There are so many ways to help your mind relax. Choosing which technique to use is a little trial and error, which mindfulness technique do you find the most effective?
#tuesdaychat
Category Archives: Lifestyle
Learning to relax; the top 6 books to show you how
Taking time out to relax sounds ridiculously straightforward, a little indulgent and often something we only do if we have spare time. What has emerged from research is that it is critical to make time to relax due to its compounding health benefits – especially in the busy times we are experiencing in the world today.
We have looked over that latest books hitting the market on self care and have found 6 that are a mix of effective relaxation methods, the reasoning behind the importance of self care and also practical how to guides that we can adopt at home, or even at work.
The Relaxation Solution: The Secret to Stress-Free Living by Stephen Diamond
The Relaxation Solution is a guidebook to discovering how the modern world has taught us to make ourselves tense, and how we can stop it, let it all go, and truly relax.
Our environment today is dominated by stressful situations. Family life, financial trouble, illness and job demands are all significant sources of stress. People learn to respond to stress by tensing up. Originally a valuable self-protection mechanism, this habitual response is now making them anxious and ill. The Relaxation Solution provides a new approach to mindfulness, a set of exercises and meditations that gently and effortlessly guide the reader to experiencing freedom from tension. When practiced, these exercises reverse the habitual, unconscious tension response and instil a new habit of relaxation.
As a bonus, this little solution includes online access to 35 minutes of guided meditation audios.
The Joy of Self-Care by Becca Anderson
Self-care ideas are unique, they aren’t formulaic, but are personal and ever-changing. The Joy of Self-Care provides space for rest, catharsis, and healing, and brings value back into your cultivation of joy and embracing the joy of being you. What do you miss about yourself? Maybe it’s how you used to easily calm down following stress or enjoy your own company. Gain solace in the midst of chaos by reconnecting with yourself. Self-care isn’t a chore, an obligation, or emotionally exhausting work. It should be a fulfilment of your needs, a safe space, an act of joy. Full of self-care ideas, The Joy of Self-Care has something for everybody.
Finding a personalised self-care routine can be daunting. The perfect addition to any self-care kit, this de-stress book is full of self-care ideas to help you get started-with the help of an expert. Author Becca Anderson specialises in personal growth and shepherds readers to their better selves with positive thinking and other self-care ideas.
Inside The Joy of Self-Care, you’ll find; Self-care ideas to help you physically, emotionally, and mentally recharge, a spirit of self-care and self-love and how to value calm, comfort, and rest.
How to Implement Effective Relaxation Techniques by Michael Robertson
One thing that we should understand is that stress is something we cannot avoid. The only thing you can do is to learn how to cope with it. After all, life is all about overcoming the challenges you face. Stress can take a huge toll on your life. It can bring out the worst state in you. Instead of approaching life with a sense of optimism, stress can make you feel lost and hopeless. Worst, it extinguishes the little motivation that would have ensured you remain productive.
In How to Implement Effective Relaxation Techniques you’ll discover the root cause of your stress and anxiety, how to relax your mind and body, and let go of worry. It’s through this understanding that you will take the right steps towards developing healthy habits to manage your everyday stressors. At the end of the day, a relaxed state of mind and body will allow you to spend less time worrying. Once you master the relaxation techniques detailed in this manual, you will organise your life to continuously strive to achieve more of the things that add value to your life.
The Power of Breathing Techniques by Lutz Schneider
We can survive for weeks without food and days without water, but only a few minutes without air. Would it not be justified to presume that the air, which is more important for human survival than food or water, should live up to basic standards? How much air do we need for ideal breathing? And how should we breathe? The amount of air that you breathe has the potential to change everything you believe about your body, your health and your performance. In this book, you will discover the fundamental relationship between oxygen and your body. Increasing your oxygen supply is not only healthy, it enables an increase in the intensity of your training and also reduces breathlessness. In short, you will notice an improvement in your health and more relaxation in your everyday life.
Sanctuary Of Your Own: Create a Haven Anywhere for Relaxation and Self-Renewal by Caroline Dow
Bring a sense of the sacred to your environment so not matter where you are, you can connect with spirit. This book shares ideas and techniques for transforming any space into a haven designed to bring balance, serenity, and joy into your life. By engaging your five senses and working with the power of intention, you can create a sacred space almost anywhere. A Sanctuary of Your Own shows you how to carve out a mini sanctuary at work, in your car, or even in your hotel room when you’re traveling. Author Caroline Dow also shares tips for creating your own altar, getting rid of clutter, and designing spaces to share with family and friends. Whether you want to facilitate a meditation practice or express your personal interests and cultural background, this accessible guide helps you take small steps that get big results. With examples from cultures around the world and helpful ideas for incorporating colors, fragrances, botanicals, gemstones, textiles, and even special numbers, A Sanctuary of Your Own helps you create a perfect space where they can feel safe, relax, and find some peace.
