EBR Jan Non-fiction General

For years now I have travelled the great southern lands, especially this one, South Africa, the Happysadland. It’s harshness, it’s diversity, strangeness and unique beauty has settled like dust in every pore of my being. As tough as it is to say, after independence in 1994, a disastrous and corrupt ANC (African National Congress) rule has caused many small towns to almost disintegrate in terms of maintenance and management. Many municipalities are now dysfunctional and bankrupt. But, my heart pumps out hope, images, and stories, for on the other hand, the resilience of our people remains remarkable. Somehow, we laugh and cry away our troubles, and many of us now turn to the creed of our Rugby World Cup winning Springboks—-“Stronger Together”. So came into being, after visiting many small towns, the realisation that many towns in every corner of this land, carried English, German or Dutch names. Many were named, in loneliness and longing, by the pioneers that trekked into the interior in the early 18th century. My heritage, baked since 1696 by the African sun, lies with my Dutch, Afrikaner forefathers. In this book, ‘Going Dutch’, I follow a trek northwards, visiting all nine South African towns that were baptised with Dutch names. This resulted in a trip to the Netherlands to photograph the mother cities of these South African towns. These visuals of the Dutch cities, with their enormous contrasts and architectural beauty, punched and rattled loose all that dust that had been ingrained in my pores over the years. It lifted me pictorially and spiritually to a new height, which I hope that this book will show in some way.

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The son of pastors and gospel artists, PJ Morton grew up in church, singing gospel music, grounded by its soulful sound. As he was drawn to R&B and pop, PJ experimented in combining genres to create his own sound that record labels struggled to categorize. Pressured to align with industry standards but committed to his own dream of his original music, he defied expectations and risked launching his own label, Morton Records. Under it, he developed six self-released and self-produced albums that garnered twenty Grammy nominations and awards and included collaborations with such acclaimed artists as Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin, and Lil Wayne. PJ Morton is the rare artist who has straddled the tensions of life, whether in music or faith expressions, or in racial and cultural identities, while staying true to his New Orleans and Christian roots. A pioneer blazing his own path, he developed an independent sound without even knowing what that was in an industry he didn't fully understand, setting the way for artists who follow him. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning captures his powerful, courageous journey of combining his two worlds, showing readers how to overcome obstacles as they seek their own dreams.

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Liz Earle shows us how to future-proof our health in midlife and beyond using evidence-based techniques, ideas and wisdom accumulated over her years of experience in the wellbeing arena.We all know that midlife women are often hit the hardest of all health-wise, sandwiched between bringing up our families, juggling work and caring for ailing parents, and it is all too easy to lose sight of ourselves. But whatever stage or age you are there is hope and many ways to take back control of your health - physical, mental and emotional - and make yourself a priority rather than bottom of the to-do list. Liz Earle will sort the fads from the fiction in wellbeing and break through the noise that surrounds all the online advice that can overwhelm us. She has taken this mission to heart with her empowering new book A BETTER SECOND HALF. Part a retrospective of her life and part a brilliant, distillation of self-help, Liz puts forward what we need to do to live well and age well through midlife and beyond. Never shy of making her body a testing lab for new discoveries, Liz shares important information on the gut-brain axis, nutri-genomics, the efficacy of high intensity weight training, the pros and cons of low carb diets, biohacking techniques and much, much more.Liz Earle is one of the most-trusted voices in wellbeing today and here she shares her hard-won wisdom, practical advice and know-how that can turn the tide on those feelings of dejection and can have us heading into our second halves full of vigour and hope to live longer and better.

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