Search results for ""Jonathan Ball Publishers SA""

'A roadmap that could turn Africa's potential into prosperity.' - President Cyril RamaphosaWhat stops Africa, with its abundant natural resources, from capitalising on its boundless potential?Africa analyst Jakkie Cilliers uses 11 scenarios to unpack, in concrete terms, how the continent can ignite a growth revolution that will take millions out of poverty and into employment.Africa urgently needs much more rapid economic growth. Cilliers identifies and models fundamental transitions required in agriculture, education, demographics, manufacturing and governance and shows how these changes can be brought about.The challenges the continent faces - competing in a globalised world, delivering health care and education, feeding growing populations and grappling with climate change - demand far-sighted policies and determined leadership. Cilliers offers achievable solutions based on African realities.Authoritative and engaging, this work offers a roadmap for how Africa can catch up with the rest of the world.

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** South African Number One Bestseller **A comprehensive work based on personal interviews and insider knowledge - bound to become a classic.The past three decades have seen a remarkable rise of Afrikaners in business. With Koos Bekker at its helm, media group Naspers began dominating the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and was turned into a global consumer internet group. Johann Rupert strongly extended Richemont's share internationally in the upper-end market of luxury goods, while Christo Wiese and Whitey Basson at Pepkor and Shoprite became Africa's largest clothing and food retailers.Fortunes describes how these and other business leaders, such as Jannie Mouton, Michiel le Roux, Douw Steyn, Roelof Botha, Hendrik du Toit and a number of commercial farmers, built their empires. It looks at their life and business philosophies and what makes them such successful entrepreneurs.Recent years have also seen the sensational collapse of Steinhoff International, the furniture retailer led by Markus Jooste that destroyed some of these fortunes. While Jooste is the topic of one of the chapters, another looks at the philanthropic projects most of these tycoons are involved in.

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A unique anthology containing over five decades of protest poetry.'i may have been born on 27 April 1994 - but i was never born free.' Mjiele MsimangContemporary poet Mjiele Msimang captures something of today's zeitgeist in his poem 'born(e) to the grave.' But what of the past half-century of protest poetry in South Africa, a rich tradition born in response to colonialism, and fed by apartheid and a faltering democracy?In Years of Fire and Ash: South African Poems of Decolonisation, over fifty years of protest poetry are gathered in one single volume, bringing together some of the most remarkable and thought-provoking poems that have emerged from struggle. The animating impulse behind this collection of old and new voices is 'decolonisation', a term which has regained prominence over the last few years. It allows us to perceive how different South African poets have placed their work in the world, and how that work might relate to the struggle for radical social transformation.Compiled by award-winning literary critic Wamuwi Mbao, this collection includes established voices such as HIE Dhlomo, Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali, Mongane Wally, Serote, Sipho Sepamla, and Es'kia Mphahlele, as well as prominent contemporary poets such as Vangile Gantsho, Lebohang Masango and Sihle Ntuli.

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'Black Lion is a powerful, propulsive and unflinchingly honest account of one man's remarkable spiritual journey. It is life-affirming and deepening, and a vital contribution to the discourse around conservation. A must-read.' JINI REDDY, author of Wanderland'A brave account of a natural disaster, and of achieving reconciliation with the predatoriness of life.' RICHARD MABEY, on Mbatha's Essay Letting GoWilderness guide Sicelo Mbatha shares lessons learnt from a lifetime's intimate association with Africa's wildest nature.Black Lion begins in rural South Africa where a deeply traumatic childhood experience - a cousin being dragged away by a crocodile - should have turned him against the surrounding wilderness. Instead, he was irresistibly drawn to it. As a volunteer at Imfolozi Nature Reserve, close encounters with animals taught him to 'see' with his heart and thus began a spiritual awakening.Drawing from his Zulu culture and a yearning to better understand human's relationship to nature, Sicelo has forged a new path to nature with an immersive, respectful and transformative way of being in the wilderness. As humanity hurtles into the anthropogenic 21st century, Black Lion is an urgent reminder of how much we need wilderness for our emotional and spiritual survival.

