OH BOOKS

What have OHs been writing about this year?

SANKEY (The Park 1962³) Toxicum: Managing Toxic People

The world today is experiencing an epidemic of stress, and the greatest cause of stress comes from toxic situations and toxic people. Toxicity comes in many forms, from overtly aggressive to subtly manipulative and from mildly controlling to wildly narcissistic. Toxic people are found in all walks of life, from the boardroom to the bedroom and the playing field to the coffee shop.

MCG PEEL (Druries 1970³) Gilly: The Turbulent Life of Roy Gilchrist

The tragic account of a cricket meteor who crashed to Earth all too quickly because of his flawed temperament. Born into grinding poverty in rural Jamaica in 1934, Gilchrist's prowess as a phenomenal fast bowler quickly gained him international recognition, but the failure to curb his unstable temperament saw him sent home from the West Indies tour of India in 1959 for dangerous bowling. A victim of the class-ridden clique that ran West Indies cricket, Gilchrist hardly helped his cause by refusing to alter his aggressive demeanour. Excessive gamesmanship and constant fights on and off the field, culminating in a prison sentence for attacking his wife with a hot iron, not only put paid to any hopes of reviving his Test career; it also tainted his reputation irrevocably. Sadly, he lived his final years as a pauper afflicted by disease.

BW GODDARD (West Acre 1971³)

AA SPEELMAN (The Park 1954³) A Tale of Two Monkeys: Adventures in the Art World

Anthony Speelman offers fascinating insights into the often-secretive world of the Dutch masters, covering a lifetime of dealing in fine art at the very highest level. Throughout his long career, Speelman has sold paintings to many of the world's greatest collectors including Norton Simon, Paul Mellon, Baron Thyssen, Harold Samuel, Charles Clore, and the Wrightsmans in New York, along with world-renowned museums such as the Getty, the Louvre, and the National Gallery, London, among many others. In intriguing tales that are sometimes shocking and always interesting, he shares stories of his encounters with these eminent bodies in a light-hearted style. Other chapters go beyond the world of fine art to detail Speelman's interest in gastronomy, his thrilling adventures in the world of horseracing, and his travels to California, New York and Paris.

The Medicine Wheel shows us how to both live and transform ourselves while remaining in balance with the natural world. Indigenous peoples in the Americas, with whom these wheels originate, have a profound understanding of what it means to be human that has been largely lost in the modern world. This book is not just another 'self-help' guide but rather an exploration of an ancient map that shows how human beings and the world work. A wheel is very simple and experiential, dividing the world into the four basic elements of fire, water, earth and air and, on that basis, it creates a deep and transformative psychology, a subtle and practical philosophy and a ceremonial form through which the community can celebrate the sacredness of life.

Surfing the Galactic Highways reveals the power of simple Sun-Moon astrology and the way the outer planets can help us navigate times of transformation. Astrology has the power to take our breath away, to enchant us through the eerie synchronicities it reveals between sky events and Earth events. Life presents us all with periods that are both challenging and potentially transformative. This book shows - in intimate detail and grounded in the author's personal experience - how the outer planets can be used to help navigate and illuminate those testing times. Astrology can guide us through the deep initiatory and transformative experiences that life, if we are willing, offers us, providing an affirmation of an intuitive, non-rational means of knowing that's central to who we are as humans, but undervalued and even denied in our modern age. Surfing the Galactic Highways is a refreshingly bold assertion of the intuitive, non-rational nature of astrological knowledge, and a thorough going refutation of those who would relegate astrology to the status of a 'pseudo-science'.

CPG BLACKWELL (The Grove 1951²) The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond

As the founder of Island Records, fabled music producer Chris Blackwell has discovered and worked with some of the most important musicians of the second half of the 20th centuryfrom Steve Winwood to Cat Stevens, Bob Marley to Grace Jones, U2 to Roxy Music, plus countless others. He is also widely credited with having brought reggae music to the world stage. Now, as he turns 85, Blackwell takes us back to the island where it all began: Jamaica - the place where his family once partied with the likes of Noel Coward, Ian Fleming and Errol Flynn and where, as Jamaican local music began to adopt contemporary American trends, Blackwell's burgeoning musical instincts flourished. It was also the birthplace of the now-legendary Island Records, founded by Blackwell in 1959. In this fascinating memoir, including up to 50 photos supplied by Blackwell's team, the music icon will discuss the many artists he's worked with over the years, as well as unpicking the initiatives, decisions and risks that ultimately brought such success to both Blackwell and his esteemed musical collaborators.

MR HILL (The Head Master's 2000³ ) Original Sins

An extraordinary memoir of faith, family, shame and addiction. Matt Rowland Hill grew up the son of a minister in an evangelical Christian church in south Wales and then south-east England. It was a childhood fraught with bitter family conflict and the fear of damnation. After a devastating loss of faith in his late teens, Matt began his search for salvation elsewhere, turning to books before developing a growing relationship with alcohol and drugs. He became addicted to crack and heroin in his early twenties, an ordeal that stretched over a decade and culminated in a period of hopeless darkness. Recklessly honest, and as funny as it is grave, Original Sins is an extraordinary memoir of faith, family, shame and addiction, but ultimately it is about looking for answers to life's big questions in all the wrong places, how hope can arrive in the most unexpected forms, and how the stories we tell might help us survive.

RJ FAIRER-SMITH (Newlands

1979³ )

Karl Lagerfeld Unseen: The Chanel Years

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The World: A Family History

Recounting nothing less than the history of humanity through the overarching theme of family, Montefiore weaves an epic, pageturning story that features everyone from the Leopard-King of Benin to Margaret Thatcher. We begin with the footsteps of a family walking along a beach 950,000 years ago. From here, Montefiore takes us on an exhilarating epic journey through the families that have shaped our world. As spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the story of humankind in all its joy, sorrow, romance, ingenuity and cruelty in a ground-breaking, single narrative that will forever shift the boundaries of what history can achieve.

A glamorous tribute to Karl Lagerfeld's highly influential creations for Chanel, captured behind the scenes by US Vogue photographer Robert Fairer in beautiful, never-before-seen images. Casting a new light on one of the best-loved chapters in fashion history, Karl Lagerfeld Unseen: The Chanel Years illuminates key Chanel collections and creations from behind the scenes. From discreet client fittings in Rue Cambon's immaculate black-and-beige salons to previously unseen backstage moments that show models, hairdressers, stylists, make-up artists and Karl Lagerfeld himself at work, Robert Fairer's stunning and high-energy photographs capture the elegance, glamour and spirit that defined Karl Lagerfeld's shows for Chanel. Texts by Karl Lagerfeld's collaborators and friends provide a fresh perspective on his creative process and reveal the stories behind the now iconic designs. A treasure trove of inspiration, this publication will be a must-have reference for fashion and photography lovers alike, and for dedicated Chanel fans the world over.