Small Habits for a Big Life by Rebecca Ray
Change is not about grand statements and sweeping gestures. It is about chipping away, a bit at a time, at the edifices that hold us back. Dr Rebecca Ray knows about the power of small habits to make big changes. She has turned herself from regular clinical psychologist into one of Australia’s most effective communicators on matters of the mind by introducing small changes into her life. Rebecca has helped many members of her large online community and her clients do the same. In Small Habits for a Big Life Rebecca Ray breaks down the process for her reader. She explains how we can override the part of the brain that seeks pleasure and comfort (ice cream and wine) and activate the parts that tolerate some discomfort for the sake of long-term goals (an hour of study instead of an hour of Netflix). Small Habits for a Big Life clears the way for readers to embark on their own path to change and provides exactly the right amount of support along the way.
Enjoy!
What yoga does to your body and brain
Yoga’s blend of physical and mental exercise is widely believed to have a unique set of health advantages. But is it actually beneficial to your health? Krishna Sudhir examines how this ancient tradition impacts the body and mind.
The best six books exploring how exercise helps the mind.
We all know that exercise is good for us both mentally and physically and has numerous health benefits. That said, there are still days where we really don’t feel like getting out of bed and heading into the cold for a run (hello Melbourne Winter’s we’re talking about you). Thankfully, there are a growing number of indoor options for those days we can’ face the cold but want still to get moving. For those that need a little more convincing, we have found six great books that not only explain what we can do, but why we need to.
Brace yourself, you’ll be lacing up your runners at the end of this blog and reaching for your drink bottle as we know these are going to inspire you to get moving.
Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse by Anastacia Marx de Salcedo
There is no pill. There is no diet. Could it be that our underlying assumption, that what we’re eating is making us fat and sick, is just plain wrong? To address the nation’s bulging waistline and the disease states associated with it, scientists have conducted a whopping 500,000 studies of diet and 300,000 of obesity. Journalists have written 223,000,000 and 15,600,000 news articles respectively about the topics. Yet nothing seems to halt the epidemic. It’s clear a new approach is needed. Anastacia Marx de Salcedo’s Eat Like a Pig, Run Like a Horse, looks not just to data-driven science, but to animals and the natural world around us. What she finds will transform the national debate about the root causes of our most pervasive diseases and offer hope of dramatically reducing the number who suffer from these, no matter what we eat. She starts by chronicling her own medical miracle. She has multiple sclerosis, but discovered that daily exercise keeps it from progressing. And now, new research backs up her own experience. This revelation prompted her to ask what would happen if people with lifestyle illness put physical activity front and centre in their daily lives instead of diet? In a fascinating journey divided between personal profiles of patients, mad(ish) scientists, and beguiling animal stories (bats, who fly hundreds of miles weekly, are incredibly disease resistant, much like how aerobic exercise boosts our own immune system), Anastacia shows we need to move beyond our current diet-focused model to a new, dynamic concept of metabolism as regulated by exercise. Suddenly the answer to global good health is embarrassingly simple. Don’t worry about what you eat. Worry about how much you move.
Sweat: A History of Exercise by Bill Hayes
Exercise is our modern obsession, and we have the fancy workout gear and fads to prove it. Exercise, a form of physical activity distinct from sports, play, or athletics, was an ancient obsession, too, but as a chapter in human history, it’s been largely overlooked. In Sweat, Bill Hayes runs, jogs, swims, spins, walks, bikes, boxes, lifts, sweats, and downward-dogs his way through the origins of different forms of exercise, chronicling how they have evolved over time, and dissecting the dynamics of human movement. Hippocrates, Plato, Galen, Susan B. Anthony, Jack LaLanne, and Jane Fonda, among many others, make appearances in Sweat, but chief among the historical figures is Girolamo Mercuriale, a Renaissance-era Italian physician who aimed singlehandedly to revive the ancient Greek “art of exercising” through his 1569 book De arte gymnastica. In the pages of Sweat, Mercuriale and his illustrated treatise are vividly brought back to life. As Hayes ties his own personal experience to the cultural and scientific history of exercise, from ancient times to the present day, he gives us a new way to understand its place in our lives in the 21st century.
