Non-fiction

Journalist Luke Williams travels to Asia to escape hard drugs, high rents and cold nights--he finds adventure, temples, and for the first time--people actually weirder than him: Westerners in Asia. Or are they? Extreme Asia is about Westerners who go to Asia for the things they can't find at home--riches, wives, ladyboys, cheap living and even cheaper drugs, cults, spices, mountains, tropical beaches, 'selfesteem' necklaces, and ascended masters. Luke fully immerses himself in these environme...

The first edition of Southeast Asia: An Introductory History was published in 1979 and immediately filled a need for travellers and students interested in a tantalisingly different part of the world. Subsequent editions (translated into Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Chinese and Thai) have continued to document with great perception the enormous changes and dramatic growth experienced in the region. Dr Milton Osborne has been a resident, student and fascinated observer of Southeast Asia for many ye...

A single book can change your life. Already an enormous bestseller in Asia, with more than 3 million copies sold, The Courage to be Disliked demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 19th century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, it follows an illuminating conversation between a philosopher and a young man. The philosopher explains to his pupil how each of us is able to determin...

The Courage to be Happy presents profound insights into living life courageously and finding happiness along the way. It has already sold more than a million copies in Japan and is a sequel to The Courage to be Disliked, which has changed lives across the globe as an international bestselling sensation. As in The Courage to be Disliked, we follow a Socratic dialogue between a philosopher and a young man. The philosopher believes that the key to a life of happiness and fulfilment is offered to...

Bill Birtles was rushed out of China in September 2020, forced to seek refuge in the Australian Embassy in Beijing while diplomats delicately negotiated his departure in an unprecedented standoff with China's government. Five days later he was on a flight back to Sydney, leaving China without any Australian foreign correspondents on the ground for the first time in decades. A journalist's perspective on this rising global power has never been more important, as Australia's relationship with C...

For more than 25 years Noriko Morishita studied and practised the intricate ceremonies of the famous Way of Tea, attempting to learn its complexities and achieve a perfection of movement and mood that few can master. In The Wisdom of Tea Noriko describes her gradual discovery of freedom and insight within the very rules that once seemed so constricting. Looking back across her life, Noriko illuminates the real teachings of the Way of Tea: to live absolutely in the moment, to notice and deligh...