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** AN ABSOLUTE MUST-READ: A BRAND NEW ELON MUSK BIOGRAPHY**In 2022 Elon Musk - one of the richest and best-known people on earth - made headlines worldwide with his bid to buy Twitter, and he is often in the news for his entrepreneurial exploits and his controversial tweets. Who is this boundary-pushing billionaire with grand plans of inhabiting Mars, and what lies at the heart of his vision? Why is he so utterly unafraid of risk?As an awkward Pretoria schoolboy who loved comics and science fiction, Musk's early years and singular family background were crucial in forming his stellar ambitions. Journalist and author Michael Vlismas, who attended the same high school as Musk, knows well the environment that shaped him and offers new insights into Musk's development, including his troubled relationship with his father.Tracing his remarkable life, from his South African childhood to his move to Canada at 17 and then to the US - where Musk made millions out of PayPal and built Tesla and SpaceX into two of the world's most famous companies - this is the revealing new story of a man driven to preserve the optimism he sees in humanity and find a future for humans 'out there among the stars'.

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The story of the intelligence war in South Africa during the Second World War is one of suspense, drama and dogged persistence. In 1939, when the Union of South Africa entered the war on Britain's side, the German government secretly contacted the political opposition, and the leadership of the anti-war movement, the Ossewabrandwag.The Nazis' aim was to spread sedition, undermine the Allied war effort, and - given the strategic importance of the Cape of Good Hope sea route - gain naval intelligence. Soon U-boat packs were sent to operate in South African waters, to deadly effect.With the Ossewabrandwag's help, a network of German spies was established to gather and relay back to the Reich important political and military intelligence. Agents would send coded messages to Axis diplomats in neighbouring Mozambique. Meanwhile, police detectives and MI5 hunted in vain for illegal wireless transmitters.Hitler's South African Spies presents an unrivalled account of German intelligence networks in wartime South Africa. It also details the hunt in post-war Europe for witnesses to help the government bring charges of high treason against key Ossewabrandwag members.

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Honest and hilarious - not your run-of-the-mill parenting book!If you have read parenting books or searched the Internet for parenting tips you have most likely stumbled across the mythical Unicorn Baby. This is the baby who feeds every four hours and sleeps through the night, sits at six months, pees pure gold and poops rainbows.Whether this baby exists or not does not matter. What matters is this: you did not get this baby. If you are looking to answer the question: "Is my baby normal?" then you are in the right place.Roxanne Atkinson uses her professional experience as an occupational therapist to identify and debunk ten modern parenting myths that cause all kinds of anxiety for new parents.The aim is to help parents understand why their baby may not be behaving as they were told they would. Acknowledging that every baby is unique, this book helps new parents navigate the first year and shares some fascinating stories of other real-life babies.

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'This is a shocking story told by a searingly honest writer ready to look her country - and herself - squarely in the eye. It offers no false cheer, but something far more valuable and compelling: the often painful truth.' JONATHAN FREEDLAND, Author, The Escape Artist'A heart-wrenching and illuminating memoir of a daughter's quest for answers and the ever-elusive "closure"' KERRY DAYNES, Author, The Dark Side of the Mind and What Lies BuriedA searing, intimate memoir tracing the author's attempt to find out the truth about her father's murder.Robin McGregor, an older man who has recently moved into a small town outside Cape Town, is brutally murdered in his home. Cecil Thomas is convicted for the crime, but his trial leaves more questions than answers. As much as his daughter Liz McGregor tries to move beyond her grief - she finds new work, she even discovers love - she still wants answers. What drove Thomas to torture and kill a complete stranger?The author meets the murderer's family and discovers that he comes from a loving, comfortable home. He is educated and skilled, there is no apparent reason for his descent into delinquency. After protracted obstruction from the prison authorities, she finally gets to confront him but not without putting herself in danger. She finds answers, but not the answers she is looking for.Unforgiven tells a story seldom told: what happens to a family when one of their own is murdered? In a country where, year upon year, tens of thousands of people lose a loved one to violence. Where restorative justice is preached but not practiced. Where prisons are universities of crime. What would it take to achieve redemption? For the victim, the perpetrator and the country?

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'This book belongs on the shelf of every genuine rugby fan' - News24.comWhen Rassie Erasmus took over as coach of the Springboks in 2018, few thought they had a chance of winning the Rugby World Cup. The Boks had slipped to seventh in the world rankings and lost the faith of the rugby-loving public. Less than two years later, jubilant crowds lined the streets of South Africa's cities to welcome back the victorious team.Sportswriter Lloyd Burnard takes the reader on the thrilling journey of a team that went from no-hopers to world champions. He examines how exactly this turnaround was achieved. Interviews with players, coaches and support staff reveal how the principles of inclusion, openness and focus, as well as careful planning and superb physical conditioning, became the basis for a winning formula. The key roles played by Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi shine through.There were ups and downs along the way: beating the All Blacks in Wellington during the Rugby Championship was a high point, but then came Kolisi's injury, while in Japan the distractions of a volatile support base sometimes shook the players' focus. Miracle Men is filled with marvellous anecdotes and sharp insights. It is also inspiring testimony to what can be achieved when a group of South Africans from all backgrounds come together as a team.

