New Zealand > NZ - General

In this lavishly illustrated book, 20 of New Zealand's top landscape architects and designers offer their wisdom and advice on landscaping with native plants. These personal narratives showcase some of our country's most beautiful out-door environments, from private gardens to public recreation land, urban and industrial spaces, and even farmland. Stunning photographs by John Maillard capture the uniqueness and splendour of each location, from Kaeo in the Far North to Queenstown in the south.

Do you know that Hataitai is named after one of the taniwha which lived in Wellington Harbour? Or that Mystery Creek was named after an unsolved murder in the Waikato region?The meanings and stories behind the major place names of New Zealand are contained in this handy book. All the top tourist destinations are covered,inlcuding the unusual, the quirky and the historical. Symbols denote towns, rivers,mountains and other natural features, and a basic Maori vocabulary and pronunciation guide is included.

Do you speak Nu Zild?
Over 150 years we have developed our own unique take on the English language. And it's not just about fush and chups. Rather it's about the often hilarious and sometime downright baffling New Zealandisms we use in all sorts of situations, and for all types of pastimes and passions. In Kiwi Speak, the top-selling author of Cricket Speak and Rugby Speak eavesdrops at the dinner table, the school yard, the farm and the sports club to bring us an entertaining dictionary of phrases and expressions. Dra... read more

Tupaia, lauded by Europeans as 'an extraordinary genius', sailed with Captain Cook from Tahiti, piloted the Endeavour about the South Pacific, and interceded with Maori in NZ. Until now his story has never been fully told.
Tupaia, a gifted linguist, a brilliant orator, and a most devious politician, could aptly be called the Machiavelli of Tahiti. Being highly skilled in astronomy, navigation, and meteorology, and an expert in the geography of the Pacific, he was able to name directional stars and predict landfalls and weathe... read more

There are only a few places in the Pacific ? not to say in the world ? where you can don your pack and tramping boots and get really, thrillingly up close and personal with an active volcano, and New Zealand?s North Island is one of them. Glenys Robertson?s guide book tells you all you need to know about getting out and about among nature?s explosive landscapes, whether you?re after an easy family stroll beside a volcanic lake, a kayak voyage through geothermally heated waters, a multi-day tramp through a lava-strewn landscape or a... read more

For the many thousands who have walked or ridden the Otago Central Rail Trail it holds particular, cherished memories. Some impressions will stick for a lifetime: bouncing over bone-rattling bridges, or sailing through sheer-sided canyons of schist. Or simply barrelling along, mile after mile, with the gravel crunching beneath your tyres under endless wide blue skies. In this vivid, beautifully drawn account, author Paul Sorrell and photographer Graham Warman take you on a 150-kilometre journey across the Otago Central Rail Trail, ... read more

Rudyard Kipling called cricketers 'flannelled fools'. Groucho Marx asked halfway through a cricket match when it would begin. Alfred Hitchcock put two cricket fans in a thriller as comic relief. Yet despite its famously odd practices, slow pace, strange language, eccentric umpires and frequent scandals - or perhaps because of them - cricket is today one of the world's most passionately followed and played sports. In New Zealand, watching a cricket match is the quintessence of summer. So when cricket-obsessed writer Harry Ricketts ... read more

Every Kiwi bloke either has a man cave or craves one. And there are all kinds of man caves out there - from large sheds, full of tools or memorabilia, to blokes-only private enclaves, to nothing more than an armchair in the corner of a room. This books invites you in, in full colour, to over 50 man caves from all around New Zealand.