Yoga Happy: Simple Tools and Practices for Everyday Calm & Strength by Hannah Barrett
Yoga Happy is an essential companion to help you through life, whether you’re a complete yoga beginner or wanting to deepen your home practice. In this beautiful, full-colour book you will find everything you need to build your inner strength and resilience, enhance your yoga practice, and help you find calm, happiness and the resilience to navigate the modern world. Written by yoga and meditation teacher Hannah Barrett, who has helped hundreds of thousands of people both online and through her workshops and classes, Yoga Happy encourages you to incorporate key disciplines, thoughts and actions into your everyday life. No matter how little time or space you have, Hannah shows how you can find your energy, reduce stress at home or at work, get a good night’s sleep and learn to cope better with whatever life throws at you. This inspiring handbook will also guide you through short, illustrated yoga sequences adapted for all abilities, plus give you breathing techniques, meditations and other proven mindful practices that will help to nourish and support your mind and body.
The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga’s History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices by Daniel Simpson
A succinct, approachable guide to the origins, development, key texts, concepts, and practices of yoga. Yoga is practiced by many millions of people worldwide and is celebrated for its mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. And yet, as Daniel Simpson reveals in The Truth of Yoga , much of what is said about yoga is misleading. For example, the word “yoga” does not always mean union. In fact, in perhaps the discipline’s most famous text, the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, its aim is described as separation: isolating consciousness from everything else. And yoga is not five thousand years old, as is commonly claimed; the earliest evidence of practice dates back about twenty-five hundred years. (Yoga may well be older, but no one can prove it.) The Truth of Yoga is a clear, concise, and accessible handbook for the lay reader that draws upon abundant recent scholarship. It outlines these new findings with practitioners in mind, highlighting ways to keep traditions alive in the twenty-first century.
Caged Lion: Joseph Pilates and His Legacy by John Howard Steel
Caged Kion is the surprising story of Pilates, the man and the method.
Part biography, part history, and part memoir, Caged Lion untangles for the first time Joseph Pilates’s opaque life story and the perilous journey of his exercise program known the world over as Pilates.
This is the story of Joseph Pilates, a gifted man who immigrated to the United States at forty-three with no assets or credentials. He not only invented an exercise regimen which today is practiced by more than ten million people, but in the process, reinvented himself.
John Howard Steel brings Joseph Pilates and his eponymous exercise regime to life from his unique perspective as a student, friend, and confidant. Joe’s influence profoundly changed Steel’s life; in turn, Steel was crucial for the survival of the Pilates Method and Joe’s legacy. Steel’s vivid account traces the expansion of Pilates from a small cadre of dedicated adherents, through two periods of near extinction, to the global sensation it is today. Steel describes Joseph Pilates’s years as a prisoner during World War I, Joe’s motivation to discover his system of exercises, his inspirational teaching technique, and the unique attraction of the Pilates Method. It’s quite a story.
Just Breathe by Dan Brule
Hailed by Tony Robbins as the “definitive breathwork handbook,” Just Breathe will teach you how to harness your breath to reduce stress, increase productivity, balance your health, and find the path to spiritual awakening. Big meeting jitters? Anxiety over a test or taxes? Hard time focusing? What if you could control your outcomes and change results simply by regulating your breath? In this simple and revolutionary guide, world-renowned pioneer of breathwork Dan Brul shares the Breath Mastery technique that has helped people in more than fifty countries reduce anxiety, improve their health, and tap infinite stores of energy. Just Breathe reveals the truth that elite athletes, champion martial artists, Navy SEAL warriors, first responders, and spiritual yogis have always known; when you regulate your breathing, you can moderate your state of well-being. So if you want to clear and calm your mind and spark peak performance, the secret is just a breath away. Breathwork gives you the tools to achieve benefits in a wide range of issues including: managing acute/chronic pain; helping with insomnia, weight loss, attention deficit, anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief; improving intuition, creativity, mindfulness, self-esteem, and leadership; and much more. Just Breathe will help you utilise your breath to benefit your body, mind, and spirit.
Enjoy!
Ted Talk: The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise
What’s the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today? Exercise! says neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki. Get inspired to go to the gym as Suzuki discusses the science of how working out boosts your mood and memory and protects your brain against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Top six books for those who want to learn to meditate
Meditation is known and followed by many who delight in the calm and clarity it brings them when they need it most, though others can find it lacking in science and complete woo-woo. In these crazy times we are living in with a climate crisis, global pandemics, spring inflation and even a war, Team Booko has found six amazing books that want to help ease your mind and may even change the mind of the strongest sceptic. Whether you are looking for quick suggestions to relax during the day or answers to deeper questions about the direction of your life, these books each aim to work towards a positive impact on your life while drawing on science and practice.