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A doctor follows her calling to practise medicine in wild, remote placesDr Joan Louwrens has always been drawn to wild places, which are balm to her soul. When her husband died, leaving her alone with two small daughters to raise, she threw herself wholeheartedly into 'adventure medicine', seeking out the world's most remote corners - on land and at sea - to practise healing, both her own and others.Working in wild places from the Kruger Park to the Australian Outback, the Atlantic Ocean islands, and both the Arctic and Antarctic, 'Doctor Joan' dealt with a vast range of medical issues, from rabies to deep-vein thrombosis, childbirth to wisdom-tooth extraction, catatonia to depression.Showing an eagerness to learn and a humility that aren't always a given in her profession, and with a wry eye and a sympathetic outlook, Joan Louwrens has written a memoir that's a poignant and often funny story of a life lived to the full.

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In Foreign Native, political commentator and author RW Johnson looks back with affection and humour on his life in Africa. From schooldays in Durban to later years as an Oxford don, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation and formidable political commentator, Johnson has produced an entertaining and occasionally eye-popping memoir brimming with history, anecdote and insight.Johnson charts his evolution from enthusiastic, left-leaning Africanist to political realist, relating episodes that influenced his intellectual worldview, including time spent among the exiled liberation movements in London during the 1960s, a sojourn in newly independent Guinea and more recent forays into Zimbabwe. There are wonderful stories, some hilarious, others filled with pathos, about the multitude of characters that he met along the way.Perceptive, critical and full of verve, Foreign Native is leavened with a deep humanity that is a pleasure to read.

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'Tony Leon is not only an experienced politician but also a talented writer, and this book is the highly readable result of that combination.' - Lord William Hague, former British Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leader 'Anyone who wants to understand South Africa today - a country so beautiful, yet so broken - simply has to read this book.' - Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of MoneyIn his riveting new book, Future Tense, Tony Leon captures and analyses recent South African history, with a focus on the squandered and corrupted years of the past decade. With unique access and penetrating insight, Leon presents a portrait of today's South Africa and prospects for its future, based on his political involvement over thirty years with the key power players: Cyril Ramaphosa, Jacob Zuma, Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk. His close-up and personal view of these presidents and their history-making, and many encounters in the wider world, adds vivid colour of a country and planet in upheaval.Written during the first coronavirus lockdown, Future Tense examines the surge of the disease and the response, both of which have crashed the economy and its future prospects.As the founding leader of the Democratic Alliance, Leon also provides an insider view for the first time of the power struggles within that party, which saw the exit of its first black leader in 2019.There is every reason to fear for the future of South Africa but, as Leon argues, 'the hope for a better country remains an improbable, but not an impossible, dream'.

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If you search the Internet for parenting tips and read a few parenting books you will most likely stumble across the mythical Unicorn Baby. This is the baby who feeds every four hours and sleeps through the night, sits at six months, pees pure gold and poops rainbows. Didn’t get one of these? Don’t worry, neither did clinical Occupational Therapist and mom of two ‘non-unicorns’, Roxanne Atkinson, which is why she’s written this book. Combining her clinical and personal experience, Roxanne uses evidence-based facts to bust ten anxiety-inducing parenting myths, including the myth that breastfeeding comes naturally and that you must get your baby into a perfect routine. Acknowledging that every baby is unique, this book helps new parents navigate the first year of their baby’s life with their sanity – and sense of humour – intact. This book offers, among others, a better understanding of your baby’s brain and biology; tried and tested activities that support your baby’s development; a way to rid yourself of unrealistic expectations

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Wilderness guide Sicelo Mbatha shares lessons learnt from a lifetime's intimate association with Africa's wildest nature.Black Lion begins in rural South Africa where a deeply traumatic childhood experience - a cousin being dragged away by a crocodile - should have turned him against the surrounding wilderness. Instead, he was irresistibly drawn to it. As a volunteer at Imfolozi Nature Reserve, close encounters with animals taught him to 'see' with his heart and thus began a spiritual awakening.Drawing from his Zulu culture and a yearning to better understand human's relationship to nature, Sicelo has forged a new path to nature with an immersive, respectful and transformative way of being in the wilderness. As humanity hurtles into the anthropogenic 21st century, Black Lion is an urgent reminder of how much we need wilderness for our emotional and spiritual survival.'A brave account of a natural disaster, and of achieving reconciliation with the predatoriness of life.' Richard Mabey on Mbatha's essay, Letting Go.

