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Non-Fiction: new books
News Cowboy, Mike Amor – 29 July
For 18 years Mike Amor was a ‘news cowboy’, a jokey moniker those at Seven Network’s Los Angeles bureau called themselves as they headed off on assignments. This book covers some of his work, from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina an the earthquake in Haiti, to the mass shootings in Port Arthur. Echo.
Torn: Four Women’s Stories of why they left or why they stayed, Nicole Madigan – 29 July
Nicole Madigan interviews and weaves together the real-life tales of four women from mid 30s to early 70s, who are facing a crisis in their respective relationships and asks them what they are planning to do. Pantera.
Raising Readers (Revised Edition), Megan Daley – 29 July
Fully revised and updated, Raising Readers is a practical guide that contains everything you need to know about childhood literacy, written by teacher librarian Megan Daley. Includes a foreword by Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin. UQP.
The Eagle and the Crow, JM Field – 29 July
JM Field is an Indigenous writer. Written as a series of lyric essays, The Eagle and the Crow offers a poetic explanation of the kinship systems of JM Field’s Gamilaraay clan. It surveys how colonisation attempts to devalue First Nations peoples and the process of cultural recovery. UQP.
Sins of the Filthy Rich: Tales of Wicked Wealth, Peter Coleman – 29 July
From Emperor Commodus to Rupert Murdoch, Count Dracula to Kim Kardashian, Genghis Khan to Gina Rinehart, Sins of the Filthy Rich explores how the mega wealthy have exploited, indulged and misbehaved appallingly throughout history. Affirm.
Raising Resilient Children, Gavin McCormack – 29 July
A seven-step program for parents who are struggling to help their kids navigate today’s complex world, from chool refusal, mental health struggles and social challenges in the playground. Simon & Schuster.
The Causes of War, Geoffrey Blainey – 29 July
Covering international wars from 1700 – and now updated to include Ukraine and Gaza – Blainey demolishes many widely-held theories of why nations fight, arguing that peace is not the ‘natural’ state of international relations and war is not an aberration. Simon & Schuster.
The Snag: a mother, a forest, and wild grief, Tess McWatt – 29 July
As her mother’s dementia advances Tessa McWatt considers griefs personal and political and finds solace in trees. She asks: How do we grieve? And: What can we learn from nature and those whose communities are rooted in nature about how to grieve and how to live. Scribe.
The Gift of Not Belonging: how outsiders thrive in a world of joiners, Rami Kaminski – 29 July
Written by a psychiatrist, this is the first book to explore the distinct personality style of the otrovert – someone who lacks the communal impulse and does not fit in with any social group, regardless of its members – and to reveal all the advantages of being an otrovert and how otroverts contribute to the world. Scribe.
Recipes to remember, Jock Zonfrillo – 29 July
A former judge on MasterChef before his death, this book features some of Jock Zonfrillo’s favourite recipes from some of his mates, including Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson, Marco Pierre White, Rick Stein, Maggie Beer, Christian Puglisi, Andy Allen, and Jimmy and Jane Barnes. Simon and Schuster.
Bomb Season in Jakarta, Grant Dooley (Affirm) – 29 July
Grant Dooley bear witness to many events in Jakarta including terrorist bomb attacks, plane crashes and tsunamis. Simon & Schuster.
Plain Life: On Thinking, Feeling and Deciding, Antonia Pont – 1 August
What does it mean to live a plain life? Does that mean it’s synonymous with a drab, boring one? Antonia Pont’s book looks at ways in which we can adopt less reactive behaviours. In a world obsessed with productivity, we may not actually need to do more. NewSouth Books.
The Sceptical Botanist: Separating Fact from Fiction, Tim Entwistle – 1 August
Through 50 essays, self-confessed plant punk Tim Entwisle answers questions such as: ‘Do trees talk to one another? Can a plant use up the oxygen in a room while you sleep? What is a native plant and what is a weed? Are some plants truly immortal? NewSouth Books.
The Drone, Peter Shmigel – 1 August
A short story collection about the world’s first full-scale drone war in the Ukraine. Pete Shmigel illuminates the stories of the Ukrainian people – the heroic, the displaced and the everyday. WestWords Books.
History’s Strangest Deaths: a half-arsed history book, Riley Knight – 5 August
From a classical Greek playwright killed by a tortoise dropping out of the sky to an ancient Chinese duke falling into a toilet; from a Viking raider bitten by a severed head to a lawyer shooting himself to prove a legal point. Allen & Unwin.
The Red House: Kumanjayi Walker and Zachary Rolfe: An Australian reckoning, Kate Wild – 26 August
Walkley Award-winning journalist Kate Wild investigates how the fatal police shooting of a young Indigenous man, Kumanjayi Walker, in an isolated desert community, exposes the power of race in Australia. Allen & Unwin.
A Catalogue of Love, Erin Hortle – 26 August
A young woman surfer’s coming of age in Tasmania, where the natural world helps her find herself and navigate grief and trauma. Summit Books/Simon & Schuster.
The New Age of Sexism, Laura Bates – 29 July
AI is here, bringing a seismic shift in the way our society operates. Might this mean a future reimagined on equitable terms for women and marginalised groups everywhere? Simon & Schuster UK.