Finding Peace: Meditation and Wisdom for Modern Times by Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche
Finding Peace is a practical guide to the life-changing benefits of meditation from leading Buddhist master Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche. Rinpoche is the leading Buddhist monk in the UK, who shares his collected wisdom on how we can all overcome negative thoughts and calm our minds with simple meditation practices. His teachings have transformed the lives of people all over the world and, in our modern chaotic world, have never been more pertinent.
He teaches us that our minds are infinite like the sky, which can easily become clouded with stress and emotions, but with meditation we are able to clear away these clouds. By freeing our minds of those obstacles we can find peace in every moment and live a truly fulfilled life. With practical steps on breathing, posture, forgiveness, relationships and routine, this is the definitive guide for beginners and experienced meditators alike to learn from the wisdom of a globally revered meditation master.
Breathe Like a Badass by Hannah Jane Thompson
Breathe Like a Badass is a practical handbook that shows you how to harness the power of meditation, covering everything from comparison and office politics to body image and relationships. This practical handbook teaches you how to start and stick to a non-woo-woo, scientifically based, zero-BS meditation habit that you can turn to again and again when life and work gets tough. Qualified meditation teacher and certified life coach Hannah Jane Thompson has been practising meditation for over 11 years, after discovering the difference it made to her own life. As an ambitious but chronically anxious journalist, Hannah suppressed all feelings of not being ‘good enough’ until one day she was hit with chronic depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. At her absolute lowest point, she discovered meditation, and it quite literally saved her life. Breath by breath, meditation taught her to stop, breathe, accept who she was, and question those negative thoughts and transform them into something a little more kind, positive, and mindfully productive. Drawing on her own story, her teaching practice and experiences of her clients, Hannah shows you how to harness the power of meditation. Breathe Like a Badass is your no-BS guide to creating a life-changing, burnout-busting emotional toolbox of your own.
Total Meditation: Stress Free Living Starts Here by Deepak Chopra
Times are hard. Meditation doesn’t have to be. Meditation leads to transformation. It affects every aspect of your wellbeing and can bring about positive change in your body, affect your mental outlook, increase your decision-making ability and eliminate worry and anxiety. The master of modern meditation Deepak Chopra draws on his 30 years of practice and reveals how to achieve blissful awareness by waking up to who you really are. Perfect for beginners, sceptics or those looking for a new approach to stillness, his simple 7-day programme offers a life-changing path to a quiet mind.
The No-Nonsense Meditation Book by Steven Laureys
Rigorously researched and deeply illuminating, world-leading neurologist Dr Steven Laureys works with celebrated meditators to scientifically prove the positive impact meditation has on our brains.
Dr Steven Laureys has conducted ground-breaking research into human consciousness for more than 20 years. For this bestselling book, he explores the effect of meditation on the brain. He uses hard science to explain the benefits of a practice that was once thought of as purely spiritual. The result is a highly accessible, scientifically questioning guide to meditation, designed to open the practice to a broader audience. A mix of fascinating science, inspiring anecdote and practical exercises, this accessible book offers scientific evidence that meditation can have a positive impact on all our lives.
Strong, Calm and Free: A modern guide to yoga, meditation and mindful living by Nicola Jane Hobbs
Heartfelt and deeply practical, Strong, Calm and Free brings alive the possibility of a life of inner peace, compassion and joy. Grounded in both modern science and ancient wisdom, this beautiful and inspiring book demystifies the philosophy and psychology of yoga, making the 4000-year old practice accessible for modern life. Whether you’ve never stepped foot on a yoga mat before or want to deepen your home practice, this beautifully-illustrated book is suitable for all abilities, gently guiding you through a ten-week journey of yoga sequences, meditations and mindful living practices that will build strength, bring insight and offer a path to healing and freedom. Written by holistic counsellor and international yoga and meditation teacher Nicola Jane Hobbs, Strong, Calm and Free shares the tools to help you navigate the peaks and valleys of modern life, to dispel the “I’m not good enough” myth that holds so many of us back and to experience the miracle of being yourself. By sharing her gentle wisdom alongside simple, practical exercises, Nicola invites you on a path of inner transformation. A mindful adventure of self-discovery. A journey towards health, happiness and wholeness. Towards strength, peace and freedom. Towards becoming fully and fearlessly who you are.
