"Only after her mother's death does Susannah Walker discover how much of a hoarder she had become. Over the following months, sorting through a dilapidated house filled to the brim with rubbish and treasures, she goes in search of a woman she'd never really known in life. Hoping to piece together her mother's story and make sense of their troubled relationship, what emerges from the mess of scattered papers, discarded photographs and an extraordinary amount of stuff is the history of a sad and fractured family, haunted by dead children, divorce and alcohol."--
Wouldn't you like: - Products that don't damage the environment? - A better way of life without agonising about your 'footprint'? - To really know your stuff? Climate change? Biofuels? Nuclear power? Landfills? Recycling? Renewable energy? Environmental issues can feel overwhelming. But, in fact, it is simple; it all comes down to one thing - stuff. Our use of the Earth's resources - whether a crisp packet or a cargo ship, a T-shirt or a wind turbine - has an inescapable impact on our future. In The Secret Life of Stuff, Julie Hill uncovers the origins and the true cost of what we use. Her inventory of over-consumption may shock but it is the first step towards overcoming waste. The misuse of stuff is not your fault, it's a product of history. But it is only by understanding what has gone wrong, that everyone - politicians, business people and us as consumers - can create a new and better material world.
Fourteen-year-old Simon, known as Stuff, struggles with his new stepfamily, tries to avoid a giant attack rabbit, hopes to break up with his girlfriend and connect with a new one, and creates cartoons of "Punykid's battle with drooling dorkoids."
Applying the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui to modern life, the author reveals how carefully arranging items in the home can lead to remarkable results in love, career, and personal happiness.
In her gorgeous new book, sought-after interiors stylist Hilary Robertson reveals a multitude of different ways to style and display the ‘stuff of life’ – the flotsam and jetsam of possessions, from pictures and ornaments to hats and bicycles, that we all gradually accumulate during the course of time. In her gorgeous new book, sought-after interiors stylist Hilary Robertson reveals a multitude of different ways to style and display the “stuff of life”—the flotsam and jetsam of possessions that we all slowly acquire. In the first chapter, How to Arrange your Stuff, Hilary identifies and illustrates four different approaches to arrangements and shows how each one can be achieved. She also considers the variety of display locations available within the home – blank walls, mantelpieces, windowsills, chests of drawers, tabletops – and suggests how to make the most of them. Next, in Stories told by Real Homes, Hilary shares inspiration from real-life interiors that fall into five different styles—Neatnik, Bohemian, Naturalist, Sculpture Vulture, and Noble Salvage. Some people are magpies—they love stuff; finding, collecting, and displaying it, while their opposite, the minimalists, are on a mission to contain it or tame it.The ideas in this book are sure to appeal to both magpies and minimalists and everyone in between.
Fat: such a little word evokes big responses. While ‘fat’ describes the size and shape of bodies, our negative reactions to corpulent bodies also depend on something tangible and tactile; as this book argues, there is more to fat than meets the eye. Fat: A Cultural History of the Stuff of Life offers a historical reflection on how fat has been perceived and imagined in the West since antiquity. Featuring fascinating historical accounts, philosophical, religious and cultural arguments, including discussions of status, gender and race, the book digs deep into the past for the roots of our current notions and prejudices. Three central themes emerge: how we have perceived and imagined obesity over the centuries; how fat as a substance has elicited disgust and how it evokes perceptions of animality; but also how it has been associated with vitality and fertility. By exploring the complex ways in which fat, fatness and fattening have been perceived over time, this book provides rich insights into the stuff our stereotypes are made of.
"Fans of Griffiths, Gleitzman and Jennings will be thrilled to have this in their collection ... What a great book." Kids Book Review I'm Tom Weekly. This is a nail-biting - make that toe-biting - thrill ride through my life. This is where I pour out whatever's inside my head. Like the time a bloodthirsty magpie out to get me. Or when I had to eat Vegemite off my sister's big toe. And don't forget the day I ate 67 hot dogs in ten minutes. My life gets a bit weird sometimes but that's how I roll. Top 3 reasons to read this book: 1. Cures for nits 2. Hover underpants 3. Instructions for teleporting **#1 Bestseller Dymocks Older Readers Chart **Top 10 Bestseller Bookscan Children’s Fiction Chart **Shortlisted KOALA & YABBA Kids’ Choice Awards ____________________________________ Praise for Tristan Bancks: 'Reading Tristan Bancks is like jumping on a rollercoaster – fun, exciting and a bit dangerous, too. Where were books like this when I was a kid?' John Boyne, author of The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas 'A tense, hard-edged, no-holds-barred thriller.' Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series 'A high stakes adventure that will keep you guessing and breathless until the very end.' Michael Gerard Bauer, author of Don't Call Me Ishmael _______________________________ Also by Tristan Bancks: Scar Town Two Wolves The Fall Detention Cop and Robber Ginger Meggs Nit Boy Mac Slater 1: Coolhunter Mac Slater 2: Imaginator Tom Weekly 1: My Life and Other Stuff I Made Up Tom Weekly 2: My Life and Other Stuff That Went Wrong Tom Weekly 3: My Life and Other Massive Mistakes Tom Weekly 4: My Life and Other Exploding Chickens Tom Weekly 5: My Life and Other Weaponised Muffins Tom Weekly 6: My Life and Other Failed Experiments
The first memoir by Wayne Kramer, legendary guitarist and cofounder of quintessential Detroit proto-punk legends The MC5 "Voyeuristically dramatic." -THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW In January 1969, before the world heard a note of their music, the MC5 was on the cover of Rolling Stone. Led by legendary guitarist Wayne Kramer, the band was a reflection of the times: exciting, sexy, violent, chaotic, and even out of control. The missing link between free jazz and punk rock, the MC5 toured the country, played alongside music legends, and had a rabid following, their music acting as the soundtrack to the blossoming blue collar youth movement. Kramer wanted to redefine what a rock 'n' roll group was capable of, and though there was power in reaching for that, it was also a recipe for personal and professional disaster. The band recorded three major label albums but, by 1972-it was all over. Kramer's story is (literally) a revolutionary one, but it's also the deeply personal struggle of an addict and an artist, a rebel with a great tale to tell. From the glory days of Detroit to the junk-sick streets of the East Village, from Key West to Nashville and sunny L.A., in and out of prison and on and off of drugs, Kramer's is the classic journeyman narrative, but with a twist: he's here to remind us that revolution is always an option.
