- The Boy Who Felt Too Much – Lorenz Wagner
Kai is different. Kai, the doctors will eventually realise, is autistic. Of course, like everyone on the spectrum, Kai isn’t just autistic—he’s so much more than that. Kai is Kai. Doctors used to find one case of autism among every five thousand people. Today, according to a study by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the ratio is one in fifty-eight. Scientists speak of an epidemic. Kai may be different, but he is not alone.
Henry, Kai’s father, is one of the world’s most famous neuroscientists, the man behind the billion-dollar Blue Brain Project to build a supercomputer model of the human brain. Nevertheless, when his son began withdrawing, Henry was as helpless as all the other parents. He asked himself the same questions they did: What is autism? How can I help my child? He researched for fifteen years. His findings would upend everything we thought we knew about autism. They would offer us a whole new vantage from which to consider all disorders of the mind.
If Henry had just been a scientist, even a great one, he would have failed. He only succeeded thanks to Kai, the boy who changed everything.
- Remembering Bob – Sue Pieters-Hawke
Bob Hawke’s death in May 2019 sparked national mourning as Australians remembered just how important Bob had been in the shaping of modern Australia.
This book, instigated and edited by the his eldest daughter is a collection of stories and memories about Bob by his friends, colleagues, old political foes and ordinary Australians whose paths crossed that of their everyman Prime Minister. Each of them brings a vivid and personal view of this extraordinary man, that taken together offer a true reflection of the person he was, and what he meant to all.
A royalty on every copy sold will go to The Exodus Foundation, one of Bob Hawke’s favourite charities.
- Arboretum – David Byrne
For over thirty years, besides making music, David Byrne has focused his unique genius upon forms as diverse as the archaeology of music, architectural photography and the uses of PowerPoint. Now he presents his most personal work to date, a collection of drawings exploring the form of the tree diagram. Arboretum is an eclectic blend of science, automatic writing, self-analysis and satire that provides an intimate, enigmatic glimpse into the mind of the legendary musician.
- I’ll Be Your Mirror: The Collected Lyrics – Lou Reed
Through his many incarnations—from proto-punk to glam rocker to elder statesman of the avant-garde—Lou Reed’s work has maintained an undeniable vividness and raw beauty, fuelled by precise character studies and rendered with moral ambiguity.
Beginning with his formative days in the Velvet Underground and continuing through his remarkable solo albums, I’ll Be Your Mirror provides a comprehensive volume of Lou Reed’s lyrics, now updated in a new text design to include the lyrics from his final album with Metallica, Lulu.
- My Brother, Muhammad Ali – Rahaman Ali
From Muhammad Ali’s brother comes the most intimate biography ever written on the legendary sportsman. Born Cassius and Rudulph Valentino Clay, the two brothers lived, trained, travelled and fought together in the street and in the ring.
Rahaman saw Ali at both his best and his worst: the relentless prankster and the jealous older brother, the outspoken advocate and the devoted family man. Offering an insider’s perspective on all the well-known stories as well as never-before-told tales, this is an evocative portrait of the legend and the man.
- F2: Ultimate Footballer: The All New F2 Book! – Billy Wingrove and Jeremy Lynch
The F2 have scoured the planet and analysed what ingredients you need to build the perfect footballer—the left boot of Messi, the passing of de Bruyne, the dribbling of Neymar, the finishing of Kane. Now they show you the skills and the drills to emulate your favourite stars. And once you’ve put it all together, you can compare your ultimate player with Billy and Jez’s. Who has the best? You decide!
- Mr Lear – Jenny Uglow
A scrupulously forensic literary appreciation of Edward Lear and his ‘nonsenses’—without losing any sense of fun.
- Young Rembrandt – Onno Blom
How did Rembrandt become Rembrandt? To find out, prize-winning biographer Onno Blom immersed himself in the world, the country, the city and the house in which Rembrandt was born in 1606 and where he spent the first twenty-five years of his life. The result is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a young man, rich in local and biographical detail, and restless in its efforts to seek out the roots of his genius.
- The Book Of Daniel – Jeff Apter
The highs, lows and incredible life of the enigmatic Daniel Johns, from Silverchair to DREAMS.
- Manhunters – Steve Murphy & Javier F. Pena
The explosive memoir of the two legendary drug enforcement agents responsible for taking down Pablo Escobar.
Manhunters takes you deep inside the inner workings of the Search Bloc, the joint Colombian-US task force that resulted in an intensive 18-month operation that tracked and finally hunted down a man thought to be untouchable.
- Why Bowie Matters – Will Brooker
A unique, moving and dazzlingly researched exploration of what inspired David Jones to become David Bowie.
In this original and illuminating book, Professor Brooker approaches Bowie from various angles, re-tracing his childhood on the streets of Bromley, taking us through his record collection and bookshelves, and deciphering the symbols and codes of his final work, Blackstar to piece together how an ordinary suburban teenager turned himself into a legend.
Will Brooker is a writer and academic, professor of film and cultural studies at Kingston University and an author of several books of cultural studies dealing with elements of modern pop culture and fandom.
- Spice Girls – Sean Smith
Intimate and revealing, Spice Girls is the definitive story of the world’s most iconic girl group.
Through compelling new research and interviews, Sunday Times bestselling biographer Sean Smith reveals what life was really like for five fiercely independent and ambitious young women who were propelled to international fame in the 90s with unstoppable momentum.
Sean Smith is the UK’s leading celebrity biographer and the author of six Sunday Times bestsellers, with his titles being translated throughout the world. Described by the Independent as a ‘fearless chronicler’, he specialises in meticulous research, going ‘on the road’ to find the real person behind the star image.