A Monk’s Guide to Happiness: Meditation in the 21st century by Gelong Thubten
We’re all on a search for happiness, but we’re looking in the wrong places. Everyone looks externally to find contentment, we think material possessions will unlock our happiness. A Monk’s Guide to Happiness explains how and why we need to look within, and connect to our true essence, in order to find peace. Everyone has the potential to be happy, after all, we’re all ‘hardwired’ for happiness. But how do we get there? By meditating. Not just in the morning, but throughout the day by introducing micro moments so we never drop the mindfulness ball, even when we’re busy. Meditation is more than just a stress-reduction tool or a relaxation therapy, it is the key to finding long-lasting happiness. Gelong Thubten, a Buddhist monk who has worked with everyone from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to Ruby Wax and Benedict Cumberbatch, explores the theme of happiness in his debut book and explains how to bring meditation into our busy 21st century lives with simple exercises.
Enjoy!
Monday Inspo
This month we are exploring the world of self care and the various activities we can do to calm our lives and minds. This week it’s meditation. Be sure to read the blog on Thursday for our top meditation books.
Climate Change Crusaders, the voices challenging the way we treat our world
Climate Change is not a new issue, nor is it going to fix itself without our education, action and attention. There are a number of individuals and groups that have been trying to get society’s attention to take action for years. Some have made an impact quickly and have roused us to protest, change our behaviour and expect more from each other. Today we’re sharing six books tackling this topic in very different ways, one shows how their family has been impacted, another teaches us how to discuss this important topic and others outline how the world will look should we choose to ignore it.
How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference by Rebecca Huntley
Why is it so hard to talk about climate change? While scientists double down on the shocking figures, we still find ourselves unable to discuss climate change meaningfully among friends and neighbours or even to grapple with it ourselves. The key to progress on climate change is in the psychology of human attitudes and our ability to change. Whether you’re already alarmed and engaged with the issue, concerned but disengaged, a passive skeptic or an active denier, understanding our emotional reactions to climate change – why it makes us anxious, fearful, angry or detached – is critical to coping on an individual level and convincing each other to act. This book is about understanding why people who aren’t like you feel the way they do and learning to talk to them effectively. What we need are thousands – millions – of everyday conversations about the climate to enlarge the ranks of the concerned, engage the disengaged and persuade the cautious of the need for action.
Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel Rich
By 1979, we knew all that we know now about the science of climate change; what was happening, why it was happening, and how to stop it. Over the next ten years, we also had the very real opportunity to stop it. Obviously, we failed. Nathaniel Rich’s groundbreaking account of that failure and how tantalisingly close we came to signing binding treaties that would have saved us all before the fossil fuels industry and politicians committed to anti-scientific denialism, is already a journalistic blockbuster, a full issue of the New York Times Magazine that has earned favourable comparisons to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and John Hersey’s Hiroshima. In the book Losing Earth, Rich provides more of the context for what did, and didn’t, happen in the 1980s and, more important, is able to carry the story fully into the present day and wrestle with what those past failures mean for us today. It is not just an agonising revelation of historical missed opportunities, but a clear-eyed and eloquent assessment of how we got to now, and what we can and must do before it is truly too late.
Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial by Peter Stott
Hot Air is the shocking inside story of the fight to halt climate change over the past twenty-five years by a world-renowned scientist, Peter Stott. Ours is the age of global warming. Rising sea levels, extreme weather, forest fires. Dire warnings are everywhere, so why has it taken so long for the crisis to be recognised? Here, for the first time, climate scientist Peter Stott reveals the bitter fight to get international recognition for what, among scientists, has been known for decades: human activity causes climate change. Hot Air is the urgent story of how the science was developed, how it has been repeatedly sabotaged and why humanity hasn’t a second to spare in the fight to halt climate change.
Climate: Powerful Voices, Inspiring Ideas by Christina Limpert
With climate change at the forefront of current discussion, Words of change in Climate offers a curated collection of thought-provoking quotes and passages from the writings and speeches of activists in the environmental community, with a focus on diverse and previously unheard voices.
Compiled by social scientist and researcher Christina Limpert, this collection of stirring words is intended to enlighten, to prompt change, to provide encouragement, and to deepen readers’ conviction. Celebrating activism, focusing on solutions, and avoiding apathy and pessimism, this book is call to action. The back matter includes a brief bio for each person quoted to provide context for their life and work.
