Learn something new!
“So many books so little time.”
Creativity
Elizabeth Gilbert Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. If you’re stuck on perfection, or suffer from anxiety, this is the only book on creativity you need to get you writing, singing, dancing, drawing, acting or creating.
Catherine Deveney Use Your Words . All the juicy ideas from Dev’s”Gunnas” workshops. Easy to follow and put into practice.
Julia Cameron has written a number of guides to creativity. The two best are:
- The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation Into the Writing Life
An inspirational resource for budding writers.
The Artist’s Way
Perfect for both visual artists and writers – the book that launched a thousand “artist dates”!
Twyla Tharp The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use I for Life, this quote from a review sums it up well “Perhaps the leading choreographer of her generation, Tharp offers a thesis on creativity that is more complex than its self-help title suggests”.
Natalie Goldberg, US writer and Buddhist provides practical advice and exercises for writers in her two classic texts:
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer within
Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life
Keri Smith Living out Loud: An Activity Book to Fuel a Creative Life. Keri Smith makes being creative a lot of fun.
Herbal remedies
Ethno-botonist James Wong’s enthusiastic approach to plant medicines will inspire you to make your own
Grow Your Own Drugs: Easy Recipes for Natural Remedies and Beauty Fixes
Grow Your Own Drugs: A Year with James Wong
There’s also a DVD of the show – Grow Your Own Drugs
Check out the home healing recipes on this site.
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Animal health
Phillips and FitzgeraldThe Alternative Cat: Improve Your Cat’s Health and Well Being with Natural Therapies and Practical Techniques Now out of print, it’s worth looking for a second-hand copy if you are a natural health loving cat owner. It’s been my cat bible for decades!
The classic herbals for all creatures great and small written by revered herbalist Juliette de Bairacli-Levy
The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat
The Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable
The titles say it all! Written for herbalists and animal lovers.
Mental wellbeing and self-discovery
Pema Chodron When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. A Buddhist masterpiece for all. Accessible and easy to read.
Stephanie Dowrick Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love. A thought provoking exploration of the virtues. Best read slowly and savoured.
Jennifer Louden The Woman’s Comfort Book: A Self-nurturing Guide for Restoring Balance in Your Life. An oldie but a goodie, some great ways to get in touch and a take care of yourself.
Sarah Ban BreathnachSimple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort of Joy. A gentle exploration of femininity and abundance.
Thomas Moore Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life
A thoughtful and thorough book on human nature, that deserves some time and space to explore.
Meditation
Kamalashila Buddhist Meditation: Tranquility, Imagination and Insight. An old favourite that has been updated. Good tips on what gets in the way of meditating well, such as posture and ‘sky mind.
There are so many great mediation apps, my pick is Insight Timer, with so many different types of meditations. Download and enjoy your ‘sit’.
Lifestyle
Two handy books to help you not only clean up your house but also understand your clutter.
Lissanne Oliver Sorted!: The Ultimate Guide to Organising Your Life – Once and for All
Karen Kingston’s insight in why we hold on to our stuff and how to let go of the clutter is fascinating.
Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui: Space Clearing Can Change Your Life
Women’s health
Create a Fertile Life – everything you need when contemplating having a baby, or if you hit a roadblock on your fertility journey. This book from the talented team at Fertile Ground Health Group, is chock full or lifestyle advice and research, to help you achieve the best outcomes.
Kaz Cooke writes accessible, well informed books on women’s health and parenting. A great source of commonsense advice.
Women’s Trouble: Natural and Medical Solutions (with naturopath Ruth Trickey)
One of the best women’s health books available, with the added bonus that it’s written in Australia. Straight forward medical information with natural options.
Up the Duff (2020 updated edition) is the first and often only book you need to read when you’re pregnant. Also great for expectant father’s to read week by week to understand that their partner is not the only one to experience mood changes!
Women’s Stuff is not only health but a “how to” guide for young girls to mature women, without the usual New Age twaddle.
Boys and men
Create a Fertile Life – everything men need to know when contemplating having a baby, or if you hit a roadblock on your fertility journey. This book from the talented team at Fertile Ground Health Group, is chock full or lifestyle advice and research, to help you achieve the best outcomes.
Australian family therapist Steve Biddulph is the master when it comes to understanding masculinity. His books are “must reads” for all parents and lovers of men.
Raising Boys: Why Boys Are Different–And How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men
The New Manhood: The Handbook for a New Kind of Man
Both Steve’s book’s should be on the high school curriculum!
Maggie Hamilton’s research also has great insight into the species otherwise known as the adolescent male.
What’s Happening to Our Boys?
It’s the perfect compaion to her earlier work What’s Happening to Our Girls?: Too Much Too Soon.
Environmental health
Read my 2011 reviews of the following books for more info.
Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things
Nicole Bijlsma Healthy Home Healthy Family: Is Where You Live Affecting Your Health?
Fiction and memoir for body, mind and soul
Stella Duffy State of Happiness
A cartographer with a taste for theories of place succumbs to cancer in this metaphorical tale of mortality and map making. A powerful story exploring life, death and sense of place. I’m a longtime fan of Duffy’s fiction but this is quite different to her other work, written while the author wrestled with her own life challenging illness.
Sally Brampton Shoot the Damn Dog. A memoir of depression, see my review.
Joan Anderson A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom from an Unconventional Woman. Part midlife memoir, part exploration of the psychology of aging. Take a look at my review.
Reader’s recommendations
Michelle suggested Glad No Matter What: Transforming Loss and Change into Gift and Opportunity by SARK.
“A very wise and healing book that deals with grief and change”.
All the recipe and food books are in the Food section