Sir Edmund Hillary became famous by being the first, with Tenzing Norgay, to climb Mt Everest in 1953. Though this was clearly a remarkable feat, Sir Edmund came to be regarded by many as a great man for the way he chose to use his fame, which was to dedicate much of the rest of his life to building schools and hospitals for the Sherpa people of Nepal. The Legacy of Everest tells the remarkable story of the two hospitals he built; Khunde Hospital in 1966 in the Khumbu region at the foot of Mt Everest, and Phaplu Hospital in 1975... read more

The 'war on terror' in Afghanistan and beyond has been the longest foreign war in New Zealand history, yet most New Zealanders know almost nothing about their country's part in it. For ten years, nearly everything controversial or potentially unpopular was kept secret, and obscured by a steady flow of military public relations stories. Based on thousands of leaked New Zealand military and intelligence documents, extensive interviews with military and intelligence officers and eye-witness accounts from the soldiers on the ground, Ni... read more

This ground-breaking book looks at the way in which New Zealand young adult fiction 'makes up' the nation in which the stories are set, through the ways in which they make use of both real and fictional events and locations. Chapters on Settings, Biculturalism, Egalitarianism, Utopias and Dystopias, Futures, Religion, Sport and Maori Gothic bring in all of our most notable YA authors.

When The Passionless People was first published in 1976 it was a publishing sensation, selling tens of thousands of copies. Its title became part of the language. Over 30 years on - have we changed? Are we still 'smiling zombies'? There is no doubt that this book will be as topical and controversial as the original!

As New Zealanders, we have a natural affinity with water. We regard fishing as a natural right; we view swimming as a life-skill; until recently we would drink unhesitatingly from any back-country stream. Some of our most special memories are of rivers and lakes; hours spent swimming, building dams, catching cockabullies, floating downstream on faded lilos.. The waterways of this country are a gift beyond value. Through entertaining and informative essays and over 200 photographs, this book celebrates them in all their forms: clea... read more

A collection of over 120 New Zealand songs arranges for guitar in the same key as the original recordings. Complete with full lyrics, chord names and a handy pull-out chord chart. It includes all the big New Zealand songs.

Replaced by The Field Guide to NZ Geology 9780143202592 First published in 1985 and fully revised and updated in 2003 this book was the first field guide written for the general public and beginners in geology in New Zealand, and has become the standard work on this country’s geology. It shows travellers in New Zealand something of the treme... read more

Kiwi Heroes brings together the tales of 50 of New Zealand's bravest people. Some of the people featured are household names - some are barely known outside their own households. Some have become heroes in a moment, some over a lifetime. Some are professionals who have gone beyond the call of duty; others are ordinary people who have been plunged into terrifying circumstances and responded with astonishing bravery. Many have forfeited their lives or their livelihoods for the sake of others. All have great stories to tell.

This is a complex, bittersweet collection of short stories. Her tales combine characters and occurrences that are at once cripplingly dark and yet also tinged with a quiet beauty and optimism and she deftly covers subjects such as identity, addiction, devotion and abandonment.

The Christchurch earthquake of 22 February 2011 was one of the worst natural disasters in New Zealand's history. The quake devastated New Zealand's second biggest city and caused significant damage to infrastructure both within Christchurch itself and its immediate surrounds. After declining several quake books - none of which felt right - Hachette NZ was approached by the Canterbury District Police to produce a high-quality book of colour photography taken by Police forensic photographers, documenting the response to the earthquak... read more

Armed only with a list of recommended cafés, Mathew Hawke and Niki Grennell set off on a three-month odyssey to visit and sample the coffee culture of character cafés the length and breadth of New Zealand.
Illustrated throughout with colour photographs and a lively text design, this book can be dipped into at random or read as a journey from one café to the next. Particularly good food options are noted, and recipes of signature dishes from cafés are included. Travel notes and text breakouts iden... read more

Jim Flynn is on a mission to change how we think about the modern world, our place in it, and the moral choices we make. In The Torchlight List he argued that great literature can change lives. Now in Fate & Philosophy, he looks at tough moral decisions we face and urges us not to be influenced by subconscious conditioning inherited from our parents, our religion, or any other source.Fate & Philosophy is both an exhilarating introduction to philosophy and a mind-bending tour through its intersection with science, in particu... read more