Stand Up! Speak Up! A Story Inspired by the Climate Change Revolution by Andrew Joyner
From a #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator, and the creator of The Pink Hat, comes a timely picture book about a young girl’s mission to inspire others to help the planet. Celebrate young climate change activists in this charming story about an empowered girl who shows up, listens up, and ultimately, speaks up to inspire her community to take action against climate change. After attending a climate march, a young activist is motivated to make an effort and do her part to help the planet… by organising volunteers to work to make green changes in their community, from cleaning a lake, to planting trees, to making composting bins, to hosting a clothing swap and more! Here is an uplifting picture book that is an important reminder that no change is too small, and no person is too young, to make a difference. With simple text and lively illustrations, Andrew Joyner has given young children a timely story about activism, community, and hope.
In a few weeks we will be sharing more books on how to talk to children about climate change so be sure to check back again for more titles.
Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis by Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Beata Ernman, Svante Thunberg
The profoundly moving story of how love, courage and determination brought Greta Thunberg’s family back from the brink. This is the story of a happy family whose life suddenly fell apart, never to be the same again. Of two devoted parents plunged into a waking nightmare as their eleven-year-old daughter Greta stopped speaking and eating, and her younger sister struggled to cope. They desperately searched for answers, and began to see how their children’s suffering reached far beyond medical diagnoses. This crisis was not theirs alone: they were burned-out people on a burned-out planet. And so they decided to act. Our House is on Fire shows how, amid forces that tried to silence them, one family found ways to strengthen, heal, and gain courage from the love they had for each other and for the living world. It is a parable of hope and determination in an emergency that affects us all.
You can read other titles by Greta Thunberg here.
Next week on the blog we’ll be sharing six books offering suggestions as to what changes we can do at home to aid the future of the planet.
Enjoy!
The Newest Sporting Biographies
Some people make what they do look effortless and easy. That’s the beauty of being the best at what you do. In sport, athletes are often held on a pedestal and celebrated as if they are heroes. However, if they slip up in life they are very quickly, and ruthlessly, scrutinised.
But we really know that it is never as easy as it seems. To be the at the top of your game, in whichever field you choose, you need grit, determination and hours of hard work. This week we are taking a look at 6 new biographies of some of these legends. What these biographies share is an insight into the world in which these sporting greats live, their families, friends, and reality behind their success.
Roger Federer: The Biography by René Stauffer
Rene Stauffer has been closely covering Roger Federer’s career for nearly 25 years. In this comprehensive biography, Stauffer talks at length to the man himself, his family, friends, coaches and rivals to paint an unrivalled picture of the greatest male tennis player of all time.
From his early life in Basel, Switzerland, where he first picked up a tennis racquet, to the heights of his 20th Grand Slam victory and all points in between, Stauffer reveals the secrets to Federer’s success, the hardships and doubts that he has faced and examines the legacy that Federer has created in the modern game.
Barty: Much More Than Tennis by Ron Reed and Chris McLeod
Of all the uplifting sports stories that have captured the imagination of Australia as a nation, few have been greeted with such spontaneous and unanimous acclaim as tennis champion Ashleigh Barty.
Her inspirational 2021 Wimbledon win delivered a celebration not seen since Cathy Freeman’s immortal Olympic triumph 21 years ago. This book covers her journey from knockabout kid from Queensland to world champion and explores her rare gift for the game, engaging personality, innate modesty and relentless determination to be the best.
Barty’s mantra is that being a good human being is far more important than being a good tennis player, and it has been widely hailed as a lesson for all. In other words, she now transcends sport. Her unfolding, unfinished narrative has come to resonate with overtones of national pride and inspiration, community morale, cultural issues ancient and modern, the importance of family and friends, the regard for humility and grace over rampant ambition, the escalating battle for gender equality, and perspectives on fame and fortune. In this new edition of the top seller, award-winning sports writer Ron Reed and journalist Chris McLeod pay tribute to the World No. 1 covering all her games and unforgettable moments.
Tour de Force: by Mark Cavendish
Just how did Mark Cavendish, the greatest sprint cyclist of all time, return from being seemingly dead and buried at 36 to become the Tour de France’s most successful ever stage winner?
Deep down, Mark Cavendish thought he was finished. After illness, setbacks and clinical depression, the once fastest man in the world had been written off by most. And at the age of 36, even he believed his explosive cycling career would fade out with a whimper. The Man x man hadn’t won a single Grand Tour stage in Italy, Spain or France since 2016.
But then came his incredible resurrection at the 2021 Tour de France. Included on the Deceuninck Quick-Step team at the very last minute, only after Sam Bennett suffered an injury, Mark set about rewriting history. He claimed back the green jersey he first wore in 2011, and his four stage victories finally saw him matching Belgian legend Eddy Merckx’s all-time record of 34 Tour de France stage wins. Cycling greats are never content, and Cavendish’s dogged determination and inner strength had earned him the record that few believed he could ever achieve. This is his own intimate account of that race, right from the saddle of the miracle tour.
