so why has he vanished from the pages of history? In this first full-length biography, Robert Wainwright surveys the man who is now best known as the father of Academy award-winning actor Peter Finch - but who was so much more. ...Show more

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

$32.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

Ray: "Traitor or Patriot? Now we have Edward Snowden’s own story — high-school dropout; hacker; joined the Army after 9/11; top secret security clearance at the age of 22.  Will make you wonder about the wisdom of Australia sharing its intelligence with the U.S. And make you worry abou t how much the government knows about you — which is everything."     Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government's system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online - a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet's conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic. ...Show more

Diana Her True Story (Fully Revised & Updated 25th Anniversary Edition) by Andrew Morton

$15.95 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

A reissue of this classic title brought up to date with never-before-published material from the original taped interviews and with a new introduction by Andrew Morton that reflects on the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the original publication of Diana: Her True Story. 

A Fortunate Life by A. B. Facey

$26.99 AUD

Category: BIOGRAPHY

First sent to work at the age of eight, Facey lived the rough frontier life of a labourer, farmer and jackaroo, becoming lost and then being rescued by Indigenous trackers, then gaining a hard-won literacy. He survived Gallipoli, raised a family through the Depression, lost a son in the Second World War , and met his beloved Evelyn, with whom he shared nearly sixty years of marriage. Despite enduring unimaginable hardships, Facey always saw his life as a fortunate one. ...Show more