New and recommended reads from our non-fiction collections.

Bamiyan: The Heart of Afghanistan. Bob Maysmor
This book documents an exhibition presented at Pataka museum in Porirua to celebrate the Sister City friendship between Porirua City and Bamiyan in Afghanistan. Beautifully photographed images of the people and the landscape are accompanied by a brief history of the region and biographies of the local inhabitants.

The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest To Build the World's Greatest Library. Edward Wilson-Lee
Hernando Colin was the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus and in 1502 the 13 year-old accompanied Columbus on his fourth voyage to the New World. For all lovers of history, this intriguing book will inform and delight, especially the highlighting of the attempt to build the world's first universal library.

Chaucer: A European Life. Marion Turner
The poet Chaucer is an eminent figure in English literature who led a cosmopolitan and adventurous life. The author tells the story of his life and poetry through the places and spaces he occupied, both physical and social, to understand the imaginative development of the poet.

Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver. Catharine MacLeod
A compilation of exquisite portrait miniatures by Elizabethan artists Nicolas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver. Their portraits are now recognised as some of the greatest works of art of the English Renaissance.

I'm Not Really a Waitress: How One Woman Revamped the Beauty Industry One Color at a Time. Suzi Weiss-Fischmann
This fascinating story of an immigrant family creating a beauty empire is an inspiring read.

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will To Survive. Stephanie Land
This is an incredibly honest and down to earth memoir of a single mother who works unbelievably hard in a system that is stacked against her.

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir. Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl transformed Gourmet magazine from a stuffy, dying publication into a slick, relevant magazine that had it’s finger on the pulse of food trends and gave readers recipes that were accessible to home cooks everywhere. This is the memorable story of that 10 years.

Unconquered: Our Wounded Warriors. Denny Neave, Gordon Traill and Catherine McCullagh
This volume shares the service, sacrifice and courage of a group of Australian and New Zealand veterans of the the Army, Navy and Air Force. Their participation in the Invictus Games demonstrates how the power of sport enables them to overcome their physical and mental trauma.

Underland: A Deep Time Story. Robert Macfarlane
Multiple award winning author Robert Macfarlane explores the science and poetry of subterranean worlds, their geology and significance to human civilisation, from the deep prehistoric past and into the future with the prospective burial of nuclear waste. This book was described by the Guardian as "one of the most ambitious works of narrative non-fiction of our age."

The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets. Graham Farmelo
Farmelo, an expert in physics and researcher at the Science Museum London, has written a clear and riveting book that details the astounding synthesis of theoretical physics and pure mathematics that has become central to our understanding of reality.