Murray Walker: Incredible by Maurice Hamilton
His was the voice I heard every weekend growing up while my dad and brother watched Formula One with eager anticipation of a shiny red car winning. Murray Walker was the voice of Formula One, matching the thrill of the track with his equally fast-paced and exhilarating commentary, delivering the euphoria of motor racing to millions.
Commentating on his first grand prix for the BBC at Silverstone in 1949, Murray’s broadcasting career spanned over fifty years. His natural warmth and infectious enthusiasm won great affection with audiences, whilst his passion and knowledge of motorsport allowed him to hone his instinctive presenting style into a craft.
When Murray passed away in March 2021, tributes came flooding in from every corner of the sporting world. This book, compiled by Murray’s great friend and colleague Maurice Hamilton, celebrates the extraordinary life of this truly legendary man. With contributions from drivers and industry figures, and many friends from the world of motorsport and beyond, Incredible! combines fond memories, never-before-told stories and famous Murrayisms with reflections on the highlights of a life lived at full throttle.
Be Water, My Friend: The Teachings of Bruce Lee by Shannon Lee
Bruce Lee’s daughter illuminates her father’s most powerful life philosophies, demonstrating how martial arts are a perfect metaphor for personal growth, and how we can practice those teachings every day.
Bruce Lee is a cultural icon, renowned the world over for his martial arts and film legacy. But Lee was also a deeply philosophical thinker, learning at an early age that martial arts are more than just an exercise in physical discipline, they are an apt metaphor for living a fully realised life.
Now, in Be Water, My Friend, Lee’s daughter Shannon shares the concepts at the core of his philosophies, showing how they can serve as tools of personal growth and self-actualisation. Each chapter brings a lesson from Bruce Lee’s teachings, expanding on the foundation of his iconic “be water” philosophy. Over the course of the book, we discover how being like water allows us to embody fluidity and naturalness in life, bringing us closer to our essential flowing nature and our ability to be powerful, self-expressed, and free.
Be Water, My Friend is an inspirational invitation to us all, a gentle call to action to consider our lives with new eyes. It is also a testament to how one man’s exploration and determination transcended time and place to ignite our imaginations and to inspire many around the world to transform their lives.
Unguarded by Scottie Pippen
This is an unflinching master class of a memoir from two-time Olympic gold medalist and NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen. Scottie Pippen has been called one of the greatest NBA players for good reason. Simply put, without Pippen, there are no championship banners, let alone six, hanging from the United Center rafters. There’s no Last Dance documentary. There’s no Michael Jordan as we know him. The 1990s Chicago Bulls teams would not exist as we know them.
So how did the youngest of twelve go from growing up poor in the small town of Hamburg, Arkansas, enduring two family tragedies along the way, to become a revered NBA legend? How did the scrawny teen, overlooked by every major collegiate basketball program, go on to become the fifth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft? And, perhaps most compelling, how did Pippen set aside his ego (and his own limitless professional ceiling) in order for the Bulls to become the most dominant basketball dynasty of the last half century?
In Unguarded, the six-time champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist finally opens up to offer pointed and transparent takes on Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, and Dennis Rodman, among others. Pippen details how he cringed at being labeled Jordan’s sidekick, and discusses how he could have (and should have) received more respect from the Bulls’ management and the media.
Pippen reveals never-before-told stories about some of the most famous games in league history, including the 1994 playoff game against the New York Knicks when he took himself out with 1.8 seconds to go. He discusses what it was like dealing with Jordan on a day-to-day basis, while serving as the facilitator for the offence and the anchor for the defence.
Pippen is finally giving millions of adoring basketball fans what they crave; an unvarnished, closely observed, and uncommonly modest look into his life and role within one of the greatest, most popular teams of all time.
Enjoy!
The Newest Arts and Entertainment Biographies
Inspiring people come into our lives at all different times, some are there from the beginning guiding us with their values, others are friends during our schooling years holding our hands through challenging times, and some are fleeting interactions where someone offers us words of wisdom when we needed it most.
It it with the memory of these amazing people that we are looking into the world of biographies this month. There are so many people who we can learn from, be inspired by and propelled forward by. This week we are exploring art and entertainment biographies. We have found six of our favourite stories but hold on tight because they are a mixture of amusement, heartache and devastatingly honest views of the world and each offers us a little nugget of inspiration to take away.
