Book Reviews

Most books about creative work teach you how to do it. However, Great Callings asks why you have not started yet. The point is not to "make it". The point is to let the work shape you. Walk toward the fire and let it forge you. Then say, "This is what I saw when I was alive".

Conversations with AI is not a manifesto or a sermon. It is not a conspiracy theory either. Instead, it offers an eye-opening record of what happens when a human being and a machine strip away everything except logic, Scripture, evidence, and raw inquiry. They then let the conversation go wherever truth demands.

Most traders spend their lives searching for the perfect strategy. They believe the next indicator, the next system or the next prediction will finally unlock their success. They are wrong. In Jack of All Trades, the author reveals a truth that few traders are willing to confront. Consistent profitability has nothing to do with finding the perfect trade. Instead, it has everything to do with becoming the right trader.

What’s in a name? As birding grows in popularity, more people are beginning to appreciate that birds carry not only ecological significance but also unique stories embedded in the names they have been given. South African Birds by Name provides insight into the origins and meanings of these scientific names. Most are rooted in Greek and Latin. The book helps readers better understand the species they encounter.

In order to get to the truth, we might have to burn the house down and rebuild it. It has been said that only rats come out to play at night. Yet eagles do not sleep. South Africa has been captured by criminals who seek to remain nameless. However, there is one man whom everyone fears.

In this captivating collection of essays, Professor Tinyiko Maluleke invites readers on a journey. The journey begins with his eventful boyhood in Soweto. It continues through his life-changing upbringing in Limpopo. His heartfelt reflections on mothers, grandmothers and aunts stand at the centre of his story. He also explores their roles in his childhood and in the upbringing of his peers. In doing so, he highlights how these women shaped heroes and heroines across communities.

This collection of short stories explores the breadth of magical realism, speculative fiction and fantasy. Twijnstra portrays women who succeed in the face of brutality. Black women lead these stories as protagonists, and they enter magical, terrifying and spellbinding worlds. These worlds span stories set in the past, present and future.

We live in a world of information overload, and it can be challenging to know what is real and what is not. When it comes to money, social media is littered with "finfluencers" who present information and share "secrets" about managing and growing money. Some of it is real, while much of it is fake. As a result, it can be very difficult to know the difference.

When the body breaks and the mind spirals, this is what it takes to fight your way back. Born with a congenital aortic valve defect, Brandon Fairweather was always destined for open-heart surgery. However, he never expected to need it at just 28 years of age. He shares his encounters with gripping spells of physiological and medical-related anxiety throughout his journey to, and beyond, the life-changing surgery.

Lidia Rauch was born at the crossroads of South Africa’s past and present. She is the granddaughter of one of apartheid’s longest-serving ministers, Fanie Botha. She grew up in a world built for her comfort, yet she chose to reckon with its cost. Her story moves between privilege and pain, from a childhood marked by fracture to a career inside the machinery of government.