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'It will terrify you but it's a story you must know.' - Mandy WienerIt was one of the most brutal criminal acts of the post-apartheid era, and its consequences were devastating.At least a thousand people died between 2011 and 2019 as a result of one senior police officer's criminal decision to sell a huge cache of guns. Colonel Christiaan Prinsloo, former head of the Gauteng firearm license division, and his network of cronies sold guns decommissioned by the SAPS to South Africa's gang lords. The sale of these weapons led to a killing spree of unprecedented proportions.Based on interviews with police and the criminal underworld, this book tells the story of this callous crime for the first time. Shaw explores how the illegally sold guns got into the hands of South Africa's crime bosses. The book describes the bloodbath that ensued and uncovers accounts of rampant corruption within the police and in the gun-licensing system, probing the government failure that has been instrumental in arming the country's gangsters.

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A hair-raising account about the ins and outs of practising forensic pathology in AfricaAs a medical detective of the modern world, forensic pathologist Ryan Blumenthal's chief goal is to bring perpetrators to justice. He has performed thousands of autopsies, which have helped bring numerous criminals to book.In Autopsy he covers the hard lessons learnt as a rookie pathologist, as well as some of the most unusual cases he's encountered. During his career, for example, he has dealt with high-profile deaths, mass disasters, death by lightning and people killed by African wildlife. Blumenthal takes the reader behind the scenes at the mortuary, describing a typical autopsy and the instruments of the trade. He also shares a few trade secrets, like how to establish when a suicide is more likely to be a homicide. Even though they cannot speak, the dead have a lot to say - and Blumenthal is there to listen.

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The spirit of Xhosa society was enshrined in an oral tradition through which, fiom generations to generation, the community transmitted its customs, values, and norms. The poet and the storyteller stood at the centre of this tradition, as the community's chroniclers, entertainers, and collective conscience. Xhosa novelist and critic A C Jordan was an enthusiastic observer of the customs and history of his people, particularly of the oral narrative performances he witnessed first as a child, and later during his many journeys throughout South Africa. Now, when traditional storytellers, and the oral tradition itself, have almost been lost to us, Jordan's vivid written translations and versions of some of the best land Xhosa folk tales, with their heroes and monsters, children lost and found, wayward adolescents and their rites of passage, are a celebration of the vibrant heart of the culture. "Tales from Southern Africa" was first published in America in 1973; this is the first South African edition.

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Ever had a sleepless night or wanted to quit your job because of an impossible boss?Difficult managers can obstruct your professional growth by hiding corporate ladders and trapping you in an invisible cage.Using different psychological profiling systems, the authors, all experts in business leadership, identify eight archetypal characters who create uniquely challenging situations at work, including Ms Say-Me (the competitive control freak), Mr Tumbleweed (the indecisive worrier), Ms Crosswire (the disorganised people schmoozer), Mr Make-Up (the seemingly nice manipulator) and their four demanding friends.You'll learn about their key character traits and why they act the way they do. Best of all, you'll learn secret strategies for mitigating the impact of an impossible boss on your work experience and how to communicate your ideas to them. This book offers practical tips for how to rapidly take back control of your career and navigate tricky situations. A coach in your pocket, Impossible Bosses shows you how to manage your manager.

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A leading psychiatrist's professional and personal reflections on mental illness - beautifully written, informative and accessible.'This book has irrevocably changed my understanding of madness. Through succinct and often poetic accounts Baumann carefully mediates access to glimpses of the brave, fearful, lonely and vulnerable humanities of those suffering from psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia. The text, illuminated by extraordinary artwork, compels one to believe that beyond all the distress and despair, there is, and always should be, hope.' - Antjie KrogFor many of us, mental illness is often shrouded in mystery, misconception and fear. Baumann spent decades as a psychiatrist at Valkenberg Hospital and, through his personal engagement with patients' various forms of psychosis, he describes the lived experiences of those who suffer from schizophrenia, depression, bipolar and other disorders.Baumann argues cogently for a more inclusive way of making sense of mental health. With sensitivity and empathy, his enquiries into the territories of art, psychology, consciousness, otherness, free will and theories of the self reveal how mental illness raises questions that affect us all.

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