Only Wanna Be with You: The Inside Story of Hootie & the Blowfish by Tim Sommer
In 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish, completed by bassist Dean Felber and drummer Soni Sonefeld, played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region. In Only Wanna Be with You, Tim Sommer, the ultimate insider who signed Hootie to Atlantic Records, pulls back the curtain on a band that defied record-industry odds to break into the mainstream by playing hacky sack music in the age of grunge. He chronicles the band’s indie days, their chart-topping success and near-cancelation of their major-label debut along with when the band inspired a plotline on the TV show Friends, also the lean years from the late 1990s through the early 2000s and one of the most remarkable comeback stories of the century. Featuring extensive new interviews with the band members, some of their most famous fans, and stories from the recording studio, tour bus, and golf course, this book is essential reading for Hootie lovers and music buffs.
Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
In this book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life changing decision to stop running forever. This is Viola’s story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path she took to finding her purpose and her strength, but also to finding her voice in a world that didn’t always see her.
In her words: As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. They are bogarted, reinvented to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone who is searching for a way to understand and overcome a complicated past, let go of shame, and find acceptance. For anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be…you. Finding Me is a deep reflection on my past and a promise for my future. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.
A Funny Life by Michael McIntyre
Laugh along with Michael McIntyre as he lifts the curtain on his life in his long-awaited new autobiography. Michael’s first book ended with his big break at the 2006 Royal Variety Performance. Waking up the next morning in the tiny rented flat he shared with his wife Kitty and their one-year-old son, he was beyond excited about the new glamorous world of show business. Unfortunately, he was also clueless . . . In A Funny Life, Michael honestly and hilariously shares the highs and the lows of his rise to the top and desperate attempts to stay there. It’s all here, from his disastrous panel show appearances to his hit TV shows, from mistakenly thinking he’d be a good chat show host and talent judge, to finding fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams and becoming the biggest-selling comedian in the world. Along the way he opens his man drawer, narrowly avoids disaster when his trousers fall down in front of three policemen and learns the hard way why he should always listen to his wife. Michael has had a silly life, a stressful life, sometimes a moving and touching life, but always A Funny Life.
Spinning Plates by Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s kitchen discos became a source of much needed escapism, catharsis and sequinned joy for a swathe of the population during lockdown. From knackered mothers and fed up fathers, to cooped up partiers with nowhere to go, Sophie’s gloriously chaotic Friday kitchen performances have cheered and revived us. Now Sophie is bringing that same mixture of down to earth candour and optimistic sparkle to her first book. Part memoir, part musings, Sophie writes about the conjuring act of adulthood and motherhood and how her experience of working while raising her five sons has given her the inescapable lesson of how to navigate life in the face of failure and imperfection.
Covering relationships, good enough parenting, the importance of delusion and dancing, Sophie writes about the things that take on greater importance as life becomes more complicated. From the non negotiables (solitude, music, glitter) to the unimportant (clean hair, deadlines, appropriate behaviour), this is a book about learning from our experiences and not being afraid to smash a few plates for the sake of what we actually need want and value.
The Hockneys: Never Worry What the Neighbours Think by John Hockney
Technically this book isn’t a new release, but it’s a goodie. The Hockneys is a never before seen insight into the lives of one of the world’s most famous artists and his family by youngest brother John, from growing up in the Second World War in Bradford through to their diverse lives across three continents. Hardship, successes as well as close and complex relationships are poignantly illustrated by both famous and private pictures and paintings from David Hockney. With a rare and spirited look into the lives of an ordinary family with extraordinary stories, we begin to understand the creative freedom that led to their successful careers and the launchpad for an artist’s work that has inspired and continues to inspire generations across the world.
To the End of the World by Rupert Everett
Okay, so this isn’t totally new…but it is a new paperback version, and also a great read. Rupert Everett tells the story of how he set out to make a film of Oscar Wilde’s last days, and how that ten-year quest almost destroyed him. (And everyone else). Travelling across Europe for the film, he weaves in extraordinary tales from his past, remembering wild times, freak encounters and lost friends.
There are celebrities, of course. But we also meet glamorous but doomed Aunt Peta, who introduces Rupert (aged three) to the joys of make-up. In ’90s Paris, his great friend Lychee burns bright, and is gone. While in ’70s London, a ‘weirdly tall, beyond size zero’ teenage Rupert is expelled from the Central School of Speech and Drama. Unflinchingly honest and hugely entertaining, To the End of the World offers a unique insight into the ‘snakes and ladders’ of filmmaking. It is also a soulful and thought-provoking autobiography from one of our best-loved and most talented actors and writers.
Enjoy!