Debra L. Gordon, Seven Days to a Perfect Night’s Sleep.
St Martin’s Press / Pan Macmillan. Paperback. RRP: $14.95

Are you desperately seeking sleep? The answer is “yes” for three out of 10 people who can’t fall asleep, stay asleep or wake up feeling refreshed. As a result you struggle through the day in a mental fog, dozing off at work, behind the wheel or on patrol. By following Debra L. Gordon’s simple 7-Day Sleep Program, you can make those crucial adjustments to your environment, daily routines and bedroom to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep every night – and all without drugs! This book has some excellent tips on diet and exercise, and a useful checklist to determine if your sleep disorder might be symptomatic of a medical problem.

Sue Radd, The Breakfast Book.
Hodder Australia. RRP: $19.95

The most important meal of the day, breakfast, sets you up with energy, health, improved digestion and heightened concentration – if you get it right! Too many of us grab something insubstantial on the way to work. Here’s the antidote: over 20 delicious recipes for appetizing, varied breakfasts that will make your tastebuds – and you – come to life in the morning.

Sue Murray, The Parents’ Survival Guide to Year 12.
Pan Macmillan. RRP: $19.95

Year 12 can be a very tough year for students and their families. Not only are there the pressures of school and assessments, but adolescence is a time of change and raging hormones, frustrations and fears, expanding horizons, freedoms and responsibilities. How can parents survive this most difficult and demanding year? What does their son or daughter need from them? How can they get their child to listen to them, and vice versa? This useful guide offers parents information, suggestions, tips and strategies.

John McGowan, Do-It-Yourself Workshop.
Southwater / Pan Macmillan. RRP: $22

This is an essential and practical book containing all the necessary information on basic tools and materials that the do-it-yourself enthusiast will need. It gives advice on how to choose and use the right tools for the job effectively and safely, and how to develop practical skills. It covers planning your work efficiently, the best order in which to tackle DIY jobs, and gives valuable advice on maintenance that will save time and money. Clear step-by-step instruction and tips from expert authors will help DIY beginners tackle jobs around the home with confidence.

John Little, The Man Who Saw Too Much: David Brill, Combat Cameraman.
Hodder Headline Australia. $34.95

David Brill, one of Australia’s finest film and television cameramen, ranks with such legends as Damien Parer and Neil Davis. For 40 years Brill has covered wars and disasters from the fall of Saigon, to the war in the Middle East, to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union. This biography book by seasoned Australian journalist and former Sixty Minutes producer John Little gives an un-put-downable account of Brill’s life, from his lonely Tasmanian childhood to his remarkable career during which he fearlessly went into war-zones and hell-holes to capture unforgettable images on film for the benefit of the viewing public. This is a warts-and-all biography of Brill who paid a high personal price for his commitment to his craft, his unflinching integrity and his sensitivity to the victims of man-made and natural disasters. This price included two broken marriages and struggles with inner demons. Nevertheless Brill emerges as a decent human being, without a trace of the cynicism usually found in the world of news gathering, and also with an intense personal involvement with every story he has worked on.

Gisela Kaplan, Famous Australian Birds.
Allen & Unwin. Hardcover: $29.95

Famous Australian Birds takes the reader up close and personal with some of our best-loved birds: the magpie, sulphur-crested cockatoo, lyrebird, emu, eastern rosella, tawny frogmouth, and wedge-tailed eagle. Written by a world expert and full of fascinating photos, this is a book for children, young and old. It has a simple yet informative text and many anecdotes about individual birds the author has nursed and “taken under her wing”.

Harlan Coben, No Second Chance.
Orion / Allen & Unwin Softcover: $29.95

The bestselling author of Tell No One and Gone for Good has produced another top thriller which engrosses the reader from the first page. A New Jersey doctor is brutally gunned down in his home. When he wakes up in hospital 12 days later, he learns that his wife is dead – and that daughter Tara is missing from her crib. A ransom demand is made. But the money drop goes horribly wrong. The money vanishes and the kidnappers escape. An agonizing 18 months pass. The police, believing that Tara is probably dead, start to move on. But then, when the father has given up all hope of seeing his daughter again, he gets a package with a chilling note: “Want a second chance?”